BurmaNet News, June 9, 2005

[Editor]

June 9, 2005 Issue # 2736

 ‘"I prefer not to interfere too much with what is going on in the world,
but when someone has been thrown into a hole and they ask you to throw
down a rope, I am happy to look for a rope, especially for a woman of
such grace," Rice said in a message conveyed through the US Campaign For
Burma, a Washington-based group coordinating the global push to free Aung
San Suu Kyi.’
- “Irish musician's song strikes freedom chord for Myanmar's Suu Kyi,”
Agence France Presse, June 9, 2005


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Report: Myanmar junta appoints, transfers ambassadors
SHAN: Civil servants bear the brunt of post bombing measures
Xinhua: Chinese photo, painting exhibition opens in Myanmar

HEALTH / AIDS
Thai Press Reports: Thailand: southern malaria blamed on unregistered
immigrants

ASEAN
Financial Times: Burma expected to forgo turn at Asean

REGIONAL
AP: Backing of Myanmar junta by Thailand, India and China thwarts reforms,
says rights campaigner

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: US expects Myanmar to stay on dirty money blacklist
AFP: Myanmar army continues forced displacement of civilians: HRW
AFP: Irish musician's song strikes freedom chord for Myanmar's Suu Kyi

OPINION / OTHER
Financial Times: Brussels needs to engage with south-east Asia

PRESS RELEASE
City of Edinburgh Council and Amnesty International: Aung San Suu Kyi Day
and screening of Burma documentary “Sacrifice” by Ellen Bruno

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 9, Associated Press
Report: Myanmar junta appoints, transfers ambassadors

Yangon: Myanmar's junta has appointed new ambassadors in Australia,
France, South Korea and Japan, state-run newspapers said Thursday.

Thet Win, an ex-military officer and ambassador to Brunei, was appointed
ambassador to Australia, replacing civilian diplomat U Aye, who was among
several envoys who have had their assignments cut short this year.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's ambassador to Brazil, Hla Myint, was moved to Japan
while the ambassador to Japan, Saw Hla Min, was moved to France, according
to brief announcements in the Myanma Ahlin newspaper.

Also, Brig. Gen. Myo Lwin was named ambassador to South Korea, replacing
former ambassador Nay Win.

The junta earlier appointed two ex-military officers as ambassadors to
Malaysia and Singapore, replacing envoys who had served under former Prime
Minister Khin Nyunt, who was sacked last October for alleged corruption
and insubordination.

A Foreign Ministry official who did not want to be identified, said more
than a dozen military officers have recently joined the ministry.

After Khin Nyunt's demise, the junta's military intelligence service was
purged along with scores of immigration, finance and foreign affairs
officials perceived to be associated with him.

____________________________________

June 9, Shan Herald Agency for News
Civil servants bear the brunt of post bombing measures - Chai Sayam

Since the 7 May bombblasts that had reportedly killed, according to the
Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma, more than 70 and injured hundreds,
civil servants in Rangoon have received directives to be on the lookout
for more explosive devices yet to be detonated once an explosion has taken
place, said sources coming to the border:

"The rationale", a teacher explained, "is that senior officials who
arrived at the bomb-site can turn out to be the target victims if there
are undischarged bombs still lying around. We are also required to defuse
them on discovery."

Civil servants, especially school teachers, inexperienced, and untrained
in bombs and such, expressed unhappiness about what they consider as the
authorities' apparent disregard of the safety of the lower echelons. "They
have guns and everything," complained a senior clerk. "And yet they want
us to risk our lives with just bare hands to protect them."

Apart from increased security measures, Rangoon officials are harassing
pro-democracy politicians and students together with their families, said
the sources.

____________________________________

June 9, Xinhua General News Service
Chinese photo, painting exhibition opens in Myanmar

Yangon: A Chinese photo and painting exhibition was opened at the National
Museum here Thursday as part of a series of activities of the China
Culture Month in celebration of the 55th anniversary of the establishment
of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar.

