BurmaNet News, March 29, 2006

[Editor]

March 29, 2006 Issue # 2929

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima: NCUB says Burmese military plans to assassinate Aung San Suu Kyi
Mizzima: NLD holds human rights and AIDS awareness training
DVB: Myanmar promise and the rule of mob: Thet Naing Oo’s mother barred
from attending tribunal

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Hundreds of Karen refugees flee to Thai-Burma border
Narinjara: Forty Burmese Muslim families enter Bangladesh
Kaladan: TAI NGO to work for Burmese refugee camps

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: GAIL shares rise after Burma bids
Lloyd's List: Eight firms bid for first CNG carrier charters

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy” Burma’s health situation a regional problem, says report

ASEAN
The Nation: Asean's sad policy on Burma
Wall Street Journal: Asia's Dead End - Lim Kit Siang

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Myanmar general to visit Russia next week
Reuters: Rice urges China and India to do more on Myanmar

OPINION / OTHERS
The Age: Democracy fails to reign in Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 29, Mizzima News
NCUB says Burmese military plans to assassinate Aung San Suu Kyi - Han Pai

The National Council of the Union of Burma said today they had received
proof the Burmese military were planning to assassinate National League
for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The exiled group said they had also received proof the military were
planning to re-arrest former political prisoners, threaten the staff of
foreign missions and create confusion and fear among the Burmese
population using bombs.

The NCUB said the information came from reliable sources and that they had
seen some of the military’s plans.

“The rift and factionalism among the army, may lead to violence, bloodshed
and even to the utter devastation,” the group said in a statement today.

NCUB Secretary Myint Thein told Mizzima, “We express our concern over the
current situation and unwise thinking of the military clique, which may
even lead to the failed state”.

The NCUB also held a press conference on the Thai-Burma today where
members said they supported the NLD’s recent calls for dialogue and
reconciliation.

The group said they had delayed commenting on the NLD’s statement, which
was released last month, as they had wanted to make sure the council was
in agreement on how to respond.

____________________________________

March 29, Mizzima News
NLD holds human rights and AIDS awareness training - Min Thu

Burma’s leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy has
launched the first human rights and AIDS awareness training scheme at its
headquarters in Rangoon.

The three-day training, which started today, will be attended by 96
trainees as part of the NLD’s development program.

The trainees were selected by NLD offices across Burma and party spokesman
Myint Thein told Mizzima the course was designed to promote awareness of
people’s rights and to help combat the spread of AIDS.

“All the people should know about the human rights. What is the human
rights, which rights should we deserve, which rights are being violated,
we should know all about these. Since the human rights coexist with
democracy, we can strive for democracy only if we know about human
rights,” Myint Thein said.

Myint Thein also said since between 500,000 and one million Burmese people
were thought to suffer from AIDS, it was important to improve people’s
understanding of the disease.

Six of the NLD’s elected members of parliament will lecture trainees on
human rights and a team of six doctors will conduct the AIDS awareness
training.

____________________________________

March 29, Democratic Voice of Burma
Myanmar promise and the rule of mob: Thet Naing Oo’s mother barred from
attending tribunal

San Yi, the mother of murdered former political prisoner Thet Naing Oo,
was not allowed to attend a 'special' tribunal after she was given a
‘special’ permission to attend a ‘special’ tribunal set up to investigate
her son's death.

On 28 March, San Yi told DVB that she was given a special permission by
the police Special Branch (SB) members, to attend the tribunal at the
notorious Rangoon Insein Jail on 29 March.

“They told me not to worry. They warmly told me that they were doing that
(find out and take action on the real killers of her son) at the moment.
If you want, you could come and listen. You are given a special
permission. You are not needed to be questioned anymore, they told me
thus.”

But when she arrived at the gate of prison this morning (29 March), San Yi
was barred from attending the tribunal and told to go home. She left the
prison in despair and disgust as she had high hope that she would be
allowed in as promised. On the other hand, Burmese authorities, including
the generals, are known to have broken almost all the known promises they
had given.

Meanwhile, the two detained witnesses and friends of the victim, Win Myint
and Khin Maung Zaw and some other witnesses stood at the tribunal for
cross-examinations, according to reports from other sources.

Moreover, SB members came to the homes of Win Myint and Khin Maung Kyi and
videotaped every part of the houses, causing alarms to the inhabitants.

