BurmaNet News, February 10, 2005

[Editor]

February 10, 2005 Issue # 2653


INSIDE BURMA
SHAN: Shan leaders take state-financed holiday
Myanmar Times: Myanmar sets target of 750,000 tourists for 2005
World Markets Analysis: Myanmar Telco tests SMS services

REGIONAL
AP: Seabed images show huge ruptures near tsunami epicenter; Bush asking
for US$950 million in aid
Kaladan: Bangladesh plans to construct a new deep seaport

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: UN accuses Burma of still recruiting child soldiers

OPINION / OTHER
Christian Science Monitor: Freedom slipping in Southeast Asia

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INSIDE BURMA

February 10, Shan Herald Agency for News
Shan leaders take state-financed holiday

Nine Shan leaders have been invited by state officials during the past 3
days and have yet to return home since, reports Hawkeye from Maesai at
14:00:

On 7 February, U Myint Than "Math" of New Generation (Shan State), Gen Hso
Ten of Shan State Peace Council, Maj Han Aung, Capt Oo Hseng and an
unidentified member of NG (SS) were summoned to the headquarters of the
Taunggyi-based Eastern Region Command. They were later "asked to make
themselves at home for a while," as the regional commander Maj-Gen Khin
Maung Myint was still "stranded" in Loilem, 47 miles away.

On the next day, Sai Hla Aung and another unidentified member of the Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy, who were on their way to attend the
party's Executive Committee meeting in Rangoon today were detained in
Toungoo.

Finally, at 17:30 (Rangoon time) yesterday, Hkun Htoon Oo and Sai Nyunt
Lwin a.k.a Sai Nood, the SNLD's president and general secretary
respectively, were visited by police officers at their Rangoon residences
and informed they had been "invited" by Burma's police chief Khin Yi. The
two of them, though next door neighbors to each other, were driven away in
separate cars, said sources.

Unconfirmed reports say two more SNLD members from Kengtung, Suraphon and
Hsarmtip Kenglarn also appeared to have been detained on their way to
Rangoon.

Col Gaifah, General Secretary to both the SSPC and Joint Action Committee
(of which the SNLD is a member), was quoted as saying, "All our leaders
should be released as soon as possible to ensure the participation of our
members in the upcoming session of the National Convention (that will
resume on 17 February)".

Sao Gaifah had led the 8-member delegation of the SSPC to attend the
Convention's 17 May - 9 July 2004 session.

Sources were as yet unable to pinpoint the reason behind the detention of
their leaders. "As far as we know, Hkun Htoon Oo is to attend the Union
Day ceremony at the NLD headquarters on 12 February," said one. "He is
also scheduled to hold a dinner party at his home in the evening."

12 February has since 1947 been designated as the Union Day to commemorate
the signing of the Panglong Agreement that had endorsed the principles of
Autonomy, Democracy and Human Rights for all the member states.

______________________________________

February 10, Myanmar Times
Myanmar sets target of 750,000 tourists for 2005 - Su Myat Hla

Myanmar has set a target of 750,000 tourist arrivals this year, the
director-general of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, U Htay Aung, said
late last month.

He told a media briefing during the ASEAN Tourism Forum on Malaysia’s
Langkawi Island that Myanmar had attracted 656,910 visitors in 2004.

“Myanmar is a paradise waiting to be discovered,” U Htay Aung was quoted
as saying by the Malaysian daily, The Star, on January 29.

“More than just a land of pagodas, Myanmar has just about everything that
makes a holiday experience memorable,” he said.

The country had a diverse range of attractions, including the Myeik
Archipelago with its 800 islands and snow-capped mountains in the north.

“As part of our efforts to entrench tourism as a key economic pillar, we
are working hard to attract tourism investments. Projects under
consideration include beach resorts in the Myeik Archipelago and theme
parks in Yangon,” U Htay Aung said.

He said a Myanmar night held during the ASEAN Tourism Forum had provided
the ministry with an ideal opportunity to promote the country to a wider
audience ahead of next year’s ATF, which is being hosted by Myanmar.

Myanmar hoped to attract 1600 delegates to the ATF, U Htay Aung said.

The promotional event, held on January 27 and organised by the Myanmar
Tourism Promotion Board, has already resulted in bookings for booths at
next year’s ATF.

