BurmaNet News, November 19-21, 2005

[Editor]

November 19-21, 2005 Issue # 2849

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: No surprise: Political prisoners’ appeals rejected by Burmese courts
DVB: Fourth batch of Burmese civil servants moving to Pyinmana
Irrawaddy: Burma’s Information Minister slams western media
Irrawaddy: Burmese government cracks down on illegal cable TV
AFP: Myanmar expands military presence after creating new 'capital'

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Planned border opening fails to pull off
Narinjara: Arakan army chief surrenders to the Burmese Army

HEALTH/AIDS
AFX: UN says China slow to fight AIDS, praises Thailand

DRUGS
SHAN: Shan druglord associate nabbed
Mizzima: Indian officials destroy record amount of Burma-border drugs

ASEAN
AFP: ASEAN cannot be confrontational on Myanmar: Malaysian PM

REGIONAL
Narinjara: RAW cautions Indian government on tri-nation gas pipeline

INTERNATIONAL
International Herald Tribune: UN envoy hopeful on Myanmar
Mizzima: International court may give Burma a chance for change
New Zealand Herald: NZ democracy a first for Burmese activist

OPINION
The Nation: Govt’s Burma policy brings great risks, few rewards

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 18, Democratic Voice of Burma
No surprise: Political prisoners’ appeals rejected by Burmese courts

The appeals lodged on behalf of five National League for Democracy (NLD)
members including Ba Tint who were sentenced to life, were thrown out by
the Supreme Court in Rangoon.

The court only considered one of the charges against Thet Naing Aung in
connection with immigration laws with which he was given a five year jail
term, and refused to reconsider all the life sentences passed down on
them, according to NLD legal representatives.

Similarly, on 17 November, the court also refused to accept and turned
down the appeal for the reinvestigation of the death of Mayanggone
Township NLD member Aung Hlaing Win who was killed in custody. But lawyers
are preparing to lodge a special appeal.

____________________________________

November 19, Democratic Voice of Burma
Fourth batch of Burmese civil servants moving to Pyinmana

The fourth batch of Burmese civil servants were shipped out of Rangoon in
a convoy of 1000 army trucks on 20 November, to the country’s new capital
at Pyinmana in central Burma.

The civil servants are said to be from Defence, Border Trading, Hotel &
Tourism, Trade and Commerce, Agriculture and Marine Departments. Tight
security measures have been placed in towns and villages along the route
of their journey and traffics to other vehicles were banned.

Although the constructions of office buildings are nearly complete at the
new capital, the living quarters for civil servants are still being built
and they are finding it hard to get regular water and electricity
supplies, a civil servant told DVB. He added that some young civil
servants have also fled due to the onslaughts of malaria-carrying
mosquitoes.

Civil servants from all the ministries are to start their official duties
on 1 January 2006, but they are all said to be feeling very dejected and
confused, away from their families and loved ones.

____________________________________

November 21, Irrawaddy
Burma’s Information Minister slams western media - Yeni

Burma’s Information Minister, Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, has accused Western
media of “jeopardizing” his country’s stability by fabricating news.
Attending a conference of information ministers from non-aligned countries
in Malaysia, he said his government hoped to find ways “to rebuff the
unfair and baseless news produced by the Western media.”

He told the Malaysian national news agency Bernama on Monday:
"We are suffering from interference [by Western media] in our country's
internal affairs.”

Kyaw Hsan and other information ministers and officials from more than 80
nations in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America are attending a
two-day conference in Malaysia aimed at establishing an internet-based
network to supply news on domestic events to each other, beginning next
year.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who currently chairs the
Nonaligned Movement, said in a speech delivered by his deputy, Najib
Razak, that the plan was necessary because "the nature and flow of
information is increasingly dominated and influenced by a handful of media
players in developed countries, at the expense of smaller organizations in
developing countries."

The Nonaligned Movement is a community of 114 nations, grouping thriving
economies like Malaysia and Singapore alongside poor countries such as
Afghanistan and Somalia, and international pariahs like Iran, Burma and
North Korea.

