BurmaNet News, Aug 31, 2004

[Editor]

August 31, 2004, Issue # 2549

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: NLD members calling for party reform
Myanmar Times: Burma introduces new passport regulations
Irrawaddy: Burmese factory workers suffer food poisoning
Kao Wao: 57th Mon armed resistance day celebrated

DRUGS
The Nation: Drug-free goals of the Wa doubted

BUSINESS / MONEY
DJ: Myanmar Plans To Triple Phone Density Within 2 Yrs-Report
IFI Burma: Key Indicators 2004: Poverty in Asia: Measurement, Estimates,
and Prospects

REGIONAL
HT: Myanmar exiles expand media network
Jakarta Post: Help sought for stranded Myanmarese

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: EU asked to remain firm against Myanmar joining Asia-Europe summit
EU Business: EU seeks to break deadlock on ASEM summit

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Applause for the EU from Burmese democracy activists
ICDB: Letter to EU

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 31, Irrawaddy
NLD members calling for party reform--Nandar Chann

Members of Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for
Democracy, or NLD, are calling for an overhaul to the party’s
decision-making bodies, including its nine-member Central Executive
Committee, or CEC, said senior party members.

Over the past month, NLD members of parliament and the head organizers of
the party’s state and division branch offices have met in temporary
offices across the country to discuss party reforms.

Most agree that the party must expand the CEC, entrusted with making the
party’s major decisions, to include younger members. They also agree that
the party must expand its Central Committee, or CC, which is subordinate
to the CEC and has more than a dozen members.

Although party offices have been closed since May 30 of last year—after
the government-orchestrated attack on the opposition’s motorcade in which
dozens, possibly hundreds, of opposition members and supporters were
killed—the NLD has conducted its activities at temporary offices set up at
the homes of senior party leaders across the country.

In Magwe Division, NLD members met on July 30. The next day the division
chairman took the proposal to the party’s headquarters in Rangoon.

Similar meetings have been held throughout the country this month, with
division and state party leaders making voice recordings of upcountry
members expressing their wishes to reform the party. The tapes and written
proposals will be delivered to the NLD headquarters in Rangoon, and
forwarded to party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under detention in her
home in the Burmese capital.

NLD spokesman U Lwin said the nine central executive committee members,
including Suu Kyi and party chairman Tin Oo, who is also under house
arrest, would respond to the proposal some time in the future, but he did
not elaborate.

____________________________________

August 30, The Myanmar Times
Burma introduces new passport regulations

Changes in passport regulations which took effect in early August have
resulted in a sharp increase in applications for tax clearance forms for
those planning to travel abroad.

Under the changes, which took effect on 6 August, those seeking to
withdraw their passports from the Office of the Passport Issuing Board of
the Ministry of Home Affairs must go through a two-step process.

The first step involves acquiring a Form 17 tax assessment issued by
township offices of the Internal Revenue Department [IRD] of the Ministry
of Finance and Revenue. The assessment is needed to acquire a Form 19 tax
clearance certificate from the IRD, which must be presented to obtain the
passport.

Passport holders are then required to apply for a Form D certificate which
is needed to leave the country.

Under the previous system, passports could be withdrawn from the Office,
subject to its approval, and holders then had to be issued with the three
forms before they could leave the country.

A source at the IRD said applications for Form 19 had doubled to about 400
a day since the office announced the changes on 9 August.

The source said the increase in applications was possibly because a number
of people had approval to withdraw their passports but had not collected
them.

The changes also affect regulations involving the use of passports, which
are valid for periods of between one to four years, depending of whether
they are used for such purposes as business trips or going overseas to
work.

Under the new system, passports do not need to be extended every six
months if they are not used for overseas travel.

The changes also effect those intending to work overseas.

They will be issued with two-year passports which they cannot use for
overseas travel. Once they submit a letter of appointment from an overseas
employer they will be eligible for a four-year passport.

The change is intended to eliminate the use of forged offers of employment
to support passport applications for those going overseas to work.

