BurmaNet News, January 30, 2007

[Editor]

January 30, 2007 Issue # 3131

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Open Heart campaign goes Burma-wide
AFP: Myanmar protesters march to US embassy in Yangon
DVB: Mandalay prisoners used as cheap labour
Christian Broadcasting Network: Burma may move to abolish Christianity

ON THE BORDER
Thai Press: Myanmar/Thailand rifts in Karen National Union could affect
border security
Mizzima: Pro-junta USDA member arrested in bomb hoax

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: China's CNPC, Myanmar Oil & Gas launch feasibility study on gas
pipeline
Narinjara: Bangladesh eyes hydro-electric investments in Burma

REGIONAL
Financial Express: India strengthens military ties with Burma

ASEAN
AP: Vietnam, Philippines differ on Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burma could be the next humanitarian folly - Thaung Htun
Manila Times: China will not heed GMA on Burma - Rene Q. Bas

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 30, Democratic Voice of Burma
Open Heart campaign goes Burma-wide

The Open Heart letter campaign, led by the 88 Generation Students group,
has made its first country-wide step after members of the movement
travelled to Magwe division to rally support.

Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Pyone Cho and Mya Aye, all former
student leaders, travelled to Magwe division over the weekend to encourage
people to write letters to military leader Than Shwe expressing their
grievances with the military’s administration.

While people from across Burma have always been encouraged to participate,
communication constraints have meant much of the campaign is centred on
Rangoon. But Pyone Cho told DVB that he and his colleagues were met with
overwhelming support in Magwe.

“The people in the area came to meet us with all kinds of transportation.
Some with bicycles, some with trishaws and some with rented cars . . . I
saw one man from a village. He dropped out of school before finishing
fourth grade . . . The man said he couldn’t write so he came to tell us
about his problems,” Pyone Cho said.

The Open Heart Campaign, which was launched on Burma’s Independence Day on
January 4, aims to encourage Burmese people voice their dissatisfaction
with military rule, according to the 88 Generation Students group.

“Some people have a lot to tell us but they can’t decide whether or not to
emphasis on one issue or to tell all the things that are happening. We
want everyone to be as frank as possible,” Pyone Cho said.

____________________________________

January 30, Agence France Presse
Myanmar protesters march to US embassy in Yangon

About 30 people marched in silence to the US embassy in Yangon on Tuesday
morning, apparently in protest at Washington's support for a failed UN
resolution against Myanmar's military rulers. The protesters identified
themselves only as "Myanmar nationalists" and stayed in front of the
embassy for about 10 minutes, witnesses said.

"They are holding posters in their hand, but there's no shouting or
chanting," one witness told AFP. Such actions are rarely tolerated without
the blessing of Myanmar's military rulers, and the protesters' posters
used the cryptic language often seen in official media when the junta
takes swipes at its critics.

"Down with axe handle who wants to grab power through shortcut," the
posters read in English. The government often refers to the United States
as an "axe handle" because of its support for pro-democracy groups in
Myanmar, which the government believes are trying to cut into their
control over the country.

The United States had proposed a resolution at the UN Security Council
against Myanmar's government, accusing the junta of posing a threat to
regional security because of its failure to make democratic reforms and
alleged human rights abuses.

China and Russia earlier this month vetoed the resolution, which called on
Myanmar's junta to free political prisoners, end sexual violence by the
military and speed up democratic reform. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma,
has been ruled by the military since 1962.

____________________________________

January 30, Democratic Voice of Burma
Mandalay prisoners used as cheap labour

Prisoners from Myinchan prison in Mandalay township are being contracted
out as cheap labour for local businesses by prison authorities, officials
and former prisoners said yesterday.

A recently released inmate from the prison told DVB on condition of
anonymity that prisoners who had served most of their terms were forced to
work outside the prison in chains and without pay.

Staff at the prison confirmed they had received orders from the military
government to use inmates as a means of creating income. The prison
reportedly earns about 800 kyat per day for each inmate that works. The
money is transferred into national funds, one official said.

“About 10 prisoners are going out to work every day . . . The money they
earn is national property,” the official said.

