BurmaNet News, September 13, 2005

[Editor]

September 13, 2005 Issue # 2801


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Another prisoner’s corpse disappeared in Burma
Mizzima: Church closure in Burma worrying: UK Christian group
Xinhua: Australia helps Myanmar implement vegetable project

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Burma Arakanese nationalist monk Ottama remembered

HEALTH / AIDS
Xinhua: Myanmar stresses expansion of anti-tobacco program to rural areas

DRUGS
Irrawaddy: Harsh penalties for Kachin drug users

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Independent Mon News Agency: Rangoon resorts to burning of Thai Goods to
stop import

REGIONAL
AFP: Thailand gives more aid than many rich nations: report
Mizzima: Identification and protection of Burma's refugee women at risk

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burma faces pressure at UN Summit

OPINION / OTHER
Financial Times: Natural ally

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

Sep 12, Democratic Voice of Burma
Another prisoner’s corpse disappeared in Burma

2005 (DVB) - While the National League for Democracy (NLD) lawyers have
been urging Burmese courts to investigate into the ‘mysterious’ death and
burial of Rangoon Hlaing Township NLD youth Aung Hlaing Win, the
authorities in southern Burma had made the corpse of another prisoner
disappear, it has emerged.

The corpse of 40-year old Min Tun Wai from Mon State Kyaikmayaw Township
was buried on 30 May without the knowledge of his family members,
according to NLD lawyers. Min Tun Wai was arrested on 27/28 May with
unknown charges and sentenced to 7 years in prison by the local township
court.

The authorities then transferred him to nearby Moulmein Prison and he died
there on 30 May and his death was notified to his family on the following
day. When his wife Hla Ohn Mae and family went to the prison to retrieve
the corpse, they were told that their loved one had already been buried.

Hla Ohn Mae wrote an official letter of complaint to Mon State’s Chief of
Police, stating that the murder and the disappearance of her husband was
illegal and requested him to investigate into the circumstance of his
death. But the authorities have done nothing so far and she wrote a letter
to the NLD lawyers seeking legal help, said NLD spokesman Nyan Win.

“They didn’t show his corpse to the family. The family was notified a day
after he was buried. It is clear that something is not right. These are
not good practices,” Nyan Win told DVB. “It makes us think why they didn’t
show his corpse to the family; is it because something happened? If there
is something suspicious, they should investigate it. It is not correct to
investigate it only when people request thus. They should have done it
from the start.”

Min Tun Wai’s case is the third known case in which the Burmese
authorities ‘disappeared’ the corpse of a prisoner within May, June and
early July. The other two cases are those of Aung Hlaing Win, and Saw
Stanford from Tagu Seik Village, Einme Township in Irraaddy Division.
There could be more similar cases that haven’t been reported to the media,
Nyan Win added.

____________________________________

September 13, Mizzima News
Church closure in Burma worrying: UK Christian group - Alison Hunter

The United Kingdom based Christian Solidarity Worldwide has described the
reported closure of the popular Full Gospel Assembly church in Rangoon as
worrying.

Reports emerged last week that the church had been ordered by the
authorities to cease all its activities including its weekly services.

Benedict Rogers, Research and Advocacy Officer, for the organisation’s
South Asia office described the closure as a disturbing development in a
pattern of religious persecution in the country.

"In general, religious persecution in Burma has been directed more
intensely at Christians in the ethnic nationality states, in particular
Chin, Kachin, Karen and Karenni. It is not, however, the first time
churches in Rangoon have been closed."

But some sources in Rangoon told Mizzima churches and Christian
organisations in the capital who did not engage in political activities
experienced little governmental interference.

The minister of a long-standing catholic church said, "Things here are
normal and we have not had any problems. If all we do is worship and deal
only with religion we have no problems," he said adding that churches
closed in the capital may have been targeted for their involvement in
pro-democracy activities.

The Burmese military have a long history of engaging in religious
persecution particularly among Christian and Muslim communities in several
states and border areas.

____________________________________

September 13, Xinhua General News Service
Australia helps Myanmar implement vegetable project

Yangon: An Australian-funded fruit and vegetable project is underway in
Myanmar, aiming at producing more healthy and balanced diet for consumers
in the country, a local weekly reported in its latest issue.

