BurmaNet News, April 20, 2007

[Editor]

April 20, 2007 Issue # 3188

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Activists slam government groups over attack
Khonumthung: The ‘small book’ to cheat in board examinations
Xinhua: Myanmar launches first domestically-produced locomotive
IMNA: Tactical Commander in TPP to tackle feuding army and local
administration
Mizzima: MP to initiate legal action against house demolition order

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Refugees fear attacks on camps in Thailand
Mizzima: Malaysia should recognize Burmese refugees: CHRO

BUSINESS / TRADE
DPA: Myanmar's first Shweli hydroelectric project half built

ASEAN
Bernama: Asean will not defend Myanmar at Int'l Fora - Ahmad Shabery

REGIONAL
The Point: Notorious military junta

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima: US legislators call on Burmese government to respect humanitarian
work

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 20, 2007 Democratic Voice of Burma
Activists slam government groups over attack

Human rights activists in Burma have condemned local officials and Union
Solidarity members in Irrawaddy Division’s Henzada township over
Wednesday’s attack on two men.

Rights activists Ko Myint Naing and Ko Maung Maung Lay were savagely
bashed by a group of about 100 people yesterday when they tried to leave
Oat Pho village in Henzada after participating in a human rights awareness
campaign.

Other activists who were also in the village on Wednesday said the mob
that bashed the two men was made of officials from the Henzada Peace and
Development Council, top police officers and the head of the township’s
Union Solidarity and Development Association.

“Henzada’s USDA secretary U Nyunt Oo was there with a walkie-talkie in his
hand. He was shouting through that thing, praising everyone who beat them
up. The township chairman and the police chief were there as well and the
unlawful attack took place right before them. They are the culprits behind
this,” U Myint Aye, an activist who was in the nearby Talokehtaw village
at the time, told DVB.

The two men were taken to a hospital in Henzada for surgery after the
attack before being transferred to Rangoon General Hospital’s neurological
department where they are still receiving treatment for their injuries.

“When I saw them . . . Ko Myint Naing was unable to talk. He couldn’t
answer any of my questions. Ko Maung Maung Lay was moaning in pain from
his wounds,” U Myint Aye said.

“Slingshot bruises were all over his body. There was one about four
inch-long slash wound on his leg. I don’t know whether it was from a stick
of some kind of blade,” he said.

Henzada USDA officials claimed yesterday to know nothing about the attacks
and local police insisted that Ko Myint Naing and Ko Maung Maung Lay
received only superficial injuries during the incident.

____________________________________

April 20, Khonumthung News
The ‘small book’ to cheat in board examinations

In Burma a small book designed to help students cheat their way through
board examinations has been in circulation for years.

Students appearing for the Class X board examinations in Chin state, Burma
( Myanmar ) this year were said to have used the small book of answers for
all subjects freely in the halls.

“This year invigilation was not very strict. The pass percentage will be
good,” a student of Class X told Khonumthung News.

The small book, only three or four inches in size is published in Rangoon
( Yangon ), the capital of Burma ( Myanmar ). And it is sold to class X
students for Kyat 3,000 for those in the arts stream and Kyat 5,000 for
science subjects.

In Chin state the students used the book blatantly in examination halls.
But before they began writing the examination papers, they shelled out
Kyat 200 each to class room keepers. The money was handed over to
invigilators of the examination. After which the students copied freely.

All of this of course was done secretly behind the back of officials and
the superintendent of examinations. A student explained that they are
unaware of the relationship between invigilators and the superintendent.

The small book, however, cannot be purchased in Kalay Myo, Sagaing
division easily, but it is cheaper in Chin state, where it can be bought
for Kyat 1, 000 for arts subjects and Kyat 1,500 for science subjects.

“This book is used in the whole country. There are restrictions in some
places, but most can use it,” The class X student said.