The scheme has outraged local workers and labourers who said yesterday
they found it harder to find work after the prisoners started offering cut
price labour.

“The prison department offering inmates’ labour at cheap prices is making
our daily business difficult,” a general labourer from Mandalay township
said.

____________________________________

January 29, Christian Broadcasting Network
Burma may move to abolish Christianity - Gary Lane

Rangoon: There are new concerns in Burma that the government is trying to
destroy Christianity.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that an internal government
document lays the foundation for eradicating the faith, including
arresting anyone caught evangelizing.

This kind of persecution has been going for years in Burma, also known as
Myanmar.

In 2005, CBN News met with Christians in Burma. These Burmese Christians
sang praise songs; they worshiped openly and freely in a
government-approved church in Rangoon.

But most Burmese Christians don't share their freedom. Government
officials have shut down churches in this capital city and have disallowed
the construction of new church buildings. The number of bibles allowed for
import is limited and in-country printing of bibles and Christian
literature is restricted.

Public evangelism is prohibited in Burma, but that hasn't stopped this
group of young Christians from sharing the gospel. Among them is a man we
call David. His name has been changed to protect him from possible
persecution.

David told CBN news he and several other team members recently visited a
Buddhist village of 2,000 families. They were attacked when a crowd
gathered to listen to praise songs the evangelists were singing.

"Some Buddhist monks came and started shouting, 'don't worship God here -
he has nothing to do with us,'" David said. "They said we were trying to
establish Christianity in the village and they did not want it. The monks
and others threw stones at us. They hit us like a hard rain. Some of us
were hit in the cheek, the neck and the forehead."

Despite David's experience, evangelists say many Burmese are open to the
gospel. In 2005, 83 percent of the Burmese people said they were Buddhist
- about nine percent were Christian. The church is growing here among
Protestants and independents at a rate of about five percent each year.

David said he would like to return to the village where he and the other
young Christians were attacked with stones. He says he will press on
despite the risk of hostile crowds or government arrest. "It is dangerous,
but God gives us strength deep inside and boldness to move forward," he
said.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 30, Thai Press
Myanmar/Thailand rifts in Karen National Union could affect border security

Faction goes to peace talks with Burma, the Bangkok Post reports. Rifts
have emerged within the Karen National Union (KNU) which could affect
border security. The conflicts have surfaced a little more than a month
after the death of its former leader Bo Mya on Dec 24, said a KNU officer.
If the friction within the KNU continues to widen, it could stall the
ongoing peace process between the KNU and the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), Burma's military junta, the officer said, adding that
fresh armed clashes were likely between the two sides along the
Thai-Burmese border.

Border trade would suffer as a result. The value of cross-border trade at
Tak's Mae Sot district has peaked to 12 billion baht during the past two
years.

Gen Bo Mya was a skilled negotiator who had initiated truce talks with
former Burmese prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt, now serving a jail sentence
for corruption, in late 2004 in Rangoon. Gen Bo Mya died at the age of 79
at a private hospital in Mae Sot district from natural causes.

Signs of a split in the KNU ranks first appeared when the commander of
KNU's 7th Brigade Maj-Gen Htay Maung led a delegation to undertake a peace
dialogue with Burma's military government on Jan 3, the KNU officer said.

According to an officer of the 7th Brigade, the Burmese military
government has agreed to withdraw its troops from non-strategic areas in
Karen state, but will keep troops in other key locations. ''However, the
7th Brigade delegation acted purely on its own accord and did not
represent the KNU's Central Committee. It seems that the Burmese are
plotting to divide and rule us. I don't believe they would really pull
out,'' the KNU officer said.

The KNU's central committee made it clear at a meeting on Thursday that
they had not endorsed the dialogue and also condemned it as going against
the KNU's interests.

KNU secretary-general Mahn Sha said the latest negotiations were initiated
by Maj-Gen Htay Maung and the delegation was not appointed by the
committee. ''They (the delegates) are willing to go along with the SPDC so
that they could get an opportunity to expand their businesses in Burma.

''This would not be in the best interests of the KNU,'' said Mahn Sha,
though he insisted the KNU has not abandoned peace talks with Rangoon. The
talks, however, must be pursued on an equal footing, he said.

