BurmaNet News, March 19-21, 2005

[Editor]

March 19-21, 2005 Issue # 2679


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: National convention to take a break
AFP: Yangon hotel bomb part of 'terror' campaign: Myanmar junta
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Private hospital has low-key opening in Myanmar
DVB via BBC: Democratic Voice of Burma reports symbolic peacock sighting
Kaladan: Burmese junta arrested two MPs

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara: Veteran Arakanese nationalist leader passed away

DRUGS
Xinhua: Myanmar destroys 720 kg poppy seeds in northern state

REGIONAL
AAP Newsfeed: NSW: Aust accused of ignoring rights abuses in region

INTERNATIONAL
AFX: ASEAN should have withheld Myanmar membership - former US envoy
Holbrooke
AP: Iowa City to become part of writers' asylum network

ANNOUNCEMENT
UNHCR Regional Office for Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam: Notice to
all Myanmar POCs

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 21, Irrawaddy
National convention to take a break - Nandar Chann

Burma’s National Convention, which is drafting a new constitution, will
take a break next month amid unsolved problems with ethnic ceasefire
groups, said a spokesman for the New Mon State Party, or NMSP.

“Our delegates were told that the convention will break before the water
festival,” in mid-April, said NMSP general secretary Nai Han Tha by
telephone from Ye Township, Mon State. “But we don’t know how long the
break will last.”

During the current session, the NC has reportedly covered issues including
legislative and judicial questions and presidential powers and functions,
in accordance with the 104 basic principles which ensure the military’s
participation in state leadership.

After last year’s NC session, delegations from 13 ethnic ceasefire groups
submitted a joint proposal on legislative and judicial questions to the
government. “We were told that they would accept only some points from our
proposal and the rest would be noted,” said Nai Han Tha. He added that
under these circumstances the NMSP may have to reconsider its role in the
convention.

The ceasefire groups’ proposal included a recommendation that in addition
to legislative authority in the Union Parliament, there should be
legislative authority in the state assemblies. That would mean some power
sharing between the government and the ethnic groups and the right to form
assembly-controlled armed forces.

But the NC did not accept the whole joint proposal because such a move
would contravene the six laid-down objectives and 104 principles, and
urged the ethnic groups to amend the proposal.

The NC is being held in Nyaung Hnapin, Hmawbi Township, about 40 km from
Rangoon. The government says 1,075 of 1,081 invited delegates have
attended. They include representatives of ethnic groups which have laid
down their arms after signing ceasefire agreements with the military
government since 1989.

A cloud was earlier cast over the NC’s current session when eight
delegates from Shan ceasefire groups began a boycott after the regime
detained the president of the Shan State Peace Council and refused to
negotiate his release.
______________________________________

March 20, Agence France Presse
Yangon hotel bomb part of 'terror' campaign: Myanmar junta

Yangon: Myanmar's military regime accused anti-junta "terrorists" of
planting a bomb at a Yangon hotel at the weekend and of other recent
blasts, state media reported Sunday.

The bomb, which exploded before dawn Saturday in a bathroom of the
Panorama Hotel popular with Asian backpackers, caused no injuries.

It was claimed by one of several militant groups the junta says have
infiltrated the country to conduct sabotage.

Another small bomb was also detonated in a bus at the Shwemanthu terminal
in eastern Yangon on Thursday, causing no casualties, while a similar
device at the terminal was found and defused Wednesday, the junta
reported.

The bombings were "due to subversive acts of terrorists," and security in
the country has been tightened as a result, the junta said in the New
Light of Myanmar newspaper.

It also accused outlawed anti-Yangon groups including the National League
for Democracy - Liberated Areas, or NLD (LA), and the All Burma Students'
Democratic Front (ABSDF) of sponsoring attacks.

"Fugitive destructive groups ... are recruiting new members and training
them, stockpiling explosives, and sending groups of newly completed
trainees into the nation through various routes," the junta said.

It pointed to the February 5 arrest of a man identified as Win Aung, 32,
who it said was sent by the ABSDF to destroy a bridge south of Yangon.

The outlawed NLD (LA) is an offshoot of the legal National League for
Democracy, which is headed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

It consists of MPs who won seats in the 1990 election won by the NLD in a
landslide but who moved to the Thai border area after the junta refused to
recognise the results of the vote.

A group called the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors told a freelance
Myanmar journalist in Thailand on Saturday that it was responsible for the
hotel blast.