More than one million hectares are being grown with fruits and vegetable
under the project, aided by the AusAID, Australian government's aid
agency, the Horticulture Department of the Myanmar Agricultural Service
was quoted by the Myanmar Times as saying.

The Australian-aided project constitutes part of the projects to upgrade
quality assurance for fruits and vegetable in four countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, horticulturalists said.

A workshop on food safety management and post harvest quality was recently
held here to disseminate related knowledge to farmers and traders covered
by the project.

Meanwhile, Myanmar will export 35 million US dollars worth farm crops to
Australia as part of its bid to promote the country's foreign exchange
earning, reports said, adding that the export include sesame, tomato,
chilli, pine apple and mango.

Besides, a 500,000-dollar pack house is also being built in Yangon with
technical knowhow provided by an Australian company, the CMC.

In recent years, a number of Australian companies have come to Myanmar to
study processing of canned mango fluid drink.

Myanmar has designated 19 kinds of farm crops of focal points for export
promotion.


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma Arakanese nationalist monk Ottama remembered

Exiled Arakan communities througout the world commemorated the 66th
anniversary of the death of nationalist Buddhist monk Venerable U Ottama
on 9 September, which is also known as U Ottama Day.

The Arakanese community in Thai capital Bangkok held a commemorative
ceremony and it was attended by around 70 activists who extolled praises
on the monk who peacefully and openly opposed and defied the British rule,
and told them to get out of Burma. He was imprisoned for his outspoken
criticisms on the colonial power.

A similar ceremony was organised by Arakan Liberation Army (ALP) at the
Thai border town Maesod and it was attended by nearly 200 people. All
Arakan Students and Youths Congress (AASYC) vice-chairman Khaing Lin
Khaing demanded Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) to repair statues and parks in honour of Ottama and to
release all political prisoners including monks.

At the ceremony held at New Delhi, representatives of Burmans, Chin,
Kachin and Kuki were also present, and they discussed the role of Ottama
in the fight for the independence of Burma.

The Arakanese community in Dhaka also commemorated the Ottama Day with
about 70 participants. The chairman of the ceremony, Maung Saw Tin, said
that Ottama was the pioneer of the Burmese independence movement and he
stressed that current military junta has deliberately forgotten people
like him, because he was an Arakanese. “The junta should recognize his
selfless contribution to the future of Burma and not let his memory fade
away from our national history but revive it for the present day youth,”
he said.

They also issued a joint statement demanding an officially recognized day
to remember Ottama for his contribution and sacrifices towards the future
of Burma, to realize his vision of a peaceful, democratic and federal
Burma, and to solve the current political problem through peaceful means.

Ottama Day is not permitted by the junta inside Burma.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

September 13, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar stresses expansion of anti-tobacco program to rural areas

Yangon: The Myanmar health authorities have stressed the need to expand
the country's anti-tobacco campaign to rural areas where smokers,
especially women, are high in number.

Of the rural people made up of 70 percent of the country's population,
women lack awareness about the danger of tobacco consumption, health
officials blamed on Tuesday.

Noting that most women smokers are poor and uneducated, health officials
pointed out that smoking is more prevalent among women in rural areas than
in urban ones.

A survey of Myanmar's Tobacco Free Initiative has found that 20 percent of
Myanmar women consume tobacco products live in rural areas.

The culture of tobacco use is widely practiced among rural women in
Myanmar inherited socially since ancient times and it is common for women
in rural areas, especially the elderly to smoke cheroots.

Warning that smoking and passive smoking can cause perinatal deaths, still
births, spontaneous abortions and low-birth-weight babies, the officials
said Myanmar men and women, who use tobacco, suffer from higher rates of
lung cancer and heart disease than non- users.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is drafting a tobacco control law, aiming to protect
non-smokers from being exposed to passive smoking, the officials
disclosed.

Myanmar has been committed to controlling tobacco consumption by ratifying
the International Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It became a
signatory to the convention in September 2003 and was the 11th out of 192
countries to ratify the convention.

Myanmar launched the tobacco free initiative project in 2002, banning all
forms of tobacco advertising since 2003.

