BurmaNet News, October 27, 2005

[Editor]

October 27, 2005 Issue # 2832


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: NLD considers how to engage regime in talks
Mizzima: Young reporters hit the streets of Rangoon
DVB: Burma High Court rejects applications for appeal of former moles

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Thais help search for industrial zone
Narinjara: Assassins kill Bangladeshi Rakhaing inside Buddhist temple

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: UN to intensify fight against AIDS in Burma

REGIONAL
Straits Times (Singapore): Jetstar unveils code-share deal with Myanmar
airline

INTERNATIONAL
UPI: Activists at U.N. seek war women help
Xinhua: Chinese President appoints seven new ambassadors
Irrawaddy: Canadian government to consider resuming Burma aid

OPINION / OTHER
Los Angeles Times: Saving Myanmar

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INSIDE BURMA

October 27, Irrawaddy
NLD considers how to engage regime in talks - Louis Reh

Leading representatives of Burma’s opposition National League for
Democracy have discussed at a rare meeting in Rangoon how best to engage
the regime in dialogue.

The three day meeting—the biggest NLD gathering in two years—ended on
Wednesday, and a statement is now being prepared.

The talks were attended by 60 delegates representing the NLD’s Central
Executive Committee and NLD regional bases, except those in Karenni State.
Communications between the NLD leadership and party representatives in
Karenni State had been “quiet” for some time, said NLD spokesman Myint
Thein.

He said a statement on the meeting would be issued soon, emphasizing that
dialogue with the regime was the best way to end the political turmoil in
Burma. National reconciliation could only come about through dialogue, the
draft of the statement says—warning that any further delay in solving the
political crisis would only add to future problems.

The NLD meeting again took place without the presence of the party leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. She led the party to election
victory in 1990, only to see the military leadership refuse to relinquish
power.

____________________________________

October 27, Mizzima News
Young reporters hit the streets of Rangoon - Alison Hunter

A dozen young journalists between 12 and 17 years of age will be taking to
newsrooms across Rangoon after receiving journalism training from Burma 's
UNICEF office.

The young reporters received training on basic reporting, interviewing
techniques, photography, story writing and media ethics according to a
statement released by the organisation.

The budding reporters were teamed up with more senior members of Burma's
press, also trained by UNICEF, who will act as guides and mentors as the
young people enter the media industry for the first time.

UNICEF Representative to Burma Carroll Long said the program was a way,
"to give young people in [Burma] an opportunity to share their ideas with
wider audiences."

The first group of young journalists selected for the program came from
disadvantaged backgrounds. One 14-year-old participant was quoted by
UNICEF as saying he did not know what being a journalist was all about
before the program.

"Now I have learned lots of valuable things, especially media ethics,
which is my favorite lesson of the training. I'll never forget to seek the
truth as a reporter, " he was reported as saying.

According to UNICEF, the young journalists will write articles for private
publications in the country, focusing on newsworthy issues that are
relevant to them and other children.

____________________________________

October 26, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma High Court rejects applications for appeal of former moles

Burmese High Court, on 25 October, unceremoniously rejected applications
for appeal of detained Burmese military intelligence service (MIS) agents,
led by their chief and former prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt.

Those who are familiar with the case told DVB said it is possible their
applications were rejected because they did not present their cases
through proper legal channels such as lawyers, but directly from the
prisons.

But, some lawyers point out that the moles’ action could be part of the
ploy to exploit legal loopholes so that they could send their appeals
directly to Gen Than Shwe, the chairman of the ruling junta, State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC), after the official rejection of their
applications by the court.

According to the existing ‘laws’ of Burma, a defendant could lodge direct
appeal to the SPDC chairman only after the highest court in the land
rejected the appeal. Nevertheless, it is questionable whether the ruling
generals would release these powerful moles when they even haven’t
released the grandsons of their ‘grand-daddy’ and the late dictator Gen Ne
Win.

But by looking at the way Khin Nyunt is allowed to live freely outside the
prison after he was given a 44-year suspended sentence, it is quite sure
that there are some agreed ‘give-and-take’ concessions between the ruling
generals and former MIS agents, according to lawyers in Rangoon.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 27, Irrawaddy
Thais help search for industrial zone - Sai Silp

A team of Thai industrial estate experts are surveying four Burmese towns
on or near the Thai border with a view to selecting one as a new
industrial center to provide enough local employment to stem the tide of
mostly illegal Burmese labor migrants to Thailand. The plan to set up an
industrial zone is being undertaken by the Thai government’s Thai
Industrial Estate Authority, backed by Thai investors.

