BurmaNet News, July 29, 2004

[Editor]

July 29, 2004, Issue # 2527

INSIDE BURMA
AP: New burden riles Myanmar students: a dress code
Xinhua: Myanmar strengthens ties with neighboring countries
Irrawaddy: KNU to Resume Ceasefire Talks with Junta

BUSINESS / MONEY
Accountancy Age: E&Y off Burma blacklist

REGIONAL
DJ: Myanmar PM to visit Thailand for two-day regional summit

INTERNATIONAL
FEER: America ups HIV/Aids aid to Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Boston Globe: The Democrats in Burma

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
FT: Sanctions against Myanmar exert pressure on regime

COMMENTARY
Bangkok Post: By what criteria are we Buddhist?


INSIDE BURMA
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July 29, Associated Press
New burden riles Myanmar students: a dress code - Aye Aye Win

Yangon: University students in Myanmar, long accustomed to political
restrictions under their military government, are chafing under a new
burden: a dress code.

Educational authorities recently introduced new rules calling for students
to wear uniforms on campus, although no public explanation was offered for
the move.

The uniforms are variations on traditional Myanmar outfits, using a
longyi, a type of sarong.

"We were told by our lecturers that by Aug. 16, we must wear only a
Myanmar longyi with a Myanmar traditional jacket, and boys will have to
wear white shirts and Myanmar longyis," a 21-year-old student of the
foreign language institute said this week.

Like most people in Myanmar who speak to the press, she asked not to be
named.

Those not wearing the prescribed garb are barred from entering their
campuses.

"This is violation of our rights," said a 22-year-old computer science
student. "We are grown-ups attending universities and colleges and we have
the right to wear what we choose."

Most people in devoutly Buddhist Myanmar, including students, have
conservative social attitudes and dress accordingly.

But more liberal Western influences, brought in through tourists and
trade, have become apparent in recent years, especially in the capital
Yangon.

Some universities have introduced uniforms of a specific design and color,
to be worn three days a week.

Other universities only tell their students to wear a traditional longyi,
while banning T-shirts and jeans, and tank-tops and skirts for women.

"Many universities abroad have their own uniforms to show their respective
identities, so it's no big deal for me," said another computer science
student. "I can wear it with no complaint."

But a 24-year-old engineering student said he didn't like wearing a
uniform "because authorities can easily identify us if there is any
student protest."

A lecturer at a university in eastern Yangon said more than 90 percent of
students are now wearing traditional longyis.

"I am happy to see Myanmar students wearing traditional dress," she said.
"They look smarter."

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July 29, 2004, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar strengthens ties with neighboring countries

YANGON -- Myanmar, faced with Western pressure, has paid increased
attention to developing better ties with neighboring countries in recent
months and scored rich achievements.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua early this month on its active and
independent foreign policy, Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Aung declared
Myanmar, bordering Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Thailand, wishes to
develop friendly ties with all countries in the world, especially those
neighbors.

In April this year, Myanmar Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt selected
Bangladesh as his first trip abroad after he assumed the premiership in
August last year to boost the two countries' bilateral ties.

During the visit, Myanmar and Bangladesh signed three memorandums of
understanding (MOU) on cooperation in agriculture, establishment of road
links and mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and official
passports.

The visit was highlighted by the laying of a foundation stone to build the
133-kilometer (km) Myanmar-Bangladesh Friendship Road. The road, designed
to link Dhaka to the Asian Highway network, includes 36 km in Bangladesh
and 97 km in Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the first meeting of the two countries' Joint Trade Commission
early this week produced a technical protocol on coastal sea-borne trade.

Thailand, with which Myanmar has closer economic and trade ties, stands in
a more important position as far as Myanmar is concerned.

In Myanmar's efforts to enhance its bilateral relations with Thailand,
Khin Nyunt paid a one-day working visit to the neighbor in early June as
part of his regional tour to members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) .

The prime minister's visit has prompted Thai entrepreneurs' engagement in
the development of three industrial zones in Myanmar 's border areas
opposite to Thailand.

Meanwhile, the two countries' enhanced relations brought about Thailand's
July offer to Myanmar of a 12-year loan of 4 billion bahts (100 million US
dollars) for purchasing Thai goods and services for use in road and
infrastructural improvement.

