BurmaNet News, September 15, 2006

[Editor]

September 15, 2006 Issue # 3046

“We encourage all members on the [UN Security] Council to set aside old
biases and take this first opportunity to work together constructively for
the sake of Southeast Asia and the people of Burma.”
- Aung Din, Policy Director, US Campaign for Burma, on the announcement
that Burma will be formally tabled at the UN Security Council

INSIDE BURMA
Xinhua: Myanmar detains over 1,500 jobless wanderers in August

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Indian protesters demand re-opening of World War II route to China
Irrawaddy: Rights groups urge Thais to pull out of Salween Dam project
Irrawaddy: Documentation problems anger ethnic Burmese on the Thai Border
Narinjara: Arakanese urban refugees reject UNHCR programmes

DRUGS
AFP: Myanmar announces hundreds of drugs arrests

ASEAN
BusinessWorld: ASEAN inter-parliament group prepares to draft common laws

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: UN Security Council puts Myanmar on agenda
Nation: Thaksin to face protest at UN
Reuters: Laura Bush to put pressure on Myanmar at U.N

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 15, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar detains over 1,500 jobless wanderers in August

Yangon: The Myanmar police detained over 1, 500 jobless street wanderers
in Yangon in August as part of its  bid to crack down on crime makers, the
local Myanmar Times  reported Friday.

The police linked them with 157 theft cases reported in Yangon in the last
two months.

Among the wanderers arrested, over 300 are homeless gypsies, nearly 350
are beggars and nearly 1,000 are rubbish collectors, most of whom are
under 16 years old, the police were quoted as saying.

Although some 800 were sent home, they returned to the street due to
economic difficulties, the police said, adding that they  are being
transferred to the social welfare department for  resettlement.

Most of the workers from other parts of the country working at  housing
construction sites were left stranded without job after  the projects
completed, forcing them to turn into drifters.

To bring down crime rate in Yangon, the police have been launching
crime-free-week campaign every month since January this year with
policemen patrolling round the clock in townships in  Yangon, coupled with
education on crime prevention through  exhibitions and distribution of
pamphlets against crimes.

Before the campaign was introduced, there had been a greater  number of
cases of theft, robbery, cheat and murder occurring in  Yangon which has a
population of over 6.5 million out of the  country's 55.4 million.

The authorities attributed 80 percent of the crime cases to the negligence
of the victims against crime.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 15, Agence France Presse
Indian protesters demand re-opening of World War II route to China

Guwahati: Thousands of people marched Friday along the historic Stilwell
Road to demand the reopening of the 1,079-mile (1,700 kilometres) route
linking northeastern India to China via Myanmar, witnesses said.

Organisers said more than 10,000 people shouted slogans and carried
placards and banners along one stretch of the road built by US army
general Joe Stilwell between 1942-1944 to send supplies to Chinese forces.

The route, which begins in India's Assam state, runs all the way to
Kunming, in southern China, and is con-sidered one of the great
engineering feats of World War II.

But it has fallen into neglect, particularly in Myanmar, which has been
under military rule since 1962.

"The symbolic march ... is the beginning of a mass movement to pressurize
New Delhi about the need to fa-cilitate (the) reopening of the Stilwell
Road for border trade with South Asia," Shankar Prasad Rai, president of
the All Assam Students Union (AASU), told AFP by telephone.

Politicians and students from Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram,
and Nagaland joined the union-organised protest 600 kilometers east of
Assam's main city of Guwahati.

"Reopening the Stilwell Road would allow free trade, besides transforming
the northeast as the gateway to South Asian business centers," Assam chief
minister Tarun Gogoi told AFP.

"The stretch of the Stilwell Road within Myanmar is still not developed
and we are urging New Delhi to im-press upon Yangon to take steps for
re-opening the historic road for trade," he said.

The road, which begins in Ledo, in Assam, follows ancient trade routes
cutting through the Pangsau pass in Myanmar to South China.

"We want the Stilwell Road reopened to establish strong trade links
between the northeastern region and South Asian countries like Myanmar,
China, and Thailand," said N. Lotha, a youth leader from Nagaland.

The northeastern states are linked to India through a narrow corridor but
have borders running 4,750 kilome-ters with China, Myanmar, Bhutan,
Bangladesh, China, and Nepal.