In response to the call by the World Health Organization, Myanmar has
taken control of the cultivation of tobacco and production of cigarettes
and working towards gradual realization of the target of tobacco-free.

In 2003, Myanmar declared schools, hospitals and gymnasiums as
tobacco-free zones.

According to the WHO figures, Myanmar has been producing an average of
40,000 tons of tobacco annually since 1990, equivalent to 0.5 percent of
the world production.

Official statistics show that, among the country's general population, the
prevalent use of tobacco stands 38 percent while total tobacco consumption
is in the range of 2,000 to 3,000 cigarettes per adult per year.

____________________________________
DRUGS

September 13, Irrawaddy
Harsh penalties for Kachin drug users - Khun Sam

Kachin Independence Organization authorities on Monday imposed their own
punishment on 20 drug offenders and warned the death sentence could be
pronounced in future.

The 20, including one woman, were paraded with cropped hair through the
Burma-China border town of Laiza and then set to work cleaning the
streets. The one-day forced labor sentence was imposed as part of a drug
elimination program being introduced by the KIO, the organization’s
commander-in-chief Col Gunhtang Gam Shawng declared.

A reporter of the local Kachin online media KACHINNET said some of the 20
arrested drug users were repeat offenders and were also accused of theft.
Several of them were Chinese.

Col Gunhtang Gam Shawng said Laiza’s jail had 60 drug offenders and could
take no more, forcing the KIO to consider sterner penalties and perhaps
impose the death penalty. He is known as a hard-liner in pushing for a KIO
program to eliminate drug use and trafficking in Kachin State.

The KIO’s general secretary, Dr La Ja, said the organization had problems
carrying out its anti-drug program because of lack of funding or
assistance from the government or international agencies. Most drug
addicts in Kachin State were heroin users, and the majority of these were
HIV positive, he said.

In neighboring Thailand, a Kachin lawyer, Khun Sa Mahkaw, cautioned
against considering introducing the death penalty for drug crimes. He
urged the KIO to administer fair justice and provide rehabilitation for
drug users.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 12, Independent Mon News Agency
Rangoon resorts to burning of Thai Goods to stop import

In order to teach a lesson to the people the Burmese military authorities
ceremonially burnt Thai goods that they seized the previous day in
Myawadi. The idea was to discourage import of Thai goods to Burma. “They
burnt about 200 packets of Thai made Ajinomoto or monosodium, 100 packets
of the Thai made drink such as M150 on the main road of Myawadi near the
Than Tadar (Iron Bridge),” a trader who witnessed the burning said. “They
targeted monosodium and the drink that the regime has identified as barred
goods. The authorities had seized the goods,” he added. Rangoon has
tightened the ban on Thai goods such as food. Rangoon started banning Thai
goods which relate to food last July and began arresting local traders who
import from the Myawadi Border Raod. The junta feels importing monosodium
is equivalent to smuggling drugs. It arrested these traders. Monosodium
trading was made illegal over the last four years and local shops cannot
sell it openly in Burma. The ban on these goods has also impacted the
Three Pagoda Pass Border Road. In recent times local authorities in the
Three Pagoda Pass fined some monosodium traders. Last year when the ban
was not so strict, local traders were widely trading it in the black
market. “It seems the government has again tightened the ban on these
goods. But I don’t know for how long,” a Myit Khin a Mon trader said.

Burmese people have been relying on Thai made monosodium for a couple of
decades and use it in making food. According to traders even though the
military government has banned the monosodium, trading in it will not stop
because people need it. The military government owned television has
regularly been campaigning against the use of monosodium because of its
effect on health. The campaign encourages people to use sugar instead of
monosodium. But local people use monosodium as a habit.
____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 13, Agence France Presse
Thailand gives more aid than many rich nations: report

Bangkok: Thailand gives more aid to the world's poorest nations than most
rich countries do, if measured as a percentage of its income, a United
Nations report said Tuesday.

Considered a "middle-income" country, Thailand also imports more from
least developed countries than any of the 30 members in the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of wealthy nations.

Thailand gave at least 167 million dollars in development aid in 2003,
mostly on infrastructure projects in neighbouring Myanmar, Laos and
Cambodia, the report said.

