BurmaNet News, January 22-24, 2005

[Editor]

January 22-24, 2005, Issue # 2641


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar military harassing freed student leader: US group
Irrawaddy: Officer’s death sparks rumors in Rangoon
AFP: Myanmar opens military intelligence trials
DVB: Burma extends jail term of ailing democracy party representative

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Myanmar attacks rebel base near Thai border: Thai army official
AFP: 15 killed in strikes on Indian rebels in Myanmar: separatist leader
Times of India: India happy with Myanmar's co-operation

BUSINESS
Statesman: Myanmar to Kolkata...gas sale for hard cash

REGIONAL
Nation: Migrant workers: victims among the victims
Nation: Help Burmese migrants, says rights body
IHT: How a tribe of Thai animists listened to the sea, and survived

INTERNATIONAL
Business Week: A milestone for human rights

OPINION / OTHER
Gold Coast Bulletin: Yangon, a city full of quirks

_____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 21, Agence France Presse
Myanmar military harassing freed student leader: US group

Washington: Myanmar's military junta is harassing student leader Min Ko
Naing, whom it released after nearly 16 years in prison, a US-based group
charged.

For the past few weeks, military intelligence "followed and harassed" Min
Ko Naing as he sought to recover from serious ailments contracted during
his time behind bars as the country's second-most-prominent political
prisoner, said the US Campaign for Burma.

Myanmar's previous name was Burma.

Upon medical advice, Min Ko Naing had left Yangon on December 30 to stay
with his uncles and visit other relatives and friends several miles
outside the capital city but was harassed by the military, the US Campaign
for Burma said.

Local authorities twice forced their way into his uncles' homes at
midnight and interrogated and intimidated friends and relatives whom he
visited.

"The 'midnight knock' is one of the scariest tactics used by the regime,"
said Aung Din, policy director of US Campaign for Burma who was tortured
and served over four years behind bars as a political prisoner in Burma.

"The regime invades family privacy in the middle of the night in an
attempt to instill fear among the Burmese people," he said.

Min Ko Naing is Myanmar's second most prominent leader after 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize recipient and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, currently
under house arrest.

At least 1,400 other political prisoners remain behind bars in Myanmar,
named by US Secretary of State designate Condoleezza Rice this week as an
"outpost of tyranny."

_____________________________________

January 24, Irrawaddy
Officer’s death sparks rumors in Rangoon - Aung Lwin Oo

The funeral of a Burmese army officer occurred on Sunday amid rumors of a
planned shake-up in the country’s military command structure.

Full military honors were accorded Lt-Col Bo Win Tun, 42, personal
assistant to Deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the junta’s number two, who died
“on duty” around midnight last Friday, according to an obituary notice on
Sunday in the Burmese edition of the official Myanma Ahlin (New Light of
Myanmar).

The funeral of Bo Win Tun was held Sunday at Mingaladon military cemetery,
on the outskirts of Rangoon. The family of Bo Win Tun, who was a native of
Monywa, Saggaing Division, was unavailable for comment on the
circumstances of his death.

The government has given no official account of the incident, despite
rumors that he had been assassinated. There were even rumors that Bo Win
Tun had committed suicide because of personal problems.

The rumors originated from several sources, according to the Oslo-based
opposition radio Democratic Voice of Burma, or DVB.

There have also been unconfirmed reports of tension among military leaders
attending a meeting of regional commanders in Rangoon, at which possible
changes in the military leadership were reportedly discussed. Rumors were
fueled by the absence of top regime figures from news carried by the state
media in recent days.

“[There are] varieties of rumors and I don’t know what I should believe,”
said veteran politician Amyotheryei Win Naing, leader of the Rangoon-based
National Politicians Group-Myanmar. “But, what I’m curious to know is that
how it happened as [the incident] took place in the middle of the night.”

_____________________________________

January 24, Agence France Presse
Myanmar opens military intelligence trials

Yangon: Trials for more than 300 people linked to Myanmar's disbanded
military intelligence unit began Monday under a cloud of secrecy inside
the notorious Insein prison, a legal source said.

"The trials have started today," the source told AFP.

"No fewer than 16 special tribunals being presided over by 16 divisional
and district-level judges were set up inside the jail premises," said the
source, who went inside the prison.

Some 30 special courts are expected eventually to be operating within the
prison walls, and the trials are expected to end within 45 days.