Myanmar will soon allow export goods of Thailand to transit through the
country in the latter's trade with third countries such as China, India
and Bangladesh, all of which Myanmar has direct border links.

Earlier this month, Khin Nyunt successfully paid an official goodwill
visit to China, enhancing further the two countries' traditional
friendship and trade and economic cooperation. The visit produced 11
agreements and MOUs on agriculture, industrial, mines, energy, electric
power and communications sectors.

Moreover, the two countries stressed the promotion of cooperation in
ensuring prevalence of law and order in border areas, and in the fight
against drugs.

Two days after the end of Khin Nyunt's trip to China, Myanmar Foreign
Minister U Win Aung paid a visit to India last week, his first visit to
the country since the new Indian government came into being. The visit has
not only further strengthened the two countries' political ties but also
their trade and economic cooperation as well.

The visit of Myanmar Minister of Rail Transportation Major- General Aung
Min to New Delhi this week has generated an MOU on India's provision of a
line of credit worth over 56 million dollars for upgrading the
Yangon-Mandalay rail transportation.

Other technical aid recently offered by India includes upgrading of port
facilities and expansion of crude oil refinery of Myanmar.

Under India's "Look-East" policy, observers here believe that
Myanmar-India relations will remain unaffected despite a recent change in
the Indian government.

Meanwhile, Myanmar-Laos relations were strengthened by Lao Deputy Foreign
Minister Phongsavath Boupha's visit to Yangon last week. He was received
by Khin Nyunt.

The two countries are planning to build a bridge crossing the Mekong River
to link them under the Greater Mekong Subregion economic cooperation
program.

Observers believe that the good neighborly policy adopted by Myanmar would
not only benefit the country itself and its neighbors but also contribute
to the stability and development of the region.

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July 29, Irrawaddy
KNU to Resume Ceasefire Talks with Junta

The Karen National Union, or KNU, Burma’s largest armed ethnic insurgent
group, will resume ceasefire negotiations with the Burmese military next
month, said one of the group’s leaders.

David Taw, head of the KNU foreign affairs committee, said the two sides
would meet in the third week of August for the fourth round of
negotiations to end more than a half century of armed conflict, but he did
not give a specific date or location.

He also said the KNU has not yet selected its delegates to negotiate with
Burma’s military leaders, but hinted that he favored those who took part
in the previous three rounds of peace talks, which began last December.

KNU deputy chairman and defense chief Gen Bo Mya led a delegation to
Rangoon for the second round of talks in January, when a “gentleman’s
ceasefire” was agreed. According to the Karen Information Center, however,
Burmese and KNU soldiers have engaged in armed battle more than 200 times
since negotiations began late last year. Bo Mya returned to his home in
Mae Sot, on the Thai-Burma border, last week after spending more than two
months in a Bangkok hospital. He is not expected to attend the talks in
August.

David Taw, who took part in previous ceasefire talks, said negotiations
have been slowed by the unresolved issues of territory demarcation and
internally displaced people, of which there are an estimated 200,000 in
Karen State.

The KNU has been fighting the central government in Rangoon since 1949.


BUSINESS / MONEY
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July 29, Accountancy Age
E&Y off Burma blacklist - David Rae

Big Four firm Ernst & Young has been removed from a 'dirty list' of
businesses that operate in the military dictatorship of Burma.

The firm's UK chairman Nick Land wrote to the Burma Campaign last week to
confirm that the company had no obligations or relationships with any
organisations in the state now known as Myanmar.

Mark Farmaner, spokesman for the campaign, said that E&Y's removal from
the list meant that none of the Big Four accounting firms now operates in
the region. This is the second time E&Y has been approached by the
campaign to pull out of Burma.

E&Y had been included on the list because it referred clients to a firm of
accountants in the war-torn country - U Tin Win Group. This, according to
Land's letter, is no longer the case.

Land went on to praise the work of the Burma Campaign, saying E&Y 'shares
the disgust with the regime in Burma and applauds your efforts' in
bringing public attention to the cause.


