BurmaNet News, January 26, 2005

[Editor]

January 26, 2005, Issue # 2643


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar general warns of 'destructionists" seeking to derail drafting
of constitution
Narinjara: Burma's Western Command under high alert
Narinjara: Religious riot in Arakan State
Mizzima: Survivals of the Tsunami fined in Burma

BUSINESS
Narinjara: India-Bangladesh talks on gas pipeline unlikely during SAARC
Summit

REGIONAL
AFX: Malaysia's Abdullah sees visa-free travel within ASEAN by end-2005 -
report
Thai Press: UN agency investigates fate of migrant workers in tsunami-hit
areas of Thailand
Kaladan: Ethnic groups condemned Junta’s brutality against religion in Burma


_____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 26, Associated Press
Myanmar general warns of 'destructionists" seeking to derail drafting of
constitution

Yangon: A top member of Myanmar's ruling junta has warned that foreign and
domestic forces are trying to derail the process of creating a new
constitution - something this tightly controlled country has not had since
the military seized power in 1988.

The remarks by Lt. Gen. Thein Sein were reported by state-controlled media
Wednesday just a few weeks before the resumption of a
constitution-drafting National Convention.

Thein Sein, who holds the title of the junta's "secretary-1," said social
organizations should fight the dangers of "internal and external
destructionists who want to destroy the convention," the Myanma Ahlin
newspaper reported.

Thein Sein, who made the remarks while speaking to a veterans' group
Tuesday, did not mention any specific organizations or say what should be
done to combat them.

He said the constitutional convention is a crucial first step in a
seven-phase "road map" to becoming a democratic, developed nation.

Critics dismiss the convention because the military chose all its
delegates, and because the opposition National League for Democracy party
- which won 1990 general election but was not allowed to take power - is
not taking part.

The NLD, headed by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, boycotted the
convention because the government would not release her from house arrest
and refused to change some procedures the party called "undemocratic."

The convention is set to resume Feb. 17 after a seven-month hiatus. It
opened May 17 and adjourned after nearly two months of closed-door
discussions.

Myanmar has had no constitution since its 1974 charter was suspended after
the military took power in 1988.

_____________________________________

January 26, Narinjara News
Burma's Western Command under high alert

Akyab: All army battalions under Western Command, including border
outposts, are now in ready position after the army authority ordered them
under high alert, said a report from Akyab.

"Yes, the Burmese army is in a high alert position and I didn't see any
army personnel yesterday visiting outside with any civilians", said a
local resident who is lives near Light Infantry Battalion 233, in
Buthidaung.

The reason for the Burmese army's high alert status is currently unknown.

The army's order to stay in high alert came out after Western Command's
Min Aung Hlaing returned to Ann Western Command Headquarters, from a
regional commander level meeting in Rangoon, on January 23.

According to army sources, the western commander has summoned all captain
level officials, with their respective wives, from all battalions under
the Western Command to attend a meeting which began yesterday at Western
Command Headquarters, located in Ann Township in Arakan state, about 500
miles northwest from Rangoon.

Battalion commanders' level army officials were not, however, summoned to
attend the meeting.

There was a rumor in the border area that at least 10 soldiers recently
deserted from the army, with a number of arms, and marched to the border
area in order to cooperate with rebel groups on the western border of
Burma.

According to border sources, the Burmese army is currently using four cut
military tactics in the border area. The four cut military tactics, the
four essential items including food, water, communication, and
transportation areremoved from the access of the enemy.

Rumors have been running high among the Burmese people after PM Khin Nyunt
was ousted from his position. People have been carefully watching the
present situation in Burma with the hope that Burma's situation will
change in the near future, said a retired teacher from Akyab University.

_____________________________________

January 25, Narinjara News
Religious riot in Arakan State

Dhaka: A religious riot broke out in a town of Arakan on January 20,
leaving at least 3 people dead, said the All Arakan Students and Youths
Congress (AASYC).

The three found dead were all Muslims, one of which was a Muslim religious
teacher.

The riot broke out near Naga Pariyeti Sathin Thik, a Buddhist monastery of
the district town of Kyauk Pru, located in central Arakan State.

According to another source, the riot started after a young Muslim sweeper
from a local mosque insulted several Buddhist monks near the monastery.

