BurmaNet News, June 21, 2006

[Editor]

June 21, 2006 Issue # 2988


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar releases protester detained over Suu Kyi demonstration
SHAN: Detained Shan leader 'did not die of epilepsy'

HEALTH / AIDS
AFP: Bird flu threat tops agenda at Southeast Asia health meeting

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Tax-free zone planned for Thailand’s Golden Triangle

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Ramos says Asean charter should force action on Burma
AFP: Malaysia signals region losing patience on Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Inter-Press: Burma: forced labour issue may reach the Hague - Marwaan
Macan-Markar
DVB: Burmese activists continue to stage hunger strike outside White House
Globe and Mail: Accepting Myanmar refugees signals immigration shift

OPINION / OTHER
International Herald Tribune: A crack in the Burmese door - Ibrahim A.
Gambari
Jakarta Post: Myanmar's threat to regional security - Kraisak Choonhavan

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 21, Associated Press
Myanmar releases protester detained over Suu Kyi demonstration

Yangon: Myanmar's military junta has quietly released a school teacher who
launched a lone demonstration against the detention of pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi to mark her 61st birthday, his family said.

The protester Tun Tun was detained Monday after showing up in central
Yangon and shouting slogans calling for Suu Kyi's release. He was released
Tuesday night.

Tun Tun, 44, said he was forced to sign a statement agreeing not to
participate in any more anti-government activities.

But in an interview with The Associated Press, he remained defiant and
said he would "continue to expose the sufferings of the people."

"I spent only one night in police lock up. I was surprised when I was
released on Tuesday evening," said Tun Tun, who has not taught since being
arrested in 1995 and jailed for four years for listening to British
Broadcasting Corp.

The military junta took power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy
demonstrations in Myanmar, also known as Burma. In 1990, it refused to
hand over power when Suu Kyi's party won a landslide election victory.

Suu Kyi has been detained for 10 of the past 17 years, making her one of
the world's most prominent political prisoners. Her birthday on Monday was
celebrated by supporters in Myanmar and around the world, who called for
her immediate release.

____________________________________

June 21, Shan Herald Agency for News
Detained Shan leader 'did not die of epilepsy'

More than a month following his death, a long-time close friend of "Math"
Myint Than arrived at the border to reject a report by junta-run media
that the cause of his death on 2 May was epilepsy.

"He had never been an epileptic at any time throughout his life," he said.
"By saying this, the generals were not only committing physical murder but
also character assassination".

Contrary to earlier reports that he was detained on 9 February, two days
after observing ' the 58th birthday of Mother Shan State'(Shan National
Day), the source, who requested anonymity, maintained that authorities had
taken Myint Than into custody at 14:00 on 8 February. "He had been
complaining from chest pains since then", he said.

The source also expressed mild surprise by the junta's crackdown on 8-9
February which netted some 30 activists, out of whom all but 9 were
released on 7 March 2005. "The Consultative Council formed at Hsengkeow
(headquarters of the ceasefire group Shan State Army-North in November
2004) was not calling for regime change but for step-by-step
transformation into democracy," he said. "In fact, Saya (Master) Myint
Than had publicly declared his opposition to the break-up of the Armed
Forces."

His call for a National Consultative Council, chosen from people outside
the military government , opposition parties and armed organizations, on
10 December 2004, on behalf of New Generation-Shan State, a group he had
co-founded in 2002, was only to create an intermediate body that would
serve as a balance between two extremisms: perpetual military dictatorship
and its total overthrow.

Myint Than, born in Taunggyi on 14 June 1951, was not yet 55 when he died
on 2 May. Adept in math, he was teaching the subject to university
students although he himself failed to finish matriculation. He also took
part in the 1988 uprising against the socialist government of the late Gen
Ne Win.

He was credited with ingrained leadership qualities. While he was at
Hsengkeow in 2004, he was so popular with the officers and men that Col
Gaifah, Deputy Commander in Chief of the SSA-North, was quoted as telling
him in feigned seriousness: " You'd better leave soon, U Myint Than,
before we become commanders without troops to command."

