BurmaNet News, December 22, 2005

[Editor]

December 22, 2005 Issue # 2870

Dear BurmaNet readers,


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Happy holidays,

The Editor


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Critics warned to keep silent on National Convention
Xinhua: Retaining Wall to be built in Tsunami most-affected area in Myanmar

BUSINESS / TRADE
Asian Age: Burma opens land routes to promote trade ties

ASEAN
Inter Press Service: Suddenly, Aung San Suu Kyi the key

INTERNATIONAL
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: E.U. gives 15 million euros in support to Myanmar
INQ7.net: UK asks RP to press Myanmar to improve human rights record

PRESS RELEASE
NCGUB: Thailand's initiative to expand education of refugees from Burma
applauded

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 22, Irrawaddy
Critics warned to keep silent on National Convention - Shah Paung

The Burmese military government is reportedly stepping up pressure on
pro-democracy activists to refrain from openly criticizing the resumed
National Convention.

Several members of the National League for Democracy, other activists and
opposition lawyers have been called in to hear warnings from the
authorities since the National Convention resumed its work on December 5
to draw up a national constitution.

They say they were warned not to discuss the National Convention with
outside media. Win Mya Mya, an organizer of the Mandalay branch of the
NLD, said she had been summoned to meet the authorities earlier this month
and told “to be careful when talking to the outside media and not talk
about the National Convention.” Said Win Mya Mya: “They said they don’t
want to arrest me and see me in jail.”

A source close to former political prisoners and student leaders said he
also knew of activists who had been warned: “Watch your mouth or you will
return to prison.”

An ethnic politician in Rangoon, speaking anonymously, said he and two
others had also been warned by the authorities not to talk openly about
the National Convention.

Zaw Hein, secretary of the NLD’s Patheingyi Township branch in Mandalay
Division, said the regime was pressuring pro-democracy activists in other
ways apart from on the National Convention issue.

An NLD spokesperson, Myint Thein, said: “The authorities are always
finding a way to oppress the NLD and this is one of them.”

At the opening ceremony of the resumed National Convention on December 5,
Lt-Gen Thein Sein, secretary -1 of the State Peace and Development
Council, charged that “external and internal elements” were trying to
derail the assembly.

____________________________________

December 22, Xinhua General News Service
Retaining Wall to be built in Tsunami most-affected area in Myanmar

Yangon: A retaining wall will be constructed in an area in Myanmar's
southern Ayeyawaddy division which was most affected by the deadly tsunami
a year ago, a local news journal reported Thursday.

"The retaining wall will be built in Laputta Pyinsalu region with the fund
of the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) obtained through tsunami aid," the
Khit Myanmar quoted the MRCS as saying.

Along with the retaining wall, a primary school, which was destroyed
during the event, will also be built, the sources said.

Early this year, in a bid to strengthen its tsunami warning system,
Myanmar set up a national committee for natural disaster prevention and
resettlement that involves some ministries. Later in March, the country
set up its national tsunami warning center and the center is expected to
be fully operational in three years.

Although Myanmar was not much affected by last Dec. 26 tsunami that
smashed across the Indian Ocean compared with other South and Southeast
Asian nations, officially reported the death tolls in the country stood at
64 with 56 injured in coastal areas. The tidal wave destroyed over 600
houses in 29 villages, leaving 3,460 people homeless in some of the
regions in six divisions and states -- Tanintharyi, Yangon, Bago,
Ayeyawaddy, Rakhine and Shan.

In the post-tsunami period, Myanmar has also been undertaking a coastal
storm and tidal surge forecast project for improved weather prediction
services. The project, being implemented with the assistance of the
Honolulu-based PACON International (the Pacific Congress on Marine Science
Technology), involves the utilization of numerical prediction method to
provide advance warning of storm and tidal surge.

Besides, the MHD ( Medicolegal and Hydrology Department) is also
strengthening its public information work about natural disaster and
climate change by planning to produce a series of documentaries to raise
public awareness against such unpredictable mishap to help manage
disaster.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 22, The Asian Age
Burma opens land routes to promote trade ties - Manoj Anand

Guwahati: What has been described as historic initiative by private tour
operators in building up relations with neighbouring countries, the first
business exposure team which will be allowed to enter Burma without any
visa or passport was flagged off here on Thursday.

In an obvious attempt to give a boost to the Look East Policy of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, the business exposure team comprising of 10 young
entrepreneurs of northeastern states would complete their journey at
Mandalay, the commercial capital of Burma.

The Burmese government has issued land permit to the tourists at the
initiative of the Indo-Myanmar Friendship Tourist Centre at Moreh in
Manipur and Celesta Tours in Assam. The initiative has been named as
Mission Golden Project. Talking to this newspaper before the flagging off
ceremony, the director of the Friendship Tourist centre, Mr Chandra
Keshor, said: "Our prime objective is to encourage trade tie up and
socio-economic relations with our neighbouring countries."

He said: "We are also organising a cultural festival of Northeast at
Mandalay and Yangoon in Burma under the supervision of consulate general
of India, Mandalay and embassy of India, Rangoon which will have a theme
of building friendship through cultural exchange."