It said the attack was intended to a halt a national convention under way
to draw up a new constitution as part of the junta's "democracy roadmap",
a process that has been described internationally as a sham.

"We don't want to harm foreigners, nor ordinary people. We want to stop
the national convention and we want the release of all political
prisoners," a member of the group said.

The group -- which was behind an embassy hostage drama in Bangkok five
years ago -- said in a statement in December, after another blast, that
more bombings would follow unless its demands were met.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since a 1960s coup.

______________________________________

March 21, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Private hospital has low-key opening in Myanmar

Yangon: Myanmar's (Burma's) first privately licensed, Thai-managed
hospital had a soft launch over the weekend, more than a year behind
schedule, hospital sources said Monday.

Pun Hlaing International Hospital - 100 per cent owned by Serge Pun &
Associates (SPA) of Myanmar - was originally scheduled to open in late
2003.

The three-storey, 21-million-dollar investment has been billed as
Myanmar's first international standard hospital, in a country where most
hospitals can't afford medicines and public health services are ranked
among the worst in Asia.

"I am personally very proud of this 22,000-square-metre hospital,
occupying some nine acres of ground in Yangon's prime residential estate
and I hope that all of you share our view that this is another pride of
Myanmar," SPA chairman Serge Pun told journalists on Saturday, at a soft
launch of the hospital.

Serge Pun said the project, situated at the Pun Hlaing Golf Club, would be
a professionally run and efficiently managed health care facility, with
120 physicians and specialists from Myanmar and abroad to serve patients'
needs.

"It is this guiding principle that has led us to appoint Bumrungrad
Hospital International to manage PHIH for a period of five years," said
Serge Pun.

Bumrungrad Hospital executives in Bangkok confirmed that their management
agreement with PHIH, originally signed on February 24, 2003, was still in
effect.

Bumrungrad, one of Bangkok's best hospitals, currently treats many
patients from Myanmar, both expats and Myanmarese. The hospital, a Thai
company listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), is under American
management.

______________________________________

March 20, DVB via BBC
Democratic Voice of Burma reports symbolic peacock sighting

DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) has already reported that a dancing
peacock (adopted by the Burmese students as their national symbol during
the struggles for Burma's independence from British rule) appeared at
Rangoon University Convocation Hall and has danced at the spectators.

The peacock was captured by officers from Kamayut Police Station on orders
from the higher authorities, it is learnt. When DVB contacted Kamayut
police station, an unidentified policeman said investigations revealed
that the peacock belongs to Chaung Wa monastery in Hlaing Township near
Myanmar Maritime University and the bird has since been returned. The
policeman also said it is rather strange for the peacock to fly all the
way to Rangoon University Convocation Hall out of so many places to go.

A tutor from Rangoon University said the SPDC (State Peace and Development
Council) authorities seem to be particularly worried by the incident. The
tutor also claimed that officials are interrogating people to learn who
first saw the bird and took photographs. Furthermore, the peacock went to
all the buildings in the campus including the hostels and performed its
dancing routine, it is learnt. When the spectators that followed the
peacock around and took photographs ballooned to a large number, police
officers from Kamayut Police Station finally arrived at Rangoon University
and captured the peacock.

______________________________________

March 19, Kaladan News
Burmese junta arrested two MPs

Rangoon:  U Kyaw Min(a) U Anwar and U Kyaw Hsan, the two MPs were picked
up from their Rangoon homes by the Burmese military ruling junta on 17th
March 2005,  said a relative of U Kyaw Min  from Rangoon on condition of
anonymity.

Unique police agents went to U Kyaw Min’s house at around midnight and
told him to follow them for some questions, and then he was carried away
by car.

U Kyaw Min, 55, is an ethnic Rohingya who is the elected representative 
(MP) of No.1 Constituency of Buthidaung township, Arakan State, and a 
member of National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPH),led by ethnic
Rohingya people. He is also a member of Committee for Representing
People’s Parliament (CRPP), he further added.

According to his colleagues, he did not have any significant political
activities expect the member of CRPP.

U Kyaw Hsan, 73, is also an elected MP, Sagaing Division NLD Chairman and
retired Lieutenant Colonel and who has been detained several times since
he was elected in a 1990 election.

Both of their relatives didn’t know the whereabouts of the MPs and the
reason for their arrest.

After the sack of Prime Minister and military intelligence chief General
Khin Nyunt in October last year, the SPDC has released more than 14,000
prisoners in which only around 80 of these have been political prisoners.

