BurmaNet News, July 27, 2004

[Editor]

July 27, 2004, Issue # 2525


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Army orders Mon villagers to move
IPS: China covets Burmese forests
Kaladan: Bridges construction by forced labor in western Burma border

REGIONAL
Indian Express: Myanmar, India to talk rail link
Thai Press Reports: Registration of immigrant workers
Mizzima: We were not accused of arms smuggling: Nyi Nyi Lwin

INTERNATIONAL
Star Tribune: Baptists from Burma
State Times / Morning Advocate: Refugee families welcomed to Baton Rouge

OPINION / OTHER
WSJ: For Burma's sake, sanctions should continue


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

July 27, Irrawaddy
Army orders Mon villagers to move - Shah Paung

Burma Army troops have ordered several hundred villagers in northern Ye
Township, Tenasserim Division, to leave their homes by the end of the
monsoon season, said local residents by telephone today.

“We can say that this is like forcing the villagers to out so the army can
take their homeland without paying anything,” said Naing Non, a Du Yah
resident.

He added that the military government plans to build a hospital and a
building for military purposes on the vacated land. Army troops ordered
all Du Yah households, including those displaced by the directive, to pay
1,000 kyat for construction of the new buildings.

Over the last five days, more than 300 households from Du Yah village in
Mon State were told to find new homes near the village over the next three
months or so, before the dry season begins. The monsoon season ends around
late October.

Naing Non said military authorities have also confiscated several of the
villagers’ farms, rubber gardens and areca palm gardens. Many villagers
have started moving and looking for new homes and new land to farm. There
are more than 1,500 homes in Du Yah.
The Independent Mon News Agency, a Burmese language news service based in
the Thai border town of Sangkhlaburi, said military authorities have
refused the villagers’ pleas to help them find new homes.

______________________________________

July 27, Inter Press Service
China covets Burmese forests - Sonny Inbaraj

Forests in a critical watershed for the Salween and Irrawaddy rivers,
along the China-Burma border, are in danger of disappearing because of
corrupt deals brokered between wealthy Chinese businessmen, Burma’s ruling
military junta and cash-strapped armed Burmese insurgent groups.

The N’Mai Hku area lies between two of the world’s most biologically rich
and threatened environments—Indo-Burma and South Central China—and is part
of the Gaoligongshan mountain forest eco-region located on both sides of
the border between Burma’s Kachin State and China’s Yunnan Province.

The Nujiang River, also called the Salween, and the Dulong River, called
the Irrawaddy, flow through the N'Mai Hku region.

“Logging these mountain forests would destroy the watersheds, causing
disastrous flood-drought cycles similar to the one Yunnan experienced in
1998 that led the Chinese government to enact a logging ban,” said a
recent letter written by a group of conservationists, from the US to
Malaysia and the Philippines. The letter urged the Chinese government to
extend protection across the border by restricting logging operations in
this part of Burma.

In 1998, seasonal monsoon rains devastated vast swathes of China,
including parts of Yunnan, killing more than 2,000 people, destroying 2.9
million houses and ruining more than nine million hectares of crops across
the country.

While the Chinese are keen to protect their side of the mountains through
two national nature reserves—Nujiang Reserve and the Gaoligongshan
Reserve—nothing, however, restrains them from eyeing their neighbors’
forests.

This has resulted in Chinese companies carrying out large-scale,
unregulated logging and mining operations on the Burmese side.

China’s plans to dam the Salween—Southeast Asia’s second largest
river—have also drawn criticism from environmental groups in the region,
who say that Beijing is again showing little concern for downstream
countries that fear its adverse effects.

“Burma is resource rich but surrounded by resource hungry nations,” said
Jon Buckrell of the London-based Global Witness, which focuses on the
links between natural resource exploitation and conflict.

“Logging in the Kachin State is severe and chaotic, and it is clear that
local population has benefited little in economic terms,” added Buckrell.

Former ethnic insurgent groups that have agreed to ceasefires with Rangoon
since 1989 are also to blame for Burma’s environmental destruction.

“The ceasefire agreements have to be made public so that we would know
what was actually negotiated with the ethnic groups,” Buckrell said.

