BurmaNet News, July 14, 2004

[Editor]

July 14, 2004, Issue # 2516


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Hydro-powering the regime

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Hitmen target Burmese rights champion

DRUGS
AFP: Huge cache of heroin seized in southern Myanmar
AFP: China facing "severe" drugs situation

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Risking AIDS to Pay Back Debt

BUSINESS / MONEY
South China Morning Post: Security risks could be eased by Myanmar trade
links
Xinhua: Myanmar hotels to contest for ASEAN level status

REGIONAL
AFP: Indonesia wants Myanmar to act over suspected embassy bugging
Nation: Reforms in Burma: PM vows to pressure junta over Suu Kyi
People’s Daily: Chinese President meets Myanmar PM

OPINION / OTHER
Dictator Watch: KNU ceasefire with the SPDC


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

July 14, Irrawaddy
Hydro-powering the regime - Yuki Akimoto

Burma’s government has initiated a massive dam-building program. Yuki
Akimoto details the projects and examines the possible ramifications.

The military junta that rules Burma, the State Peace and Development
Council, or SPDC, has a strong predilection for hydro-power plants.
Council chairman, Sr-Gen Than Shwe, who hails from Kyaukse, through which
the Zawgyi River flows, is widely rumored to believe himself a
reincarnation of King Anawrahta (r. 1044-1077). The long-dead Pagan-era
monarch was a prolific dam- and canal-builder, particularly along the
Zawgyi, where he supervised the building of a series of weirs and canals
to atone for killing his foster-brother Sokka-te.

Ancient kings were not required to rationalize their decisions. Nowadays
the justification for damming rivers is electricity generation. The New
Light of Myanmar reported on April 28 this year that Than Shwe addressed
the National Electric Power Development Coordination Meeting and called
for more dams (the generals regularly call for more dams and other
projects as part of their “national development” effort).

For the rest of the article, please see http://www.irrawaddy.org/cover.html


ON THE BORDER
______________________________________

July 14, Irrawaddy
Hitmen Target Burmese Rights Champion - Kyaw Zwa Moe

Angry Thai factory owners are “out to kill me” says a Burmese labor leader
in Thailand

Mae Sot: Moe Swe must die! That’s the chilling message this outspoken
champion of Burmese workers’ rights in Thailand says is being put about by
angry Thai factory owners.

Moe Swe, 40-year old head of the Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, told
The Irrawaddy in an interview at his modest office in Mae Sot, the border
town in Thailand’s western Tak Province, that a bounty of 100,000 baht (US
$2,500) has been put on his head.

Moe Swe claims Thai factory owners, tired of his campaigning, secretly put
up the cash stake last December. Since then he and members of his Yaung
Chi Oo organization have been attacked by armed thugs and his office and
compound appears to be under malevolent surveillance.

None of this fazes Moe Swe. He’s been campaigning for political and
workers’ rights since graduating from Rangoon Institute of Technology in
1987 and joining the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, which he left
in 2000.

“We all know from the start that fighting for labor rights is really
dangerous,” says Moe Swe. “But we never think of giving up.”

For Moe Swe, that means campaigning tirelessly in support of the interests
of the 80,000 Burmese nationals who work in the Mae Sot area. Ninety-five
percent are employed in Mae Sot’s 200 garment factories; the rest work in
agriculture, on construction sites or as domestic help in private homes.

It’s estimated that more than 80 percent of Mae Sot’s garment factories
pay their Burmese workers less than Thailand’s minimum daily wage of 135
baht (US $3.40). Agricultural and domestic workers fare even worse and
many toil for as little as 50 baht a day.

For underpaid and exploited Burmese migrant workers in the Mae Sot area,
Yaung Chi Oo has become their main hope of redress. The organization was
founded in 1999 by Burmese student activists and migrant workers and
currently has about 700 members, 11 of them working as volunteers in its
Mae Sot headquarters. The office provides legal assistance, temporary
shelter, health care, help in obtaining employment and instruction on
workers’ rights.

