BurmaNet News, May 4, 2004

Tue May 4 13:54:37 EDT 2004

May 4, 2004, Issue # 2469

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar's opposition leaders hold third meeting with Suu Kyi
Christian Science Monitor: Burma's junta, opposition to talk reform after
long standoff
Xinhua: Myanmar begins survey of roads involved in Asian highway
DVB: SPDC orders its forces to control people

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Shan border clinic told to move out

DRUGS
AFP: Taiwanese man arrested trying to smuggle heroin from Myanmar
Globe and Mail: The Evolution of Chairman Bao

BUSINESS
Xinhua: Over 4,800 plots under gem mining in Myanmar
Xinhua: Myanmar takes measures to promote production of industrial crops

REGIONAL
JEN: WFP to provide food to 215,000 former opium growers in Myanmar

INSIDE BURMA
_____________________________________

May 4, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's opposition leaders hold third meeting with Suu Kyi

Yangon: Top members of Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy
met Tuesday with their detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the third time
in a week ahead of this month's constitutional convention, the NLD said.

NLD chairman Aung Shwe, vice chairman Tin Oo, and party secretary U Lwin
met with the democracy icon at her Yangon home to discuss internal issues,
U Lwin said.

"We discussed party internal affairs," he told reporters after the
hour-long meeting, without elaborating.

Tin Oo was brought from house arrest to attend the talks, which NLD
sources earlier had said would include all nine members of the
decision-making Central Executive Committee (CEC).

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, also remains under house arrest,
but analysts and senior NLD officials say they are hopeful she could be
freed before the convention opens on May 17.

The NLD said last week it was almost certain to attend the convention as
it expected the junta to accept its proposed changes to the procedures
under which the convention will be run.

But when asked if the junta had responded to the proposals, U Lwin said:
"We are still waiting."

The forum is the first step in the junta's self-described "road map to
democracy", which begins with the drafting of a new constitution and is
billed as ending with free elections.

The party leaders were all taken into detention last May when Aung San Suu
Kyi's convoy was attacked by a pro-junta gang during a political tour of
northern Myanmar, prompting a major crackdown on the pro-democracy
opposition.

The talks at her home were the third in a week for the party's leadership,
whose nine CEC members met for the first time since May 2003 last Tuesday
and then again on Thursday.

U Lwin said last week the party had many things to discuss, including six
"objectives" laid down by the regime as the basis for the new
constitution, one of which mandates a leading role for the military in any
future political scenario.

Analysts have said the convention would have no credibility without the
input of the currently detained pro-democracy icon and her party.

The convention is expected to assemble government, political parties and
ethnic representatives in a forum that would essentially mirror a previous
convention which collapsed in 1995 when the NLD walked out.

_____________________________________

May 4, Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA)
Burma's junta, opposition to talk reform after long standoff - Simon Montlake

Mandalay: To hear Lu Maw tell it, there's always a touch of magic in the
air when the military rulers of Burma (Myanmar) come to town.

"Normally, the lights aren't working. We always got blackouts so you need
to use a generator," he says. "But when the [junta leaders] are here,
electricity is 24 hours, nonstop, no problem - yes!"

His joke raises a chuckle from a handful of foreign tourists who've found
their way to the back-street house-cum-theater to watch a high-octane
blend of slapstick comedy, dance - and dissent. Lu Maw's brother spent
five years in jail for joshing the generals during a similar performance
at the house of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 1996.

Asked about the regime's recent promise of a new constitution and a return
to civilian rule, Lu Maw jabs his finger at the question. "I don't trust
them. They should release all the political prisoners first. Even if they
release Aung San Suu Kyi, what about the rest?" he asks.

As the world waits for a sign that Burma's junta is serious about
democratic reforms, the opposition is preparing for talks that will test
the regime's promises. The negotiations, slated to begin May 17, have an
element of deja vu - a similar forum was held but collapsed in 1996 after
Suu Kyi's party walked out. This time, however, pressure is building on
both sides to end a stalemate that has left Burma a pariah state.

The military regime came to power after crushing a pro-democracy uprising
in 1988. Two years later, the generals ignored elections that showed a
victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Suu Kyi, who
has been under house arrest since last May.

