BurmaNet News, February 11, 2005

[Editor]

February 11, 2005 Issue # 2654


INSIDE BURMA
Narinjara: CRPP General Secretary threatened by SPDC authorities
Narinjara: SPDC picked USDA members represent Arakan State at National
Convention
DVB via BBC: Mandalay mayor reportedly arrested in Burma
AP: Four ambassadors from Myanmar recalled as shake up continues

DRUGS
Economist: One last harvest; Myanmar’s opium

REGIONAL
Mizzima: ASEAN urged to say no to Burma, yes to Philippines
AFP: Three Pacific states taken off FATF list
Xinhua: 3.05-million-dollar contract signed to build highway in Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burma now firmly on US radar screen

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 11, Narinjara News
CRPP General Secretary threatened by SPDC authorities

Dhaka: U Aye Tha Aung, General Secretary of Committee for Representatives
of People Parliament, or CRPP, was recently threatened by members of
Burma’s military government, said a leader of ALD, who lives in Rangoon.

Three days ago, 3 metropolitan policemen came to U Aye Tha Aung’s house
and forcibly asked him if he is familiar with Act Section Number 5/96.

Though the facts regarding U Aye Tha Aung’s run-in with the authorities is
presently unclear, the unverified information in Rangoon suggested that
the officials warned him on three specific matters.

They informed him that CRPP is not a legal organization; that if at
anytime CRPP’s policies relate to Section Act 5/96, they will be subject
to the rule of the authorities; and they also asked him if he was aware if
he had a debt of imprisonment.

The police have restricted U Aye Tha Aung from traveling and are currently
closely watching his activities. His telephone line was cut by the
authorities and he is now communicate with others by use of his son
personal mobile phone, said an Arakan resident currently living in
Rangoon.

Another prominent Shan ethnic leader, HKun Htoon Oo and Sai Nyunt Lwin
from the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD), was detained by the
military authorities, along with 2 other leaders, on 9 Feb.

According to Rangoon sources, the present political situation in Rangoon
is in a state of turmoil as the National Convention is soon set to resume.
All democracy parties are presently against the convention.

U Aye Tha Aung, who is also the General Secretary of the Arakan League for
Democracy (ALD), was previously arrested by the authorities in 2000 and
was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment. He was released early, in 2002,
due to his deteriorating health in jail.

The CRPP was formed by 12 major political parties including the NLD, ALD,
and other ethnic nationality parties in 1988, in order to call a
parliament in Burma.


February 11, Narinjara News
SPDC picked USDA members represent Arakan State at National Convention

Akyab: Arakan State will be represented by a total of 34 Union Solidarity
and Development Association (USDA) members at the upcoming February 17
SPDC sponsored National Convention. Each of the 17 townships in Arakan
State will send two USDA members to the convention as representatives of
the Arakanese people, said an anonymous prominent political leader.

U Kyaw Yin who is the Arakan State USDA Secretary led the 50
representatives of the Arakanese team, who have gathered in the state's
capital of Akyab in preparation for their trip to Rangoon.

He told Narinjara by phone yesterday that all district and township level
USDA's secretaries, including Akyab District Secretary U Tun Win, Kyauk
Pru District Secretary U Aung Tin Thein, and Thandwe District Secretary U
Saw Myint Oo have been selected as Arakanese representatives at the
National Convention.

"There are not any representatives from Arakan State that were chosen by
the people, all were selected by the SPDC authority,” he said.

The authority will not allow representatives from any Arakanese political
party, including the Arakan League for Democracy, a prominent people’s
party in the state, to attend the convention.

U Mra Wa, Director of the Bangladesh Brach Arakan National Council, said
the future of Burma, especially for the ethnic minorities of Burma, will
worsen if the new constitution gives mandate to the Burmese Army, allowing
it to be involved in the country’s politics.

He added that the people of Burma had discarded the 1974 constitution,
drawn by General Ne Win's Socialist government, because it was not
appropriate for that time. "How can we accept an even worse constitution
in Burma," he asked.

U Mra Wa urged the SPDC military government to allow all political
parties, including the NLD and the Ethnic nationality parties to attend
the National Convention later this month. If the military government wants
future peace and prosperity in Burma, the government should solve Burma’s
political problems on the table through peaceful means, and by including
all political parties.

