BurmaNet News, June 29, 2004

[Editor]

June 29, 2004, Issue # 2506


INSIDE BURMA
Narinjara: Tuition Increases Lead to Decreased Enrollment in Arakan

BUSINESS
AFP: Hundreds of dealers gather as Myanmar seeks to stem gem smuggling
AP: Watchdog says SWIFT banking network lets Myanmar evade sanctions
FT: More foreign companies defy Burma opponents
Les Echos: Total, investigations into forced labour allegations continue

REGIONAL
AFP: ASEAN ministers to discuss Myanmar, new call to free Aung San Suu Kyi
mooted

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Patten says EU ready to discuss ties with Myanmar
AFP: EU executive gives eight million euros to Myanmar 'victims'

OPINION / OTHER
Nation: Asean still bogged down by Burma


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

June 29, Narinjara News
Tuition Increases Lead to Decreased Enrollment in Arakan

Akyab: Enrollment rates in different schools declined sharply in Arakan
state this year due to increased educational expenses, reported our
correspondent.

Under the present education system, admission fees for junior high school
students are kyat 7000, primary school fees are kyat 4000, and transfer
admission fees are kyat 10,000.

Still, these fees do not include the cost of books and other materials,
said the source.

An aggrieved parent told this reporter that ”at Akyab high school number
two, admission fees are kyat 7,000 per student. Besides, we have to donate
money to the school fund. In addition to that, we have to pay for books
and other educational materials.”

Because of this situation, the source added, the number of new student
enrollments is decreasing and the number of dropouts is increasing all
over Arakan state. Educational conditions in rural areas are rather worse.

An education officer of the education department in Akyab said, ”because
education has become very expensive, parents cannot pay and school
attendance rates are coming down.” In the government primary school of the
Kathi Wra quarter in Akyab, students attend school at an orphanage because
government-run schools are too expensive.

One teacher told us that one month after the reopening of schools after
summer vacation, the township education officer served a notice to
teachers demanding an explanation regarding the lack of student
attendance. Teachers could not give an explanation.
The education department is trying to increase school attendance by
posting advertisements to inform parents that enrollment day is Saturday.


BUSINESS
______________________________________

June 29, Agence France Presse
Hundreds of dealers gather as Myanmar seeks to stem gem smuggling

Yangon: Thousands of gems mined in Myanmar were going on sale here this
week in a move by the military junta to try to cut the smuggling of
precious stones from the country.

Some 750 gem dealers, the majority from outside of the country, were
expected in Yangon for the five-day sale of hundreds of stones designed to
bring in millions of dollars to the state, its mining partners and private
producers.

The regime already holds two sales a year of its renowned jade, sapphires,
rubies and other precious stones to try to control the trade but most
stones are smuggled out of the country, depriving the poverty-hit and
politically isolated country of much-need foreign revenues.

The regime has been hit by international sanctions over the ongoing
detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who won elections in 1990
but has never been allowed to rule.

Khin Oo, managing director of the state-owned Myanmar Gems enterprise,
said the sale was the first of its kind designed to boost sales for
private producers.

"We needed to augment the normal biannual sales for the benefit of local
gem producers who can now market their products more often instead of
having to hold on to them for long periods of time."

Myanmar has been trying to establish an international gem market of its
own but is still unable to compete with Thailand and Hong Kong, where the
bulk of the smuggled wares end up.

______________________________________

June 29, Associated Press
Watchdog says SWIFT banking network lets Myanmar evade sanctions - Grant Peck

Bangkok: A Belgium-based electronic banking network allows Myanmar's
military government to evade economic sanctions, a labor group charged
Tuesday, but the bank service said that the junta's membership in the
network violates no laws.

The SWIFT banking transaction network "allows the country's dictators to
make international financial transactions and profit from them," said the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, based in Brussels,
Belgium.

However the ICFTU provided no evidence of such transactions by the four
Myanmar government banks in the network, and Myanmar government officials
were not immediately available for comment.

SWIFT spokesman Evan Sellar said there was nothing wrong with Myanmar
being part of the network, although he did not say whether membership in
the network could be used by parties intent on circumventing sanctions.