Financial support for the project will come mainly from the Thai
government, who will provide funds in the form of a 30 percent grant and
70 percent loan to the Burmese government. It is hoped the new zone will
attract investment not just from Thailand, but other regional countries.

The four towns are Myawaddy, Pa-an, Moulmein, and Mongton. Thanet
Chitraporn, economist with the TIEA, told The Irrawaddy the team is
studying issues including infrastructure, marketing potential, investor
benefits and environment and social impacts. When the report is finished,
a road show is planned to various countries in June-July, 2006, to attract
investment.

Jakkrit Srivali, director of the Thai Foreign Ministry’s Division of
Economic Relations and Cooperation, added: “The industrial zone, which
will be located close to the Thai-Burma border, is expected to provide
many more job opportunities in the region, to lessen the number of labor
migrants to Thailand. It should also decrease poverty.”

Jakkrit said the Thai government was also helping the Burmese build a road
from the Myawaddy border town 18 km deeper into Burma. “We will consider
other infrastructure projects to support border trade,” he said. It is
hoped Japan, Singapore and European countries will eventually be attracted
to invest in future projects.

Wuttidet Chamnikij, policy and planning analyst to the Thai government’s
National Economic and Social Development Board, who has been involved in
the project, thought Myawaddy would be the most likely choice for an
industrial zone, because it is just across a bridge from Mae Sot, in
Thailand’s Tak province.

Thailand’s Export-Import Bank’s latest report in October puts Thai
investment in Burma from 1988-2005 at US $1.3 billion. Thailand is the
third biggest investor in the country after Singapore and Britain. The
report highlights agriculture and fisheries, natural resources production
and infrastructure construction as Burma’s best potential investment
sectors.

The industrial zone project is part of an economic cooperation strategy
program agreed at a summit of Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Thailand held in
the Burmese city of Pagan in November 2003.

____________________________________

October 27, Narinjara News
Assassins kill Bangladeshi Rakhaing inside Buddhist temple

Cox's Bazar: Unknown assassins killed a Bangladeshi Rakhaing, leaving the
body hanging from a rope on 25th October in Mrait Na Kyaung Buddhist
temple, which is also known as Bahar Chara Kyaung in Cox’s Bazar, a
southeastern district in Bangladesh, close to Burma Arakan state.

The motivation behind the murder is unknown. Two suspects, including a
woman, were detained by local police in connection with this incident.
This information comes from a Buddhist temple source.

According to the source, the victim is identified as Maung Kyaw (60), who
has been acting as a guard and assistant of the Abbot at this temple for a
long time.

Seeing the body of Maung Kyaw hanging in the roof at about 10 AM on
Tuesday, the Abbot shouted loudly and some locals came to the site.  The
locals then informed the police authority about the incident. The body is
now being kept by the Cox’s Bazar police.

The people arrested in connection with this murder are Nirada Barua (35),
whose house is near the temple, and Than Tun (38) of Cox’s Bazar.

According to a news source at Dainik Ajker Deshbidesh, a local newspaper
of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, Nirada Barua said, “I know nothing about the
incident, but she bought bread for Maung Kyaw in the morning. And I know
nothing about what happened after 8 o’clock in the morning.”

The locals said that there are mysteries behind this incident. Duty
officer of Cox’s Bazar police station police, Mr. Idris, said that there
was prohibition to utter information to the journalists about this
sensational incident, but the investigation is going on.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

October 27, Irrawaddy
UN to intensify fight against AIDS in Burma - Clive Parker

UNICEF and UNAIDS are planning to expand programs to combat HIV/AIDS in
Burma as part of global efforts to fight the virus, a UNICEF
representative based in Rangoon said yesterday.

Burma’s HIV/AIDS policy was seriously undermined in August when the Global
Fund withdrew US $98 million from the country citing government
restrictions. However, UNICEF and UNAIDS are hoping they can overcome the
setback in a bid to meet ambitious global targets in fighting the disease.

