BurmaNet News August 20, 2004

[Editor]

August 20, 2004, Issue # 2543

“Despite the dissention within the ruling elite, the regime has been
maintained in place by a lack of effectiveness on the part of the
opposition.”
- Wai Moe, “Burma’s fractious political culture,” Irrawaddy, August 20, 2004

INSIDE BURMA
S.H.A.N.: In-laws war on each other
S.H.A.N.: Shan commander: junta troops routed in clash
Irrawaddy: Junta’s campaign against the opposition

HEATLH / AIDS
Xinhua: Malaria epidemic situation remains normal in Myanmar

REGIONAL
Kyodo: Myanmar to join Asia-Europe Meeting forum
FEER: Mekong River: River at Risk
Bangkok Post: Aliens seen as health-care burden

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burma’s fractious political culture

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 20, Shan Herald Agency for News
In-laws war on each other

Hostilities have broken out in southern Shan State between a ceasefire
group and a "surrender" group whose leaders are in-laws, according to
border sources.

Three clashes have already taken place since 14 August between
Hsihseng-based Shan State Nationalities People Liberation Organization's
battalions and ex-Mong Tai Army's Nayai Development and Welfare Group in
Namzang township resulting in at least one SSNPLO commander wounded.

SSNPLO leader is Tarkalay, whose youngest daughter Naw Nyunt May is
married to Chou Sang, chief of Nayai. Namzang is 62 miles east of
Taunggyi, Shan State's capital.

The feud between the two sides began in mid-July when the SSNPLO was
reported to have demanded Chou Sang to move out from areas claimed to be
under its control.

The result was the raid by Chou Sang on 14 August on the SSNPLO Battalion
662's temporary base, where the unnamed battalion commander sustained
injuries and had to be hospitalized in Mongnai and later in Loilem. In
retaliation, the 662nd attacked Marklang Kham village, burned down one of
Nayai's buildings and a truck as well as confiscating a motorcycle.

Yesterday, the SSNPLO's 464th Special Battalion, commanded by Zaw Lwin,
attacked Nayai with heavy weapons.

Military Intelligence Unit #2, based in Taunggyi, has been trying to
mediate between the two sides. "So far, the real cause of the quarrel has
yet be specified," said a border security source.

Chou Sang and his younger brother Kao Sang are former associates of
ex-warlord Khun Sa and were reported by Show Business: Rangoon's War on
Drugs in Shan State (December 2003) as running two refineries in Hsihseng
township's Nawnghtao, where Takalay is based.

______________________________________

August 20, Shan Herald Agency for News
Shan commander: Junta troops routed in clash

Shan State Army's Kengtung Front commander disclosed yesterday (19 August)
that the Burma Army was given a sound beating during an 8-hour engagement
on Wednesday (18 August).

"It was a surprise encounter," said Lt-Col Gawnzoen,"but our troops rose
up to the occasion".

According to him, a patrol from the SSA's 678th Battalion under the
command of Captain Zarm ran into a 40-50 strong opposite number from the
Mongtoom-based Light Infantry Battalion 553 led by Maj Kyaw Htike near the
Palaung village of Nawngkheo, Mongloong Tract, Mongkok sub-township,
Monghsat district, at 09:40.

During the ensuing fracas, which also involved an emergency force from LIB
554, that lasted until 18:00, the Burma Army "scattered in all
directions," he said.

The SSA found 2 dead and captured 2 assault rifles, 10 M 79 shells, 10 RPG
shells and 1,430 rounds of cartridges, among others. One of the dead
soldiers was identified as Pvt Kyaw Thu Soe, Personal Number 950504, but
the SSA was unable to place the other.

The Burma Army units in the area had been given full alert since, but as
the battle had taken place some 60 km north of the border, where newspaper
headlines are scarcely made, the SSA appears to be cool about
retaliations. "But come what may, we are ready", he declared.

In the meanwhile, the local people were said to be jubilant about the
outcome of the clash. "They have long been bullied and terrorized by the
553rd," said a businessman in Tachilek.

S.H.A.N.'s Show Business: Rangoon's War on Drugs in Shan State (December
2003) had also named LIB 553 as one of Rangoon's battalions providing
security for drug refineries in the area.

______________________________________

August 20, Irrawaddy
Junta’s campaign against the opposition

Burma’s military government launched a defamation campaign in Mandalay
against the opposition party the National League for Democracy, or NLD,
earlier this week, said local residents and party members.