The organization and its officials came under fire from factory owners
last year when hundreds of Burmese workers staged half a dozen
demonstrations demanding more money and better working conditions. Several
factories had to close temporarily, suffering losses estimated to run into
millions of baht. Many workers were summarily sacked.

The factory owners’ anger gave way to open intimidation, and last December
Moe Swe went into hiding after thugs toured the area asking for his
whereabouts.

After resuming work at his office in May he and colleagues fell victim to
brutal attacks, one of them involving a Danish staff member of a
Washington-based labor rights group, the Workers Rights Consortium. Moe
Swe and his Danish colleague, Bent Gehrt, were attacked around midnight on
May 14 in Mae Sot’s night market. Gehrt was stabbed in the abdomen. His
two attackers escaped.

The following night, a Yaung Chi Oo member was attacked by four thugs
after taking Gehrt to the bus station on his motorcycle. Four men followed
him with sticks on two motorcycles and knocked him off his vehicle. A
crowd intervened, but the attackers again escaped.

Also in May, a Yaung Chi Oo member and a Burmese worker were attacked at
night by a motorcycle gang of six men armed with knives and sticks. One of
the attacked men suffered head wounds and required hospitalization. Yet
again the attackers got away.

Moe Swe says suspected thugs are also apparently keeping watch at night on
the Yaung Chi Oo compound as part of the terror campaign.

Local police assured Moe Swe they were investigating the attacks and
intimidation. Human rights groups, including the National Human Rights
Commission of Thailand and the Thai Labor Campaign, are also pressing for
action to protect Moe Swe and other Yaung Chi Oo members.

Meanwhile, some progress has been made on the labor front. In March, for
instance, Thailand’s Labor Protection and Welfare Department in Tak
Province ordered Nasawat Apparel Co Ltd to pay more than 16 million Baht
(US $400,000) in compensation to 217 Burmese workers who had been fired in
December for striking in protest at the company’s failure to honor
contracts. But a court’s confirmation of the order is still necessary
before the compensation must be paid.

For workers who were fired or deported after taking part in
demonstrations, however, compensation agreements often come too late.
Nevertheless, Moe Swe derives satisfaction from the increasing awareness
among Burmese workers of their legal rights.

Ei Ei, 20, lost her job after joining a strike last December at the
factory where she worked. Until then she hadn’t even heard the expression
“workers’ rights”. Now, she says, “most workers have come to realize what
workers’ rights mean.” And she gives the credit for that to labor
organizations such as Yaung Chi Oo.

“Now workers in some factories are getting the legal minimum as a result
of just one demonstration,” she says. “That has to be a success.”

Ei Ei lives with about 40 Burmese immigrants at the Yaung Chi Oo “Safe
House”, in the organization’s Mae Sot compound.

About a dozen laid-off workers are employed on sewing machines at the Safe
House, which also helps others find jobs in the area. Health care is
provided by two Yaung Chi Oo clinics headed by a Burmese physician. One of
the clinics is funded by the International Rescue Committee, the other is
self-supporting.

Despite the small improvements and the care provided by Yaung Chi Oo, the
mood among Mae Sot’s Burmese migrants is somber. According to official
figures, 36 have died violently in sometimes macabre circumstances in the
past two years, and Moe Swe believes the real number is far higher—he
maintains at least one Burmese migrant is killed every week.

Thirty deaths were recorded in 2002, 17 of them a group of Burmese workers
slain in Tak Province. Their bodies were dumped in a local river. The
following month 13 Burmese nationals, including seven women and three
children, were murdered in the eastern Thai province of Prachinburi.

In May last year, six Burmese workers were shot and their bodies burned on
pile of tires in a bamboo forest at Huay Kalok village, Mae Pa, near Mae
Sot, reportedly because they couldn’t pay off local authorities.

Colleagues and friends fear Moe Swe might be the next statistic. “We will
get our compensation and he may be killed,” says Ei Ei sadly.