Mr Raymond Bragg – the chairman of the Myanmar Marketing Committee under
the promotion board, and the general manager of Traders hotel – said
Tourism Indonesia had booked 50 booths.

The event was attended by more than 700 guests, including Malaysian
tourism authorities, international media, and buyers and sellers of
tourism services.

The event was well received among the guests, said Mr Bragg.

“We took 1000 brochures but we should have taken 2000 because all the
sellers wanted information,” he said.

“We created the excitement we needed to,” he said.

He said the event had demonstrated the Myanmar travel industry’s ability
to organise the 2006 forum, which will be held at the Yangon Trade Centre
from January 13 to 21.

“We are the first host country to have brochures, buyers’ and seller’s
questionnaires and forms, and media questionnaires and forms ready so far
in advance,” said Mr Bragg.

Close observation of how Malaysia organised the 2005 event will benefit
the Myanmar tourism industry when it is time for it to play host, said Mr
Bragg.

He said 60 people traveled from Myanmar to Langkawi for the promotional
event, including a dance troupe and members of the Myanmar Chefs
Association.

“I think we all saw what we need to do in 2006,” he said.

Mr Bragg is confident that next year’s forum will be a success but urged
the tourism industry to start promoting it early.

“This is our chance to show what Myanmar is capable of, so we should start
promoting the fact that we have better infrastructure, more domestic
airline carriers and more options for international carriers,” he said.

“There is no doubt it will give our industry a big boost,” he said.

Meanwhile, U Htay Aung said Myanmar was committed to providing visa-free
travel for nationals of all ASEAN member countries.

His comment follows a statement by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mr
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who told a conference held to coincide with the ATF
2005 that ASEAN nationals would no longer need visas for travel within the
region by the end of the year.

The deputy director-general of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, U Tin
Maung Shwe, said visa-free travel was a big issue which would require the
cooperation of other ministries.

“We have to work with other ministries, such as Immigration. But the
ministry (of Hotels and Tourism) wants it to happen as quickly as
possible,” he said.

Mr Bragg also backed the planned introduction of visa-free travel for
nationals of ASEAN countries within the grouping.

“Anything to cut the red tape and open up tourism and borders, that’s what
we need to do,” he said.

“It will make it easier to travel, and then you will get more customers;
that’s how you get the volume,” he said.

______________________________________

February 10, World Markets Analysis
Myanmar Telco tests SMS services - Jessica Ramakrishnan

GSM mobile users in Myanmar could soon enjoy SMS services following a move
by Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) to test the service. The
one-week SMS debut, reported by the Myanmar Times, took place during an
information and communication technologies (ICT) conference at the end of
last month. It is unclear when the service will be made commercially
available.

Significance: The military government of Myanmar has held a tight rein on
communication channels in the country. The SMS pilot-run indicates that
the government is willing to loosen its grip on the market. This will mean
that Myanmar's GSM mobile subscribers, who are thought to exceed 40m, will
be able to enjoy the basic data services that subscribers in neighbouring
countries have long taken for granted.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 10, Associated Press
Seabed images show huge ruptures near tsunami epicenter; Bush asking for
US$950 million in aid - Christopher Bodeen

Banda Aceh: The first images Thursday of the seabed battered by the quake
that triggered Asia's catastrophic tsunami revealed huge ruptures spanning
several kilometers (miles), as aid workers warned that the gruesome task
of retrieving the dead in Indonesia could continue for many more months.

Hundreds of residents in the tsunami-battered Indonesian city of Banda
Aceh gathered at the city's historic mosque for a memorial service on the
Islamic New Year with messages of hope and renewal.

A British naval ship collecting data off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra
Island produced the images of the seabed, which could be used to help
governments develop a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean
region.

HMS Scott's commanding officer, Steve Malcolm, said Thursday that the
tectonic plates clashed "like the rumpling up of a carpet."

The images show enormous "scars" more than 10 kilometers (six miles) wide
resulting from the 9.0-magnitude quake on Dec. 26, the world's biggest in
40 years. They depict the line where the India tectonic plate suddenly
collided with, and was pushed underneath, the Burma plate.

