BurmaNet News October 23-25, 2004

[Editor]

October 23 - 25, 2004, Issue # 2586

INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Myanmar shakeup offers glimpse of junta Inc.
Xinhua: Myanmar: no policy change after reshuffle
AP: Senior Myanmar minister says intelligence body won't be restored

ON THE BORDER
Thai News Service: Thai-Myanmar military in joint border development
operation

DRUGS
Thai News Service: Drugs flow into Thailand from Myanmar

REGIONAL
AFP: India rolls out red carpet for Myanmar military strongman
AP: SE Asian lawmakers may seek Myanmar suspension from Asean
AFP: ASEAN to pursue constructive engagement with Myanmar after power
struggle
Thai News Service: UNHCR and Thailand to jointly assist Myanmar refugees

OPINION / OTHER
Hindu: Need for clear Burma policy after "disturbing" power-change
Asahi Shimbun via International Herald Tribune: Apply pressure, not aid,
to Myanmar regime
International Herald Tribune: Power Struggle: Is history repeating itself
in Myanmar?

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 25, Reuters News
Myanmar shakeup offers glimpse of junta - Darren Schuettler

Bangkok: From karaoke bars to travel agents and newspapers, rivals are
carving up the business empire of Myanmar's sacked prime minister and his
once powerful clique.

Scores of firms linked to Khin Nyunt's military intelligence have been
shut or temporarily suspended at the behest of junta strongman Than Shwe,
who purged his former ally last week.

Khin Nyunt's demise has offered a rare glimpse into how the generals,
their families and a handful of businessmen profit in one of the world's
most corrupt economies, analysts say.

"It's about controlling access to money and Khin Nyunt's removal may have
had as much to do with internal business interests as with politics," said
Bradley Babson, a retired World Bank economist and Myanmar watcher.

Khin Nyunt, believed to be under house arrest in Yangon, was permitted to
retire for "health reasons", the junta said, blaming him for corruption
within military intelligence.

Analysts say the allegations stem from a showdown last month between
military intelligence and army commanders vying for control of the
lucrative border trade from China.

Since then, scores of businesses, including a Yangon travel agency and a
plastics maker, have been closed or have had their assets seized. At least
17 newspapers and magazines were shut or suspended after Khin Nyunt
associates lost control of the censorship bureau.

They included a magazine linked to Khin Nyunt's son, Ye Naing Win, who
also runs Myanmar's sole Internet service provider.

"It looked like an act of revenge on the part of the new prime minister,
Soe Win, towards media close to his predecessor," said media rights group
Reporters Without Borders.

HAND IN HAND

Despite being blessed with natural wealth in oil and gas, timber and
minerals, four decades of military rule and bizarre policies have left
Myanmar's economy in a mess and its people among the world's most
impoverished.

After the mysticism-obsessed General Ne Win, and his "Burmese Way to
Socialism", was overthrown following a failed pro-democracy uprising in
1988, the junta slowly began market reforms that created a new business
class tied to the generals.

"There is a symbiotic relationship between the military and business,"
said Sean Turnell, a professor at Australia's Macquarie University who
co-authors the Burma Economic Watch.

"Business is tied to individuals they think can carve a path through
corruption and regulations. The military need business for money to bribe
and make their way up the system," he said.

The corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks Myanmar at 142 of
145 nations on its watchlist - only slightly better than Nigeria,
Bangladesh and Haiti.

The junta insists it is serious about fighting corruption.

General Thura Shwe Mann, the junta's third most powerful member, told
leading businessmen over the weekend that Khin Nyunt had to pay the price
for "disobedience, corruption and bribery" by his military intelligence
cadre.

"In the military, everybody is liable for their failure to abide by the
law. Nobody is above the law," Shwe Mann was quoted as saying by the New
Light of Myanmar newspaper on Monday.

Khin Nyunt's circle was involved in everything from hotels to mining and
cash crops to massage parlours.

"You name it they did it, as long as it was profitable. We couldn't do
anything without their blessing," said one Yangon businessman, who
declined to give his name.