DRUGS
______________________________________

July 14, Agence France Presse
Huge cache of heroin seized in southern Myanmar

Yangon: Authorities have seized more than 500 kilos (1,100 pounds) of
heroin at a tiny coastal village in southern Myanmar in one of the biggest
hauls in the country for years, according to police and sources here
Wednesday.

The drugs were thought to have been stashed in a remote coastal village by
the crew of a fishing boat who had been hired to take the drugs out of the
country, a source told AFP.

The crew were supposed to take the drugs to a waiting ship but mutinied
over unpaid wages, hid the drugs then scuttled the boat and fled, sources
told AFP.

The drugs were found Friday in the village 380 miles (610 kilometres)
south of the capital.

"We are still in the process of investigating the case and do not want to
frighten off others involved," a high-ranking police officer told AFP when
questioned about the cache.

Myanmar is part of the Golden Triangle drug producing area which includes
parts of Laos and Thailand and is one of the world's biggest suppliers of
opium.

The United Nations said earlier this year that opium production in Myanmar
had been slashed by two-thirds since 1996, but booming trafficking in
methamphetamines remains a major concern.

______________________________________

July 14, Agence France Presse
China facing "severe" drugs situation

Beijing: China Wednesday acknowledged it faces a "severe situation" in its
fight to stop the spread of drugs, and called for better international
cooperation to tackle the scourge.

"We face a very severe situation in terms of narcotic control due to
international drug dealing rings," Yang Fengrui, chief of the narcotics
bureau at the Ministry of Public Security, told a press conference.

"The drugs mainly come from abroad, especially from the Golden Triangle
and that constitutes the biggest threat for us."

The Golden Triangle includes Laos and Myanmar and parts of Thailand.

Yang said that intravenous drug use was now responsible for 55 percent of
all AIDS cases in China, a growing problem in a country where AIDS is set
to explode.

"The fight against drugs is an international problem, it is very difficult
to win," he said, adding that 95 percent of heroin that enters China comes
from the Golden Triangle, mainly Myanmar.

China is aiming to strengthen cooperation with neighbouring countries and
is working with Central Asian nations to stem the trafficking of heroin
from Afghanistan, which produced up to 3,600 tons of heroin last year and
could produce as much as 4,000 tons this year.

It was also seeking to step up cooperation with Myanmar, whose Prime
Minister, Khin Nyunt, has just concluded a week-long visit to China where
drugs was a key topic of conversation.

Xinhua news agency said China and Myanmar had carried out 70 joint
anti-drug operations in recent years, demolishing 13 drug processing
factories and turning 41,000 hectares (101,270 acres) of opium fields to
other forms of produce.

While Myanmar is a key producer of heroin and opium, Yang said many of the
trafficking gangs were run by Chinese and many chemicals for the
manufacture of heroin in Myanmar came from China.

China currently has 1.05 million registered drug addicts.

Eighty-five percent are men with more than half unemployed people in urban
areas or farmers who have lost their land, Yang said.

In a bid to bring the problem into the public spotlight, Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao visited a drug rehabilitation center in June.


HEALTH / AIDS
______________________________________

July 14, Irrawaddy
Risking AIDS to Pay Back Debt - Shah Paung and Nandar Chann

Mi Mi, a 27-year old Burmese commercial sex worker in Thailand, told The
Irrawaddy that she is terrified of HIV/AIDS, though she’s not really sure
what it is.

Mi Mi (not her real name) has been working illegally in the sex industry
in Chiang Mai for just over one year to pay back a debt incurred after a
“job broker” in Burma who promised her work in Thailand deceived her. She
knows the work is risky, she’s heard of AIDS, but she doesn’t know how the
HIV virus is contracted.

“Our boss warned us not to have sex with clients who don’t want to use a
condom,” she said. “We must have a medical check-up every month.” The
brothel owner provides them with condoms, she added.

Poor and one of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants in Thailand, Mi
Mi cannot receive adequate medical treatment and has no idea how to
protect herself against the disease.

Several NGOs working on HIV/AIDS in Thailand reported that HIV infection
rates are highest in the north, such as in Chiang Mai Province. According
to Empower, a support group for prostitutes, there are over 200,000 total
sex workers in Thailand.

