BurmaNet News, November 11, 2005

[Editor]

November 11, 2005 Issue # 2843

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima: Bomb squad searches Mandalay hotel after tip off
DVB: Taungdwinggyi NLD warned not to mark Burmese National Day
Economist: A capital move; Myanmar

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Burmese migrant workers gunned down
Mizzima: Mae Sot factory fires 130 Burmese workers
Kaladan: EU-UN team visits Rohingya refugee camps

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Asean Secretary-General meets with Burmese PM

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Global community grows impatient with Burma
DVB: Burmese doctor Khin Saw Win won Canadian social award

OPINION / OTHER
Mizzima: Deconstructing the Pyinmana move

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INSIDE BURMA

November 11, Mizzima News
Bomb squad searches Mandalay hotel after tip off

Security personnel have been searching the Pacific hotel in Mandalay since
this morning after receiving information that a bomb had been planted.

Tight security surrounds the hotel near train station and bomb squad
workers are still searching for explosive devices.

"Nothing suspicious has been found yet, there a lot of people but we have
to sit at where we are," a worker at the hotel told Mizzima.

In April, a bomb went off in Zegyo Market in Mandalay killing two young
women and injuring 15 people.

_____________________________________

November 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Taungdwinggyi NLD warned not to mark Burmese National Day

Central Burma, Magwe Division, Taungdwinggyi Township National League for
Democracy (NLD) members, were told in advance by the township election
commission, not to mark the Burmese National Day on 25 November.

U Soe, a township NLD organising committee member told DVB that it is
extraordinary that the authorities carried out the warning long before the
historic day arrives.

“On the morning of 6 (November) at about 11am, the township authority
members summoned U Tsaing and U Tin Win and told them not to carry out
victorious/triumphant ceremonies and not to do anything in connection with
the religion on that day publicly. They were also forced to sign a pledge
that said they were warned not to do that.”

But U Soe said that Taungdwinggyi NLD has been marking the National Day
every year and he insisted that members will make sure that they will so
in this year too.

_____________________________________

November 11, Economist
A capital move; Myanmar

Pity the civil servants of Myanmar. Last week, many of them showed up at
work as usual to be told they would be moving immediately from Yangon, the
country's seaside capital, to Pyinmana, a new-built city 200 miles (320
km) to the north. They are not being allowed to bring their families, or
to resign, or even to take leave. Pyinmana is closed to outsiders, but by
the few accounts that have emerged, it is only half-complete, with
inadequate housing, meagre food and next-to-no communication with the
outside world. Yet by April, the entire government is supposed to have
relocated there.

Over the centuries, the rulers of Burma (as Myanmar used to be known) have
founded dozens of new capitals—to mark a new dynasty or a new reign, to
shift to safer or more fertile ground, or simply to follow the advice of
astrologers. Than Shwe, the head of Myanmar's military junta, seems to be
following in this tradition, for much the same reasons. Observers of the
reclusive despot assume that he views the construction of a new city as a
way to make his mark on Burmese history. The hilly and forested terrain
around Pyinmana would be easier to defend against invasion or internal
uprising than sprawling Yangon. And fortune-tellers probably had a hand in
the abrupt timing: Myanmar's dictators are notoriously superstitious.

The move cements the impression that the generals are digging in for the
long haul, rather than embarking on a transition to democracy, as they
claim. It also lends credence to the theory that the regime is so keen to
isolate itself that it is immune to international ostracism. Sequestering
the bureaucracy in a remote jungle hide-out is unlikely to improve its
efficiency. And what of all the people left behind in Yangon—businessmen,
diplomats, aid workers and ordinary citizens—who might have some business
with the government? If it's urgent, officials say, they can send a fax.

____________________________________

November 11, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's junta looks to solidify power - Khin Maung Thwin

Myanmar opens a new round of talks next month to map out the Asian
nation's transition to democracy, but delegates say they expect the
long-ruling military junta to tighten its grip on power instead.

The regime last week announced it was creating a new capital and military
headquarters in a secret mountain compound in the jungle north of Yangon,
adding to the suspicion about its true intentions.

The democracy talks have been held sporadically for a decade in Myanmar,
which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) is again boycotting in protest at her continuing house
arrest, leading critics to deride the proceedings as a sham.