“We need to all be rowing in the same direction,” said Jason Rush of
UNICEF in Rangoon yesterday. “We can only make progress on this issue
through the joint commitment of all concerned parties.”

In line with the worldwide HIV/AIDS campaign launched on Tuesday, UNICEF
and UNAIDS plan to increase supplies of the low-cost antibiotic
cotrimoxazol—which is proven to stave off infections in HIV/AIDS
patients—introduce HIV/AIDS prevention classes more widely throughout the
country and increase efforts to prevent mother-to-child-transmission.
These goals are all part of the UN’s 2006-2010 HIV/AIDS global program. In
Burma’s case, however, the main problem is still funding.

“Reaching these very ambitious children and AIDS campaign goals would take
an immense investment and a strengthened commitment on behalf of
everyone,” Rush said. Burma—like the rest of the world—“has a long way to
go to reach these goals by 2010,” he added.

UNICEF estimates—which the organization admits are unreliable given the
poor access to data—suggest there are at least 7,600 children living with
HIV/AIDS in Burma, with more than 3,000 new infections among under-15s
each year.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the UN estimates that 120,700 children were
living with HIV/AIDS by 2004. In some countries in the region young people
are now the worst-affected demographic—in Vietnam 63 percent of those
affected are under 30 and in Thailand 50 to 60 percent of new cases are
younger than 24 years old.

UNICEF and UNAIDS estimates, however, that less than one percent of the
total number of HIV/AIDS affected children in the region are receiving
antiretroviral treatment, considered the most effective available
medication in the fight against the disease.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 26, Straits Times (Singapore)
Jetstar unveils code-share deal with Myanmar airline  - Arthur Poon

Jetstar Asia announced its first code-share deal yesterday, tying up with
Myanmar Airways International to operate a four-times-a-week service
between Singapore and Yangon.


>From next Monday, passengers who used to fly on Myanmar Airways

International between the two cities will do so on Jetstar's A320 Airbus
planes, which will have an additional Myanmar language-speaking cabin crew
member on board.

The new service increases the competition - and the similarities - between
Jetstar and SilkAir, which is a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines (SIA).
Following Jetstar's announcement, SilkAir upped the ante by increasing its
own Singapore-Yangon service from nine times a week to 14, starting on
Sunday.

SilkAir and Jetstar also compete on routes to Phuket and Bangkok, while
Jetstar's associate Valuair takes on SilkAir on the Surabaya
route.Industry observers suggest Jetstar is evolving into a regional
carrier for its heavyweight backer Qantas, in the same way SilkAir acts as
a regional arm of SIA. Though Jetstar chief executive Ken Ryan has
fiercely denied this, there are other strong similarities between the two.
Jetstar's adoption of the code-share deal with Myanmar Airways
International mirrors SilkAir's arrangements with Malaysia Airlines and
Indonesia's Garuda.

Jetstar's fleet of eight Airbus A320s also closely mirrors that of
SilkAir, which has seven A320s and five A319s.

Separately, SilkAir announced yesterday that it is adding new destinations
and ramping up its flight frequencies after taking delivery of two new
aircraft earlier this month.  SilkAir has tied up with travel agents like
Chan Brothers and CTC Travel to offer direct charter services to Nanning,
capital of China's Guangxi province, from this month to December. The
airline will also take over SIA's services between Singapore and the
Chinese city of Shenzhen, flying there six times a week. It will also
offer twice-daily flights to Surabaya in Indonesia.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 26, United Press International
Activists at U.N. seek war women help

The United Nations must take concrete steps to improve the situation of
women in conflict-ridden countries, activists and U.N. officials say.

Security Council Resolution 1325, passed five years ago, "fundamentally
changed the position of women in conflict," Rachel Mayanja, U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser on gender issues, said at a
news conference Wednesday. "We are not seen merely as victims but as
actors, as contributors to the peace process."

But, she said, those words must be translated into actions.

"We have commitments. We have strategies we have policies but we seem to
be really poor on action," Mayanja said.

Following Mayanja, women from Myanmar, Iraq and Burundi spoke about issues
of violence and poverty. The women, all representatives from
non-governmental organizations, were visiting the United Nations as part
of a weeklong series of events on the fifth anniversary of Resolution
1325.