However, the releases have also coincided with the arrest of several
prominent Shan ethnic minority leaders, NLD members, CRPP members and
democracy activists, dampening hopes that Rangoon’s isolated generals are
considering abandoning their seize on power.

On the other hand, some of the Burmese student activists such as Ko Min Ko
Naing, Ko Saw Min, and Ko Ko Gyi were set free.

______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 21, Narinjara News
Veteran Arakanese nationalist leader passed away

Chittagon: A veteran Arakanese nationalist leader, a Patron of the
National United Party of Arakan (NUPA), U Maung Sein Nyunt passed away at
3.30 am on 21 March at Herabang Rakhaing Village, near Chittagong in
Bangladesh.

U Maung Sein Nyunt was native of Rambree, Arakan state, Burma and had been
active in Arakanese nationalist politics since before the Burmese
independence in 1948.

During the fascist Japan rule during 1940-1945 he was an anti-fascist,
during the British colonial time he was a freedom fighter. After the
Burmese independence, he continued to serve the oppressed Arakanese people
as a leader of Arakanese independence movement.

U Maung Sein Nyunt joined other prominent Arakanese leaders such as U
Seinda in earlier period and later founded Arakan National Liberation
Party (ANLP) in 1960.

In 1994, he led the dissolving of ANLP to join hand with other Arakanese
revolutionary forces including the late Khaing Raza, for the sake of
national unity, under the banner of National United Party of Arakan. He
served NUPA as the first president.

At the time of his death, he was the Patron of the NUPA. He left behind
his wife and a son.

_____________________________________
DRUGS

March 21, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar destroys 720 kg poppy seeds in northern state

Yangon: The Myanmar regional authorities has destroyed 720 kilograms (kg)
of poppy seeds turned in by growers in Lashio, northern Shan state of the
country, state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.

It was the fifth time that ceremonial destruction was carried out in the
state on last Saturday by the regional anti-drug authorities under a poppy
seed exchange project -- the "New Destiny Project" which began in April
2002.

The destruction also included 334.53 kg heroin, 225.5 kg opium, 57 kg
morphine and 646.35 kg stimulant tablets, the report said.

The first regional destruction of narcotic drugs was carried out in Lashio
in June 2002.

According to the report, out of 3,678 hectares of poppy cultivated
plantations spoiled in the whole country, 1,202 hectares were in Lashio
during 2004-05, 596 hectares more than 2003-04.

The central anti-drug authorities has also sponsored 18 drug destruction
activities in the capital of Yangon, the last occasion being in June 2004
in which a street value of more than 247 million US dollars' seized
narcotic drugs were burned, bringing the total to 14.45 billion since the
first destruction in Yangon in 1990.

Official statistics show that Myanmar exposed a total of 3,012
narcotic-drug-related cases in 2004, punishing 4,153 people in the
connection.During the year, the authorities seized 973.5 kilos heroin and
606.8 kilos opium, an increase by 405.4 kilos and a decrease by 874.8
kilos respectively compared with the previous year. The stimulant tablets
confiscated amounted to 8.3 million in number, up 4.3 million
correspondingly.

According to a survey report for 2004 of opium yield jointly conducted by
Myanmar and the United States' Criminal Narcotics Center (CNC), there was
34 percent drop in poppy cultivation, registering over 30,000 hectares in
2004 and 39 percent decrease in opium production during the year compared
with 2003.

Another ground survey on poppy cultivation, jointly conducted by Myanmar
and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), also show that
Myanmar's opium poppy cultivation area in Myanmar stood 44,240 hectares in
2004, declining sharply by 29 percent from 2003 and 73 percent from 1996,
while opium production was 370 tons in 2004, dropping by 54 percent
compared with 2003.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and the UN have begun their 5th joint opium survey to
assess opium production in Myanmar this year.

Myanmar has been implementing a 15-year drug elimination plan (1999-2000
to 2013-2014) to totally wipe out drugs and the second five-year plan
beginning 2004-05 is underway.

With the successful establishment drug-free zone in Shan state' s Mongla
region in 1997 and the Kokang region in 2003, the Wa region in the same
state is targeted to follow suit by 2005.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 21, AAP Newsfeed
NSW: Aust accused of ignoring rights abuses in region - Byron Kaye

Sydney: Australia sent troops to help create a free Iraq while ignoring
human rights abuses in its region, former Malaysian deputy prime minister
Anwar Ibrahim said today.