SWIFT, a bank-owned Belgian cooperative with 7,500 member financial
institutions in 200 countries, facilitates money movements between
financial institutions.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been subject to economic and political
sanctions by the United States and other Western nations because of its
poor human rights record and the military's failure to hand over power to
a democratically elected government.
Washington's sanctions include a ban on U.S. banks carrying out almost any
financial transactions with Myanmar, effectively making it impossible to
conduct trade in U.S. dollars. They were announced last November when the
U.S. Treasury Department designated Myanmar and two of its private
commercial banks as being of "primary money-laundering concern."

Myanmar's government says it is combating money-laundering.

"Disturbingly, the Burmese military dictatorship is able to use SWIFT's
networks to evade the economic sanctions imposed on it by the
international community, particularly sanctions imposed last year by the
USA, which exclude, among other things, financial transactions to and from
Burma in US dollars," an ICFTU statement said.

Sellar said that SWIFT understands the arguments of the ICFTU, "but we
follow the law."

"There are no laws or resolutions in force today against Myanmar that
restrict connection of local (Myanmar) financial institutions to the SWIFT
network," he told The Associated Press.

Describing SWIFT as "an apolitical and user-owned organization," Sellar
confirmed that Central Bank of Myanmar, Myanma Foreign Trade Bank, Myanma
Investment and Commercial Bank and Myanma Economic Bank joined SWIFT in
March.

He said Myanmar had a banking system before it connected to SWIFT, and all
it is doing now is "changing the method or adding a method to transfer
financial information."

In any case, "a lot of banks would not enter into relationships with the
Burmese banks because by law or for ethical reasons they choose not to do
so," he said.

The Myanmar banks' membership, he said, "doesn't mean that by connecting
to SWIFT you automatically have access to the 7,500 banks on SWIFT. It is
up to the banks to decide if they want to do business with the Burmese
banks."

______________________________________

June 29, Financial Times
More foreign companies defy Burma opponents - Frances Williams

Geneva: The number of foreign companies doing business in Burma has risen
by 36 to over 400 in spite of international campaigns against them,
according to a report out today.

Foreign companies operating in Burma give succour to a military regime
that has one of the worst human rights records in the world, the
Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions says
today.

Among prominent additions to the union federation's annual list is
Belgium-based Swift, which has admitted four Burmese government-owned
banks to the Swift interbank transfer system. "The Burmese military
dictatorship is able to use Swift's networks to evade the economic
sanctions imposed on it by the international community," - such as the US
ban on dollar transactions - the ICFTU argues.

Earlier this month the International Labour Organisation said it would
again consider calling for sanctions against Burma, including withdrawal
of foreign direct investment, at the next meeting of the ILO governing
body in November.

Gross abuses of labour rights documented in an ILO report included the
conviction for high treason of three people accused of contacting the ILO
to pass on evidence of forced labour, and the continued widespread use of
forced labour on infrastructure projects. Children were still being
forcibly recruited into the army and there were examples of conscripted
porters being used as human minesweepers, the ILO report said.

The ICFTU says pressure on companies not to go into Burma is having some
effect, with very few planning new business operations there.

However, the ICFTU says Daewoo International, with Korea Gas, is planning
to operate and explore several new gas fields, which could dwarf the
Yadana fields operated by Total of France and Unocal of the US.

"The commercial exploitation of gas fields in Burma has traditionally been
accompanied by appalling human rights violations. Daewoo International
operations may unleash a new wave of forced labour," the ICFTU says.

For more info, please visit: http://www.global-unions.org/burma 
http://www.ilo.org/public/

____________________________________________________________________________

June 29, Les Echos
Total, Investigations Into Forced Labour Allegations Continue

The examining magistrate in charge of the investigation into allegations
that a subsidiary of French oil group Total used forced labour during the
construction of a gas pipeline in Myanmar, has reportedly refused to
follow the recommendation of a Nanterre court that the investigation be
dropped.


REGIONAL
______________________________________

June 29, Agence France Presse
ASEAN ministers to discuss Myanmar, new call to free Aung San Suu Kyi
mooted - Ahmad Pathoni

Jakarta: ASEAN foreign ministers during their meeting Wednesday will
debate a draft statement renewing calls for their most controversial
member Myanmar to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The draft urges the military-ruled state to free the pro-democracy leader
from house arrest, release members of her National League for Democracy
and include the party in a national convention which is drawing up a
constitution.