Burma’s authority is now preparing to resume the national convention, with
its thugs and supporters, but without any of the other major political
parties of Burma.

The USDA was formed by the ruling military junta to implement their policy
as well as to move against the winning party of the 1990 election, the
National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, in 1993.

______________________________________

February 10, Democratic Voice of Burma via BBC
Mandalay mayor reportedly arrested in Burma

(Presenter) The divisional special police information unit took Brig-Gen
Yan Thein, (chairman of the MCDC or Mandalay City Development Committee
and) mayor of Mandalay, from his home at around 2300 yesterday. According
to sources close to his family, he still has not come back home after he
was taken away at the order of Gen Thura Shwe Mann and the minister of
home affairs.

To confirm this news, when we contacted the Mandalay mayor's office, an
employee who wanted to remain anonymous said the staff still did not know
exactly about anything. Brig-Gen Yan Thein was also taken for questioning
when former Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt was arrested. He is a graduate
of the 8th intake of the Maymyo Military University and used to work for
Gen Khin Nyunt's Military Intelligence. He later became the deputy
commander of the Western Command from 1995 to 1998. He has served as the
mayor of Mandalay since 1998.

Dear Listeners: An employee from the MCDC said senior military officers
came to the office and took Brig-Gen Yan Thein and Lt-Col Maung Pu, a
member of the Mandalay City Mayor Committee. She said:

(Unidentified female employee from the MCDC) Senior military officers took
Brig-Gen Yan Thein at 1500 on 9 February, saying they had an emergency
meeting. I heard they were under arrest in the evening. People in my
department have been saying that his house was searched at 1500 on 10
February based on the information that he had accepted bribes from Zaycho
market and a hospital construction project. At the time of the incident,
his wife was on a pilgrimage tour to Bodh Gaya (in India). Our
department's head Maj (title as heard) Maung Pu was taken along with him,
and we still have not heard anything from him.

(Presenter) That was the employee explaining about the arrest of Mandalay
Mayor Brig-Gen Yan Thein.

Businessmen close to Brig-Gen Yan Thein thinks the arrest was not the
result of corruption. An identified businessman from Mandalay told the DVB
(Democratic Voice of Burma) that this could be consequences of a rift
within the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) military.

______________________________________

February 11, Associated Press
Four ambassadors from Myanmar recalled as shake up continues

Four ambassadors from Myanmar have had their assignments in Western
countries cut short as the military government continues a shake-up,
diplomatic officials said Friday.

The four outgoing envoys _ serving in Canada, Australia, England and
Switzerland _ were summoned back to Yangon last month, the diplomats said
insisting on anonymity.

Upon returning home, the ambassadors were told by a top military leader
that their assignments were shortened to make way for new diplomats, they
said.

Myanmar's military government sacked former Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt
in October for alleged insubordination and corruption. The junta is also
believed to have wanted a leader who would take a tougher stance against
the democratic opposition and Myanmar's critics abroad.

The four ambassadors _ like the country's former foreign minister and his
deputy who were replaced in September _ were seen as being aligned with
Khin Nyunt's faction.

After Khin Nyunt's ouster scores of immigration, finance, and foreign
affairs officials perceived to be associated with him were fired from
their posts.

______________________________________
DRUGS

February 12, The Economist
One last harvest; Myanmar’s opium

A ban on opium will leave millions of farmers without livelihoods

Wa special region no. 2: Bao You Xiang looks nothing like a drug lord. His
neatly combed hair and the well-ironed creases in his trousers do not
suggest a man with his own rebel army numbering 20,000, and control over
400,000 opium farmers. For the moment, though, that is still exactly what
he is. But it is a part he plans to stop playing in the next few months.

The supreme leader of Myanmar's Wa Special Region No. 2 will is allowing
his farmers one last harvest—just getting under way—of opium poppies
before enforcing an absolute ban on the drug, its cultivation, sale and
consumption. After this year, he insists in an interview, "there will be
no more poppies in this region. I once said that I would chop off my head
if opium is still produced here after the ban. And I will keep my word."

