BurmaNet News, January 13, 2006

[Editor]

January 13, 2006 Issue # 2879


INSIDE BURMA
SHAN: Towns relieved of sculpted reliefs
DVB: Kachin officer detained by Burmese authorities for a night
Narinjara: Navy deserters captured and executed

DRUGS
Xinhua: India calls for regional action to curb synthetic drug

BUSINESS / TRADE
Daily Yomiuri: ADB plans to release ACU average

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: First Burmese tsunami dead returned
Indian Express: Fleet expansion in mind, Myanmar looks to India for expertise

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Myanmar situation to feature in US official's SE Asia tour
The Economist: Myanmar's busy generals

OPINION / OTHER
Wall Street Journal: Losing patience with Burma - Zaid Ibrahim

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA
January 13, Shan Herald Agency for News
Towns relieved of sculpted reliefs

Relief figures of Shans beating drums, a common sight at the entrance of
each town and city in northern Shan State, have been removed by the order
of the Burma Army's Lashio-based regional commander, report sources from
the Sino-Burma border:

The two columns that form part of the gateway on both sides of the road
have now been decorated with relief designs of flowers.

Drivers, who ply between Lashio, the north's capital city, and Muse, 110
miles away on the border, agree the change came with the New Year. "A new
insult to the Shans to remind them once again who their bosses are," one
van driver said.

One of his passengers went as far as to blame the groups, both ceasefire
and non ceasefire, that had surrender to the Burma Army since last year
for the latest state of affairs. "When you yield to evil, you only help
evil to grow," he remarked.

Some fellow travelers meanwhile expressed support for the Kachin
Independence Army that has "stood up" defiantly against the killing of 5
of their members and 1 civilian on 2 January in Zelan village tract, Muse
township, by the Burma Army's Infantry Battalion 68.

____________________________________

January 12, Democratic Voice of Burma
Kachin officer detained by Burmese authorities for a night

A Kachin Independence Army (KIA) liaison officer who was on his way to
attend the funeral of his colleagues who were killed by Burmese soldiers
at Mu-se in northern Shan State near the Sino-Burmese border, was detained
for a night before he could continue his journey.

KIA Brigade – 3 liaison officer Lt Laphai Yaw was travelling from Nam Kham
to Mu-se when he was stopped and detained by the police at Shweli Bridge
because he was carrying with him a pistol, KIA’s political wing, Kachin
Independence Organisation (KIO) research and tactical studies officer Col
Gunmaw told DVB.

When asked about the response from the Burmese military authorities about
the killing on 2 January, he said that there has been no development on
that front but some facts gained from investigations were sent to Rangoon.
And when pressed for the reason why the Burmese soldiers carried out the
killing, Gunmaw simply insisted that it is too early to say the real
reason.

“This kind of mass murder had happened twice. The relationship between the
KIO and the military government is good that’s why I say that it is good.
The relationship is smooth because the KIO is not very stubborn. I think
it is too early to say about it. I will tell you later.”

According to sources close to Burmese war office, Infantry Battalion – 68
commander Maj Hla Moe and team, who were responsible for the killing of
the KIA members was summoned to their base and honoured with 100,000 kyat,
for carrying out their duties brilliantly in the frontline.

____________________________________

January 13, Narinjara News
Navy deserters captured and executed

The Burmese army manhunt launched late last month after seven naval
personnel deserted their base in Kyaukpru ended last week after the
deserters were captured. In what was swift military justice the deserters
were executed soon after being rounded up. They were no reports of a trial
or a court martial.

"The operation was successful. We arrested them and seized all the arms
and ammunition they took with them," said a police official from Kyukpru.

According to sources, the deserters seized several weapons, including one
G-3 assault rifle, two BA automatic rifles and four G-4 rifles, before
escaping on a fishing boat. But the deserters were unable to escape across
the border from Rambree Island, where the navy base is located, as the
army quickly surrounded the area and blocked off every possible escape
route.