The examination was slated for March 14 to 22. But two weeks before the
board examination different kinds of book like ‘Taraphyu,’ ‘All Star,’ and
‘Hot-Spot’ were published. But the book was not sold in the city markets.
They were supplied secretly to a person who has a nexus with the
publishers. Although it is difficult to ascertain students of which cities
in Burma used it the most, those in Chin state relied on it totally. Cass
X students in Magwe division and Sagaing division, upper Burma ( Myanmar )
also used it, but the percentage of sales was less than in Chin state.

“The pass percentage is always better when the book is used. When the
invigilation is strict most are unable to answer and the pass percentage
drops,” the student added.

The small book has been in use for class X board examinations since 2001
but after being published the percentage of students’ attending school has
decreased.

____________________________________

April 20, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar launches first domestically-produced locomotive

Myanmar has launched its first domestically-produced locomotive, putting
it into run from the former capital of Yangon to the second largest city
of Mandalay in a bid to reduce reliance on import of locomotives in the
wake of rising oil prices.

The 1,200-horse power (HP) diesel-engine locomotive, manufactured on
self-reliance basis by the state-owned Myanmar Railways (MR), was launched
at the Yangon Central Railway Station Thursday afternoon, all state-run
newspapers reported Friday.

The Myanmar locomotive was produced through own design after study was
made on a locomotive imported from Japan, the reports said.

The Myanmar locomotive is over 3.3 meters high, 2.7 meters wide and 13.2
meters long with 66 tons in weight, the reports said, adding that with 783
kilowatts of diesel engine power, it can run 60 miles (96 kilometers) per
hour at the highest speed.

The MR, which previously produced spare parts of machines only, started
the production two years ago and it targets to produce six more home-made
locomotives and 36 modern passenger coaches in the years ahead, according
to the reports, which added that the MR is transporting passengers,
commuters and goods through 222 long runs and 185 commuter runs with the
use of 295 diesel locomotives.

According to official statistics, the total rail tracks of Myanmar have
been stretched to 6,454 kilometers (km) in the fiscal year 2005-06 from
4,470 km in 1988-89, an expansion of 1,984 km or an increase of 1.4 times.

____________________________________

April 19, Independent Mon News Agency
Tactical Commander in TPP to tackle feuding army and local administration

Brewing discontent among government employees where the army commander and
the Town Peace and Development Council (TPDC) are at logger heads over
sharing taxes, has forced Col. Kyaw Lin Tun, Burmese Tactical Commander
No.2 from Military Western Region Command to visit Three Pagoda Pass on
the Thai-Burma border, a source close to authorities said.

Col. Kyaw Lin Tun reached at about 9 a.m. with about 400 soldiers from
Nan-Kwin village, where the tactical command base is located 40
kilometeres west of TPP town and on the road to Thanpyuzayart.

"Military Intelligence, Sergeant Than Myint and some other departmental
employees could be transferred from the town," sources said.

According source said, Col. Kyaw Lin Tun arrived on the border to hold
meetings with government departmental employees who are dissatisfied with
Lt-Col Hla Min, the army commander in the town. Many government employees
sent letters to the military brass about the army in town trying to
control part of the tax collected.

Lt-Col Hla Min had demanded that the Town Peace and Development Council
(TPDC) give the army a share of the income from taxing traders and
travellers. But the TPDC refused.

The police and other government department officials were unhappy with
Lt-Col Hla Min, who setup a gate on the cross roads on the border and
placed security guards in parts that are controlled by the Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), and the New Mon State Party (NMSP).

Col. Kyaw Lin Tun will also meet local businessmen to solve problems of
border trade and border closure, sources said.

____________________________________

April 20, Mizzima News
MP to initiate legal action against house demolition order

Chin Sian Thang, a well known Chin ethnic Member of Parliament is gearing
up to initiate legal proceedings against an order to demolish his home in
Kalay, Sagaing division, Burma.

The local municipality served a notice to Chin Sian Thang, an active
member of the Committee Representing People's Parliament, No.7, 8 Ward in
Kalaymyo, Sagaing division on April 4 for demolition of his house because
it is encroaching on the road and is a squatter's house.