Mi Mi has sex with at least with three clients per day. The money she
receives—sometimes as low as 250 baht (US $ 6) per client—is split with
her boss; sometimes she receives nothing at all. Most brothel owners that
employ Burmese sex workers are Thai.

In Burma, Mi Mi worked in the hills of Shan State cultivating leaves of
the thanapet tree which are used for wrapping tobacco and herbs to make
cheroots, the Burmese cigarette. Shortly after bearing two children, her
husband left and never returned. To make ends meet, she found a broker who
told her that plenty of good jobs were available for Burmese women in
Chiang Mai.

Just over one year ago, she left her two children with her parents and
headed for Thailand, to work at the job arranged by her broker. But when
she arrived in Thailand, her broker, who promised her a “good” job, raped
and robbed her.

Mi Mi said that most of the women at her brothel were also brought there
by unscrupulous job brokers.

The women at the brothel are not allowed outside the premises—unless they
are going to sleep with a client. When they need to eat, a Thai worker
from the brothel goes to the market to buy their food.

Mi Mi wants to return to Burma, but after a year of working at the
brothel, she barely has enough money to support her two children.

“I heard about HIV/AIDS and I am so afraid of that. But I cannot quit this
job,” says Mi Mi. “I was feeling small because of this work. If I go back
to my home I don’t know how I can show my face to my community.”

“But when I can pay back all of my debt I will go back to my home and stay
with my family and never come back to Thailand,” Mi Mi said.

There are some 330,000 adults and children living with HIV in Burma,
according to the global HIV/AIDS report just released by the Joint United
Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Burma is among the worst afflicted countries in Southeast Asia for
HIV/AIDS prevalence rates, along with Cambodia and Thailand.


BUSINESS
______________________________________

July 14, South China Morning Post
Security risks could be eased by Myanmar trade links - Nailene Chou Wiest

Beijing: Relations between China and Myanmar are now under the spotlight
because of concerns over the mainland's energy security and the need for
shorter trade links from western hinterlands, analysts say.

Since energy security has jumped into the public consciousness, several
alternative supply routes have been plotted to bypass the Strait of
Malacca - through which 80 per cent of the mainland's supply of crude oil
now passes.

The straits region is plagued by pirates, causing concerns over the
security of oil supplies.

But some analysts are downplaying Myanmar as a potential route for crude
oil or natural gas to the mainland, as too much depends on the country's
political stability.

The mainland's development of its western regions has highlighted the need
to find shorter routes through which to bring goods to world markets. The
Irrawaddy River, running through Myanmar, provides a short cut from Yunnan
province to the Indian Ocean.

Li Chenyang , director of Southeast Asian Studies at Yunnan University,
said China's bilateral trade with Myanmar, though small in the context of
total foreign trade, was important for the development of the regional
economy in China's southwest.

He said China should move beyond importing natural resources from Myanmar
to helping the country build its infrastructure for faster economic
growth.

"Myanmar's overall economic development is beneficial for China," he said.

At the same time, increasing international pressure on Myanmar to improve
its human rights record - and to release opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi - is causing relations between China and its traditional ally to come
under increased scrutiny.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue urged the international community
to respect Myanmar's sovereignty and to foster a favourable environment
for the gradual introduction of democratic reforms.

Myanmar's Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt is in China for a seven-day
visit to boost economic ties and apprise China of his nation's progress in
drafting a constitution.

Last month, China and Myanmar started a limited free trade pact under the
Early Harvest Plan of the Asean-China Free Trade Area.

______________________________________

July 14, Xinhua News Service
Myanmar hotels to contest for ASEAN level status

Yangon: Myanmar has started scrutinizing its domestic hotels in
preparation for contesting in the designation of ASEAN-level hotel status,
a local news journal reported Wednesday.

Up to five-star grade is being basically prescribed for local private
hotels as an initial step for ASEAN-level competition, the 7Day quoted the
tourism authorities as saying.