The junta "is unlikely to amend any of the rules and regulations governing
the National Convention to enable Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy to rejoin it," said independent politician Win Naing, who is not
an invited delegate.

That leaves the generals with about 1,000 hand-picked delegates to discuss
their self-proclaimed "roadmap" to democracy when the National Convention
reopens December 5 at the Nyaunghnapin military camp outside Yangon.

Myanmar currently has no constitution. Writing a new one is the first step
on the junta's so-called "roadmap" that in theory would eventually lead to
elections in the impoverished country, formerly known as Burma.

The draft document includes 15 chapters, with nine left to be finalized,
delegates said.

"I don't think the NC will wind up this time around," said Tin Tun Maung,
one of six former NLD members who broke ranks last year and decided to
participate in the talks.

"I think it will go on well into the next year," he said.

The generals have put no time frame on the talks, which last adjourned on
March 31 after a six-week session.

Despite the lengthy process, the military has left little doubt that it
intends to push forward -- and maintain its grip on power.

Last week, eight leaders of Myanmar's largest ethnic group, the Shan, were
handed lengthy prison terms after secret trials. One of them was Hkun Htun
Oo, who also led the country's foremost coalition of pro-democracy ethnic
parties.

Hkun Htun Oo's SNLD has boycotted the talks in solidarity with Aung San
Suu Kyi, but 28 other ethnic minority groups are attending.

Most of those groups are made up of former rebels who have signed
ceasefires with the junta in hopes of negotiating some degree of autonomy.
Many of them have already been granted a measure of self-rule in special
districts.

"I wish the NLD as well as the SNLD would decide to attend if they were
invited again, in order to be involved in the military's reform process,
which it appears determined to stick to come hell or high water," another
former NLD member attending the talks told AFP.

The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have
condemned the process due to the NLD's absence. But Tin Tun Maung said he
believes the convention is the only chance to wrestle any political reform
from the junta.

"We cannot get everything we want.... We have to decide on what is
possible and what is not given the prevailing circumstances," he said.

"Well-orchestrated it may be but sham it definitely is not," he said.

An uprising in 1988 led a group of Myanmar's generals to oust the dictator
Ne Win and hold elections. Two years later, those polls were won by the
NLD in a landslide, but the generals never recognized the result.

Under the junta's rule, Myanmar has missed out on the economic growth that
neighbors China, India and Thailand have enjoyed. Inflation is soaring,
and up to half of all trade occurs on the black market.

The UN and other rights groups have accused the regime of atrocities
including forced labor and extra-judicial killings.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 11, Irrawaddy
Burmese migrant workers gunned down - Khun Sam and Sai Silp

Police are investigating the shooting of a Burmese migrant couple who were
killed at their home on Tuesday evening in the Thachang district of Surat
Thani, southern Thailand.

On Tuesday night two men are understood to have arrived by motorcycle at
the rubber farm where 40-year-old Carabao lived with his wife, May Thit,
and their five children. The two men reportedly walked into the house and
immediately shot Carabao in the head before shooting May Thit in the
chest, thigh and arm. The couple died immediately while their
nine-year-old son sustained a gunshot injury to his leg. The couple’s four
other children fled the scene, escaping unharmed.

Thachang police today confirmed to The Irrawaddy that so far no suspects
have been apprehended and the motive remains unclear, though police
officer Lt-Col Samas Huatae said: “[Carabao] may be a member of the
Burmese mafia...because in Thachang there are so many Burmese workers. The
murderers could be Thai, Burmese or both.”

Despite there being no official witnesses to the shootings, a man who
lives near the victims’ house and claims to have heard the gunfire said:
“[The gunmen] were two Thais aged between 30 and 35. They came by
motorbike and [started shooting].”

A funeral ceremony for the murdered couple, who moved to Surat Thani from
Mon State in southern Burma more than 15 years ago, was attended by
friends and relatives, including their Thai employer who arranged the
ceremony and is currently taking care of the victims’ children.

____________________________________

November 10, Mizzima News
Mae Sot factory fires 130 Burmese workers

The managers of a knitting factory in Mae Sot, Thailand have sacked about
130 Burmese workers after refusing them access to the factory for three
days.