On Sunday, former NLD member Soe Lin organized a meeting of 108 purported
NLD members and 400 other alleged supporters of the party at Kanaung Hall
in Pyigyidagon Township in Mandalay. The so-called party members “quit”
the party, voiced support for the constitution-drafting National
Convention and denounced the NLD for boycotting the convention. They also
criticized a signature campaign to petition the junta to release the
party’s top two leaders. Soe Lin resigned from the party two years ago.

But an NLD member from Mandalay, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
said, the breakaway group was not from the NLD and that party members
seldom communicate with Soe Lin.

______________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 20, Xinhua News Agency
Malaria epidemic situation remains normal in Myanmar

Yangon: The epidemic situation of Malaria in Myanmar remained normal with
no increase of the cases so far this year as compared with the last few
years, said a health official here Friday.

In a telephone interview with Xinhua, U Saw Lwin, Deputy Director- General
of the Health Department, said malaria cases during recent years dropped
obviously compared with the previous ones, thanks to strengthening of
prevention of the outbreak of the disease.

According to official statistics, there was an average annual of 600,000
malaria cases reported in recent years with 2,500 dead, while 1.5 million
of such cases occurred per year during the period from 1989 to 1991 with
over 5,000 fatal.

Myanmar has been striving hard to bring about the declination of the
malaria cases in the country by mainly educating the people through media,
the official noted.

The country also enhanced cooperation in dealing with the disease with
neighbors including China by exchanging information about the disease and
visits of personnel, he said, adding that plan are being worked out for
the move.

Besides, Myanmar and Thailand have been implementing such prevention
measures against the disease, he disclosed.

Malaria cases in border areas are doubled that in other parts of Myanmar,
he added.

______________________________________
REGIONAL

August 20, Kyodo News
Myanmar to join Asia-Europe Meeting forum - Puy Kea

Myanmar will be allowed to join the Asia-Europe Meeting forum along with
Cambodia, Laos and 10 new members of the European Union, signaling the end
of an impasse over admitting the junta-ruled country to the grouping,
Kyodo News learned Friday.

The European Union had previously refused to allow Myanmar into ASEM,
citing the country's dismal human rights record.

''The three new (Asian) members will be acceded into the ASEM in the
upcoming summit in Hanoi along with the 10 new members of the EU,'' an
official of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said on condition
of anonymity.

However, to be admitted into the grouping, the European Union set a
condition that Myanmar send a lower-level leader to the Oct. 8-9 summit.

Myanmar will send its foreign minister to the event ''as a compromise
gesture,'' the official said. He added that a final decision on admitting
the 13 new member countries will be made at an EU meeting on Sept. 3.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on the Myanmar junta for its
continued confinement of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Because of
the sanctions, the European Union wanted Myanmar barred from the meeting
of European and Asian leaders.

In retaliation, ASEAN decided in June to block the 10 new EU members from
taking part in the summit unless Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are granted
membership together.

Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar joined ASEAN in 1997, a year after ASEM was set
up.

The forum currently comprises 15 EU member countries and with 10 Asian
countries -- China, Japan, South Korea, plus seven ASEAN members --
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.

______________________________________

August 26, Far Eastern Economic Review
Mekong River: River at Risk - Barry Wain

Boat owner Odd Boontha is one of millions who make their living on the
Mekong. The sunburned 38-year-old in the northern Thai port of Chiang
Khong has his own way of gauging the health of the river: Passengers who a
few years ago used concrete steps to board his shallow-draught vessel now
must scramble over rocks to reach it. The water level is at its lowest in
20 years, Odd says, and Chinese dams upstream are to blame. "If they build
more dams, the Mekong will be like a canal," he laments.

Scientists at the Mekong River Commission's secretariat in Vientiane have
a more benign explanation: River levels are low only because it hasn't
rained much since last year. But that does not console or convince
riverside communities in six countries that depend on the Mekong for the
essentials of life -- water, food and transport.

The sight of the mighty Mekong so depleted has galvanized international
agencies, local environmentalists and a few government officials to take a
fresh look at the state of the waterway that links China with Southeast
Asia. The picture that emerges is of a river subjected to neglect, abuse
and haphazard development -- and heading for a crisis, says David Jezeph,
a Bangkok-based water specialist with the United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. "The drought has brought to
our attention the need to start collaborative planning for the benefit of
the region," he says.