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 21, Agence France Presse
Bird flu threat tops agenda at Southeast Asia health meeting

Yangon: Top health officials from around Southeast Asia opened a three-day
meeting Wednesday in Myanmar on combating bird flu, one day after
Indonesia announced the virus had killed another person.

A senior member of the junta that rules Myanmar, Lieutenant General Thein
Sein, said the ministers would discuss "rapid response and pandemic
preparedness for avian influenza."

The meeting aimed to develop "better understanding and coordination for
emerging infectious diseases," said Thein Sein, the junta's fifth most
powerful man.

"In addressing avian influenza, close coordination and pooling of
resources are needed in regional cooperation for effective prevention and
control operations," he said.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as
health officials from China, Japan and South Korea were attending the
talks.

Separately in Jakarta, international experts were mapping out a strategy
for Indonesia to rein in the virus, which the government said Tuesday had
claimed its 39th victim.

The only country with more bird flu victims is Vietnam, where 42 deaths
have been recorded.

More than 120 people worldwide have died from the highly deadly H5N1 bird
flu virus since it re-emerged as a threat in 2003, with most of the
victims in Asia.

Myanmar is among the countries often accused by international experts of
lacking openness in its monitoring for bird flu.

The country reported its first outbreak of the disease in March, around
the central city of Mandalay. The government slaughtered some 660,000
birds and has insisted that the outbreaks were under control.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 21, Irrawaddy
Tax-free zone planned for Thailand’s Golden Triangle - Sai Silp

A special tax-free trading zone is to be set up in Thailand’s renowned
Golden Triangle, bordering Burma and Laos. It is hoped that the zone,
centered on the Mekong River village Sop Ruak, will stimulate trade and
tourism, according to Patcharadit Sinsawat, the organizer of the project.

Patcharadit is also customs office chief at Chiang Saen, a river port near
Sop Ruak. He told The Irrawaddy that the project—due to open by the end of
2006—would involve private investors as well as Thai authorities. The
first phase—covering 16,000 square meters—would include showrooms,
tax-free shops and a product distribution center with links to other Asean
countries. A hotel, convention center and various tourism facilities are
also planned for the area.

“We expect that the project will stimulate economic co-operation with
neighboring countries,” Patcharadit said.

Pattana Sitthisombat, director of the Chamber of Commerce in the
provincial capital Chiang Rai, agreed that the project provided a good
opportunity to increase trade in the Mekong River area. There were plans
to establish a new industrial zone in Chiang Khong, a river port east of
Chiang Saen.

Chiang Saen is the area’s major port for the importation of goods from
Burma, Laos and China. Goods worth 200 million baht (US $50 million) pass
between Burma and Thailand through Chiang Saen annually. Total border
trade through Chiang Saen is expected to increase about 25 percent in the
first six months of this year.

____________________________________
ASEAN

June 21, Irrawaddy
Ramos says Asean charter should force action on Burma - Estrella Torres

Manila: Former Philippines president Fidel Ramos has expressed hopes that
the continuing political turmoil in Burma and military suppression will
soon be addressed by Asean once a charter for the regional body is
adopted.

Ramos represents the Philippines in the Asean Eminent Persons Group which
is drafting the charter. It aims to bring binding solutions to problems
encountered by member countries.

“The problem with Asean [is that] proposals do not bind and everything
that is being adopted is regarded as loose agreement,” said Ramos in an
interview with The Irrawaddy on the sidelines of a Philippines-EU Business
forum in Makati City.

“Once there is a charter, there will be rules to be enforced,” said Ramos.
“These mechanisms and rules will compel non-complying members to abide by
the rules under the pain of certain sanctions.”

Asean heads of state will meet for an annual summit in December in Cebu,
the Philippines. Discussions will include regional and international
security issues and the fight against terrorism, the drafting of the Asean
charter, and policy directions for the recently formed East Asian Summit,
which draws together Asean member countries plus other regional powers,
including India, China, Australia, and Russia.

The Philippines has raised the issue of Burma at previous summit meetings
and has urged Asean to pressure Burma’s military junta to release
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ramos said the Asean governments still adhere to the policy of
non-interference on Burma. “That’s why we have entrusted this sensitive
matter to the Eminent Persons Group to address.”