In what has become quite a desperate situation for the ceasefire groups, a
mixture of uncertainty and greed has sometimes led to a situation of
“natural resource fatalism”, whereby the justification to control and
liquidate natural resources is founded on the conviction that the natural
resources will in any case be lost.

A Global Witness report titled A Conflict of Interests: The Uncertain
Future of Burma’s Forests, released last July, reveals cases where Burmese
generals have granted logging concessions to Chinese logging companies in
areas previously held by the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA.

“In frontline areas Chinese logging companies paid local Burmese army
commanders for the freedom to operate in KIA areas undisturbed,” adds the
report.

According to Buckrell, these logging deals at N’Mai Hku area could not
have taken off the ground “without the blessings of Rangoon and Beijing.”

Forestry is one of the principle sources of legal foreign currency income
for the Burmese junta. In 2001 fiscal year the timber trade raised US $280
million, equivalent to about 11 percent of Burma’s foreign exchange
earnings.

A countrywide logging ban in China, on the other hand, has increased the
demand for Burmese timber.

Flooding exacerbated by deforestation caused damage amounting to US $36
billion in China in 1998. The Chinese authorities responded by imposing a
logging ban, and increased conservation efforts, including the protection
of the Gaoligongshan Mountains in Yunnan Province.

But Buckrell argues that China must explore the sustainable logging option
in the country for its future needs.

“What’s happening now is that they are looking at neighboring countries
for their supplies. What happens when timber from their neighbors run
out?” he asked.

On Burma, Global Witness says the unsustainable exploitation of forests
there can only be effectively addressed by engaging Burma’s ruling
military junta on a diplomatic level.

“But engagement does not amount to legitimizing the regime or condoning
what it does,” said Buckrell.

______________________________________

July 27, Kaladan News
Bridges construction by forced labor in western Burma border

Maungdawa: Nasaka (Burmese-Border Security Force) authorities are busy
with bridges construction by forced labor in Maungdaw north, Arakan State,
western Burma Border, according to a local villager of Bawli Bazar of
Maungdaw Township.

Since 3rd week of June 2004, about 500 indigeneous Rohingyas (Arakanese)
from different villages of Maungdaw north have been engaged with the
construction of bridges on the road, which is connecting from Ye Aung Tha
Phwai (Rani) to Kyien Chaung (Bawli Bazar) road, he further said.

 The villagers were ordered by Nasaka that the bridges should be completed
by the end of August 2004, while the 5 large and other culverts are being
constructed of cements, stones, wood and other materials, a youth from
Rani village while he visited his relatives in border area told our
source.

Five large bridges are being built at Latya Chaung (creek), Pa Da Kah Dai
Whan Ali Chaung (Deyal Toli), Wed Kiang Chaung (Wed Kyin), Ta Man Thar
Chaung (Shab Bazar) and Kyanug Na Phay Chaung (Mazir Para). All these
bridges would be built with 150 pillars of different sizes, which to be
provided by the Rohingya indigenous people who are living nearby villages,
the youth further added.

In fact, the SPDC authorities have already authorized to their
collaborators and Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) members for
these bridges construction. Of them Chit Maung and Kalu from Kamauk Seik
village are the main leading persons who received wages for workers from
concerned authorities to pay the villagers who were working at the
constructing site. But, these collaborators used the money for their
personal purposes with the cooperation of some Nasaka authorities. But,
the laborers have not received one of the Kyats, said a local
schoolteacher who refused not to write his name.

The collaborators informed deceitfully to the concerned authorities that
the villagers fully didn’t comply with their order to complete the
construction of the bridges. We (collaborators) have given the money to
the villagers who participated in the construction of bridges. So, we need
help from Nasaka to implement it. So, Nasaka forced the villagers for
forced labor to work in the constructing site, the schoolteacher more
added.

SPDC is responsible for these bridges construction as it is the main road
while the other paths and small roads were funded and completed by NGOs,
UNHCR and WFP, said a elderly villager.

When some villagers asked concerned Nasaka authorities appraising their
difficulties, they said,“ You are indigenous people of this area. So, it
is your duty and these roads and bridges are your properties. You should
take care of your works. For your services, government authorities have
paid to your village leaders for these bridges constructions. They
(village leaders) say that the money has been paid to you. If you don’t
receive, you can ask from them, but you should complete the works in
time.”