The former political prisoner accused Australia of ignoring Malaysia's
worsening corruption and government-controlled media, and the plight of
imprisoned Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

At the very most, Australia had made a "passing polite pronouncement
without any impact" on human rights concerns in South-East Asia, he said.

"You can send troops in Iraq but can you talk about freedom in the region?
Certainly this is untenable," Mr Anwar told AAP.

"Troops could be sent to a faraway land in Iraq and you can't talk about
Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar who is now languishing?

"How do you explain supporting freedom in Iraq when you don't have a free
media in Malaysia?

"I'm not suggesting that they go to war, but at least articulate these
views consistent to the ideas."

Mr Anwar was released from jail in September last year, after years behind
bars on what he always maintained were politically motivated charges of
sodomy.

He was freed after Malaysia's highest court overturned his conviction, six
years to the day after his mentor-turned-rival, former leader Mahathir
Mohammed, sacked him following a row over the economy.

Mr Anwar, who is in Sydney to express his thanks for Australia's support
during his detention, urged the nation to raise corruption and human
rights concerns with countries it wanted to trade with.

"It is, I think, an absurd notion to suggest that a free trade agreement
does not involve related issues like a free media," he said.

"How do you have a free trade agreement without an independent judiciary?"

The Howard government has faced criticism for brushing off human rights
and democratic concerns as it prepared to start free trade talks with
China in coming weeks.

Malaysia is also considering a free trade agreement with Australia.

"How do you report about the lack of corporate governance in the affairs
of companies that affect Australia in Malaysia?" Mr Anwar said.

"Free trade is not a route to allow corrupt practices or dubious deals
being made."

He said Australians should not be "dictated to by purely economic and
trade interests".

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 21, AFX
ASEAN should have withheld Myanmar membership - former US envoy Holbrooke

Bangkok: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should not
have invited the 'dreadful group of people' running Mynamar to join the
grouping 'prematurely,' former US ambassador to the United Nations Richard
Holbrooke said.

Holbrooke, who urged the United States not to attend next year's ASEAN
summit which Myanmar is set to host, said the 10-nation grouping should
have withheld membership until the military-ruled country made reforms.

'You had tremendous leverage over the Burmese to make them a part of the
real of community of nations in Southeast Asia,' Holbrooke said at a
meeting hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce.

'Instead, a dreadful group of people whose behaviour violates all the
norms of civilization, all the wonderful things Thailand for example
stands for, were invited to join ASEAN with no real conditions.'

Holbrooke pointed to the European Union's recent decision to block
membership talks for Croatia until Zagreb finds a war crimes suspect, as
an example of how ASEAN could have dealt with Myanmar.

The former Burma joined the grouping in 1997 and in 2006 is set to host
the group's annual summit and two major meetings immediately afterward,
featuring numerous foreign ministers in the capital Yangon, formerly known
as Rangoon.

'By holding them in Rangoon next year, ASEAN runs a very serious risk of
that finding some of the most important countries that have attended
regularly for over a quarter century, including the United States, may not
show,' Holbrooke said.

'I would recommend that the United States not go to Rangoon, because it is
a certification of this regime which has not earned the right to host such
a meeting.'

Speaking later to reporters, Holbrooke said he supported maintaining
'essential' sanctions against the 'odious regime' running Myanmar, despite
the suffering of the general public.

'But to leave it alone just increases the flow of money and opportunities
for the generals ... to get richer,' Holbrooke said.

'This is an odious regime and I'm really disappointed in my friends in
Southeast Asia for having let them into the regional community without
extracting any quid pro quo on human rights, democracy and so on.'

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

_____________________________________

March 20, Associated Press
Iowa City to become part of writers' asylum network

Iowa City: Foreign writers persecuted in their homelands have fled to the
University of Iowa's International Writing Program for refuge for nearly
four decades.

On Tuesday, the city will officially join four others in the North
American Network of Cities of Asylum.

Mayor Ernie Lehman plans to make the proclamation during a City Council
meeting.

Writing program director Christopher Merrill said the university's
International Writing Program has always provided a safe haven for
writers.

"It highlights one of the important missions of the writing program, which
we like to think we are a beacon of hope for writers everywhere," Merrill
said.

The asylum network, based in Las Vegas, provides safe havens for writers
who are under threat of death, torture or imprisonment in the native
countries. The other cities besides Las Vegas and now Iowa City within the
network are Ithaca, N.Y., Santa Fe, N.M., and Pittsburgh.