Ohmar Khin, from the Women's League of Burma, said activists had
translated the resolution into 10 ethnic languages and distributed it to
civilians and leaders of the military leadership.

"What we are doing on the ground is preparing for the time ... when the
transition comes, for us to be able to face .. all the challenges that
we'll be meeting," said Khin, who became visibly emotional during her
presentation to reporters.

Basma Fahkri, co-founder of Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq, said
violence threatened her country's democratic progress.

"It's crippled all these efforts ... from all countries around the world
trying to help Iraq," Fahkri said.

She said women's groups supported voting for the constitution, but hope to
change it later.

_____________________________________

October 27, Xinhua Economic News Service
Chinese President appoints seven new ambassadors

Beijing: Chinese President Hu Jintao on Oct. 27 appointed new ambassadors
to seven countries in accordance with a decision made by the National
People's Congress Standing Committee.

Li Huilai was appointed the ambassador to the Republic of Tadzhikstan,
replacing Wu Hongbin.

Wu Hongbin was appointed the ambassador to the Republic of Belarus,
replacing Yu Zhenqi.

Yu Zhenqi was appointed the ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria,
replacing Xie Hangsheng.

Guan Mu was appointed the ambassador to the Union of Myanmar, replacing Li
Jinjun.

Tao Weiguang was appointed the ambassador to the Union of Comoros,
replacing Zhao Chunsheng.

Yu Hongjun was appointed the ambassador to the Republic of Uzbekistan,
replacing Gao Yusheng.

Zhao Rongxian was appointed the ambassador to the Republic of Cuba,
replacing Li Lianfu.

_____________________________________

October 26, Irrawaddy
Canadian government to consider resuming Burma aid

The Canadian government is to consider resuming humanitarian aid to Burma,
which was cut in 1988 following the regime’s brutal suppression of
pro-democracy demonstrations, according to the Canadian Friends of Burma
organization.

A Canadian Foreign Ministry official had given the assurance to the Burma
Forum Canada and Dr Sein Win, Prime Minister of the Washington-based
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, said Canadian Friends
of Burma coordinator Tin Maung Htoo. Tin Maung Htoo said the official,
James Fox, director general of the Canadian Foreign Ministry’s South and
Southeast Asia Bureau, had expressed concern that aid might not reach the
people who needed it in Burma and end up in the hands of the regime.
Nevertheless, Canada would examine how best to provide humanitarian aid,
Fox was reported as saying. Canada already gives humanitarian aid to
refugees in camps along the Burma-Thai and Burma-Bangladesh borders.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 27, Los Angeles Times
Saving Myanmar

Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner and
architect of South Africa's post-apartheid reconciliation, put the matter
clearly: The United Nations has an "open-and-shut case" to intervene in
Myanmar to restore democracy, deliver aid and win freedom for political
prisoners.

That doesn't necessarily mean anything will happen. Regime change by
outsiders is nothing to be taken lightly, but the U.N. must be reminded
that the military rulers who have repressed Myanmar for decades are thugs
willing to murder their fellow citizens.

Tutu and former Czech President Vaclav Havel preside over a global
coalition of human-rights advocates trying to get the Security Council to
act on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The U.S. is supportive, but China
is reluctant. Beijing should take a closer look at a report commissioned
by Tutu and Havel. Its list of the ruling junta's atrocities include
allegations of forced labor, the destruction of thousands of villages, the
rape of ethnic minority women and the torture and killing of political
prisoners.

The best known political prisoner is Aung San Suu Kyi, who this week
marked her 10th year in detention over the last 16 years. A leader of
pro-democracy forces, she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Suu Kyi's
most recent glimpse of freedom occurred three years ago, when the generals
relented and let her tour the country. As during previous suspensions of
her house arrest, enthusiastic crowds mobbed her speeches. The government
then organized an ambush of her motorcade, blamed her for the violence and
put her under house arrest again.

The military's atrocities extend far beyond one person. The report from
Tutu and Havel says the government has forced as many as 70,000 children
to become soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to other
countries. The repression threatens the stability of the region, says the
report, a major reason for nearby countries to demand reform and for the
U.N. to support them.

Myanmar's rulers have gotten away with their reign of terror for too long;
the Security Council needs to sanction and isolate the country if its
leaders do not change.