BurmaNet News, October 1-3, 2005

[Editor]

October 1-3, 2005 Issue # 2815


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Burmese democracy groups back call for UN council intervention
DVB: Burmese authorities detain Shan leader for defamation
Kao Wao News: Mon urge NMSP not to give up arms
BBC Burmese Service: KNU says junta carries out all cuts policy to Karen
areas

BUSINESS / TRADE
Yonhap News Agency: South Korean, Indian firms sign deal on Burma gas
exploration

ASEAN
AP: ASEAN condemns Bali bombings, says cooperation essential in combating
terrorism

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima: Suu Kyi ranked top woman in BBC global poll
Irrawaddy: Australia to fund Burma’s anti-money laundering project

OPINION / OTHER
Baltimore Sun: The U.N. must act on Burma

PRESS RELEASE
U.S. Newswire: Leading Russian journalist, Burmese pro-democracy
campaigner to receive international award

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 2, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese democracy groups back call for UN council intervention

All democratic forces in Rangoon have expressed support for and welcomed
the call on the United Nations Security Council by former Czech president
Vaclav Havel and Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu to take action to resolve
Burma's political problems.

The Committee Representing People's Parliament [CRPP] formed by elected
representatives of election-winning political parties, veteran politicians
who were part of the struggle for independence, and 8888 [ 8 August 1988]
Generation of Students all issued statements to express their support
today.

[CRPP Secretary U Than Tun] The CRPP held a special meeting on 29
September and thoroughly discussed the report presented to the UN Security
Council by former president of Czech Republic Vaclav Havel and Nobel Peace
Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu and decided to release this special
statement.

The report is a realistic analytical observation of the real conditions in
Burma and it is done with a positive attitude and with goodwill and
sincere motives. Furthermore, since the report takes the correct attitude
in calling on the UN Security Council to overcome the general hardships
that need to be resolved immediately in Burma through dialogue - but
without economic sanctions and pressure - it reflects the desires of all
the democratic forces, including the political parties and ethnic
political organizations, and all the people of Burma, including the monks
and students. [End of recording]

That was U Than Tun, a secretary of the CRPP, reading the first part of
the statement released by the CRPP today. The second part of the statement
says that there was no other option but for the UN Security Council to
intervene since the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] had failed
to abide by the decisions of the UN General Assembly.

[CRPP Secretary U Than Tun] The SLORC [State Law and Order Restoration
Council - before the name was changed to SPDC] and the SPDC had refused to
implement the consecutive resolutions and recommendations of the UN
General Assembly and had even ceased cooperation with UN special envoy
Razali Ismail. They have continued to ignore the UN resolutions and
recommendations and are observed to be going ahead with plans made
unilaterally on their own. The future of the nation and the people of all
nationalities are at grave risk should the authorities decide to continue
pursuing the programmes they have unilaterally decided upon. [End of
recording]

The statement concluded with an appeal to all world leaders not to object
to the proposal by the two world renowned leaders for the UN Security
Council to intervene.

[U Than Tun] We deeply respect and appreciate former president of the
Czech Republic Vaclav Havel and Nobel Peace Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu
for their call on the UN Security Council to help resolve the problems of
Burma. The CRPP profoundly requests the UN Security Council member nations
to show goodwill and cooperate with the proposed suggestion by the two
leaders and, particularly to refrain from exercising their veto powers.
[End of recording]

That was a statement by the CRPP. Similarly, the veteran politicians also
held a meeting today and released a statement calling on the UN Security
Council to intervene.

[Nai Ngwe Thein] Yes, we had a meeting today to discuss the proposal by
Bishop Tutu and Vaclav Havel calling on the UN Security Council to
mediate. Since they did not call for action but for mediation by the
United Nations, we believe that it can be successful. Because of that
belief, we decided that we will continue to push for it. [End of
recording]

That was Nai Ngwe Thein, one of the veteran politicians. The 8888
Generation of Students also expressed their support for the call and said
this was a common course of action for all the political forces inside and
outside the country.