Due to continuous working, the villagers are facing various problems of
food, malnutrition, health and etc, the elderly villager further added.

When Gen. Khin Nyunt (the then Secretary-I and the present Prime Minister
of SPDC) visited the area on 7/8 of May 2004, some villagers from Kamauk
Siek village have requested to him for this road construction by the help
of government. General assured them the road would be constructed by the
state aid.

However, at present, the construction is going on, not by the state aid
but by the people’s forced labor that have been continuing since last many
years back.


REGIONAL
______________________________________

July 27, Indian Express
Myanmar, India to talk rail link

In a significant step forward to establish a South-East Asian rail link,
India and Myanmar are expected to discuss the revival of rail
communication between the two countries after Yangon has indicated to New
Delhi that it is willing to act as a strategic gateway to Far East. India
would be helping Myanmar in strengthening their rail tracks, converting it
from metre to broad gauge, supply passenger coaches, locomotives and
improve signalling systems. A nine-member high-level Myanmarese delegation
will hold discussions on the issue with senior officials from the
ministries of External Affairs and Railways, starting Tuesday. The
proposal, according to sources, is to develop a rail link from
Silchar-Imphal-Moreh-Tamu (Myanmar)-Kalemyo, where a railhead has recently
been developed. India's Border Road Organisation has already developed the
Moreh-Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo road in October 2000. This is in addition to a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Myanmar will sign for enhanced
cooperation between the two countries in modernising and upgrading their
railway network. India has agreed to extend a Line of Credit (LC) for US $
56 million to Myanmar for modernising their 5,000-km rail network, sources
said.

______________________________________

July 26, Thai Press Reports
Registration of immigrant workers

More than 700,000 illegal immigrants have registered with the government
over the past three weeks.

Most of them are Myanmar nationals, a senior government official said.

More than have a million Myanmar nationals have registered since the
process started at the beginning of the month, according to Sujarit
Patchimnun, Director-General of the Department of Provincial
Administration.

Of the 516,579 Myanmar nationals registered, 275,656 were men and 240,093
women.

A total of 105,276 Laotian immigrants, 44,724 men and 60,552 women, have
registered and 88,695 Cambodians, 56,329 men and 32,366 women, Mr. Sujarit
said.

Most of the immigrant workers registered in Bangkok, the northern province
of Chiang Mai, and the northern province of Tak.

As part of the government's strategy to tackle the problem of illegal
immigrants, the authorities have allowed employers of illegal foreign
workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia to register them before the end of
July.

______________________________________

July 27, Mizzima News
We were not accused of arms smuggling: Nyi Nyi Lwin

Bangladesh police arrests and interrogations were not for suspicion of
arms smuggling said Nyi Nyi Lwin, assistant director of Arakan National
Council to Mizzima News yesterday.

"We were investigated under section (54). Intelligence officers made
inquiries with Burma to find out whether we are holding fake passports.
They are further investigating to find out whether Dr. Khin Maung is a
Bangladesh citizen or Burmese citizen," said Nyi Nyi Lwin via telephone.

The Bangladeshi authorities had been falsely informed by the Burmese
military intelligence agents from the Burmese embassy in Bangkok that the
two Arakan leaders were holding fake Burmese and US passports, said a
statement issued by the Arakan National Council on 26 July.

With the intervention of the US embassy and the international community,
Nyi Nyi Lwin, who is a US citizen, was deported to the United States on 21
July, but Dr Khin Maung, President of National Unity party of Arakan or
NUPA, who is married to a Bangladeshi citizen, is still under detention.

Burmese pro-democracy groups based in Bangladesh believe that the recent
increased trade ties between Bangladesh and Burma account for the
Bangladeshi authorities' zeal to cooperate with the Burmese military
dictatorship.

When asked about the situation of Dr. Khin Maung's release, Nyi Nyi Lwin
said, " He will be freed. I think he will probably be freed. But it might
take sometime. Because though he had been in Bangladesh for (17) years,
and holds a Bangladeshi passport, he has not applied formal citizenship.
He has not applied because he was so busy with party affairs; in fact, he
had not thought that it would turn out to be like this."