"But they should not just point fingers at military intelligence. There
are many other government departments where corruption is rampant," he
said.

John Badgley, a retired Cornell University professor, says the junta
accusing Khin Nyunt of corruption smacks of "the pot calling the kettle
black".

He says competition between the generals and their families has
intensified as investment pours in from China, India and southeast Asian
neighbours such as Thailand and Singapore.

Much of that money is funneled into joint ventures with military-run
companies or their business allies.

With Western companies under pressure to pull out over Yangon's dismal
rights record and detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, Asian
firms are happily filling the void.

Yangon has also become adept at "resource diplomacy", analysts say, giving
neighbours a bigger slice of its natural wealth in return for political,
financial and military support.

The biggest player by far is China, which has denounced Western sanctions
against the regime it props up with loans while Chinese firms build
bridges, roads and factories, and dominate teak logging near the border.

But Yangon has sought to balance Beijing's influence by offering gas deals
to India, which rolled out the red carpet for Than Shwe on Monday, the
first visit by a Myanmar head of state in nearly a quarter century.

____________________________________

October 25, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar: no policy change after reshuffle

Yangon: Myanmar high-ranking leader General Shwe Mann has reiterated that
there is no change in his country's policy after recent cabinet reshuffle,
saying that the government is committed to continued implementation of the
seven-point political roadmap to democracy and convening of the
constitutional national convention.

Shwe Mann, who is member of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
and actually the third most powerful person in the line-up of the
country's leaders, made the clarification when meeting with government
officials, private entrepreneurs and traders on Sunday evening, official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.

Shwe Mann also said there would be no change in national policies towards
former anti-government armed groups which had returned to the legal fold
as well as no change of foreign policy.

For the first time as a high-ranking leader, Shwe Mann formally and
publicly charged former prime minister General Khin Nyunt with involvement
in corruption.

"Former prime minister General Khin Nyunt had been permitted to retire for
his violation of Tatmadaw (armed forces) discipline" such as his
involvement in the bribery and corrupt practices and failure to carry out
the duties properly, he said.

At the clarification meeting, newly appointed prime minister
Lieutenant-General Soe Win also said the government will continue to
practice and implement the political, economic and social policies of the
state with no change of the state's objectives anyhow.

He urged businessmen to cooperate with the government for national
development and running their businesses under rule and law, stressing the
need to undertake export and import functions systematically by sea or by
inland checkpoint through the official channel.

Myanmar SPDC on last Tuesday carried out a surprise and major government
reshuffle, removing Khin Nyunt, who was also military intelligence chief,
and appointing Soe Win to replace him.

Three days after the reshuffle, the SPDC promulgated a law on last Friday,
dissolving the National Intelligence Bureau, led by Khin Nyunt, to rectify
the intelligence system.

____________________________________

October 24, Associated Press
Senior Myanmar minister says intelligence body won't be restored

Yangon: Myanmar won't revive the intelligence coordinating body that was
run by former Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt and closed by the government
following his ouster last week, the home minister said.

Home Minister Col. Tin Hlaing also confirmed that several senior officials
from military intelligence and special police have been removed since Khin
Nyunt officially stepped down on Tuesday.

Tin Hlaing, who spoke to reporters Saturday night at a reception to mark
United Nations Day, said the National Intelligence Bureau, or NIB, was
abolished Friday because it was "too harsh and rigid" and "no longer
suitable."

"It will not be revived," he said.

The NIB had controlled all intelligence units such as the Defense
Ministry's Military Intelligence Service and the Home Affairs Ministry's
special police, Bureau of Special Investigation and the Criminal
Investigation Department.

Tin Hlaing explained that military intelligence will now carry out the
work of the Defense Ministry, while the other units will report to the
Home Affairs Ministry.

The government's announcement Friday of NIB's closure said the bureau was
"no longer suitable for the welfare of the public" because military-ruled
Myanmar was "in the process of establishing a developed and
discipline-flourishing democratic State."

