BurmaNet News, May 5, 2005

[Editor]

May 5, 2005 Issue # 2712

“One rumoured outcome would be for Myanmar, which has been under military
rule of one form or another since 1962, to become chairman, but for
Thailand to host all the big diplomatic meetings.”
- ‘Myanmar may skip ASEAN chairmanship, Thailand says,’ Reuters, May 4, 2005


INSIDE BURMA
SHAN: Poll: Having Shan government not a bad idea
Xinhua: Myanmar to allow overseas job seekers to work in Qatar
Narinjara News: Khin Nyunt portrait pulled down from all Buddhist sites in
Arakan

ON THE BORDER
Thai Press Reports: Mae Sod customs confiscate teak products worth more
than 500,000 baht
Kaowao: Hundreds waiting to cross the border

ASEAN
Reuters: Myanmar may skip ASEAN chairmanship, Thailand says

REGIONAL
Thai Press Reports: US-Thailand underline closer cooperation
Irrawaddy: ILO urges protection of migrant workers
Malaysiakini.com: Two Rohingya asylum seekers charged

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Foreign ministers gather for Asia-Europe meeting in Japan Natalie

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 5, Shan Herald Agency for News
Poll: Having Shan government not a bad idea

If the opinion survey conducted by S.H.A.N. yesterday at Shan Community
Exchange, a meeting on the Chiangmai border among activists from Shan
State signifies anything, it is that to the majority of them Shan State
having its own government is not such an unbecoming notion:

Of the 51 participants from various Shan groups, 46.9% had supported the
idea against an equal percentage that expressed reservations and 6.2% that
said "No". "The people need a mechanism where they can unburden themselves
and that will also take steps to deliver them from their troubles," wrote
a respondent. "They understandably cannot talk about their problems to the
SPDC (State Peace and Development Council, as Burma's rulers are known
collectively) as it is their first and foremost problem."

Among the pros, three of them had unambiguously proposed recognition of
the Interim Shan Government set up by a group of Shan elders on 25 March.
"Proper or improper, it is a part of us now," a respected Shan residing in
the heart of the city pleaded to the meeting. "What happens to it affects
us too. So let us support it and help make it a good government instead of
turning our backs on it."

A Thai of Shan descent from Chiangrai, formerly a leading member of the
kingdom's main opposition Democratic Party, also urged anti-Rangoon Shan
State Army "South" of Col Yawdserk to throw its weight behind the ISG.
"Without the SSA's backing, the government's a joke", he told S.H.A.N..

The SSA "South" is active in southern and eastern Shan State.

The meeting was shown a letter reportedly written by Lt-Col Moengzuen,
Commander of the SSA South's 758th Brigade that operates in Laikha,
Mongkerng and Kehsi townships, that his 2,727 troops had pledged their
allegiance to the government led by Sao Surkhanpha, 67-year old son of Sao
Shwe Thaike, late Prince of Yawnghwe and the first president of
independent Burma. To which a senior member of the Restoration Council of
Shan State (RCSS), the political arm of the SSA, dismissed by saying, "Sao
Moengzuen has already denied knowledge of the whole affair."

For most who were against the 6 week old ISG, the following were among the
several arguments put forward by them:

How the representatives of 48 townships (out of a total of 56 townships in
Shan State) were chosen is still cloaked in a shroud of secrecy

The lack of endorsement from mainstream political players, such as the
Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (that won the elections in Shan
State in 1990), Shan State Peace Council, RCSS and Shan Democratic Union

Non-consultation with groups that have been active inside and outside Shan
State beforehand
Inexperience of the group's principal members

Needlessly tight security ("It is easier to approach Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra", said one)
Lack of responsibility for the safety of people who had participated in
rallies in support of the ISG by putting up a photo exhibition of the
rallies in the website, www.shanworld.org

Lack of support from the non-Shan groups in Shan State

The ISG made its political debut on 17 April when its President Sao
Surkhanpha and Foreign Minister Khun Hom declared independence from Burma,
the country Shan State, together with Chin and Kachin, joined in 1947,
prior to Independence the following year.

______________________________________

May 5, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to allow overseas job seekers to work in Qatar

Yangon: Myanmar will allow for the first time overseas job seekers to work
in Qatar in the Middle East, a region once the country considered too
dangerous and too susceptible to unrest for Myanmar workers, said a latest
report of the local Myanmar Times.

More than 500 Myanmar workers are expected to initially arrive in Qatar
within a year where demand for labor is high, overseas employment agencies
were quoted as saying.

The government's opening up of the overseas job opportunity to work in
Qatar came after the launching in January this year of the direct flight
to Yangon by the Qatar Airways, the region's airline. The introduction of
the flight is reported to have also created the region's interest in
Myanmar as a travel destination in addition to absorbing labor from the
country.