The colored seabed maps created with multi-beam sonar show the ridges up
to 1,500 meters (4,950 feet) high that were thrust up on the Burma plate
by the collision. The ridges pushed water upward, leading to the
devastating waves throughout the region.

U.S. President George W. Bush said he would ask Congress for US$950
million ([euro]744 million) for tsunami relief efforts - up from US$350
million ([euro]274.25 million) committed so far. The pledge would put the
United States atop the list of donors for the disaster.

"We will use these resources to provide assistance and to work with the
affected nations on rebuilding vital infrastructure that re-energizes
economies and strengthens societies," Bush said in a statement.

The difficult task of recovering the dead in Indonesia is unlikely to be
finished by June as earlier expected as corpses continue to be found in
the rubble, said Yrsa Grune from the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies.

Volunteers have been helping a government-led effort to collect and bury
victims in Aceh.

Indonesian officials have said they expect the death toll to rise for
weeks by an average of 500 a day, but Grune said the search could stretch
on for months.

"The plan was to continue until June. Now, it might be that plan will have
to be revised," she said. "It's inevitable. Every time you lift a stone
you might find something under it because there's still lots of rubble."

Hundreds of residents of Banda Aceh remembered the victims of the disaster
during a memorial service on the Islamic New Year.

"This is a trial from God, an opportunity for the Islamic community in
Aceh to reflect on their lives," Aceh's vice governor, Azwar Abubakar,
said in an address broadcast over loudspeakers at the 17th century
Baiturrahman Mosque, where many sought shelter from the disaster.

"Let us draw closer in brotherhood," Abubakar said. "Let us gather
together to do good deeds and reject sin."

Aftershocks have rattled the region since the Dec. 26 quake that spawned
the tsunami, killing more than 160,000 people in 11 Indian Ocean nations.

Tens of thousands of people are still missing, though officials say it's
too early to add them to the toll.

After weeks of keeping the names private, police in Sweden released a list
of its 565 missing citizens. It made harrowing reading: A 9-month-old boy,
entire families and nearly 100 children younger than 13.

New Zealand's Foreign Ministry slashed the number of nationals it listed
as missing by about 200 to just four. Two people were confirmed to have
died when the tsunami struck in Thailand, and the four missing are
presumed dead, ministry spokeswoman Emma Riley said.

_____________________________________

February 10, Kaladan News
Bangladesh plans to construct a new deep seaport

Chittagong: Bangladesh is planning to construct a new deep seaport on an
island to create a link between Bangladesh and landlocked countries of
China, India and Burma, said a report of the shipping Ministry of
Bangladesh yesterday.

The proposal location of the future seaport is the offshore island of
Kutubdia of Cox’s Bazaar District. It is very close to Rambree Island of
Arakan State, Burma, where SPDC has also recently decided to build a deep
seaport.

Regarding the deep seaport, the government is planning to float tender to
appoint international consultants to study the economic feasibility and
site of the planned deep seaport in Bangladesh.

The proposed part will be functioning as a regional hub facilitating not
only Bangladesh but also other countries in the region for boosting
international trade, shipping Minister (Col. Retd) Akbar Hussain told
yesterday.

He also said the construction cost of the part would be around Tk-50
billion to be mobilized locally through securitization or capital market
and equity participation both from local and foreign companies and without
depending on foreign aid.

The Minister said the tender would be floated in next three months for
international consultants to study the feasibility and site of the port.
The construction work of the port would be started during the tenure of
the present government.

According to Bangladesh’s “Look East Policy”, it hopes to extend its
business especially with China and other Asia countries, while using Burma
as a transit country.

Bangladesh annual revenue will be increased from Tk 6,000 million to Tk
20,000 million, according to Bangladesh shipping minister’s report.

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INTERNATIONAL

Febuary 10, Irrawaddy
UN accuses Burma of still recruiting child soldiers - Yeni

Burma is named alongside several African and Asian states on a United
Nations list of countries where child soldiers are recruited.

The list of 11 countries is contained in an annual report to the UN
Security Council issued by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The list
includes Burundi, Congo, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Nepal,
Philippines and Sri Lanka .

The report lists 42 armed groups which recruit child soldiers, and says
children are fighting in the Burma Army and alongside ethnic rebel forces
in Burma.