REGIONAL
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July 29, Associated Press
Myanmar PM to visit Thailand for regional talks

Yangon: Myanmar's prime minister will fly to neighboring Thailand to
attend a summit of leaders from seven South and Southeast Asian countries,
state media reported Thursday.

Gen. Khin Nyunt is scheduled to fly to the Thai capital Friday to attend
the two-day meeting of BIMST-EC, or the Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation forum, the Myanma Ahlin daily
reported.

The group, which was founded by Thailand in 1997 and aims to promote
economic cooperation, also includes Bhutan and Nepal.

Khin Nyunt planned to meet with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on
the sidelines of the summit, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The BIMST-EC summit was put off in February because then-Indian Prime
Minister Atal Vajpayee was busy with national elections. India's current
prime minister, Manmohan Singh, is scheduled to attend the Bangkok talks.

Khin Nyunt was appointed prime minister by Myanmar's ruling military last
August. He postponed an introductory tour of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in
June because of unspecified domestic obligations, but has rescheduled the
trip for August 9 to 10, the diplomat said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current regime
seized power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising.


INTERNATIONAL
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August 5, Far Eastern Economic Review
America ups HIV/Aids aid to Burma

Despite its economic sanctions against Rangoon, the United States is
considering doubling its aid to help HIV/Aids victims in Burma to $2
million in the fiscal year that begins on October 1. U.S. officials say
the aid would be delivered through non-governmental organizations working
in Burma rather than through the military government. Washington is
considering the move because officials worry that Burma is on the brink of
a major HIV/Aids epidemic. With strong support from both Republican and
Democratic Party politicians in the U.S. Congress, President George W.
Bush on July 7 reimposed for another year stiff economic sanctions against
Burma in an effort to press the ruling junta to free democracy campaigner
Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and move toward greater democracy.


OPINION / OTHER
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July 29, The Boston Globe
The Democrats in Burma

Delegates caught up in the effervescence of the Democratic National
Convention might pause to consider the plight of fellow democrats in
Burma, who are thrown in jail by a military junta that colludes in drug
trafficking and forced labor while holding Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

The situation in Burma may suggest principles for a Democratic foreign
policy, one that might enable a Kerry administration to undo some of the
damage to America's position in the world done by the Bush administration.

John Kerry has a formidable roster of foreign policy advisers to draw
upon, and at a forum yesterday sponsored by the National Democratic
Institute in Cambridge, luminaries such as Richard Holbrooke, William
Perry, and Gary Hart promised a new era of rebuilt alliances, multilateral
diplomacy, and an escape from dependence on foreign oil. But the failure
to mention Burma in the Democratic Party platform does nothing to hearten
the people of Burma, who look to Americans for democratic solidarity.

What Suu Kyi and her colleagues need is precisely what would help the
United States overcome its sad situation as a lone superpower that others
scorn and resent. Suu Kyi has never advocated military intervention. She
and her party, the National League for Democracy, have been asking only
that other countries continue to apply economic sanctions and diplomatic
pressure on the junta.

Suu Kyi's party won 80 percent of the contested seats in 1990
parliamentary elections, but the rulers have disregarded the results.
Burma's democrats want a genuine dialogue leading to a restoration of
legitimate representative government in their country.

This year the US Senate by a vote of 97 to 1 and the House by 373 to 2
backed a renewal of sanctions, and President Bush signed an import ban
earlier this month. The overwhelming support for sanctions aimed at
achieving a peaceful transition to democracy in Burma suggests the
potential of a US foreign policy based on universal human rights.

The United States might start by encouraging the European Union and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations to demand that Burma's ruling
generals allow Suu Kyi and her fellow democrats to resume political
activity. At present, ASEAN faces the humiliating prospect of seeing the
Burmese junta occupy the rotating leadership of the association in 2006.
The EU will shame itself if it does not carry through on its threat to
boycott meetings with ASEAN unless the junta permits democracy in Burma.

A Kerry adminstration that wishes to revive respect for the United States
will act with allies to preserve solidarity with Suu Kyi.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

July 29, Financial Times
Sanctions against Myanmar exert pressure on regime - Charlie Robertson

Letters to the editor

Sir, Jeffrey Sachs writes of a "long saga of failed sanction regimes
against Cuba, Haiti and Iraq" and argues that sanctions against Myanmar
should be lifted ("Myanmar: sanctions won't work", July 28).