Formal detailed discussions over designation of ASEAN-grade hotel status
will be held at an upcoming tourism meeting on marketing of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) scheduled for late August
in Thailand.

In the ASEAN Task Force meeting held in Myanmar's Taunggyi at the end of
last June, designation of uniform star-grade hotels in the regional member
countries was initially discussed.

A series of ASEAN task force meetings then, which also included those on
investment and manpower development, discussed progress of publishing
ASEAN map in Chinese language for market promotion of the regional tourism
industry, maintenance of ASEAN tourism website, information program for
the third phase of ASEAN tourism movement and implementation of regional
tourism agreements among others.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has launched tourism promotional campaigns in some
major Asian cities including New Delhi, Osaka, Tokyo, Singapore for
increased tourist arrivals.

Myanmar so far has 570 hotels with more than 17,200 rooms involving an
investment of about 583 million US dollars plus 33 billion kyats (about
41.2 million dollars), according to official statistics.

Tourist arrivals in Myanmar by air and by land totaled nearly 600,000 in
2003, while contracted foreign investment in the sector of hotels and
tourism has so far amounted to 1.06 billion dollars since Myanmar opened
to such investment in late 1988.


REGIONAL
______________________________________

July 14, Agence France Presse
Indonesia wants Myanmar to act over suspected embassy bugging

Jakarta: Indonesia wants Myanmar's government to take action following
"strong indications" that Jakarta's embassy in Yangon was bugged, Foreign
Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Wednesday.

"We ask that Myanmar takes corrective steps," Wirayuda was quoted by
Kompas online news service as saying.

He said Indonesia had already expressed concern that a fellow Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member would undertake such action,
which violated the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

The report gave no details of possible corrective steps.

"We have already issued a summons and have expressed deep concern,"
Wirayuda said, when asked whether Jakarta was considering tougher action
against the army-ruled state.

Myanmar's ambassador Kyaw Myint was summoned by the foreign ministry on
Tuesday to hear a protest. The military-ruled state denies bugging the
embassy.

Indonesian foreign ministry officials have said that there were strong
signs that telephone lines in the embassy were tapped after technicians
found them operating at only 29 watts, not the standard 50 watts.

Indonesian legislator Djoko Susilo has said Myanmar apparently wanted to
know the real position of Indonesia and other ASEAN members on the issue
of detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Indonesia on June 30 hosted the annual meeting of the group's foreign
ministers. Political developments in Myanmar were a major topic of that
meeting, with some countries seeking a tougher line against the junta.

______________________________________

July 14, The Nation
Reforms in Burma: PM vows to pressure junta over Suu Kyi

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday vowed to put pressure on
Burma's military junta to speed up democratic reforms and release
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thaksin told United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in a meeting
yesterday that he planned to meet junta chief Than Shwe and other generals
to talk about democratic reforms in the country, government spokesman
Jakrapob Penkair said.

'The prime minister told the UN secretary general that we have a special
arrangement for open dialogue with the Burmese leaders,' said Jakrapob.

'Burma has a collective leadership, one person cannot make a final
decision. So we need to see them all to get things done,' he added.

Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt will visit Thailand on July 3031 for a
meeting of leaders from South and Southeast Asia.

But Jakrapob said Thaksin might discuss the Burmese issue with the junta
in Rangoon after that meeting.

Jakrapob quoted Annan as saying that Thailand and the UN shared the same
ultimate goal when it came to Burma ' to see a stable and credible
government in place.

'In order to reach that aim, the UN trusts the Thai means of achieving
it,' he said.

Burma has been in a political deadlock since last May, when the junta
detained Suu Kyi after a bloody incident involving her supporters and
authorities in the north of the country. International communities have
failed to secure her released despite mounting pressure on the junta.

President Hu calls for closer cooperation with Myanmar

______________________________________

July 14, People’s Daily Online
Chinese President meets Myanmar PM

China hopes to further develop ties with Myanmar and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, said Chinese president Hu Jintao in his meeting
with visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt in Beijing

President Hu said China hopes to develop good-neighborly ties with Myanmar.

