BurmaNet News, February 16, 2006

[Editor]

February 16, 2006 Issue # 2902


INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Myanmar opposition offer heading for black hole
DVB: Corruption: Burmese women forced to join junta group and pay for it
Mizzima: Burmese military plot to pinch opposition data
Irrawaddy: Unlicensed vehicle owners face harsh punishment
IMNA: Rural people directed to string up family list outside home
Mizzima: Kachin students press KIO over National Convention

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Rights group seeks justice for Burmese migrant

ASEAN
AP: Malaysian FM urges Myanmar to let him visit before April to monitor
democracy

REGIONAL
Japan Economic Newswire: Yudhoyono to visit Myanmar, tipped to raise
democratization issue

INTERNATIONAL
Thai Day: Too much diplomacy for Surakiart

___________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 15, Reuters
Myanmar opposition offer heading for black hole - Aung Hla Tun

Yangon: An offer by Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party to recognize
military rule in Myanmar -- if the generals free her and summon a
parliament whose 1990 election they ignored -- appears to be heading into
a black hole.

The offer by the National League for Democracy was impractical and a sign
of desperation that may not even elicit a response from the generals who
have ruled the former Burma in various guises since 1962, analysts said on
Wednesday.

A former senior member of the NLD said it was likely to meet the same fate
as a similar offer Suu Kyi's party made after the elections, which
followed a student-led uprising put down ruthlessly by the military with
large loss of life.

"We once made the same proposal to the regime around November 1990. We
requested them to convene the parliament and offered to declare them a
legal government," he said on condition of anonymity.

"However, the then regime leader, Saw Maung, turned it down flat. He said
they were already a legal government and nobody needed to legalize them,"
he said.

"I'm sure the present regime will snub it."

Political analyst Win Naing said the call to summon the parliament was
impractical in any case. Many of those elected have fled the country or
resigned under pressure while some have died.

"It's easier said than done to summon a people's parliament now with the
representatives-elect of 1990 elections," he said.

"They seem to have done it as a political gambit in a desperate attempt,"
he said.

"I don't think the SPDC will give any thought to their proposal," he said,
referring to the junta by its official acronym, which stands for State
Peace and Development Council.

COMRADES UPSET

The offer upset fellow members of the Committee Representing the People's
Parliament (CRPP), a loose opposition alliance who said the NLD had not
even consulted them before making the proposal public on Tuesday.

"We, the leaders of the ethnic parties, were caught by surprise by their
announcement," CRPP spokesman Pu Chin Sian Thang said. "The NLD leaders
didn't discuss the announcement with the rest of the CRPP members."

There has been no sign, despite mounting international pressure led by the
United States, that the junta intends to free Suu Kyi from house arrest
and talk to the NLD about moving to democracy.

Suu Kyi's detention at her lakeside villa in Yangon was renewed for six
months in November and just this week the house arrest of a top aide, Tin
Oo, 79, was prolonged for another year and it is expected her's will also
be extended.

The NLD is a frequent target of criticism from newspapers and magazines,
which have to print commentaries given to them by the government.

There was more of it in weeklies published on Wednesday but probably
written before the NLD offer was known.

"Since its formation, the NLD party has always worked only for seizing the
state power, prioritizing its self-interest more than the national
interest," said a commentary published in several.

"It always relied on the strength of some powerful foreign nations rather
than internal national strength."

The junta says it has a seven-step roadmap to democracy, currently focused
on a constitutional conference being boycotted by the NLD because of Suu
Kyi's detention.

The conference, which critics say is designed to produce a constitution
that will cement military control, was adjourned recently and is not due
to meet again until late this year.

___________________________________

February 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
Corruption: Burmese women forced to join junta group and pay for it

Local women at Mauklauk Villahe, Meikhtila Township, Mandalay Division in
central Burma, have been forced to join the government controlled Myanmar
Women Affairs Federation (MWAF) by the village authority chairman Aye
Saung and they have to pay 300 Kyat each for membership fee.

A local villager told DVB that the normal membership fee is 200 Kyat and
each woman is also forced to donate a square piece of cloth more than a
foot long allegedly to make the flag of the women.

He added that Aye Saung has also been siphoning off money gained from the
sales of public-owned firewood.

Meanwhile, the local authorities at Myawaddy District in Karen State in
eastern Burma led by chairman Lt-Col Myint Oo and secretary Major Than Tin
have been making money from the sales of lands confiscated from farmers.
The two have been selling off the confiscated lands to civilians at 10
times the going official rate.