The operation involved two minor gunfights that took place on the island
seven days after the men deserted their post following which they
surrendered.

According to reliable sources, the deserters were executed soon after they
were arrested at the Light Infantry Battalion 34 base in Kyaukpru.

____________________________________
DRUGS

January 13, Xinhua General News Service
India calls for regional action to curb synthetic drug

New Delhi: India at a regional meeting here Friday called for a regional
initiative against drug trafficking, especially synthetic drugs.

A three-day meeting of the Pentalateral Group on Drug Control ( PGDC),
attracting senior officials from India, China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand,
concluded here Friday, Indo-Asian News Service reported.

Synthetic drugs like ecstasy have replaced traditional plant- based drugs,
such as opium, to be a major threat to the countries and more joint
efforts are needed to fight against it, said an official with India's
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

All countries should frame an action plan to combat trans- national
trafficking of drugs and chemicals used to make synthetic drugs, the
official said.

At the meeting, the five countries agreed on joint actions against drug
trafficking that has become more and more globalized.

They also decided to place ephedrine, pseudo-ephedrine and
aceticanhydride, three essential chemicals for making heroin and
amphetamine-type stimulants, in their priority control lists.

After the five-country meeting, India and China will hold a bilateral talk
about working together against regional drug trafficking.

The first meeting of the PGDC was held in Thailand in July 2003.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 13, The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo)
ADB plans to release ACU average - Takashi Kikuchi

Manila: The Asian Development Bank plans to begin publicizing the Asian
currency unit (ACU), a notional unit of exchange based on a "basket," or
the weighted average of the values of currencies used in 13 Asian
countries--including Japan-- bank sources said Thursday.

The ADB will use the ACU--probably to be publicized from March--as a
yardstick to monitor fluctuations in the values of the 13 Asian
currencies, the sources say.

The 13 countries are the members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, Japan, China and South Korea.

The European currency unit (ECU), a similar floating exchange rate system
adopted in 1979 on the launch of the European Monetary System, was
replaced with the euro in 1999. The release of the ACU can be seen as an
initial step toward the integration of Asian currencies, according to
analysts.

The ACU will be calculated using a currency basket of the weighted average
of the values of the 13 currencies. Masahiro Kawai, chief of the ADB's
regional economic integration office and special adviser to the bank's
president, is playing a key role in working out the details of the ACU
plan.

The relative value of each currency in the composition of the basket will
be based on the gross domestic product and trade volume of the nation that
uses the currency, as well as the currency's international usability. This
means that the Japanese, China and South Korean currencies will be of
greater value in the basket, leaving the currency of Myanmar and some
other nations to hold lesser values in this respect.

The Manila-based ADB will publish the ACU as a statistical index on its
Web site, revising the figure every day.

The bank's move is part of an effort to make it easier to determine what
can contribute to fluctuations in the values of Asian currencies and how
much these values vary vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar and the euro.

The ACU will also help policymakers from each Asian country monitor
fluctuations in the value of each other nation's currency. The notional
floating system could lead to the issuance of ACU-denominated Asian bonds
and trade transactions, specialists said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

December 13, Irrawaddy
First Burmese tsunami dead returned - Shah Paung

An announcement today by the Tsunami Victim Identification Center stated
that the remains of two Burmese victims of the December 2004 tsunami have
been returned to family members.

The announcement follows months of delays, during which officials with the
TTVI faced difficulties negotiating the return of victim remains with
Burmese officials in Bangkok and Rangoon.

San, a Burmese data bank coordinator with the Thai Action Committee for
Democracy in Burma, said that the Thai government is now ready to begin
returning all Burmese tsunami victims that have so far been identified to
their families, while three families have so far received permission to
travel to Thailand to claim their relatives.

According to San, about 130 bodies among the unidentified foreign corpses
are believed to be Burmese, although Thai officials have confirmed the
identities of only 77. He added that immediate family members of victims
will receive a compensatory payment of 20,000 baht (US $500).