It is bizarre to cite Iraq in this list, as sanctions did work to achieve
the goal of Iraq dismantling its weapons of mass destruction. Equally,
sanctions worked in Libya to encourage that regime to dismantle its WMD
programme. This leaves aside the more obvious successes of sanctions
against the apartheid regime of South Africa, or indeed the trade
restrictions imposed by the west on the communist bloc which contributed
to the collapse of communism in eastern Europe.

Sanctions against Myanmar achieve two goals. First, they provide
incentives for the Myanmar regime to give up power (if they truly cared
for the well-being of their people, as Prof Sachs appears to believe, they
would do this today). Second, to other countries in the region the message
is that to sustain wealth creation via trade with the west and investment,
political elites should stick with democracy even if this means losing
power.

Charlie Robertson

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COMMENTARY

July 29, Bangkok Post
By what criteria are we Buddhist?  - Sanitsuda Ekachai

If your daughter were beaten black and blue and then left to die after
being set alight and suffering horrendous injuries, an extra pain would
certainly pierce your heart to know that her killer(s) might get away with
murder.

One sad fact of our fair land is that the poorer you are, the less likely
you are to receive justice from the costly and lengthy judicial process.

And if you are a poor, illegal migrant worker, the chances are you will
never see justice done, especially when the criminals are people in
authority with good connections.

That is why many fear that Masuu, 18, might die in vain.

An ethnic Mon from Burma, Masuu paid human traffickers to take her to
Thailand, where she hoped to find work so she could support her poor
parents back home.

She finally landed a job as a maid at a furniture shop owned by an army
officer and his wife in Lop Buri, and she was promised 1,500 baht a month.

Three months later, Masuu was found by a roadside in Uthai Thani province.
She was barely alive. Her head was swollen from severe beatings. Her whole
body was charred. One hand had been amputated, her body was wrapped in
bandages, her voice weak and forlorn -- but the teenager still managed to
tell her story from her deathbed.

Her employers, she said, had accused her of stealing a mobile phone, a
gold necklace and some money. She was beaten till she passed out. Then
they tied her to a tree, poured petrol over her body and set her alight.
Masuu still insisted she did not do it, so, she said, they put out the
fire and left her in her room for three days without food or treatment.

They must have thought she was dead, she said. They drove from Lop Buri to
Uthai Thani, where they dumped her. When she regained consciousness, Masuu
said she crawled to a road, where a man found her immediately and took her
to a hospital in Nakhon Sawan.

Her only wish, she said from her hospital bed, was to go home and make
merit by putting a gold leaf on a chedi so she would not have to suffer
like this again in her next life.

Masuu died nine days later.

That was exactly two years ago. It has taken that long for the brutal
murder of Masuu to reach a courtroom. And this was only made possible
through the efforts of a group of human rights lawyers.

Masuu is among the more fortunate, legally speaking. Countless Burmese
workers have been murdered and tortured by their employers or people in
uniform. We almost never hear of their killers receiving their due.

Remember the group murder in Mae Sot last year? Six migrant workers were
beaten and incinerated alive on a pile of tyres. The whole town believe
they know who did it. A kamnan and his henchmen were the chief suspects.
But they still walk free.

Remember the case of the group of workers killed and dumped in the Moei
river in Mae Sot? As with most Burmese migrant workers' deaths, nothing
happened because no one gave a damn.

In the minds of most Thais, there are wicked stereotypes of Burmese
migrant workers as stealing jobs, as being vehicles for contagious
diseases, as criminals, as a threat to national security and as an
historical enemy.

Although our fellow countrymen exploit, harass, extort and even kill
Burmese workers on a daily basis, we block out this brutality from our
minds. We don't care if these people suffer, if their children do not
receive an education, if they exist at all.

We Thais take pride in Buddhism. But how do we judge ourselves as good
Buddhists? By the amount of money we give to monks? By the amount of time
we meditate? Or by the way we treat the weak and the poor?

The death of Masuu and far, far too many other migrant workers is a
challenge to us to answer these questions. The answers lie in our heart.

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor, Bangkok Post.

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