"At least 93 percent of Thai (development assistance) goes to least
developed countries, compared to a 2003 OECD average of 33 percent," the
report said.

Thailand spends 0.12 percent of its gross national income on aid to the
world's poorest countries, compared to 0.04 percent for Japan and the
United States.

However, 86 percent of Thai development aid goes to infrastructure projects.

"About nine percent can be said to benefit the social sectors directly,
far short of the OECD target of 20 percent," the report said.

Thailand imports more from the world's poorest countries than many rich
nations, including agricultural products and electricity from Laos and
natural gas from military-ruled Myanmar.

"Thailand's imports from least developed countries make up 3.1 percent of
its total imports -- more than any other middle-income country and more
than any OECD country," the report said.

The report, jointly published by the United Nations and the Thai foreign
ministry, highlights Thailand's progress toward meeting one of the UN's 11
"millennium development goals" on curbing world poverty and boosting
living standards by 2015.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 10, Mizzima News
Identification and protection of Burma's refugee women at risk - Nem Davies

The UNHCR (Geneva) held a workshop on identification and protection of
Burmese Refugee women at risk in New Delhi, India. The five-day workshop
was conducted by Eileen Pittaway, Director, Centre for Refugee Research
University of New South Wales and Linda Bartolomei.

There were about 30 women participants from different organizations like
UNHCR's implementing partners and some NGOs groups.

When Mizzima asked about the objective of the workshop Mrs. Carol
Batchelor, Acting Chief of Mission-UNHCR New Delhi, said that, "mostly
women are victims of sexual exploitation and harassment in the work place
and night markets in the local community. The indicator was early
marriages, pregnancy and having a baby at an early age in crowded
accommodations. We thought this could be a very good place to start and an
opportunity to come together with the refugees. The workshop is going to
identify some problems and find possible solutions. A survey we have done
reveals that Burmese refugees are facing a lot of problems in New Delhi.
The UNHCR will look for solutions.

"We are certainly looking at the possibility of resettlement and we have
to take it case by case. We have to identify those who need help the most
and prioritize resettlement. Many women have said that their problems are
immediate, and that they do not have food to eat. They need protection and
safety until the resettlement take places.

When Mizzima asked a refugee about her expectations on the workshop, she
said "Previously we had several meetings with the UNHCR. We have talked
about our problems but it was not taken seriously. This workshop is good
for the Burmese community because through this workshop they saw and
understood the problems we face. I hope that, it will be beneficial if
they work for the Burmese refugees in India."

When Mizzima asked to Eileen Pittaway on the concluding day of workshop
about her opinion and evaluation of the workshop, she said "Well, I think
I have had a fantastic experience working with Burmese refugees. They are
so strong; they know exactly what they need and are very keen to express
what is happening."

She felt "it was a privilege for us to hear all the stories. UNHCR wanted
a list of all of the major risks the women face. We have compiled a list
of about 20 stories of the risks they encounter. We had heard so much
about the terrible conditions of the refugee community here. And now we
have heard the details. We feel like crying at their condition."

She hoped that the distrust of the UNHCR will decrease after the workshop.
She admitted to things going wrong and of promises being broken. UNHCR is
also concerned and wants information on what is happing for reporting to
Geneva. "We can take this to UNHCR Geneva and say Hey
..look what is
happing. I was asked to come back to one more workshop. We want to come
back in six months and see if the people happy with the process."

Carol said that they want to start planning and want the community to take
part. She is not taking the decision by herself; she is going to make the
decision with the community.

There are more than 1,500 Burmese refugees living in India. Among them
1,200 have been recognized by the UNHCR office but the rest are asylum
seekers and are yet to be recognized.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 13, Irrawaddy
Burma faces pressure at UN Summit - Clive Parker

The UN Summit is yet to formally begin but Burma’s Foreign Minister Nyan
Win has already been reprimanded on human rights by the US, setting the
stage for what looks to be a difficult week for the junta in New York.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday afternoon used a meeting
with Asean foreign ministers to single out Burma by reportedly expressing
concern to Nyan Win over Rangoon’s slow progress on human rights.

"She emphasized that Burma must undertake political and human rights
reform," US State Department representative Sean McCormack told Reuters.
"She said Burma was out of step [on human rights issues]."