"The Bangladesh government once supported Dr. Khin Maung. NUPA would not
grow to this extend with out the support of the Bangladeshi authorities.
The Bangladeshi authorities had been the main supporter. But now it is
different. Bangladeshi authorities are joining hands with the SPDC to
build gas pipelines. They are also planning for an Asian highway project,
which means their relations growing warmer, and when their relations grow
warmer, the Bangladesh authorities are cracking down on Burmese
pro-democracy groups. As Dr. Khin Maung is one of the key persons in ANC
and is internationally well-known figure, it seems the SPDC had pressured
the Bangladesh authorities to arrest him," he added.

There is also great concern over the health condition of Dr. Khin Maung,
who is suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.

In the statement, Nyi Nyi Lwin said that during his detention they were
handcuffed and blind folded for up to 24 hours. He was interrogated
several times a day and placed in a celled with 5 military personnel who
monitored his every movement for 24 hours a day for 10 days.

Both of them were placed before Chittagaon court on 18 July and while Nyi
Nyi Lwin was ordered to be deported to the United States, Dr. Khin Maung
was remanded for another 15 days of interrogation.
"That was really a nightmare," said Nyi Nyi Lwin.

"I would like to heartily thank the international community who have
tirelessly worked hard for my freedom. I am still committed for democracy
and justice in Burma and the rights of my beloved Arakan people," he
continued.


INTERNATIONAL
______________________________________

July 24, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
Baptists from Burma - Matt McKinney

Among the refugees coming to the Twin Cities from Southeast Asia are Karen
ethnic members. And they bring with them a Christian heritage that came to
their homeland from the West in the early 1800s.

It had come to a desperate moment for missionary Adoniram Judson.

Young, married and halfway around the world from his Massachusetts home,
he had landed at his chosen destination of India only to learn that the
East India Company wanted him out.

The year was 1812 and missionaries, especially Americans, were seen merely
as unwelcome meddlers.

It had been a troubling reception because while en route to the Far East,
Judson had converted to a new faith, severing ties with his
Congregationalist sponsors. He could not turn to them now for a new
posting.

Leaving his church in favor of one he did not yet know had seemed like a
manageable risk when he was aboard the ship, when in an inward-looking
moment he found that the Baptist teachings he carried as reading material
more closely resembled his idea of missionary work.

Jobless, without a sponsor and about to be kicked out of Asia, Judson and
his wife were preparing to sail back to England when they learned of
another boat sailing to a place they had never imagined visiting: Rangoon.

They took it.

That fumbling bit of history launched a mission to Burma that, nearly 200
years later, claims thousands of Baptist followers amid the predominantly
Buddhist nation now known as Myanmar.

Judson's legacy took on added dimensions this year when the U.S. State
Department announced in January that it would allow 4,000 people living in
Thailand who had fled political persecution in Burma to come to America.

About 300 of them, mostly from an ethnic minority known as the Karen, are
expected to resettle in Minnesota this year.

Parishoners at a Baptist church in downtown St. Paul have spent the summer
welcoming the descendants of Judson's converts.

"It's just been a remarkable impact on the church," said the Rev. Bill
Englund, pastor at First Baptist on Wacouta Street. "It's the thing that's
on the front burner here now. We don't know exactly how to respond to it,
except that a lot of people at the church believe it is mission that has
come to our door."

The church has for the past few years been a center for the Karen
community in Minnesota, estimated at less than 500 since the families
began arriving four or five years ago. A third of the church's 160 regular
members were Karen before this summer's arrivals, said Englund.

"In June we were introducing 20 to 30 new people to the church every
week," he said. "There are some people that are looking around and saying,
'Is this becoming a Burmese church? There are some people who have entered
into quite meaningful relationships. It's threatening to me to think how
can we make the worship service meaningful?"

The Sunday service includes Karen songs and a reading in the Karen
language, and special classes offered at the church have taught new
arrivals how to adapt to American life.

"The thing that's happened here at First Baptist is that there's such a
sweet spirit about many of these people," said Englund. "Many times people
will give open testimony in church about how God has provided for them,
even now how God has led them to this place," said Englund.

Joel Luedtke, director of refugee services for the Minnesota Council of
Churches, helped some of the first Karen families resettle in Minnesota
four years ago. He said the Karen have strengthened First Baptist.