Kyaw Hsan told Bernama that his government believed in providing "true
information" through the electronic and printed media to the Burmese
people and those in Asean and other neighboring countries. But he
acknowledged that Burma’s 43 million inhabitants mostly lacked access to
the latest technologies.

Most Burmese rely for independent news on foreign radios such as the BBC,
the Democratic Voice of Burma, the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. 
According to a poll carried out in 2003, about 30 per cent of radio
listeners tune in to the BBC and VOA.

____________________________________

November 21, Irrawaddy
Burmese government cracks down on illegal cable TV - Louis Reh and Clive
Parker

The Burmese government is cracking down on an unlicensed cable television
network in Rangoon offering subscribers access to foreign channels.

In a warning published in the state-run The New Light of Myanmar newspaper
on Saturday, Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan said those signing up
to the service would be fined.

The minister did not specify what the likely punishment would be for those
running the service, but warned they were in violation of censorship laws,
including the Television and Video Act of 1996. This law recommends
imprisonment for up to three years and huge fines for anyone bypassing the
video censorship procedure or owning unlicensed satellite television
equipment.

Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan’s comments were first made during a meeting one week
ago with officials of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, the
Ministry of Home Affairs—which also controls the police—and the Ministry
of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs.

That the government chose to hold a high-level meeting on the issue and
post a warning in the state media suggests it is highly concerned that
Burmese residents are accessing an information source—including foreign
content—it is unable to control.

“I am not surprised that the government is going to take harsh action,”
said veteran opposition leader Amyotheryei Win Naing, adding that the
junta aims to control every piece of information available in the public
domain in Burma.

The network offers viewers international news channels, including BBC
World and CNN. It also shows foreign films which have officially been
banned in Burma for about a year, although pirated copies of many Western
films are still readily available.

Satellite television suppliers in Rangoon today said the illegal service
has been available for about three months in at least two townships in
Rangoon, including Sanchuang. There is no legal cable television service
in Burma.

At 30,000 kyat (US $25), the start-up costs are more than ten times
cheaper than the only legally available alternative—satellite
television—which costs about $300 to set up. Subscription to the service
also costs much less, at just 5,000 kyat ($4.17) per month, partly because
it is not subject to taxation by the authorities.

“The government wants to crack down because the illegal cable service does
not pay tax to the government,” said one Rangoon resident.

For Burma’s military government, the price of the illegal network poses
another problem. The junta has previously allowed information services
such as the internet and satellite television because they are
prohibitively expensive for most Burmese. Only the wealthy have access, a
class which, by default, is more likely to tow the party line.

____________________________________

November 20, Agency France Press
Myanmar expands military presence after creating new 'capital'

Myanmar has expanded its military presence in the centre of the country
since the reclusive junta set up a new administrative capital in Pyinmana,
north of Yangon, a source said Sunday.

The military set up a new regional command in the mountainous town, 200
miles (320 kilometers) north of Yangon, to handle security operations
there, the source close to the military said.

While Pyinmana is already part of Myanmar's regional command overseeing
security in central areas, the military has decided to set up "Naypyidaw
Regional Military Command" in line with the creation of the new capital.

"The Naypyidaw Regional Command with its headquarters in Pyinmana will
control the region where the administrative capital and war office are
located," the source told AFP.

The new Pyinmana command brings to 13 the number of Myanmar's regional
military commands.

The relocation of the government has been under preparation for several
months. But it is unclear why Myanmar's military rulers have chosen to
move the government to Pyinmana.

On November 7, Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, Myanmar's information
minister, announced the military was moving the capital from Yangon to
Pyinmana.

In a country as secretive as Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military
since 1962, theories have ranged from astrological predictions to worries
over urban unrest in Yangon to fears of a US invasion.

The US and European Union have imposed sanctions for its suppression of
the pro-democracy movement, including the detention of democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

The junta has said the next session of constitutional talks on its
self-declared "road map" to democracy will resume on December 5. Critics,
however, describe the talks as a sham since they have been boycotted by
Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 19, Shan Herald News Agency
Planned border opening fails to pull off

Saturday November 19 went by without the expected opening of the border
pass between Maehongson's Muang district and Kayah state as announced
earlier, say sources from the border.