In the past few decades, Myanmar has been encouraging its people to work
overseas as part of its bid to ease domestic employment problem, and
thousands of Myanmar job seekers worked in Asian countries with the
majority in Malaysia, followed by in South Korea, Singapore and Japan.

Meanwhile, Myanmar seafarers working in overseas shipping lines have
increased in recent years. According to official statistics, of the 60,000
registered seafarers in Myanmar, over 12,000 work in overseas shipping
lines, up from only 9,000 in 1996.

_____________________________________

May 5, Narinjara News
Khin Nyunt portrait pulled down from all Buddhist sites in Arakan

Akyab: The ousted Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt's portraits were
pulled down by authorities from all the Buddhist temples and monasteries
in Arakan, said a well-known Gopaka member, a pagoda trustee from Akyab.

"The local authority ordered us to pull down all the portraits of the
former Prime Minister, Khin Nyunt, from Lokanada Pagoda and said to
replace it with the newly appointed Prime Minister Soe Win's portraits",
he said.

Locananda is 108 feet high and was built with forced labor under the
supervision of Khin Nyunt, the then Prime Minister of the junta, in the
Arakan State's capital, Akyab. After the crack down on the Democracy
Movement in 1988, the junta came to be known as SLORC, the State Law and
Order Restoration Council, which later renamed itself as the State Peace
and Development Council in 1998.

This order was issued by the local authority after Senior General Than
Shwe, the head of the state, visited the pagoda during the Arakanese New
Years period.  Than Shwe also visited the Thyan Gran (water festival) with
some of his cabinet members. The visit went from the 13th to 18th of
April, 2005.

All temples and monasteries in Arakan are currently pulling down all
portraits of the former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt.

In Arakan there are a large number of Buddhist temples that hanged the
former Prime Minister's portraits.  The portraits were drawn by excellent
artists and these portraits are very expensive, said a Pagoda trustee from
Buthi Daung, a northern townn of Arakan .

The trustee added that there has not been any instruction by the authority
to the Pagoda trustees on what to do with the portraits of Khin Nyunt
after removing them form the Buddhist temples.

Hence, many of the pagoda trustees i n Arakan are now facing a dilemma.
Will the portraits of former Prime Minister, Khin Nyunt be burned or kept
in the store?

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 5, Thai Press Reports
Mae Sod customs confiscate teak products worth more than 500,000 baht

Section: General News - Mae Sod customs have confiscated teak products
valued at more than 500,000 baht. It is suspected that the products were
smuggled into Thailand from Myanmar.

This morning (May 4th), the Head of a Mae Sod Customs house Kritsada
Thongdhammachard revealed the confiscation of the teak products.

The crime prevention officers of the Mae Sod Customs house found hidden
teak products in an abandoned warehouse near the Thai-Burmese border in
Rim Moei village, in the Tha Sai Luad subdistrict of Tak province.

The Head of the customs house said that the officers had discovered a
number of unfinished teak products, such as tables, chairs, beds and
various sized crafted wood products.

After the investigation, the officers expressed their opinion that the
unlawful products were smuggled in from Myanmar, and have already
confiscated the evidence for filing a lawsuit against any party involved.

_____________________________________

May 5, Kaowao
Hundreds waiting to cross the border – Taramon

Sangkhlaburi: Hundreds of migrants are waiting to enter into Thailand
through a one month rotating system along the Three Pagodas Pass
Thai-Burma border.

Local sources from the Mon border village reported a quarter of the
village households have migrants staying there waiting to make the journey
to the kingdom. The villagers, who are basically poor, now make some extra
money by offering shelter to the migrants.

The migrants are told to stick together and not to travel outside the
temporary camp; those found walking about would be fined about 50 Baht.
Over 35 migrants are packed into small 4x4 passenger cars to make the
rough trip to the border. They pay up to 20,000 or 25,000 Kyats to get to
the border from Mon State.

“Over the month of waiting and making special arrangements with
traffickers, they pay up to 14,000 Baht (355 US) to snakeheads to get them
safely across the border. After crossing the border they may have to pay
additional bribes to authorities if arrested,” said Nai Lwin, a Three
Pagodas Pass border resident.

“There are now about seven hundred migrants temporarily staying around the
border area,” he added. “It’s getting busy this time because migrant
workers are coming back to Thailand after New Year and about thirty agents
are dealing with them.”

The amount paid to snakeheads differs from 6,000 to 14,000 Baht depending
upon the location.  They pay up to 14,000 Baht to get to Hat Yai, southern
Thailand which is far from the border. For those unable to pay, they have
to walk up the Bilauktaung mountain range that extends about 400 kms along
the southern Isthmus of the Thai Burma border to avoid Thai checkpoints.