The week-long photo and painting exhibition was jointly inaugurated by
Myanmar Minister of Culture Major-General Kyi Aung and Chinese Ambassador
to Myanmar Li Jinjun.

The exhibition, entitled "Rediscover China", highlights that China is not
only well known for its ancient civilization but also for its immense
dynamism and vitality.

On display at the exhibition are also photos and paintings featuring
exchange of visits by leaders of the two countries in recent years, those
of some Chinese farmer artists from Tengchong county of Yunnan province
and those of a Sangtian photographer from Chengdu, Sichuan, taken in
Myanmar reflecting the country's national scenery.

Besides, as another series of activities of the China Culture Month, a
Chinese films Week is scheduled to open at the Naypyidaw Cinema in
downtown Yangon on Thursday evening. About four Chinese feature films will
be screened over the week which are titled " Pretty Big Feet", "Together
with You", "Warriors of Heaven and Earth" and "Cell Phone".

For many years since Myanmar introduced color television services, both
the state-run TV Myanmar and the military-run Myawaddy TV have been airing
Chinese video feature series, of which "Journey to the West", "Ji Gong"
and "Shaolin Temple" attracted much of Myanmar audiences.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 9, Thai Press Reports
Thailand: southern malaria blamed on unregistered immigrants

The Ministry of Public Health has moved in to control an outbreak of
malaria in Thailand's southern province of Chumphon, which it is blaming
on the presence of unregistered immigrants.

According to figures released yesterday by Dr. Thawat Suntrajarn, the
Director-General of the Department of Disease Control, the period from
October last year to May this year has seen 436 Thai nationals in the
province contract malaria, with 181 new cases in May alone.

These figures do not take into account the large number of immigrants
thought to be suffering from the mosquito-borne disease.

Not only is the province home to thousands of immigrants, who are
reluctant to seek medical treatment from the Thai authorities, but its
geography, with jungles, palm and rubber plantations, makes it an ideal
breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Dr. Thawat said that he had ordered urgent measures to control malaria,
and urged anyone suffering from malaria-like symptoms to seek immediate
medical treatment.

Overall malaria rates in Thailand have fallen over the past few years,
with around 30,000 cases among Thai nationals last year and another 27,000
cases among foreign labourers.

But some southern provinces, notably Chumphon, Surat Thani and Ranong,
have recorded a rise in malaria rates, a situation which the Ministry of
Public Health attributes to the presence of over one million unregistered
immigrants, the majority are from Cambodia and Myanmar.

Registered immigrants are less likely to spread the disease, as they
receive health checks from the ministry before being given permission to
work in the country.

"But when it comes to people who have entered the country illegally, they
do not receive treatment", noted Dr. Narong Sahamethapat, the Deputy
Director-General of the Department of Disease Control.

"The disease, therefore, breaks out in provinces with a large number of
immigrants, especially in the southern region where there are rubber and
palm plantations which act as breeding grounds for the mosquitoes", he
said.

The Ministry of Public Health has 650 mobile malaria units to treatment
patients, as well as malaria clinics staffed by clinicians who speak
Myanmar and Cambodian, and another 230 insect-borne disease units.

The Department of Disease Control is currently shifting its emphasis
towards searching out patients and providing timely diagnosis, as most
malaria-related deaths are attributable to late diagnosis of the
condition.

____________________________________
ASEAN

June 9, Financial Times
Burma expected to forgo turn at Asean - Victor Mallet

Hong Kong: South-east Asian leaders believe they have finally persuaded
military-ruled Burma to forgo its turn at the head of the regional
organisation Asean next year, defusing a serious dispute with the US and
the European Union over human rights.

George Yeo, Singapore's foreign minister, says in an article in today's
Financial Times that the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations
has agreed not to take away the chairmanship from any member but that
Burma in turn promised to take Asean's interests into account.

"Asean foreign ministers took this to mean that Myanmar (Burma) would
voluntarily forgo its turn to chair," Mr Yeo writes. "This would be a good
solution."