___________________________________

February 16, Mizzima News
Burmese military plot to pinch opposition data

Burmese military intelligence workers are training people to steal
information from the offices of exiled pro-democracy and media groups,
reliable security sources warned Mizzima today.

They said since late 2005, an intelligence unit had been training five
agents – former criminals – to burgle information and files from the
headquarters of a variety of groups, in particular organisations on the
Thai-Burma border.

A document seen by Mizzima listed groups to be targeted by the spooks in a
secret operation launched this month.

The National League for Democracy (Librated Area), Karen National Union,
All Burma Students Democratic Front and the offices of exiled members of
parliament were clearly named.

The Irrawaddy Magazine, based in Chiang Mai, was also listed.

Sources on the Thai-Burma border told Mizzima increasing numbers of
suspected military informants were crossing from Burma into Thailand
through Mae Sot.

Since the military's move north to Pyinmana, groups in border areas have
faced increasing pressure and interference from intelligence workers.

____________________________________

February 16, Irrawaddy
Unlicensed vehicle owners face harsh punishment - Khun Sam

Owners of unlicensed vehicles in Bhamo Township, in Burma’s eastern Kachin
State, face harsh punishment as the deadline officially set by local
authorities to hand over illegally imported Chinese motorbikes is set to
expire today, according to Bhamo residents.

In a decree recently issued by the township traffic police in Bhamo, all
unlicensed motorcycles must be voluntarily handed over to local police by
February 16. Owners who fail to meet the deadline could face arrest and
fines, residents said. The decree was announced over a loudspeaker by a
police officer driving through downtown Bhamo just two weeks ago.

A Bhamo businessman who lives near the city’s police station said that he
has not yet seen anyone turn their vehicles in to authorities.

Bhamo is the second largest city in Kachin State and faces growing traffic
congestion problems. Many Bhamo residents rely on motorbikes to get around
town. According to the businessman, more than half of the city’s
motorbikes are illegally imported from China through the China-Burma
border town of Ruili. The bikes sell for between 300,000 kyat (US $273)
and 500,000 kyat ($454).

“All unlicensed motorcycles have been hidden,” the businessman said,
adding that some owners take them out at night.

A grocer in downtown Bhamo claimed that local police authorities began
making arrests and confiscating unlicensed bikes at many major downtown
junctions.

He added that authorities have also announced that anyone who tips them
off to the whereabouts of unlawful vehicles will receive a cash reward,
and owners of the vehicles will face stiff punishment beyond the
confiscation of the vehicles. However, no details are known about what
such punishments will be.

The businessman also complained that the recent move to curb illegal
vehicles will not resolve the problem. “[This policy] simply makes
civilians and motorbike traders around the region suffer,” the businessman
said.

Since 2004, Burma’s military government has refused to grant vehicle
licenses in Bhamo—and in other regions throughout the country—and has been
cracking down on those who illegally import vehicles into Kachin State.

Last December nearly 1000 unlicensed motorbikes illegally imported from
China were confiscated in a major crackdown in Myitkyina, the capital of
Kachin State. None of the confiscated vehicles have been returned to their
owners and rumors are circulating that the junta intends to deliver them
to Pyinmana, where government officials are setting up a new capital.

After a similar crackdown last March in Myitkyina, confiscated vehicles
were later seen on the streets freshly painted in military government
green.

___________________________________

Feb 16, Independent Mon News Agency
Rural people directed to string up family list outside home - Sar Nyi

Authorities in southern Burma have ordered the people to put up a list of
their family members called Pone Zan-Tha Zae (form No.10) like a poster
outside their house. At present, all dwellings in villages and towns in
southern Burma are being forced to put up a list of their family members
in a prominent part of the house where it is visible.

All houses in Mon state, some in Karen state and in rural Pegu division
have to put up such a list. “All house owners in rural areas have already
attached the copy of form No.10 outside their home. The townspeople are
yet to comply,” a resident from Pague said.

It is easy for authorities to investigate whenever there is a problem in
the area, according to a Village Peace and Development Council member who
was ordered to make the announcement regarding the list. Some people are
distinctly unhappy about it.

Now local authorities in southern Mon state, such as Thanpyuzayart and Ye
township have been ordering villagers to do put up lists of family
members.

According to the order, the family which fails to put up form (10) has to
move away form the village or town or face the law. Form (10), is
registered at the immigration office, one of the important government
departments. The department is famous for its corruption over issuing
identity cards.

____________________________________

February 16, Mizzima News
Kachin students press KIO over National Convention - Hkawng Ja

A group of Kachin students in Rangoon have asked Kachin Independence
Organisation (KIO) representatives to the National Convention to explain
their presence at the conference during a meeting on Saturday.