Most of the migrants are young, but increasingly more older people are
risking the journey to find work in Thailand to survive. Some migrants
bring along their babies and grandparents to take care of their children
when they find job.

Many contract malaria while making the journey to Thailand because the
jungle in this region has a higher than average rainfall which creates
swampy conditions for mosquitoes to breed that increases the risk of
catching the deadly disease.  According to a Mon social worker, last year
about this time, many migrants trying to get into Thailand contracted
malaria with some dying without receiving any medical treatment or proper
food, others died while attempting to cross rivers without knowing how to
swim.

_____________________________________
ASEAN

May 4, Reuters
Myanmar may skip ASEAN chairmanship, Thailand says - Ed Cropley

Bangkok: Military-ruled Myanmar may skip its turn as chairman of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Thailand said on Wednesday,
presenting a possible face-saving solution for the 10-member regional
group.

"It's a possibility, one of the possibilities they are thinking of," Thai
Foreign Minister Kantathi Souphamongkon told reporters asking whether
Yangon would miss the chairmanship.

With Myanmar's junta due to take over ASEAN's alphabetically rotating
chair in mid-2006, the group has become sucked into the controversy
surrounding Yangon's human rights record, in particular its detention of
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Europe and the United States, who refuse to believe the former Burma's
assurances it is moving towards democracy in its own way, have threatened
to boycott high-level meetings with ASEAN should they take place in Yangon
on the junta's watch.

However, ASEAN is loath to take direct action as it would contravene the
group's sacred principle of non-interference in the affairs of an
individual member.

Speculation has arisen that Thailand might be negotiating a compromise
solution. It has strong commercial ties with Yangon's reclusive generals
and has favoured "constructive engagement" with them rather than
sanctions.

One rumoured outcome would be for Myanmar, which has been under military
rule of one form or another since 1962, to become chairman, but for
Thailand to host all the big diplomatic meetings.

Kantathi hinted that might be a possible solution.

"What we are working on with them of course would be a dual track
situation," Kantathi said without elaboration.

"We would like to see to democracy and national reconciliation being
realised and we would like to see also that ASEAN can function
effectively."

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who started a six-nation
regional tour in Thailand on Wednesday, said he had discussed the issue
with Kantathi and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra "within the ASEAN
context".

But he would not be drawn on what action Washington, which has already
slapped sanctions on Yangon, might take against the grouping should
Myanmar assume its leadership role.

"My government has been very clear about its position on Aung San Suu Kyi
and the process of national reconciliation," Zoellick said. "We're
disappointed with the developments".

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

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 6, Thai Press Reports
US-Thailand underline closer cooperation

The United States and Thailand have underlined their closer cooperation in
security affairs and have agreed to support reconciliation and peace in
Myanmar and the Korean Peninsula.

The two countries confirmed the closer cooperation and regional support
during a meeting here yesterday between the Commander of the US Asian
Pacific Forces, Adm. William Fallon, and the Thai Foreign Minister,
Kantathi Suphamongkhon.

Adm. Fallon paid a courtesy call on the Thai minister on the occasion of
visiting the Thai kingdom to oversee the annual military exercises between
the US, Singapore and Thai forces, dubbed the 'Cobra Gold 2005', in
Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai this month.

Washington and Bangkok have also agreed to cooperate in other areas,
including relief operations for the last December's tsunami victims in
Thailand and other countries in the region.

Adm. Fallon and Mr. Kantathi also agreed to support peaceful
reconciliation in Myanmar and the Korean Peninsula through negotiations.

_____________________________________

May 5, Irrawaddy
ILO urges protection of migrant workers - Shah Paung

The International Labour Organisation has issued a statement calling on
Thai authorities to take urgent steps to protect migrant workers following
the alleged abuse of a teenage Karen girl by her Thai employers.

The ILO requested that all available measures be taken to ensure that the
person or persons responsible for the serious physical assault of the
young domestic worker be brought to justice, and the full extent of the
law brought to bear.

Christine Evans-Klock, director of the ILO Sub-regional Office for East
Asia in Bangkok, said: “This shocking episode is sadly just the most
recent in a series of violent attacks on foreign domestic workers in
Thailand and underlines their vulnerability and need for protection.”

About 80 percent of the estimated one million migrant workers in Thailand
are from Burma.

The 17 year-old Karen girl working in the home of her Thai employer as a
maid was allegedly attacked by her employer, receiving severe injuries,
including a fractured skull and a shattered ribcage. The girl was
hospitalized for two months. The 32 year-old employer has denied all
charges and has been released on bail.