The group includes leading academic, bureaucrats and former senior
politicians from all 10 Asean countries. Burma is being represented by
Than Nyunt, chairman of the country’s Civil Service Selection and Training
Board.

____________________________________

June 21, Agence France Presse
Malaysia signals region losing patience on Myanmar - M. Jegathesan

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia on Wednesday signalled the region was close to
washing its hands of Myanmar, saying the junta had snubbed efforts to push
for democracy and urging the UN to take over the case.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) was being sidelined by the ruling generals, who are under
mounting international criticism from within and outside the region.

"There is lack of confidence in Myanmar on ASEAN. I think the best thing
is for Myanmar to be put under the purview of the UN Secretary General
(Kofi Annan)," Syed Hamid told AFP.

"Myanmar does not want ASEAN to play a role. They see ASEAN as not being
fit to play a role," he said.

The military regime thumbed its nose at Syed Hamid in March when he
travelled to Yangon as an ASEAN envoy to check on its claims it is
shifting towards democracy.

Syed Hamid was denied access to detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, prompting him to say that regional leaders were "frustrated and
disullusioned" with their intransigent neighbour.

Shortly afterwards the junta allowed UN Under Secretary General Ibrahim
Gambari to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, and hold talks with the junta's
reclusive leader Senior General Than Shwe outside the new capital of
Pyinmana.

Syed Hamid said the action demonstrated that Myanmar -- which has become
an international pariah for its reluctance to abandon military rule and
improve its human rights record -- does not want ASEAN to play a bridging
role.

"The don't see fit for ASEAN to meet Aung San Suu Kyi. I have gone to
Myanmar but they did not allow me to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and other
political leaders," he said. "That is the way they deal with us."

ASEAN has put aside its policy of non-interference in members' affairs in
recent months to demand that Myanmar's ruling generals introduce
democratic reforms or risk bringing the entire region into disrepute.

Regional governments have begun openly expressing irritation with the
Myanmar generals, and there have been rumblings that it should be ejected
from the ASEAN bloc, which it joined in 1997.

Syed Hamid lamented the fact that no ASEAN leader or foreign minister had
been invited to visit Myanmar's new capital and that the honour was
accorded instead to the UN official.

He said Myanmar was refusing to let the group speak on its behalf because
there was "not enough (ammunition)" to make their case -- referring to the
slow progress of reform in the secretive nation.

The junta crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and two years later
rejected the results of national elections won by the National League for
Democracy, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent 10 of the past 17 years in
detention at her lakeside home in Yangon.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 21, Inter-Press News Service
Burma: forced labour issue may reach the Hague - Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bangkok: Burma's ruling generals may soon have another badge of notoriety
on their chest if they fail to march in step with a global call to end
forced labour in the country. The South-east Asian nation could become the
first to be taken before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its
record of abusive labour practices.

Rangoon has till November to convince members of the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) that it means business, this time, in ending the
scourge. Two key areas where the junta has been called to account include
releasing from prison, by the end of July, civilians arrested for filing
complaints to the ILO office in Burma about forced labour and ending
prosecutions currently underway.

By end October, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the
junta is officially known, should also have in place ''a credible
mechanism for dealing with complaints of forced labour with all necessary
guarantees for the protection of complainants''.

The new benchmarks for the junta's commitment to change were set during
the just concluded 95th International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva,
which was attended by some 3,000 delegates representing the three main
pillars of this specialised U.N. agency. They included representatives
from the government, workers and employers.

This is not the first time that the SPDC has led the country to achieve
pariah status unprecedented on the issue of an abusive labour culture that
borders on salvery. During the ILC in June last year, the junta's refusal
to reform resulted in the conference declaring that Article 33 of the ILO
constitution should be enforced. It meant that the ILO's members had the
right to impose punitive economic sanctions on Burma -- the first time
such a ruling was made.

According to Richard Horsey, ILO's representative in Rangoon, pressure
from outside will mean little if the government in Myanmar, as the junta
calls Burma, refuses to cooperate. ''Myanmar has now reaffirmed its
willingness to cooperate with the ILO in addressing forced labour, and the
ILO has indicated what concrete steps are now needed in that direction,''
he told IPS.