Mr Keshor, who aims to take the people to Beijing through land route in
2008 Olympic Games, said: "With limited resources, we have been able to
develop relationship between the people of Manipur and Burma. Now, we are
trying to open up this land route for the people of entire northeastern
region by taking first business exposure group today."

The leading tour operator of the northeastern region and the director of
the Travel Smart Mr Prabal Bora said: "We are trying hard to promote the
tourism potential of the region but the state government of the region
will have to change their attitude towards the tourism industry." He was
of view that most of tour operators are ready to help the states in
promoting this sector but the state government will have to come forward
to utilize their skill in this sector. Admitting the lack of
infrastructure in the northeastern states, Mr Bora said: "By involving the
tour operators, government can bring about changes in the scenario."

_____________________________________
ASEAN

December 22, Inter Press Service
Suddenly, Aung San Suu Kyi the key - Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bangkok: In a delicious twist of irony, Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi holds the cards that will determine if the rare political
courage shown by South-east Asian governments towards the rogue state is
indeed a fact or another game of deception.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar has declared that he wants to
meet Suu Kyi as part of his mission for the 10-member Association of
South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) to examine political reform in
military-ruled Burma.

If he succeeds in a face-to-face encounter with the 60-year-old Nobel
Prize laureate, he would have opened a door that has been shut for years
by Rangoon's junta as part of its policy to isolate Suu Kyi from contact
with her people and with the international community.

Her current spell of house arrest began in May 2003, following an assault
on her and members of the opposition party she leads, the National League
for Democracy (NLD), by thugs linked to the military regime.

It is a spell of detention, furthermore, that has been the worst for Suu
Kyi, since Rangoon has denied her all contact with members of the NLD and
has also prevented her family doctor from making his usual monthly house
calls. She has now spent over 10 of her last 16 years under detention.

''A meeting between the ASEAN team and Aung San Suu Kyi will be a positive
development, since the military government has prevented such contact for
years,'' Bo Hla-tint, a minister in the National Coalition Government of
the Union of Burma (NCGUB), the Burmese government in exile, told IPS.
''It would put the military government under pressure.''

Such a meeting, and the Malaysian minister's added intent to seek the
release of Suu Kyi, have come to mark the dramatic turn ASEAN took this
month during a summit in Kuala Lumpur. It revealed unequivocally that the
regional grouping had lost patience with Burma's lack of cooperation with
the only bloc that has been trying to shield it from further international
condemnation.

The visit that Syed Hamid is due to make in early January also gains in
significance for it will be the first time that ASEAN has summoned enough
courage to breach a principle it holds sacred -- the policy of
non-interference in the domestic affairs of a fellow member.

''The plan to send a (ASEAN) fact-finding team to Burma comes at a time
when the grouping has been hard pressed by a deeper sense of guilt and
hopelessness,'' wrote Kavi Chongkittavorn, a senior editor and a columnist
on regional affairs, in Monday's edition of 'The Nation,' an English daily
in Thailand.

ASEAN includes Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ASEAN's sense of guilt is with reason, for its focus on Burma's military
regime and the limited attention it gave to pro-democracy groups in the
country indirectly contributed to how the SPDC treated Suu Kyi.

Such a pro-SPDC bias had in fact shocked Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail
following his appointment in 2000 as the United Nations
secretary-general's special envoy for political reform in Burma.

''Razali expressed shock and concern after his first visit to Burma that
the embassies of the ASEAN countries in Rangoon were not maintaining
consistent contact with Suu Kyi or the NLD,'' a Burma analyst who spoke on
condition of anonymity told IPS. ''He urged the ASEAN countries to change
this record.''

Razali, however, paid the price of trying to engage Suu Kyi and the SPDC
on a political reform agenda. He has been denied entry into Burma since
March 2004.

A similar ban to visit Burma was imposed by the junta on another U.N.
appointee, Brazilian Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who was named the world body's
human rights envoy to Burma. He was last permitted entry into the country
in November 2003.

The same year, 2003, the SPDC prevented a delegation of ASEAN diplomats in
Rangoon from visiting Suu Kyi after she was placed under house arrest in
May.

ASEAN's change of heart to take on Burma's military generals comes in the
wake of unprecedented pressure on Rangoon from another quarter, the U.N.
Security Council. For the first time, the U.N.'s powerful body took up the
political oppression, human rights violations and the humanitarian crisis
in Burma.

In his report delivered to the council last Friday, U.N. Under
Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambri painted an image of a country ruled by a
ruthless regime that has jailed more than 1,100 political activists,
destroyed over 2,700 villages, ''moved hundreds of thousands of ethnic
minorities into internment centres and committed sexual violence against
women''.

Gambri also called into question the political reform process the junta
has initiated -- including plans to draft a new constitution -- given that
Rangoon has refused to accommodate the NLD and other major political
parties that triumphed at Burma's only general election since a military
coup in 1962.