Another change allows ordinary passport holders who have travelled
overseas to retain them on their return to the country for as long as they
remain valid. They will only need a D form to leave the country.

Under the previous regulations, holders of ordinary passports were
required to surrender them on their return to Myanmar [Burma].

The validity of D forms was extended in late July from one month to a
year. In its announcement, the office said that all passports except
business passports can be renewed at Myanmar diplomatic missions.

The new regulations increased the cost of a passport from 5000 to 8000 kyat.

____________________________________

August 31, Irrawaddy
Burmese factory workers suffer food poisoning--Aung Su Shin

About 200 Burmese workers from Asia Apparel Knitting Co Ltd in the Thai
border town of Mae Sot are recovering from food poisoning at the local Mae
Tao clinic, officials said on Tuesday.

Asia Apparel, owned by a Hong Kong businessman, employs about 800 Burmese
workers in two separate factories in Mae Sot’s Naung Boa and Mae Ku
districts.

A factory supervisor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that two
Thai contractors supply pre-cooked food to the factories daily.
Yesterday’s dinner, the supervisor added, consisted of chicken, squash,
beans and a meat curry—but workers are uncertain of what kind of meat was
in the curry.

About 200 workers were sent to the clinic, beginning at 11 p.m. yesterday,
the supervisor said.

“We all had our dinner yesterday as usual,” said Kyaw Myo, an Asia Apparel
worker who fell ill yesterday but is now recovering at Mae Tao clinic.
“But at about 11 p.m. some workers started to vomit and others suffered
stomachaches. [Before eating] we noticed that the curry smelled rotten,
but we have no choice but to eat what we’re given,” he added.

Because there are not enough beds at the Mae Tao clinic, many patients are
receiving treatment while lying on bamboo mats spread over the floor.
Others are being treated in the clinic’s library.

“We have given [intravenous] drips to the patients with serious illness,”
said Aung Maw, one of the clinic’s medics. He added that less serious
patients were given re-hydration salts and other medicine.

Asia Apparel factory workers said they came to the Mae Tao clinic because
they have not completed the registration procedure to work legally in
Thailand and therefore government hospitals would not accept them. The Mae
Tao clinic specializes in treating Burmese migrant workers and refugees in
Thailand.

“We all have already registered [for work permits] but we have not had our
medical check-ups yet to complete the process,” said Kyaw Myo. “So we had
to come here.”

______________________________________

August 30, Kao Wao
57th Mon armed resistance day celebrated

According to the statement issued today, it demanded the SPDC government
initiate a dialogue toward a political settlement.  The NMSP has
continually insisted upon a political dialogue to solve the political
crisis and a purpose of attending the government sponsored National
Convention was the goal for forming a Federal Union in Burma.  The NMSP
will struggle by both means; solving the political crisis on the dialogue
table and by armed struggle.

President Nai Htin of the NMSP also sent a commentary message on the
significance of armed resistance day in recognition of the struggles for
self-determination and a federal union in Burma.  He urged the Mon people
to be united and continue in the struggle for national freedom.

The Mon armed struggle has continuously fought against the Rangoon central
governments for over five decades, but decided to sign a cease-fire
agreement hoping to resolve political problems and to end the conflict
with the junta in 1995.

The Mon Resistance Day commemorates the beginning of the armed struggle
against the central government in 1948.  When the British granted
independence to Burma, Mon political leaders planned to negotiate
peacefully with the Burman AFPFL leaders for their nationality rights. 
After their demands were flatly rejected some Mon leaders were
assassinated and imprisoned, overnight the Mons transformed from a
non-violent movement to an arms struggle.  To enforce control over the Mon
population, over 100 Mon villages were burnt down during that time.  This
triggered the resistance movement, when a group of young patriots led by
Nai Pan Thar seized arms from the police station at Zar Tha Pyin village
near Moulmein.

This year, the NMSP and local communities celebrated armed resistance day
at Central Headquarters, Tavoy, Moulmein and Tathon Districts.