The key issue, he added, is ''to establish a credible mechanism for
dealing with complaints of forced labour, which will give confidence to
the victims to complain, and will undermine the impunity of the
perpetrators.''

Aye Myint, a Burmese lawyer, is one of the people the ILO has in mind. He
is in prison for taking up the call to arms against forced labour. So was
Su Su New, a human rights activist who had sued the Burmese authorities
for forced labour. She was freed from prison in early June, months ahead
of the 18 months sentence she was given since being thrown behind bars in
Rangoon's Insein prison in October last year. Her freedom, say Burmese
political activists in exile, was an attempt by the SPDC to win favour at
the June ILC.

''In Burma, on any given day, several hundreds thousand men, women
children and elderly people are forced to work against their will by the
country's military rulers,'' states the Brussels-based International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions. ''Refusal to work may lead to being
detained, tortured, raped or killed.''

''Military officers issue written forced labour orders everyday,'' it
adds. The work includes building army camps, carrying ammunition, building
bridges and roads and cultivating on military acquired lands.

The condition has worsened since last June, Maung Maung, general secretary
of he Federation of Trade Unions-Burma (FTUB), said during a telephone
interview. ''Even people in Rangoon are being abducted for forced labour.
The people are being sent to camps. Previously it was restricted to the
provinces.''

Burma stands out among countries in Asia where forced labour is rampant --
a fact reflected in it receiving special scrutiny at ILO meetings. There
are an estimated 9.5 million victims of forced labour in the Asia-Pacific
region, nearly three-fourths of the global total of 12.3 million trapped
in this form of abuse, according to an ILO study.

The ILO's engagement with Burma took a turn for the worse in 1997, when
the SPDC refused to assist an inquiry called for by the global body into
this scourge. The report described forced labour in Burma as ''a crime
against humanity.''

By June 2000, the ILC began turning the heat on the SPDC by calling for
its members to review the relationship they had with Burma. To avoid
damage by failing to abide by the Forced Labour Convention of 1930, that
it had ratified, the Burmese military agreed to let the ILO open an office
in May 2002 to assess the problem.

But as Horsey affirms, hurdles were placed in his way, even resulting in
death threats to him and his family in August and September last year.
''Previously, I was addressing complaints on an informal basis, since the
agreement reached with the Myanmar authorities in 2003 on the
establishment of a 'facilitator' mechanism was never implemented,'' he
says. ''Over the past months, the ILO has not received the cooperation it
expected from Myanmar.''

Repeating such a record may prove counterproductive to the junta, if the
final statement from the ILC is any indicator. ''The conference set out
two areas that required 'tangible and verifiable' action from Myanmar,''
it states. ''At its November 2006 sessions, the ILO's governing body would
examine whether this actions has been taken and would have full authority
to decide on the most appropriate course of action.''

____________________________________

Jun 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese activists continue to stage hunger strike outside White House

Pro-democracy Burmese activists are continuing to stage hunger strike
outside the White House in Washington D.C. despite the heavy downpours.

The activists are demanding the US government to push harder for Burma to
be hauled before the UN Security Council. The hunger strike started on 18
June.

“There are still 6 protestors to this day,” one of the protestors, Aung
Thet told DVB. “We are all well. We are all happy and in good health. We
are continuing the protest. Last night the weather was atrocious. At
around 8pm, it started to rain at the US White House until 10pm. We were
squatting with our waterproofs under the heavy rains, and we re-unfurled
our posters and continued our protest. At 8am, it was raining sporadically
and we continued to protest and fight on when there was pure daylight and
fine weather at 9am.”

Meanwhile, a report from Kuala Lumpur said that Lawmakers from six
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries defied Thailand
and other governments and called for Burma to be hauled before the UN
Security Council. They said their governments were lost on how to deal
with the Burmese military junta.

Expressing growing frustration across the region, the ASEAN special
committee on Burma, ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), said
there had been no sign of change despite calls for democracy and the
release of political prisoners like Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We urge the United Nations to take the issue to the Security Council,"
said the chairman of the AIPMC, Malaysia's Zaid Ibrahim. "There is no
democratic progress in Myanmar (Burma) and ASEAN is lost on what to
do
Unless there is pressure from the UN and the Security Council, I do not
see any changes taking place and Aung San Suu Kyi will continue to be
detained.