The ‘special’ tribunal had been set up by the Burmese authorities to ‘find
out the real truth’ about the murder of Thet Naing Oo by Rangoon
Kyimyintaing (Kemmendine) Township police and auxiliary fire brigade
members.

San Yi said that she was also summoned and asked to give a statement, but
she added many people who took part in the brutal muder of her son have
not been arrested.

“They told me that seven people are being detained. I don’t know who they
are. On our side, we have only one witness. Two people gave their names as
witnesses. I don’t know where one person is. The other had gone to
Ma-U-Pin. They (the two missing witnesses) are travelling here and there.
They are cross-examining the only available one.”

Observers said that witnesses are too frightened to give evidence to the
tribunal for the litigating side for fear of retaliations from the
authorities, and people believe that the truth will never be out at the
tribunal.

40-year old Thet Naing Oo was severely beaten up on 17 March by a mob led
by the police and fire brigade members on the pretext of catching a
pickpocket, and he was declared dead on the following day at the local
hospital.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 29, Irrawaddy
Hundreds of Karen refugees flee to Thai-Burma border - Shah Paung

Nearly 400 Karen people fleeing military action by the Burmese army have
arrived this week at the Salween river opposite northern Thailand’s Mae
Hong Son province, according to the Free Burma Rangers. More than 5,000
other internally displaced people are still hiding in the jungle, said an
FBR report.

Eighty IDPs arrived at the Salween river on March 26, to be followed on
March 27 by a further 308. They had marched there from Taungoo District in
northern Karen State.

The FBR said the refugees had fled military action launched in February by
the forces of the Burmese army’s 66th and 99th divisions. They had been
pursued by government troops. Blocked at one point, “they then had to go
back up to the mountains and with the help of the Karen resistance cross a
road controlled, mined and patrolled by the Burma Army,” the FBR report
said. One woman had given birth en route.

A relief worker said in the FBR report that he and his colleagues had been
“shocked to see them [the refugees] sweltering in the sun. They are all
from high mountain villages where it is cool year around. To see them
huddled under plastic sheets in the blazing sun, far from their villages
and farms made us sad and angry.”

On March 25, the Karen National Union reported an increase in military
activity by the Burmese Tatmadaw (armed forces). KNU General Secretary
Mahn Sha said the “gentlemen’s” ceasefire between the KNU and the
government had “no benefit” if the situation persisted

____________________________________

March 29, Narinjara News
Forty Burmese Muslim families enter Bangladesh

Forty Burmese Muslim families, comprising about 200 individuals, recently
entered Bangladesh territory in five boats after crossing the Naff River
on March 23, said a report in the Deshbidesh, a local Cox's Bazaar
newspaper.

The newspaper published the story recently, quoting a ward commissioner in
Teknaf, the town opposite Burma's Maungdaw. The ward commissioner, Nasi
Ahmed, told the newspaper that the Bangladesh Rifles had pushed the
families back to Burma when they attempted to enter Bangladesh in five
rowboats.

However, the group managed to enter Bangladesh via another route through a
border pass. After reaching Bangladesh they sank the boats, the
commissioner said.

The local Bangladeshi authorities did not comment on the news story,
reports Narinjara's correspondent from Cox's Bazaar.
Forty Burmese Muslim families enter Bangladesh

Forty Burmese Muslim families, comprising about 200 individuals, recently
entered Bangladesh territory in five boats after crossing the Naff River
on March 23, said a report in the Deshbidesh, a local Cox's Bazaar
newspaper.

The newspaper published the story recently, quoting a ward commissioner in
Teknaf, the town opposite Burma's Maungdaw. The ward commissioner, Nasi
Ahmed, told the newspaper that the Bangladesh Rifles had pushed the
families back to Burma when they attempted to enter Bangladesh in five
rowboats.

However, the group managed to enter Bangladesh via another route through a
border pass. After reaching Bangladesh they sank the boats, the
commissioner said.

The local Bangladeshi authorities did not comment on the news story,
reports Narinjara's correspondent from Cox's Bazaar.

____________________________________

March 29, Kaladan News
TAI NGO to work for Burmese refugee camps

The Technical Assistant Institute, or TAI, a Non-Government Organization
(NGO) of Bangladesh has replaced CONCERN NGO of Bangladesh in the Burmese
refugee camps, according to our correspondent.