The KNU was the first among Burma's nationalities to rebel against the
central government following the country's independence in 1948 from
Britain. It is one of the last armed groups that continues to actively
oppose the military junta, prompting annual offensives in Karen state that
have driven an estimated 140,000 civilian refugees to border camps.

____________________________________

January 30, Mizzima News
Pro-junta USDA member arrested in bomb hoax - Myo Gyi

A member of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a junta
backed organization, arrested, albeit for a short while by the Kachin
Independence Organization in Laiza in Kachin State last Friday, following
a bomb hoax.

The police are on a man hunt following a bomb hoax and it has been
presurising the KIO, a cease-fire group which controls Laiza a border town
close to China since last Friday to look for the culprits.

"The Special Branch of the police has been asking us to arrest the
suspected bomber Ko Ko Naing and his follower, who they said are in Laiza.
So, KIO has been searching. We found one Ko Ko Naing in a hotel near Laiza
bus terminal," said a KIO official laughing because this Ko Ko Naing is a
member of the junta backed USDA who arrived Laiza for business.

The military security team has been summoning some residents for
investigations for suspected opposition to the government.

Two small time women traders have been arrested in the operation and
security has been tightened at Balaminhtin Bridge.

The order to hunt for the suspected bomber followed a letter bomb
explosion in a post office in Rangoon on January 15. According to sources
close to security forces, the order mentions that a 10-member team of
bombers, comprising a mixed group of the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors
and All Burma Student's Democratic Front had arrived in Kachin State.

A letter bomb explosion in Rangoon recently, where the Vigorous Burmese
Student Warriors had claimed responsibility.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 30, Xinhua Financial Network News
China's CNPC, Myanmar Oil & Gas launch feasibility study on gas pipeline

China National Petroleum Corp said in its Oilnews publication that it and
the Myanmar Oil & Gas Co have launched a feasibility study on building a
gas pipeline from Myanmar to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province.

CNPC is the parent of PetroChina Co Ltd ( HK 0857 ), Oilnews also quoted
Han Jingkuan, vice president of the PetroChina Planning & Engineering
Institute, as saying that the two firms are also looking at building a
crude oil pipeline on the same route. Han further noted that China may
build a refinery near Kunming to process crude oil piped from Myanmar.

He did not elaborate. Earlier this month, CNPC signed production sharing
contracts with Myanmar's Ministry of Energy covering crude oil and natural
gas exploration projects in three deep-sea blocks off western Myanmar.
Myanmar has proven recoverable reserves of 510 bln cubic meters of natural
gas and 3.2 bln barrels of crude oil, the official Xinhua news agency
previously reported.

____________________________________

January 30, Narinjara
Bangladesh eyes hydro-electric investments in Burma

Bangladesh is in the throes of a power crisis and during the tenure of the
last administration there were a number of incidents of social unrest
caused by a shortage of power. Ensuring adequate supply of electricity to
households in Bangladesh will become a priority for whichever government
assumes power after the next elections.

With the power crisis continuing, the current Bangladesh authorities are
toying with the idea of investing in hydro-electricity development in
Burma, to import power.

Aware of the power crisis, the Burmese military government has also
invited Bangladesh to invest in hydro-electric plants in Burma.

The Myanmar Energy Minister, Brigadier-General Lun Thi, has urged
Bangladesh ambassador M. Khairuzzaman during a bilateral meeting in
Rangoon earlier this month to set up hydro-electric plants in Burma, a
source said.

The Burmese Energy Minister reportedly told the Bangladesh ambassador that
there is a great opportunity for this in the Southeast Asian nation.

According to Burma's Ministry of Electric Power, there are more than 200
potential hydropower sites throughout the country, with a probable
installed capacity of 38,000 MW. Over 37 percent of the 1,200 megawatt
plus power in Myanmar is generated by water.
A senior Bangladesh Power Division official on Thursday said that they
were closely examining the potential for investment in the power sector in
Burma and possible ways of brining in power to Bangladesh.

"If we find it feasible, we can easily invest there and import power to
meet our domestic electricity demand. As the country's main source of
power is natural gas, which is declining gradually, we are now trying to
find out alternative sources," he stated.