The NLD announced last week that it would send delegates to the upcoming
constitutional forum, on the conditions that free debate is allowed and
that Suu Kyi and her deputy, Tin Oo, are released. Observers are welcoming
the government's invitation to the talks and the NLD's tentative
acceptance as crucial first steps in finding a solution to the standoff.

Western countries including the US, which tightened economic sanctions on
Burma following an attack on NLD supporters last year by government-paid
thugs, have long insisted that Suu Kyi and her party be partners in any
settlement. Without their full participation, and that of ethnic
politicians and former rebel groups, those countries are unlikely to
support any deal struck at the forum.

After so many false starts in the past, diplomats say pressure is also
building on the opposition to compromise with the regime. Many countries
are frustrated with a standoff that has starved Burma of much-needed aid.
Its neighbors in Southeast Asia are equally determined to bring Burma into
the fold and show that engagement works where Western sanctions have
failed.

"The NLD is in a tough place. Either they participate in something odious
and undemocratic, or they refuse and get labeled as intransigent," said a
Western diplomat in Rangoon.

Nudged by its Asian allies, the ruling State Peace & Development Council
last year pledged to draw up a new Constitution in consultation with
political parties, ethnic factions, and other social groups. But in recent
weeks the generals have sent mixed signals on how far they are prepared to
go in allowing the opposition a role in shaping the process. The NLD
walked out of the previous forum to protest their limited role. As before,
a list of nonnegotiable principles - including complete autonomy for the
military and presidential qualifications that exclude Suu Kyi - limits the
convention's options.

Hopes for concessions by the regime center on Prime Minister Khin Nyunt,
author of the government's reform "road map" that begins with the
convention. General Nyunt is viewed as more pragmatic than junta leader
Gen. Than Shwe. But one diplomat adds, "they all wear the same uniform."

NLD activists also express skepticism. "The military dictates the rules,
so how can there be any free discussion?" asks one. "It's all a game,
nothing more."

Another failure would spell further misery for millions of impoverished
people cut off from outside aid and development. "Education, healthcare
and the economy, they've all collapsed. How can people suffer any more?"
asks an opposition activist.

Over at the NLD's dilapidated Rangoon headquarters, which was allowed to
reopen April 17, volunteers are busy stacking pamphlets and packing
T-shirts emblazoned with Suu Kyi's steely gaze. (Outside the capital, NLD
offices remain shuttered and many of its leaders are under close watch
after spells in prison.)

U Soe Win, who was elected in 1990 to a defunct parliament and has been
jailed multiple times, smiles when asked if the struggle was worthwhile.
"Be patient and never surrender, that's what I believe," he says.

_____________________________________

May 4, Japan Economic Newswire
WFP to provide food to 215,000 former opium growers in Myanmar

Yangon: The United Nations World Food Program will provide food to 215,000
former opium growers in Myanmar to help sustain their livelihoods, a
report in the semi-official weekly Myanmar Times said Tuesday.

During the next 12 months, the WFP and partner nongovernmental
organizations will distribute rice to former opium farmers and their
families, WFP country director Bhim Udas was quoted as telling the
newspaper.

The food will go mostly to opium-growing areas in Myanmar's eastern and
northeastern Shan State, bordering Thailand and China.

The WFP said the incomes of former poppy farmers in those areas have
fallen by up to 20 times since they stopped growing opium poppies a few
years ago.

'People have been selling their assets,' Udas said.

Udas added the WFP has so far only secured about the funds needed for the
$3.7 million project.

Agreement on the project was signed April 26 between the WFP and Myanmar's
border area development ministry.

Japan has pledged $300,000 for the project and Australia has given $1.8
million.

The report said the German and Swedish governments also contributed to the
program, but no figures were provided.

Udas said the WFP's program would be temporary and more permanent
solutions are needed.

'We can provide support for one or two years, but not 10 or 20 years,' he
said.

'I think the international community and the government have a
responsibility to sustain their livelihoods,' Udas was quoted as saying.

According to a Myanmar-U.S. opium-yield survey in 2003, there were 47,130
hectares of poppy fields that produced 484 tons of opium, down 30 percent
from the previous year.