“I can’t express how I feel seeing my daughter again,” the mother of an
18-year-old victim—one of the two returned today—told The Irrawaddy by
phone from a funeral service held in Thailand for her daughter.

“I felt mixed feelings of sadness and delight,” said the husband of a
31-year-old victim—the second returned today. “After more than a year, I
have a chance to bury my wife.”

Myint Wai, the Burmese Affairs Officer for TACDB, said Thai officials are
now prepared to release the bodies of 18 of the 77 confirmed Burmese dead,
adding that this positive development is diminished somewhat by the delays
in the process.

“I think this is not a success,” he said. “They have taken nine months to
identify the bodies.”

Delays in identification have been attributed to the failure of Burma’s
military government to confirm the dead as Burmese citizens. Myint Wai
blames Burmese officials for not taking any responsibility in the process
of identification.

____________________________________

January 13, Indian Express
Fleet expansion in mind, Myanmar looks to India for expertise - Shiv Aroor

Port Blair: Myanmar is steeped in its largest ever defence project,
developing indigenous stealth frigates to give the country’s small navy an
expeditionary warfare fleet. While it is only to be expected that China
will be a principle contractor for the technology, the Than Shwe
government has expressed its keenness to deepen the Indian involvement for
its shipbuilding know-how and maritime expertise.

Arms supply for the Myanmarese project will be one of the subjects of
discussion when Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash visits Yangon next week.
Apart from selling Yangon the Navy’s remaindered BN-2 Islander aircraft,
Admiral Prakash will also discuss the supply of deck-based air defence
guns and other weapons for the new Myanmarese frigates when he meets the
country’s second-in-command General Maung Aye.

Advertisement
In fact, two frontline ships from Vishakapatnam—the destroyer INS Ranjit
and the missile corvette INS Kuthar—went to Myanmar late last December on
a goodwill visit, during which a display of the ships’ cutting-edge
armaments is understood to have been undertaken as well.

A Myanmar Navy officer here said that a small team from Yangon would visit
New Delhi, Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore in a few months, to get updates on
ship technology for its ship-building projects. The country is also
developing smaller indigenous vessels, including light attack boats and
coastal surveillance and rescue craft.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s UMS Anawrahta is currently docked in Port Blair—a
home-built corvette with 15 officers and 86 sailors, here for exercises
with eight other regional navies. Just 77 metres long, with a displacement
of only 1,088 tons, this Class-771 corvette is the largest vessel in the
Myanmar Navy, officer’s said. The ship sailed from Yangon to Coco Island,
the country’s forward base north of the Andaman Islands, and then sailed
down to Port Blair, in 24 hours.

Commander Ko Ko Kway, the captain of the Anawrahta, told The Indian
Express: ‘‘We are building larger ships of the frigate type. The project
is still under development, but the ships will be built completely by
ourselves at the Myanmar shipyards.’’

The frigate project will give Myanmar much larger vessels of at least a
3,000-ton displacement, similar in dimensions to the Indian Leander-class
frigates.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 13, Agence France Presse
Myanmar situation to feature in US official's SE Asia tour - P. Parameswaran

Washington: A senior US diplomat will travel to Southeast Asia this week
as Washington ratchets up pressure for global action on military-ruled
Myanmar.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill will go to Vietnam, Cambodia
and Malaysia beginning Friday to discuss bilateral and regional issues,
with Myanmar's human rights situation expected to be a key topic, a state
department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"This is an issue obviously that we have been discussing with countries in
Southeast Asia and elsewhere and is something we are concerned about," the
official told AFP.

Hill's trip comes after US President George W. Bush personally led a
lobbying effort to convene the first-ever discussion of the situation in
Myanmar at the UN Security Council.

The closed-door council meeting last month, also attended by UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan, focused on human rights abuses and the increase in
AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria cases in Myanmar, and the outflow of
refugees and drugs from the country.

All are issues that could impact regional stability, officials said.