He added that either the government or the private sector could invest in
the ASEAN country.

The official further said that as per the Burmese government's rules and
regulations, Bangladesh would have to supply 30 percent of the total
generated power to domestic consumers in Burma, and the remaining 70
percent could be brought into the country along a cross-border
transmission line.

Thailand has already invested in hydro-electric development in Burma, as
there are plenty of water sources in the country.

A source said that in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, exists one of the
larger waterfalls in Southeast Asia, known as Saidin, on which the
military government was arranging to set up hydro-electric plants. The
government withdrew plans for the project a few years later due to lack of
foreign investment.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 29, Financial Express (Bangladesh)
India strengthens military ties with Burma - Nava Thakuria

Indian security forces, frustrated by cross-border raids by armed rebels
in the remote northeast, are looking for increased military ties with
Burma and possible joint operations to flush out separatist guerrillas.

A steady parade of senior officials and high-ranking military officers has
trooped to Rangoon in recent months to offer military equipment, training
and cooperation aimed at spurring the Burmese junta to take action against
ethnic insurgents using the country as a safe haven.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited the new Burmese capital
of Naypyitaw recently for meetings with officials of the ruling military
junta.

The visit caps an escalating series of discussions between India and Burma
and seems set to lead to a substantial increase in arms sales and other
forms of military cooperation with Burma.

"I told them (Myanmar) that it will be possible to supply them certain
equipment so that defence cooperation is expanded," Mukherjee told
reporters after the visit, according to press reports.
"I asked them to help us tackling problem of insurgent groups operating
from their side of the border.

They have assured their cooperation," he added.

Thus far, the country seems unconcerned about Burma's status as an
international pariah state for its human rights abuses and heavy handed
military rule.

On January 12, human rights campaigners were dealt a defeat in the United
Nations Security Council when a US-backed resolution demanding an end to
political repression and human rights violations in Burma was rejected
when China and Russia cast a rare double-veto.

China is one of Burma's few allies, seeing the country as a strategic
trading partner.

India's moves toward Burma stem from incidents like the carnage during the
first half of January when armed rebels of the United Liberation Front of
Assam took the lives of more than 70 migrant labourers. Most of the
victims were identified as Hindi-speaking milk vendors, workers in brick
kilns and daily wage earners.

ULFA rebels have been fighting New Delhi since 1979 for an independent
state in Asom, known until recently as Assam.

The group, little-known outside India, claims that Asom is illegally
occupied by India and deserves to be a sovereign country. They have tied
down nearly 20,000 soldiers in search and control operations in the
territory.

Recently, security forces arrested seven rebels, said to be from the
ULFA's 28th battalion, who operate from the Mon district of Nagaland.
Security forces seized a variety of communications gear.

Asom chief minister Tarun Gogoi claims that ULFA carried out the early
January killings under the direction of Pakistan's Inter Service
Intelligence (ISI) agency.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also has cited alleged links between ULFA
and the ISI while Bharatiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh repeated the
charges that ULFA leaders were being used by the ISI to kill Hindus in
order to make room for migrants from across the border.

All Assam Students' Union activists have also echoed the view that the
carnage on migrants from Bihar and other Indian states would only help
economic migrants from across the border.

In another incident, two ULFA cadres were killed and more than 10
militants were apprehended by the Indian army. However, no specific
reports are available from the remote areas of Arunachal, where the
operation continues.

In the meantime, New Delhi has shifted its focus to two neighbouring
countries, as the latter are suspected of ignoring training bases used by
the militants, who stage raids into India and then withdraw.

India and Burma share a porous 1,640 km long border through which armed
rebels can roam with relative ease.

During his visit to Asom on January 16, Prime Minister Singh reiterated
New Delhi's commitment to deal firmly with terrorism. "There should be no
room for violence in a civil society, and violence will not be tolerated",
Singh said, while declaring that "intensified counter-insurgency
operations will continue to create a sense of security among all people,
including Hindi-speaking people."