About 30 students from the Kachin Literature and Culture Committee and
other student groups met KIO leaders Du Kumhtat Hting Nan, Du Maran Tawng
La and Du Wawhkyung Sinwa at the home of a KIO leader in Bahan township,
Rangoon.

The students said they asked the leaders to explain why they were
attending the convention and their plans for future engagement with the
military.

One student who attended the meeting and wanted to remain anonymous, told
Mizzima, the leaders were evasive and refused to answer many of the
group's questions.

"We could not be satisfied by our leaders during the conversation," the
student said. But the KIO leaders said the meeting went well.

"We just conversed with Kachin students about what they should know
regarding how the National Convention is getting along with the KIO. We
explained about the convention to the students who wanted to know,
clarified questions about the KIO and encouraged them," Du Kumhtat Hting
Nan said.

The KIO refused to discuss its future plans for engagement with the
military with Mizzima.

The KIO has come under increasing pressure from Kachin groups not to
attend the recently stalled convention, after several KIO soldiers were
gunned down by the Burmese military in Shan State last month.

The KIO reached a ceasefire agreement with the military in 1994.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 16, Irrawaddy
Rights group seeks justice for Burmese migrant - Shah Paung

A Thai-based human rights group is continuing to pursue its complaint over
a Mae Sot police officer’s decision to release a suspected murderer late
last month and to arrest four witnesses in the case.

“The police have ignored our query over the case,” said Sai Sai, from the
Legal Aid Section of the Burma Lawyers Council.

The complaint stems from the December 2005 murder of 20-year-old Burmese
migrant worker Min Min, who was killed after a dispute with the son of a
local Thai village headman, in which he was beaten, shot to death and
burned. The man accused of the crime has reportedly been released from
jail.

The BLC submitted a letter of complaint to the Asian Human Rights
Commission on January 25, and according to Sai Sai, they are representing
the four detained witnesses, though they have not yet been allowed access
to them.

“The police have tried to force the family of the victim to accept money
from the alleged perpetrator and close the case,” the BLC letter to the
AHRC stated. “They have also reportedly released the alleged murderer in
exchange for 400,000 Thai baht (US $10,000).”

“This case has been investigated already and that police officer has been
found not guilty,” said the head of police in Mae Sot. “It’s not necessary
to follow this case because he [police officer] has done nothing wrong.”
He added that local police have already sent their own letter of
explanation to the AHRC, based in Hong Kong.

____________________________________
ASEAN

February 16, Associated Press
Malaysian FM urges Myanmar to let him visit before April to monitor democracy

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia's foreign minister has urged Myanmar's military
junta to let him visit the country before April to monitor the progress of
democratic reforms, which critics have slammed as snail-paced.

"They have not given me the date. I hope they can give me the date as soon
as possible," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters late
Wednesday.

He said ideally he would like to visit before a ministerial meeting of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bali, Indonesia on April
17-18, because that would allow him to report his observations to his
counterparts in the 10-nation grouping.

Under intense pressure from ASEAN, Myanmar agreed at the grouping's summit
in December to send a delegation led by Syed Hamid to visit the country to
monitor its self-proclaimed road map to democracy.

The visit was tentatively scheduled for January, but Syed Hamid said the
junta called it off and has given no fresh date.

The United States and European countries have dismissed the democracy road
map as a sham. They complain that ASEAN has done little to force democracy
in Myanmar, whose junta keeps pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under
house arrest and has jailed hundreds of dissidents.

Syed Hamid said Myanmar cited the drafting of its new constitution one of
the steps in the road map and the change of its capital from Yangon to
Pyinmana as the reasons for not being able to fix the date for his visit.

Syed Hamid said his proposed visit was not only to interact with Myanmar's
government officials but also to meet with as many nongovernment people as
possible. He did not elaborate, but the comment indicated that he wants to
meet with Suu Kyi, something that the junta is sure to be uncomfortable
with.

Suu Kyi was arrested in May 2003 following a violent clash between their
followers and government supporters in northern Myanmar. After a brief
period in hospital, she has been continuously under house arrest.

The current junta emerged in 1988 after violently suppressing mass
pro-democracy protests. It held a general election in 1990, but refused to
recognize the results after a landslide victory by Suu Kyi's party.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 16, Japan Economic Newswire
Yudhoyono to visit Myanmar, tipped to raise democratization issue

Jakarta: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will pay a visit to
Myanmar at the end of this month or the beginning of next month, a
presidential spokesman said Thursday.

Presidential Spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said that at Myanmar's request,
no specific date for the visit was being announced, but it would take
place in conjunction with Yudhyono's visits to Brunei on Feb. 27-28 and
Cambodia on Feb. 28 to March 1.