According to the ceasefire group Karenni Nationalities People Liberation
Front (KNPLF), the opening of the Hwe Ponglao pass at Boundary Post #10,
better known as BP10 for trade and tourism was due to take place
yesterday. "It would have helped the economy of Maehongson that is going
downhill," said a Shan-born Thai businessman to S.H.A.N.

Some sources have blamed the Thai military for refusing to give the
go-ahead for the plan, but the latter says it has sound reasons for not
going along with the business sector's desire. "The Dao-daeng (Red Star,
the popular name for KNPLF) and the KNPP (Karenni National Progressive
Party, a non-ceasefire group) are at war," a Thai lieutenant-colonel told
S.H.A.N. "Who are we going to hold responsible, if somebody gets hurt or,
worse still, a foreign tourist is abducted?"

Which made traders wondering whether the two warring sides could be
brought to the negotiating table to square out their differences. "That's
not simple," said Manko Ban, a Shan MP of Karenni descent. "Apart from
their longstanding feud, the KNPLF has not been able to set up any
meetings with the KNPP, what with the Burma Army breathing down its neck
all the time."

Since December, the KNPP and the KNPLF, the latter backed by Rangoon
troops, have been battling for the control of the strategic Nyan-mo (Doi
Yamo in Thai) mountain that overlooks Hwe Ponglao. So far the height is
still successfully defended by the KNPP.

The situation is aggravated by the closure of Hueypheung pass, better
known as BP-7, that connects Maehongson's Muang district with the Shan
State's Homong township. The flourishing cattle trade was suspended in
August, after Thai authorities received a memorandum from Dr Maung Maung
Kyin, Rangoon's Head of Foot and Mouth Disease Laboratory that the
epidemic was prevalent in the neighboring state of Kayah.

"Shan traders have been trying to convince for months the FMD (Food and
Mouth Disease) is well inside Kayah and has not spread to the Shan State,"
said a cattle buyer in Thailand. "But bureaucratic process always appears
to take time."

Thailand's Maehongson province forms a triangle with Burma's Kayah and
Shan states.

____________________________________

November 21, Narinjara News
Arakan army chief surrenders to the Burmese Army

The chief of the Arakan Army, Colonel Khaing Zaw, surrendered to the
Burmese military on 16 November, accompanied by nine soldiers.

The Arakan Army is the armed wing of the National United Party of Arakan
(NUPA), and its former chief was the late Khaing Raza. Neither the Arakan
Army nor NUPA are yet to issue a statement concerning the surrender.

Khaing Zaw and his troops crossed over to the Aung Tha Byae base of the
Burmese Border Security (Nasaka) Region One. A detailed account of their
surrender is not yet available.

This is the first surrender of a high-ranking leader of the Arakanese
nationalist movement since the Bangladeshi military operation against
insurgent groups operating along the Burma-Bangladesh border this year

____________________________________
HEALTH/AIDS

November 21, AFX
UN says China slow to fight AIDS, praises Thailand

China and Myanmar are not doing enough to prevent the spread of AIDS, a UN
report said, praising Thailand as the Asian success story for bringing
about a decline in the number of new HIV cases.

China had made slow progress in fulfilling a 2003 pledge to provide
antiretroviral treatment to all who need it, warned the AIDS Epidemic
Update 2005 released in the New Delhi ahead of World AIDS day on December
1.

'By June 2005, about 20,000 people were receiving the drugs in 28
provinces and autonomous regions,' the report said.

The majority of China's cases were detected in Yunnan and Henan provinces
in the Guangxi autonomous region, it said, adding the least affected areas
'for the moment' were Qinghai province and the Tibet autonomous region.

HIV cases had been found in all 31 provinces of China, the UN's annual
report said, warning that the combination of commercial sex and injecting
drug use 'is likely to become the main driver of China's epidemic.'

China officially has an estimated 840,000 people infected with HIV,
including 80,000 with full-blown AIDS. The prevalence rate is 0.1 percent.

'In Myanmar, limited prevention efforts led HIV to spread freely -- at
first within the most at-risk groups and later beyond them. Consequently
Myanmar had one of the most serious AIDS epidemics in the region,' it
said.

