BurmaNet News, February 28, 2006

[Editor]

February 28, 2006 Issue # 2909


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar's opposition expects envoy to meet leader
Irrawaddy: Burmese media ignores regional unrest
Irrawaddy: Rangoon commodity prices rise
Mizzima: Burmese military arrest 41 over anti-Muslim riots

ON THE BORDER
AFP: 13 killed in Myanmar attack on Indian separatists: rebels

HEALTH / AIDS
Mizzima: Poor sanitation a killer of Burma's children: UNICEF

REGIONAL
AP: Tumult in Thailand, Philippines raises new questions about democracy
in Southeast Asia
Thai Press Reports: Thailand employers who need foreign workers in Phuket
cry out for rule relaxation on foreign workers' registration fees
SHAN: Shans assimilated into Thai - Phu Murng

INTERNATIONAL
Xinhua: Myanmar to take part in Berlin international tourism exhibition
Zenit.org: "Patriarch of Burma" in line for beatification: Missionary
Father Clemente Vismara

___________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 28, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's opposition expects envoy to meet leader

Yangon: Myanmar's main opposition party said Tuesday it expects the
country's military rulers will allow an ASEAN envoy to meet its detained
leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his scheduled visit in March.

"We believe that the envoy is also trying to meet with her," Lwin,
spokesman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), told AFP.

He added that other members of the NLD leadership were ready to meet
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who is being sent as an envoy
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"We do not think the envoy will ask for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to be
released immediately but will ask for dialogue with her," Lwin said.

His comments came ahead of the scheduled arrival Wednesday of Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on a two-day visit as part of a
regional tour.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 60, a Nobel Peace prize laureate, has been held under
house arrest since 2003 and had her detention extended on November 27 by
six months. Her deputy Tin Oo had his house arrest extended by a year on
February 14.

Syed Hamid said Saturday a date had been fixed for his visit to Myanmar
but declined to disclose it.

Official sources in Kuala Lumpur said he was expected to visit in March
ahead of an annual ASEAN foreign ministers' retreat in Indonesia in April.

Under pressure from the international community, ASEAN at its annual
meeting in December reached agreement with member Yangon to allow Syed
Hamid to visit as an envoy to check on the progress of democracy.

The visit was expected to occur in January but the junta announced it was
too busy moving its administrative capital.

The NLD has also given the junta proposals for reaching a compromise on
democratic reforms, including letting Aung San Suu Kyi take part freely in
political movements.

The proposals were given to the military rulers February 12.

"We think that the transition (to reform) could be started systematically
from when the Malaysian foreign minister visits," Lwin added.

The opposition NLD won 1990 elections in a landslide but the result was
never recognised by the military which has ruled Myanmar in various guises
since 1962. All NLD offices have been shut except its Yangon headquarters.

___________________________________

February 28, Irrawaddy
Burmese media ignores regional unrest

Burma’s state-owned media organizations are shying away from covering
current political uprisings in neighboring countries such as Thailand and
the Philippines. The weekly anti-government rallies that have been
attracting tens of thousands of protesters in Bangkok, and Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra’s decision on Friday to dissolve parliament, have
barely been mentioned in Burma’s newspapers, or on television and radio
broadcasts. In addition, Burma’s media has also ignored the “people power”
uprising in the Philippines, as well as the recent arrest of members of
the country’s armed forces, who stand accused of plotting a coup to unseat
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Natural disasters in the region such as the Philippines mudslide in
mid-February are being reported however, and there are constant updates on
American casualties in the war in Iraq.

___________________________________

February 28, Irrawaddy
Rangoon commodity prices rise

Rangoon residents are being hit by severe increases in commodity prices
over the past two months. The price rises are blamed on spiraling oil
prices.

For instance, a Rangoon housewife complains, a sack of low-quality rice
has increased from 1,500 kyat (US $1.50) to 5,000 kyat, and the price of
good quality rice has doubled from 10,000 kyat per sack to 20,000 kyat.
Beef has risen from 1,000 kyat for one viss (1.6 kg) to 3,000 kyat over
the same period.