The sweeper is said to be an informant for the local army station of Kyauk
Pru and he was known to insult the local Arakanese people, said Ko Naing
Naing from Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), quoting several town's
people.

In response to the incident, the town authority has cut off all telephone
lines in town for fear of information getting out regarding the riot.

The Rangoon authority has sent a number of police from Akyab, the capital
city of Arakan, to Kyauk Pry in order to control the situation.

Arakan is considered a very sensitive state in Burma as there were a
number of area religious riots that took place in the last several years.

In the 2001 riot of Akyab, at least 30 people were killed and many
properties were destroyed in the incident.

_____________________________________

January 24, Mizzima News
Survivals of the Tsunami fined in Burma

Instead of lending a helping hand to the Burmese Tsunami survivors in
Thailand, the Military Junta has collected money and fined video rental
shops for renting videos of the disastrous Tsunami and relief work.

Forty Burmese survivors of the Tsunami disaster, who worked in the Phuket
area in Thailand while returning to Burma were forced to pay 700 baht each
by the military immigration officials in Three Pagoda town in order to be
allowed to cross the border.

"We told them that we are victims of the Tsunami and have nothing to pay.
But If we do not pay, the immigration does not allow us to cross. Though
we requested them to allow us, they refused. As we need to get back to our
homes for relaxation, we helped each other and paid them," said Burmese
survivor.

Video rental shops in Sittwe Town in Arakan state, Burma, on January 16
were fined for renting video records of the Tsunami and the aftermath
relief works.

The Shwe Rakhine, Shwe Okka and Nyien Kyaw video rental shops in Sittwe
town, about 590 miles from Rangoon, rented records of the Tsunami and its
aftermath relief works taken from CNN and BBC satellite telecast news.

As local renters increased, police from the No 1 Sittwe town police
station allegedly arrested the shop owners for illegally distributing
uncensored tapes to the public and fined them 30,000 Kyats each and
released them later. Their tapes were also seized.

According to the shop owners, they received the tapes from a Rangoon-based
distributor. People in Burma rely on these tapes to see the Tsunami
disaster because the Burmese government released little about the Tsunami
on the state-owned MRTV. This tape is being sold around Burma.

According to an exiled Burmese human rights activist, the tsunami killed
over 160 Burmese in Thailand and over 90 in Burma.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS

January 26, Narinjara News
India-Bangladesh talks on gas pipeline unlikely during SAARC Summit

Dhaka: The issue surrounding the tri-partisan gas pipeline project is not
on the agenda of a talk involving Indian and Bangladeshi Prime Ministers
during the upcoming SAARC summit.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, a summit
including the region's leaders, will be held in Dhaka on February 6-7.

India's Prime Minister Manmohon Singh is expected to talk with his
Bangladeshi counterpart Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, on several bilateral
issues during the SAARC summit in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

However the issue of the area's tri-partisan gas pipeline project didn't
make it to the table, even though it is considered a serious issue between
the two neighboring countries, sources said.

"I don't think that it has reached that stage," Bangladesh Foreign
Minister M Morshed Khan on January 24 told reporters in his office.

The energy ministers of Bangladesh, India and Burma recently informally
agreed to have the trans-border pipeline, meant to export gas from Burma
to India through Bangladesh, in the three nation's energy meeting held on
January 12-13, in Burma's capital of Rangoon.

Bangladesh said it would not sign the gas pipeline deal with India and
Burma unless it has a bilateral agreement with India for the use of
India's territory for trans-trade.

Bangladesh wants to import hydro-electricity from Nepal and Bhutan, which
would necessitate crossing into India's territory and also hopes to use
India's territory as a trade corridor to supply commodities between Nepal,
Bhutan, and Bangladesh.

India's government does not currently allow its territory to be used as a
trade corridor for Bangladesh.

The two neighboring countries need several talks to come to an agreement
for the tri-partisan gas pipeline project, and the issue is unlikely
disappear from the upcoming two country's summit.

"All bilateral issues would be further discussed with India in the
upcoming SAARC summit," said the Bangladesh energy minister in a press
conference on January 15, but the tri-partisan gas pipeline project is
currently left off the table, one analyst said.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 26, AFX News
Malaysia's Abdullah sees visa-free travel within ASEAN by end-2005 - report

Kuala Lumpur: Southeast Asian nationals will no longer need to obtain
visas when travelling to 10 countries in the region by the end of this
year, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in remarks
published by the Star newspaper.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
signed an agreement in 2002 to allow easier travel in a bid to revive
confidence after the Bali bombings that year.