The leafy poppy flower, Papaver somniferum, has grown for generations in
this remote corner of the Golden Triangle, fuelling addiction on the other
side of the world. For the farmers, opium is often the only way to earn a
living. But for Mr Bao, and for Myanmar's beleaguered authorities, it is
an embarrassment. Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium,
after Afghanistan, and powerful neighbours, like the Chinese, are fed up.

In Kaw Law Su village, every single family grows poppies to survive. With
seven daughters, five sons and a handful of chickens to feed, Kya Law says
he has no choice. Squatting on the rough deck of his stilted bamboo hut,
he explains that poppy is by far the most profitable crop grown in the
surrounding hills. In 2003 each household made an average of $250 dollars
from opium—a pathetic sum, but still more than two-thirds of their annual
income. Kya Law is painfully aware that the next opium harvest will be his
last. He also knows he has no choice but to follow Mr Bao's orders. Wa
rulers have a fierce reputation and a history of headhunting.

In 1995, Mr Bao committed himself to an opium ban during a meeting with
the UN and the government in Yangon. If fully enforced, the ban will
destroy one of the biggest components of the opium trade in the Golden
Triangle, and shrink the world's supply of heroin.

Sceptics wonder. The output of opium in the Wa Special Region No. 2 may
not have brought great prosperity to the people, but Chairman Bao has made
a fortune through the production and trafficking of drugs. His United Wa
State Army is built on drug money. His government openly collects a 7% tax
on opium from farmers. And his own brother is accused of involvement in
the production of methamphetamine pills, which are consumed in epidemic
proportions in neighbouring Thailand. Yet Mr Bao swears he is sincere.
"Opium is not good for the people," he says. "For years I have seen how
opium is destroying the Wa. It makes my heart bleed. I will ban it to save
my people."

The UN seems to believe Mr Bao. Its Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
monitors opium production in the Wa region, and reports that he has
already begun keeping his promise. Last year, the area under poppy
cultivation (the best way of measuring output in remote areas, since
satellites can be used, along with ground surveys) fell by 18% in Wa
Special Region No. 2, where UNODC has provided some help to people trying
to live without opium. In Myanmar as a whole, poppy cultivation fell by
18,000 hectares (47,400 acres) last year, or about 29%.

For the farmers, though, there will be big problems. In 2003, opium was
banned in Kokang Special Region No. 1, just north of the Wa. Deprived of
their main income, nearly one-third of the total population—an estimated
60,000 Kokang—left their homes in search of money and food. Health clinics
closed down, school enrolment plummeted by 50%, and parents reportedly
sent their daughters to brothels in Thailand and their sons to join rebel
armies in a bid for survival.

"We certainly do not want to repeat this," says the UNODC representative
in Yangon, Jean-Luc Lemahieu. He says the Kokang's hardship is an
indication that the struggle will be three times worse when the Wa and its
400,000 people enforce the opium ban this year. But caring for ex-opium
farmers in the pariah state that Myanmar has become is not a popular cause
on the international circuit.

"There is an impeding humanitarian crisis on hand here because of the
cynical attitude of the West," says Mr Lemahieu, who thinks that donors
are well aware of the situation but won't put their money into the country
because they fear criticism. By refusing to help the opium farmers, the
world may loose a historic chance to tackle the drug trade, he says.
Myanmar may repeat the history of Afghanistan, where opium production was
put to a complete stop by the Taliban only to explode again after the fall
of the regime.

In Kaw Law Su village the final harvest is moving closer. "I have nothing.
I don't know what to do," says Kya Law in the soft light from the evening
sun. Two of his children are playing at his feet and a few of his
neighbours are standing around his hut. He looks at them quietly. "We all
worry and fear that we will suffer," he says at last. "But we are
villagers. If they say stop, we just have to stop."

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 10, Mizzima News
ASEAN urged to say no to Burma, yes to Philippines

A Philippine non-governmental organization (NGO) has urged its government
to take over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations(ASEAN) instead of giving it to Burma in 2006.

"We know perfectly well that despite internal changes in the military
junta in Burma last year, substantial political changes have not followed.
How can our conscience  allow ASEAN be ruled by a gang of human rights
violators? The Philippines being next in line should instead assume that
responsibility in the region," said Gus Miclat of Initiatives for
International Dialogue(IID) in a statement released today.The Philippines
is scheduled to chair ASEAN in 2007.