"They essentially came to that congregation at a time when they were
struggling in some ways, losing membership. I think there might have been
growing pains along the way but in some ways they have revitalized that
congregation," he said.

A quiet church service in St. Paul is welcome change for many of the
arriving families. The Karen have warred off and on with the repressive
Burmese regime since the end of World War II. Sporadic fighting continues
in some areas between the Burmese Army troops and the Karen National Union
(KNU), one of the main rebel factions, according to a report from Human
Rights Watch issued this year.

Some of St. Paul's Karen community include high-ranking members of the
KNU, such as Saw Josiah, who was on the KNU's central committee. He's now
co-chair of the Minnesota American Karen Society, which recently
celebrated its third anniversary helping other Karen families.

"We have 41 families here now," he said. "Our group right now is very busy."

"It's been difficult," said Saw (Rocky) Kaw Khu, who owns a house on St.
Paul's East Side. "I think this is much easier for the job, but housing
was very difficult when we first arrived," he said.

The Karen have found help from Lao Family, a nonprofit organization in St.
Paul that was originally formed to help arriving Hmong refugees. Local
resettlement agencies including World Relief, the International Institute,
Lutheran Social Service and the Minnesota Council of Churches have
sponsored some of the families.

Danny Loo, the former intelligence chief for the KNU and a veteran of
dozens of battles, arrived in Minnesota two months ago with his family
after a year of living illegally in Bangkok.

The Thai government has not officially recognized the Karen living in
Thailand as refugees, and in some cases have deported them back to
Myanmar.

"All of the Karen in Thailand were living like this," said Saw Kaw Khu.
"Compared with the life there, this [in America] is the real freedom. Like
here he can wear his dress, the Karen costume, but in Thailand you can't
do that. You can't even speak your language, you have to pretend to be
Thai."

[Negotiations late last year between the Myanmar government and the Karen
National Union, one of the main rebel factions, led to a verbal agreement
on a cease-fire. The talks have stalled recently, however, and no new
discussions are scheduled concerning the return of Karen families
currently living in unofficial refugee camps in Thailand, according to the
U.S. State Department.

The camps are home to about 140,000 refugees from Myanmar, and this year's
resettlement has been viewed by some as a precursor to a larger exodus of
the refugees if they are not allowed to return to their home villages.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said no such plans have been
agreed to yet.

That a church in St. Paul came to be at the center of this story doesn't
surprise Englund as much as remind him of his church's history. His own
Baptist upbringing was filled with stories of Burma because his pastor had
formerly worked there, he said. Englund said he finds some parallels even
to the story of First Baptist, which was founded in 1849 by a group of
missionaries that included Harriet Bishop.

And, of course, Judson.

"When these people came as refugees, many of them had come with this
reverence for Judson and a strong Baptist belief. Some of them coming were
more Baptist than we were.

"That's affected us with an appreciation for people who have gone out on
mission."

______________________________________

July 24, Saturday State Times/Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
New Beginnings; Refugee families welcomed to Baton Rouge - Heath Druzin

Baton Rouge Metro Airport offers no direct flights out of the country, but
Friday evening it had a distinctly international flavor, the baggage claim
area abuzz with Thai, Arabic and Farsi.

Three families, two Afghan and one Burmese, arrived in Baton Rouge looking
to start a new life.

There to greet them were employees and volunteers from Catholic Community
Services, a charity group that helps refugees settle into life in Baton
Rouge.

The families were the first of seven that the charity will help settle in
Baton Rouge in the coming weeks. The other families are from Ethiopia and
Liberia.

As passengers filed out of the plane carrying 34-year-old Hser Eh and her
three small children, who fled Myanmar three years ago, about 15 people
waited to greet them.

Ann Selleck, a volunteer with Catholic Community Services, stood nervously
with flowers in her hand.

"It's not been that long since our ancestors came (to America)," she said.
"I'm Irish and they chose to come here; (these refugees) came because they
were forced out by war. I'm just trying to make it as easy as possible for
them."

As Eh and her children got off the plane, they were surrounded by
volunteers speaking to them through an interpreter.

A few minutes later, in the baggage claim, the Ehs were joined by two
large Afghan families also looking to start anew in Baton Rouge.