The notice mentioned that the last date for the demolition would be April 24.

Thang (68) the leader of Zomi National Congress was staying in Rangoon
following an operation and could not return home.

"If they are going to charge me with this, I will go for legal action. My
defence will be that my house is not a squatter's home. I have a lease
gram," said Thang.

The municipality ordered demolition of houses in three quarters in
Pinglong in Ward 7,8 and 9.

Thang said he extended the land lease gram in 2003 and there was no
objection though a legal notice for one month as is the legal procedure.

"If they (authorities) want to construct a wider road and had ordered
every house owner to move out, I wouldn't have complained. But it is not
like that," he said.

This is the second round of pressure tactics by the military junta on Siam
Chin Thang. The military junta had tried to cancel his license to practice
as a lawyer but Siam Chin Thang won the case.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 20, Irrawaddy
Refugees fear attacks on camps in Thailand

Increased security measures have been initiated at refugee camps near the
Thailand-Burma border as tensions within rival Karen rebel groups
continues to mount, according to sources along the border.

Officials at the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand’s Tak Province have
ordered residents to keep their lights out after dark and to stay alert
following skirmishes between the Karen National Union and two splinter
Karen groups, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and a second group that
calls itself the KNU/KNLA Peace Council. Both splinter groups are allied
with the Burmese army.

“We have to shut down all the lights at 8 p.m., including all electric
generators and even candle lights,” said one Mae La resident.

The order came after reports that the splinter Karen groups were planning
an attack on the refugee camp, one of the largest in Thailand with an
estimated population of more than 40,000. Relatives of many KNU members
live in Mae La camp.

The potential threat to camp refugees has caught the attention of
international rights groups. “These civilians face grave threats as the
Burmese-government-backed ethnic Karen militias appear to be positioning
artillery and heavy machine guns overlooking the Mae La refugee camp,” a
statement issued by New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

Burmese communities in the nearby city of Mae Sot have also been alerted
to stay indoors after dark for security reasons, border sources said.

Clashes between the opposing groups have increased since the DKBA and its
allies launched attacks on KNLA bases near the Thai-Burmese border. At
least three of their camps, including the headquarters of the KNLA
Battalion 101, located opposite the Thai village of Mae Ramat, have been
captured by the splinter Karen rebels.

The threat to the Mae La camp is “real,” KNU General Secretary Mahn Sha
told The Irrawaddy on Friday, adding that the rival groups have turned
against civilians who did not support their break from the KNU.

Despite elevated security concerns, no clashes were reported on Friday,
according to Mahn Sha.

____________________________________

April 20, Mizzima News
Malaysia should recognize Burmese refugees: CHRO – Mungpi

Malaysia ought to recognize and protect Burmese refugees and asylum
seekers, to demonstrate its tough foreign policy stance towards
military-ruled Burma, urged a human rights organisation today.

Malaysia said yesterday it agreed with other members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) not to defend Burma at the international
fora for its failure to exhibit democratic reforms in the country.

To demonstrate its hard foreign policy line, Malaysia should provide
protection to Burmese refugees and asylum seekers, who are the very people
suffering under Burma's oppressive military regime, said the Chin Human
Rights Organisation (CHRO) today.

CHRO, in a statement released today said Malaysia's domestic policy fails
to provide any sort of protection to the tens and thousands of Burmese
refugees who have fled to Malaysia after being forced out of their homes
by the Burmese military regime.

The statement further said Burmese communities in Malaysia have been
regular targets of security abuses, immigration raids and round-ups,
increasing violent crimes committed with impunity, and abuses against the
most vulnerable members of its community, including women and children.

"Immigration raids targeting Burmese communities occur on an almost weekly
basis in Malaysia, typically conducted by the highly controversial,
untrained and often abusive Peoples' Volunteer Corp., also known as RELA,"
the statement added.