Singh confirmed to reporters that he had spoken with Burmese Prime
Minister Soe Win during the fifth India-ASEAN summit in the Philippines,
where his counterpart said he would agree to cooperate with attempts to
flush out Indian insurgents from Burmese soil.

India wants the ruling junta in Burma to launch a massive military
crackdown along the lines of a similar operation that took place in Bhutan
in December 2003 to crush militant bases belonging to a wide range of
rebel groups that remain in India's poverty-ridden, isolated northeast.

Defence Minister AK Antony, during a recent visit to the troubled region,
suggested that New Delhi would seek help from two neighbouring countries
to deal with the rebels operating from their territories.

Earlier Home Ministry-level meetings between the neighbouring countries
involved detailed discussions on cross-border terrorism. Indian Home
Minister Shivraj Patil explained the areas of interest for India to his
Burmese counterpart during a December 21 meeting in New Delhi.

Burmese junta chief and head of State, Senior General Than Shwe, visited
India in 2005. The visit of General Shwe Mann, Burma's army chief, in
December 2006 was another example of the growing military relationship
with India. All three military service commanders have visited Burma in
recent months, offering military support to the junta, which has been on a
buying spree of its own as the country's coffers have been enriched by
timber and energy sales to China.

Air Marshal S P Tyagi highlighted military hardware sales to Burma's junta
during a November visit.

The package reportedly included helicopters and radar manufactured by
Bharat Heavy Electricals.

Prior to Tyagi's visit, army chief, General J J Singh was in Rangoon to
offer counterinsurgency training. Earlier the Navy chief, Admiral Arun
Prakash, also paid a visit.

____________________________________
ASEAN

January 26, The Associated Press
Vietnam, Philippines differ on Myanmar - George Jahn

Vietnam and the Philippines on Friday differed on how firmly to coax
Myanmar toward democracy, reflecting potential problems ahead on what
constitutes interference into the internal affairs of other members of
their 10-nation free trade zone.

Southeast Asian countries have long voiced support for a joint charter.
But the proposed addition of possible sanctions or expulsion from ASEAN
was likely to be a hard one to accept, particularly for the ruling
military junta in Myanmar, also called Burma.

In a major break with its consensus-based past, the 10-country body
earlier this month agreed to discuss a plan for a more cohesive
organization able to sanction -- or even expel -- members that do not
follow its rules. ASEAN's members are the Philippines, Malaysia, Laos,
Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Brunei and Indonesia.

"We are increasingly vocal about wanting Burma to speed up its roadmap to
democracy and to release Ang San Suu Kyi," said Arroyo, referring to the
pro-democracy leader under house arrest in her home country.

Arroyo spoke as part of a panel at the World Economic Forum that also
included Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the prime minister of Malaysia, and
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

While not directly contradicting Arroyo, Nguyen raised the issue some
ASEAN members feel uncomfortable about -- how far the organization can go
in disciplining members without meddling in domestic issues.

ASEAN's success over the past 40 years was based in part to the "upholding
of the principles of nonintervention, consensus and mutual respect," he
said. "This should be upheld.

"The new decision-making mechanism ... should not counter the fundamental
principles" the organization was built on, he said.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 30, Irrawaddy
Burma could be the next humanitarian folly - Thaung Htun

Well aware that humanitarian assistance can often go awry, the democracy
movement has fought long and hard to ensure that aid to Burma is delivered
in an accountable and transparent manner that does not entrench the
Burmese government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

The unfolding controversy in North Korea is testament to the pitfalls of
humanitarian assistance. Recent allegations state that as much as US $100
million earmarked for humanitarian aid may have been misappropriated by
Kim Jong-il over the past decade, possibly even funding his nuclear
program.

There are numerous other examples of humanitarian blunders in repressive
and corrupt countries, the consequence of aid agencies operating
unfettered by strict codes of practice. Ultimately, the insistence of
pro-democracy activists upon transparency and accountability may help aid
agencies in Burma to prevent the SPDC from looting, pillaging or otherwise
perverting their programs. Thus far, however, the efforts of the democracy
movement have met considerable resistance from some corners, even on
seemingly non-controversial matters like ensuring that aid actually
reaches its intended beneficiaries.