In contrast, Thailand offered something of a success story in the fight
against AIDS.

'By 2003 the estimated national adult HIV prevalence had dropped to its
lowest level ever, approximately 1.5 percent,' the report said but noted
that only 51 pct of Thai sex workers reported using condoms.

Indonesia and Pakistan were warned of being on the 'brink' a major
epidemic and urged to speed up 'their responses if they are to avoid
serious HIV epidemics.'

In Indonesia, the 'rapidly worsening AIDS epidemic (was) mainly due to
injecting drug use,' while in Pakistan, the combination of risky behaviour
and limited knowledge among injecting drug users and sex workers 'favours
the rapid spread of HIV.'

'New data suggests that the country (Pakistan) could be on the verge of a
serious HIV epidemic.'

'A major epidemic has already been detected among injecting drug users in
Karachi,' the report said, adding 'one in five sex workers cannot
recognise a condom and three quarters did not know that condoms prevented
AIDS.'

On India, which has more than 5.13 mln people living with HIV/AIDS, second
only to South Africa, the world body said overall HIV prevalence continued
to rise as it was affecting high-risk population groups.

'Transmitted mainly through unprotected sex in southern India and
injecting drug use in the (country's) northeast, HIV is spreading beyond
urban areas,' it said.

In Bangladesh and the Philippines, HIV prevalence has been low but there
were signs the situation could change for the worse, the report warned.

Asia accounts for roughly 20 pct, or 8.3 mln people, of the 40 mln plus
people infected with HIV worldwide. But the prevalence rate remains a
relatively low 0.4 pct of the adult population, according to UNAIDS.

Injecting drug use is the strongest initial driver of HIV infection in
Asia, the report said.

'The majority of drug users are sexually active ... large proportions of
them buy or sell sex,' causing the large-scale spread of the disease, it
said.

This process was 'well underway' in several Asian countries including
Indonesia and China and unless halted early would cause 'millions of new
HIV infections.'

____________________________________
DRUGS

November 21, Shan Herald Agency News
Shan druglord associate nabbed

Banyong Lawka "Jit", believed by police authorities as a business partner
of Maha Ja, reputed as former druglord Khun Sa's successor, was arrested
on Sunday, 19 November, at his house in Maehongson, report Thai papers.

Jit, 48, had already been detained two years ago on drug charges but was
acquitted later. He deals in cattle and holds a public office as a
"Kamnan", the Burmese equivalent of a village tract headman.

The warrant for his arrest was issued by the Maehongson provincial court
on 16 November. He has denied the charge.

Insiders say Jit's involvement in the drug trade was exposed by a villager
of Thung Masarn, Tambon Hueypha, whose family member had been killed
during a drug seizure in 2003, the year Thailand declared all-out war on
drugs.

____________________________________

November 19, Mizzima News
Indian officials destroy record amount of Burma-border drugs - Hrishikesh
Saikia

More than Rs 210-million-worth of illicit drugs believed to have
originated from India’s border states with Burma were destroyed in
Guwahati, Assam last night.

Almost 60,000 kilograms of cannabis, 6.3 kg of hashish, 1.6 kg of heroin,
205 kg of Ephedrine and 714 strips of Spasmo Proxyvon capsules were burnt
by Indian authorities.

The drugs were seized by various Customs groups, the Directorate of
Revenue Intelligence and the Central Bureau of Narcotics, between 1999 and
April 2005 with more than 90 percent of the total seized confiscated in
the past two years Guwahati customs sources said.

Source said the increase in seizures in the past two years showed the
existence of a burgeoning regional drug trade particularly across the
Indo-Burma border.

Customs officials told Mizzima Indo-Burma border states including Manipur,
Mizoram and Nagaland were well-known routes for narcotics smuggling.

 “Though this has been going on for decades, it is very difficult to get
information about the trade, as traffickers adopt different modus
operandi in concealment and transportation of the drugs in the most
ingenuous ways,” the customs sources said.

According to police, Moreh, Dimapur and Changfai along the Indo-Burma
border have emerged as three major centres for drug trafficking.

“Most of the drugs originating in Burma find their way to other States of
India through this route,” sources told Mizzima.