Zaid added that regional heavyweights China and India must also play a
bigger role in ending Rangoon's repressive policies and campaigning for
the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Last December the United States pushed the UN Security Council to hold a
briefing on human rights and other problems in Burma for the first time.

UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown said Monday that it was
possible Burma could be referred to Security Council.

____________________________________

June 21, Globe and Mail (Canada)
Accepting Myanmar refugees signals immigration shift - Gloria Galloway

Bringing in groups is more efficient, minister says

Ottawa: Canada's plan to accept 810 people who fled persecution in Myanmar
and are living in a squalid camp in northern Thailand signals a shift in
how the government plans to deal with refugees, Immigration Minister Monte
Solberg said yesterday.

The refugees, mostly members of the Karen ethnic group, were selected with
the help of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. They are the
most vulnerable and desperate residents of the Mae La Oon camp. The first
500 are scheduled to arrive in August.

"We have been doing this group processing for a couple of years, but as
far as I know this is one of the biggest groups," Mr. Solberg told The
Globe and Mail. "And it's probably the way that we will go in the future."

Previously, the world's imperilled populations had to convince governments
of their refugee needs one person at a time. But targeting people in need
and accepting them en masse may become the norm. Two years ago, working
with the UNHCR, Canada accepted 1,000 refugees from Sudan, and last year
accepted 1,000 from Afghanistan.

"Now we say, if you passed the medical and security checks and you are in
this region where we know all these atrocities took place -- if you are in
the little town that got burnt out by the marauding national army -- then
we are going to accept you," Mr. Solberg said.

"It's much more efficient. Plus, bringing them in a group, they've got
somebody who's with them and they will be more secure."

The refugees have lived in the camp in Thailand since leaving their homes
in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, a decade ago. The military regime had
set about crushing an insurgency with executions, forced labour and
destruction of crops and villages.

"They were driven out of Burma-Myanmar and, while there, they faced all
kinds of persecution, torture. Their homes were burnt to the ground," Mr.
Solberg said.

"And, for the last 10 years they have been stuck in this camp which is
very isolated, very primitive. And the people that we have selected . . .
are probably the poorest of the poor, are the one who are really in the
most dire straits."

They are leaving behind a camp of about 14,000 people living in bamboo
huts and tarp tents built on steep hillsides where landslides are common
and poor sanitation poses a constant threat to health.

Some of them were leaders of the Karen movement in Myanmar. Some are
shunned, single women who are heading households. Some have chronic
illnesses that need medical treatment. And a few have family in Canada.

The refugees will settle in 10 cities from Vancouver to Charlottetown,
where there are small, existing Karen communities and resources to support
them. "By the nature of what they've been through, they require more
support than obviously a skilled worker immigrant coming from Poland," Mr.
Solberg said.

"In some cases they've got to deal with things like post-traumatic stress
and just the tremendous differences in culture. And of course very, very
few of them have any knowledge of English or French so it's a very tough
situation for them to adjust so we have to make sure that we put them in
places where there are resources that can help them."

The first 500 will be sponsored by the government. The remaining 310, who
will arrive before year's end, are being sponsored by community groups,
mostly churches.

Jahanshah Assadi, the UNHCR representative in Canada, praised Canada for
being one of the top two or three countries in the world to open its doors
to refugees from Myanmar.

"These are, I would say, the more vulnerable amongst the vulnerable," Mr.
Assadi said. "We would normally submit refugees for resettlement if they
have special protection requirements, special vulnerabilities, and we are
really pleased that Canada has stepped forward and taken these 800-plus
people."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 21, International Herald Tribune
A crack in the Burmese door - Ibrahim A. Gambari

For a number of years now, the military leaders of Myanmar, formerly
called Burma, have seemed impervious to international calls for democratic
reform. A special UN envoy for Myanmar, Rezali Ismail, was prohibited for
more than two years from even stepping foot in the country.

Last month, something seemed to change. Myanmar's locked door popped open
a small crack.