The three countries are the remaining fellow members of the 10-member
Association of the Southeast Asian Nations that Yudhoyono has yet to visit
since becoming president in 2004.

Last month, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said Yudhoyono may
raise the issue of Myanmar's democratization process when he visits the
military-ruled country.

"There will be an exchange of experiences, because Indonesia, in many
ways, is similar to Myanmar in various aspects, such as its
multi-ethnicity, political experiences, etc.," Thamrin said then.

Myanmar's fellow ASEAN members have called on the junta to show "tangible
results" considering that it has been two years since the junta unveiled
its so-called "roadmap to democracy" promising to hold fair elections and
draft a new constitution.

Despite Myanmar's spotty human rights record causing trouble for ASEAN on
the international stage, ASEAN has never taken punitive action against the
country in line with its noninterference policy.

In December, however, on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur,
the ASEAN Eminent Persons Group said it will review the noninterference
principle and ASEAN's policy of decision-making by consensus.

The group consists of 10 experts, mostly former ASEAN politicians and
diplomats, tasked with formulating an ASEAN Charter, a legal instrument
that binds the now loosely organized body into a rules-based legal regime.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Myanmar joined the grouping
in 1997.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 16, Thai Day
Too much diplomacy for Surakiart - Martin Petty

Thailand’s candidate for the post of United Nations (UN) Secretary-general
will have a tough time garnering the support of key member countries
because of his government’s failure to promote press freedom, democracy
and human rights, former Thai ambassadors said yesterday.

Previous ambassadors to the UN and the United States said that, although
he is backed by a number of Asian countries, Thailand’s poor human rights
record, and its failure to condemn tyrannical regimes, jeopardize Deputy
Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai’s bid for the UN’s top job.

“There is a blind belief that we must support Surakiart because he is a
Thai,” former Thai ambassador to the UN Assada Chaiyanam said on the
sidelines of a three-hour debate at Ramkamhaeng University on Surakiart’s
candidature.

“We support a Thai, but he must be a qualified Thai. He must be a
first-class candidate.”

Assada, a staunch critic of the Thai candidate, said Surakiart was not a
good administrator, and dismissed his method of campaigning as
“ridiculous,” saying he had failed to court the support of the members of
the UN Security Council.

Surakiart must receive the votes of at least 10 of the 15 Security Council
countries in order to clinch the job, assuming he is not vetoed by any of
the permanent members – Britain, Russia, China, France and the United
States.

Assada said the Thai government’s poor record on press freedom, democracy
and human rights, and its cozy relationship with Myanmar’s military
rulers, mar Surakiart’s campaign.

“We are proud that a Thai is running for the post,” he said, “but this
government doesn’t have a good reputation for democracy, press freedom and
human rights.”

Harvard-educated Surakiart has been traveling across the world to drum up
support for his bid. He is lined up against Sri Lankan diplomat Jayantha
Dhanapala, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, former Polish
president Aleksander Kwasniewski and current Latvian president Vaira
Freiberga. East Timor and Jordan may also put forward candidates.

No Asian has headed the world body since Burma’s U Thant, who stepped down
in 1971 after a decade in the post. The current secretary-general, Kofi
Annan, said last year there was a consensus among UN member states that
his successor should be Asian.

Kasit Pirom, Thailand’s former ambassador to the US, said Surakiart is
well known for his work as a integrationist in Asia but that he does not
meet Washington’s requirements to become the next UN chief.

“They want someone who fights for human rights and against tyranny,” said
Kasit, who landed himself in hot water last year when a copy of a telex he
sent to Bangkok, hinting at US opposition to Surakiart’s bid, was leaked
to the media.

“My impression, at that time, was that Surakiart didn’t meet the US’
criteria and expectations,” he said. “He’s good at promoting Asian
cooperation, and promoting the region. He is a brand name, but that’s not
what the US is looking for.”

Also, Surakiart’s campaign has been blighted by a Sri Lanka columnist’s
allegations of dirty tricks. The writer claimed that Thai officials had
offered Sri Lanka’s candidate any job in the UN of his choice, in return
for withdrawing his bid. Both countries have rejected the claim.

Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said yesterday it is important for
Asia to have a single candidate it can unite behind to assure that a
representative from another continent is not given the job.

Kantathi said Surakiart is “a highly qualified candidate” who will
continue to receive Thailand’s backing, and that of the 130 countries that
have pledged their support.

Assada dismissed the claim as a lie. “That was just diplomacy,” he said.
“Those countries said they would consider him as a candidate. That is not
a promise of a vote.”