BurmaNet News, April 16, 2008

[Editor]

April 16, 2008 Issue # 3445


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Approval of draft constitution -- junta way
AFP: Suu Kyi can vote in Myanmar charter poll, her party says
TV New Zealand via Reuters: Junta briefly detains campaigners

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Burma death-truck driver surrenders to police

BUSINESS / TRADE
India Business Insight: NHPCS Myanmar failure may hit India’s energy
security plans

OPINION / OTHER
Asian Tribune: Burma's referendum: A fruitless attempt of the military junta
Mizzima News: India's shortsighted approach to Burma policy
The Straits Times: Myanmar migrant workers deserve better

PRESS RELEASE
European Parliament: Burma: EU needs "coherent strategy" ahead of
military's poll
The Canadian Friends of Burma: Refugees at risk from rising food prices



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 16, Mizzima News
Approval of draft constitution -- junta way – Mungpi

Come May 10, Burma, under military rule for over four decades will see
democracy in practice for a day. The Junta in early April fixed the date
for approving its draft constitution, which took over 14 tenuous years to
draft. The current batch of military clique, for the first time in its
history of nearly two decades in power, announced that it will hold a
referendum in May and general elections in 2010 that will pave the way for
a democratic civilian rule.

However, the junta's planned referendum has invited much criticism by
pro-democracy activists including Burma's detained Noble Peace Prize
Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy and
western countries including the US and EU, saying that the process is not
'free and fair'.

In fact, reports on the ground reveal that the junta's referendum process
is one-sided and far from being free and fair. Though the junta on April
9, made the draft constitution public by selling copies for 1000 Kyat in
bookstalls, there has been restrictions on public debates.

The junta has issued laws against people criticizing and campaigning
against the referendum process in particular and it's proclaimed 'roadmap
to democracy' plan in general.

Sources in rural areas, including northern and eastern Shan states said,
that the junta has been conducting 'mock elections' where authorities
including local village chiefs and members of the junta-backed Union
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) have been teaching
illiterate and uneducated villagers how to cast votes in support of the
constitution.

While in several other places, the junta officials are giving out loans to
people through its puppet organizations USDA and Swan Arrshin, in a view
that people will be obliged to cast a "Yes" vote on the constitution.

But, though the junta is resorting to unfair means of campaigning, its
instructions to ballot station officials on conducting the actual poll
seems to be pretty much fair. The instruction circulated among ballot
station officials, a copy of which Mizzima obtained, strictly orders the
officials to be just and fair on the day of polling.

An official in Burma's second largest city of Mandalay said, "I don't
think there could be any kind of cheating on the polling day. Because the
instructions say in detail all the functions of the officials."

The official, who has been appointed as a secretary in one of the many
ballot stations in Mandalay said, "My instruction is to sit in the station
and keep a record of the voters. And also see that the counting is done in
front of at least 10 voters."

If the actual polling is to be conducted fairly, how then do the generals
plan to win supporting votes for its draft constitution?

Despite the opposition's claim that the junta might use various means
including cheating during voting, and resort to coercive means to achieve
its desired result, the junta has begun its campaign that it is ready to
conduct the actual polling free from al unscrupulous means.

The official in Mandalay, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of
reprisal, said, "I think many people just like me do not know anything
about the constitution and would give 'yes' votes."

"I would personally vote 'Yes' not because I like the government, but I am
serving them. So, I don't think I want to vote 'No'," the official added.

The official is one among the nearly 1.5 million government servants
serving the country under the present military dictators.

A police officer in Rangoon said, "I would vote 'Yes' because personally I
have no choice." He added that, "I have no choice but to support it
because I am a government servant."

The officer said, he has not read the draft constitution, though he has
received a copy of the constitution, and "I am not interested to know,
because I don't think there would be any difference by my knowing in
detail."

Meanwhile, an observer in Mandalay said there seems to be a sense of
excitement among the people over the ensuing referendum. While it is
unclear whether the excitement would turn into a 'No' or 'Yes' vote in the
actual polling, he added that people seem to be eager to cast their votes
for the first time in many years.