In December, the International Crisis Group (ICG) leveled the most
truculent criticisms yet in a Briefing, entitled “Myanmar: New Threats to
Humanitarian Assistance.” A respected conflict prevention organization,
the ICG offers incisive and timely analysis concerning global crises. Its
coverage of Indonesia, for example, is unparalleled. In contrast, ICG’s
coverage of Burma has been spotty, often relying exclusively on interviews
conducted with members of the Rangoon elite, and reflecting their
perspectives and interests to the detriment of others’.

The ICG’s latest Briefing follows a two year silence on Burma. Openly
contemptuous, it characterizes the Burmese democracy movement as an
“anti-aid lobby” that has “long tried to curtail foreign aid to limited
[humanitarian agencies] funding and operational flexibility, and
contributed to their strained relations with the [SPDC].”

Specifically, the report blames the democracy movement for the
controversial withdrawal of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria in August 2005. The ICG contends that the democracy movement’s
stance on aid threatens to rekindle a new cycle of conflict and
humanitarian emergencies in Burma.

Last week, Aryeh Neier, director of the Open Society Institute, released a
nine page critique of the ICG Briefing.  His response lays bare ICG’s
flimsy research and its misleading, incomplete, and erroneous assertions. 
Neier, for example, elaborates on numerous instances in which the Briefing
footnotes public documents while omitting information in those documents
that is inconsistent with the story ICG presents, and thereby distorting
the positions of the groups to which views are attributed.

Although Neier stops short of labeling the ICG Briefing as intellectually
dishonest, he clearly exposes it as such. He concludes that the ICG does a
disservice to the cause of fair-minded debate by publishing a “shoddy
Briefing which relies on gossip in the place of evidence.”

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) is equally
disturbed by the ICG’s report. Although the ICG essentially condemns the
aid policy of the democracy movement, no effort was made to contact the
NCGUB in order to verify its position on humanitarian assistance. In fact,
the NCGUB has publicly called upon the European Union to fund HIV/AIDS
prevention programs in the areas where the problem is most prevalent.
Position papers to this effect are publicly available.  ICG cites some of
them, but apparently failed to read them.

The dearth of resources in the context of Burma’s HIV/AIDS crisis is
tragic but it is disingenuous to attribute this to the democratic
opposition. Although awash in hard currency flows realized from its
offshore natural gas resources, the SPDC continues to procure military
hardware while neglecting desperately needed social services. In fact,
Burma is ranked by the World Health Organization 190th out of 191
countries in terms of spending on health care.

To further complicate matters, the SPDC continues to heavily restrict
international aid agencies. In February 2006, the government issued
guidelines severely restricting aid agencies. The SPDC has since forced
international organizations to terminate employees with political
backgrounds, to recruit staff from government-approved lists, and to
control the manner in which money is transacted. Similar restrictions in
North Korea probably mitigated the effectiveness of UN programs and
contributed to the misappropriation of humanitarian funds.

Aid without conditionality is sheer folly. The Global Fund’s withdrawal
set an important precedent—no aid if the SPDC insists on stealing or
otherwise obviating its effectiveness. Humanitarian Dialogue and Médecins
Sans Frontières (France) have subsequently withdrawn in response to the
SPDC’s restrictions and the International Committee of the Red Cross has
significantly scaled back its operations. The democracy movement did not
pull the strings of these organizations—they acted in accordance with
their strict mandates and experiences garnered in humanitarian crises
around the world.

ICG’s approach is divisive and unfortunate. By presenting Burma’s complex
situation in such polemical terms, the ICG has further politicized aid.
Castigating the democracy movement as opponents of humanitarian assistance
distracts attention from the real culprit—the repressive military
government. The democratic movement and international aid agencies in
Burma share common objectives—the betterment of the Burmese people. The
democracy movement and aid agencies working in Burma should continue to
work together toward that end.

Postscript: In response to Neier’s critique the ICG has acknowledged
shortcomings in its analysis and research and has redacted parts of its
on-line Briefing but stands by its characterization of the democracy
movement as obstructive of humanitarian assistance and by extension a
potential threat to the future viability of the Burmese state.