The NIB, established several decades ago, was scrapped once before -- in
1974, when the military government of the late dictator Gen. Ne Win
introduced a constitution. But it was revived in 1983 while Ne Win was
still in power.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 25, Thai News Service
Thai-Myanmar military in joint border development operation

Military officers from Thailand and Myanmar today agreed to cement
relations by engaging in joint village development and narcotics
suppression operations in Thailand's northern border region.

Col. Karun Khunsungnern, Commander of the 7th Special Task Force, was
joined this morning by a delegation of 12 local military and civilian
officials for a meeting in Mae Sariang District of Thailand's northern
Chiang Rai Province with Maj. Aung Aung To, head of the local Thai-Myanmar
border committee, and a nine-strong delegation from Myanmar.

Topping the agenda was the joint development of villages in the border
region, as well as efforts to upgrade the local economy.

Also up for discussion were joint narcotics suppression operations in the
border area.

The issues will be discussed in further detail at a local meeting at the
end of November in Mae Sariang district, and a subsequent meeting in
Myanmar.

Despite Monday's change of leadership in Myanmar, sources at the Sao Hin
checkpoint, where this morning's meeting took place, said that
cross-border movements of people were proceeding as normal today.

_____________________________________
DRUGS

October 25, Thai News Service
Drugs flow into Thailand from Myanmar

The Thai authorities fear that some groups in Myanmar may be producing
more drugs to feed their clients in Thailand during the current situation
of political instability in Myanmar.

The Office of the Narcotics Control Board's Northern Office said some
ethnic groups might refuse to sit at the negotiation table with the new
government, as a result of the political breakdown in Myanmar earlier this
week.

Nevertheless, Thai anti-narcotics officials remain confident that the new
Myanmar government will continue to cooperate with Thailand and the
international community in tackling the drugs problem.

The Narcotic Control Board plans to map out a detailed strategy for
Thailand's Northern region, in order to block the smuggling of narcotics
along the border areas.

There will also be a concerted effort made to arrest major drug producers.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 25, Agence France Presse
India rolls out red carpet for Myanmar military strongman

New Delhi: India, the world's largest democracy, gave a red carpet welcome
Monday to Myanmar's army leader General Than Shwe as hundreds of
pro-democracy opponents of his military junta vented their anger over his
visit.

The army strongman was given a ceremonial guard of honour reception at the
grand red sandstone presidential palace by President Abdul Kalam before
holding talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Nearby, hundreds of Myanmarese democracy activists living in New Delhi
squatted near the national parliament in a day-long protest, waving
placards denouncing the dictator as a "murderer, dictator, blood-sucker".

"I've so much respect for India's democracy. I'm shocked they've rolled
out the red carpet for this dictator," said Khin Sein, 22, a Myanmarese
student at a Delhi university. "It's a national shame for Indian leaders
to shake hands with the general."

No details were given about the talks between Singh and the general. But
the two sides signed three accords including one on security issues. They
also agreed to step up cooperation in trade, economic and other key areas.

The general arrived Sunday accompanied by a cabinet delegation whose
portfolios include industry, energy and communications. His six-day trip
is the first to India in 24 years by a head of state of the secretive
country formerly known as Burma, which has been under military rule since
1962.

Analysts say New Delhi's warm welcome for the army leader is driven by
strategic compulsions, especially in light of a deadly upsurge in violence
earlier this month in India's remote northeast.

New Delhi wants Yangon's backing in crushing anti-Indian rebels allegedly
hiding out in Myanmar and other neighbouring nations, who staged a wave of
bombings in India's northeast that left over 80 dead and nearly 220
injured.

But Myanmar exiles in New Delhi said India's warm reception of the
general, less than a week after he fired Myanmar's premier who was
architect of the nation's "roadmap to democracy", sent the wrong signal to
Yangon.

"India should support the pro-democracy movement. We think the military
junta could get a fresh lease of life with the world's largest democracy
doing business with it," said Mungti, a pro-democracy refugee who goes by
one name.

India is one of relatively few nations with which Yangon's restrictive
military regime has cordial ties.

New Delhi attaches high importance to the visit by the general, whose trip
will include visits to India's famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, and
the high-tech southern city of Bangalore.