"To surrender the Asean seat to Burma is to disregard the injustice and
human rights abuses happening in that country.  The Asean countries should
not allow themselves to promote an inherently illegitimate government,"
Miclat added.

Burma's military junta, now known as the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), became a member of ASEAN in 1997 despite condemnation from
the opposition and the West of the military junta's human rights record.

IID also criticized ASEAN's constructive engagement policy in dealing with
Burma, saying that this non-confrontational policy has failed to push the
junta to adopt democratic reforms.

"With continuous violations of the rights of their own laborers, women and
girls, and ethnic nationalities, and disregard for existing international
laws, Burma's capacity to lead ASEAN is in grave doubt." Miclat concluded.

ASEAN derived slowly from its traditional interference-shunning policy
after a crisis over the lack of democracy in Burma. The ASEAN
Inter-Praliamenatary Causus, formed by legislators from Malaysia,
Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, Phillipines, Singapore and Thailand, plans to
send a fact-finding team to Rangoon in March to meet with government and
opposition leaders.

According to the Jakarta Post on Feb. 3, Lim Kit Siang, a caucus member of
the Malaysian parliamentary opposition leaders,  said the group will
encourage dialogue between the junta, the National League for
Democracy(NLD)opposition Party, and ethnic groups, and press for freeing
NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, the paper added, Ade Nasution, vice chairman of the Indonesia
IIC, said earlier that the caucus was for individual legislators who
shared the same concerns, and was not endorsed by the House.

_____________________________________

February 11, Agence France Presse
Three Pacific states taken off FATF list

Paris: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has withdrawn Cook Islands,
Indonesia and the Philippines from its list of countries whose
anti-corruption laws have been deemed to be too weak, the panel said here
Friday.

The list, which once comprised 20 countries, is now down to three --
Myanmar, Nauru and Nigeria.

The task force operates under the auspices of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development is an international group that
promotes policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The panel, which has been meeting here since Wednesday, said in a
statement that after visiting Cook Islands, Indonesia and the Philippines
its investigators "confirmed that they are effectively implementing
anti-money laundering measures to remedy deficiencies" that had been
previously detected.

All three countries had formed specialized units to analyze financial
data, coordinate national anti-corruption campaigns and facilitate
international cooperation, the statement said.

While a country's presence on the list carries no financial penalty it is
considered a means of calling the attention of foreign investors to what
have been determined to be inadequate safeguards against money laundering.

In Jakarta, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal
Bakrie said Friday that the government hoped the FATF decision would lead
to an upgrade in the country's sovereign credit ratings.

"We hope our country-risk will drop and our ratings will rise," Bakrie
told reporters after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

He said the removal from the list would be good for Indonesia in its
economic recovery efforts. Indonesia had been on the list of
non-cooperative countries since 2001.

Separately, the task force welcomed China as an observer at a plenary
session here for the first time.

"It is a major step forward in the global fight against money laundering
and terrorist financing," said FATF president Jean-Louis Fort.

China will be eligible for full membership after an evaluation of its
mechanisms to stamp out money laundering and terrorist financing.

_____________________________________

February 11, Xinhua News Agency.
3.05-million-dollar contract signed to build highway in Myanmar

Bangkok: Thailand has signed a 122-million- baht (3.05-million-dollar)
contract with a construction company to build a highway in Myanmar.

The contract signed by the Highways Department with Sor Chiang Rai
Construction Ltd aimed at building a highway in Myanmar as part of the
East-West Corridor road net that will link Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Burma
and India.

The money to build the highway is from a fund set aside by cabinet last
year to help neighboring countries, Bangkok Post on Friday quoted
department head Therdsak Sethamanop as saying.

The 17-kilometer concrete highway will have six traffic lanes and lights.

The road will be started from the foot of the Thai-Myanmar Friendship
Bridge in Myawaddy, opposite Thailand's northwestern border district of
Mae Sot and end at the foot of the Tenasserim range in Myanmar.