__________________________________
DRUGS

August 31, The Nation
Drug-free goals of the Wa doubted-- Don Pathan

All eyes will be on the Burmese sector of the Golden Triangle come next
year when an ethnic army controlling a sizeable portion of the region is
due to turn the opium-rich area into a drug-free zone.

Many in the international community dismissed the announcement as a ploy
to obtain legitimacy on the part of the United Wa State Army (UWSA). But a
very significant number of people will be watching to see what direction
Burma’s decades-old opium politics will take and what kind of impact this
will have on the poor farmers trapped in the vicious, but lucrative, drug
trade.

Almost immediately upon coming into being, the group entered into a
cease-fire agreement with the Rangoon government in return for limited
self-rule.  But in recent years, the 20,000-strong outfit, dubbed the
world?s largest armed drug-trafficking group by the US State Department,
has worked hard to present itself as a trustworthy organisation. The UWSA
claims to champion the well being of its own people.

Shortly after driving out opium warlord Khun Sa from the Thai border in
1997, the UWSA took on the daunting task of expanding their territory,
from the Chinese to the Thai borders. The forced relocation of tens of
thousands villagers was necessary, insisted UWSA chairman Bao Yu-xiang,
because he wanted to end opium cultivation. Or so he claimed.  The Thai
military and security agencies see their expansion as a strategic move.

Shaking off the drug stigma, it seems, has proven to be a difficult task.
But a much needed morale booster for Bao came just two months ago with the
release of an annual drug report from the UN that said Burmese opium
production has continued to decline steadily, thus suggesting that the
country as a whole and the UWSA, for that matter is moving in the right
direction.

Some in the Thai security agencies have also suggested that they are
willing to let bygones be bygones if they are convinced the UWSA is
serious about turning over a new leaf and stopping the drug trade.  Others
say the verdict is still out on how the politics of opium and insurgencies
in Burma will unfold.

Yang Fengrui, chief of the narcotics bureau in China’s Ministry of Public
Security, recently stated publicly that drugs coming out of the Golden
Triangle continue to pose a serious threat for his country. China has also
vowed to do more to curb the flow of precursor chemicals produced in its
labs and illegally diverted to the clandestine ones in the Golden Triangle
where heroin and methamphetamines are produced.  Beijing announced a plan
in June to double resources to stop the spread of drugs at their origin.

Thailand, meanwhile, has taken a very confusing position in regard to its
unwanted neighbour.  Amid condemnation of the Wa army from certain
quarters in the country, the government has tried being nice to the UWSA. 
Late last year, the commander of the Thai Third Army was sent to the
UWSA’s southern stronghold, Mong Yawn, to take part in the opening
ceremony of a Thai-funded school.

Many Burma-watchers said they were dazed at what appeared to be an attempt
to whitewash the drug army.  To them, the picture looked rather odd, Thai
and Burmese military top brass holding hands with warlords they suspect of
supplying countries around the region with millions of methamphetamines
weekly and the world with tonnes of opium and heroin annually.

Thai security forces on the ground said they could not afford to let the
diplomatic feel good between Bangkok and Rangoon overshadow security
problems and maintained that the northern border would continue to be
tightly guarded.

Heroin and methamphetamines, they said, continued to pour out of the
Burmese sector of the Golden Triangle in all directions.

China continues to be the hardest hit. The South China Morning Post
recently quoted a Chinese narcotics official as saying that most of the
70-plus tonnes of heroin produced annually in the Golden Triangle makes
its way to China. Another popular route is the Andaman Sea, where cargo
ships help deliver white powder to various ports in major cities
throughout the world.