For decades, war, revolution and isolation protected the Mekong River,
which begins its 4,800-kilometre journey high in southwest China, tumbles
through the misty mountains of China's Yunnan province and surges through
the flood plains of Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, before
emptying into the South China Sea. Along its course there is little
industry and no major city, and the water quality is generally good,
despite its muddy appearance.

But that is changing fast as socialist countries adopt market policies and
private investors seek opportunity in previously inaccessible places. The
Asian Development Bank, meanwhile, is promoting an ambitious
infrastructure programme to link the five countries and Yunnan with roads,
railways and power lines carved out of deep jungle and rugged hills.

These developments hold the promise of improved living conditions for the
estimated 70 million people living in the Mekong basin, most of whom are
subsistence farmers supplementing the rice they grow with the fish they
catch and animals and plants foraged from nearby forests and wetlands. But
the river's ecological system on which they depend may be permanently
damaged in the development process.

"The danger is that the more vulnerable people will be left out and will
be worse off," says Joern Kristensen, former head of the Mekong River
Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental body set up in 1995 by Cambodia,
Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to be responsible for the governance of the
Mekong river basin.

The most immediate concern is fish stocks. As Sydney-based Mekong
specialist Milton Osborne notes: "It is impossible to overestimate the
importance of fish as an essential feature of the diet of people living in
the lower Mekong basin." Fish is their main source of animal protein. Only
Japanese and Icelanders consume more fish per capita than Cambodians, for
example.

Statistically, the fish catch has risen over the years. The MRC estimates
that the wild catch will reach 2.5 million tonnes this year, with another
500,000 tonnes drawn from reservoirs and ponds. But with millions more
people fishing now than a few decades ago, "the catch per fisherman has
decreased a lot," says Eric Baran, a fish expert at the WorldFish Centre,
which researches tropical aquatic resources.

With illegal fishing rife and the use of banned hi-tech fishing gear
increasing, the Mekong is showing classic signs of being over-fished.
Large species that are easy to catch have begun to disappear, leaving
"more and more trash fish that are less and less valuable," as Baran puts
it. The Mekong giant catfish -- the world's largest freshwater fish that
grows to three metres and weighs as much as 300 kilograms -- was put on
the critically endangered list last year.

As the population of the lower basin soars in the next 20 years, human
encroachment is likely to denude forests, wipe out wetlands, and drain off
water for industrial and agricultural use. "Unless growth is regulated,
continued pressure might lead to the collapse" of fishing, says
Kristensen, who retired from the MRC last September.

The most visible threat is posed by the dams being built in Yunnan's steep
gorges to feed China's insatiable appetite for electricity. Two
hydroelectric dams are already operating, two more are being built and
another four are planned. The Xiaowan dam, now under construction, will be
huge, with its reservoir stretching 169 kilometres when filled in 2013.

Because of these dams, water levels in the Mekong are rising and falling
as much as one metre an hour, wrecking fish habitats, eroding river banks,
and draining sediment and nutrients from the river as it flows southward,
say environmental groups and researchers. "The Chinese dams get the blame
for almost everything," says Ian Campbell, senior environmental officer at
the MRC. But in the absence of scientific study, the extent of the impact
remains largely speculative, he says.

Anti-Chinese sentiment is particularly strong in northern Thailand, where
villagers are battling to stop a Beijing-led navigation scheme on the
Mekong. And in the first half of this year, the Chinese often shut the
gates of their two operating dams on the Mekong for dyke construction. As
a result, the river fell to only 45 centimetres at Chiang Khong, the
lowest for years, says the Southeast Asia Rivers Network, a group that
opposes threats to riverine ecosystems. Laotian tour operators were forced
to cancel 10 river excursions in March alone. Chainarong Sretthachau, the
network director, says this confirms "that China has the power to control
the Mekong already."

China, however, insists the dams will benefit people living along the
river's lower reaches. Earlier this year, the Foreign Ministry said China
had paid great attention to protecting the environment of the Mekong
drainage area. As only 18% of the Mekong's total water volume originates
in China, its hydropower facilities won't reduce the volume flowing to the
ocean or negatively affect downstream countries, the ministry said. In
fact, it said, the dams would help prevent flooding, and improve
irrigation and navigation in those countries.

Gu Hao, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Water Resources, said no
international rules require a country to solicit opinions from its
neighbours for every dam it builds. But he agreed that "communication" is
necessary when a project may "significantly impact" neighbours.