Thousands of people have been summoned for closed-door preliminary
hearings in recent months.

Journalists who had gathered at the main gate of the prison early Monday
were denied access by security guards. No details of the trials were
available.

"According to prevailing laws, persons on trial have the right to legal
defense... otherwise justice will not be served," the legal expert said.
It was not known whether any of the defendants have hired their own
lawyers.

Insein prison lies about 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of Yangon, and the
special tribunals have been set up inside six separate buildings next to
each other, the legal source said.

Most defendants face multiple charges, including corruption and possession
of illegal foreign currency. Some of the higher-ranking officials are
likely to be charged with conspiracy, the legal expert said.

The defendants are closely connected to former military intelligence chief
and deposed premier General Khin Nyunt, who has been accused by the ruling
military junta of insubordination and abuse of power.

Two of his sons are among the 300 people facing trial.

Khin Nyunt himself faces several charges including high treason, abuse of
power and graft but is unlikely to be put on trial at this time, sources
said.

Khin Nyunt, who led military intelligence for two decades, had favored
limited dialogue with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He was
replaced by junta hardliner General Soe Win.

Myanmar's military rulers have painted the purge as a crackdown on
corruption. In October they scrapped the National Intelligence Bureau, the
body that gave widespread powers to military intelligence officers.

The intelligence wing was believed to control much of the black market and
drug money in Myanmar -- the world's second largest opium producer -- and
was a bitter rival of hardline army factions loyal to the junta
leadership.

But the hardline faction is also deeply involved in corruption, and
analysts have said the crackdown is in part a battle over who controls
black-market money.

Myanmar is ranked among the world's top five most corrupt countries by
watchdog Transparency International.

The military has ruled the country since 1962. Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take
power.

_____________________________________

January 23, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma extends jail term of ailing democracy party representative

It has been learned that the jail term of Dr Than Nyein, National League
for Democracy (NLD) elected representative from Kyauktan Township who has
been unjustly incarcerated, has been extended by one more year under
Section 10/a (of the 1975 State Protection Law).

The military government arrested Dr Than Nyein, who is also the vice
chairman of the Rangoon Division NLD Organizing Committee, and handed him
a seven-year jail term on 17 February 1997. The authorities did not free
him when Dr Than Nyein completed his full jail term on 23 July 2004,
without receiving the usual reduction in sentences all prisoners are
entitled to. Instead of freedom, he was given three more two-month
extensions under Section 10/a since July 2004. The authorities later
transferred him to Paungde Prison from Insein Prison when he staged a
hunger strike against his extended sentences.

He was asked to fill out his personal history after six months of his
extended jail was over on 18 January 2005. His wife Daw Khin Aye, who now
has to go to Paungde Prison to see him, said instead of being freed his
jail term has been extended by one more year. A special authority group
from Rangoon came to meet Dr Than Nyein (in Paungde Prison) on 19 January
but did not permit him to receive any medical treatment. As a result of
poor prison conditions, Dr Than Nyein, who is over 60 years old, is
suffering from liver and heart diseases, diabetes, and neurological
problems.

Daw Khin Aye told the DVB that she keeps wishing for the immediate release
of her husband.

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 24, Agence France Presse
Myanmar attacks rebel base near Thai border: Thai army official

Bangkok: Myanmar government forces have launched an offensive against a
rebel ethnic minority group just across the border from one of Thailand's
northern provinces, a senior Thai army officer said Monday.

Government forces and rebels from the Karenni National Progressive Party
(KNPP) have clashed three times in the past week, Thai army spokesman
Colonel Acar Tiproch said.

About six mortars fired during the attacks landed across the border near
the Thai village of Ban Mae Suay Oo, in Mae Hong Son province, 924
kilometers (575 miles) north of Bangkok, he said.

They fell in jungle areas and caused no casualties, he said.

"The Thai border committee has sent a letter of protest and met local
Myanmar authorities urging caution in their operations near the border,"
he told AFP.

Myanmar's shelling of a KNPP base located near the Thai border started
last Monday after the rebels attacked an army base and killed eight
Myanmar soldiers, border sources said.

Ethnic insurgencies have plagued Myanmar's border areas since the
Southeast Asian nation gained independence from Britain in 1948. By the
end of the 1990s, the junta had signed ceasefire accords with 17 groups,
leaving a handful however still fighting Yangon's rule.