The workers demanded their employer to postpone on deducting work permit
registration fees from their already low salaries at Saint Hein factory.
Their employer sacked them on Wednesday after refusing to allow them to
access to the factory.

"We requested him not to deduct our dues this month. We earned only 200 to
300 baht this month. If he deducts 400 baht from us this month, we haven't
got any money to pay the balance to him. Then he closed all the gates and
stopped electricity, water and meal supply provided to us", one of the
workers Ko Zin said.

The workers said they agreed to pay 300 baht a month in fees but the
managers of the factory insisted on taking 400 baht.

Moe Gyo, from the Joint Action Committee, said the factory had taken
advantage of the Thai Labour Law which stipulates that an employer can
dismiss any worker who is absent from work without leave for three days.

Managers from the factory refused to comment on the dismissal of the
workers when contacted by a Mizzima correspondent.

The Burmese workers will file a law suit against the factory with the
assistance of the Joint Action Committee and the Thai Lawyers' Committee.

They staged a protest in July over the payment work permit fees and
reached a negotiated settlement with their employer after the intervention
of the Labour Rights Protection office.

____________________________________

November 11, Kaladan News
EU-UN team visits Rohingya refugee camps

A high profile team of EU diplomats and UN officials gave a visit to
Rohingya Refugee camps in Bangladesh, said Shamshuddin from Teknaf.

European Union Ambassador Stefan Frowein, Netherlands Ambassador Kees
Beemsterboer, French Ambassador Jacques Andre Costilhes and Development
Adviser to EC Delegation in Dhaka Graham Tyrie were among the EU diplomats
in the team, he further said.

Besides, UNHCR senior Desk officer for Asia and the Pacific Ayman
Gharaibeh and UNHCR Representative in Dhaka Christoper Beng Cha Lee were
among the United Nation high officials, he more added.

They visited the two Refugee camps at Kutupalong in Ukihia and Nayapara
camps in Teknaf on 8th November 2005, a Majee from Nayapara camp said.

They (the high profile team) expressed grave concerned at the highly
unhygienic living conditions it had seen at two Rohingya refugee camps and
the lack of access to education of a few thousands Rohingya children
there, a Majee from Kutupalong said.

The delegation also criticized the government for not letting some 10,000
unregistered Rohingyas refugees to shift their living quarters from the
shabby and unhealthy shacks on the bank of Naf River in Teknaf to safer
places, sources said.

Several thousand teenager boys and girls have nothing to do. They just
roam around in the camp. This is a misuse of human resources and
equivalent to depriving them of basic human rights" Head of EC delegation
Frowein said.

He also said that an entire family of some 10 to 15 people lives in each
of the 10 by12 feet shanties walled with plastic sheets that is highly
hazardous to health. He said adding, "If a fire breaks out of many cause a
catastrophe. The situation is not acceptable," said a schoolteacher of the
camp.

"Though UNHCR had offered funds for improving the housing standards for
Rohingyas, the government turned it down as permanent structures would
encourage the refugees to stay on here permanently," said Christopher Lee.

He also regretted that the UNHCR has kept an offering 300,000 to provide
housing, water and sanitation facilities to the 6,000 unregistered
Rohingya refugees living in Teknaf for at last two years, but the
government has not made any response.

The EU Ambassador said funds is never a problem: "The most important thing
is a positive will on the post of the government. If it recognizes the
problems and is ready to solve them, fund would not be a
problem,"according to government officials.

Presently 20, 780 Rohingyas are living in the two camps. And a total of
236, 599 refugees have been repatriated since 1992. The influx of
Rohingyas began on 1991 from Arakan, Burma following religious and
political persecutions.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 11, Irrawaddy
Asean Secretary-General meets with Burmese PM

Asean Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong met Burma’s Prime Minister Gen Soe
Win in Rangoon yesterday, junta mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar
reported. According to the Asean Secretariat office in Jakarta, it was a
brief meeting on the organization’s agenda on regional issues. Several
Asean countries have recently expressed concern about Burma’s recent
relocation of key government ministries to Pyinmana in central Burma. It
is not clear, however, whether the secretary-general raised the issue at
yesterday’s meeting. Minister for Foreign Affairs Nyan Win, Deputy
Minister Kyaw Thu, Director-General of the Prime Minister's Office Col
Thant Shin and Director-General of the Protocol Department Thura Aung Htet
also attended the meeting.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 11, Irrawaddy
Global community grows impatient with Burma - Clive Parker

An update on forced labor in Burma released yesterday by the International
Labour Organization suggests the international community is finally losing
patience with Rangoon.