China isn't the only offender. In 1998 Vietnam completed the Yali Falls
dam on the Sesan, the Mekong's biggest tributary, which has "negatively
impacted" 50,000 Cambodian villagers 80 kilometres downstream, according
to studies commissioned by Oxfam America. Accidental and unannounced water
releases during and after construction killed 39 Cambodians. Most died in
one incident in February 2000. Belatedly accepting responsibility for the
deaths, Tran Minh Huan, an official of the Vietnam National Mekong
Committee, said in November 2002: "We are very sorry for the losses of the
people living downstream on the Sesan River in Cambodia, caused of course
by releasing water from the Yali Falls dam's reservoir in February 2000."
Uffe Poulsen, an independent researcher, says that fish, once abundant,
have now almost gone from the Sesan.

Still, Hanoi's Ministry of Foreign Affairs insists Yali Falls has had "no
substantial environment impact," and confirms it is going ahead with three
more dams on the Sesan. Two other dams are already planned.

Laos also has built two dams on a tributary of the Mekong, with the
intention of selling electricity to Thailand. Osborne, the Mekong
specialist, says the second dam has caused a dramatic drop in the
downstream fish catch and harmed fragile ecosystems. Despite this, Laos
has four hydropower projects under construction and about a dozen others
being assessed for their environmental effects.

MRC officials say it still isn't too late to choose between a pristine
Mekong basin and a polluted river reduced to a chain of reservoirs. But
with most governments showing little inclination to compromise or
cooperate, the choices -- like the river itself -- appear to be dwindling
fast.

______________________________________

August 20, Bangkok Post
Registered Burmese workers – Aliens seen as health-care burden – Supamart
Kasem

Tak: The National Economic and Social Advisory Council is worried the more
than one million registered foreign workers nationwide could be carriers
of several diseases and yearly give birth to 300,000 children who will be
persons without nationality.

Members of the council's labour and social welfare panel led by chairman
Saengchai Sothiworakul visited Mae Sot district this week to gather
information about the registration of alien workers. Mr Saengchai said the
Nesac's panel will present the government with a report on problems of
registering alien workers and propose preventive measures.

"What are feared most are communicable diseases. Several diseases which
disappeared from Thailand have since reemerged along Tak's border, such as
elephantiasis, tuberculosis, dengue fever and syphilis. Aids has also been
found among Burmese workers," Mr Saengchai added.

Kanoknart Pisuthakul, director of Mae Sot Hospital, said medical checks on
35,000 Burmese workers in Mae Sot found 874 had tuberculosis and 356
others had syphilis, but 35% of patients disappeared while still posing a
risk to others.

Treating Burmese with syphilis depletes Thailand's stock of rare
anti-syphilis medicines and forces the hospital to use more expensive
drugs, she said.

The hospital each year treats 200-300 pregnant alien women, including
those wanting to give birth and those who had abortions, Dr Kanoknart
said.

Mae Sot Hospital spent 20 million baht last year treating Burmese,
compared to 16 million baht a few years ago, she said.

Pol Lt-Gen Jaruek Mekwichai, a member of Tak's alien labour hiring
sub-committee, said at least 300,000 of the 1.3 million registered alien
workers brought families or company with them. "They may give birth to
300,000 children a year. This is registered workers only. If illegal
workers are counted, almost one million babies will be born to them," he
said.

"Now, do we have measures to prevent problems concerning children without
nationality who may become a minority group in Thailand and can cause
problems in the future?" said Pol Lt-Gen Jaruek.

______________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 20, Irrawaddy
Burma’s fractious political culture - Wai Moe

Three months ago the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a
Burmese human rights organization, held its annual meeting on the
Thai-Burmese border. During the meeting, one faction attempted to remove
joint secretary Bo Kyi.

This kind of factionalism is common within Burmese politics. It is a
deeply ingrained political culture practiced by both the ruling junta and
opposition groups. This unfortunate national trait has derailed democracy
and made for a weak civil society.

Under colonial rule in the period following 1920, the General Council of
Burmese Associations was the primary opposition group in the nationalist
movement. But after 1923, it split. The causes of the division were not
only ideology, but also ambition-fueled power-plays within the
organization.

The Dohbama Asiayone, or We Burmese Association, was the most popular of
Burma’s 1930s independence movements. It was found by a young educator, Ba
Thaung. Most of Burma’s post-war leaders were members of this group—Thakin
Ko Daw Hmyine, Aung San, Thakin Nu, Ba Hein and Ba Sein.