Myanmar's ruling junta canceled peace talks with the Karen National Union,
the country's largest ethnic rebel group, in October after the surprise
ousting of prime minister Khin Nyunt.

The former premier was seen as responsible for persuading 17 ethnic groups
opposed to the military regime to sign ceasefire agreements.

His removal sparked concerns that the ceasefires with the ethnic groups,
which make up about one-third of Myanmar's 50 million population, could
unravel.

Heavy fighting last week in the thick jungles of Myanmar between
government troops and separatists from neighboring India has left at least
five rebels and 10 soldiers dead, a rebel leader said Sunday.

Kughalo Mulatonu, a leader of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland
which is fighting for a tribal homeland in India's northeastern state of
Nagaland bordering Myanmar, said the rebels were killed in intense
shelling.

_____________________________________

January 23, Agence France Presse
15 killed in strikes on Indian rebels in Myanmar: separatist leader

Guwahati: Ongoing heavy fighting in the thick jungles of Myanmar between
government troops and Indian separatists has left at least five rebels and
10 soldiers dead, a rebel leader said Sunday.

Kughalo Mulatonu, a leader of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland
(NSCN), which is fighting for a tribal homeland in India's northeastern
state of Nagaland, said that the rebels were killed in intense shelling.

The bombardment began late Wednesday and was continuing, he said.

"Myanmarese soldiers attacked some of our bases with rocket launchers and
mortars, killing five of our fighters," Mulatonu told AFP by telephone
from somewhere along the India-Myanmar border.

"We also killed 10 of their soldiers in retaliatory strikes."

He said the attacks were taking place along the Chindwin River in the
north of Myanmar, close to the abandoned World War II Shempuyang airport.

He said the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, which was formed in
1980, has at least 50 camps with some 5,000 guerrilla fighters entrenched
in fortified bunkers in the Sagaing Division of Myanmar.

"Our fighters are prepared to die. We are not going to leave our bases,"
Mulatonu said.

An Indian intelligence official said authorities were monitoring the clashes.

"We don't know about the casualties but something is happening there," he
told AFP, asking not to be named.

"Keeping that in mind, we have put the border on alert and security has
been beefed up at vulnerable points to prevent militants from sneaking
in."

India and Myanmar share a 1,640 kilometer (1,000 mile) long unfenced
border, allowing militants from the northeast to use the adjoining country
as a springboard to carry out hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on federal
soldiers.

On a visit to India last October, Myanmar's General Than Shwe pledged that
his government would not let Indian rebels operate from its soil.

The last time Myanmar launched a military operation against National
Socialist Council of Nagaland and other Indian rebels was in 2001 when at
least a dozen separatists were killed.

More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the
northeast since India's independence in 1947.

_____________________________________

January 22, The Times of India
India happy with yanmar's co-operation - Nirmalya Banerjee

Kolkata: Union defence minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday expressed
satisfaction at the level of co-operation available from the Myanmar army
in crushing camps of militants from the north-east in Myanmar.

Talking to newspersons in Kolkata, he said the Myanmar army had carried
out an operation to flush out militants. "The perception is quite clear.
Myanmar has agreed not to allow its land to be used for subversive
activities against India. They will do as far as it is possible for them."

He indicated that the operations being carried out by the Indian army in
Manipur and by the Myanmar army in Myanmar across the Manipur and Nagaland
borders would be long-drawn. The border was a long one and the terrain
difficult, he said. "The operations will be time-consuming and difficult."

Army operations in Chandel and Churachandpur districts would continue as
long as it was necessary to bring the militant groups under control.
"Insurgency is not something that can be controlled at one go."

India could only request Bangladesh to carry out a similar flush-out
operation against militant camps situated in the country. "They have a
government, I don't know how far they will do. We can only request."

Mukherjee said the army had no objection if a border trade was started
between India and China at the Nathula pass in Sikkim. "In fact, as
foreign minister, I had earlier supported the idea." At present border
trade between the two countries was going on through Lipulek and Sipkilla
passes, both in the western sector. Nathula would soon be added to the
list.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS

January 20, Statesman
Myanmar to Kolkata...gas sale for hard cash

Kolkata: The Myanmarese energy minister Brigadier General Lun Thi wants
his country’s off-shore gas to be piped to Kolkata and beyond in two years
to help the Myanmarese junta overcome its acute shortage of hard currency.
He says: “We want to supply gas to India at least for the next 20 years.
But how soon will the project fructify is our worry.”

