BurmaNet News, November 22, 2005

[Editor]

November 22, 2005 Issue # 2850

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Detained Shan leaders moved to Mandalay and Kalay
Mizzima: NLD leaders arrested for alleged heroin possession
DVB: Burmese heroine Su Su Nway still not allowed to take vital medicines
DVB: Rumours of civil servant salary hike spread again
DVB: 100 homes dismantled by Burmese authorities for new capital
Narinjara: A bleak future for Arakanese farmers despite good harvest

DRUGS
Australian: Singapore's hand in Golden Triangle

REGIONAL
Narinjara: Burma PM visited Burma-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge at the border
Minila Standard: Defense pact with 9 nations in the works

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Philippines to support UN action on Burma
Mizzima: Philippines officials confirm support for UN talks on Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 22, Mizzima News
NLD leaders arrested for alleged heroin possession - Nem Davies

Two high-profile National League for Democracy leaders were arrested by
the Burmese military on Sunday for alleged possession of heroin.

U Ko Ko Myint, an NLD secretary and Ko Thein Zaw, a member of NLD Youth
committee from Shwegu Township, Kachin State, northern Burma were arrested
after police stormed their compound at about 10 pm.

The authorities said they were looking for unregistered over-night house
guests when they found what appeared to be packets of heroin U Myint
Thein, joint-Secretary of NLD-LA based in Thailand said.

In Rangoon it is illegal to have guests sleep at your house overnight
without first registering them with the authorities.

U Myint Thein, a Rangoon NLD spokesperson, said the pair had been stitched
up by the police who wanted to discredit the party and find an excuse to
throw the men in jail.

Anti-drug laws are harsh in Burma and if the military brands the men
guilty, they may face the death penalty. If charged, U Myint Thaung, a
Rangoon-based lawyer for the NLD, said both men were expected to plead
innocent.

____________________________________

November 22, Irrawaddy
Detained Shan leaders moved to Mandalay and Kalay

Two ethnic Shan leaders who received long prison sentences early this
month have been moved to prisons in Mandalay and western Chin State.
According to Win Mya Mya, an organizer of the Mandalay branch of the
National League for Democracy, Hkun Htun Oo, chairman of the Shan National
League for Democracy is now being detaining in Mandalay prison. Win Mya
Mya also confirmed that Sai Nyunt Lwin, general-secretary of the SNLD, has
been moved to Kalay prison in Chin State.

A Rangoon court sentenced Khun Htun Oo to 92 years in prison and Sai Nyunt
Lwin to 75 years for high treason. They were arrested in February 2005,
just days before the junta-sponsored National Convention was set to
resume. The arrests followed a meeting of opposition leaders in Shan
State.

____________________________________

November 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese heroine Su Su Nway still not allowed to take vital medicines

Detained human rights activist Su Su Nway from Htan Manaing Village,
Rangoon Kawmoo Township who was sentenced to 20 months in prison, is still
not allowed to take vital medicines needed for her chronic heart
condition.

As a result, her health condition is starting to deteriorate in the
notorious Rangoon Insein Jail, a Htan Manaing villager told DVB.

“They would allow us to give her medicines from outside only when there is
a prescription from the prison. But the prison is still not giving her a
prescription. At the moment, she herself said that her health condition is
not good. She is only feeling dizzy at the moment. It is worrying in the
long run.”

Burmese medical experts said that if a heart disease sufferer like her is
not allowed to take medicines, the longer it goes on, the more the disease
takes hold of her heart and she could even lose her life.

The villager added that local authorities have been making the lives of
witnesses who testified for Su Su Nway impossible and driving them out of
the village by underhanded means.

At the same time, people are continuing to donate money for her and her
lawyers are preparing to lodge an appeal on her behalf at a higher court.

Su Su Nway was countersued by her village authorities for successfully
suing them over forced labour practices in 2004 with the help of the
International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Recently, the ruling military junta, State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) ‘promised’ to cooperate with the ILO to put an end to forced labour
practices in Burma, after having threatened to withdarw the country from
the organisation. Letters of death threat were also sent to the ILO
liaison officer in Rangoon.

At the same time, the authorities are continuing to prosecute and imprison
those who report the practice to the ILO and those who are helping them to
do so.

____________________________________

November 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
Rumours of civil servant salary hike spread again

Rumours of salary hike for Burmese civil servants are spreading again
while Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) is moving its ministries from Rangoon to Pyinmana in central Burma.

Rumours have it that the junta is planning to increase the salary of the
civil servants after the move to Pyinmana is complete by January 2006, but
the civil servants said that the same rumours have been flying for more
than two years but nothing positive has happened.