It is not known how Burma’s foreign minister defended the junta’s record
on human rights in responding to Rice. In past diplomatic encounters when
pressed on the issue, the Burmese foreign minister is known to have given
the stock response that the junta is on track to initiate democratic
reform as part of its “road map” to democracy. The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in Rangoon was, however, unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

Monday’s frank exchange with Rice at New York’s plush Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel—also the base of US President George Bush for the UN Summit—occurs
two days before the official opening of the event on Wednesday.

With the UN’s Millennium Development Goals high on the agenda and a
decision on a permanent Human Rights Council expected imminently, Burma’s
representative in New York looks set for a difficult week of diplomacy.

According to an already-published report on the development goals for the
Asia-Pacific region to be presented in New York, Burma is making negative
progress on HIV/AIDS, education, and environmental protection.

The greater threat to Rangoon, though, is the possibility that the UN may
initiate a new Human Rights Council, which would be a more powerful
replacement for the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, which critics
says is politicized.

Only last week, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch made a
joint call for Burma, along with other states considered weak on human
rights, to stop efforts to sabotage the establishment of the council. The
US has also tried to water down wording of the agreement on the
initiative, although it is still expected to come into force, analysts
predict.

Amnesty International’s representative to the UN in Geneva, Peter
Splinter, told The Irrawaddy that such an initiative would pose a real
threat to the junta: “A Human Rights Council would be a much more
effective body and would be able to place more pressure on Burma to
actually cooperate with the United Nations and to improve its human rights
record.”

And despite “spoilers’” efforts to draw out debate on minor issues related
to the council, Splinter said he and others pushing for the agreement
should be successful, meaning Burma would find it more problematic trying
to snub the UN on human rights in the future.

“Burma would not be able to avoid scrutiny in the way it has been able
until now,” he said, referring to the junta’s continued refusal to permit
Sergio Pinheiro, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights to Burma, to
visit Rangoon.

Lobbying by international rights groups to put Burma on the agenda at the
UN Security Council meeting in New York tomorrow, however, have been less
successful.

Efforts by organizations including Initiatives for International Dialogue
to lobby the Philippines government—which currently heads the rotating
presidency of the Security Council—look to have ended in failure.

A representative of the Philippines Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gilberto
Asuque, on Tuesday said the meeting was likely to focus solely on global
security and debt relief, with Burma seemingly absent: “It is not in the
agenda,” he said, adding that discussions would be less country-specific
in focus.

However, IDD spokesperson Carmen Lauzon on Tuesday said they were “still
challenging the United Nations” on Burma.

“For now I am not confident that we will be able to make it [Burma onto
the agenda of the UN Security Council],” she said. “We are in constant
dialogue with our secretary of Foreign Affairs [Alberto Romulo].”

The UN Security Council has previously been reluctant to tackle Burma,
particularly given that one of the five permanent members—China—is a
supporter of the Rangoon government. Russia—another permanent member—has
also refused to address the subject in the past.

Nyan Win is expected to end his trip to New York after the end of the
final High-level Plenary Meeting on Friday.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 13, Financial Times
Natural ally

Besides aid donations, Thailand's economic dynamism allows it to influence
the economic development of its poorer neighbours in other ways as well.

According to the new study, Thailand has extremely low tariff barriers on
imports from least developed countries, allowing poorer countries in
south-east Asia to sell easily into its booming market.

But its willingness to buy from its neighbours may, in some cases, be a
mixed blessing. Burma's oppressive military junta - which has presided
over decades of stagnation and is widely regarded as a major obstacle to
its own country's progress, finances itself partly through its exports of
natural gas to Thailand.

According to Burma's ministry of planning, Burma exported a total of
Dollars 574m worth of natural gas last year - which was 23 per cent of its
commodity exports.

Bangkok is also fourth largest foreign investor in Burma, accounting for
about 6 per cent of the military-ruled country's total foreign investment.
Burma's inward foreign direct investment rose 34 per cent last year - to
Dollars 128m - thanks to investment in oil and gas from China, South Korea
and Thailand.

But Thailand's role in boosting Burma's FDI is hardly likely to win it
kudos from western countries that have endorsed economic sanctions as a
tactic to try to choke the regime.