BurmaNet News, September 21, 2006

[Editor]

September 21, 2006 Issue # 3050


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Students demonstrate at Myingyan Degree College in central Burma
Irrawaddy: Some Burmese opposition supports Thai coup
DVB: KNU prisoner Ricky Thet released by Burma junta
AFP: Myanmar could have partially elected parliament by 2008: analysts

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: New report cites abuse by Burma Army, DKBA in Mon State

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar introduces e-payment system for export-import formalities
Irrawaddy: Russians join Burma gas and oil hunt

INTERNATIONAL
Washington Post: Ideals and realities clash in Bush 'freedom agenda'

OPINION / OTHER
Christian Science Monitor: The Monitor’s View: Of kings, coups, and Asian
democracies
Privilege

STATEMENT
CRPP via DVB: Unofficial translation of CRPP’s statement on Security
Council’s decision to discuss Burma issue


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

Sep 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Students demonstrate at Myingyan Degree College in central Burma

Students at Myingyan Degree College in central Burma staged an impromptu
demonstration on 15 September in protest of superfluous rules imposed on
them by the authorities.

A student who was expelled from the college for participating in the
demonstration told DVB that students are told not to wear trousers,
T-shirts or caps and not to carry their bags across their chests. Students
are also forced to join pro-junta, the Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA) and threatened if they refused to do so. Around 200
students were expelled.

Students who didn’t fulfil 75% of the attendance ‘roll call’ were also
barred from taking their examinations but the daughter of the district
authority chairman Col Tun Win, who was rarely seen at the college was
allowed to sit her exams, the unidentified student.

We contacted the authorities of the college by phone for comments but they
all refused to do so. A similar demonstration recently occurred at
Shwepyithar Computer College in Rangoon.

____________________________________

September 21, Irrawaddy
Some Burmese opposition supports Thai coup - Khun Sam

As Thai people’s support mounted for Bangkok’s Tuesday coup, neighboring
Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, and an
opposition ethnic group have also cautiously welcomed the putsch.

Myint Thein, NLD spokesman, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday: “We felt sad
when we heard there had been a coup in a democratic country.” But he added
that he hoped and believes that the Thai military coup-makers would
quickly return power to a civilian democracy and normalcy, as it had
promised.

Cin Sian Thang, a Rangoon-based ethnic leader and prominent member of the
Committee Representing the People’s Parliament was stronger in his
support: “The seizing of state power has never been good, but in the case
of Thailand, it appears that the move aims to be for the benefit of the
people. Now that the Thai people are supporting the coup, it shows the
move was necessary.”

The CRPP was established by the NLD and a number of ethnic-based political
parties in September 1998, after the ruling junta continued to refuse to
recognize the results of the 1990 general election.

He compared the coup with the way the Burmese military crushed the mass
pro-democracy in the country in 1988, and never return power to civilians.

The coup, led by Thai Army Commander Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, was mainly
aimed at forcing now-former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to step
down, but Sonthi has vowed the military will be in direct power for no
more than two weeks.

Min Ko Naing, a prominent former student leader in Rangoon, said political
problems should be solved only by political means. “It is important to see
if this current political move in Thailand can guarantee the interests of
the Thai people. It should not be a backward move for democracy.”

____________________________________

September 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
KNU prisoner Ricky Thet released by Burma junta

A Karen National Union (KNU)) member, Lt-Sgt Ricky Thet who has been
imprisoned since 1982 at the age of 29, was released from Thayet Jail in
central Burma today.

Ricky Thet was captured by the soldiers of the then ruling semi-military
government, the Burma’s Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) while he and
other KNU members, Mahn Ngwe Aung, Myo Aung, Richard and Tookie, attempted
to seize control of the Burmese broadcasting building in Rangoon.

The leader Ngwe Aung and Myo Aung were killed during a shootout with
soldiers guarding the building. Thet, Richard and Tookie were captured
alive and sentenced to death and the sentences were later commuted to 25
years in 1989. Richard and Tookie are still being detained.

Thet told DVB that the condition within the prison was dire, especially
healthcare was very poor with acute lack of medicines.