China's top legislator Wu Bangguo and a senior official of the Communist
Party of China, Luo Gan, also met with Khin Nyunt.

Both sides spoke positively of their bilateral ties and exchanged views on
such issues as border management and anti-drug cooperation.

Luo Gan said China is willing to join hands with Myanmar to seek methods
for promoting border management, improve cooperation, fight transnational
crimes and increase security.

These views were echoed by Khin Nyunt, who believes this kind of
cooperation is in accordance with the interests of both sides.

The Myanmar Prime Minister arrived in Beijing Sunday on a seven-day visit
to China.


OPINION / OTHER
______________________________________

July 12, www.dictatorwatch.org
KNU ceasefire with the SPDC

Contact: Roland Watson, roland at dictatorwatch.org

Dictator Watch has interviewed David Tharckabaw, Head of the Karen
National Union Information Department, about the status of the ceasefire -
and the related negotiations - with Burma's military dictatorship, the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

For the ceasefire itself, the conditions on the ground, the Burma Army is
still systematically committing Acts of War. These include the use of
forced labor, theft and extortion, the burning of villages, rape, and
murder.

The Burma Army is also building new camps and reinforcing its outposts,
and stockpiling supplies for its frontline troops. Roadbuilding and other
"development" activities, including non-sustainable logging and mining,
which use forced labor from forced relocation camps, continue as well. The
SPDC say these developments are part of its national plan.

They are actually designed to marginalize the Karen (and the other ethnic
nationalities including the Karenni and Shan), making them dispossessed in
their own homeland. Further, the Burma Army has recently started probing
KNU positions, searching for caches of food and ammunition, and burning
off fields.

Since the establishment of a verbal ceasefire last December, there have
been regular clashes. For the period December through the end of May,
there were 240 armed clashes. The Burma Army has also redirected some of
its troops from Karen areas and escalated its acts of war elsewhere,
notably in Karenni State.

Regarding the negotiations, for the Karen, and the rest of the people of
Burma, the best agreement would be a nation-wide cessation of conflict
with the Burma Army withdrawing to its major bases in the cities and
towns. This should be accompanied by the implementation of an
international monitoring mechanism - a multilateral or United Nations
peacekeeping force. The generals of the SPDC are not willing to accept
this. The KNU therefore called for the SPDC to withdraw to the towns and
cities and behind major roads in the areas with significant Karen
populations, including Karen State and Tenasserim Division. This would
create a substantial demarcation of forces - for which the KNU also want
an independent monitoring mechanism - and establish large areas in which
the local population would be free of abuse. The SPDC also rejected this.

The KNU submitted this position, for a demarcation of forces, at the first
talks in December and again at the second meeting in March. The SPDC
refused both times. Instead, they are demanding a "ceasefire in place,"
with no change of troop locations, and which they are already using to
expand and reinforce their own units.

The SPDC demanded that the negotiations be held inside Burma. The KNU
believe that an agreement can best be achieved in a neutral territory - in
another country – and with a transparent process including international
mediation. The SPDC rejected this. At the first negotiation session they
also refused to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. They are positioning
themselves as the "legitimate government" of Burma, and believe that such
a document would undermine this stance. This is also why they rejected an
international mediator: they are unwilling to cede any control.

The SPDC want to know the location of KNU units, and demanded the end of
recruiting and training. They are also demanding control over repatriated
refugees and internally displaced persons - that such individuals must
move to SPDC holding centers.

The KNU is negotiating for concrete terms to achieve a true and verifiable
ceasefire, rather than a limited non-aggression pact. This is the only way
to obtain an agreement that the SPDC cannot manipulate to its own
advantage, and which will free the local population from attacks and other
abuses by the Burma Army.

Regarding the SPDC's National Convention, the KNU was not invited, nor did
they ask to attend. Had they been invited, they would have said no. They
understand that the National Convention is stage-managed and that it has a
foregone conclusion, that the SPDC will never yield power to the people of
Burma.