Dr Thaung Htun is the representative for United Nations Affairs of the
Burmese government in exile, the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma, based in Washington DC.

____________________________________

January 30, Manila Times
China will not heed GMA on Burma - Rene Q. Bas

President Arroyo in Davos clearly expressed what people who cannot stand
the human-rights abuses being committed by the military junta of Burma
feel. Unfortunately, Vietnam disagrees with her. So does China.

At the Security Council some weeks earlier, China and Russia both thwarted
the US-sponsored effort to sanction Burma (or if you prefer Myanmar).

Burma is very important to China. And vice versa. Without China providing
consumer goods to make life bearable, the oppressed Burmese people would
rise in revolt against the military junta (as they did against the more
benign Burmese Socialist Program Party, or BSSP, which was being pestered
by the then China-supported Burmese Communist Party. The BCP’s
headquarters and sanctuaries were across the border, in China’s Yunnan
province.)

Our group of Filipino journalists covering Asia from Hong Kong called
Burma “the Hermit Kingdom.” That there were hermit Buddhist monks in Burma
made the term aptly romantic. It was Johnny Gatbonton, who first used the
term, in a country report about Burma in The Asia Magazine and later in
Orientations.

Before it was made strictly socialist Buddhist, Burma was a British colony
and then a self-governing country that was one of the richest countries in
Asia. It became self-governing, two years after us. We became the
autonomous Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1935, Burma became a
self-governing member of the British Commonwealth in 1937. Rivaling the
Philippines, it had the most westernized elite class of professionals,
politicians, military officers and schoolteachers in Southeast Asia.

In 1962 Gen. Ne Win began to dominate Burma’s politics. First he was a
military ruler, then he governed—until 1988—as a constitutional president.
Indians, a carry over of the British colonial times, controlled the civil
service. Burma’s Chinese dominated both corporate commerce and the retail
trade. Ne Win banned both races. (That is why all the money and brains of
the Tiger Balm fortune moved form Burma to Singapore and Hong Kong, where
before Tiger Balm was a Burma-Hong Kong-Singapore family enterprise of the
Aw clan.)

Just before the SLORC generals came to power in 1988, the ascetic Burmese
socialism of Ne Win did itself in. It unwittingly prepared the ground for
the 1988 uprisings and riots, which brought the SLORC generals to power
and made Burma become absolutely dependent on China.

Ne Win’s central bankers, in September 1987 (when the Philippines was
starting to have serious brownouts while President Cory Aquino was being
beset by coup attempts), demonetized a massive portion of Burma’s
currency. So, the people lost faith in the kyat. They preferred solid
commodities to Burmese money. Farmers held on to the rice they harvested.
Rice and other commodities became very scarce—and expensive. (That
happened to us during the Japanese Occupation. You had to have a bayong of
Japanese money to buy a ganta of rice or a dozen eggs.)

While the country’s economy became more miserable day by day, the BSSP’s
military did what the AFP now wants to do to the CPP-NPA. But the Burmese
communists who weren’t killed or captured managed to run back—across the
frontier—to their bases in Yunnan.

Not only Burmese communists went to Burma from China when they needed to.
Chinese traders also did and Chinese goods. While before 1988 it was
illegal and subversive for China to be the source of the greater part of
the canned food, clothes, pencils and whatever else that Burma needed,
under the SLORC generals it became the only right thing to do.

During these last 19 years, China has been building and repairing Burma’s
infrastructure—roads, bridges, airports. It has modernized and equipped
the Burmese military (without making communists of them). China has,
meanwhile, contained the Burmese Communist Party, so that it no longer
fight the generals as it did Ne Win.

Illegal China-Burma trade was more or less US$3 billion a year in 1987.
Now, legal and flourishing, it is at least 10 times that much.

What does China get out of this? Oil and other goods from the outside
world can reach Yunnan and China’s southwest through Burma by sea and
land. That costs less than transporting these things by land from the
north or from the Southeast (Guangdong, Fujian etc.) via the South China
Sea.

There are other things. These pertain to China’s security concerns
vis-à-vis India. But these concerns have been diminishing. Happy
commercial partnership is the dominant idea in China-India relations these
days.