Western governments have threatened to boycott meetings with Asean if
Burma chairs the organisation, on the grounds that the military junta has
repeatedly abused human rights, continued to detain Aung San Suu Kyi, the
opposition leader and Nobel peace prize winner, and failed to respect the
results of an election won by her party in 1990.

Indonesia, the largest Asean member, also said yesterday that Burma would
probably step aside following negotiations at a private meeting of foreign
ministers in April in Cebu, the Philippines. The chair of Asean passes
from country to country in alphabetical order.

"My feeling from discussions in Cebu is that probably Myanmar will not
take its turn and that means it will fall on the Philippines," Hassan
Wirajuda, Indonesian foreign minister, told parliament. Burma's ruling
generals have not yet agreed publicly to step aside, although they have
hinted at a compromise.

Asean leaders have rejected economic sanctions against Burma and have said
for years that they would seek to win Ms Suu Kyi's release through a
policy of "constructive engagement" with Rangoon, but they have had no
visible success.

Mr Yeo calls for closer political ties between Europe and east Asia to
match the trade and investment links.

"Europe is in danger of missing out in a vital phase of the region's
evolution," Mr Yeo says. "When Asean foreign ministers gathered for a
recent retreat, our discussions about a first east-Asian summit took into
account the views of China, Japan, India, Australia and the US. Europe did
not figure at all because it had not shown any interest."

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 9, Associated Press
Backing of Myanmar junta by Thailand, India and China thwarts reforms,
says rights campaigner - Grant Peck

Bangkok: The support given Myanmar's hardline military regime by Thailand,
India and China undermines other countries' efforts to promote democratic
reforms there, a leading human rights advocate said Thursday.

Many countries, such as the United States, have instituted political and
economic sanctions against the military regime to try to put pressure on
the ruling junta, said Brad Adams, head of the Asia division of New
York-based Human Rights Watch.

The junta is "able to withstand that pressure because of support from
China, Thailand and India," he said at a news conference to mark the
release of a report on the displacement of ethnic minorities inside
Myanmar.

Adams said that, "all roads for change" lead through the three countries,
major aid donors and investors in Myanmar, which is also called Burma.

The junta, which came to power in 1988 after violently suppressing mass
pro-democracy demonstrations, is widely condemned for human rights abuses
and its failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.

Adams was particularly critical of Thailand's policy under Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, who took office in 2000.

He said the dominant attitude among the Thai leadership was in the worst
case to block Myanmar dissidents in Thailand from expressing their views.

He charged that Thaksin - whose family controls a telecommunications
conglomerate that does business with Myanmar - and members of his
government have business interests in Myanmar which they weigh against
human rights concerns.

Adams also lambasted India, which enjoys increasingly close political and
economic relations with Myanmar's junta, which it once ostracized.

Justifications for India's warming relations with the junta were
hypocritical, he said, suggesting that as the world's largest democracy,
India "should be at the forefront of pushing for political change."

With its own "miserable human rights record," China could not be expected
to promote reforms in Myanmar, Adams said. China is Myanmar's major aid
donor.

However, if China seeks to be respected as a superpower, it needs "to have
a better foreign policy, at the very least be neutral in respect to
regimes like Burma's," he said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 9, Reuters
US expects Myanmar to stay on dirty money blacklist - Muralikumar
Anantharaman

Singapore: Military-ruled Myanmar will remain blacklisted by the global
authority combating money laundering and terrorist financing unless its
laws meet international standards and are implemented effectively, a
senior U.S. treasury official said on Thursday.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has labeled Myanmar, Nigeria and
Nauru as "uncooperative" in the fight against money laundering and
terrorist financing and their status is being reviewed at a meeting of the
organization's 33 members this week in Singapore. A decision will be
announced on Friday.

"We will see what happens this week with respect to what decisions FATF
makes with respect to Burma, but I fully anticipate that Burma will remain
on the non-cooperative list when this conference is over," Daniel Glaser,
deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. treasury department, told Reuters.

"I think in the case of Burma, it's a question of both ensuring that their
laws fully meet the international standards and that they implement those
laws effectively throughout their entire country and their financial
sector in particular," Glaser said in an interview.