Meanwhile, a gallon of petrol has soared from 160 kyat to 1,500 kyat in
the same period.
Burmese military arrest 41 over anti-Muslim riots

___________________________________

February 28, Mizzima News
Burmese military arrest 41 over anti-Muslim riots - Min Thu

Forty one people have been arrested by Burmese authorities in connection
with anti-Muslim riots in Chauk, Magwe division.

Initially, 14 people were arrested, interrogated by divisional police
officers and sentenced to two years in Thayet prison after riots erupted
in the town two weeks ago.

The remaining 27 people are still in the custody of Magwe police and have
yet to be charged Chauk police sources told Mizzima on condition of
anonymity.

Among the 27 to be sentenced is a 73-year-old man, Hla Ngwe.

Residents in Chauk, where the security situation has stabilised, said the
14 people who had already been sentenced were not given access to lawyers.

Riots first broke out in Ushik Kone village in Sin Phyu Kyun township,
Magwe division on February 16 before spreading to Salin, Pwintphyu and
Chauk townships within days.

Two mosques were destroyed, houses and shops damaged and several people
were injured during the unrest.

___________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 28, Agence France Presse
13 killed in Myanmar attack on Indian separatists: rebels

Guwahati: At least 10 soldiers from Myanmar and three Indian separatists
were killed and several others from both sides were injured Tuesday in
fighting inside Myanmar, an India-based rebel leader said.

The fighting between the soldiers and rebels of the separatist National
Socialist Council of Nagaland took place in the thick jungles of Myanmar's
northern Sagaing Division, the rebel leader said.

More than 300 Myanmar soldiers demolished one of their bases using mortars
and heavy weapons, senior Nagaland separatist leader Kughalo Mulatonu told
AFP by telephone from the India-Myanmar border.

"Our cadres fled the camp to safer areas and we have sent in
reinforcements to fight the soldiers," he said. "We are using
rocket-propelled grenades to counter the advancing soldiers."

There was no immediate confirmation by authorities in Myanmar.

The rebels are fighting for an independent tribal homeland in India's
northeastern state of Nagaland, which borders Myanmar. The militants have
at least at least 50 camps with around 7,000 rebels entrenched in
fortified bunkers in Myanmar's thick jungles to evade Indian soldiers.

In December, Myanmar launched a massive military offensive backed by a
brigade of around 3,500 government soldiers to evict Indian separatists
based in Sagaing.

In an attack last month on rebel bases by Myanmar troops, 15 soldiers and
six rebels were killed.

At least four other militant groups from India's northeast, where numerous
tribal and ethnic groups are fighting for greater autonomy or
independence, have camps in Myanmar.

Myanmar, which shares a 1,640-kilometer (1,000-mile) unfenced border with
India, has repeatedly assured New Delhi that it would not let Indian
rebels operate from its soil.

More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the
northeast since India's independence in 1947.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

February 28, Mizzima News
Poor sanitation a killer of Burma's children: UNICEF - Jessicah Curtis

The United Nations Children's Fund in Burma said poor hygiene was behind
the deaths of many young Burmese as the country launched its 9th National
Sanitation Week yesterday.

According to UNICEF, poor sanitation and hygiene were directly linked to
the prevalence of diarrhea-related illnesses in Burma – some of the top
killers of the country's children.

"Children who use clean latrines, drink clean water, eat clean food, and
regularly wash their hands enjoy healthier childhoods, and are more
resistant to illness," UNICEF representative in Burma Carroll C. Long said
in a statement.

"If every family in the country adopted these four simple hygienic
Measures – clean latrines, clean water, clean food, and clean hands – many
lives could be saved," Long said.

As part of National Sanitation Week UNICEF said it was working with local
partners to construct sanitary latrines in schools, homes and health
centres; launch sanitation awareness raising campaigns; and support
community-level research into the development of locally-made sanitary
equipment.

UNICEF's communications officer in Burma, Jason Rush, said past national
sanitation weeks had helped create public awareness of the importance of
hygiene facilities.

"As a result, usage rates have increased. In 2005, over 70,000 home
latrines were constructed, with another 550 repaired by communities.
During 2005, 562 latrines were also constructed in schools," Rush said.