After brief introductions to the Catholic Community Services
representatives, the Ehs were taken to their new home, a two-bedroom house
off Florida Boulevard.

For Eh and her children it was the completion of a journey that started
three years ago when they fled Myanmar for a refugee camp in northern
Thailand.

Speaking Thai through an interpreter, Eh said she left Myanmar with her
children when Burmese authorities began killing people in her town three
years ago.

Since then, she said, she has been in the refugee camp but had to leave
because she did not have proper identification.

Waiting for her in Baton Rouge Friday was a fully furnished house, with
food in the refrigerator, toys for her children and a hot meal on the
table.

After saying a prayer in her native language of Karen, Eh and her children
ate the rotisserie chicken and noodles Catholic Community Service members
had prepared.

With her boys in the living room putting together a puzzle and her
daughter beaming and clutching a doll and stuffed animal, Eh said her home
was far from what she experienced in the refugee camp.

"I could not believe when I saw the house that everything was prepared for
me," she said through an interpreter. "I've never had anything like this
when I was in Thailand."

Carol Spruell, project specialist at Catholic Community Services, said her
group will let Eh and her family rest during the weekend and then help
familiarize them with the city on Monday.

Spruell and her colleagues will enroll Eh and her children in English
classes, help Eh look for a job and show her how to sign up her children
for school.

Spruell said her group helps people in need regardless of religious
affiliation and does not convert them.

She added that her group does not ask about their clients' faith.

"We don't do this because they're Catholic, we do it because we're
Catholic," she said.

Spruell said she has gotten mixed reaction about the refugees and that
people still call assailing her group for helping foreigners move to Baton
Rouge.

Diane Chisholm, the charity's director of migration and refugee services,
points out that the families are coming as part of a United Nations
program in which the United States participates.

"They've been invited by the president of the United States to come," she
said.


OPINION / OTHER
______________________________________

July 26, The Wall Street Journal
For Burma's sake, sanctions should continue

In regard to the July 19 editorial-page commentary "Are Sanctions Evil?"
by Michael Judge, concerning the economic sanctions imposed against the
Burmese military regime by the United States:

The National League for Democracy, which obtained the mandate of the
people through a landslide victory in 1990 general elections, called for
the sanctions to be imposed, and a majority of Burma's people support
them. We regard sanctions as a strategic tool to bring about democratic
change in Burma, and it complements the organized mass action of the
Burmese people and diplomatic initiatives of the U.N. Sanctions are a
means of pushing the regime to the negotiation table to find a political
settlement with democratic forces and begin a national reconciliation
process.

The Burmese regime can't survive for long without having economic and
trade relations with the outside world. We have already seen that U.S.
sanctions and other economic measures, including grass-roots campaigns
like consumer boycotts, are having an impact on the regime's economy. Many
corporations invested in Burma have gradually withdrawn. According to the
U.S. Campaign for Burma, 80 U.S. corporations have withdrawn during the
period 1988-2003. Foreign direct investment has been declining rapidly.
According to Xinhua news, foreign investment in Burma dropped 10.7% in the
first three quarters of 2002 compared with the same period of 2001. The
Burmese economy is in a fragile state and the regime has been struggling
by selling resources such as timber at cheap prices to neighboring
countries.

We believe economic sanctions have more impact on the regime than they do
on the people since the regime is getting most of the benefit of foreign
trade and investment. Burma still has a state-monopolized,
military-command economy. Major sectors -- foreign-currency-earning
sectors such as resource exploitation and export of raw materials,
forestry and marine products -- are monopolized by the regime or the Union
of Myanmar Economic Holding Co., exclusively owned by the Ministry of
Defense. Foreign entrepreneurs willing to invest in Burma have no other
choice except to enter into joint ventures with them. The regime is
spending more than 40% of the budget on the military while spending on
health care and education is one of the lowest in the world at under 1% of
the budget.

A majority of Burmese are poor. More than 60% live in rural areas and
survive with staple crops and basic consumer products from neighboring
countries obtained through barter trade. We applaud the renewal of the
Burma Freedom and Democracy Act and appreciate the solidarity extended by
the American public.

Thaung Htun
Representative for U.N. Affairs
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
New York