Also worry police is evidence of illegal arms smuggle across Burmese,
Indian and Bangladeshi borders.

____________________________________
ASEAN

November 19, Agency France Press
ASEAN cannot be confrontational on Myanmar: Malaysian PM
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Saturday Southeast
Asian nations would not take a confrontational stance towards Myanmar
despite US pressure for stronger action.

Abdullah said US President George W. Bush raised the issue of the
military-ruled country during a meeting with seven Southeast Asian leaders
on Friday at a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum.

But he said the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
-- which includes Myanmar, would continue its "constructive engagement"
with the ruling junta.

"President Bush did express his position, which I'm sure many of you
already know," Abdullah told reporters after the APEC summit in the South
Korean city of Busan.

He said ASEAN's "commitment to continue with the engagement with Myanmar
is a strategy that we believe can work.

"It takes time, it's a little bit slow but I think we cannot be
confrontational with Myanmar. That's not the ASEAN way," Abdullah said.

Malaysia currently holds ASEAN's alphabetically rotating leadership after
Myanmar abandoned its turn because of international pressure.

Bush, who called Myanmar earlier in the week an "outpost of brutality",
had urged his Southeast Asian counterparts to take a stronger stance to
bring about democratic reforms.

ASEAN has stood by its policy of not speaking about the internal affairs
of members despite criticism this was stifling the organisation, which
groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 20, Narinjara News
RAW cautions Indian government on tri-nation gas pipeline

The Indian External Intelligence Agency’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
has issued a warning to the Indian government, saying it would be "a
serious mistake" to allow a proposed tri-nation gas pipeline to pass
through Bangladesh, according to recent report by a Bangladesh news
agency.

The report refers to the cautious stance given by RAW in the current issue
of a New Delhi-based newsmagazine, Petrowatch.

Petrowatch reported that RAW is "growing increasingly tired” of Oil
Minister Mani Shanker Aiyar's insistence on the Bangladesh route of the
pipeline.

The proposed pipeline is to be 950km long and is to transport natural gas
from western Burma, through Bangladesh, and on to India.

But plans for the tri-nation gas pipeline are yet to be finalized, with
the Bangladesh government pushing its Indian counterparts on three
conditions before allowing the deal to go through.

The three conditions are as follows: allowing Bangladesh to import
electricity from the two landlocked Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan
through Indian territory; allowing Bangladesh to export goods to Nepal and
Bhutan through Indian territory; and reducing trade imbalances between
Bangladesh and India

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 18, International Herald Tribune
UN envoy hopeful on Myanmar  - AP

A UN special envoy for human rights in Myanmar said Friday that he did not
see many signs of greater freedom in the military-ruled state, but was
guardedly optimistic that its rulers remained committed to a transition to
democracy.

The envoy, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, said at a news conference here that the
junta had taken a positive step in releasing some political prisoners.

He said he was also encouraged by the news Friday that Myanmar had pulled
back from a threat to withdraw from the International Labor Organization.

However, Pinheiro also urged the junta to allow the International
Committee of the Red Cross to visit Aung San Suu Kyi, an opposition leader
who is under house arrest, and to ensure that ethnic minorities play a
role in the government-planned transition to democracy, particularly in
the upcoming session of a national convention that will draft guidelines
for a new constitution.

He said that competent diplomacy must be exercised to alleviate the
situation of Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate - whom he described as
being "in virtual solitary confinement" - and other political prisoners.

Referring to high-profile public criticisms of the junta, he suggested
that what is needed is "less noise, more competence."

"For me it is difficult to verify if a situation is becoming worse," said
Pinheiro, whom the junta has not allowed to visit the country since
November 2003. "I don't see a big change to say there is improvement," he
said, adding that he continues to receive allegations of serious human
rights violations.

Asked how he viewed the junta's "road map to democracy," he said: "My role
is to take this seriously so that the transition will achieve democracy."

Pinheiro said that recent long prison sentences given to a human rights
lawyer and political leaders of the Shan ethnic minority were "not very
helpful" for a political transition.

Pinheiro was critical of the decision in August of the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to cut all its funding to fight the
diseases in Myanmar. The UN agency said funding was cut because of
government travel restrictions on aid workers.