The UN meeting followed a very critical report to the world body by
ex-Czech president Vaclav Havel and South African archbishop Desmond Tutu
about Myanmar and on the need for Security Council action.

Amid rising international concern about the country, the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, planned to
send Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar to Yangon to press for
reforms.

Syed Hamid is expected to visit the Myanmar capital in February or March,
after the military junta put off a January date.

Hill said last week that the Security Council's discussion of Myanmar was
"a good first step," as was ASEAN's decision to press for political
reforms.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he said "it is incumbent on all of us
to make clear to the regime that the world will not accept a sham
political process," referring to Yangon's own "roadmap for democracy."

Hill called for "tangible, verifiable, and irreversible steps toward a
genuine national dialogue that empowers the people of (Myanmar) to
determine their future."

His trip to Malaysia would be particularly significant because the country
is the current ASEAN chairman and seemingly plays a central role for the
region in the push for reforms in Myanmar.

As United States prepares to push for a UN Security Council resolution on
Myanmar, it simultaneously wants ASEAN to urge change in its own member
state, analysts said.

"UN Security Council action has emboldened ASEAN to become more aggressive
with the junta and I think this is a very positive step forward," said
Jared Ganser, an American attorney and co-author of the Havel-Tutu report
on Myanmar.

"This is because no longer can it be said that it is just the West which
want to see political reforms there," he said.

Ganser said "some space" should be given for ASEAN to push Myanmar to
change, "although the time given should not be unlimited.

"In reality ASEAN itself, we hope, is going to demand that they be held
accountable," he said.

____________________________________

January 14, The Economist
Myanmar's busy generals

The UN's man quits in disgust

The generals who run Myanmar are busy men. So busy, in fact, that for the
past two years they have not found any time to squeeze in a visit from
Razali Ismail, the UN official charged with restarting the country's
transition to democracy. On January 8th, Mr Razali announced his
resignation.

Mr Razali is not the only man the generals are refusing to receive. The
UN's human-rights monitor for Myanmar, Sergio Pinheiro, has not set foot
in the country since 2003. Even the junta's supposed friends in the
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been cold-shouldered
of late. At the group's annual summit last month, Myanmar's prime minister
agreed to receive a delegation to be led by Malaysia, currently in the
chair at ASEAN, early this year. But now the time has come, he and the
rest of the top brass find themselves run off their feet.

The failure to accommodate either Mr Razali or ASEAN seems particularly
bad news, in that both were thought to have won the junta's trust. It was
Mr Razali who in 2002 brokered the release from house arrest of Aung San
Suu Kyi, Myanmar's Nobel-prize-winning democracy advocate, only to see the
generals confine her again the following year. ASEAN, meanwhile, admitted
Myanmar in 1997, on the theory that engagement would yield better results
than ostracism. Yet the junta now seems as indifferent to ASEAN's
overtures as it is to criticism from America and the EU.

Mr Razali speculated this week that the Security Council would eventually
take up the subject of Myanmar if the junta did not appear to be
co-operating with anybody else. The council did hold an informal debate on
Myanmar late last year. But it seems unlikely that China, which relies on
Myanmar both for energy supplies and a military base on the Indian Ocean,
will allow any serious criticism of the junta. Even if it did, the
generals would probably pay no attention. They are, after all, already too
busy ignoring everyone else.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 12, Wall Street Journal
Losing patience with Burma - Zaid Ibrahim

The military government in Burma has finally lost the plot and is rapidly
turning its few remaining allies into critics. Faced with moves by the
United States and other countries to place Burma on the agenda of the
United Nations' Security Council, the military government that calls
itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has responded by
digging itself into an even deeper hole.

The regime's rejection of U.N. statements and resolutions over the years
was worsened by its defiant boycott of U.N. Special Envoy Tan Sri Razali
Ismail. Mr. Razali has now resigned from his post after not even being
allowed to visit the country since March 2004. Such treatment of Mr.
Razali, a distinguished Malaysian diplomat and former president of the
U.N. General Assembly, is a grave insult to both the U.N and Asean.