“Now at the prison for health matter, many people are seriously ill. There
are no medicines. There were many people who died for no obvious reasons.
At the moment, the health condition of U Kyaw Thaung is very dire. He is
even unable to walk,” said Thet.

He was allowed to see his family members for the first time in November
1997 and planning to join them in Demoso, Karenni (Kayah) State. “I have
to start my life from (square) one,” said Thet when he asked what he was
planning to do, now that he was free.
He was not forced to sign any pledge but told not to go anywhere but home
and to report to the local police station when he gets there and to notify
the police before he goes anywhere.

____________________________________

September 20, Agence France Presse
Myanmar could have partially elected parliament by 2008: analysts -
Charlotte McDonald-Gibson

Yangon: Myanmar will likely have some form of elected parliament by 2008,
analysts and politicians said, but opinion is divided over whether
military-controlled elections are better than none at all.

The country's junta this month announced it would resume talks aimed at
drafting a new constitution amid intensifying international calls for
speedier democratic reform in the country formerly known as Burma.

The pressure was heightened by a UN Security Council decision last week to
put the repressive regime on its formal agenda.

Those involved in Myanmar's National Convention meetings, held
sporadically since 1993, say completion of the country's first
constitution and a subsequent referendum would mark the first steps to
democracy.

"By early 2008 at the earliest, there will be some elected representatives
in the government," said a National Convention delegate, who did not want
to be named.

But some foreign diplomats and opposition voices frozen out of the process
decry it as a fraudulent attempt by the military to consolidate power.

"It is a pointless exercise designed to enshrine the military. What they
are trying to do is gain legitimacy," one Yangon-based western diplomat
told AFP.

"What is the point in participating in a farce?" the diplomat said. He
accused the National Convention of taking place "in a black hole".

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. In 1993, the government
held its first National Convention to begin drawing up the country's
constitution.

But talks collapsed in 1995 after democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) walked out, complaining
that the process gave no real voice to opposition parties.

The National Convention reconvened in 2005 as the first step on the
military's new "road map" to democracy.
The NLD again boycotted the proceedings to demand the release of political
prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past 17
years under house arrest.

The absence of the NLD in the talks has prompted the United States, the
United Nations and the European Union to dismiss the proceedings as a
sham.

But some Myanmar watchers warn that if the current opportunity for change
is not taken, no matter how imperfect it is, the military could hold on to
absolute power for a lot longer.

"We know it will not be good, but it will be something," said one foreign
diplomat. He thinks two more sessions will be needed before the
constitution can be completed, probably by the end of 2007.

This year's National Convention begins October 10 and will likely last for
two months.

Over 1,000 delegates, hand-picked by the junta, will split into eight
groups and discuss topics including the military's powers to call
emergency law, the role of political parties and the ability of future
governments to amend the constitution.

Delegates say a referendum will follow the drafting of the constitution.

"(The public) have a dilemma if they reject it, as maybe it will take
another 10 years," said Tin Htun Maung, a former NLD member who split with
the party over its boycott of the National Convention.

"Maybe it is not 100 percent democracy but it is a shield against abuse by
the government," said the politician, who now attends the talks as an
independent.

But Win Naing, an opposition politician, said that the process has been
dragged out to prolong the military's stay in power.

He said talk of the imminent completion of the constitution was "sheer
speculation by optimists".

"I have never recalled any similar event on this planet, that any country
has taken so long to draft a constitution," he told AFP.

He acknowledged that elections would eventually take place, but said they
would not be free and fair, an assessment most delegates and analysts
agree with.

"We will not be able to field our candidates freely and we won't have
enough political parties allowed to set up in time," said Win Naing. "I
would rather see none at all."

Meanwhile, international pressure on the regime continues. Analysts say
Myanmar's rulers are concerned about appeasing their neighbours, India and
China, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"ASEAN would be content to have an election of sorts," said one delegate.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 21, Irrawaddy
New report cites abuse by Burma Army, DKBA in Mon State

Joint military offensives by soldiers from the Burmese army and the Karen
ceasefire group Democratic Karen Buddhist Army have left local villages
and crops destroyed, according to a new report by the Karen Human Rights
Group released on Wednesday. The report, titled Hunger Wielded as a Weapon
in Thaton District, is based on eyewitness accounts of ethnic Karen
villagers who say that Karen in Belin township, Mon State, face food
shortages as a result of the destruction of nearly 40 paddy fields by
Burmese and DKBA troops. Several other plantations are said to have been
destroyed during offensives in March and April.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 21, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar introduces e-payment system for export-import formalities

Yangon: Myanmar has introduced an e- payment system to manage
export-import formalities to facilitate traders in the country engaged in
international trade, authorizing a special private bank in Yangon to
handle the e-transaction, a  local weekly reported in its latest issue.