This organization, however, also suffered from factionalism. The two main
groups were led respectively by Thakin Ko Daw Hmyine and Thakin Ba Sein.
Aung San was a member of Thakin Ko Daw Hmyine’s gang, while Ne Win (who as
army chief pulled a coup in 1962 and ruled the country until 1988) was in
Thakin Ba Sein’s pack. Needless to say, there was regular political
infighting.

In August 1944 the Anti Fascist Peoples’ Freedom League, or AFPFL, was
founded by Aung San and his comrades as a united national front. The
league comprised three main factions: the Communist Party of Burma, or
CPB, the Socialist Party and the Burma National Army/People’s Volunteer
Organization. The Burma National Army was led by Aung San. The communists
were led by Thakin Than Tun and Thakin Soe, the socialists by Kyaw Nyein
and Ba Swe.

The communists disagreed with Aung San’s negotiations with the British for
independence. In February 1946 Thakin Soe and six other members of the
31-man central committee broke away from the main CPB (and withdrew from
the AFPFL) to form the Communist Party-Red Flag. In October the AFPFL
executive council voted to expel the rump CBP (White Flag) from the front.
The CPB took a large number of militiamen from the People’s Volunteer
organization with it. Red Flag went underground in 1946, White Flag in
1948. On occasion, in addition to fighting Rangoon, they would go at each
other.

>From 1948 through 1957 there was a power struggle within the AFPFL between
Prime Minister U Nu’s faction and the socialists. As both sides were
broadly socialist (U Nu’s government lost no time in nationalizing both
foreign businesses and locally owned enterprises that were deemed to be of
strategic value), the split was over personalities and  power—not
ideology.

 Despite the dissention within the ruling elite, the regime has been
maintained in place by a lack of effectiveness on the part of the
opposition.

On September 26, U Nu invited army chief Gen Ne Win to assume power in a
caretaker government. In April 1960 new elections were held and U Nu was
returned to office. But Ne Win had developed a taste for power. In March
1962 he pulled a coup. The authoritarian, communist-style one-party state
he put in place under the stewardship of the Burma Socialist Program
Party, or BSPP, meant an end to factional parliamentary politics in Burma.
But there were regular purges of both the party and the military.

The junta that took power in 1988 (initially called the State Law and
Order Council, or Slorc), has seen its share of power struggles. In
November 1997, much of the top tier of both Slorc and the cabinet were
fired; some individuals were placed under house arrest. Slorc was renamed
the State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC.

The only members of Slorc still active in the current government are SPDC
chairman Sr-Gen Than Shwe, Burma Army chief Deputy Sr-Gen Maung Aye and
Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt. Despite the dissention within the ruling
elite, the regime has been maintained in place by a lack of effectiveness
on the part of the opposition.

When the democracy demonstrations achieved a critical mass in August 1988,
ethnic insurgent groups the Karen National Union and the New Mon State
Party were engaged in a tough battle at Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai
border. But the two groups—both members of the National Democratic
Front—were not fighting the Burma Army; they were fighting each other for
control of a lucrative customs gate.

Burma’s main opposition, the National League for Democracy, or NLD, was
founded in late 1988. Then there were three primary factions in the party:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s intellectual group, former military officers, and Aung
Gyi’s group. Later there was a power struggle between the intellectuals
and Aung Gyi, who accused Suu Kyi and her followers of being communists.
Aung Gyi was formerly a senior BSPP member. Aung Gyi lost party support
because of his false accusations, and some of his group split from the
party.

The factionalism continued in the NLD between the intellectuals and the
remaining ex-military officers until late 1990. Fortunately the two groups
were able to see past their differences and work for a common
goal—democracy. But in late 1990, most of intellectuals were arrested.

The All Burma Students Democratic Front, or ABSDF, was also founded in
1988, but moved to insurgent-held areas on Burma’s borders. In 1990, it
split due to a power struggle between Moe Thee Zun and Naing Aung—here,
again, personal rivalries were responsible. The students’ inability to
maintain a common front damaged their credibility with donors and the
media. The ABSDF was soon an irrelevance.

And so it goes on.

In the colonial period, Thakin Ba Thaung said that all people are their
own leaders. But at present in Burmese politics, all want to be
leaders—all are primadonnas. If Burma’s disparate opposition groups are to
have any chance of unseating the government in Rangoon, they must learn
put their differences aside to work together for common goals.

Wai Moe is a former student activist now living in exile.