Myanmar hopes to earn over $ 3 billion annually by selling gas to India.
Gen Thi wants the laying of the gas pipeline to be completed in four dry
seasons for which an international consortium comprising international oil
companies and the ONGC will have to be formed which will own, build and
operate the pipeline to assure India of efficient supply of gas.

At the trilateral meeting of energy ministers of Myanmar, India and
Bangladesh at Yangon the constant refrain of Brig Lun Thi in his
conversation with his counterparts was “to sell gas to India as early as
possible as we are not interested in wasting time in politics.”

But the big question is whether the Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum
Khaleda would allow this to happen. This is because at the Yangon meeting
while Bangladesh expressed its willingness to grant the right of way (ROW)
through its territory for constructing 897km-long trans Myanmar Bangladesh
India gas pipeline to Kolkata, it decided to raise extraneous issues like
its trade imbalance with India which have made the future of the $700
million gas pipeline project uncertain. This is despite the fact that
Bangladesh, to start with, will earn at least $150 million as annual
carriage fees for allowing 289 km of its territory to be used for laying
the pipeline. What is still more intriguing is that Begum Zia did not
raise the trade imbalance issue while guaranteeing uninterrupted supply of
Bangladesh gas to industrial plants that the Tatas propose to set up in
Bangladesh at a cost of Taka 12,000 crores. Also the way some of the
Islamic groups supporting Begum Zia’s government are opposing the gas
pipeline project (calling it “suicidal for Bangladesh”) has given rise to
Brigadier Thi’s misgivings that Bangladesh might derail the tripartite
Yangon agreement on regional energy cooperation.

The agreement said Yangon “agreed to export natural gas to India to be
operated by international consortium as may be agreed upon by the parties.
The governments of Bangladesh and India reserve the right to access the
pipeline as and when required, including injecting and siphoning off their
own natural gas.”

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 23, The Nation
Migrant workers: victims among the victims - Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

Pranom Somwong has dedicated her legal knowledge to helping Burmese
workers find a place in Thai society

Young activist Pranom Somwong was at the scene when three Burmese World
Vision aid workers were locked up in a cage at Baan Tab Lamu fishing
village in Phang Nga province last week.

A cage is for detaining animals, not for human beings, said Pranom, who
added that she felt helpless to do anything as a group of armed men stood
watching her. She ended up staying there for seven hours, the sole silent
witness, until the three Burmese were taken to Tai Muang police station.

To Pranom, the coordinator of MAP Foundations Act against Abuse Project,
the incident is just another example of Thailands inhuman treatment of
Burmese migrant workers, against which she has been fighting for years.

They are invisible in Thai society, said Pranom.

She has been working to improve the human rights situation for Burmese
workers ever since she graduated from Chiang Mai University five years
ago.

Pranom said her interest in the issue began during a discussion about law
and human rights in the classroom.

There was a question about how we felt when the Thai authorities shot dead
members of the Gods Army who seized a Ratchaburi hospital. The majority in
class agreed with the authorities actions, she recalled. Pranom could not
agree with them.

I felt it was unfair to kill someone instead of trying to set a standard
for all people to access the judicial process, said Pranom, who is a
lawyer by training. Everyone no matter who they are should be protected
under the same law, she added. Since that day, Pranom has spent a lot of
time researching the conditions in Burma that drove the Gods Army and the
millions of other Burmese across the Thai-Burmese border to take refuge on
Thai soil.

Aung San Suu Kyi also inspired me. Her story made me wonder why the
situation in Burma had never changed, even though the world community
agrees with her, said Pranom. How we can enjoy peace while ignoring whats
happening elsewhere, especially in our neighbour country'

Having learned about the plight of Burmese people who had fled human
rights violations in their homeland only to face other forms of
discrimination in Thailand, Pranom decided that she would use her
knowledge of the law to help them.

They suffered human rights violations in their homeland and came here
searching for better life. I want them to be able to give them access to
justice, the young activist said.

Pranom started out working with the migrant workers health programme of
the Chiang Mai-based MAP Foundation and eventually started handling human
rights issues. In one case, Pranom provided legal assistance to a Burmese
refugee who had been gang-raped by Thai authorities at a refugee camp. The
case eventually went to court, and the men responsible for the rape
received jail terms of six to nine years.