Over 3,000 hectares of poppy fields were destroyed during the 2003-2004
poppy cultivation season, according to official figures released Monday.

_____________________________________

May 4, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar begins survey of roads involved in Asian highway

Yangon: Myanmar has begun the survey of some sections of roads within its
territory that will form part of a 140,000-kilometers (km) Asian highway
network under a recent 23-country agreement to develop the highway
network, according to the latest issue of the local Myanmar Times.

Preliminary survey is underway on a section of these roads, which is
between Mawlamyine and Thanbyuzayat in southern Mon state, the Ministry of
Construction was quoted as saying.

As mapped by the ministry and the United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the highway network will
comprise more than 2,000 km of roads in Myanmar and connect the country to
China, India and Thailand, providing a link through Asia to Europe.

The cities and towns on the highway route will cover Yangon, Bagan and
Mandalay, and all the targeted routes, which are based on the existing
roads, would have to be upgraded to two lanes from single ones and be
durable to withstand 60 tons of loads to meet the set standard under the
agreement, the sources said.

The ministry would seek financial assistance from the government, private
sector and international donors, the sources added.

Myanmar joined in signing the inter-governmental agreement on the Asian
highway network at a meeting held in Shanghai, China on April 26, which
was organized by the Bangkok-based ESCAP.

The Asian highway network will link Singapore, Tokyo, Istanbul and St
Petersburg. The network passes through capital cities, major industrial
centers, air and seaports and major tourist attractions in Asia. Of the
network, China and Russia have the longest stretches with 25,579 km and
16,869 km respectively.

_____________________________________

May 2, Democratic Voice of Burma
SPDC orders its forces to control people

The Interior Ministry of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) issued a directive on how to control the people
of Burma closely before the reconvening of the so-called National
Convention on 17 May.

The ministry sent out the directive to police forces and army commands
throughout Burma ordering them to make the people of the country to take
part enthusiastically in the junta-sponsored ‘state building projects’
with a two pronged strategy.

The police commanders were told take part in the evangelisation of the
people making them fully believe in the role of the police in Burma by
asking their needs and taking down their comments.

The commanders were also told, with the help of the ‘People’s Power
Holders’, i.e. junta sponsored thugs, to ‘unearth’ those who are trying to
destroy the National Convention including those who are sent by
anti-government opposition groups.

ON THE BORDER
_____________________________________

May 4, Shan Herald Agency for News
Shan border clinic told to move out

On 16 April, "Maw Paw", head of the Shan clinic near the border in Mae Fa
Luang district, Chiangrai province, was told by a Thai military officer
that due to complaints by authorities along the border he had to move out
his "hospital".

The 12 bed hospital was begun on 25 January 2001, soon after the Burma
Army offensive on the Shan State Army when hundreds of people on the
border area were displaced.

It was later to include 5-bed labor room (LR), a laboratory and a lecture
hall.

"Although it was initially meant for people coming from Shan State, every
2 out of 3 patients are from the surrounding villages in the Thai
territory," said Maw Paw.

Beginning 21 January, the clinic buildings were dismantled to be
transported across the border.

DRUGS
_____________________________________

May 4, Globe and Mail
The Evolution of Chairman Bao - Geoffrey York

Pang Sang, Myanmar: The drug lord arrives at the hotel in a Toyota Land
Cruiser, unassumingly dressed in a checked shirt and green pants. The only
hints of his wealth are his large sapphire ring and the servile bow of the
waiter who hands him a cold towel.

With his anonymous appearance and humble clothes, Bao Youxiang could be
any middle-aged Asian businessman. One of his few hobbies is 10-pin
bowling — usually at a plush new alley across from the hotel. But when he
isn't bowling, he is the kingpin of one of the world's biggest
opium-producing regions, a rugged land of hilltop villages and poppy
fields near the China-Myanmar border.

The man known as Chairman Bao is the ruthless commander of the
20,000-soldier United Wa State Army, led by tough Wa tribesmen whose
ancestors were headhunters. He is also a man with a $1-million (U.S.)
bounty on his head.