____________________________________

September 15, Irrawaddy
Rights groups urge Thais to pull out of Salween Dam project - Aung Lwin Oo

Ethnic conservationists and rights activists called on the Thai government
and investors on Friday to withdraw their support for the construction of
a dam on the Salween River in Shan State, claiming the work will disrupt
the lives of people living in the area.

A co-coordinated campaign of protests outside Thai embassies in several
countries is to be organized on September 21, it was announced at the
launch in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, of a report on the controversial
project.

“We want the Thai government and Thai investors to stop supporting a
project which will permanently displace thousands of our people,” said Sai
Sai of the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization at the launch.

The report, entitled “Warning Signs: An Update on Plans to Dam the Salween
in Burma’s Shan State,” was based on research and interviews in the area.
The group warned that the completed dam would flood an estimated 870
square kilometers, displacing thousands of people.

“This is a very worrying situation,” said Charm Tong, of the Shan Women’s
Action Network. She said that forced labor was being used and the area was
being deforested.

The report also said that Burma Army activity had increased in the area in
recent years. More military activity meant more human rights abuses, said
Charm Tong.

The project was first studied by a Japanese company, Nippon Koei in 1981,
and Thailand’s GMS Power Company and Myanmar Economic Cooperation agreed
to survey it in 1998. The dam is expected to cost US $6 billion and to
generate 7,110 megawatts of electricity when completed in 15 years’ time.

Following an agreement on the project in April between the Thai
construction company MDX and the Hydroelectric Power Department of
Thailand’s Ministry of Electric Power, Burmese officials claimed that that
“a certain amount of electricity” will be provided to the local population
free of charge and the rest will be sold to Thailand.

Activists claim the planned project will bring more harm than good as has
no apparent social and environmental assessments have been made. In order
to meet the needs of the local population, proper measures and
consultation with concern parties including local residents should be made
before proceeding with the project, they say.

____________________________________

September 15, Irrawaddy
Documentation problems anger ethnic Burmese on the Thai Border - Sai Silp

More than 400 ethnic Burmese families living along Thailand’s border with
Burma have urged local authorities to investigate irregularities in their
identification documents.

Their complaints emerged after an ethnic Shan man died last week. His
family—all of whom had been issued identification cards—reported the death
to local Thai officials to apply for insurance and welfare benefits, only
to discover that they had no record of the man.

Itthidet Ritdetdamrong, the leader of Pongpha sub-district in Mae Sai,
said that problems with official documentation have made life difficult
for many ethnic families—some of whom have lived in Thailand for more than
a decade.

“Former [government] officers issued temporary identification cards for
many families, but they did not record their information officially,” said
Itthidet. “Children born to these families, who should have been granted
citizenship, did not have any official status.”

Some 1,500 villagers—mostly Shan, Palaung and Lahu who fled Shan State
because of fighting between the government and ethnic opposition
groups—have had problems with their documentation.

Most of the villagers received their identification papers in 1996, and at
that time they had little knowledge about Thai immigration law. Since that
time, villagers have asked authorities to review their documentation but
say no progress has been made.

An official from the Mae Sai District Office told The Irrawaddy on Friday
that problems with documentation have occurred in other villages along the
border and said they could be the result of former officials not doing
their jobs correctly, or even corruption within district offices.

“We are investigating these cases, but it is quite difficult,” the
official said. “Some villagers have moved to other areas, and officers who
issued documents have been hard to track down.”

____________________________________

September 15, Narinjara News
Arakanese urban refugees reject UNHCR programmes

Arakanese urban refugees residing in Bangladesh refused to accept the
vocational training and self-reliance programmes offered by the UNHCR
Dhaka office during a meeting between the two groups at the RDF meeting
hall in Cox's Bazaar on September, 2006, said a refugee source.

"Yes, we refused to accept the UNHCR offer because we cannot do any
business in Bangladesh. We are foreigners and are unable to compete with
local businessmen in any sector anywhere in Bangladesh," said a refugee
who attended the meeting.

The meeting, organized by the UNHCR Dhaka office, was held for Arakanese
urban refugees to discuss ways to improve their day to day life while in
Bangladesh.

Three UNHCR officials, including programme officers from the Dhaka office
and an assistant protection officer from the Cox's Bazaar office, attended
the meeting along with about 60 Arakanese urban refugees and their
children.