The construction is expected to take 360 days to complete, but the
department didn't say when the project will start.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 11, Irrawaddy
Burma now firmly on US radar screen - Nyo Ohn Myint

US President Bush’s foreign policy on Burma might take a different course
during his second term. We might see a tougher US policy toward the
generals in Rangoon. The change, if it is implemented, will center on two
issues: Rangoon’s continued human rights abuses and drugs production and
trafficking.

We shouldn’t forget that the US has a new Secretary of State who has
demonstrated unwavering commitment to freedom the world over. Dr.
Condoleezza Rice, the former US National Security Advisor, is acutely
aware that Burma is the only major issue remaining to be tackled in
Southeast Asia. And she will enlist the help of Southeast Asia allies to
persuade the Burmese junta to turn over a new leaf.

The whole world witnessed President Bush deliver an inaugural speech that
contained the main message of “freedom and liberty.” There is no doubt
that he will continue to apply determined policies against repressive
regimes around the world. And much to the chagrin of the generals in
Rangoon, Burma was specifically mentioned in his speech as one of the
“outposts of tyranny,” which he promises to eliminate.

President Bush has a very valid point. The Burmese junta has refused to
honor the election it organized 15 years ago. It has continued to commit
gross human rights violations. There are some 1,400 political prisoners
languishing in prisons across Burma. Barely a week goes by without reports
of prisoner abuse and the worsening plight of detainees—not to mention the
continued detention of Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her
deputies U Tin Oo, U Win Tin and Dr. Than Nyein.

Rangoon’s war against the country’s ethnic minorities continues to rage,
especially following the demise of Burma’s spy chief, Gen Khin Nyunt, who
for years had provided for some sort of stalemate with defiant ethnic
groups, such as the Karen and the Karenni. Recent military offensives
against the Karenni minority are proof that the regime will not use
peaceful means to resolve the long-standing conflict.

In terms of illicit drugs, the Burmese military rulers have enjoyed the
fruits of drug trafficking, if not directly. They have sheltered drugs
lords such as Khun Sa in Rangoon. They have provided protection to drugs
barons whose narcotics are sold on the streets of New York.

Eliminating tyranny and bringing freedom to the oppressed are in the US
national interest. The US cannot maintain freedom without freedom
overseas. Thus, Burma under its despotic military regime has popped up on
the US radar screen.

Yet drugs are perhaps a bigger concern for the US administration,
representing national and security threats. It is therefore not a surprise
that the US government issued indictments of eight drugs barons last
month, including several names not widely known before.

US Secretary of State Rice will focus on these two issues in order to
force the Burmese junta to shape up. When forging closer ties with
Southeast Asia allies, including Indonesia and Thailand, the US will
enlist their help in bringing pressure to bear on Burma. Indeed, Thailand
has a direct interest when it comes to the drugs problem. It has put a
bounty of 18 million baht (US $450,000) on the head of Wei Su Kham, whose
capture and conviction in the US carries a further reward of US $2
million.

Apart from these issues, the Burmese junta must bear in mind that Dr. Rice
is a different Secretary of State from her predecessor, Colin Powell. Her
support for tough decisions by the Bush administration is widely known.
She has shown her firm commitment against despots around the world. In the
case of Burma, it is likely that she will go unilateral if the countries
in the region refuse to cooperate.

Also, the junta must realize that since the departure of Colin Powell, the
policy of the Department of State has come closer to the views of Senators
such as Mitch McConnell, who is a staunch campaigner for democracy in
Burma. She will team up with him and others to make Burma policy a
reality. And unlike Colin Powell, she is not known to have compromised too
much with tyrants.

Analysts in the area of US-Burma relations believe that Dr. Rice will not
ask the regime to free imprisoned Burmese pro-democracy leaders. Instead,
she will look for every possible pressure mechanism to bring changes to
Burma.

The Burmese generals would doubtless gain immensely by introducing
political reforms and stamping out drugs trafficking by its ethnic allies.
However, if they choose to ignore the warnings, they may have to pay a
heavy price. They must realize that the US is more committed than ever to
bring freedom to Burma, an “outpost of tyranny,” and that more than ever
before Burma is firmly on the US radar screen.

Nyo Ohn Myint is the spokesperson for the National League for
Democracy-Liberated Area.
.