The NLD secured a thumping majority at that 1990 poll, winning 81 percent
of the seats in the 485-member national assembly. But the NCGUB that was
formed soon after was not recognised by the military regime and was forced
into exile.

Suu Kyi's life of a political detainee began a year before the military
dictatorship's electoral defeat. Rangoon used the martial law in force at
the time to place her under house arrest for three years, beginning in
July 1989.

''The regime has always been paranoid of Suu Kyi since then,'' Debbie
Stothard of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, a regional human right
body, said in an interview. ''They have always interfered with her
communicating with the international community.''

And it is only apt, Stothard feels, that ASEAN has risen to the challenge
of confronting this status quo of oppression. ''Because ASEAN's track
record towards Suu Kyi was always very patchy.''

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 22, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
E.U. gives 15 million euros in support to Myanmar

Brussels: The European Commission said Thursday it had earmarked a total
15 million euros in aid for victims of the political crisis in Myanmar
(Burma) and for refugees living along the Thai-Myanmar border.

The aid package will go towards meeting the basic needs of around 770,000
most vulnerable citizens in Myanmar, helping to provide health services,
food, water and sanitation, the Commission said.

Food and cooking fuel as well as curative health, water and sanitation
facilities will be given to around 130,000 refugees living in camps along
the border between Myanmar and Thailand.

Due to the long duration of their displacement, refugees today almost
totally depend on international help, the Commission underlined.

"Burma/Myanmar has become a silent humanitarian crisis, with many
vulnerable people, notably ethnic minorities in the border areas, living
in an extremely vulnerable situation," European Union development
commissioner Louis Michel said in a statement.

Since 1992, the E.U. has supported people in Myanmar and refugees along
the Myanmar-Thai border with 89.5 million euros.

The number of refugees along the Thai-Burmese border has increased from
around 10,000 in 1984 to about 145,000 in August 2005.

Inside Myanmar the health situation is very precarious, the Commission
said. Rates of under-five mortality and malnutrition amongst children are
very high compared with those of regional neighbours.

The main causes of premature death in Myanmar are malaria, HIV/AIDS, acute
respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases.

Water and sanitation problems are also very dramatic, with water- borne
illnesses accounting for the death of every second under-five year old.

According to UNICEF, diarrhea is the second cause of mortality among young
children.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. On-going armed conflict
with ethnic minority groups has led to a flux of refugees (around 145,000)
and internally displaced people (estimated around 525,000), according to
the Commission.

The human rights situation in the country is a subject of concern for a
wide number of international organizations. There is no independent
judiciary in Myanmar, and political opposition to the military government
is not tolerated.

____________________________________

Dec 22, INQ7.net
UK asks RP to press Myanmar to improve human rights record - Veronica Uy

Manila: With the Philippines' upcoming chairmanship in the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, the United Kingdom has asked the Arroyo
government to increase pressure on Myanmar (also known as Burma) to
improve its human rights situation by following the roadmap to democracy
it committed to years before.

In an interview with reporters, British Ambassador Peter Beckingham said
on Thursday that his office raised the issue with Philippine diplomats and
was happy with the response.

"We are very encouraged by the Philippine approach to the issue. It is not
shy in taking a clear stand on Burma," he said.

"We are concerned with the situation in Burma. Burma holds the highest
interest in London," especially with the recent recall of the British
ambassador there, he said.

"Burma is a real problem and it is on the doorstep of the Philippines. It
is a very big worry," he added.

Beckingham said the situation in Burma was "very disturbing," and cited
the increased levels of HIV/AIDS cases and human rights violations that
included rape and torture.

"There has not been any movement in the roadmap at all and there is deep
concern. We hope the Philippines would put pressure on Burma for some
movement there. We are pleased that Burma did not agree to head the ASEAN
and that the Philippines is going to head it instead," he said.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

December 22, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
Thailand's initiative to expand education of refugees from Burma applauded

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma wholeheartedly
welcomes the Royal Thai Government's decision to provide educational
services to refugees from Burma living in camps along the common border.

The more than 140,000 refugees, who fled Burma to escape persecution have
long wished for this opportunity and they will truly be indebted to the
Royal Thai Government for its benevolence and humanitarian spirit.

The wise decision to provide educational assistance and occupational
skills in addition to food, accommodation, and health care will restore
self-confidence and dignity to the refugees, particularly the younger
generation whose future has been bleak before.

Prime Minister Dr Sein Win said, "We hope that the program will provide
skills and capacity to the refugee population so that they will be able to
serve not only their own communities but also contribute to regional
development projects, including environmental preservation along the
Thai-Burma border. The program will also help prepare the educated refugee
population to participate in the rebuilding of their own communities back
in Burma when peace returns."

The NCGUB is convinced that inclusion of Thai language skills and cultural
exchanges through closer contacts will increase the understanding Thai
culture among the people of Burma and contribute to the strengthening of
good will and friendship between the two peoples.

The NCGUB calls on all education and culture related UN agencies and
international NGOs as well as governments to welcome the education
initiative in Thailand and help further the education of people of Burma
taking refuge in Thailand.