[Min Ko Naing] Since our release [from prison] all of us have been asking
for a common course of action and this report happens to be acceptable by
all. We may take different approaches when tackling problems but once we
have a common course of action, we should all follow that route. We have
been saying this repeatedly for many times. I have given an example
before. If we try to push, say a boulder, from all directions, it will go
nowhere. But we have now arrived at a juncture where everyone can join in
the push and make it move. So, we should all join in and push from one
direction. If we look at the issue now, we are still within the framework
of dialogue, and the United Nations needs to play a bigger role here. [End
of recording]

That was Min Ko Naing, a student leader of the 8888 new generation. Ko Ko
Gyi, a colleague of Min Ko Naing, further clarified on the common course
of action.

[Ko Ko Gyi] The cardinal point is to find a common position, and we found
two points that meet the criteria in the report. The first point concerns
all the forces that are working in the interests of Burma. Some of them
are arguing about whether they are for or against sanctions. But the
proposal under discussion here does not contain punitive action or actions
and only about enhancing the role of the United Nations to bring about a
dialogue. We see it as a focal point where all the forces can come
together to work. The second point concerns the democracy forces and the
military working together on humanitarian assistance. We also see that as
a focal point where everyone can work together. Since the common courses
of action are well defined here, we want to invite all forces to
participate in the endeavours. [End of recording ]

That was Ko Ko Gyi. When asked what he will do if some major countries
close to the SPDC decide to exercise their veto powers even though the
common courses of action are well defined in the report, Ko Ko Gyi said:

[Ko Ko Gyi] My earnest appeal to the countries wielding veto powers as
well as to the international community at large is that when they making
decisions to please give serious consideration to the role of the forces
[in Burma] which are supporting the call of Vaclav Havel and Desmond Tutu.
These forces are: The National League for Democracy, which has won the
1990 elections and is mandated to represent the people; the veteran
politicians; the ethnic leaders and the ethnic political parties; and the
students of the 8888 generation, all of whom have wide representation and
are principal forces of the future nation. [End of recording]

That was a compiled report about the views of the CRPP, the veteran
politicians, and the 8888 Generation of Students with regard to the report
of Vaclav Havel and Desmond Tutu calling for UN Security Council action in
Burma.

____________________________________

October 2, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese authorities detain Shan leader for defamation

We have learned that the Kyaukme District Court has sentenced Sao Oo Kya,
member of the Shan State [Intellectuals] Consultative Council, to 13 years
prison term today. He was sentenced to 10 years under Section 124 (A) for
defaming the state and three years prison term and 2,000 kyats fine under
Section 26 (A) of the Hotels and Tourism Act. He was also required to
abide by a two-year good behaviour order guaranteed by two persons for the
restraining order he had been detained under, said a source close to the
Shan circles.

It is still unclear whether Sao Oo Kya will be jailed in Lashio Prison or
another prison. Sao Oo Kya is a cousin of Khun Tun Oo [chairman of the
Shan Nationalities League for Democracy], who is being detained at Insein
Prison for treason, and many believe Sao Oo Kya was arrested in connection
with Khun Tun Oo's case.

Sao Oo Kya, 65, was arrested at his home in Hsi-paw on 3 August by the
agents of the Bureau of Special Investigation. He was accused of attending
the New Generation Shan State Party meeting and Shan State Day
celebrations as a representative of Hsi-paw.

Ten Shan leaders, including Khun Tun Oo and Maj-Gen Hso Ten [of the Shan
State Army], who were arrested following the Shan State Day, continued to
be detained in Insein Prison and are still under investigation.

____________________________________

October 1, Kao Wao News
Mon urge NMSP not to give up arms

Sangkhalaburi: Mon communities have called upon the New Mon State Party
not to lay down their arms to the SPDC, as other ceasefire groups in the
north have done, sources from Mon state reported.

Upon hearing the rumors that the NMSP was going to give up their
firearms,, the Buddhist monks in Mon State directly questioned the NMSP
President Nai Htaw Mon whether the party was going to agree to lay down
their arms to the SPDC or not and advised them not to do so.