According to UNICEF, while considerable progress had been made in
extending sanitation facilities in Burma, residents in many rural areas
still did not have access to adequate services.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 28, Associated Press
Tumult in Thailand, Philippines raises new questions about democracy in
Southeast Asia - Denis D. Gray

Bangkok: Democracy in Southeast Asia is taking a beating as mass
demonstrations fail to dislodge an authoritarian leader in Thailand and
the Philippines reels under a state of emergency allowing arrests without
warrants and military intervention.

Across the region, the health of democracy ranges from fragile to abysmal,
with one once-unlikely exception Indonesia. The world's largest Muslim
nation, which is still emerging from three decades of dictatorship, is
making significant progress toward rule of law, press freedom and
transparency.

"The problem in some cases is the abuse of weak democracies, the
exploitation by leaders of those parts of the system which aren't really
democratic or strong," said Robert Broadfoot, of the Hong Kong-based
Political and Economic Risk Consultancy.

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has managed to survive mass
protests demanding his ouster for alleged corruption, abuse of power and
gutting democratic institutions.

Moving into uncharted political waters, opposition parties declared they
would boycott a snap election Thaksin called for April 2 in a gambit to
defuse the crisis. Such boycotts are unprecedented in Thailand and how
Thaksin, a tycoon-turned politician with a majority in Parliament, will
maneuver is uncertain.

In the Philippines, a campaign to destabilize President Gloria Arroyo has
frayed democracy's fabric as she cracks down on opponents suspected of
plotting her overthrow.

Arroyo declared a state of emergency Friday to quash an alleged coup plot.
Amid a suspension of some civil liberties and street demonstrations,
capital charges have been filed against 16 suspects.

Ironically, the "people power" which ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos
exactly 20 years ago has become a destabilizing political tool of the
opposition, which waits for the president to stumble then tries to rouse
the masses to get out and protest. This in turn, appears to drive the
government to curb freedoms.

"In Thailand, Thaksin used his mandate as a democratic leader to undermine
institutions needed to have checks and balances. Is the Philippines a real
democracy or just an elitist group going through the motions of
democracy?" said Broadfoot.

Southeast Asia doesn't rate high on the global democracy charts. It
includes two of the world's five communist states, Vietnam and Laos; one
of its longest-running military dictatorships, Myanmar; two countries
where a single party has ruled for decades, Singapore and Malaysia.

Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar rank among the bottom dozen in a survey of press
freedom in 167 nations by the French non-government group Reporters
without Borders. Indonesia rates high among Southeast Asian countries.

Once enjoying among the freest presses in Asia, Thailand's media has been
severely curbed under Thaksin, who won the last elections in 2005 by a
landslide. In the Philippines, more journalists have been killed since
2000 than in any other country, including Iraq, the US-based Committee to
Protect Journalists said.

Analysts say reasons for democracy's rocky road include deeply-rooted
patronage systems that favor leaders rather than ideals, along with
corruption and cronyism.

In countries like Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines, personal
loyalties influence affairs of state and massive vote buying sways
election results.

"Some countries in the region don't have a democratic tradition or are new
democracies," said Ramon Casiple, of the Philippine's Institute for
Political and Electoral Reforms. "In our case ... all the blessings are
enjoyed by the elite and that sows the seeds of unrest in the
underclasses.

"We still have a rule of the jungle, we have democratic institutions but
the elite is not bound by them. They flaunt the laws, they buy votes,
there is warlordism," he said.

Thailand's The Nation newspaper editorialized this week: "Cursed is this
Kingdom and its people who pretend to be naive and think that elections in
this country are or ever could be free and fair."

Rather than Western democratic models, Southeast Asian leaders have looked
to China and Singapore, which deliver economic benefits but exercise tight
political control over the population.

Washington's recent focus on fighting terrorism rather than vigorously
promoting human rights and transparent governance may also have slowed
progress.

If Southeast Asian leaders "are cornered and questioned they say, `You're
doing the same things you allege we're doing and criticizing us for it.
Get off our backs,'" said James Klein, who heads the Asia Foundation
offices in Thailand and Laos.

If Thailand and the Philippines are in flux, the direction of other
countries seems clear.

One-party rule in Vietnam and Laos is unlikely to change when the ruling
communists of both countries hold congresses this year.