Analysts say that so long as the drug armies are permitted to operate
freely, and so long as restrictions on the precursor chemicals needed to
make heroin and methamphetamines are not properly enforced, illicit drugs
will continue to flow out of the Golden Triangle.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

August 3, Dow Jones
Myanmar Plans To Triple Phone Density Within 2 Yrs-Report

Myanmar plans to more than triple the number of phones in the country
within two years, a private journal reported Tuesday. The state-run Myanma
Post and Telecom envisages increasing the telephone density to three
connections for every 100 people before the fiscal 2005-2006, said the
Myanmar News Gazette. The current density is .78 phones for 100 people.
This will be done by installing 38,500 landline connections by 2005 under
a $30.2 million contract the state monopoly signed in June with Alcatel
Shanghai Bell of China, the journal said, quoting U Tha Oo, the general
manager of MPT. Myanmar will also provide 95,000 cellular phone
connections under a $12.5 million contract signed in July with ZTE
Corporation (000063.SZ) of China, the Gazette said. MPT has made
preparations to set up the new cellular phone network, which will be ready
by November this year, according to earlier reports. Myanmar now has
418,698 telephones including over 63,000 mobile phones, serving a
population of 53 million. In 1988, the country had only 67,016 phones.
Despite the increase, telecommunications in Myanmar lag far behind its
neighbors Thailand, India and China.

_____________________________________

Aug 31, IFI Burma
Key Indicators 2004: Poverty in Asia: Measurement, Estimates, and Prospects

A new document from the Asian Development Bank (ADB): "Key Indicators
2004: Poverty in Asia: Measurement, Estimates, and Prospects"

Main page:
www.adb.org/documents/books/key_indicators/2004/default.asp

Section on Burma (statistics on various topics including trade, energy,
and government finance):
www.adb.org/documents/books/key_indicators/2004/pdf/MYA.pdf

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 31, Hindustan Times
Myanmar exiles expand media network

A network of exiled media organisations from Myanmar has been slowly
expanding its reach with new members joining the ranks of what is called
the Burma News International (BNI) during a meeting at Chiang Mai in
Thailand. BNI plays a key role in tracking developments within Myanmar and
disseminating information among Myanmarese living across the world through
e-mails and publications.

Two ethnic media groups, the Shan Herald Agency for News and Kao Wao News
Group, last week joined BNI, which originally comprised seven
organisations -- Mizzima News, Khonumthung News, Kaladan Press Network,
Narinjara News, Independent Mon News Agency, Karenni Information Network
Group and Network Media Group. In a statement issued here, BNI said it had
also extended its network by accepting two newly formed groups -- Shan
Youth Power Media based on the Thai-Myanmar border and Kachin News Group
based on the India-China border -- as networking partners.

"I know that the role of media is crucial for social change in (Myanmar).
Shan Herald Agency for News alone could not complete this huge task. So we
joined BNI to work together with other groups," said Khun Hseng, editor of
the Shan Herald Agency for News. BNI said it recognised there were "many
constraints to develop all member groups in the current political
situation where most of the groups are based in neighbouring countries and
there is no freedom of expression as well as free flow of information" in
Myanmar.

The members of BNI agreed to tackle these obstacles through cooperation
and coordinated efforts. "We believe we shall overcome the obstacles in
front of us by joining hands. We decided to change these constraints into
our strength," said Aung Naing, former duty editor of BNI. BNI was formed
in January 2003 through the initiative of exiled Myanmarese media
organisations based in India and Bangladesh. It plans to launch a
multi-lingual news website comprising news from its nine member groups.

_____________________________________

August 31, The Jakarta Post
Help sought for stranded Myanmarese

The Ambon branch of the Indonesian Mariners Union (KPI) has called on the
London-based International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) to step in
and help Myanmarese sailors who have been stranded in Southeast Maluku
regency for several years.

KPI Ambon chairman Ignatius Joko Susanto said on Monday the Myanmarese had
been cheated and abandoned by their employers and were wanted by the local
police for alleged immigration offenses.

Joko said the union registered 1,266 mariners from Myanmar who had been
sent to Maluku in 1995 without proper documents, including some who
carried fake passports.

"Via KPI headquarters, we expect the ITF to help settle the various
problems facing the Myanmarese sailor and take action against their
employers and clients of the companies who sent them here," Joko said in a
statement.