The document includes replies to letters sent by the ILO in July asking
its members to reassess their relations with Burma’s military government
following their assessment that Rangoon had not made significant progress
in eradicating forced labor.

“The promises made [on forced labor] through the years by the spokesman of
the government of Myanmar [Burma] have proven to be worthless,” the
Ministry of Social Affairs of Iceland said.

The Swiss government agreed: “After years of unmet expectations,
violations of the most fundamental rights should be sanctioned through
suitable means,” it said in a letter dated October 5.

Denmark suggested it was time for stronger action against the junta: “The
government of Denmark indicated
 that it shared the view that the
“wait-and-see” approach unfortunately appeared to have produced too few
results,” it said on October 27.

A number of countries, including the UK and Hungary, also expressed their
disapproval at the series of death threats sent to the ILO’s
representative in Burma, Richard Horsey. Most nations that responded
expressed their support for the continuation of the ILO’s presence in
Burma and the action taken against Burma.

The statements are significantly stronger in their vilification of the
Burmese government than when the global community was asked to reassess
its relations with the country in 2000, the first time the ILO recommended
sanctions against Rangoon.

In response to feedback in 2000, however, the ILO decided to give the
Burmese government more time, although many countries decided to take
unilateral action, notably the US, which imposed a ban on Burmese imports
in 2003.

Whether the disapproval voiced by many of ILO member states will result in
further action, however, will not become clear for some time.

The Netherlands says it is now actively discouraging Dutch companies from
economic involvement with Burma, a hardening of its policy. Significantly,
Asean does not seem to have changed its stance on the issue.

Senior labor officials of the ten-member bloc said they hoped “the matter
could be resolved soon in an amicable matter,” a similar response to the
one it gave five years ago.

In practice, the global community has actually increased its business ties
with the junta. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions this
week released a report showing the number of foreign companies dealing
with Burma had risen by 38 to 474 since last January.

For the time being though, the ILO seems to have succeeded in gaining
support for a new approach to Burma. Neither Horsey nor the ILO’s
Executive Director for Standards and Principles Kari Tapiola were prepared
to comment today on what action the Governing Body may recommend at the
end of its current tri-annual meeting on November 18. The outcome is
unlikely to be well-received by the junta, especially as the Geneva-based
organization says it has more news on forced labor cases to report.

The ILO expects to publish more responses from the international community
before it discusses Burma on November 17, many of which are likely to be
equally critical of the regime.

____________________________________

November 11, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese doctor Khin Saw Win won Canadian social award

The president of Burma Watch International, Dr. Khin Saw Win was given an
award for outstanding social activities during a centenary ceremony held
at Edmonton, Alberta in Canada on 8 November.

“It is an outstanding social award to commemorate the 100th anniversary of
our Alberta state,” Khin Saw Win told DVB. It is an award given in
recognition of activities promoting human rights. But when I got this news
from a letter of Dr. Raj Pannu (a local MP) I was very surprised, feeling
very happy and proud.”

Pannu told DVB that Khin Saw Win is a tireless worker of democracy and
human rights for the people of Burma, and he added that the pressure put
on on Burma military junta by Canadian government for democracy and reform
is still very small and he vowed to continue the promotion of awareness of
the situation in Burma.

Khin Saw Win was a physician and lecturer at Rangoon General Hospital and
witnessed the brutal and bloody crackdown of Burma’s military junta on
thousands of unarmed protesters in August 1988 when the nationwide
pro-democracy uprising occurred. On 10 August when the soldiers opened
fire on the hospital, she took care of the injured and continued to take a
leadership role in organising her fellow doctors and nurses to join in the
pro-democracy activities. She became a close associate and personal
physician of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She was forced to resign
from her official position at the hospital for treating a pro-democracy
supporter, and she left the country in 1989.