Myanmar, formerly called Burma, has pledged to unveil new anti-money
laundering laws and has taken action against two banks. But Alain Damais,
executive secretary of the Paris-based FATF, and other officials said this
week they want to see more concrete measures from Myanmar.

"I am glad that they are taking steps. They should be taking these steps,"
Glaser said.

When asked if Nigeria and Nauru will be removed from the blacklist, he
said: "You have to see what the FATF comes up with this week."

The FATF's 49 recommendations on tackling money laundering and terrorist
financing serve as global standards and are being adopted by its members
and other countries.

Glaser said FATF members were hammering out an agreement on wire transfers
related to terrorism financing. Another issue being tackled was how to
effectively implement targeted financial sanctions or asset freezes, he
said.

The U.S. official said countries in the Middle East and North Africa,
which had provided al Qaeda with most of its funds, were making good
progress in tackling money laundering and terrorist financing.

"I do think that there's been tremendous progress in the Middle East and
the North Africa region. I think the most important symbol, the
representation of that progress, is the development of the MENA FATF," he
said.

"Because this is not something that is being imposed on that region from
the outside. This is something that countries within that region recognize
is important for them to do," Glaser said.

The Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENA FATF)
was established last year and sets standards to combat money laundering
and terrorism funding for 14 Arab nations.

_____________________________________

June 9, Agence France Presse
Myanmar army continues forced displacement of civilians: HRW

Bangkok: Myanmar's army continues to target civilians while fighting
ethnic Karen rebels, with extrajudicial killings and forcible
displacements of some people up to 100 times in their lives, Human Rights
Watch said Thursday.

Sexual violence, forced labour and looting of villages are common practice
for an "unreformed and unaccountable" Myanmar army, US-based Human Rights
Watch said in a new report.

Yangon also keeps conscripting villages, including children, despite
repeated denials, the report said.

"The government still allows the Burmese army to kill and drive people out
of their villages with complete impunity," Human Rights Watch Asia
director Brad Adams said in a statement, using the military-ruled
country's former name.

"While the world has rightly condemned the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi
and the lack of democracy, it needs also to focus on the Burmese army's
brutal displacement of the Karen and other ethnic minorities."

The human rights group interviewed 46 ethnic Karen for their 70-page
report. The 46 Karen together said they were displaced more than 1,000
times in their lives, five of them more than 100 times each.

"Serious economic motivations" were behind forced displacement, Adams told
a press conference Thursday.

"In many parts of eastern Burma which are resource-rich, it's very clear
that there is no military objective in targetting civilians and targetting
villagers, but there is an economic objective," he said.

Policymakers assume the best practice for refugees and internally
displaced persons (IDPs) is to let them return home, while international
standards say the choice about returning should be up to the individual
involved, Adams said.

"But it's an empty choice for many Burmese IDPs because there is no home
to go to because their houses have been destroyed, their villages have
been occupied and their land taken away permanently," he said.

Ethnic Karen leaders say some 200,000 Karen have been displaced by decades
of fighting.

The ruling junta and the Karen rebels called a halt to five decades of
fighting with an informal pact in December 2003, but have never signed a
formal ceasefire deal.

The Karen National Union is the largest of a handful of rebel groups still
resisting Yangon's rule. The junta estimates there are 7,000 rebels in the
group which is fighting one of the world's longest insurgencies.

When people are forcibly relocated, it's often to military-government run
"relocation sites" near military bases across the country, including 100
in Karen areas whose total population was at least 125,000 people, the
report said.

"People living in relocation centres are liable to various -- official and
unofficial -- taxes, and are also often subject to extensive bouts of
forced labour on state-sponsored projects, such as roads," it said.

"Such depredations leave families with little time and human resources to
devote to their own survival.

"In some cases, the amount of labour demanded is so great as to occupy
entire families full-time."

HRW supports sanctions against Myanmar by the United States and European
Union, Adams said, adding conditions there would improve if Thailand,
India and China took a tougher stance against the junta.