He said 555 Myanmarese mariners were working in ports in the Southeast
Maluku capital of Tual, 221 had been living with local residents and the
rest had died from illnesses and abuse by their local employers. KPI Ambon
also found 48 Myanmarese had married local women and sired 102 children.

Joko said some of the foreign sailors had tried to seek employment
although they did not have work permits.

"They have fled to small islands or to forests to escape arrest. Three
Myanmarese were detained recently, but were released after they each paid
Rp 1 million (US$108) for bail," he said.

KPI Ambon records show four Myanmarese were discharged from Tual's Langgur
General Hospital after being treated for injuries sustained from abuse
allegedly committed by their Indonesian employers. Joko said the four owed
the hospital Rp 4 million in medical fees.

The mariners union has asked the ITF to help repatriate the Myanmarese
sailors and assist those married to local women to obtain Indonesian
citizenship.

The union has also appealed to its headquarters to open an office in the
remote regency to help resolve the problems faced by the Myanmarese.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 31, Agence France Presse
EU asked to remain firm against Myanmar joining Asia-Europe summit

A global coalition of groups campaigning for democracy in military-ruled
Myanmar urged the European Union to remain firm in opposing Myanmar’s
participation at October’s Asia-Europe summit talks.

The EU has railed against Myanmar’s presence at the Asia-Europe Meeting
(ASEM) in Vietnam on October 8-9 because of its poor human rights record
and continued detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The US-based International Campaign for Democracy in Burma (ICDB) urged
foreign ministers of the 25-member EU to take a “collective decision” at
their meeting on September 3 to keep Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, out
of the talks.

“In light of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Burma, we, exiled
Burmese democracy activists would like to express our appreciation to the
European Union for its consistent call to exclude Burma’s military regime
from the upcoming ASEM summit,” the ICDB said in a letter to the
ministers.

“We request the EU to maintain this position,” the ICDB said.  The letter,
a copy of which was made available to AFP, was delivered to all embassies
of the EU members in Washington, said Aung Din, an official of the US
Campaign for Burma group, speaking on behalf of ICDB.

He said the ICDB made the statement to mark the 15th month of the “Depayin
massacre” in which scores of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for
Democracy (NLD) members were allegedly killed by the Myanmar regime’s
militias.

Aung San Suu Kyi and several of her top lieutenants were taken into
custody after deadly clashes on May 30, 2003, when her convoy was set upon
by a junta-backed mob in northern Myanmar.
Dissidents who escaped the melee said as many as 100 people were killed.
The government claims four people were killed and 50 injured.

Aung San Suu Kyi and Vice Chairman U Tin Oo remain under house arrest.
The European Union, which has put in place tough political sanctions
against Myanmar, has demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house
arrest and the start of democratic reforms for it to be included in the
summit talks.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), however, insists that
Myanmar and its other new members, Cambodia and Laos, take part
unconditionally in the summit in return for the participation of the 10
states that joined the European Union in May.
It says that if Myanmar cannot attend, neither can the new EU members.
An ASEM finance ministers’ meeting scheduled for last month and a
September gathering of the group’s economy ministers have already been
cancelled.

The last ASEM summit was held in Copenhagen in 2002 involving the-then 15
members of the EU along with China, Japan and South Korea, and ASEAN
members Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines
and Brunei.

____________________________________

August 31, EU Business
EU seeks to break deadlock on ASEM summit

EU foreign ministers will seek this week to break a deadlock over Myanmar
which is threatening to scupper an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) scheduled
for Vietnam in October, diplomats said Tuesday.

Some sources say one hoped-for solution could involve the EU agreeing to
attend the summit but only if military-ruled Myanmar is represented at a
junior level.

The ministers are to meet Friday and Saturday near the Dutch town of
Maastricht for informal talks including the stand-off over Myanmar, which
has already led to other key meetings being cancelled.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country currently holds the
European Union's presidency, has said he hopes for a decision at the
weekend meeting, but cannot guarantee anything.