Traveling as an emissary of the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, I was
allowed into Myanmar on a three-day mission, during which the senior
leadership of the country asserted a desire to turn a new page in the
country's frayed relations with the international community.

The government also allowed me to see the country's best-known political
prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate who has been under
house arrest for most of the past 17 years. Myanmar's senior leader,
General Than Shwe, agreed to the rare meeting when we spoke in Myanmar's
remote new capital of Nay Pyi Daw.

Flanked by his high command during a wide-ranging discussion, the general
seemed to understand the central message of my mission, that while the
United Nations wants to help Myanmar address the many challenges it faces
in economic development and other areas, the international community wants
to see the country move more decidedly toward restoring democracy and
fundamental human rights.

I listed a number of actions that would be taken as benchmarks of goodwill:

The release of Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners. There would be
no clearer way to signal a genuine change of heart.

A halt in the recent military offensive against rebels in Myanmar's north
that has reportedly taken a heavy toll on civilians.

Making the ongoing constitution-writing process an all-inclusive, fully
democratic exercise.

Providing UN aid agencies and other humanitarian groups safe and
unhindered access to get help to the many needy people in Myanmar.

Since my return, there have been mixed messages from Myanmar.
Disappointingly, Suu Kyi's house arrest was extended for another year.
Secretary General Annan, who had pleaded personally for her release,
lamented this missed opportunity for Myanmar to back up its expressed
commitments with actions.

In recent days, however, Myanmar freed a lesser-known dissident, for whose
release I had also appealed. Ms. Su Su Nway had been jailed last October
after protesting alleged forced labor practices.

Meanwhile, the UN received through diplomatic channels continued
indications of the government's willingness to engage with the United
Nations on the whole range of issues raised during my visit.

For skeptics, this is but a shallow gesture - the regime using an
international visitor in an effort to release some of the pressure that
has been building from the outside. There has been talk of bringing
Myanmar before the UN Security Council, a move that would open the
possibility of stronger international censure and other actions.

However, there are reasons to believe that the welcome I received was more
than a mere publicity ploy.

Suu Kyi and members of her embattled political party, the National League
for Democracy, told me they felt the United Nations might now be able to
play a useful role as an impartial third party in helping them find common
ground with the government on what would no doubt be a difficult road to
national reconciliation. Government officials expressed a similar desire.

It is premature after one brief mission to come to any conclusions about
the extent and depth of Myanmar's current opening. Sustained engagement
may be the only way to arrive at a fuller assessment of the prospects for
democratization, development and reconciliation.

It will, of course, be up to the Security Council to decide on a course of
action. Myanmar is hardly alone as a country for which the international
community, in trying to influence the course of events, finds itself
debating the relative merits of diplomacy versus pressure, or a
combination of both.

Though some may be tempted to lose patience with the diplomatic track, I
believe we have no option but to persist.

(Ibrahim A. Gambari is the UN under secretary general for political affairs.)

____________________________________

June 19, The Jakarta Post
Myanmar's threat to regional security - Kraisak Choonhavan

Today [19 June] is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's 61st birthday. Once again, the
leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), will wake trapped in
her own home with only the company of her radio, and by all accounts, not
in the best of health.

Like Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's people, too, are trapped and not in the
best of health. The military regime's severe oppression and misgovernance
that ails Myanmar is worsening and threatening the entire region.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) publicly committed
itself to the principles of comprehensive security in the 2003 Bali
Concord II. The Concord acknowledges the fundamental linkage between good
governance with traditional and non-traditional models of security. It is
time for ASEAN leaders to fulfil that commitment and act to address the
threat that the military regime in Myanmar poses to us all.

Unfortunately, informal talks about the spill-over effects of Myanmar's
problems, the favored approach of ASEAN to address such problems, have
proved insufficient. In the past year, the military regime of Myanmar led
by Senior General Than Shwe, has increasingly shown its contempt for ASEAN
and its regional partners. Only recent moves to take Myanmar to the UN
Security Council have sparked any positive reaction at all from the Senior
General's State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). This is proof the UN
Security Council represents our "final frontier" in ensuring that genuine
political and economic reforms take place in Myanmar that will, in turn,
improve regional security.