"UN agencies have a duty to provide humanitarian assistance," he said.
"Humanitarian aid cannot be held hostage to political agendas."

Some critics of the aid cutoff have suggested that it was influenced by
the hostility of Western countries, who shun the junta because of its poor
human rights record and its failure to hand over power to a democratically
elected government.

"A lot of people will die because of this wrong decision," Pinheiro said.

____________________________________

November 21, Mizzima News
International court may give Burma a chance for change - Sarah Maung

The International Criminal Court, which prosecutes war crimes and crimes
against humanity, may provide a channel for change in Burma according to
politicians and rights groups.

The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, is the first permanent
international court capable of trying individuals accused of serious
violations of international humanitarian law.

While Burma has not ratified the Rome Statute that brought the court into
force in July 2002, there are still ways in which rights abuses and
international criminal offenses committed in Burma can be brought before
the court.

A particular case may be brought to the attention of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) by the United Nations Security Council or
investigated by a prosecutor through the court.

Evelyn Balais-Serrano, Asia coordinator of the Coalition for the
International Criminal Court, said some Burmese human rights advocates are
planning to bring ongoing human rights violations in Burma to the
attention of the ICC with the support of the group.

Among such cases are the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other
political prisoners, forced labour and relocations, the use of rape as a
weapon of war, torture and human trafficking.

Most of these acts are considered crimes against humanity under the
charter of the court when they are committed as part of a widespread and
calculated attack against a civilian population.

But advocacy and pressure groups are vital to getting a case put before
the court and Philippine senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., in a key-note
address at the recently-held Asian Conference of Journalists on the
International Criminal Court ON November 17 and 18, said if attention
could be drawn to specific cases, the court could prove genuine hope for
justice.

Pimentel cited Burma as being among countries needing a judicial body to
arbitrate conflicts. He said that in Burma, "people are complaining
against their own government that seems bent on perpetuating itself in
power by force against the wishes of the rest of the nation.
Of more than 30 countries in Asia, 12 have ratified the Rome Statute:
Cambodia, Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Fiji, Jordan, Marshall Island,
Nauru, Samoa, South Korea, Mongolia and Tajikistan. Cambodia ratified the
Rome Statute in October 2000 and East Timor did the same on September
2002, only four months after the country gained its independence.

ICC Judge Sang-Hyun Song, a keynote speaker at the conference, said by
ratifying the Rome Statute, the two countries had shown they relied on the
ICC as an enforcement mechanism and watchdog similar to the UN.

Both East Timor and Cambodia have allowed the UN to establish special
courts to try war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder,
sexual offenses and torture. The crimes being tried in East Timor were
committed from January 1 to October 25 in 1999, the months preceding the
establishment of the United Nations Transitional Administration.

In Cambodia, the courts, Extraordinary Chambers, deal with crimes
allegedly committed under Pol Pot's regime where some 1.5 million
Cambodian were murdered or died of starvation or disease in the late
1970s.

"The East Timorese and Cambodian are examples that in Asia, the fight
against impunity is taken seriously. There is an ever growing sentiment
that the most serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law
cannot go unpunished," said Judge Song.

It is unlikely the Burmese military would consent to the establishment of
a special tribunal as they, the alleged perpetrators of the international
crimes, are still in power.

Under its charter, the international court acts as a complimentary court
in that it encourages able countries to prosecute crimes against humanity
in their own countries. But if countries are deemed 'unwilling' to do so
the court has the right to act.

Both Philippine senator Pimentel and ICC Judge Song said journalists were
vital to the judicial process as they act as researchers and advocates.

Twenty journalists from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Philippines
attended the ICC conference sponsored by the Coalition for the
International Criminal Court-Asia and the Philippine Coalition for the
International Criminal Court.

Attempts are underway at the United Nations headquarters in New York, to
have Burma included on the Security Council agenda. If placed on the
agenda the referral of the situation in Burma to the ICC is one option for
action against the country's ruling generals.