"All roads to change in Burma, to the support of internally displaced
persons, run through these three countries," Adams said.

Even if the Myanmar military continues its behaviour towards Karen and
other ethnic minorities, India and Thailand could help by allowing
international agencies to deliver aid and help with employment for people
living in the border areas, Adams added.

_____________________________________

June 9, Agence France Presse
Irish musician's song strikes freedom chord for Myanmar's Suu Kyi - P.
Parameswaran

Washington: When top Irish musician Damien Rice learned that Myanmar's
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been deprived of one of her few
passions -- playing the piano -- while under house arrest, he decided to
write a song to highlight her plight.

Rice teamed up with compatriot singer Lisa Hannigan for the new single,
aptly called "Unplayed Piano," for release on the dissident's birthday on
June 19, when a global drive will be launched to seek her freedom.

Myanmar's military junta has placed Aung San Suu Kyi in prison and under
house arrest for most of the last 15 years. She is the worlds only
incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

"I prefer not to interfere too much with what is going on in the world,
but when someone has been thrown into a hole and they ask you to throw
down a rope, I am happy to look for a rope, especially for a woman of such
grace," Rice said in a message conveyed through the US Campaign For Burma,
a Washington-based group coordinating the global push to free Aung San Suu
Kyi.

Rice, who wrote the song after visiting Myanmar last year, joins an
impressive list of international musicians who have worked to publicize
her plight.

Last year, world famous artists such as U2, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton
and Sting contributed to the album "For the Lady: Dedicated to Freeing
Aung San Suu Kyi", to which Rice donated the track "Lonely Soldier."

He wrote "Unplayed Piano" after reportedly learning that Aung San Suu
Kyi's piano had become faulty and was not repaired, depriving her of a key
passion while confined to her house.

"In the first phase of her house arrest from 1989 to 1995, she played the
piano and practised meditation as a form of relaxation. Later the piano
broke down and we understand it had not been repaired," said US Campaign
for Burma co-founder Aung Din.

Aung San Suu Kyi was last seen in public in May 2003 during a political
tour which drew thousands of supporters and when they were set upon by
armed proxies of the junta.

While the government insisted the violence left just four people dead,
witness testimony suggested that as many as 100, including her National
League for Democracy (NLD) members, were bludgeoned to death.

Rice, who spent years on the European busking and coffeeshop gig circuit
before making it big with hit songs "The Blowers Daughter" and
"Canonball," has also established a website where people are encouraged to
send emails to Myanmar's junta chief General Than Shwe seeking Aung San
Suu Kyi's freedom.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been run by the military since a
1962 coup.

US Campaign for Burma has collected over 6,000 birthday cards for Aung San
Suu Kyi on her birthday and would attempt to "deliver" these cards to the
Myanmar embassy in Washington, Aung Din said.

Protests have been planned in front of Myanmar embassies in several
cities, including the US capital, on June 17.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 9, Financial Times
Brussels needs to engage with south-east Asia - George Yeo

The re-emergence of China and India as regional powers has left the 10
member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with little
choice but to move closer together.

Following the example of the European Community and its Treaty of Rome,
Asean leaders will focus on strengthening their group's charter during a
summit in Kuala Lumpur later this year. An eminent persons group will be
appointed to consider how to increase the region's future integration. If
Asean countries cannot become more effective as a united community, they
will be at a serious disadvantage as China and India become ever more
influential.

Internally, south-east Asia needs stronger institutions to integrate its
diverse economies, strengthen its social and cultural ties and better
co-ordinate its external policies. Within Asean, internal tariffs have
been sharply reduced and are now at very low levels. But Asean governments
know that in the coming years they must open their services sectors to one
another. An important question is the degree of national authority they
will have to surrender. An important start was made last year with Asean's
decision to establish independent panels for the settlement of trade
disputes.