When Myanmar joined ASEAN in 1997, the Myanmar authorities assured us that
it was engaged in a "step-by-step" process to achieve democracy. Such
"roadmap" initiatives have been an opportunity for the regime to issue
assurances to the international community of "progress", whilst
simultaneously marching backwards on genuine political and economic
reforms.

Besides rounding up hundreds more of political prisoners, more ethnic
leaders and MPs have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms in the past
year.
Shan State Peace Council Chairman (SSPC) Gen Hso Ten was sentenced to 106
years in jail; Shan Nationalities League for Democracy Chair and MP Hkun
Tun Oo was sentenced to 76 years. Rohingya MP-elect U Kyaw Min was
sentenced to 47 years in prison while his wife and children each received
17-year prison terms.

It is only right that the NLD has refused to engage in the "roadmap"
initiatives of the regime until the commencement of political dialogue.
The bitter lessons learnt by the NLD and ethnic political parties from
their previous participation in such processes prove that engagement would
be futile without prior political dialogue based on the fundamental
principles of democracy and human rights.

Myanmar's military has continued its campaign of terror against the
country's ethnic nationality groups. There are an estimated 540,000
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Eastern Myanmar alone; the current
assault on ethnic Karen has displaced 18,000 since November. In Western
Myanmar, the SPDC has targeted ethnic Muslim Rohingyas. Meanwhile, UN
statistics conservatively estimate that there are 688,500 Myanmar refugees
in Thailand, Bangladesh, India and Malaysia.

Myanmar's military regime is guilty of perpetrating egregious human rights
violations - extrajudicial killings, torture, disappearances, arbitrary
detention, land confiscation and forced relocation are widespread. So is
forcing civilians to serve as military porters, to act as human mine
sweepers, and to work on infrastructure projects. Myanmar is notorious for
having an estimated 70,000 child soldiers  the largest number in the world
 and for systematically using rape as a weapon of war.

It is a well-known fact that Myanmar is the world's number two producer of
opium and heroin. A lesser-known fact is that Myanmar is Southeast Asia's
largest producer of amphetamine type stimulants (ATS). It is clear that
the SPDC has contributed directly and indirectly to conditions that have
allowed drug production and trafficking to thrive.

SPDC policies that restrict public health and humanitarian aid have
created an environment where AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis,
filariasis, malaria and avian flu (H5N1) are spreading unchecked, and new
disease strains are being incubated. Given this dismal scenario, Myanmar
could very well become the epicenter for the avian flu pandemic. In the
meantime HIV/AIDS, TB, and drug-resistant malaria pose a current and
serious public health issues for all of us.

The regime is one of the key contributors to Myanmar's humanitarian crisis
through military operations against ethnic civilians, general neglect of
the national population and serious economic mismanagement. The capricious
move of Myanmar's capital to a military stronghold has further bankrupted
the population, making tens of thousands more vulnerable to human
trafficking, economic exploitation and poverty-related disease.

ASEAN has had to expend considerable amounts of political capital in
defending our recalcitrant neighbor. ASEAN's diplomatic, political and
economic influence has become a hostage to the Myanmar's regime's misrule
and misbehavior. It is intolerable that ASEAN is compelled to defend the
same misbehavior that continues to adversely affect regional economic and
political stability.

I believe our ASEAN leaders are well aware of the security dimensions of
Myanmar's oppression but are afraid that taking a public stand may provoke
a worse reaction from the regime, causing more problems for "frontline"
states bordering the country. This short-sighted approach only serves to
prolong and worsen the problem. Just as the Myanmar regime has failed to
deliver on long-standing promises of reforms, ASEAN's dithering is
flouting commitments made through the ASEAN Security Community Plan of
Action.

In absence of political will in ASEAN, I and my other colleagues in the
ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) believe that the most
effective approach to restoring democracy in Burma is through action by
the UN Security Council. We are not calling for military intervention but
we do believe that a formal resolution with enforceable measures, followed
by firm and leveraged diplomacy will deliver the results that the people
of Myanmar and this region so urgently need.

Senator Kraisak Choonhavan is Chairman of the Thai Senate Foreign Affairs
Committee & Vice President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus
(AIPMC)