Previously, traders in Yangon had to travel to 390-kilometer- far new
capital of Nay Pyi Taw's Commerce Ministry to accomplish their
export-import formalities.

So far, 10 private trading companies engaged in the export and import
activities have opened their accounts at the Myanmar Citizen Bank
authorized by the government for the purpose, the Flower News said.

The Myanmar Citizen Bank, which is now handling the export and import
transactions, was transformed from a public bank, in which the Ministry of
Commerce holds a stake of 55 percent.

The Myanmar Citizen Bank stands one of the 15 private banks in the country
at present.

The ministry is also encouraging the exporters and importers in the
country to join shares of the Myanmar Citizen Bank which is becoming an
export financing institution for them.

There have been also Myanmar Livestock Breeding and Fishery Development
Bank, Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank and Myanmar Industrial
Development Bank for respective entrepreneurs.

At present, the state-owned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank is generally and
mainly handling foreign currency transactions along with some private
banks authorized for such transactions, while the Myanmar Investment and
Commercial Bank deals with foreign investment in the country.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar commerce authorities have urged over 10, 000
registered private trading companies in the country to function fully to
boost foreign trade.

According to official statistics, Myanmar's foreign trade hit 5.5 billion
US dollars in the fiscal year 2005-06, which ended in March, registering a
new record high in 17 years since 1989 when the country began to move to
the market-oriented economy.

With the total trade volume going up by over 12 percent from the previous
year's 4.9 billion dollars, the export during 2005-06 reached 3.554
billion dollars, up from 2.9 billion dollars in the previous year, while
the import was valued at 1.9 billion dollars, making not much difference
comparatively.

During the year, a trade surplus of 1.6 billion dollars was gained with
over 60 percent more than 2004-05's 954 million dollars.

Statistics also show that, in 2004-05, the private sector accounted for
more than 85 percent in its exports and more than 80 percent of the gross
domestic product which grew to 12.2 percent in the year from 12 percent in
the previous year.

____________________________________

September 21, Irrawaddy
Russians join Burma gas and oil hunt - William Boot

Two Russian energy companies have for the first time been invited to
explore for oil and gas in Burma’s offshore waters.

The concession was signed in the new capital Naypyidaw on the same day
that Russia voted at the UN against US proposals for the Security Council
to discuss human rights in Burma.

State-controlled Zarubezhneft, one of Russia’s oldest established oil and
gas producers, and privately owned Itera Oil and Gas Company, will explore
the undeveloped M-8 field off Burma’s eastern coast in the Andaman Sea,
south of the rich Yadana field, which is producing large volumes of gas
mainly for sale to Thailand.

They will form a joint venture with Sun Group, an Indian fossil fuel
developer, and Burma’s state-controlled MOGE, Myanmar Oil and Gas
Enterprise.

The M-8 field, part of the so-called Mottama group, was originally
explored in a joint venture between MOGE and Total, but the French company
gave up its drilling license.

Burma’s energy minister Brig-Gen Lun Thi visited Moscow last April and
separately met the chiefs of the two Russian companies in his hotel.

Sources say the four-party joint venture contract permits the companies to
explore and produce hydrocarbons, although it’s not yet known how much is
being invested in the project or the percentage split on profits.

Two other Indian companies are already involved in gas exploration at the
other end of Burma’s coastline in the Shwe fields off the port of Sittwe,
which is separately being expanded by Indian investors.

India had hoped to exclusively clinch a purchase agreement on the gas from
the A-1 and A-3 Shwe fields as part of a package of two-way economic
cooperation, and is ready to build a US $1 billion pipeline through Burma
to carry the gas. But both China and Thailand have now also lodged
purchase bids on the Shwe fields, which have proven reserves of trillions
of cubic metres of gas, and the Burmese government has yet to decide who
to sell to.