They are also worried that the new hike would only trigger higher
inflation rate and cause higher prices for food and consumer goods
throughout the country. Lower income earners are already suffering from
high prices of basic food-stuffs including rice, beans and cooking oil;
the salary hikes solve nothing to ease difficulties faced by the people.
Only military personnel are expected to earn a bit more.

It would be the third time the junta has increased the salary of the civil
servants during 17 years of military rule. The junta tends to increase the
salary when it thinks that the civil servants including the soldiers and
police are feeling disgruntled.

____________________________________

November 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
100 homes dismantled by Burmese authorities for new capital

Burmese authorities relocated, dismantled and destroyed 100 homes in
Pyinmana in order to widen a road leading to the new capital at nearby
Kyappyay region named Naypyidaw Military HQs.

The majority of homes earmarked for relocation and destruction, situated
on U Razat and Maung Khin Roads which connect the train station and
Kyappyay. Moreover, the authorities also destroyed some living quarters
and bungalows built for railway workers situated on the ‘new’
Pyinmana-Kyappyay Road.

A Pyinmana resident told DVB that the authorities ordered him and other
residents to dismantle up to the length of six feet of their homes facing
the new road on the 18th November and they had to carry out the order by
the 20th. He added that no help had been given to them by the authorities
to help them move their homes and they have to destroy their homes at
their own costs.

Moreover, local residents are ordered not to use their motorcycles anymore
on the ‘new’ road as it is designated for the use of cars only. He added
that 35 homes have been built for ministers and plots of land have been
reserved and set aside for the building of US, UK and Chinese embassies.

“On the north of Pyinmana, at a place called Taitchaung, situated on the
border of Pyinmana and Tatkone, they built a parade ground,” he continued.
“There are reports that they are going to carry out the Resistance Day
(March 17) parade there. There are also many residential homes for army
officers. Another thing, I heard that the SPDC is holding their quarterly
meeting at Pyinmana. I also heard that the referendum due for February is
to be held in Pyinmana.”

According to unconfirmed reports, the authorities arrested some military
officers and civil servants who are still remaining in Rangoon. Ten army
officers up to the ranks of lieutenant-colonel and colonel have been
detained and some have gone into hiding, for discussing the move to
Pyinmana. Moreover, 17 civil servants form Transport Ministry and two from
News and Information (Propaganda) Ministry resigned from their positions
and gone into hiding.

____________________________________

November 22, Narinjara News
A bleak future for Arakanese farmers despite good harvest

Though Arakanese farmers are predicting a very good harvest this winter,
they are not expecting any increase in income due to the low price of
rice.

A better than usual harvest is expected throughout Arakan state, due to go
od rainfall. A farmer in Paut Taw commented, “Our rice plants have been
strong and healthy this year. The yield should be good.”

But it is not the supply of rice that controls prices, says the farmer,
who complained about the ban on rice transportation between townships.
“That is why the price of rice is not going up. It has gone up just a
little, from 40,000 kyats to 50,000 kyats per 100 baskets [equivalent to
1200kg].” At the present exchange rate in Burma, 50,000 kyats is equal to
less then US$40.

The government’s ban on rice transportation saw the price fall during last
year’s harvest season. The business community believes that the government
is trying to suppress prices so they can buy it cheaply to supply the
army.

Since other commodity prices continue to rise with the dramatic decline in
value of the Burmese kyat, this year’s bumper harvest is still nothing to
smile about for the farmers of Arakan.

About 90 % of the population of Arakan earns a living through agriculture,
predo minantly rice farming, with Arakan the third largest rice producing
region in Burma.

There are about 1.1 million acres of rice fields, and Arakan produces more
then enough to feed its own population. However, with the junta’s control
over the movement of rice, Arakanese farmers are not able to take
advantage of surplus supply and only face extreme poverty, according to
the farmer from Paut Taw.

____________________________________
DRUGS

November 22, The Australian
Singapore's hand in Golden Triangle - Michael McKenna

WHILE Singapore has an unwavering policy of hanging drug mules such as
Australia's Nguyen Tuong Van without mercy, it has for years been one of
the strongest backers of Burma, the world's second-biggest producer of
heroin.

Despite the pariah status of the military junta-controlled country as a
flagrant breacher of human rights and the engine-room of the notorious
opium golden triangle, Singapore has long been one of its key trading
partners.
In the 10 months to October, Singapore - Burma's second-biggest source of
imports - shipped more than $650 million of goods to the country. By
comparison, Australia's exports to Burma last year were valued at $27
million or 0.01 per cent of total exports.