In the past five years several studies and publications have called for
international action on Burma including 'Threat to the Peace: A Call for
the UN Security Council to Act in Burma' commissioned by Vaclav Havel and
Desmond Tutu, 'Dying Alive' by Guy Horton and 'License to Rape' produced
by the Shan Women's action Network.

____________________________________

November 21, The New Zealand Herald
NZ democracy a first for Burmese activist

When Burmese democratic activist Naw Htoo Paw spent her first day with
Defence Minister Phil Goff , she was astonished that he drove her to
electorate functions himself.

"In Burma when the Defence Minister goes out there will be a lot of
security guards and there will be at least 10 cars that guard the
minister," she said.

"Not here. It was only one car, and the people just talked to him, they
are very friendly. In Burma I never saw the Government treat the people
very friendly."

Naw Htoo Paw, 23, will spend the next three months in Mr Goff's Mt Roskill
electorate office on a "democratic internship" preparing for the day,
which she hopes will come in her lifetime, when Burma will become a
democracy.

She and a colleague Mwe Lon, who will do her internship with Council of
Trade Unions president Ross Wilson in Wellington, are among 16 democratic
activists at a foreign affairs training school funded by the Dutch
Government for Burmese exiles in Thailand. The other 14 students have gone
as interns to other democratic countries.

Burma has had a military regime since 1962 and Naw Htoo Paw has never seen
a Member of Parliament in action before.

"Here you can see that the MP is trying to help their constituents, trying
to solve their problems," she said. "In Burma, the people have to serve
the Government."

Although she has never seen an MP before, she has seen the Burmese
military at close quarters. She grew up in a village in Karen State, which
borders Thailand, where the military has had constant skirmishes with the
rebel Karen National Union (KNU) army for decades.

"Whenever the Government troops come, they force the people to carry their
ammunition and their rice bags," she said.

"The women also were raped, so whenever they enter the village they will
accuse the villagers of having communication with the KNU, so we have to
be afraid all the time."

When she was about 12, Government troops accused a man in the village of
supporting the KNU, and ordered all the villagers to gather in a circle.

"They tortured him and then forced him to dig a hole that he would be
buried in. Finally they cut his throat," she says.

"I saw that. Not only me, the other children also saw that because we were
forced to come and see."

A few years later, when she was away at high school, the houses of her
parents and three other families were burned by soldiers of another group
supporting the Government.

"They asked for money, and when the people told them we don't have
anything to give, they just got angry and burnt down the houses.

"We built another small house with bamboo. Our original house was made of
wood, but after they burned down the house we couldn't afford to rebuild
with wood."

When she finished school, Naw Htoo Paw and her older sister were taken by
their mother on a dangerous three-day walk through the jungle to safety in
Thailand, using a guide to avoid soldiers and landmines. Their mother then
returned to their village, leaving the two girls with Burmese activist
groups on the border.

Naw Htoo Paw joined the Karen Women's Organisation and will return to it
when she goes back to Thailand at the end of January.

She will speak at a public meeting at St Benedict's Church in Auckland on
Monday and hopes that New Zealand will help to pressure the Burmese
military to restore democracy.

"The people here can write letters to their MP to raise the issue of Burma
in Parliament and get help to the internally displaced people or the
refugees," she said.

Mr Goff said he hoped Naw Htoo Paw's New Zealand experience would be
useful when the military regime eventually ended.

"It's very hard to say how long that might take," he said.

"The junta seems to be fairly inflexible. But the critical thing is that,
at the point when the military dictatorship comes to an end, that you have
a corps of people who are able and willing to start fulfilling the
functions that are required in a democratic nation."

____________________________________
OPINION

November 21, The Nation
Govt’s Burma policy brings great risks, few rewards  - Kavi Chongkittavorn

Thailand’s unyielding support of the Burmese junta is fast making the
country a laughing-stock throughout the world. Bangkok has become the
strongest and most vocal backer of the Burmese regime. Alas! Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is now more Burmese than the Burmese.

The recent inaugural strategic Thai-US dialogue in Bangkok showed that
Burma has emerged as a sharp thorn in the side of this critically
important bilateral relationship. (More than Thai and American officials
will admit, the warmth and intimacy that the nations used to enjoy is no
longer there. There was no press report on the dialogue except one short
report by this paper, highlighting the countries’ differences over Burma.)