Singapore's ruling People's Action Party is almost certain to again
trounce the small, fragmented opposition at parliamentary elections
expected this year.

Myanmar's military, which has ruled for 44 years and defied international
demands to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house
arrest, shows no signs of relaxing its grip on power despite assertions
it's following a roadmap to democracy.

Longer term, some voiced optimism.

"I think we are moving slowly forward. I think Thaksin is a blip in a
forward movement," Klein said of Thailand.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won praise for his handling
of the devastating tsunami disaster, including allowing U.S. troops in to
help the rescue effort and fostering an end to a bloody insurgency in Aceh
province.

"It's a major beginning," former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar
Ibrahim observed of Indonesia under Yudhoyono. He suggested that
Washington promote Indonesia as a democratic model to countries in the
Middle East.

Bangkok Chief of Bureau Denis D. Gray has covered Southeast Asia for The
Associated Press since 1973.

____________________________________

February 28, Thai Press Reports
Thailand employers who need foreign workers in Phuket cry out for rule
relaxation on foreign workers' registration fees

More than 300 operators in Phuket who need to employ foreign workers had a
meeting and agreed to submit a petition to the government for rule
relaxation on the foreign worker's registration fee. Led by Phuket
Operators' Club chairman Prasart Buntantrapiwat, they joined hands with
the Construction Operator Club and the Provincial Fisheries Association.
This followed the cabinet resolution which allows employers to register
foreign workers of Burmese, Laotian and Cambodian nationals during March
1st to 30th.

The rule states that employers of foreign workers must pay a fee of 10,000
baht per head while those who wish to hire illegal labourers who are not
registered by March 30th have to pay a guarantee or bail fee of 50,000
baht per head. Operators state they merely cannot afford the cost and
proposed that they pay the fee of 1,000 baht per head instead.

The meeting result will be presented to the governor and he stressed that
if no clear or satisfied response is made, the operators who hire foreign
workers will all cease their operations.

____________________________________

February 28, Shan Herald Agency for News
Shans assimilated into Thai - Phu Murng

Descendents of Shan people who migrated to Thailand before Second World
War have been assimilated and think themselves as 100% Thai, because they
enjoy the same rights as other Thais, according a narration of Ajarn
Nakorn (not his real name) a native Shan who attended Tai (Shan) Poets Day
on 25 February.

“This is a beautiful and lovely country and we can live peacefully, that’s
why I love Thailand. If anyone says bad thing about Thailand, we feel
angry,” said Ajarn Nakorn.

The first generation was still Shan, but the second generation became Thai
and during the third generation all Shan consciousness disappeared,
according to Ajarn Nakorn.

He recounted about his friends being asked, “Your father is Shan and your
mother is also Shan. Why can you not speak Shan?” His friends answered,
“My parents don’t speak to me in Shan or teach me Shan”.

Many Shan people at that time were (Nang Pawng) pork skin sellers and they
didn’t have surnames so the neighbors used to kid them, “Mong Tuk Mong
(Imitation of Shan drums and gongs) Ngiao Nang Pawng Yu Ban Changpuek
(Skin selling Shans of Changpuek village)

Shans as well as Lanna (northern) people adopt Thai as their written
language. As such they can’t read and write their own language anymore.

He is concerned that Shan migrants in Thailand today would fall into the
same fate in the long run.

At the Tai Poets Day, on 25 February he asked whether the Shans have a
national anthem. The participants answered, “Yes, we do,” and stood up to
sing it for the audience.

“They are willing to be Thai, they are not forced to be,” said a long term
Shan resident.

Tai Poets Day has been cerebrated in Thailand since 1975 at Ban Mai Mawk
Jarm village, Tha Ton tract, Mae Ai district, Chiang Mai province.

 In Chiang Mai the Shan poets have been honored since 2004. This year the
venue was at the Chiang Mai University.

There were at least 40 people who attended the ceremony including Thai
academics and students.