Despite being a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child, and a sitting member of the UN Human Rights Council, there
are at least 20 Burmese children, some as young as less than a month old,
and five pregnant women languishing in Malaysian detention centres, CHRO
said.

The CHRO urged Malaysia that in order to live up to its foreign policy
initiatives towards the Burmese military regime, it must first look at it
domestically and fulfill its promises to respect the basic human rights of
Burmese refugees and asylum seekers.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

April 20, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar's first Shweli hydroelectric project half built

Yangon- Construction work on a 600-megawatt hydroelectric project on the
Shweli River in upper Myanmar is 51 per cent completed, state-run media
reports said Friday. Senior General Than Shwe, who heads Myanmar's ruling
junta, on Thursday led a delegation to visit the project site in Namkham
district of the Shan State, 712 kilometres north of Yangon, reported the
New Light of Myanmar.

Minister for Electric Power Colonel Zaw Min told the visiting military
officers that construction of the approach road and Shweli Bridge have
been completed while work on a concrete embankment, the diversion tunnel,
the pilot channel and power intake building and the approach tunnel was
still underway at the river's first hydroelectric plant.

The first Shweli plant will generate 600 megawatts of electricity, and two
others planned on the river will generate 460mw and 360mw, respectively.

A 288 kilometre-long power line will link Shweli to Mandalay, Myanmar's
commercial hub, said the daily newspaper.

Than Shwe stressed the need to implement the projects as soon as possible.

Myanmar, which has been under military rule since 1962, suffers from
nationwide electricity shortages and blackouts.

The junta is relying largely on hydro-power inland to fuel its national
electricity grid, despite concerns about population displacements caused
by the construction of dams and environmental damage.

Besides the three hydroelectric plants planned on the Shweli, Myanmar
plans to construct five plants on the Salween River with assistance from
neighbouring Thailand.

Activists and environmentalists have urged the Thai government to review
their involvement in the Salween projects until proper studies have been
carried out on the impact on the people and environment in the vicinity of
the dams.

In May 2005 the Thai Energy Ministry and Myanmar Ministry of Electric
Power signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build five
hydroelectric dams on the 2,800 kilometre Salween River that runs from
Tibet through eastern Myanmar and at one point defines the Thai-Myanmar
border.

In December 2005 another MOU was signed between the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and Myanmar Department of Hydropower to build
the 1 billion dollar Hutgyi dam, on which construction is due to commence
in December 2007.

The planned dams will displace tens-of-thousandsof Myanmar villagers
living in the Karen, Karrenni and Shan territories, they will also have an
unknown impact on Thai villagers living near the Salween River in Mae Hong
Son province.

____________________________________
ASEAN

April 19, Bernama
Asean Will Not Defend Myanmar At Int'l Fora - Ahmad Shabery

Asean will not defend Myanmar at any international forum following the
military ruler's adamant not to restore democracy in that country, the
Dewan Rakyat was told Thursday.

Foreign Ministry parliamentary secretary Ahmad Shabery Cheek said Malaysia
and other Asean members had made a stand not to defend Myanmar if the
country's issue was raised at any international conference.

"Now Myanmar has to defend itself if it was bombarded at any international
forum," he said when winding up the debate on the Supplementary Supply
Bill (2006) 2007 at committee stage for the Foreign Ministry.

He was replying to queries from Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh
Timur) on the next course of action to be taken by Malaysia and Asean on
the stubborn Myanmar military junta who had refused to cooperate with the
emissaries sent by the United Nations and Asean to bring back democracy in
that country.

Lim had said Malaysia must play a proactive role in pursuing regional
initiatives to bring about a change in Myanmar and support efforts to
bring the situation in Myanmar to the UN Security Council's attention.

Shabery said Myanmar, after embracing Asean for nine years and widely
expected to change its stand, did not show any inkling to change.