Externally, Asean's strategy is to forge as many significant trade and
economic arrangements as possible. The organisation is negotiating
comprehensive free-trade agreements with China, India, Japan, Korea,
Australia and New Zealand. Meanwhile, President George W. Bush has
proposed a network of bilateral free-trade agreements between Asean member
countries and the US. There is an existing agreement with Singapore and
one being negotiated between Thailand and the US.

On the security front, Asean - which threatens no country - is well
positioned. In the post-cold war world, no big power wants to see the
region divided or Balkanised. The US, Japan, China, India and Australia
have all become strategic partners of Asean, each carefully eyeing the
other's moves. The European Union should also be a strategic partner, but
its politics seem to have lagged behind the economics. In trade and
investment terms, Europe is a big participant in south-east Asia.
Politically, however, the EU's interest in the region is much less -
especially compared with its current interest in China. Sooner or later,
the weakness of political links is bound to affect the economic ties. Two
years ago, Pascal Lamy, then EU trade commissioner, proposed a Europe-Asia
trade initiative, but follow-up on both sides was weak. Two months ago,
Peter Mandelson, his successor, agreed to consider an EU-Asean free-trade
agreement. Strengthening political ties should be a priority. Regular
EU-Asean summits should be considered as a start.

Europe has more investment in south-east Asia than in the US or Japan, and
should not underestimate the region's strategic importance. With a
population of over 500m, south-east Asia is a high-growth area. A big
proportion of Europe's sea container trade passes through the Straits of
Malacca and Singapore. Yet Europe is in danger of missing out in a vital
phase of the region's evolution.

When Asean foreign ministers gathered for a recent retreat, our
discussions about plans for an east Asia summit took into account the
views of China, Japan, India, Australia and the US. Europe did not figure
at all because it had not shown any interest in such a summit. Where
Europe's view mattered - and only in a negative sense - was with regard to
human rights in Myanmar (Burma). Like the US, the EU signalled that
Myanmar's chairmanship of Asean next year would create problems. While
this is undoubtedly an important issue, there are other issues that should
have concerned the EU, such as Asian integration. At the same retreat,
Asean foreign ministers agreed that Asean should not take away the
chairmanship from any member country, as this would set a bad precedent.
Myanmar in turn assured us that it would take into account Asean's
interests. Asean foreign ministers took this to mean that Myanmar would
voluntarily forego its turn to chair. This would be a good solution.

In Asean, Europe has a natural partner. As Asean grapples with the complex
problems of regional integration, there is much it can learn from the
successes and failures of the European construction. Both sides would
benefit from a closer political relationship.

The writer is Singapore's foreign minister

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

June 9, City of Edinburgh Council and Amnesty International
Screening of Burma documentary “Sacrifice” by Ellen Bruno

The City of Edinburgh has awarded the Freedom of the City to Burmese
Democracy activist, Aung San Suu Kyi. Daughter of Aung San, who led his
country's fight for independence from Great Britain in the 1940s, Suu Kyi
has been held under house arrest for many of the past 10 years by a
military government who snatched power from the elected National League
for Democracy of which she is the leader. Married to Michael Aris and
mother of two sons, she sacrificed her family life to lead her people, who
call her, affectionately, The Lady. Amnesty International campaigns on her
behalf and on behalf of the more than 1,300 political prisoners held in
Burma (Myanmar) today. Sacrifice demonstrates one aspect of life in Burma
today, where the rights of women and young girls are ignored. Poverty and
the denial of education means that girls can be destined to a life of
degradation and disease.

Sacrifice

Fri 17 Jun @ 6.15

Ellen Bruno | USA 1998 | 1h19m | 15 | Subtitles

An unusual and impressive documentary on the plight of girls from the
Burmese hill tribes, seduced away from their villages in alarming numbers
to the fleshpots of Thailand. Most have no conception of what awaits them.
Bruno gets remarkably frank, moving interviews from the girls, and frames
the film as a poetic, impressionistic essay - video images seldom look
this evocative. (Time Out) Filmhouse Ltd, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3
9ND Box Office: +44 (0) 131 228 2688
Admin: +44 (0) 131 228 6382
Web: http://www.filmhousecinema.com