"I hope that we will ... be able to work towards a consensus on the
question of participation in the ASEM summit on October 8-9 in Hanoi," he
said in a letter of invitation to his EU counterparts, a copy of which was
seen by

The row centres on a refusal by some EU states to allow Myanmar to attend
the Hanoi summit. The EU has a visa ban in place against the Myanmar
regime. Britain, the colonial ruler of what was then Burma, is the EU's
harshest opponent of having any dealings with Yangon.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wants its
newer members -- Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar -- to be included in the
summit in return for the participation of 10 new EU members who joined the
EU in May.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said in June that the
Myanmar regime had overseen a "calamitous" deterioration in the life of
its impoverished people, and had failed to deliver on promises of
political reform.

Those broken promises included keeping democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
under house arrest, and refusing to allow her National League for
Democracy unfettered participation in a national political convention, he
said.

Former Dutch foreign minister Hans van den Broek, the EU's special envoy
on the issue, will debrief the weekend EU meeting at a castle outside
Maastricht on his talks in recent weeks.

But a Dutch diplomat stressed that it is impossible to predict what will
happen. "It's too difficult to say at this moment. We hope we can get an
agreement. It would be very good. But I can't say at this moment," he
said.

Another EU diplomat expressed cautious optimism for a solution.

"We hope that were moving towards a solution that would involve the Hanoi
summit being held with European participation, but with the Burmese not
represented at full strength," he said.

Diplomats also underlined that concern about Myanmar was shared by most EU
states, even if Britain has spearheaded the push against Yangon.

"Everybody's been concerned about it. Britain has been out in front, but I
think it would be wrong to suggest that it has been a Britain-only
campaign," said one.

"I think the Dutch (EU presidency) is keen to find a solution that allows
us to attend Hanoi and everybody is keen to find a way of keeping the ASEM
process going," he added.

ASEM groups the EU, seven members of the 10-nation ASEAN, plus China,
Japan and South Korea.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

LETTER

August 30, International Campaign for Burma
Request to maintain EU’s demand to exclude Burma from ASEM summit

Today marks the fifteen-month anniversary of the “Depayin” massacre in
Burma, in which scores of National League for Democracy (NLD) members were
brutally killed by the regime’s militias, hundreds of NLD members
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Vice Chairman U Tin Oo were placed in
detention, and NLD offices were forced to shut down.

In light of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Burma, we, exiled
Burmese democracy activists would like to express our appreciation to the
European Union for its consistent call to exclude Burma’s military regime
from the upcoming ASEM summit, scheduled on Oct 8-9 in Hanoi, Vietnam. We
request the EU to maintain this position as EU did in the last months by
canceling two meetings with ASEAN finance ministers.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement on August 17, 2004,
expressing his frustration over the lack of progress in Burma’s national
reconciliation process. The Secretary-General called for Burma’s military
regime to immediately release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo and all
political prisoners; engage the NLD and other political parties in
substantive dialogue; and allow his special envoy to return to Burma to
continue his facilitation efforts. Kofi Annan even called for neighboring
countries, especially from ASEAN member states to play leading role in
counseling the regime to accelerate the process of national reconciliation
and democratization.  As UN Secretary-General increases his diplomatic
pressure on the regime and neighboring countries, it is important at this
moment for the EU to maintain its position of refusing Burma to join in
the upcoming ASEM summit, if the regime doesn’t release Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, U Tin Oo and all political prisoners.

We respect the EU for placing human rights and democracy as its first
priorities and standing firmly to promote and protect human rights
worldwide. We believe that the EU should continue to persuade ASEAN
countries not to support the military regime. The decision and
determination of the EU to exclude Burmese military regime from the ASEM
summit will strengthen the call of the UN Secretary General and help
ASEAN’s countries to realize the failure of their constructive engagement
policy in dealing with the Burmese military regime. We urge your
Excellency to take a collective decision with your fellow ministers in the
upcoming September meeting of EU Council of Foreign Ministers to maintain
the EU’s present stance.