Calling the visit historic, India has said both sides desire "a long-term
cooperative partnership". The neighbours are hoping to double trade to one
billion dollars in two years.

Myanmar is seen as a gateway to greater trade with other Southeast Asian
nations and India also wants to offset China's influence in the region,
analysts say.

Military rulers in 1988 crushed a peaceful uprising led by pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, killing hundreds of people. She has been under
intermittent house arrest for years.

India once vocally backed Aung San Suu Kyi but under its "Look East"
policy launched in the early 1990s, it has been wooing Myanmar's military
leadership and promoting trade and investment.

_____________________________________

October 25, Associated Press
SE Asian lawmakers may seek Myanmar suspension from Asean

Kuala Lumpur: Southeast Asian lawmakers might ask their governments to
suspend military-ruled Myanmar from the region's main grouping if it
doesn't speed up democratic reforms, officials said Monday.

The non-binding recommendation could emerge at a Nov. 27-28 conference in
Kuala Lumpur of members of parliament and other officials from the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said Nazri Aziz, a
Malaysian minister.

The conference has been initiated by a group of Malaysian legislators who
are dissatisfied with Myanmar's pace of democratization.

"Myanmar has taken advantage of the fact that Asean governments are very
tolerant," said Nazri, a minister in the Malaysian Prime Minister's
Department. "We have to tell them, straight to their faces, what is not
acceptable to us."

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current junta
called elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power when Nobel
laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide
victory.

A power shuffle last week replaced Myanmar's relatively moderate former
premier Gen. Khin Nyunt with hardline Lt. Gen. Soe Win - a move seen as a
blow to prospects for reforms and for the release of Suu Kyi, who has been
under house arrest since May 2003.

Lawmakers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have
confirmed plans to attend the Malaysian conference, to be held on the eve
of the Asean leaders' annual summit in Laos. Asean also includes Brunei,
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Asean's 10 members maintain a policy of noninterference in each other's
affairs, and the parliamentary group's recommendations won't be binding on
their governments.

Still, some officials' desire to expel Myanmar from Asean shows growing
frustrations in the region as its policy of engaging Myanmar instead of
imposing sanctions has barely spurred reform.

Asean must "consider unpleasant options such as the expulsion or
suspension of Myanmar from Asean," said Lim Kit Siang, Malaysia's
opposition leader in Parliament.

Malaysia has been a key Myanmar supporter and helped it enter Asean in
1997, despite international objections over its human rights record, which
includes claims of forced labor.

Government lawmaker Zaid Ibrahim noted Myanmar was scheduled to chair
Asean in 2006, which could be "embarrassing and counterproductive" for the
grouping.

_____________________________________

October 25, Agence France Presse
ASEAN to pursue constructive engagement with Myanmar after power struggle

Manila: Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbors will pursue their constructive
engagement policy with the ruling junta following a Yangon power struggle
that ousted Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo
said Monday.

"We'll be having our own forum in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast
Asian Nations) to convey our views to the new leadership of Myanmar,"
Arroyo told the Foreign Correspondents Association here, referring to an
end of November ASEAN summit in Laos.

Arroyo refused to publicly comment on the ouster on Tuesday by military
hardliners of Khin Nyunt, the head of Myanmar's military intelligence for
two decades. The official was also placed under house arrest over
corruption allegations.

Arroyo said it has been the consensus of ASEAN, grouping Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam, to pursue constructive engagement with Yangon, "and that is
still our goal."

The conditional embrace, which sets ASEAN in conflict with the West which
wants Yangon's military rulers isolated, "is the Asian way" and designed
"to encourage Myanmar to open up its democratic space," Arroyo said.

_____________________________________

October 26, Thai News Service
UNHCR and Thailand to jointly assist Myanmar refugees

The United Nations High Commission For Refugees and Thailand will work
together to help improve the life of Myanmar refugees living along the
Thai-Myanmar border, said Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh
on Friday.

Gen. Chavalit told reporters that he met the deputy high commissioner for
UNHCR who just returned from a visit to Myanmar on Friday morning in
Bangkok to discuss a joint plan with Thailand to bring about solution to
problems related to a large number of Myanmar refugees living along the
Thai-Myanmar border.