Pranoms work with migrant workers in Mae Sot has made her extremely
unpopular among employers there. Some have posted Pranoms picture at their
factories beneath warnings to migrant workers not to talk to her. On one
occasion, one of her Burmese volunteers was beaten. However, Pranom sees
reactions like this as a sign that more people are aware of migrant
workers.

>From being voiceless, now it seems that they have got a space to speak out
in the media. Employers have to care about their voice, she said.

Pranom praised the government for changing its policy towards Burmese
migrants last year by permitting migrants to stay in Thailand for one year
if they registered for a temporary identity card. Nevertheless, they still
face a lot of discrimination, in part because they have been stereotyped
troublemakers, she said. Their suffering in the wake of the tsunami is a
prime example.

Soon after the tsunami hit southern Thailand, Pranom rushed to Phang Nga,
where more than 30,000 Burmese are registered as migrant workers. After
conducting a survey at Baan Nam Khem fishing village, Pranom found that
there had been about 20 fishing boats on shore minutes before the massive
waves hit. It is estimated that 30 Burmese workers in each boat were
washed out to sea by the tsunami.

But there is no record of their fate, said Pranom, adding that even as
calls went out for urgent assistance, migrant workers faced the added
difficulty of having to hide themselves. She found that while Thai and
other foreign victims had been given good care, hundreds of Burmese had
had to flee to the jungle and other isolated areas.

They were suspected of looting, and the authorities were ordered to send
them away, she said.

She said that the media had played a big part in creating prejudice
against Burmese migrant workers, particularly among the middle class. She
said that it was disappointing that otherwise-educated people would have
such views.

I would like to ask how we can live together in peace and with
understanding if we dont give space for others, no matter who they are,
she said.

_____________________________________

January 22, The Nation
Help Burmese migrants, says rights body - Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Ministry of Labour should urgently intervene to help the thousands of
migrant workers from Burma affected by the tsunami, the Asian Human Rights
Commission has urged.

The Hong Kong-based commission said in a statement on Thursday that the
organisation was disturbed to hear that Thai authorities were forcibly
deporting affected Burmese migrants workers in Phang Nga and Phuket under
the pretext of cutting down on post-tsunami crime.

Both illegal workers and the legal workers who lost their legal documents
due to the tsunami have been deliberately arrested and deported by Thai
authorities without providing any compensation for their salary. Due to
these circumstances, the Burmese workers have gone into hiding in the
hills without any provisions, it said, adding the group in hiding could be
about 3,000-strong.

The commission estimated that about 2,000 migrant workers have been
deported in recent weeks while 2,300 died and 4,000 are missing in
Thailand.

The AHRC also accused the Thai government of maintaining a double standard
in relief efforts. While Thai citizens and foreign tourists affected by
the tsunami have received proper humanitarian aid, Burmese migrant workers
are totally isolated and have received no assistance, it said.

The commission added that it is extremely concerned about the situation
and urged members of the public both inside Thailand and abroad to
pressure the government to properly respond because non-governmental
organisations are having a hard time accessing those in need.

_____________________________________

January 24, The International Herald Tribune
How a tribe of Thai animists listened to the sea, and survived - Abby
Goodnough

South Surin Island, Thailand: They call it "wave that eats people," but
the Moken, who have lived in isolation here for decades, emerged from the
tsunami almost unscathed.

About 200 Moken were living on South Surin Island, 65 kilometers, or 40
miles, from Thailand's shore, when the wave hit on Dec. 26 as it was
barreling toward the coast. Their village, built of thatched huts on
stilts, was on the beach. But when the water crashed over it, the Moken,
including old women and parents with babies on their backs, had already
run to the hills.

The Moken know the mysteries of the ocean better than most Thais, having
roamed it for centuries as fishermen and divers. They used to live half
the year in houseboats on the Andaman Sea, wandering between Thailand and
Myanmar; and, while less itinerant now, they remain closely attuned to the
water. They are animists who believe that the sea, their island and all
objects have spirits, and the Moken use totem poles to communicate with
them.