CONCERN NGO, which was working in Burmese refugee camps earlier under the
supervision of UNHCR handed over, its duties to TAI yesterday in
Kutupalong refugee camp. It will also hand over the responsibility of the
Nayapara refugee camp today.

The staff members of TAI are GM Khan, the director of programmes, Abu
Sayed, the director of engineering and Mrs. Ferudos Hossain, the project
manager.

TAI will be working for two refugee camps, namely Kutupalong and Nayapara
for education, community works and food basket monitoring of refugees, a
refugee from the camp said. In Kutupalong camp, the TAI will also take on
the responsibility of sanitation. But it is not clear whether it will
undertake the duty of sanitation programmes in Nayapara camp.

At present, over 20,000 refugees are living in the two camps in Cox’s
Bazaar District, Bangladesh.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

March 29, Mizzima News
GAIL shares rise after Burma bids - Syed Ali Mujtaba

Shares in the Gas Authority of India Limited rose to Rs 304.90 today after
the company announced it received bids from eight firms for the
transportation of natural gas from its production block in Burma.

GAIL, a stakeholder in Burma’s A1 block, carried out a pre-feasibility
study to market natural gas in India from the block through various means
including a pipeline.

The company had invited expressions of interest for the transportation of
the gas and Proshanto Banerjee, chairman and managing director of GAIL
announced today that eight national and international firms had placed
bids.

Banerjee reportedly said bids for the marine transportation of the gas
made more sense.

“Considering the options in terms of capital investment and shipping cost
or pipeline transmission tariff, it seems transporting the gas in the form
of CNG by ship or barge appears to be most attractive bet,” Banerjee was
quoted as saying.

Gas reserves in the A1 block are estimated at four trillion cubic feet.

____________________________________

March 29, Lloyd's List
Eight firms bid for first CNG carrier charters

In what could be the world's first shipping time-charter service for
compressed natural gas, eight Indian and international firms and consortia
have responded to the invitation of gas purveyor Gail India for
expressions of interest to transport CNG from the A-1 block in Myanmar.

The interested companies include four potentially powerful consortia
ndash; one consisting of EnerSea Transport from the US with Japan's Mitsui
OSK Lines and K-Line; a second featuring Forbes Bumi Armada of Malaysia
along with Trans Ocean Gas, BMT Fleet Technology of Canada, Wilhelmsen
Marine Consultants of Norway and others; Marubeni of Japan with Sea NG
Management Corp of Canada; and TransCanada and others.

The other four in the fray are Exmar Marine NV of Belgium, Knutsen OAS
Shipping of Norway, Malaysia International Shipping Corp and Mumbai's
Ardeshir B Cursetjee & Sons.

The plan is to enter into long-term charter arrangements to transport CNG
by ship or barge from Myanmar to ports on India's eastern coast. Gail and
another public sector energy major, Oil & Natural Gas Corp, have a 30%
equity stake in the A-1 block.

The company has concluded that ferrying gas as CNG, rather than shipping
it as liquefied natural gas, would cost less since it would not require
heavy investment in liquefaction plants at origin and a re-gasification
plant at destination.

"CNG transportation provides the flexibility of increasing the scale of
operations by simply adding ships when there is a gradual increase in
supply from either the chosen gas field or other nearby sources," said a
senior GAIL official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The encouraging response that we have received from these eight
firms/consortia has brought our option of CNG marine transportation closer
to reality."

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

March 28, Irrawaddy
Burma’s health situation a regional problem, says report - Clive Parker

A new appraisal of Burma’s healthcare system released today says the
country is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis with the potential to
wreak increasing damage on the health of people both inside and outside
the country.

The report—produced by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
based in Baltimore, Maryland—says the junta’s failure to offer its
citizens adequate healthcare means more resistant strains of malaria and
tuberculosis are developing in the country. Similarly, the report
concludes that Burma is a melting pot for increasingly diverse strains of
the HIV virus, and is at risk of failing to adequately monitor and contain
bird flu, with potentially deadly results both nationally and outside the
country.
The John Hopkins study—which was funded by the Center for Public Health
and Human Rights and the Bill and Melinda Gates Population and Family
Health Institute—was presented to US State Department officials during a
briefing on March 24.

“There is a growing humanitarian crisis in Burma. We document how the
ruling government’s policies have restricted nearly all aid and allowed
serious infectious diseases to spread unchecked,” said Chris Beyrer, one
of the main authors of the study. “The Burmese junta is increasing
restrictions on humanitarian assistance and public health, while the
health of Burmese people deteriorates, posing a widening threat to Burma
and her neighbors.”