Khin Saw Win continues to work in the medical field as a faculty lecturer
at the Faculty of Nursing and Medicine at the University of Alberta, but
she also continues to fight for the emergence of democracy and human
rights in Burma. She also produces health education programmes for DVB.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 11, Mizzima News
Deconstructing the Pyinmana move - Dr Sein Myint

Everyone knows only too well of the chores and tasks associated with
moving house. Often it turns into a logistical nightmare.

But it is impossible to grasp the magnitude of infrastructure preparations
and logistical nightmares associated with the relocation of an entire
capital city with 39 government ministries to a location 400 km away.

That's exactly the decision SPDC leaders took about three years ago before
Information Minister, Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan officially announced the
move this week. On November 6, nine ministries moved to Pyinmana at
exactly 6:37 am, in line with astrological calculations. As usual, Burma
watchers and analysts have widely speculated on the reasons for the move.

The most common reason given is that the junta is trying to avoid seaborne
invasion by a foreign superpower. Incidentally this supports the SPDC's
official/unofficial reason for choosing Pyinmana as the new capital.
Pyinmana is strategically located in central Burma, both militarily and
politically. But, do they seriously believe that a distance of 400 km from
the sea will keep them safe? Or, are there other motives we may have
missed?

The strategic location of Pyinmana in the military sense is understandable
from a 20th century perspective. However, we live in the 21st century and
modern militaries have access to laser guided missiles and bunker busting
bombs dropped by B-2 Stealth bombers.

But the question remains - would a country with these weapons drop bombs
on a sovereign state without the permission of the UN for the sake of
democracy and human rights.

Are the forward-thinking generals making the move in preparation for a
future Security Council resolution on Burma? Even though they know China
and Russia would use their veto powers to block and such resolution? China
abstaining from using its veto power with regard to Burma would be a 180
degree change in its policy, a policy that will remain until it no longer
serves China's interests.

Then, does the Pyinmana location in the central Burma have any strategic
economic importance? Again, there is some truth to this claim, if the
proposed Trans-Asia super highways are to be implemented, connecting India
in the west, China in the north east, and Thailand in the south, the
highway's main arteries would have to cross somewhere in central Burma,
likely around the Mandalay region. Pyinmana is much better located to
benefit from the trade these highways would bring and is better to
positioned to control them.

The main disadvantage of moving to Pyinmana is the loss of access to the
sea. Even if the future deep seaport at Kyaukphyu in Rakine State, located
along the eastern coastline of Bay of Bengal, becomes available as an
alternative major seaport to Rangoon, it is still 200 km away in the west
of Pyinmana with two mountain ranges straddling between them.
Nevertheless, there are many capitals in other nations that are not
necessarily commercial cities, and many also do not have easy access to
the sea.

Have astrological predictions from advisers played a crucial role in the
general's decision to move? Astrology has deep roots in Burmese culture
and religion, even before Buddhism arrived, a King's astrologers normally
held high authority over the King and the court. No one could possibly
know for certain what these predictions were, but one thing for certain is
that these actions are designed purely to consolidate and continue
military rule in Burma.

Leaving the capital at 6:37 am on November 6, opening 11 ministries at 11
a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month, suggests that numerologists have
had a hand in the process.

Or, does this decamping of the military and administrative centre to a new
capital have any connection with the ongoing drafting of the Constitution,
and eventual general elections under this new Constitution? Or even the
release of Nobel Peace Laureate and the most popular opposition leader,
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest?

According to one Burma expert, there are connections. If his predictions
turn out to be true, then at least we do have a set time table for the
completion of the Constitution, General Election, and release of the 'The
Lady'. Perhaps, it may be two years or more, but still a much shorter time
frame compared to the 106-year prison sentence given to a Shan leader.

Many experts have called the strategic retreat to Pyinmana a well thought
out and 'best-laid' plan - a plan to maintain control of military power
and rule over the civilians from a well-protected and physically guarded
safe haven far away from the masses who may one day revolt.

Dr Sein Myint served as the Directors of The Burma Fund (TFB) and Justice
for Human Rights in Burma (JHB), and a senior member of Technical Advisory
Network (TAN). This article is solely an opinion of his personnel views
that do not reflect any standing policies of the above stated
organisations