The following year, an ASEAN meeting in Hanoi urged member states to work
towards visa exemptions for travel within the region.

"This will be fully effective by the end of the year," Abdullah was quoted
as saying.

"Of course, we cannot downplay the security requirements of the respective
member states," he said in a speech read on his behalf by Tourism Minister
Leo Michael Toyad at an ASEAN tourism conference on Malaysia's Langkawi
island.

"However, in the spirit of ASEAN, I believe we can work together to create
means by which we can address these concerns and at the same time ensure
visa-free intra-regional travel."

Many ASEAN countries have bilateral agreements on visa exemption for their
respective nationals, but the organization does not have a multilateral
visa agreement.

The 10 member nations of ASEAN are: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

_____________________________________

January 26, Thai Press Reports
UN agency investigates fate of migrant workers in tsunami-hit areas of
Thailand

United Nations officials have held talks with authorities in southern
Thailand on the plight of foreign migrant workers caught up in last
month's tsunami disaster.

Representatives of the Geneva-based UN agency, the International
Organization for Migration, met today with Phuket Governor Udomsak
Asavarangkul, seeking information about those migrant workers who had been
affected and what kind of help had been provided to them.

After the meeting, the governor said he had told the IOM officials that
the only migrant workers hit by the tsunami were those who worked in the
fishing industry.

"I informed IOM that only two Burmese workers died in the disaster and
their relatives had already claimed the bodies. However, we still cannot
be sure how many of them were injured as they mixed among the wounded Thai
people,'' he said.

The Phuket governor said the province has helped all victims, including
migrant workers, equally.

''But I don't know if there is any compensation for affected migrant
workers because we have no guidelines on that issue. We will look into it
again,'' he said.

_____________________________________

January 25, Kaladan News
Ethnic groups condemned Junta’s brutality against religion in Burma

New Delhi: Ethnic groups of Burma staged a rally in New Delhi, the capital
of India against SPDC’s brutalities on religion in Burma yesterday.

Chin Community based in New Delhi organized the rally and staged
demonstration in front of Burmese Embassy at about 11:00 am to 1:00 pm,
condemning the State Peace and Development Council’s (SPDC) practice of
religious persecution against Christianity in Chin State.

Some Chin community leaders, Chin Christian posters, Daw Maw Li from
Burmese Women Union (BWU) and Myint Hla, a Muslim member of Burma Lawyer
Council (BLC) delivered speeches in the rally.

According to Mr. Tin Soe, a Rohingya intern at the office of Human Rights
Education Institute of Burma (HREIB) in New Delhi, a Chin ethnic groups
staged the rally with a banner of “on Religious Persecution and Forced
Conversion of Chins” in the Chin State of Burma at Jantar Mantar Square of
New Delhi.

They called upon all communities of Burma to condemn and intervene to put
an end on such deliberate abuses of Human Rights.

They also urged for immediate end of the SPDC’s polices on religious
persecution, forced conversion and desecration of religious institutions
and demanded to free all the pastors’ Church leaders Evangelist and
Missionaries and other religious leaders.

Ahh Me, a Chin, read out a statement in the rally about blatant abuses of
human rights across the Burma, especially in the area of Christians and
Muslims. The statement mostly based on destroying of a Cross that sat at
the top of mount Boi, south of Mattupi Township of Chin State for last two
decades.

On the 3rd of January 2005, this Cross (a religious symbol of the
Christian) of 50 ft and 15x5 cubic ft. in Matupi Township, was destroyed
by the command of Col. San Aung of the Military Infantry Battalion No.304
in Chin State, Burma, while several villagers were subject to physical
torture during this brutal operation.

Forcibly converting from Christianity to Buddhism, destroying of
worshiping places and erecting of Buddhist pagodas and monasteries in
every spots in Chin State is increasing.

Respect human rights and redress cases of human rights violations and
abuses. Bring to records and take action against personnel of Battalion
No. 304 who committed the crimes in Matupi on 3rd January 2005, demanded
by the participants of the rally.

There were many Chin ethnic groups participated in the rally while the
ethnic Shan and ethnic Rohingya were among the participants.