"We think by joining forces, we will be able to get more writers at risk
out of the difficult circumstances they face," Merrill said.

The U.S. network began in 2000 out of the Paris-based International
Parliament of Writers. Writers welcomed to a host city get a $2,500
monthly stipend, furnished residences and health insurance. They stay in
the host city for one or two years, according to the asylum's national Web
site.

It will cost about $30,000 to keep writers at the University of Iowa for
one year, Merrill said, adding that the university and the writing program
will finance the program.

"It would be a new part of Iowa City's involvement in international human
rights and international literature," said Hugh Ferrer, the International
Writing Program coordinator.

Ferrer said program, which started in 1967, has more than 1,000 alumni
from 120 countries including Burma, China and several Muslim nations.

About 30 writers from 20 countries are expected to take part in the
program this fall, he said.

On the Net:

North American Network of Cities of Asylum
www.autodafe.org/cities/network.htm

University of Iowa's International Writing Program: www.uiowa.edu/ 7/8iwp/

_____________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT

March 11, UNHCR Regional Office for Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
Notice to all Myanmar POCs

This notice supersedes the UNHCR notice of 7 March 2005 and applies to all
Myanmar POCs.

As announced by the Royal Thai Government (RTG) in July 2003, the RTG will
no longer permit refugees (POCs) from Myanmar to remain in urban areas. 
They must relocate to camps along the Thai/Myanmar border by 31 March
2005.  The RTG has declared that this deadline is final.

Therefore, the RTG requests that ALL Myanmar POCs register for transfer to
the border camps by 31 March 2005.  Registration will take place at the
Special Detention Centre (SDC) in Bangkok and at the Tak Immigration
Office in Mae Sot.

The RTG has requested UNHCR to advise all POCs from Myanmar to report for
camp transfer.  If you are a POC from Myanmar and you do not register, the
RTG has asked UNHCR to inform you that you will face the following
consequences:

1. You will be regarded as an illegal migrant without permission to remain
in Thailand.  As such, you may be subject to arrest, detention, and
deportation.

2. You will not receive exit clearance for resettlement departure from MOI
in the future.  As exit clearance is necessary for resettlement, this
means that if you do not register for transfer to the camp, you will not
be resettled to a third country.

3. You will no longer receive assistance in any form (i.e. cash, medical)
from the Bangkok Refugee Centre (BRC).

Detailed information regarding your specific camp placement and the
procedures for this transfer has not been provided by the RTG at this
time. At present, the following information can be provided:


Registration and Transfer

You must report to the Special Detention Centre (SDC) in Bangkok or the
Tak Immigration Office in Mae Sot for registration by 31 March 2005.  If
you do not report for registration, you will not receive exit clearance
for resettlement.

Registration will be daily from 8:30 a.m. until 16:30 p.m. Monday through
Friday.

You must take your UNHCR POC Certificates with you.

At SDC or Tak Immigration you will be registered and provided
accommodation.  You will then be provided transportation to an assigned
camp along the Thai/Myanmar border.

You will not return to your home after registration at SDC or Tak
Immigration.  You will be transferred to the camp, where resettlement
processing will continue.

Food and water will be provided from the time of registration until
transfer to the camp.

Once in a camp you will be provided all basic necessities including food,
sleeping mats, blankets, fuel, and cooking utensils.

Houses, schools, and medical facilities are available in all camps.


Personal Belongings

You should bring all necessary personal belongings for transport to the
camp.  Bring your clothing, and any family keepsakes, photographs, and
documents.  You will not have an opportunity to return to your homes after
registration and will not be allowed to go freely in and out of the camp.

Household furniture, live animals, mobile phones and other electric
appliances will not be allowed in the camp.

Resettlement

Resettlement processing will continue from the camps, although the process
may take longer.

If you are scheduled for departure from Thailand for a third country
before 31 March 2005, you will not be affected by the transfer.  However,
should your departure be delayed beyond 31 March you must register for
camp transfer.

Those who have departure dates already scheduled after 31 March 2005 must
report for registration.

According to the RTG, resettlement will only take place from the camps.
You will not be approved for resettlement if you do not register for
transfer at the SDC in Bangkok or the Tak Immigration Office in Mae Sot.

If you have questions about this announcement, contact UNHCR or BRC
immediately.

Do not wait until after the 31 March 2005 deadline has passed.