And for more than a decade, the Singapore government has shrugged off
evidence that some of its business backing has gone directly to Burma's
drug kingpins, specifically infamous heroin trafficker Lo Hsing Han.

A substantial portion of Burma's heroin finds its way directly to
Australia. The Australian Institute of Criminology cites the country as
the chief source of Australia's supply of the drug.

In 1997, former US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Robert Gelbard, ,
said: "Since 1988 ... over half (of the $US1 billion investments from)
Singapore have been tied to the family of narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han."

Lo, 70, reportedly started out as an opium-trafficking insurgent against
the Burmese government in the 1950s. He spent time on death row in
Rangoon, Burma's capital, in the 1970s, for treason before he bought his
liberty and expanded his business into what was described as the most
heavily armed and biggest heroin operation in Southeast Asia. It is
believed he now rules as "godfather" over a clan of traffickers in Burma.

In 1992, Lo founded one of Burma's largest conglomerates, the Asia World
Company, which allegedly acts as an upmarket front and money-launderer for
the drug operation.

Lo's American-educated son, Steven Law, who is married to a Singaporean
woman, Cecilia Ng, is managing director of Asia World and runs three
"overseas branches" of the conglomerate in Singapore. But while Law may
live the high life during his regular trips to Singapore, he has been
repeatedly declined a US visa due to his suspected links to the drug
trade.

A spokesman for the Australian Immigration Department last night said it
could not comment because of "privacy reasons" on whether Lo or Law had
applied for an Australian visa. Australia has an embassy in Rangoon, where
two Australian Federal Police officers are stationed to gather
intelligence on drug trafficking activities.

Burma has received support in the past from the father of Singapore,
former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who defended the military as the "only
instrument of government" in the country. Arguing that detained democracy
campaigner and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi should stay
"behind the fence and be a symbol", Mr Lee said she might not be able to
rule Burma without the power the military commanded.

Ms Suu Kyi could not be contacted last night. But the secretary of her
party, the National League for Democracy, said the Singapore Government's
decision to hang small-time drug peddlers such as Van was extreme.
"Singapore is a democracy. We here are living under a strict, harsh
government, but we don't hang people in Burma," U Lwin said.

The links between Singapore and the drug lords of Burma began to surface
in the mid-1990s. In 1996, it emerged that the Singapore Government
Investment Corporation had co-invested with Lo in the Traders and
Shangri-La hotels in Rangoon through its 21.5 per cent stake in the $US39
million ($52 million) Myanmar Fund.

Many Singapore companies are involved in the Asia World group, and $900
million-plus a year pours into Burma in private investment from Singapore.

The contradiction of the Singapore Government executing those caught with
more than 27g of heroin while doing business with the drug masters is not
lost on some in the island state of 4 million people.

Chee Soon Juan, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, said the
funding made a mockery of Singapore's hardline stance on drug trafficking.

"If the Singapore Government truly feels drug abuse is a scourge on
society, it would not just want to catch and hang these small-time
peddlers," he said.

"You would want to go for the big fish and go to what the source is. Press
the Government on what it's doing in Burma to stop this production of
opium and heroin."

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 22, Narinjara News
Burma PM visited Burma-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge at the border

Burmese Prime Minister, General Soe Win, visited the Burma-Bangladesh
Friendship Bridge in Taung Broo, on western Burma’s border, on 19 Nov.

The Bridge is the connecting bridge of the proposed highway between Burma
and Bangladesh.

However, the construction of the bridge has not started until now. The two
neighboring countries agreed to construct the friendship bridge three
years ago before the former PM Khin Nyunt was removed from his post. He
also laid down a memorandum stone in the bridge when he visited Bangladesh
in 2004.

The entourage of the Burmese PM visited the newly established and nearby
town of Taung Broo as well. Taung Broo is being established by the present
military government to upgrade border trade with Bangladesh. The town is
located at the upper bank of the Naaf River, about 60 miles north of
Maungdaw, the most western border town of Burma.

The Burmese PM also visited Akyab on November 18 and Buthidaung,
Rathidaung and Maung Daw in November 19. He met with the public and the
government servants and spoke to them about the National Convention and
the development of the Constitution.

____________________________________

November 22, Minila Standard
Defense pact with 9 nations in the works -Rey E. Requejo

The Philippines intends to forge with Australia and nine other countries a
defense pact called Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa), which will be
similar to the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States.

This was disclosed yesterday by Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. who
promised to consult the senators on various provisions of the Sofa with
Australia before recommending it for approval by the Executive department
and subsequently for ratification by the Senate.