"But the sad thing is that of the many I have spoken to, they do not seem
to understand what the draft constitution is all about," the observer, who
is politically aware, told Mizzima.

"Currently, we can see that the junta is making all out efforts to give a
leg up to the water festival, so as to divert the attention from all other
campaigns against the referendum and the response of the people seems to
be going well too," he added.

In a random survey conducted by Mizzima over a cross section of people in
Rangoon and Mandalay, out of 20 respondents more than half of the people
said they have not decided what they would vote.

Six out of 10 people interviewed in Rangoon said, they have not decided,
and two said they will vote in favor of the constitution but only one said
he will cast a 'No' vote in the referendum.

In Mandalay, seven out of ten interviewees said they have not decided on
the voting , while three others said they will definitely cast a 'No'
vote.

But 11 out of the 20 interviewees both in Rangoon and Mandalay said they
have not read the constitution and are not interested in knowing it
either.

This random survey is preliminary and is a part of a larger opinion survey
conducted across Burma. As per the preliminary findings, most ordinary
people in urban areas of Burma not only lack information on the
constitution but also do not have any interest.

But what is certain is that the junta has embedded a strong sense of
loyalty in most of its civil servants and members of its civil
organizations, which has an estimate member of 25 million, by blurring the
prospects of genuine changes.

The official in Mandalay said, "I don't think there could be any other
form of change that could exclude this present government."

____________________________________

April 16, Agence France Press
Suu Kyi can vote in Myanmar charter poll, her party says

Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has the right to vote
in a referendum next month on a military-backed constitution, her
political party said Tuesday.

"According to the law, (Aung San Suu Kyi) has the right to vote at the
referendum as her detention was not a court order or sentence," said Nyan
Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).

"It was just an administrative function," he told AFP.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the past 18 years locked away by the
ruling military junta in her sprawling lakeside home in Yangon.

Her latest period of detention began in 2003 after a deadly attack on her
convoy by supporters of the junta, and has been periodically extended
since, with little sign that the generals plan to free her.

The regime has called a referendum on May 10 on the proposed new charter,
which they claim will -- if approved -- lead to general elections in 2010.

Under the new constitution, which was drafted by a committee hand-picked
by the junta, Aung San Suu Kyi would be barred from running for office
because she was married to a foreigner, Michael Aris, a British citizen
who died in 1999.

People convicted of a crime by a court are not allowed to vote in the
referendum, but detainees who have not faced trial can cast a ballot.

There are currently about 1,850 political prisoners in Myanmar, at least
700 of whom were arrested after anti-junta demonstrations last September,
which the military crushed, killing at least 31 people, the UN says.

Next month's referendum will be the first balloting in Myanmar since 1990,
when Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory, which was never
recognised by the junta.

The NLD and other activists are calling for a "No" vote on the charter,
which analysts say simply enshrines the military's role.

____________________________________

April 16, TV New Zealand via Reuters
Junta briefly detains campaigners

Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar arrested around two dozen men at the
weekend for wearing T-shirts urging people to vote against the
constitution in a referendum next month, a resident said on Wednesday.

The men, whose shirts had simply borne the slogan "NO", were picked up
after raucous Myanmar New Year celebrations in the northwest town of
Sittwe on Sunday, but were released the next day, the local source told
Reuters.

"The T-shirts were seized and the men were freed after interrogation," the
source said. "They said some unidentified people distributed the T-shirts
to the revellers, including them, free of charge."

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has urged the former
Burma's voters to reject the junta-drafted constitution in the May 10
plebiscite.

Since announcing its stance, the opposition group has complained about its
campaigners being assaulted and having their materials confiscated in the
run-up to the vote.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win said one party official in a suburb of Yangon, the
former capital, was arrested on Monday night and sentenced to 15 days in
prison for failing to register with authorities while staying away from
home, as required by law.

Myanmar has been under military rule since a 1962 coup. The current junta
has urged the country's 53 million people to back the charter as part of a
seven-step "roadmap to democracy" meant to culminate in multi-party
elections in 2010.