Mr. Razali, who made 12 trips to Burma between June 2000 and March 2004,
was credited with arranging the secret talks between Burmese Nobel
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime, which resulted in her release
from detention in May 2002. A year later, a regime-sponsored mob attacked
Ms. Suu Kyi's entourage in Depayin in northern Burma and she was detained
once again, this time under even stricter conditions.

In Oct. 2004, SPDC leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe caused widespread
consternation by purging Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt. Last November,
he made matters worse by moving Burma's capital from Rangoon to the remote
jungle city of Pyinmana without bothering to inform neighboring nations in
advance, let alone his own civil servants.

More recently, the SPDC has refused to receive Malaysian Foreign Minister
Syed Hamid Albar, also Asean's special envoy on Burma. This is the latest
insult to Asean members who have defended the regime at great cost to
their credibility without getting much in return.

For more than seven years, Asean weathered scorn and contempt before
finally coming to its senses by issuing a call for moves toward democracy
and the release of Ms. Suu Kyi at last month's Asean Summit in Kuala
Lumpur. At that summit, Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win also agreed to
receive Mr. Syed Hamid, who is charged with checking on progress toward
democracy. But the regime rejected a suggestion that Mr. Syed Hamid's
visit should coincide with Burma's Independence Day on January 4, and
continues to stonewall on setting a date.

The SPDC's delaying tactics are turning Asean's already eroded goodwill
into frustration and exasperation. On Tuesday, Mr. Syed Hamid warned that
"the patience of the international community is wearing thin," and that
the delaying of his visit was seen as a deliberate effort to frustrate
Asean's efforts to promote dialogue.

Meanwhile, Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), the party
that won more than 80% of parliamentary seats in Burma's last election in
1990, has extended another olive branch to the military. Last week, on
Burma's Independence Day, the NLD proposed a new "supreme leading body"
that would bring together the military rulers, political parties and
ethnic groups as a prelude to democracy.

Ms. Suu Kyi and her fellow pro-democracy leaders have consistently
declared their willingness to work with the military authorities. Ms. Suu
Kyi has previously declared she would not rule out a power-sharing
arrangement with the military. Despite serious persecution, the NLD has
stood by its commitment to a principled process of dialogue.

On the other hand, the military's lopsided version of dialogue has seen
handpicked representatives shepherded into isolated accommodation and only
allowed to utter pre-approved speeches within a dictated agenda. The
current conduct of the illegitimate and unrepresentative National
Convention to draft a new constitution is proof that the SPDC needs some
serious re-education over what constitutes dialogue.

Mr. Razali's warning on Monday that the SPDC would find itself on a
collision course with the U.N. Security Council is unsurprising. The
regime has annoyed its traditional domestic and international allies, and
further antagonized its critics. Gen. Than Shwe has shot himself in the
foot so many times it is astonishing he has any toes left.

The Burmese generals' increasingly irrational behavior is a sign that it
is losing control of the situation. The business community that nominally
supported military rule are now starved of profits, as the few remaining
business opportunities are given only to Gen. Than Shwe's favorites. Civil
servants were given just 48 hours' notice to move (without their families)
to incomplete facilities in the new capital and will be treated as army
deserters and enemies of the state if they try to resign or flee.
Diplomats and foreign "experts" who previously advocated appeasement have
found their access to the leadership relegated to functionaries lower down
the hierarchy.

Even the premature move to Pyinmana is a symptom of the SPDC's growing
insecurity. Gen. Than Shwe reportedly made the decision on the advice of
his astrologer. That Burma's top leader would rather endure the
administrative chaos resulting from incomplete buildings, lack of
utilities and grossly inadequate communications than ignore his fortune
teller is an omen of his state of mind. Clearly, Gen. Than Shwe is on the
defensive-that's why he snubbed Asean and the U.N. without thinking
through the consequences.