Although a World Health Organization report said last week that Burma was
one of five “high burden countries” that was expected to meet detection
and treatment targets for TB, the John Hopkins study contends the
situation may be much worse. Although data is scarce for most diseases in
Burma, the study says this is especially true in the case of TB which is
estimated to have infected 40 percent of Burma’s more than 50 million
people.

The prevalence of black market treatments exacerbated by a lack of funding
for approved drugs, adequate laboratory facilities and testing means that
Burma is already suffering a dangerous increase in drug-resistant cases of
TB, with instances twice as high as the regional average.

The situation with malaria—Burma’s biggest killer—is equally alarming, the
report concludes, with counterfeit drugs causing a rise in resistance to
the remedies most commonly used globally, a problem which makes treatment
more expensive.

“Reported funding from the government has not risen to match the problem,”
the document says.

Many cases of the disease remain unreported due to the inaccessibility of
Burma’s largely forested periphery, which remains afflicted by fighting
between ethnic insurgency movements and the Burmese army. The result is a
huge number of people receiving no treatment for the disease, which
translates into high mortality rates, the report concludes.

With regard to Burma’s HIV crisis, the report notes that the junta’s
budget of US $22,000 per year to fight the disease is woefully inadequate.
This is highlighted by the fact that the main laboratory serving upper
Burma is unable to conduct tests considered “the minimum standard for
accepted monitoring for AIDS care and a key indicator of when to begin
antiviral treatment.”

The UNAIDS Rangoon office was unavailable for comment today.

The report said the latest disease to afflict Burma—avian influenza—could
prove to be the most adept at taking advantage of the junta’s inadequate
efforts on healthcare: “With the global spread of bird flu, there is a
fear that if a human form of H5N1 were to take hold in Burma, it could
potentially spread unchecked for weeks or months before anyone knew about
it,” Beyrer said. “Uncontrolled spread of any disease, especially an
emerging disease like H5N1, poses a serious health threat to Burma’s
populous neighbors, like China and India, as well as the rest of the
world.”

Burma first reported the outbreak to the outside world on March 13.
Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization today sent one of its
officials, Dr Wantanee Kalpravidh to Rangoon for the second time since the
disease first appeared, to further asses Burma’s response. It has
previously said it may supply training to Burmese laboratory staff in a
bid to help the country fight the disease.

Commenting on the claim in today’s report that Burma’s ability to conduct
bird flu surveillance outside of Rangoon and Mandalay was “uncertain,” the
FAO said there was no way to gauge whether this indeed was the case.

“That seems to me to be speculation,” Laurence Gleeson, an FAO official
based in Bangkok told The Irrawaddy. “I know that they are relatively
poorly resourced, that they are relatively lacking in training and
experience to deal with an epidemic of this sort. The FAO does not want to
be dragged into any political debate about the regime. Instead we are at
the disposal of governments and cooperate with a large range of
development partners
to try to curb the spread of the disease.”

Suggesting strategies to alleviate Burma’s humanitarian suffering, the
John Hopkins team recommended greater funding for cross-border
humanitarian projects and called for opposition to the junta’s increasing
restrictions on international aid agencies.

Burma’s Ministry of Health, the UN Development Program’s Rangoon office
and Medecins Sans Frontieres Holland were also unavailable for comment.

____________________________________
ASEAN

March 29, The Nations
Asean's sad policy on Burma

The junta's dysfunctional diplomacy is demonstrated once again after
Malaysia's envoy cuts short his visit

While it is clear to everyone that the Burmese junta does not care about
Asean nor the international community, the point was reinforced once again
this past week. When Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar visited
there recently, he cut short his three-day trip by one day and came home
empty-handed. Of course he will file a report for the Asean ministers but
so far he has put a brave face on the debacle because Malaysia is the
current chair of Asean. He does not want to antagonise Burma any further.
It is interesting that Asean, since the admission of Burma in 1997,
continues to defend Rangoon, even though this pariah state has not made
any positive contribution to Asean's well-being or reputation. And yet,
Asean has continued to offer its goodwill to the military junta.