During the meeting, the UNHCR officials offered two programmes to the
refugees - a vocational training programme and a self-reliance programme.

According to refugee sources, the UNHCR wanted to establish small business
ventures for Arakanese refugees in Bangladesh after they concluded
vocational training held under the UNHCR arrangement.

However, the discussion on the two programmes came to a halt during the
meeting after the refugees refused to accept the offer.

"We understand and appreciate the UNHCR’s offer to upgrade our life in
Bangladesh, but we are unable to accept the programme of self-reliance
this time. We had a bitter experience with previous projects under the
self-reliance programme," said Ko Khaing Win, an Arakanese refugee.

The UNHCR Dhaka office previously set in motion a number of projects under
the self-reliance programme for Arakanese refugees in several rural areas
of Bangladesh. The refugees participating were paid a lump sum to start
income-generating projects but none of the projects were successful. Many
refugees are now struggling for survival after their projects failed.

A refugee said, "All our previous projects were unsuccessful as the amount
of project money granted was inadequate for establishing a small business,
and because of the refugees' poor skills in the local language - they
could not compete with local businessmen. There was also lack of marketing
for products from the projects."

"We do not want to work on any business programme in Bangladesh again. If
UNHCR forces us to work on other projects in Bangladesh we will lose the
businesses yet again. We do not want to lie to the UNHCR to get money when
we won't succeed," said another refugee.

During the meeting, Arakanese refugees asked for UNHCR to arrange
resettlement of Arakanese urban refugees in third countries immediately.
If they are unable to carry out resettlement, they requested that UNHCR
pay a monthly living assistance stipend.

However, UNHCR officials did not respond to the refugees' demands during
the meeting.

In Bangladesh, there are over 200 Arakanese urban refugees who came to
Bangladesh in 1988 after the Burmese military government seized power.

____________________________________
DRUGS

September 15, Agence France Presse
Myanmar announces hundreds of drugs arrests

Yangon: Myanmar arrested 378 suspected drug dealers and seized nearly 100
kilograms of opium in August, state media reported Friday amid warnings
from its neighbours over the flow of narcotics across its border.

"Action was taken against 378 persons -- 303 men and 75 women," the New
Light of Myanmar said.

Military-run Myanmar is the world's second largest opium producer after
Afghanistan, and is also a major producer of amphetamines.

Authorities in August confiscated more than 200,000 amphetamine tablets
and chemicals used to manufac-ture the stimulants, the paper said.

Earlier this year China urged Myanmar to step up efforts to fight drug
trafficking and warned of the dangers of the "flood" of narcotics crossing
their common border.

Since the meeting between Myanmar and China in February, the junta has
announced a wave of arrests and drug seizures.

Myanmar also regularly burns hauls of narcotics in an effort to convince
the world that it is cracking down on rampant drug production.

The junta torched 436 million dollars worth of seized drugs in August.

____________________________________
ASEAN

September 15, BusinessWorld
ASEAN inter-parliament group prepares to draft common laws - Karen
Flores-Garcia

Cebu City: The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO) yesterday
formally changed its name into the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly or
AIPA in preparation for its transformation into a body that will draft
laws for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

In a communique that eight Southeast Asian member parliaments signed at
the closing plenary session yesterday afternoon of the 27th AIPO
Convention here, the organization said the name change was one of the
steps taken to achieve the ASEAN goal to become a "more effective and
closely integrated institution" and become an economic community by 2020.

There were also some amendments to the charter to prepare what will become
the AIPA general assembly that will "propose legislative initiatives on
issues of common concern."

Representative Edgar M. Chatto of Bohol, who presided over the meeting of
the committee on organizational matters, said that under the AIPA, the
position of secretary-general will become "permanent."
While the post will still be "rotated" among the member countries, a
person appointed to the position will be given a three-year term.

Under the current setup, the post is given to the country that hosts the
conference for the year.
Mr. Chatto said a screening committee will be created for the position.
Residency requirements have also been provided in the amendments.

During the discussion at the plenary session, lawmaker Antonio V. Cuenco
of Cebu City objected to the name AIPO and complained in an interview
later that the Indonesian delegation was "ramming through" the proposal to
rename the organization AIPA.

He was prevailed upon by the majority to withdraw his motion to defer the
name change to the conference to be held in Kuala Lumpur in March 2007.