Latest reports suggest that the junta might hold a lottery and award the
gas to the highest bidder.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 21, The Washington Post
Ideals and realities clash in Bush 'freedom agenda' - Peter Baker

At the United Nations lectern this week, President Bush hailed the spread
of democracy. "From Beirut to Baghdad," he said, "people are making the
choice for freedom." Yet even as he spoke, tanks were rolling through the
streets of Bangkok as a military coup toppled the elected leader of
Thailand, who at that moment was in New York for the U.N. session.

Bush made no mention of the dramatic events on Tuesday and left New York
yesterday without ever seeing the deposed prime minister, much less
offering any public support for a onetime strong ally of the United
States. The president's spokesman later provided a strikingly mild
response only after being asked by a re-porter, pronouncing the White
House "disappointed" by the coup.

The timing of Bush's address on democracy to the U.N. General Assembly and
the overthrow of a democratically elected government underlined the
complexities and contradictions in his "freedom agenda." With the
president's attention focused on the Middle East, the state of democracy
elsewhere in the world does not rate as high on his priority list. In the
case of Thailand, the situation is complicated by growing U.S. unease with
the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

"The president's freedom agenda is inherently selective," said Thomas
Carothers, head of the democracy project at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace. "We care very much about democracy in Afghanistan and
Iraq, but . . . Thailand's just not part of the story, so this falls off
the map a bit."

Thailand is hardly the only example. Bush strongly supports Gen. Pervez
Musharraf, the Pakistani president who took power in a military coup, and
plans to meet with him at the White House twice in the next week.

Bush will also host Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, at the
end of next week despite the suppression of opposition parties, newspapers
and human rights groups in the oil-rich Central Asian republic.

The administration has likewise embraced autocratic leaders in such
disparate places as Azerbaijan and Ethiopia while generally tempering
criticism of anti-democratic policies in Russia and China. Even in the
Middle East, Bush has treaded lightly in nudging allies such as Egypt and
Saudi Arabia to reform.

On the other hand, the White House ratcheted up its pressure this month on
the repressive government in Burma. After meeting with a dissident, Bush
personally lobbied to get the U.N. Security Council to put Burma on the
agenda last week for possible sanctions. And first lady Laura Bush hosted
a roundtable at the United Nations on democracy in that country.

When the president talks about promoting democracy, as he did in New York
on Tuesday, he focuses mainly on Iraq and Afghanistan. Some other
countries that he once highlighted as success stories have been dropped
from his speeches, most notably Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

In Ukraine, the popular coalition that led the "Orange Revolution" of
December 2004 has splintered and the new prime minister is the same one
the street protests targeted. In Kyrgyzstan, the brother of the president
who took office after the revolution of March 2005 has been accused of
trying to frame an opposition leader by planting a heroin-filled wooden
doll in his luggage.

The coup in Thailand poses the latest challenge to Bush's commitment to
"ending tyranny in our world," as he vowed in his second inaugural
address. Aides said yesterday that he did not mention the coup in his U.N.
speech because they were still gathering information, but they did not
explain why he said nothing later in the day as it became clear that the
military had ousted Thaksin.

"We're disappointed in the coup," White House press secretary Tony Snow
said yesterday aboard Air Force One on the return flight to Washington.
"We hope those who mounted it will make good, and make good swiftly, on
their promises to restore democracy."

Thaksin had been a U.S. favorite for years, but relations soured recently
when he was accused of abusing power for profit and undermining the
parliament, the opposition and the media. Although Thaksin won reelection
handily last year, the opposition took to the streets this year to protest
the sale of the prime minister's family holdings in a telecommunications
and satellite company for $1.9 billion  --  tax-free. Thaksin announced he
would step down, but he stayed in office with elections scheduled for this
fall.

The distaste for Thaksin may have colored the tepid U.S. response. "Nobody
wants to go to bat for Thaksin. He's just an odious figure," said Michael
A. McFaul, director of Stanford University's Center on Democracy,
Development and the Rule of Law. "But there's the problem -- democracy's
not about picking winners and losers, it's about defending institutions."