He said Malaysia would nevertheless continue to pursue efforts to convey
its stand on restoring democracy in Myanmar to the military ruler though
previous initiatives had been futile.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

April 17, The Point (Jakarta Newspaper)
Notorious military junta

The name of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has long permeated
the gardens and fields of her motherland. It was Burma where Suu Kyi’s
National League for Democracy party was resoundingly victorious in the
1990 general elections. However, the country’s military junta nullified
the results and refused to hand over power. A year earlier, the junta had
changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar.

The junta can change any name it likes, including that of the capital from
Rangoon to Yangon, but it is ironic that the regime cannot change the
human rights condition there.

And whether it is Burma or Myanmar, the land undoubtedly needs
international help and attention. In order to maintain its hold on power,
the regime has placed Suu Kyi under house arrest and confined many of her
followers. The international community has generally condemned these
moves, but little has been done to restore democracy to the country.

Political detentions may be part of the political game, but human rights,
socio-cultural issues and the economy are the most important domestic
matters requiring attention. So what has the military regime been doing?
Let’s take a look at the following grim facts about Myanmar over the

last 14 years: increasing numbers of refugees, rising transnational crime,
as well as the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Not to mention that
Myanmar has the world’s highest number of child soldiers and is the
biggest producer of synthetic amphetamine drugs. And with prolonged
conflict involving the ethnic Koren, all of these problems should be
addressed by international human rights bodies.

Perhaps, if freeing Suu Kyi and her followers is impossible, efforts
should be focused on the military regime. In fact, the regime has tried to
make a change, in the form of preparing draft guidelines for drawing up a
new constitution.

Yes, perhaps inspired by the Soeharto regime’s longevity, the junta has
long been trying to find a way to create a constitution that might give it
a semblance of legitimacy. However, there are known international drugs
traffickers involved in drafting the constitution.

Being a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council is an
immense responsibility for Indonesia. Instead of abstaining from how to
improve the situation in Myanmar, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s
administration should at least think of strategies for dealing with the
country’s issues.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 20, Mizzima News
US legislators call on Burmese government to respect humanitarian work

A new report by the United States government condemns the Burmese junta
for its continued and enhanced restrictions on humanitarian aid.

The report carries bipartisan support from the United States Congress,
with Democratic Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Tom
Lantos, and ranking Republican Committee member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both
releasing statements of strong support for the report's findings.

Referring to the report, produced by the General Accounting office and
entitled 'Assistance Programs Constrained in Burma', Chairman Lantos
remarked, "The shameful behavior of Burma's military regime in tying the
hand of humanitarian organizations is laid out in these pages for all to
see, and it must come to an end."

The report identifies financial and other restrictions, including
restrictions on the movement of international aid workers, as steps taken
by the ruling junta to effectively impair the work of humanitarian aid
organizations.

Alluding to guidelines passed last year, the report lists criteria such as
requiring humanitarian programs to 'enhance and safeguard the national
interest' and mandating that international organizations select their
staff from a government prepared list of individuals, as unacceptable.

Representative Ros-Lehtinen was quick to link the findings of the report
to the ongoing struggle to install a democratically elected government in
Burma, stating that the report "underscores the need for democratic change
in Burma, whose military regime arbitrarily arrests, tortures, rapes and
executes its own people."

Ros-Lehtinen went on to note that the people of the United States stand
with the people of Burma in their quest for democracy and national
reconciliation.

Both Lantos and Ros-Lehtinen specifically sited China's and Russia's veto
of the recent UN Security Council Resolution on Burma as a missed
opportunity that could have enabled the United Nations to take a more
active and assertive role toward positive change inside Burma.

In addition to calling on the regime to ease restrictions on humanitarian
work inside the country, the Congressional delegates took the opportunity
to call on the Burmese government to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all
political prisoners as well as calling for the incorporation of ethnic
minorities and voices in a meaningful dialogue of reconciliation.

The report states that the situation has noticeably deteriorated since the
removal of then Prime Minister Khin Nyunt in 2004.