Gen. Chavalit did not clarify whether Myanmar has agreed to take back the
refugees, but said Thailand and Myanmar have worked closely to help the
displaced people, and would continue to do so.

He said that Thailand wants to help Myanmar develop its agriculture as a
mean to create employment to its people.

''We are working together to help these refugees. Thailand is helping
Myanmar to produce more agricultural goods and we will buy them. That will
help create employment for these refugees when they return to their
homeland. Anyone wants to get training, Thailand will provide. Thailand
will also hire these people to work for us and look after them as if they
are our own citizens. They will not be mistreated,'' he said.

Gen. Chavalit said Thailand has taken care of 119,000 refugees from Myanmar.

He said Thailand and UNHCR have shared the same management plan in which
the refugees would stay in provided areas.

They would be given a good life, jobs and careers, said Gen. Chavalit, as
well as a protection from their own government and the ethnic groups in
the areas.

He said he personally has not seen any implications from the recent change
in Myanmar's leadership, noting that Thailand would continue its
cooperation and assistance to the neighbouring country.

''Everyone thinks negatively about the change of Myanmar's prime minister,
but I don't think so. I think Myanmar is still the same. The change was
only caused by a conflict of thoughts among a small group of leaders. At
the end, I think, Myanmar will return to the path it has taken as wished
by international community toward the political reconciliation. It is the
matter of time -- how late or how soon. And it is everyone's effort to
push for the sooner outcome,'' said Gen. Chavalit.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 25, The Hindu
Need for clear Burma policy after "disturbing" power-change

The developments in Yangon last week resulting in the removal of Prime
Minister Khin Nyunt do no good to the purported attempts to launch
democratic reforms in Myanmar [Burma]. Known as a moderate in the military
establishment, Gen Khin Nyunt was also the intelligence chief of the
country; he went so far as to engage the pro-democracy leader and Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in a dialogue. Although Sr Gen Than Shwe, as
head of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), retained full
control before the easing out of Gen Khin Nyunt and continues to call the
shots, the replacement is all the more disturbing.

Lt-Gen Soe Win is seen as a trusted lieutenant of Sr Gen Than Shwe and the
man behind the disturbances that led to the arrest of Ms Suu Kyi last
year. There was no way Gen Khin Nyunt could have done anything on his own,
given the hold of the military junta over the country and its
administration. But as prime minister, he offered some hope for those who
believed that a "constructive engagement" with Myanmar would help in the
phased restoration of democracy. That hope may have been dashed by the
junta now.
True to form, the SPDC sees no reason to offer any explanation for the
sudden change of prime minister. It is treated as a totally military
matter in which the people of Myanmar have no say, leave alone the
neighbouring countries of Southeast Asia. Six years ago, the Association
of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) admitted Myanmar as a member in the
hope that such an engagement would gradually transform the junta into a
passable form of government. While the military establishment in Myanmar
has gained some legitimacy in the international arena on account of its
membership in ASEAN and dialogue with its partners, including the United
States and the European Union, it has done precious little to advance the
cause of democracy. Yangon has taken full advantage of ASEAN and its rich
experience and expertise on commercial and economic matters and tried to
boost its trade with the region. Myanmar is expected to chair the ASEAN
Standing Committee in 2006 and it is for the other member states to decide
if the military dictatorship should be allowed the honour. The
international community is expected to monitor developments in Yangon but
there is very little it seems able to do to make the Myanmar generals see
reason and take the path of democratic reform.

The disturbing changes have taken place on the eve of Sr Gen Than Shwe's
visit to India. New Delhi has already obliged Yangon by denying a visa to
the self-proclaimed "Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government
of the Union of Burma", Sein Win, who was scheduled to participate in a
conference of the pro-democracy movement in Delhi. India needs to
formulate a clear and progressive policy on Myanmar. It should not accept
or go along with these actions of the military junta and turn a blind eye
to the continued suppression of the pro-democracy movement. After
conferring the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding on
Ms Suu Kyi in 1992, New Delhi failed to build on that signal. While
wishing to maintain good-neighbourly relations with Myanmar, the world's
largest practising democracy should not acquiesce in the perpetuation of a
military dictatorship in Myanmar, especially after joining the
international chorus for democratic restoration in Pakistan. It is high
time constitutional reforms, set in motion over a decade ago, were brought
to a head and democracy restored in Myanmar.