The NLD, other opposition groups and Western governments say the
constitution is unacceptable as it cements the army's grip on power,
giving it 25% of seats in parliament and the right to suspend the charter
at will.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 16, Bangkok Post
Burma death-truck driver surrenders to police

Driven by fear, the driver of the cold storage delivery truck in which 54
illegal Burmese job seekers suffocated last week surrendered to police on
Tuesday.

Truck driver Suchon Bunplong, 38, said he feared the human trafficking
ring behind the racket would try to silence him.

Mr Suchon confessed to being offered 80,000 baht to drive the 121 job
seekers from Ranong to Phuket on Wednesday night, police said.

He had asked his family to contact provincial governor Kanchanapa Kiman
and police picked him up in Cha-am district of Phetchaburi.

"He confessed and named members of the trafficking network. Arrest
warrants will be issued for them," Region 8 Police Bureau chief Pol Lt-Gen
Thani Tawitsri said.

Provincial police chief Pol Maj-Gen Apirak Hongthong said Mr Suchon was
the key to cracking the case.

He said Mr Suchon told investigators truck owner Damrong Phussadee had
called on Wednesday and asked him to pick up the Burmese.

Mr Damrong was questioned by police on Thursday.

Mr Suchon said he drove the 10-wheel truck to Choke Charoen fishing pier
about 8pm. A man and a woman ushered the 121 Burmese into the back of the
truck. His destination was Ban Ao Makam on Sakdidet road in tambon Vichit
of Phuket's Muang district.

The woman gave him her mobile phone number and kept calling him along the
way, asking if there was enough air in the container for the Burmese. A
car also followed him from the pier.

At first there were no problems, he told a press conference. Then it
became very dark and after a while he did not answer any more phone calls
because the winding road needed all his attention.

He said the Burmese workers in the back of the truck also had a phone and
kept dialling and banging on the walls. He finally pulled over and opened
the doors.

When he saw many of the Burmese were dead he ran off, away from the next
army checkpoint, and hid until dawn. He then hitchhiked to the Kapoe
district and caught a bus to Chumphon, getting off in Lang Suan district.

Then he travelled to Nakhon Si Thammarat and Bangkok.

"During the day, I wandered around Sanam Luang and at night I returned to
a hotel. I followed the news of the Burmese tragedy.

"I felt guilty and feared being silenced so I asked my elder sister to
contact the governor so I could surrender," he said.

Police yesterday arrested the owner of Choke Charoen fishing pier, Jirawat
Sophapanworagul, Pol Lt-Gen Thani said adding the court would be asked to
deny him bail.

Mr Jirawat denied any involvement, but police had enough evidence, he
said. Mr Jirawat's wife had been charged with transnational human
trafficking a decade ago, he added.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Earlier report:

The truck driver who fled the scene after driving a seafood cold storage
truck packed with illegal workers from Burma has turned himself in after a
week-long Thai police manhunt following the tragic death of 54 of the
would-be workers from suffocation.

The truck driver, identified as Suchon Boonplong, was paid 80,000 baht
(about US$2,500) to transport migrants from the southern Thailand-Burma
border province of Ranong to Phuket, according to Region 8 Police
commander-in-chief Pol Gen Thani Tawitsri.

Mr Suchon was commissioned to drive more than 100 Burmese workers in
Thailand - none with legal papers to be in Thailand. Instead, the
apparently careless or inattentive driver drove 54 women and men to
horrible deaths.

The driver reportedly decided to surrender after fleeing successively to
Chumphon, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Bangkok. He said he feared he might be
killed to protect the identities of higher-ups in the human trafficking
ring, Gen Thani said. (TNA)


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

April 16, India Business Insight
NHPCS Myanmar failure may hit India’s energy security plans

The failure of National Hydroelectric Power Corporations (NHPC) plans to
develop a 1,200MW hydropower project in Myanmar is expected to prove a
setback to Indias efforts to improve its diplomatic and economic
relationship with Myanmar.

Three years after submitting a feasibility report, NHPC expressed its
inability to start work on the project at Tamanti.

The project was scheduled to be commissioned by 2014. NHPCs decision is
attributed to increasing domestic pressures. Myanmar has rich deposits of
natural gas, which India desperately needs.