Indeed, the Burmese junta leaders did not offer any face-saving
concessions to the Asean envoy at all. Albar was unable to meet the
opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, although a visit could have eased
political tensions between the junta and the opposition if the envoy had
been allowed to mediate and promote some national reconciliation dialogue.
Instead, it was shown that Asean has already exerted its fair share of
pressure on Burma.

But that is simply not the case. Although Asean went the extra mile at the
last Asean summit by expressing its concerns, the pressure was still
insufficient because Burma, as a member of Asean, did not respond with
anything resembling goodwill. The saddest thing about Burma's membership
is that Rangoon expects the group to treat it like a family member, but it
seems that it has never occurred to the junta leaders that they should do
likewise to Asean. There is no mutual trust or rapport.

Another interesting point is Albar's visit followed a trip by Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Rangoon. Yudhoyono has appointed a
special envoy to Burma, signalling Jakarta's growing interest in engaging
the junta-led state. With its expansive political clout, Indonesia may be
able to talk to Burma. After all, at one time, the Suharto regime was the
darling of the military junta. But efforts undertaken by Indonesia should
be reinforced by other members, particularly Malaysia.

The time has come for Asean to take a tougher stance on Burma. Asean
leaders should warn Burma that its behaviour will no longer be tolerated.
Furthermore, the eminent people drafting the Asean charter should conduct
their work with Burma's growing intransigence in mind. This is important
because whatever transpires in Burma in the future will impact on the
drafting process and the charter's contents.

And how could Asean members settle on a charter with integrity and
references to basic respect for human rights and democratic values when
one of its members is actively suppressing its own people? The drafters
have to be realistic in establishing norms and values that Asean members
can follow in the real world.

It is also an open secret that Asean leaders, as well as other members of
the diplomatic community, are still upset about the lack of information
regarding Burma's new capital Pyinmana. The junta leaders failed to inform
other countries about the relocation, another example of their willingness
to abrogate international diplomatic practices.

Many embassies, including Thailand's, have already been established in
Rangoon and the task of relocating to the new capital is difficult, given
constraints in budget allocations. In the future, communications between
the host and foreign missions will be all the more difficult.

Without concerted Asean and international collaboration, which should
include India and China, Burma will continue on its destructive path. Both
the Asian giants must display diplomatic finesse and responsibility to
ensure that their competition for influence in this beleaguered country
does not worsen the political nightmare in Burma.

____________________________________

March 29, Wall Street Journal
Asia's Dead End - Lim Kit Siang

Little was expected of the Malaysian foreign minister's fact-finding trip
to Burma last week, and little was achieved. The minister, Syed Hamid
Albar, had a brief audience with Burmese Prime Minister Soe Win, but was
denied a meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and trotted home
a day early. Yet on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian nations,
he called the journey a "success." How so?

Burma was admitted to Asean almost a decade ago -- primarily at Malaysia's
urging -- and has disgraced the 10-member group ever since. Led by Senior
Gen. Than Shwe, Burma's military junta has crushed Ms. Suu Kyi's
popularly-elected party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and
funded itself through illicit drug sales and human trafficking. It now
poses a threat to its neighbors, and the Asia-Pacific region, as a whole.

Asean's efforts to reason with the regime have floundered. The Asean's
Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus's calls for Burma to move toward
democracy have yielded little fruit. Earlier this month, Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tried his hand, suggesting that a
gradual democratic transition could benefit soldiers and civilians alike.
The Indonesian president secured little, save the appointment of two
Indonesian special envoys to the country, neither of whom has any clear
mission. International processes -- such as the United Nations' referral
of Burma to its Security Council -- face an uphill battle. However, the
U.S. Senate's hearings on Burma and a European meeting on aid to Burma in
Brussels -- both happening today -- are proof that this is an issue that
will not go away.

Meanwhile, the situation within Burma is rapidly deteriorating. Safely
ensconced in the jungle military fortress of their new capital Pyinmana,
the regime has unleashed a new round of public violence to crush nascent
pro-democracy movements. On March 17, police and fire brigade personnel
lynched former political prisoner Thet Naing Oo at a tea stall in a
Rangoon suburb. A few days later, student leader and former political
prisoner Min Ko Naing was assaulted after attending the funeral of NLD MP
Thein Win. The brutality is leaking into the countryside, too: Earlier
this month, the Burmese Army bombarded villages in Karen State with heavy
artillery, forcing more than a thousand people to flee their homes.

