BurmaNet News, May 12, 2004

[Editor]

May 12, 2004, Issue # 2474

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Five Burmese Nationals Given Long Prison Terms
AP: Myanmar's opposition undecided about attending constitutional
convention, with no guarantee of free debate
Xinhua: Myanmar PM calls for resisting Western cultural infiltration
Myanmar Times: 13,000 expatriates living here, says Govt

ON THE BORDER
S.H.A.N.: Karen congress on hold

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Canada calls on Myanmar to ensure "inclusive" national convention


INSIDE BURMA
_____________________________________

May 12, Irrawaddy
Five Burmese Nationals Given Long Prison Terms - Naw Seng

The Burmese military government has sentenced five Burmese nationals to
lengthy jail terms for allegedly communicating illegally with banned
political organizations, according to a Thai-based prisoner assistance
group. One is a former member of a Burmese exile media group in Thailand.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), or AAPP,
released a statement on Tuesday saying that Nyan Tun Linn, 27, also known
as Yan Naing, was sentenced to 22 years in jail. Ne Min was given a
15-year sentence. Three others were given between seven- to 12-year
sentences, according to the statement. All five nationals were sentenced
last Friday.

Tate Naing, the AAPP secretary, said all five members were arrested within
the last three months.

Nyan Tun Linn, one of the sentenced, is a former office manager of the
Thai-based Amyin Thit Media Agency, which publishes a monthly Burmese
language newspaper and a daily online version. In 2002, he contributed
some news articles and feature stories to the newspaper, before returning
to Burma in 2003. He was also a member of the All Burma Federation of
Student Unions, or ABFSU.

“We strongly condemn the SPDC [the ruling State Peace and Development
Council] for the long-term imprisonment of Nyan Tun Linn,” said Min Naing,
from the ABFSU’s Foreign Affairs Committee in a statement released
yesterday.

Nyan Tun Linn was charged under section 5(j) of the Emergency Provisions
Act in conjunction with various other arbitrary laws, according to the
AAPP. The 1950 Emergency Provisions Act makes any act that may “undermine
the security of the Union or the restoration of law and order” a
punishable offence.

“As a former colleague I am absolutely sad to hear this news about him,”
said Maung Maung Htwe, editor-in-chief of Amyin Thit Media Agency.

Ne Min, about 50 years old, was also sentenced. In 1989, he was sentenced
to 20 years’ imprisonment for providing news to foreign news agencies. He
was released in 1998.

In November 2003, the Burmese government sentenced nine Burmese nationals
to death, including Zaw Thet Htwe, the chief editor of the sports journal
First Eleven.

_____________________________________

May 12, Associated Press
Myanmar's opposition undecided about attending constitutional convention,
with no guarantee of free debate - Aye Aye Win

Yangon: With a registration deadline looming, opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi's party was still undecided Wednesday about attending a
constitution-drafting convention because Myanmar's junta had not
guaranteed free and open debate, a party official said.

The National League for Democracy has not yet received any reply from the
military government on whether it will meet conditions set by the party
for attending the National Convention, party spokesman U Lwin said.

"We are still waiting for a reply from the government. I am hopeful we
will get some response," he said, declining to elaborate.

Myanmar currently has no constitution. Procedures set earlier by the
ruling junta for the convention, due to begin May 17, would allow it to
control discussions.

The NLD's conditions for attending the convention include a guarantee that
its views would be heard, a review of the objectives of the convention,
free and open debate, and freedom to select its own delegates.

The government has invited about 1,000 delegates, including some NLD
members. However, Suu Kyi and party Vice Chairman Tin Oo, who remain under
house arrest, have not been invited.

The government has said that all delegates must register on Thursday and
Friday, suggesting that those who fail to do so may not be allowed to
attend.

The junta says the National Convention is a first step in a seven-point
roadmap to democracy. It convened a similar convention in 1993, which
collapsed after the NLD walked out in 1995, charging that it was being
forced to rubber-stamp the junta's decisions.

The earlier convention set six basic principles for a new constitution,
including a major role for the military in the country's political future.
The junta says the new convention will resume work where the previous
convention left off in 1995.

On Wednesday, Swedish Ambassador Jan Axel Nordlander, based in neighboring
Thailand, told reporters during a visit to Yangon that "we will regard the
national convention as a failure" if the NLD does not participate.

"We very much hope that Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo will be liberated
within hours or before the convening of the National Convention," he said.

He said he hopes the junta will allow the NLD to attend even if it fails
to meet the registration deadline.

Myanmar's military government has been widely criticized by the United
States and Europe for its human rights record and its repeated
incarceration of Suu Kyi and other opposition figures.

Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate, has been detained since last May,
when a pro-junta mob clashed with her supporters during a political trip
to northern Myanmar.

The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy
demonstrations. It called elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power
when the NLD won.

_____________________________________

May 12, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar PM calls for resisting Western cultural infiltration

Yangon: Myanmar Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt has called on literati
in the country, especially the young people, to resist Western cultural
infiltration.

Khin Nyunt made the call when addressing a meeting of the Myanmar Writers
and Journalists Association here on Tuesday, state-run newspaper The New
Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.

"Some big nations with the superiority in technology and wealth have come
to misuse the mass media with the intention of overwhelming the developing
countries including Myanmar ideologically," he charged.

He also accused these nations of attempting to infiltrate their Western
character from cultural, economic and social fronts to the decorum of
dress into the Eastern countries with the use of effective mass media.

He urged the literati to work hard in unity, using the strength of
literature to instill in the entire mass of Myanmar people nationalistic
sense, outlook and fervor.

He stressed the need for the youths of the new generation to arm with a
broader scope of knowledge, deep consideration, correct outlook on
international affairs with historical background.

In dealing with the achievements made in the cultural aspects, the number
of private printing houses in Myanmar had come to over 5,037 with 759
publishers as of the beginning of this year and 9, 759 titles of books on
various topics were published in 2003, while 102 sorts of weekly journals
and 150 sorts of monthly magazines are in circulation, according to the
official paper.

The government has opened 368 libraries across the country, the paper added.

_____________________________________

May 9, Myanmar Times
13,000 expatriates living here, says Govt

There were more than 13,000 expatriates living in Myanmar last year,
official figures show. They show that 5498 Chinese nationals were living
in Myanmar in 2003.

Of the expatriates from other Asian countries, 1320 were from South Korea,
775 from India and 675 from Japan. Britain topped the list of expatriates
from Europe, with 219 residents, followed by Germany with 115. There were
also 232 United States citizens in Myanmar, the figures showed. No
breakdown by nationality was available for the remaining 4600 foreigners
living in Myanmar last year, though a departmental official said many were
from Taiwan and Thailand.

Most expatriates stay in the country on business visas, which are
initially issued for 10 weeks and may be extended for up to one year.

Meanwhile a list published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January
showed that there were 266 foreigners in the country holding diplomatic
passports. The list, due to be updated in July, does not include the
family members of diplomats.

The list shows that the US has the most diplomatic passport holders in
Myanmar, with 47, followed by China with 33 and Japan with 23. There are
17 diplomatic passport holders from Russia, 16 from France, 14 from
Thailand and 13 from India. There are also about 44 United Nations
personnel in Myanmar holding special UN passports, the list said.


ON THE BORDER
_____________________________________

May 12, Shan Herald Agency for News
Karen congress on hold

The quadri-annual congress of Karen National Union scheduled to be held on
19 May has been put off probably to the end of the year due to the slow
recovery of one of its principal leaders, Gen Bo Mya, according to Karen
sources.

This was confirmed by Saw Sarky, Central Committee Member and
Representative to Europe and East Timor, this morning. "Gen Bo Mya's
presence is necessary if we are to make the congress a success," he said.

Gen Bo Mya, 77, was voted out of his long-held presidency at the last
congress in 2000 and was replaced by the scholarly Ba Thin Sein. That did
not prevent Rangoon to send its special envoy to meet Bo Mya for
negotiations in November that had resulted in the "gentlemen's agreement"
to cease hostilities. Since then, the two sides have held two more talks.

The KNU congress, held once every 4 years, elects its President, Vice
President, 45 Central Committee members (30 full and 15 candidate members.
Its day-to-day affairs are overseen by the 11-member Executive Committee.


INTERNATIONAL
_____________________________________

May 10, Agence France Presse
Canada calls on Myanmar to ensure "inclusive" national convention

Ottawa: Canada called on Myanmar's military government to ensure a planned
national constitutional convention including Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition
is "transparent and inclusive."

Foreign Minister Bill Graham said he was confident political developments
in Myanmar, also known as Burma, were moving "in the right direction"
towards democracy.

Graham told the House of Commons that the talks "to be effective, must be
transparent and inclusive and all parties have to be able to participate."

Canada was using diplomatic representatives in Myanmar and working through
international organizations to "put pressure on Burma to being democracy
to Burma," he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, is under house arrest in Yangon,
but analysts and senior members of her National League for Democracy hope
she could be freed before the convention opens May 17.

The NLD said last month it was almost certain to attend the convention,
the first step in the junta's self-described "roadmap to democracy", which
begins with the drafting of a new constitution and is billed as ending
with free elections.