"(The ministers) emphasized the need for Myanmar to substantiate its path
to democracy and reconciliation by making the process more inclusive,"
said the draft, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

"In this regard, the ministers reiterated the need for the release of Aung
San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy members," it said.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said Tuesday that Aung San Suu Kyi is
"well."

"She has her own freedom," Win Aung said after talks with his Indonesian
counterpart Hassan Wirayuda. "What we are doing is for the good of the
whole nation. That's very important for us."

Asked if his government was frightened by Aung San Suu Kyi, he said: "No.
We're not locking her up. She's at home."

ASEAN foreign ministers at their annual meeting in Phnom Penh last year
urged Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi. An ASEAN summit last October in
Bali made a similar call but she remains under house arrest nine months
later.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell will seek action on Myanmar from the
Southeast Asian grouping during the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting on
Friday, a US official said.

"What he is going to do is to urge more action by ASEAN in believing that
we in the United States have taken a particular position on sanctions,"
Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner told AFP in Washington.

Craner did not say whether the United States would propose any specific
action.

ARF, the Asia-Pacific's main security forum, also includes the European
Union which has been vocal in calling for pressure on Myanmar's leaders.

A planned Asia-Europe Meeting summit in Hanoi in October is in doubt after
the European Union cancelled two ministerial meetings with Asian partners
because of a rift over Myanmar's attendance. The EU has a visa ban in
place against the regime.

M.C. Abad, an ASEAN spokesman, said the ministers would discuss the
Myanmar issue at a working dinner late Tuesday. The ministers from the
10-member grouping will officially start meeting on Wednesday.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said the issue was
still being "worked out."

"We have an ASEAN position already on that. We will review the
development, using those two positions (taken in Phnom Penh and Bali) as a
benchmark and see how we will respond," Natalegawa said.

He said later Tuesday that Win Aung agreed to brief the ASEAN ministers
about the Aung San Suu Kyi issue.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Myanmar had shown some
progress towards democracy despite the continuing detention of the
opposition leader.

"It can't be dismissed that there has been some progress, that they have
been able to convene a national convention. That is progress, although it
has not been enough to match our expectations," he told Tuesday's Jakarta
Post in an interview.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has
never been allowed to rule. Myanmar's national convention, which began on
May 17, has been boycotted by the democratic opposition and described as a
sham by international human rights groups.

______________________________________

INTERNATIONAL
______________________________________

June 29, Agence France Presse
Patten says EU ready to discuss ties with Myanmar

Singapore: The European Union (EU) does not want a dispute over Myanmar to
mar ties with Asia and is ready to improve relations with the country's
military regime, EU Commissioner Chris Patten said in remarks published
here Tuesday.

"We are ready to negotiate deeper bilateral relations with any state that
so wishes," Patten, the EU's Commissioner for External Relations, said in
a commentary in Singapore's Straits Times ahead of a major policy speech
here on Wednesday.

Patten is also scheduled to attend this week's annual meeting of Southeast
Asian foreign ministers and allies in Jakarta, where the fate of a planned
Asia-Europe summit in Hanoi in October will be one of the key issues.

He said that in Jakarta, "I suspect one matter in particular will occupy a
great deal of our time and collective frustration -- the struggle for
democracy in Myanmar."

"This is certainly an issue on which EU passions run high," he said.

"The spread and entrenchment of democracy and human rights is fundamental
to the EU's thinking and its relations with others," Patten said.

A bitter dispute over the participation of Myanmar and the EU's demand for
its 10 new members to join the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Hanoi is
threatening to scuttle the planned October summit in the Vietnamese
capital.

Two ASEM ministerial meetings due to be held in Europe before October have
already been scrapped, casting doubts on the viability of the summit
itself.

EU members have treated Myanmar as an outcast in an effort to force its
rulers to carry out political reforms and free pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

Patten said Asia itself "has its own champions" in the struggle for
democracy, citing recent elections in India, Malaysia, South Korea and
Cambodia as well as Indonesia's imminent first direct presidential polls.

"The contrast with Ms. Aung Sang Suu Kyi's unacceptable treatment at the
hands of the junta in Myanmar couldn't be more stark," he said.