Salama Klathalay, chief of the Moken here, said his elders had taught him
to expect a people-eating wave whenever the tide receded far and fast. So
when he witnessed such a sight on the morning of Dec. 26, he started
running and shouting. "I had never seen such a low tide," said Salama, a
lively white-haired man who said he was at least 60 but unsure of his
exact age. "I started telling people that a wave was coming."

One member of the community, a disabled man who could not run, was left
behind in the panic, Salama said as he sat in one of the tents in which
the Moken are living while they build a new village. The man died, and to
avoid bad luck, Salama said, they were rebuilding on a different beach.

They could avoid future tsunamis by moving to the hills, he said, but they
fear the snakes that live there.

The eyesight of the Moken under water is so sharp that researchers have
studied it. Many cannot read or write, passing lore and knowledge down
through the generations orally. They have their own language, though many
younger Moken now speak Thai. Some go to the mainland to live and find
work, but Salama said many return. "They're not used to it over there," he
said.

The Moken have been little more than an oddity for tourist guidebooks and
a nuisance for the Thai government, which has chastised them for fishing
and foraging on environmentally sensitive water and land. But now, because
of their agile escape from the tsunami, these people who live without
electricity or schooling are celebrities. The Thai news media have painted
them as heroes, and politicians have called for preserving their way of
life and spreading their long-held wisdom.

After the tsunami, rescue boats took the Moken to a Buddhist temple on the
mainland, where they stayed about 10 days before restlessness overwhelmed
them. They returned to their island two weekends ago and started building
homes with donated bamboo and palm fronds. Park rangers are helping them
build 54 homes, and perhaps a small school and souvenir shop for tourists.

A few thousand chao ley -- the Thai term means "water people" -- live on
the Andaman coast or islands near it. Most are more assimilated than the
Moken, but they still lead segregated, impoverished lives. Yupa Klathalay,
a 35-year-old Moken, said she visited the mainland a few times a month to
sell sea cucumbers but had no interest in moving there, even after the
tsunami. "This place comes from the old generation, and we have to
continue it," Yupa said.

In the late afternoon, when the group working on construction was dragging
in the heat, Salama pulled up in a longtail boat and leapt out, shouting
and hoisting wood to re-energize them.

Salama, whose father was the chief here before him, said his people
believed that tsunamis came because the sea was angry. "We didn't do
anything bad, but maybe somebody else did," he said. "The wave has cleaned
out the bad things."

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 24, Business Week
A milestone for human rights - Paul Magnusson

Washington: In the mid-1990s, reports emerged out of Burma that villagers
in the remote Yadana region had been forced by the military to clear
jungle for the construction of a $1.2 billion natural gas pipeline. The
allegations were horrendous: To round up workers for the project, the
Burmese military had resorted to torture, rape, and murder to enslave
villagers, even throwing one woman's baby in a fire after killing her
husband. Before long, U.S. human rights groups had filed suit against
Unocal Corp., based in El Segundo, Calif., one of the four pipeline
partners, on behalf of 15 unnamed Burmese villagers.

Now, after years of courtroom sparring, Unocal has quietly agreed to
settle the suits, one filed in California state court and another in the
U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Although a court gag order has kept
many details under wraps so far, insiders say that Unocal will pay about
$30 million in damages to settle the cases. The award will include money
for the 15 plaintiffs and for a fund to improve living conditions, health
care, and education in the pipeline region. Unocal has declined further
comment, although it has repeatedly denied any involvement in the abuses.
Nevertheless, the company has acknowledged that the Burmese military,
which has ruled the nation since it deposed the elected President in a
1988 coup, abused some workers.

The settlement may mark a milestone in human rights advocates' struggle to
use U.S. courts to force American multinationals to protect their workers
against abuse by repressive regimes. While the courts didn't issue a
binding precedent in the case, the fact that Unocal has apparently agreed
to cough up such a large sum after adamantly denying responsibility
strengthens a major strategy of human rights groups. The Unocal case
``shows that corporations have both direct and indirect human rights
responsibilities,'' says Susan Aaronson, director of globalization studies
at the Kenan Institute, a Washington think tank.

Unocal is the first of a series of U.S. multinationals to face allegations
that they acquiesced in or benefited from human rights violations,
committed mostly by authoritarian governments. Other defendants include
ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola, Drummond, Occidental Petroleum, and Del Monte
Foods. The companies are all fighting the suits. The cases hinge largely
on a 1789 statute, the Alien Tort Claims Act, that allows foreign
litigants to seek damages in U.S. courts for crimes against ``the law of
nations,'' generally murder, torture, kidnapping, and slavery. Last June,
the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of the law against U.S.-based
companies.