Thaksin’s Burma policy is creating an ugly situation. This point is not
being repeated enough. In fact, it is not so much about Thailand’s support
of Burma, which is not unique or dissimilar to other countries in the
region, but rather the manner in which Thaksin and his Cabinet members
have pursued their Burma policy. Over the past five years, this policy has
been the subject of much ridicule.

The government has often been asked questions that zero in on Thailand’s
ulterior motives in defending Burma’s intransigence at all costs.

Worse still, Thaksin and the Foreign Ministry have repeatedly acted as a
mouthpiece for the junta’s leaders, as if they were their only authorised
spokespersons.

What puzzles the Bangkok-based diplomatic community the most has been the
Thai attitude towards the current effort to put Burma on the UN Security
Council’s agenda. Thailand was the first country to make clear that it
would not support such a move. The Foreign Ministry later denied this,
saying that it strongly supports UN efforts on Burma such as the role of
the UN special envoy to Burma.

The confusion has made things worse. How can Thailand support UN efforts
but refuse to back the council’s debate on Burma? Other Asean countries
probably share similar Thai views but they are discreet about it. In
short, they simply keep their mouths shut. Nobody knows what benefits
Thailand will derive for being such a strong pro-Burma advocate, other
than efforts to sustain core interests associated with Thaksin and his
business empire.

Of course, Thailand can always argue that it has to keep the diplomatic
channel open with the Rangoon regime. It also hopes, in vain, that the
lifeless “Bangkok process” can be resuscitated and that perhaps concerned
parties in Burma can again meet in the Thai capital.

In the next few weeks, Thailand will get a black eye as the campaign among
the Security Council’s members reaches its crescendo. Why? The answer is
simple enough.

Thailand has completely failed to gauge and understand the shifting of
international sentiment on Burma, especially within the UN circuit and in
the US Congress. The report commissioned by former Czech president Vaclav
Havel and South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu on Burma has been
praised and given strong support. The report urges the council to discuss
the situation in Burma. The chance that this will happen is good.

At the moment, nine votes are needed to include Burma on the council’s
agenda. Seven of the council’s 15-members have already agreed to sponsor
the effort. Apart from the permanent five, the non-permanent members are
the newly elected Congo, Qatar, Slovakia, Ghana and Peru, which will join
Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Japan and Tanzania.

For years, China and Russia have successfully blocked efforts to get the
topic on the council’s agenda. However, this time around a strong signal
has been sent that Beijing will not stand in the way. In Busan, South
Korea, last week, US President George Bush highlighted Burma in his
meeting with Asean leaders. He also discussed the issue during a bilateral
meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. That was
significant, because Malaysia is the current chair of Asean and its views
on Burma are closer to Washington’s than Bangkok’s.

Bush’s tough positions on Burma were partly in response to the Congress’
mounting pressure on breaking the impasse on Burma. The rapidly increasing
negative sentiment for the Thaksin government in Congress is closely
linked to the growing anti-Burma movement.

Soon the council will discuss the situation in Burma. Interestingly, this
topic is among very few issues that receive substantial bipartisan support
in the US Congress. In the long run, such solidarity will negatively
affect ongoing negotiations on a Thailand-US free-trade agreement. Quite a
few American lawmakers have been commenting that concluding a Thailand-US
free-trade agreement, considering the present policies of Thailand, would
be tantamount to also agreeing to a Burma-US free-trade agreement. Burma
has taken the council’s moves seriously. If the reports in the
state-controlled Burmese media are any indication, the junta is quite
shaken by the growing solidarity among UN council members.

Last month, The Myanmar Times quoted Burmese Information Minister
Brig-General Kyaw Hsan as saying that the move was part of a conspiracy by
Western countries to destabilise Burma. On November 9, The New Light of
Myanmar called on the people of the world to unite and ward off what it
said was an invasion of Burma that the US was planning. The sudden
relocation of many ministries from Rangoon to Pyinmana showed how
seriously the junta leaders believe the conspiracy theory.

But in the end, the axe will have to fall on Thailand for its sinful
policy towards Burma.