“We have sacrificed so much for so many years, the SPDC will surely take
away what’s left of our rights if the NMSP gives up their arms.  In 1958,
the Mon Peoples’ Front handed over its arms to U Nu’s parliamentary
government, but we were cheated and all our leaders were arrested.  The
Mon movement had to start from zero again,” recalled a senior Mon monk
from Ye.

“During that time we had some cultural and political rights.  But after
the surrender, our rights in teaching the Mon language in the government
schools were taken away and all the national and political movements were
restricted,” he explained.

“Giving up our arms was the worst thing to do,” he admits. “Haven’t we
learned from the past,” he added.

The Mon population in Karen state and Kyaik Mayaw of Mon State is growing
increasingly frustrated with the actions of the SPDC toward the NMSP,
especially when the party members are prevented from moving around the
country.

Recently, the SPDC Township Military Intelligence ordered the village
headmen in Kyaik Mayaw this week to closely watch the movements of NMSP,
said a village headman who attended the meeting.

The village headmen in Kyaik Mayaw Township were told to ask about the
daily activities of the people in their villages.

““We are ordered to keep track of what the NMSP is up to and draw up a
list of all NMSP members in our villages.  The authorities ordered to
record the identity and the activities of the Mon armed groups, those who
leave the village, and those who work in foreign countries,” the headman
said.

A source from the capital of Mon state, Moulmein, said that the SPDC had
cut off funding of three millions Kyats to the NMSP and requested the
party for a detailed financial report.

However, the NMSP liaison office on the Thai Burma border reaffirmed the
position of the NMSP that it would not surrender over their arms.

Relations between the NMSP and the SPDC have been strained since General
Khin Nyunt was ousted.

____________________________________

October 2, BBC Burmese Service
KNU says junta carries out all cuts policy to Karen areas

The KNU secretary-general Phado Mahn Sha said on Saturday that the junta
troops have been intensifying blockade in the KNU base areas in Toungoo
and Nyaunglaybin districts.

He said roads access to the areas have been blocked, people banned from
travelling to those places and even forbidden from taking up jobs in
certain places. All these activities put a serious stranglehold on the
people's livelihood, the KNU secretary said.

Phado Mahn Sha said the junta seems bent on exercising the four-cuts
policy it once exercised on the ethnic groups, which is, to cut food
supplies, to cut communications between the ethnic troops and the local
population, to cut contacts among the ethnic groups and finally to cut
throats (kill) of the ethnic troops.

He said the government's actions may be interpreted as not honouring the
gentlemen's agreement reached between the two sides not to launch
offensives in each others' areas.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 3, Yonhap News Agency
South Korean, Indian firms sign deal on Burma gas exploration

Seoul: Daewoo International Corp., a South Korean trading company, signed
a formal agreement Monday [3 October] with two Indian state-run oil and
gas companies and a South Korean gas corporation to explore a gas field in
Myanmar [Burma], the company said.

Under the agreement, Daewoo International will have a 60-per cent stake in
the project, while India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and the Gas Authority
of India will invest 20 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively. South
Korea's state-run Gas Corp. is to provide 10 per cent of the investment
for the project.

The companies will start exploring the field, called Block A-3, off the
northwestern coast of Myanmar, from next year. Daewoo International
received the Southeast Asian country's approval for the exploration in
February 2004.

Analysts have estimated that there are 3-10 trillion cubic feet of gas
underneath the field. One cubic foot equals about 28.3 litres.

The site, measuring 6,780 sq.km., is also near the site called Block A-1,
where the company has been exploring since January 2004.

____________________________________
ASEAN

October 3, Associated Press
ASEAN condemns Bali bombings, says cooperation essential in combating
terrorism

Kuala Lumpur: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Monday
condemned the bomb blasts that killed 26 people on the Indonesian island
of Bali over the weekend, promising to pull together and heighten joint
efforts to beat terrorism in the region.