He said in an interview during a session break that the Philippines
objects to the name AIPA because "it does not sound good."

Among the proposals, the Philippine delegation had preferred ASEAN
Parliamentary Council.
AIPA, he said, sounds like the acronym of another organization in Asia,
the Asia-Pacific People's Assembly or APPA.

Mr. Chatto said the approval does not stop the body from changing its name
in the future if there is a move to do so.

AIPO also adopted a resolution from the economic committee calling on
multilateral institutions and large commercial banks to reinvest in the
economies of debtor-countries 50% of the agreed-on portion of the debt-
service payments in the form of equities and other forms of financial
assets towards the attainment of the United Nation's Millennium
Development Goal (MDG).

AIPO supports the creation of the International Conference for the
Conversion/Investment of foreign debts of poor countries which will
convert the debt servicing of the 100 poorest countries in the world into
"tangible values based on MDG." It also urged that AIPO become a permanent
member of the conference.

AIPO, in the communique, also expressed concern over the "deteriorating
situation and escalation of violence in the Middle East, particularly in
the Palestinian-occupied territories and in Lebanon. [AIPO] also supports
the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and urges Israel
to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon and to immediately and
unconditionally release all Lebanese and Palestinian detainees."

AIPO did not touch on the situation in Myanmar following the heated
discussion between the Indonesian and Myanmar delegations during the
meeting of the committee on political matters. Indonesia called for a
fast- tracking of the democratization of Myanmar and the release of Aung
San Suu Kyi while Myanmar refused to have the matter tackled at that
forum.

However, a statement was circulated covertly yesterday afternoon, signed
by some delegates of the Indonesian and Philippine delegations, calling
for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and 14 parliamentarians-elect and for
Myanmar to "honor its commitment to immediately implement a truly
inclusive, legitimate, visible and credible political process leading to a
democratic transition involving all parties concerned."

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

Sept 15, Agence France Presse
UN Security Council puts Myanmar on agenda

United Nations: The United Nations Security Council formally put the
situation of Myanmar on its agenda, following a vote that represented a
victory for the United States and a defeat for China.

The United States, citing a threat to world peace and security, had
pressed to have the issue of political repression and human rights abuses
in Myanmar put formally on the agenda.

____________________________________

September 15, The Nation
Thaksin to face protest at UN

Thais based in the United States will stage a three-day
demonstraฌtion against caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
outside United Nations headquarters in New York, where he is to attend the
UN General Assembly next week.

The People's Alliance for Democracy in New York has been given a police
permit to stage the protest from Monday, according to thainewyork.com, a
website for the Thai community in New York.

Thaksin is currently in Cuba to attend a meeting of Non Aligned Movement
countries. He will arrive in New York on Sunday and stay there until
Wednesday.

The website claimed Thaksin would be the first Thai leader to face a
protest at UN headquarters in front of world leaders.

Thais living in Washington, Boston, Connecticut, San Francisco, Los
Angeles and other US cities will travel to New York for the demonstration,
it said.

The protests start at 3pm on Monday and Tuesday and from noon on
Wednesday. The protesters will wear yellow.

____________________________________

September 14, Reuters
Laura Bush to put pressure on Myanmar at U.N

Washington: First lady Laura Bush will have her own agenda when she and
President George W. Bush leave on Monday for the annual U.N. General
Assembly in New York.

While her husband is in meetings with the leaders of Malaysia, El
Salvador, Honduras, Tanzania, France and Iraq, Laura Bush will host a
round-table discussion on Myanmar, formerly Burma, and a global literacy
conference, the first lady's office said.

The United States wants the U.N. Security Council to deal with Myanmar,
whose junta government has jailed opponents, persecuted minorities and
sent refugees fleeing into neighboring states.

Laura Bush on Tuesday will host the discussion to try to gain support for
a proposed U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution to pressure Myanmar
to have an "all-inclusive political process" and release detained Nobel
Peace Prize-winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

She will also call on the Myanmar government to ensure access and security
for humanitarian workers, take steps to end ethnic violence and address
HIV/AIDS and drugs and human trafficking.

U.N. and U.S. officials plus representatives from nongovernmental
organizations that work on the Thai-Burmese border were expected to be
included.

On Monday, Laura Bush will push global literacy at a conference at the New
York Public Library. Later she will join women entrepreneurs to ring the
closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.