Washington accuses him of leading the world's biggest narcotics army.

Yet despite the controversy surrounding Mr. Bao, there is mounting
evidence of a radical reform in his drug policies — a reform that could
deal a crippling blow to the Golden Triangle drug trade and liberate
thousands of people from heroin and opium addiction in his country and in
the West.

In a rare meeting with journalists in his ramshackle frontier capital, he
described how opium addiction has devastated many of the 600,000 people in
16 ethnic tribes herules.

"I have to save my own people," he said. "I have witnessed how opium has
destroyed my people. It makes my heart bleed."

Mr. Bao vowed to end the opium trade in his remote region by July of next
year. And if the farmers keep growing poppies? He slashes his hand across
his throat. "I will chop off their heads. And the international community
can chop off my head. It's for the survival of our people. I give you my
word."

The man is certainly no saint. As recently as 2001, his people were
responsible for 40 per cent of the world's opium. His government still
collects 7 per cent of its revenue from an opium tax. He readily admits to
using child soldiers and forced labour as routine practices. He once
ordered the relocation of 60,000 opium farmers, dooming thousands to
illness and death from malaria. "Farmers live and die at his whim," says a
United Nations official in Myanmar.

Yet the UN believes that Mr. Bao's opium ban might be genuine. In one Wa
region alone, where the UN has helped farmers to find other income, the
opium poppy fields have shrunk by almost 60 per cent in the past five
years.

But the drug trade has been the biggest industry in the Wa territory for
more than 140 years and some observers are cynical about the proposed ban.

"If the Wa do what they say they will do, a lot of people will starve,"
said a diplomat in Rangoon. "Then, in year two, they'll go back to what
they were doing before."

In the remote farming villages, where every family has grown opium for
generations, the villagers themselves are puzzled.

"We will suffer," says Kya Law, a father of 12 children, who earns a few
hundred dollars annually by growing one or two kilograms of opium. "We
won't have any money. My family depends on poppies to buy food and
clothing. I don't know the reason for the ban."

But UN officials in Myanmar say there are increasing signs that the ban is
legitimate. They are calling for emergency aid to the farmers to prevent a
humanitarian disaster when opium revenue disappears.

The UN warns that if aid fails to arrive, the world could miss a historic
opportunity to get rid of a deadly trade. Myanmar's fate could resemble
that of Afghanistan's, where opium production was virtually eliminated by
the Taliban regime in 2001 but then quickly re-emerged under the new
government after the U.S.-led war.

Severe food shortages could result from the opium ban, since most farmers
rely on opium revenue to pay for half of their annual food needs. Just
north of the Wa territory, in the region of Kokang, farmers suffered deep
hardship when an opium ban was imposed last year. Clinics and schools
closed, thousands of families abandoned the region, and children dropped
out of school because they couldn't afford fees of a few dollars. The fear
is that a similar disaster could afflict an estimated two million
impoverished people across Myanmar when opium bans come into effect in the
next few years.

If the mysterious Mr. Bao is sincerely planning to enforce the ban, most
farmers won't dare to defy him. In the Wa capital, even the motorized
rickshaw drivers are afraid to venture close to the drug lord's luxurious
villa, with its fountain and its military guard. His army has brigade
leaders in every district, ready to enforce the ban.

Some observers suspect the Wa leaders are ready to give up opium because
they have found a more lucrative trade: methamphetamine tablets. The pills
are known as ya ba (crazy medicine) in neighbouring Thailand, where 4 per
cent of the population is said to be addicted.

An estimated 700 million tablets are manufactured in underground labs in
Myanmar every year for shipment to Thailand — and some labs have been
found in the Wa territory. "For criminal groups, they are a fantastic way
to keep the old networks going," says Jean-Luc Lemahieu, head of the UN
drug agency in Myanmar. "They are very low cost and the prices are high."

Mr. Bao denied that his army is switching to methamphetamines. But then he
makes a fascinating revelation: one of his own brothers has been
implicated in a methamphetamine lab and is addicted to the tablets.

"We have taken action against him," he said, his hands flailing angrily.
"He will have to undergo detoxification."