This isn't just a problem for Asean. Thanks to the generals' broad
diversion of funds away from health and education -- and towards military
spending -- Burma is suffering a nationwide HIV/AIDS epidemic. Burmese
border regions along the drug trafficking routes into China and India
exhibit the highest infection rates. Meanwhile, the generals look the
other way as domestic cartels increase the production of heroin and other
drugs to offset losses incurred by Burma's general economic deterioration.
Bird flu also looms.

There's already a solution on the table. In February, the National League
for Democracy asked the regime to convene Parliament, which could, in
turn, legitimately appoint the military as a transitional administration.
Such an arrangement would allow the democratically-elected body to work
with the military administration toward a genuine transition to democracy.
This sensible formula is a practical solution.

But for the roadmap to make progress, China and India must support it.
This is clearly in both countries' self-interest, given how the
deteriorating situation within Burma has already started to leak across
its porous borders. Asean, too, must own up to its complicity in
supporting such a nasty regime for so many years. Only then will the
efforts of the international community bear fruit.

It's time for action. Asia can't afford to wait.

Mr. Lim is leader of Malaysia's Democratic Action Party and a founding
member of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 29, Agence France Presse
Myanmar general to visit Russia next week

The second most powerful general in Myanmar's junta plans next week to
visit Russia, a long-time arms supplier to the secretive regime, military
officials said Wednesday.

Deputy Senior General Maung Aye is set to leave Monday for Russia,
military officials said, declining to provide details of the trip.

Russia has been a long-time supplier of arms to Myanmar. It sold the
country 10 MiG-29s fighter jets in 2001, according to Jane's Defense
Weekly.

In 2002 the military government said it was planning to build a nuclear
research reactor and that it was negotiating with Russia over the
facility.

But Moscow reportedly shelved the project in 2003 because the Yangon
regime could not pay for it.

____________________________________

March 28, Reuters
Rice urges China and India to do more on Myanmar

Washington - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged China and
India on Tuesday to put more pressure on Myanmar's military junta over its
poor human rights record.

Rice also said that countries in the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) should do more to push for freedom in its fellow member,
formerly known as Burma.

"We need China to be more active on this front 
 and India as well," Rice
told the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Burma is one of the very worst
regimes in the world."

Myanmar's military ignored a landslide election victory in 1990 by the
National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi and has continued to
rule the country with an iron fist.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has been in jail or under house arrest since May
2003 and the United States and others have consistently called for her
release.

Rice said she brought up Myanmar at every meeting she had with officials
from China and India, adding that President George W. Bush did the same.

"We have to continue to encourage countries in the region to take an
active and more public line on Burma. And outside of the region, places
like Europe can make a difference," Rice said.

The United States has imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Myanmar, including
a ban on most imports, and Rice told senators they would not be relaxed
until the government changed its ways.

Copyright 2006 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHERS

March 29, The Age
Democracy fails to reign in Burma

The secretive military dictatorship in Burma has unveiled its new capital
with an unprecedented show of force.

About 12,000 troops in six columns took an hour to assemble in a huge
concrete plaza in Pyinmana, 320 kilometres north of Rangoon, to mark the
Armed Forces Day holiday. It was the biggest military parade in the
country's history.

The authorities transferred the capital there last year, with convoys of
civil servants leaving Rangoon at precisely 6.37am on November 6. The
move, which astonished observers, has been attributed to motives ranging
from paranoia over invasion to astrological predictions.

As the soldiers marched on to the parade ground from an eight-lane highway
— one of the few finished roads in the jungle capital — women put garlands
around their necks.

In a televised address, the junta's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, said
Burma needed strong armed forces as it moved towards what he called
"disciplined democracy".

The country has been under military rule since 1962. Aung San Suu Kyi, the
detained Nobel peace laureate, won a landslide election victory in 1990
but has never been allowed to take power.

Pyinmana has been renamed Naypyidaw Myodaw, or "Royal Capital", although
the country has no king and many buildings remain shells lining dirt
roads.

The move — and the accompanying influx of construction workers and
officials — has created an economic boom for shops and massage parlours,
but civil servants are deeply unhappy.

Most have been unable to bring their families with them; it is said that
some have to sleep on their desks, and many have lost the second incomes
they earned with private businesses in Rangoon.

The Government has announced a 1000 per cent pay rise for senior
bureaucrats and 500 per cent for lower ranks. Although the figures sound
enormous, they mean that top officials will now be paid about $A250 a
month.