_____________________________________

October 23, International Herald Tribune
Power Struggle: Is history repeating itself in Myanmar? - Zaw Oo

Washington: For the first time, the issue of the detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi has weighed heavily in a split among Myanmar's top
military leaders.

In the latest power struggle, General Khin Nyunt, a relative moderate, was
ousted as prime minister and arrested on corruption charges after the
Burmese junta's supreme leader, General Than Shwe, and his hard-line
cronies ignored the European Union's ultimatum to release Aung San Suu Kyi
before the Asia-Europe Meeting early this month. Another possible casualty
may be the junta's policies of selective engagement with the outside
world, identified with Khin Nyunt, who also once backed conciliation with
the opposition.

His ouster also shatters the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' dream
of transforming the junta into a gentler government before Myanmar takes
over the group's chairmanship in 2006. Khin Nyunt's so-called "seven-point
road map to democracy" could be openly abandoned or only survive as a
patent fraud.

The real division among the generals, however, came from a more
traditional source of rivalry between intelligence and combat wings of the
army, made more acute as the country's natural resources have become the
prize in a free-for-all among army commanders. A recent clash between
intelligence officers and regional commanders competing for control over
the lucrative China-Myanmar border trade prompted the fall of the
intelligence wing, as Than Shwe consolidated his base by siding with the
more powerful combat commanders. Now Than Shwe holds absolute power, and
it has already corrupted him absolutely.

The military rivalry at the root of events in Myanmar is an old curse.
This latest outbreak repeats a pattern seen in the 1980s under the
previous military dictator, Ne Win. His political missteps culminated in
the crushing of popular uprisings in 1988, in which hundreds of people
were killed, opening the door for the current regime. Though no one in
Myanmar wants to repeat those bloody days, there is a sense that the same
boom-and-bust power cycle might be accelerating a downward spiral toward a
similar end.

The outright fall of Khin Nyunt, a former intelligence chief whose
appointment as prime minister last year was already seen as a demotion,
will have severe consequences within the region. His intelligence
background facilitated security cooperation. His securing of cease-fire
agreements with ethnic resistance groups allowed easy access for the
exploitation of forests, mines and fisheries. His wide-ranging influence
offered reassurance for governments concerned about threats like drug
trafficking, AIDS and organized crime.

Now that this leverage has vanished, no one in Than Shwe's circle is
pragmatic enough to entertain notions of delicate diplomacy and
reciprocity. In this regard, Asean's policy of constructive engagement has
not only completely failed in preventing Myanmar's retrogression, but has
also provided perverse incentives to the hard-line generals to carry out a
policy of "beggar thy neighbor" while entrenching their own rule.

Khin Nyunt was no democrat, but he was behind the junta's abandoned policy
of reconciliation with Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League
for Democracy; Myanmar's rising die-hards portend greater evils.

Since Aung San Suu Kyi's rearrest in May 2003, after government-backed
hoodlums attacked her convoy and killed and wounded scores of her
supporters, her safety, at least, has seemed secure. But General Soe Win,
who was implicated in that attack, has been promoted to prime minister -
not a good omen for the fate of the democracy movement and its detained
leaders. The world should demand that Aung San Suu Kyi come to no harm in
the unpredictable aftermath of Khin Nyunt's fall.

Serious consequences are already roiling the armed forces, as well. Over
time, the military as government has seriously eroded the military as
institution. Favoritism, nepotism and loyalty-based promotions have
degraded the command structure. The morale of the officer corps is at a
low ebb, caught between autocratic leadership and rampant corruption from
below. For all these sins, Khin Nyunt was an easy scapegoat.

Many Asian governments assert that the Burmese military is the only
institution capable of holding the country together, but those governments
cannot afford to be mere bystanders of a Myanmar collapsing from within.
The United Nations secretary general should rally nations concerned with
the promotion of democracy in support of an international road map to save
Myanmar from dictatorship.