The UN chief describes the recruitment of child soldiers as “grave and
unacceptable” and recommends that countries and groups using children to
fight should be made the target of sanctions such as travel bans, arms
embargos and financial and military aid restrictions.

Burma’s government maintains it is being unreasonably accused of
recruiting child soldiers into its armed forces.

“Some saboteurs at home and abroad, who are trying to discredit the
government, are alleging the government recruits juvenile soldiers for the
front lines, and are trying to raise the matter at the United Nations for
that global body to take action against Myanmar [Burma],” Lt-Gen Thein
Sein, secretary 1 of the regime, was quoted as saying in reports carried
by government media.

The Human Rights Watch and other rights groups charge that Burma has an
estimated 350,000 soldiers in its national army, making it the biggest
force of child soldiers in the world. The New York-based Human Rights
Watch has claimed that at least 20 percent of Burma’s soldiers on active
duty are under the age of 18.

In an October 2003 report to the UN Security Council, Secretary-General
Annan also named the Burmese government and armed opposition groups in
Burma as violators of international laws prohibiting the recruitment and
use of children as soldiers.

In response, Burma announced a new Committee to Prevent the Recruitment of
Child Soldiers.

Burma’s armed opposition groups say human rights abuses by government
troops are responsible for many young people joining their cause.

"Most of the children have come to join us because of losing their home
and parents," claimed Mahn Sha, of the Karen National Union, the biggest
armed rebel group in Burma."But we stopped using childen as soldiers on
the battle fields in 1988."

According to Human Rights Watch, Burma Army recruiters frequently
press-gang boys at train and bus stations, markets and other public
places, threatening them with jail if they refuse to join the army.

After brutal training, says Human Rights Watch, child soldiers are
deployed into units, where some are forced to fight against ethnic armed
opposition groups. Many are also reportedly forced to commit human rights
abuses against civilians, including rounding up villagers for forced
labor, burning villages, and carrying out executions.

Olara Otunnu, Annan's special envoy for children in armed conflict, said
the issue has been on the Security Council agenda since 1998, but
"atrocities against children and impunity for violators continue largely
unabated on the ground."

Otunnu estimated there are about 300,000 child soldiers around the world
today, compared to 380,000 a year and a half ago.

The 15-nation Security Council is to debate Annan's report on Febuary 23.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 10, Christian Science Monitor
Freedom slipping in Southeast Asia - Scott Baldauf

>From Nepal's royal coup to the flight of Cambodian opposition leaders,
democracy is under assault.

New Delhi: Here in Asia, the last few weeks have not been good for freedom
- America's top foreign-policy goal.

In Nepal, King Gyanendra dismissed the parliament and imposed a state of
emergency, giving him direct control.

In Bangladesh, the capital was rocked by protests against the
assassination of top leaders and the arrest of journalists. The
instability forced India and other South Asian countries to cancel an
upcoming regional summit in Dhaka.

And in Cambodia, moves by Hun Sen - the prime minister since 1985 - drove
opposition leaders into exile.

After a spate of elections last year that highlighted progress toward full
democracy in places like Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, this
year has brought a depressing countertrend in other nations. From
crackdowns on dissidents to outright coups, the democratic backsliding is
a direct challenge to President Bush's vision of expanding freedom and
democracy. It also raises a daunting question: With the ongoing Iraq war,
do the US and its allies have the resources and attention to foster more
than one democracy at a time?

"The very idea of exporting democracy and freedom is flawed from the
start," says Rajeev Bhargava, a political scientist at Jawaharlal Nehru
University in New Delhi. "Unless [people] struggle for it by themselves,
for themselves, freedom has no meaning."

The situation in Nepal points out the limits of outside influence. The US
and Britain have quietly given millions of dollars of military aid and
training to combat an eight-year Maoist insurgency. Maoists now control
much of the countryside and are active in all of Nepal's 75 districts.

"We've come out very strong against the steps taken by the king," says a
State Department official in Washington. "But at the same time we have to
recognize that the Maoists are a complete anathema to democracy."