“The policy direction is to have VFA or Sofa with other members of the
Asean plus Australia,” Cruz told senators during the presentation of the
proposed P46.4 billion budget of the Department of National Defense for
next year.

Asean is composed of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Singapore, Thailand, Cambadia, Burma or Myanmar, Laos and Brunei. “We need
to have cooperation with areas in counterterrorism, disaster management
and transnational crimes, which are not covered by the existing Mutual
Defense Treaty with the United States,” Cruz pointed out.

Cruz made the admission after Senator Manuel Villar, chairman of the
committee on finance, vowed to examine the proposed Sofa with Australia to
ensure that national interest is protected, unlike in the case of the VFA
with the United States which he considered lopsided against the
Philippines.

“We will scrutinize the proposed VFA with Australia, taking the lesson of
the VFA,” Villar said, referring to the ambiguity over the issue of
custody of criminal suspects under the RP-US VFA.

The defense chief gave assurance that the senators will be consulted about
the various provisions of the Sofa with Australia before recommending it
for approval by the Executive department.

“We will be guided by your concern,” Cruz said, pointing out that the
interagency composed of the DND, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department
of Justice and other agencies is considering the “Sofa model” adopted by
countries belonging to North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“We are considering the Nato model as a template for the Sofa with
Australia. It’s a balance agreement,” he observed.

With it comes to custody of criminal suspects, Cruz said that the Nato
model of the status of forces agreements mandates the primary custody to
the host country, while the case is still pending for resolution.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 22, Irrawaddy
Philippines to support UN action on Burma - Clive Parker

All eyes were on the Philippines today following the news that President
Gloria Arroyo had assured US President George W Bush on the sidelines of
APEC talks in Busan, South Korea, at the weekend, that Manila would
support efforts to tackle Burma at the UN Security Council.

If true, it would make Manila the provider of the crucial ninth vote in
favor of action, according to those close to the process.

News that the Philippines had finally come around to Washington’s way of
thinking on Burma came from Arroyo’s spokesperson, Ignacio "Toting" Bunye,
in a weekly update posted yesterday on the official presidential website.

“President Bush expressed concern about the situation in Myanmar [Burma]
and President Gloria agreed to support efforts in the United Nations,
particularly in the United Nations Security Council,” Bunye said.

A representative of the presidential information office in Manila today
told The Irrawaddy that such a statement could only come from Bunye if it
had indeed been expressed by Arroyo herself. Bunye was today unavailable
for comment as he is on annual leave.

International Initiatives for Dialogue—a Philippines-based advocacy group
that has lobbied Manila to support the inclusion of Burma on the UNSC’s
agenda—today said it was yet to get confirmation of the decision, while a
spokesperson for the Philippines Embassy in Rangoon also said it had not
received official word from Manila.

IID Spokesperson Carmen Lauzon-Gaymatan said it hoped to be able to issue
a confirmation statement within the next 24 hours. If so, this would
undoubtedly prove to be the turning point, she said: “There are eight
votes already
we just need one more vote so that this can be on the
agenda.”

The possible support of the Philippines suggests Bush has managed to use
Washington’s close ties with Manila to prize Arroyo away from Asean’s
common position on the issue, which calls for non-intervention on internal
affairs, a policy shared by permanent members China and Russia.

The US has lead a campaign to enlist support for the move for some
time—most recently in June—through informal talks which it said resulted
in six members supporting Burma becoming part of the agenda. That has
since reportedly increased to eight, with Benin and Tanzania persuaded to
join permanent members the US, Britain and France, along with the European
contingent Romania, Greece and Denmark.

However, those in favor of the action will have to move quickly—the
Philippines ends its role as a non-permanent member of the Council at the
end of December, as do Romania and Benin. Analysts say that even if Burma
were to be raised formally on the UNSC’s agenda, Russia and China would
almost certainly use their power of veto to prevent a resolution on the
matter.

____________________________________

November 22, Mizzima News
Philippines officials confirm support for UN talks on Burma

Staff from the office of Philippines President Gloria Arroyo have told
Mizzima Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye’s comments on presidential support
for Burma’s inclusion on the agenda of the UN Security Council were
correct.

Bunye made the comments in his regular column ‘View from the Palace’ last
week saying President Arroyo had voiced her support for efforts to have
Burma placed on the agenda during a meeting with President George W. Bush.

Unusually there is no other official record of the comments being made.

But a spokeswoman from the president’s office said Bunye’s column was
considered an official document and could therefore be treated as fact.

“If it is in the column, it is correct,” the spokeswoman said.

If Philippines representatives support Burma’s inclusion on the agenda,
they may make up the ninth and final vote needed to have the attempt
passed.