According to an organizer Lung Sai Khong (Not his real name) they are
planning to make the event bigger next year, because this year many people
had asked to attend, but he had to refuse due to lack of space.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 28, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to take part in Berlin international tourism exhibition

Yangon: Myanmar will take part in an international tourism exhibition to
be held in Berlin, Germany, next month with the aim to absorb more world
tourist arrivals in the country, sources with the Myanmar Tourism
Promotion Board ( MTPB) said on Tuesday.

The Internationale Tourismus-Borse(ITB)-2006, which represents the world's
biggest tour show, is scheduled for March 8-12.

A 50-member delegation representing some domestic airlines, hotels and
tour operators will display their services at the Myanmar booth at the
Messe Berlin Exhibition Center, the MTPB said.

Hoteliers here noted that the participation of Myanmar in the Berlin show
will create opportunity to enable the country better known to the world
and attract increased number of tourist arrivals through introduction of
more interested tourism destinations.

According to the tourism ministry's statistics, more than 660, 000 foreign
tourists traveled by air to Myanmar in 2005, slightly up from about
657,000 in 2004 in spite of being impacted by bird flu globally. During
the year, earning through tourism in the country also rose to 153 million
US dollars, up 17 million from the previous year.

Official figures also show that there are 596 hotels, motels and guest
houses in Myanmar providing a total of over 18,500 rooms. The number of
travel agencies in operation stands over 500.

More figures reveal that contracted foreign investment in the sector of
hotels and tourism has so far amounted to 1.06 billion dollars since
Myanmar started to open to such investment in late 1988. Of the
investment, that in hotel projects amounted to over 580 million dollars.

____________________________________


February 27, Zenit.org
"Patriarch of Burma" in line for beatification: Missionary Father Clemente
Vismara

Rome: The Church in Myanmar might soon have its first blessed, Father
Clemente Vismara, a missionary priest of the Pontifical Institute for
Foreign Missions.

So says Father Piero Gheddo, also of PIME, when he announced the
examination of the healing of a boy, attributed to the intercession of the
priest who was called "the patriarch of Burma," as Myanmar was then known.

If the healing is approved as a miracle, it will open the doors to the
beatification.

Father Gheddo, the founder of the AsiaNews service, today explained the
progress of the process of beatification of the missionary in Burmese
lands.

Father Vismara carried out his work for 65 years in the Asian country,
from 1923 to 1988. He returned to Italy only once, in 1957, because of
illness.

He died on June 15, 1988, in Mong Ping, in the Diocese of Kengtung, on the
border with China and Laos.

He was immediately invoked as "protector of children" because "he always
lived among 200 to 500 orphans, whom he used to collect from villages
destroyed by war or were lost through hunger or disease," recalled Father
Gheddo.

Never felt old

The missionary priest set up six parishes, built many churches and
chapels, schools and hospitals, orphanages and residences, and taught
tribal people more modern agricultural methods.

"Clemente died at age 91 but he used to write that he never felt old,
because he was still useful to many abandoned children and people, whom he
gathered into his mission, supported and cared for with the help of
Sisters of Maria Bambina," continued Father Gheddo.

In October 1996, Cardinal Carlo Martini of Milan launched the cause for
his beatification -- in his birthplace, Agrate Brianza. The cause "today
has nearly come to a close," said the founder of AsiaNews.

"In 2001, I presented six alleged miracles obtained through his
intercession to the Congregation for Sainthood Causes," Father Gheddo
said. "One of them seems to be at the point of being approved: a
10-year-old boy, Joseph Tayasoe, fell 5 meters from a tree and hit his
head on a big stone: He bled from his nose and ears and smashed his skull
with a crack visible to the naked eye.

"He spent four days in a coma and, after prayers to Father Vismara, he
suddenly woke up and asked to eat, completely healed, without any
consequences or care in ensuing years. Today, aged 16 years, he is a
completely normal boy."

Tomb visits

According to the PIME priest, also interested in Father Vismara's
beatification are Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation
for the Evangelization of Peoples, and the bishops of Myanmar "who, in an
official document to mark his 90th year, described him as 'the patriarch
of Burma.'"

Visitors to his tomb in Mong Ping include Protestants, Buddhists, animists
and Muslims.

Among Myanmar's approximately 51 million people, 72% are Buddhist, 12.6%
animist, 8% Christian and 2.4% Muslim. Catholics number 600,000.