According to Nay Wun of the Mae Sot-based Yaung Chi Oo Burmese Workers’
Association, at least 10 legal actions cases involving Burmese workers and
Thai employers are pending in Thai courts. Most of the cases are based on
low rates of pay and unreasonable expectations of overtime.

Christine Evans-Klock also said that “registered or unregistered, migrant
workers need to know they have rights and employers need to know there
will be serious consequences if those rights are abused. Employing an
undocumented or unregistered foreign worker is not a license to abuse that
person.”

_____________________________________

May 4, Malaysiakini.com
Two Rohingya asylum seekers charged - Fauwaz Abdul Aziz

Two Rohingya asylum seekers were today charged in the Kuala Lumpur
magistrate’s court with not possessing legal travel documents despite
being registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR).

They pleaded guilty but this was not recorded by the court after lawyers
for the UNHCR intervened to state that the duo were Rohingya refugees and
were thus persons of concern to the commission.

Justice Normazaida Ahmad Narihan fixed the hearing for June 13.

The refugees had been held at the immigration detention centre in Semenyih
after a raid on April 20, which saw more than 55 undocumented foreign
workers being rounded up in the Pudu area in Kuala Lumpur.

Most them were charged today and included immigrants of other Burmese
ethnic origin as well as Indonesian and Thai nationals. They pleaded
guilty and were sentenced to jail for between two and three months.

Last October, the government gave the assurance that it would recognise
Rohingyas as refugees seeking asylum in Malaysia and would not subject
them to arrest and detention.

Malaysiakini has since reported, however, that routine operations against
undocumented migrants do not discriminate between economic migrants and
asylum seekers.

This is the first time since the announcement that Rohingyas have been
charged in court.

Commenting on this outside the courtroom, Rohingyan community leader Zafar
Ahmead Mohd Abdul Ghani appealed to the government not to target the group
but to fulfill its pledge.

“Whether these people plead guilty or not guilty, I beg the government not
to prosecute. They have already made the promise. Please do not subject us
to arrests and detention,” said Zafar, who heads a Kuala Lumpur-based
Rohingya human rights watch committee.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 5, Associated Press
Foreign ministers gather for Asia-Europe meeting in Japan Natalie - Obiko
Pearson

Tokyo: North Korea's nuclear weapons program, rising oil prices, and human
rights in Myanmar top the agenda for a meeting of Asian and European
foreign ministers starting Friday in Japan.

"When two continents speak with one voice, they send a very powerful
message," European Commissioner for External Relations Benita
Ferrero-Waldner said in Brussels before heading to Kyoto, Japan. "Asia and
Europe will address together some of the most critical issues of our
times."

A host of bilateral talks are expected on the sidelines of the ministerial
session of the Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM - including a Japan-China
meeting, scheduled for Saturday, on tensions that triggered recent
anti-Japan protests in China.

North Korea also raised tensions this week by apparently test-firing a
short-range missile toward Japan. International concerns over its nuclear
ambitions are mounting, with international negotiations on the North's
nuclear program stalled since last June.

Japan and Germany are expected to lobby at the Kyoto meeting for permanent
seats on the U.N. Security Council, to join the United States, Britain,
France, Russia and China. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has pushed for
a decision on key reforms by September.

Trade and economics are also up for discussion, with Philippine Foreign
Secretary Alberto Romulo pledging to "mobilize ASEM to support our efforts
to address the serious issue of the rising price of oil."

Meanwhile, other issues loomed.

Japan-China relations plummeted to their lowest point in decades last
month, during anti-Japan demonstrations in China protesting Tokyo's
wartime past and its bid for a permanent Security Council seat.

Similar grievances, along with a territorial dispute, have also frayed
relations between South Korea and Japan.

Japan, China and South Korea are scheduled for a trilateral meeting Saturday.

In an easing of its previous policy of shunning Myanmar's military regime,
the European Union said it plans to hold its first ministerial-level talks
with Myanmar on the sidelines at Kyoto. The EU has long criticized
Myanmar's human rights record, its failure to introduce democratic
reforms, and its detention of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The meeting will be an opportunity to raise EU concerns about the
continuing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees,
deficiencies in the democratic process, and human rights," the EU said in
a statement this week.

Prior to the start of the full forum, foreign ministers from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, South Korea and China are
to discuss plans for a summit in December to create an East Asian trading
bloc. A final decision on participants in the summit is still pending, and
is expected to be discussed in Kyoto.

The recently expanded ASEM forum includes the 25 EU states, the European
Commission, the 10-member ASEAN, Japan, China and South Korea. Thirteen
new members joined in October, including Myanmar after the EU dropped its
objections.