Zaw Oo is a fellow at the School of International Service of the American
University in Washington and research director of Burma Fund.

_____________________________________

October 25, Asahi Shimbun via International Herald Tribune
Apply pressure, not aid, to Myanmar regime - Ryuko Yamada

Japan's resumption of aid to Myanmar means the taxpayers are a party to
oppression of women and girls, whether they like it or not. Japan should
not give a helping hand to the military government that oppress its
people's rights. Three months ago, the Asahi Shimbun reported that the
government resumed bilateral aid to Myanmar (Burma) for humanitarian
reasons on grounds that its political situation has improved.

Ever since I read the report, I have developed serious misgivings about
the move and find myself unable to suppress them. Why resume aid at this
juncture? Has the human-rights situation really improved? The first of my
misgivings is the fact that pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi still
remains under house arrest. Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League
for Democracy (NLD) and the very hope of the Burmese people. Her loss of
freedom symbolically shows how local residents are deprived of their basic
human rights

When I visited Myanmar in 1997 and interviewed ordinary citizens, none of
them freely spoke what they thought. This is because they were constantly
being watched by government spies called ``reporters.'' When they were
found speaking to a foreigner, they were immediately reported to the
junta. Some cases even led to arrests. Even priests and college students
became a target of relentless torture. That is why no one could voice
their honest opinions. According to friends, the situation remains
completely unchanged

Secondly, although the Japanese government cites the holding of national
convention as a reason to resume aid, if Myanmar is prepared to enact a
constitution, properly speaking, the NLD should be taking the initiative
under Suu Kyi's leadership

In the May 1990 general elections, the present administration restricted
election campaigns by candidates other than those endorsed by the junta,
and banned gatherings of five or more people

We still remember how anti-establishment candidates were restrained by the
junta. Despite such circumstances, however, the NLD won 82 percent of the
votes. In Yangon (Rangoon), where the people are said to be politically
conscious, the NLD won 59 of the 61 seats. In Mandalay, Myanmar's second
largest city, it won all but one of the 56 seats. Given such an
overwhelming public support, it goes without saying which party should
enact a constitution

Furthermore, the national convention is nothing but a dummy that the junta
has created to protect its own vested interests

Even Thailand, which has refrained from openly criticizing the government
in Myanmar up to now, has begun to express apprehensions for the move to
establish a constitution without the participation of pro-democracy
parties such as the NLD. It is clear that such a new constitution would
serve the interests of the junta

My third concern is the fact that it is none other than the junta itself
that is violating the human rights of the people. Nonetheless, the
Japanese government stresses ``humanitarian reasons'' for resuming aid

Two years ago, when I visited Chiang Mai in Thailand, I was given a report
titled ``License to Rape'' by a group of women belonging to the Shan
ethnic minority in Myanmar. As the title suggests, the report stated that
the military is responsible for engaging in organized rape

The report also gave an account of a 13-year-old girl who was burned alive
after being raped. This year, I received a similar report from an
organization of Karen women. It also gives numerous accounts of atrocity
that the military has committed against women of ethnic minorities

With a friend, I started a nongovernmental organization in 1997 because I
wanted to share the afflictions of our Asian neighbors. Since then I have
met with ethnic minorities in Myanmar and a group of women fighting
prostitution in northern Thailand. I have also met with ethnic minorities
such as the Chakma, oppressed in the Chittagon Hill Tracts in Bangladesh
and the Buddhist untouchables who are among the lowest social groups in
the Indian caste system. Through such exchanges, I personally felt how
those underprivileged people look to Japan for support

Japan's resumption of aid to Myanmar means the taxpayers are a party to
oppression of women and girls in that part of the world-whether they like
it or not. I find the situation intolerable. Japan should not give a
helping hand by extending gratuitous aid to the military government that
oppress its people's rights. On the contrary, it should apply stronger
pressure to the military government of Myanmar

The author heads the nongovernment organization ``Sharing the Tears of
Asia.'' He contributed this comment to The Asahi Shimbun.