The official knows of no initiatives yet to change the security assistance
to Nepal. But he recognizes that balancing support against criticism of
antidemocratic moves is delicate and is not unique. "Our ultimate goal is
strong democracies everywhere. We don't want to disregard this goal by any
interim steps. But at the same time we can't take actions that make the
ultimate goal more difficult to reach. It is a conundrum."

Before the coup, India had acted as an adviser to Nepal's bickering
democratic parties and offered itself as a mediator to bring the Maoists
back into mainstream politics. When Indian diplomats in Kathmandu learned
last week that Nepal was moving troops to the capital, they asked the king
if these were signs of a coup. The king said no. Then he sacked the
government.

In Bangladesh, there are signs of government collusion in political
violence. Long admired for its moderate Islamic culture and
small-enterprise development programs, the country has lately become the
focus of concern over the growing influence of the Jamaat-I Islami, a
hard-line Islamist party that forms part of the current ruling coalition.
Last week, a police source told the Bangladesh Daily Star that the top
suspects in the fatal Jan. 27 grenade attack against opposition leader S.
A. Kibria were Jamaat and ruling party members.

Some Indian observers say that turmoil in neighboring countries will force
India to get involved.

"Whether it wants it or not, India is being irrevocably sucked into the
internal politics of Nepal and Bangladesh," wrote C. Raja Mohan, an
international affairs professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in the
Indian Express.

So far, the response from India - which some in Washington would like to
cultivate as a regional power responsible for ensuring stability - has
been purely diplomatic. There are certainly no signs that India is
contemplating anything like its 1971 intervention in what was then East
Pakistan, an act that created Bangladesh; nor is India currently sending
troops to Nepal, as it did in its ill-fated mission against the Tamil
Tigers in Sri Lanka more than a decade ago.

Similarly, the US State Department used diplomatic words rather than
action to condemn the Cambodian government for its treatment of opposition
leader Sam Rainsy, who left the country after parliament revoked his
immunity from prosecution.

Two other opposition lawmakers have also lost immunity, opening the door
for defamation charges by Prime Minister Hun Sen, whom Rainsy accuses of
being behind a 1997 grenade attack on an opposition rally that killed 16
people.

The US wields economic power over Cambodia through its extensive aid
programs. A group of US Senators has called for sanctions. Analysts say
the moves by Hun Sen are a test for the Bush administration's
pro-democracy goals, though it's unclear how much further the US and other
donors will go.

"This is another step towards a dictatorial regime," says Lao Mong Hay, a
political analyst at the Center for Social Development in Phnom Penh.
"Many people have pinned their hopes on America."

Hun Sen's latest power play comes on the eve of an international business
meeting in Cambodia supported by the World Bank. Major lenders to Cambodia
will probably wait for Rainsy to return before taking a stance. Only the
US has publicly condemned Hun Sen.

Rainsy said he didn't expect any intervention by the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Cambodia, given its reluctance to
interfere in what it considers sovereign affairs. "We can't expect any
serious support for pro-democracy movements. Just look at Burma. What has
ASEAN ever done for democracy in Burma?" he asks.

Indeed, despite US economic sanctions and Western condemnation, Burma's
military rulers still show no interest in giving opposition parties a
voice. Military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt - seen by Western diplomats
as a moderate voice in the junta - was purged last fall. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice recently labeled Burma an "outpost of tyranny."

Burma's Asian neighbors continue to do business there, taking the place of
Western companies deterred by consumer boycotts. Although some ASEAN
members have criticized the regime, the organization has also lent
legitimacy to Burma at international forums.

Observers say neither Asian engagement nor Western sanctions appear to be
advancing democratic aims. "We mustn't rely too much on US or UN because
their contribution to Burma is limited. They can't provide a final
solution," says exiled Burmese analyst Aung Naing Oo. "If we're looking
for solutions, we need to look inside Burma, not outside."

And in Thailand, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a decisive victory
in Sunday's polls that would allow his party to form Thailand's first
elected one-party government. Critics say Thaksin, a former police
colonel, has defanged constitutional checks on his power by stacking
courts and independent agencies with loyalists. Thaksin has played down
such fears. "I'm willing for everyone to participate and also willing to
face scrutiny," he told reporters Sunday.

* Simon Montlake contributed from Bangkok, Thailand, and Howard LaFranchi
from Washington.


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