Southeast Asian countries must work together to identify the perpetrators,
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said at the sidelines of a
preparatory meeting for an upcoming ASEAN summit.

A statement released after the meeting said member countries expressed
their "solidarity with Indonesia" and were committed to "eradicate the
threat of terror in the region and beyond".

Indonesian authorities have identified two Malaysians, Azahari bin Husin
and Noordin Mohamed Top, as the masterminds of the blasts.

Both men fled Malaysia for Indonesia during a nationwide security
crackdown after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia was willing to cooperate with Indonesia if
investigators there found that the culprits were in Malaysia.

"If really these people are within our country we have no problem to
cooperate with Indonesia," he told reporters, adding that security
officials and investigators from both countries "work quietly with each
other".

But terrorism cannot be handled single-handedly because of its
international nature, and wider cooperation among all ASEAN members is
needed, he said.

"It doesn't matter from which group they are, whether it is the J.I. or
al-Qaida linked, we must deal with them squarely," he said referring to
the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been blamed for
attacks in Indonesia, beginning with the bombings of nightclubs in Bali in
2002. Since then, Indonesia has been struck by a series of bombings
culminating in Saturday's suicide attacks.

Syed Hamid urged ASEAN members to practice "preventive diplomacy" because
"happenings in one particular ASEAN country have trans-boundary effects"
that extend beyond its borders.

"We need to talk to each other very openly, but holding very dearly to the
principle of noninterference in the domestic affairs of each ASEAN member
country," he said.

ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia did not plan to issue a travel advisory against
visiting Bali, but advised Malaysians who were going to visit the tourist
destination to "take care and be on the lookout".

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 3, Mizzima News
Suu Kyi ranked top woman in BBC global poll

Burma’s internationally acclaimed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is
the highest-ranking woman on a BBC list of icons people would like to see
running a global government.

Suu Kyi took 13th position on the list, beating the next most popular
woman, former first lady of United States Hillary Clinton by three places.

More than 15,000 people around the world took part in the BBC’s
interactive Power Play game, in which players choose a team of 11 to run
the world from a list of about 100 of powerful political leaders,
intellectuals and high-profile candidates, according to a BBC report dated
30 September.

Nelson Mandela, the former South African president was ranked number one
and former US president Bill Clinton took second place. The final top 11
were all male.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was ranked12th and US President George
W. Bush was placed at 43 by voters, half of which were American.

THE FINAL CUT

1 - Nelson Mandela
2 - Bill Clinton
3 - Dalai Lama
4 - Noam Chomsky (pictured)
5 - Alan Greenspan
6 - Bill Gates
7 - Steve Jobs
8 - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
9 - Richard Branson
10 - George Soros
11 - Kofi Annan

____________________________________

October 3, Irrawaddy
Australia to fund Burma’s anti-money laundering project

Australia has agreed to fund an anti-money laundering project and help
develop guidelines for financial investigators in Burma. According to a
Xinhua report, the 15-month project would be launched later this month by
the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center, the Financial
Intelligence Unit of the Myanmar [Burma] Home Ministry. Australia is
arranging a series of workshops to train Burmese officials in specific
areas such as money laundering, online banking, electronic reporting, data
analyzing systems and combating financial terrorism, said the report.

During this year, the junta has seized three major private banks—the
Myanmar Mayflower Bank, the Asia Wealth Bank and the Myanmar Universal
Bank—for alleged involvement in money laundering.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 3, The Baltimore Sun
The U.N. must act on Burma

The National League for Democracy was legitimately elected to power by a
landslide15 years ago in Myanmar, the too often forgotten nation better
known as Burma. For most of that time, the NLD's leader, Nobel Laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, has been kept under detention by a military junta. Also
for most of that time, the United Nations has been dispatching special
envoys to engage the Burmese generals on their human-rights violations,
drug trade and role in spreading AIDs - without success.