The EU wants democracy to be given a chance in Myanmar and "we are
therefore prepared to take a bold stance in its defence," Patten said.

"However, this should not prevent our Asian partners from benefiting from
regular dialogue through ASEM with all 25 countries of the now enlarged
EU, and it must not be allowed to dampen our relationship with the whole
region."

______________________________________

June 29, Agence France Presse
EU executive gives eight million euros to Myanmar 'victims'

Brussels: The European Union's executive branch announced Tuesday aid of
8.1 million euros (9.8 million dollars) for "victims of the largely
forgotten crisis" in Myanmar, including for refugees in Thailand.

More than half of the European Commission's aid -- 4.65 million euros --
will support the estimated 140,000 Myanmar refugees living in camps over
the border in Thailand.

The money will notably be spent on staple foods, cooking fuel and clean
drinking water, the commission said in a statement.

The remaining 3.42 million euros, funnelled through aid organisations
working on the ground, will go towards health treatment, clean water and
child protection inside Myanmar itself.

The EU has tough sanctions in place against Myanmar's military regime, but
makes a distinction to allow humanitarian aid to continue.


OPINION/ OTHER
______________________________________

June 29, The Nation
Asean still bogged down by Burma - Don Pathan

Jakarta: Seven years ago, when Indonesia hosted the annual Asean
Ministerial Meeting, optimism tinged the air among regional bigwigs when
troubled Burma was admitted into the grouping. Despite warnings that the
military junta in Rangoon would stall further cooperation with its
dialogue partners, particularly Western countries who consistently condemn
the country's human and labour-rights violations, Asean insisted that it
had a mission to carry out. Besides, it was in line with the vision of the
grouping's founding fathers.

Seven years later, again in Jakarta, the fresh smiles of yesteryear have
been replaced by freeze-dried ones as senior Asean senior officials and
ministers prepare to meet their 13 dialogue partners, including staunch
critics of Rangoon - the European Union and the United States - in the
annual Asean Ministerial Meeting that kicks off today.

In line with tradition, military-run Burma is scheduled to take over the
Asean chairmanship in two years' time - a potential source of
embarrassment for the 10-member grouping. Burma has been sour point among
Asean members, as well as a source of tension between the grouping and the
EU following a rift over Rangoon's participation in the upcoming Asean
Europe Meeting in Hanoi that could very well be postponed if a compromise
is not reached soon.

Already two meetings of senior officials from the two sides have been
called off because of Burma's participation. But in Jakarta this week, one
can be sure that Asean, with home-court advantage, will raise the matter
and look for a way out.

Asean's 'outdated policy' of non-interference, said US Senator Mitch
McConnell, chairman of the powerful appropriation committee, should be
reconsidered and 'Asian leaders must recognise the regime for what it is -
wholly illegitimate to the people of Burma, the international community
and the region'. The regime's 'export of illicit drugs and HIV/Aids is,
literally, burying the children of Asia', said McConnell, who, along with
53 US lawmakers, recently sponsored legislation aimed at punishing Burma.

In Bangkok, where the government has opted to pursue a shortcut through
better Thai-Burmese relations by conveniently ignoring other aspects of
bilateral ties. Problems along the Thai-Burmese border, such as
overlapping claims and illicit drugs coming out of the Burmese sector of
the Golden Triangle, took a back seat as Bangkok tried to score political
points through initiatives that some said undermined others, including
those of the UN and Asean itself.

Diplomatic sources say Thailand's so-called Burma road map and the Bangkok
Process - an international meeting of like-minded countries - undermined
Indonesia's role as the chairman of the Asean Standing Committee.

Both items failed to generate any meaningful outcome as Burma gave the
cold shoulder.

Rangoon, meanwhile, is expected to brief its Asean partners at the Jakarta
meeting about 'positive' developments in the National Convention that was
shunned by the opposition National League for Democracy and labelled a
sham by much of the international community.

Whether Asean will be satisfied with the explanation remains to be seen,
but Burma, say Asean officials, probably won't lose sleep over any of
this. In the seven years since joining the regional grouping, what Asean
members want and what Asean members think doesn't seem to bother anybody
in Rangoon.