U.S. corporations and the Bush Administration have argued that companies
shouldn't be held to a ``vicarious liability'' standard but should instead
be held blameless unless involved directly in the crimes. But that defense
doesn't seem as promising now. The Unocal case was headed for a California
state jury on just such an indirect connection to the Burmese crimes when
the company abruptly settled in mid-December. The federal case, still in
the motions phase, appeared headed for a jury as well, says Terry
Collingsworth, executive director of Washington's International Labor
Rights Fund, one of three groups representing the Unocal plaintiffs. Now,
U.S. companies may feel similar pressure to cut their losses and settle
such suits.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 22, Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia)
Yangon, a city full of quirks - Pascale Trouillaud

Pascale Trouillaud goes exploring in a country that is famous for its
oddities.

There is a familiar golden pagoda shimmering at sunset, the graceful Asian
charm of brilliant green and indigo blue buildings, the old-quarter smells
redolent of India.

Still, Myanmar's capital, Yangon (formerly the Burmese capital, Rangoon),
is a city like no other.

Just 11/2 hours by plane from Bangkok, Yangon is a cosmopolitan yet in
many ways conventional metropolis, but it is streaked with oddities.

Its quirkiness stems from the nature of the military regime that rules it
and decades of post-colonial isolation.

Here, one is expected to drive on the right, yet steering wheels too are
on the right - the result of an astrologer's warning to the highly
superstitious then-dictator Ne Win in the 1970s that the left-hand side
was bad karma.

Traffic in the former British colony flipped from left to right overnight.

But 90 per cent of the cars have remained right-hand drives.

"Sometimes it is difficult when you want to pass, as you can't see a
thing," Yangon drivers often grumble.

At least they have no need to worry about the pesky motorbikes and
scooters that are ubiquitous in Asian cities such as Hanoi and Phnom Penh.
A blanket ban means the sprawling city of five million is astonishingly
void of the cheap two-wheelers.

Although accounts vary, the decree was apparently announced after one of
Ne Win's grandsons pretended, while riding a motorbike, that he was
attacking an official convoy that was transporting a top-level junta
dignitary.

Motorbike licences were summarily revoked.

Also largely absent from the streets of the city are the numbers of people
with their ears glued to their mobile phones that are found in Bangkok,
Singapore and elsewhere ... and their disturbing rings.

The few mobile owners there are a minority of the business elite with
powerful connections.

To get a phone one needs to obtain a recommendation letter from either the
state Myanmar Post and Telecommunications Company or from a high-ranking
military officer.

The equivalent of some $5000 later, you're connected.

Should you one day wish to return the mobile, the sum, equivalent to 30
years' salary for the average worker, is not refunded.

Getting a bird's eye view of the charming city also is virtually impossible.

At 22 storeys, the Traders Hotel is the tallest building in town, but
Lilliputian by comparison to the skyscrapers of Hong Kong and Kuala
Lumpur.

Yangon is also the only capital in the region where the majority of the
population still wear its traditional garb of a tunic and longyi, a length
of cloth wrapped around the waist and knotted in front.

A mere 10 per cent of inhabitants wear trousers.

The authorities published decrees this year telling students to stick with
the national costume and not let themselves be influenced by decadent
Western fashion.

Footwear brings a touch of democracy to the country, however.

Everyone, even ministers and military officers, wears the Burmese version
of the thong, made of rubber or velour straps and rubber soles and priced
from A65c.

When the crowds converge on Yangon's pagodas, where footwear is removed,
the odds are high you'll leave wearing someone else's sandals.

Despite the lush city's broad avenues, the quickest way from point A to
point B is not always a straight line; residents are sometimes diverted by
a series of barricades aimed at keeping the public away from the homes of
those whom the junta has placed under house arrest.

Opposition Leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi languishes in
her villa on the southern banks of Inya Lake.

Her arch-enemy, Ne Win's daughter Sandar Win, is confined on the northern
banks.

Recently deposed prime minister General Khin Nyunt, an ex-enemy of the
former and a personal friend of the latter, is also under house arrest, as
are dozens of his associates, since his sacking in October.