A stronger U.N. effort to save Myanmar is long overdue. The United States
recently made the welcome step of announcing it would try again to put the
failed state's situation on the U.N. Security Council's agenda, despite
past resistance from Russia and China. And a new analysis - commissioned
by Vaclav Havel, the former Czech Republic president, and Bishop Desmond
M. Tutu, the South African Nobel laureate - makes a powerful case that
Myanmar has become such a major threat to peace and security in Southeast
Asia that it fulfills the historical criteria for direct Security Council
intervention.

Their lengthy report, researched by the international law firm DLA Piper
Rudnik Gray Carey, examines events leading to the Security Council's seven
past interventions (in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Haiti, the Republic of
Yemen, Rwanda, Liberia and Cambodia). These were variously prompted by one
or more of the following circumstances: the overthrow of a democratic
government, internal factional conflicts, human rights violations, refugee
outflows, and drug trafficking.

Every one of these factors - plus an unwillingness to cooperate
internationally in curbing the spread of AIDs - is at work in Myanmar
today. "The persistence of these circumstances in Burma and the region, in
conjunction with the failure of the regime to implement any reform or
enable outside organizations to facilitate progress, makes the overall
magnitude of the threat to peace in Burma substantially higher than it was
in cases where the Security Council has acted in the past," the report
concludes.

In other words, this is a vile regime that begs for more direct U.N
pressure. It has prevented the NLD from taking power; harassed, jailed or
murdered its leaders, and denied the Burmese their political rights. It
has long been at war with ethnic factions within Myanmar. It has destroyed
villages, forced massive relocations, allowed widespread military rapes
and slave labor, turned children into soldiers, and exported 700,000
refugees. And it has turned Myanmar into one of the world's poorest
nations, one of the top producers of heroin and amphetamine, and, through
its sex and drug trades, the leading contributer to the AIDs problem in
Southeast Asia.

Some of Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbors are showing signs of losing
patience with the ruling junta, and the United States and the European
Union have sanctioned the regime. But that has not produced any meaningful
dialogue with the generals. The next step must be concerted, multilateral
pressure from the Security Council.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 3, U.S. Newswire
Leading Russian journalist, Burmese pro-democracy campaigner to receive
international award

New York: Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist whose dispatches from
the war in Chechnya have led to death threats and poisoning, and Min Ko
Naing, a Burmese pro- democracy advocate who endured fifteen years of
imprisonment and torture, will receive the Civil Courage Prize on Oct. 11.

The Civil Courage Prize of $50,000 honors steadfast resistance to
injustice at great personal risk. It has been awarded annually since 2000
by the Northcote Parkinson Fund.

Anna Politkovskaya, special correspondent for the Russian newspaper Novaya
Gazeta and author of three books, reports on the plight of Chechnya's
civilian population, which has been under military assault since 1994. She
has put herself in danger by openly challenging the authorities. In
February of 2000, the FSB (the former KGB) arrested Politkovskaya in
Chechnya and imprisoned her in a pit without food or water for three days.
In 2001 a Russian officer, whose war crimes Politkovskaya had exposed,
threatened to kill her, and she was forced into hiding. As she flew to
Beslan in 2004 to report on the school hostage crisis, she lost
consciousness and believes that she was poisoned.

Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 1988 peaceful popular uprising against
Burma's dictatorship, is a central figure in the Burmese democracy
movement. While a student at Rangoon University, Min Ko Naing secretly
organized a nationwide student union, the All Burma Federation of Student
Unions (ABFSU), to oppose army rule. In 1988 ABFSU coordinated a
nationwide non-violent uprising. Millions marched throughout Burma
demanding an end to decades-long military oppression. The regime responded
with force, gunning down thousands. Min Ko Naing evaded the Burmese
Military Intelligence for several months before his arrest in 1989. He was
released from prison in 2004 after a fifteen-year imprisonment, during
which he underwent torture and solitary confinement.

Min Ko Naing has asked that his portion of the Prize money be donated to a
worthy not-for-profit organization. He is under government surveillance
and unable to leave Burma. Politkovskaya will receive her award in person.

Information about the Prize and winners: http://www.civilcourageprize.org.