This story is the first in a series on the changing face of the Golden
Triangle. Next: Kicking the habit

_____________________________________

May 4, Agence France Presse
Taiwanese man arrested trying to smuggle heroin from Myanmar

Taipei: Taiwanese authorities have arrested a man attempting to smuggle
3.6 kilograms (seven pounds 15 ounces) of heroin into the island from
Myanmar, officials said Tuesday.

Aided by a tip-off, police found the drugs in the luggage of Chang
You-tsai as he flew into Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek airport from Myanmar
late Monday night, the Investigation Bureau said in a statement.

Chang claimed he was commissioned by a drugs ring to traffic the heroin in
return for 500,000 Taiwan dollars (15,000 US), it said.

The heroin has a street value of tens of millions of Taiwan dollars.

The bureau was tracking down down the other members of the drug ring.

The maximum sentence for drug trafficking is death under Taiwan's tough
anti-narcotics laws.

BUSINESS / MONEY
_____________________________________

May 4, Xinhua News Agency
Over 4,800 plots under gem mining in Myanmar

Yangon: A total of 4,851 plots in Myanmar's six mining areas are under gem
and jade exploration operation, the local Business Tank reported in its
latest issue.

These plots, granted by the Ministry of Mines for such undertakings, are
in the areas of Mogok, Mongshu, Lonkin/Phakant, Khamhti, Moenyin and
Namyar.

Of them, 2,796 plots or 57.6 percent lie in the area of Lonkin/ Phakant in
northernmost Kachin state, the report said.

Myanmar enacted the New Gemstone Law in 1995, allowing local entrepreneurs
to mine, produce, transport and sell finished gemstone and manufactured
jewelry at home and abroad.

Joint ventures have also been set up between the government and some 10
private companies in gem and jade mining under a profit sharing basis
since 2000.

Myanmar, a well-known producer of gems in the world, is in possession of
nine gems -- ruby, diamond, cat's eye, emerald, topaz,pearl sapphire,
coral and a variety of garnet tinged with yellow.

Besides Lonkin/Phakant, there are also two other most famous gem lands in
Myanmar -- Mogok in Mandalay division and Mongshu in Shan state.

Myanmar claimed that it has owned the world's biggest ruby weighing 21,450
carats, the largest star sapphire weighing 63,000 carats, the biggest
peridot weighing 329 carats and the largest jade stone of about 3,000
tons.

Meanwhile, Myanmar holds gems emporiums annually since 1964 and biannually
since 1992 to put on sale its precious gems, jade, pearl and jewelry
through competitive bidding, tender system and at fixed prices. And up to
the last event in March this year, a total of over 450 million US dollars
of foreign exchange has been fetched, according to the emporium figures.

Official statistics show that Myanmar has exploited 10,849 tons of jade,
54.46 million carats of gems and 147.4 kilograms of pearl since 1988.

_____________________________________

May 4, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar takes measures to promote production of industrial crops

Yangon: Myanmar will increase its agricultural loan by 15 percent in the
current 2004-05 fiscal year (April/March) as part of its measures to
promote the production of industrial crops, according to state-run bank
sources Tuesday.

The amount of loan to be disbursed to the growers would total about 24
billion Kyats (about 30 million US dollars), up from 21 billion Kyats (26
million dollars) in the last fiscal year, the Myanma Agriculture
Development Bank disclosed.

The move followed the government's liberalization in last March of trade
in three major industrial crops -- sugarcane, cotton and rubber, as well
as legumes, edible oil crops, maize and jute.

The government bought about 700,000 tons of sugarcane and 13, 000 tons of
cotton from the farmers annually during the last few years.

Meanwhile, the country produces about 35,000 tons of rubber a year, of
which about 23,000 tons are exported.

A year before the liberalization of the three major industrial crops, the
government had allowed free trade of rice to raise the enthusiasm of
farmers and local entrepreneurs to boost paddy production and rice export.

However, owing to the rise of rice prices domestically, the government has
imposed a temporary ban on the rice export for six months since last
Jaunary in order to bring down the rice prices.

REGIONAL
_____________________________________

May 4, Japan Economic Newswire
WFP to provide food to 215,000 former opium growers in Myanmar