It is time for a unified approach to put Burma on the agenda of the
Security Council without delay. Such a move would embolden moderates
within the SPDC to take a stand in favor of genuine dialogue and a
negotiated political settlement. Without this, Burma will only degenerate
further into chaos that will drag down its neighbors with it.

Mr Zaid Ibrahim is a member of the Malaysian parliament and president of
the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar.

____________________________________

January 13, Bangkok Post
Burmese exit an opportunity

If bilateral issues dominate bilateral consultations, the timing of
yesterday's annual talks between Malaysian and Indonesian leaders called
for an exception to be made. And their countries' parts in extricating the
whole region from the Burmese quagmire cried out for it.

The catalyst would have been the decision, made known last Sunday, of
Razali Ismail, the Malaysian diplomat, to quit the job of United Nations
special envoy for Burma. Just days earlier, the generals in Burma put off
a scheduled visit to the country by Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid
Albar, snubbing a decision by Asean, and increasing cause to regret its
induction of the regime.

Indonesia has not only been among the most outspoken critics of Rangoon in
Asean, its venerated elder diplomat - Ali Alatas - has been stepping up
his profile over the past two years. In 2003, he held talks with Aung San
Suu Kyi in Rangoon. Last August, as a special envoy for UN reform, he held
extensive discussions with the junta's chief - Senior Gen Than Shwe.

Given the delicacy of the situation, Malaysia and Indonesia cannot be
expected to talk about their leaders' discussions of the issue, if any
took place. But there is no doubt that regional states, including - if not
especially - Thailand, must put heads together to assess why the bid to
use an astute regional diplomat endowed with the prestige of a UN title
went wrong.

Was the flaw traceable to Mr Razali the person or to the institutions he
was associated with - the UN, the Malaysian government, the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.

The answer is important to the other question being pondered: Will another
UN special envoy do better than Mr Razali, or should friends of Burma's
aggrieved people find a new way of bringing the ruling generals to their
senses.

The caucus of regional legislators spearheaded by Malaysians was quick to
suggest a concerted effort. Their argument: separate attempts in the past
- by Asean, the US, the European Union, the dissident National League for
Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi and the parliamentary caucus - have not
borne fruit.

This is true but suggesting such a course is easier said than done. The
practical problems of moving such a large alliance - including three
institutions well known to be bogged down in procedures, the UN, the EU
and Asean - are formidable. Importantly, they could prolong the process
beyond limits acceptable to the allies and the Burmese people whose lives
it seeks to improve. The problems are obvious: Who should lead, what
should be programmed, and how it should be implemented.

The question then is what is a practical alternative to attempts by
individual countries like the US, a group of immediate neighbours like
Asean, of distant donors like the EU and by the mother of all
organisations like the UN.

The effect of a higher level of attention from the UN - in recent debates
in New York - seems unimpressive. The generals continue to keep Aung San
Suu Kyi under house arrest, and another 1,200 plus political prisoners in
jail. And diplomats and the few UN agencies represented in the country
remain on edge with the transfer of the capital from Rangoon to Pyinmana -
which poses problems of access to the junta so necessary to their work.

In different or more committed ways, Asean and the UN must stay engaged.
Mr Razali and Thailand agree on this. The Thai foreign ministry spokesman
has called on the UN to continue building peace in Burma; on the junta to
appreciate the need to maintain a contact channel with the world
community; and on the generals to set a new date for Asean's anointed
delegate to visit the country.

At the same time, Asean and the UN among others must encourage more
pro-active parts by China and India - the Asian giants who are extending
help to Burma and seeking to tap its resources and strategic position.

Though China has invested much in Burma in terms of aid, and some generals
have benefitted from the profits that Chinese businessmen have made,
reports suggest that familiarity with the long-staying Chinese has bred
contempt in some Burmese quarters.

This therefore is a chance for India whose rapprochement with the junta
came relatively late, to make an impact that will bring forward the
process of peace and national reconciliation.