Lorne W. Craner, former assistant secretary of state under Bush and now
president of the International Republican Institute, agreed that U.S.
concerns with Thaksin did not justify a coup. "You can't sanction a coup
just because you don't like the guy if you're going to stand up for
democracy," he said. "It's unconstitutional."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 21, Christian Science Monitor
The Monitor’s View: Of kings, coups, and Asian democracies

Asia's slow ride toward stable democracies was thrown in reverse Tuesday
when Thailand's military took power from a popular, elected leader. The
fact that the king condoned the ouster only highlights the many drags on
democracy in a volatile region.

The Thai coup comes as the UN Security Council is expected to begin a
discussion next week about the lack of democracy in neighboring Burma
(Myanmar), where a military junta also squelched an election to hold onto
power in the early 1990s. The US wants to showcase how Burma has become a
threat to global security.

Also on Thailand's border, Cambodia has been failing to improve a very
limited democracy under a strongman, Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former
protege of Vietnam's Communist Party and a former Khmer Rouge. He was able
to hold onto power with US help despite losing an election in 1993.

And in the Philippines, a former US territory whose 1986 "people power"
revolution against a dictator helped create momentum for new Asian
democracies, questions over the legitimacy of President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo's rule has led to instability and coup rumors.

In many Asian nations, democracy's roots remain shallow because poor,
rural peasants are vulnerable to manipulation and intimidation by urban
power brokers, whether they be rich politicians, army factions, powerful
businessmen, or royalty. Personal loyalties can matter more than the
merits of issues. Votes can be bought with T-shirts, and guns go a long
way to keep farmers in line.

In Thailand, one reason widely given for the coup was an underlying
competition in the countryside between the much-revered King Bhumibol
Adulyadej, a constitutional monarch who has been a stable force for
decades, and Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted prime minister who was elected
three times by wide margins since 2001 with mainly rural votes.

Mr. Thaksin has used his business wealth and marketing skills to win the
support of the mainly Buddhist Thai farmers, while alienating a
much-smaller urban elite in Bangkok with his accumulation of political
power, apparently corrupt business ways, and attempts to control the Army.
His vision of Thai farming tied to global markets clashes with that of the
king, who has worked with the rural poor to create self-sufficient,
domestic markets. The king and prime minister also differed on how to deal
with a Muslim uprising in the south.

With an election slated for next month, the chance of violent street
protests between Thaksin's supporters and a political opposition that
believed he had insulted the king led the Army to take power. Such coups
were thought to have been in the past. This one seems aimed at rewriting
the Constitution to elect leaders who cannot again grab so much power.

Young democracies have difficulties in creating checks and balances
necessary to prevent concentrations of power. Old habits die hard, and
Thailand shows that traditional power centers and big money can still skew
democracy if voters are easily wooed.

The Thai military claims that it cannot allow a new election for another
year. That's one year too long for a fragile democracy to wait and try
again to get it right.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

September 20, CRPP via Democratic Voice of Burma
Unofficial translation of CRPP’s statement on Security Council’s decision
to discuss Burma issue

The statement of Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP)

14 Days After the Full Moon of Tawthalin, 1368 B.E.

1. Not only there are the spread of Burmese refugees in Southeast Asia,
narcotic problems, the threats of HIV/AIDS and human rights in Burma, but
also general difficulties in politics, economy, social, health and
educational affairs.

2. The reason for these (problems) is due to the inability of the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to meet with ethnic, national
political parties and organisations including the National League for
Democracy (NLD) and cooperate with them for a solution, and they (the
generals) themselves are continuing to carry out to enforce their policies
unilaterally.

3. Because of the above mentioned reasons, the issue of Burma is not only
a domestic affair but also an international affair. Therefore, the
situation arrived at the UN Security Council. On 15 September, 2006, it
was decided that the issue of Burma is to be discussed officially at the
UN Security Council meetings.

As the UN Security Council’s decision is a crucial step to further
democratic transition and national reconciliation through dialogue, which
is urgently needed in Burma, we declare that we welcome it.

In accordance with the resolution emerging from the Committee Representing
People’s Parliament meeting held on 19.09.06.

Committee Representing People’s Parliament, Rangoon