The project failure will impair Indias chances of securing natural gas on
a long-term basis from Myanmar. India may also find it difficult to
contain the growing influence of China in Myanmar.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 16, Asian Tribune
Burma's referendum: A fruitless attempt of the military junta – Zin Linn

People of Burma have been disappointed with the UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon and his Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, with SG because he has
failed to call for the Security Council action on Burma and with Gambari
because he has been misleading the world body in support of the
undisciplined military regime.

On 31 March, Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 General Elections
but prevented from taking office by the country's junta issued an appeal
to lawmakers all over the world. Their message was: reject the
military-ordained new constitution of Burma. The appeal signed by 14 MPs
'elect' said both Ban Ki-moon and Ibrahim Gambari have failed in the
mission expected of them. "We expected them to pressurise the Junta into
yielding for national reconciliation but their efforts are unproductive".
About the Security Council also the appeal had some harsh comment. "This
highest authoritative body of the United Nations has failed to take an
effective and timely action to stop one-sided acts of the SPDC (State
Peace and Development Council) and to facilitate real national
reconciliation and democratization in Burma".

Four days earlier, on March 27, marking the 63rd Armed Forces Day, Senior
General Than Shwe (75), made a 15-minute nationwide radio and television
speech giving hint of 'May Referendum' on the draft constitution but did
not state when the new statute would be available for public scrutiny. He
was not also honourably silent on the dates for the referendum.
Indications are that the referendum will take place in May. He however
said that the civilians would take the reins of government after elections
in 2010, once a constitution is approved giving broad powers to the
military.

The constitution is a part of the junta's seven-step roadmap to democracy.
It emerged out of the National Convention, which was a farce in itself.
Opponents of the regime, such as the National League for Democracy, led by
the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were excluded from the
drafting process, which took 14 years.

Critics have termed the new statute as a trick to consolidate the
military's supremacy. Nonetheless, Year 2008 may become an important
watershed for the democracy movement in Burma because of the farcical
Referendum. For the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), legitimacy
to the Constitution is a priority..

The Junta is going out of its way to court the support of ASEAN and other
neighbouring countries especially China and India for its constitutional
makeover. At the same time it is riding roughshod over the National League
for Democracy (NLD) which is the only challenger to its supremacy at home.
Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to contest in the elections scheduled
for 2010, the Junta made it clear already.

On May 27, the Burma's opposition groups will observe the 18th anniversary
of NLD's significant victory in the 1990 General Elections. NLD had won
392 of the 485 seats on offer in Parliament. NLD allies, the Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) won 23 seats and the Arakan
League for Democracy (ALD) bagged 11 seats in what was certainly one of
the free and fair elections that had taken place in the South-East Asia
region. But, the SPDC's authoritative generals, especially Sen. Gen. Than
Shwe, adamantly refuse to honour the 1990 Elections' result. Than Shwe is
unwilling even to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi.

A constitution is a contract between the people and the government of a
nation. Only a statute that is willingly accepted by the people will
endure the test of time. The National League for Democracy believes that
if genuine multi-party democracy is to be established in Burma, a
constitution based on democratic principles is an absolute necessity.

The NLD was set up to usher in a genuine democratic system which lives up
to the aspirations of the people and contributes to building a strong
Union of Burma. It believes that the state derives its power from the
people. And a democratic nation must have the rule of law and a
constitution that guarantees human rights, and basic freedoms - of
worship, expression and association. Moreover, the NLD believes that the
foundation for a strong, lasting and prosperous union has to be laid
through a national convention where all the ethnic groups of Burma are
represented and decide collectively the destiny of the nation. The
landslide victory in 1990 was a public endorsement of what all the NLD has
come to stand for.

Unfortunately, SPDC and its earlier incarnation, State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) practiced means fair and foul to undo the
electoral verdict. First, it invalidated the result, and then it sacked
the MPs. They were also disqualified them from standing for elections
again. When the MPs resisted pressure to resign, false cases were slapped
and they were thrown into jail. Once this exercise was complete and 200
members were eased out, the Junta said "Parliament is not being
constituted as we don't have enough elected members".

Approximately 100 of the 426 elected MPs passed away in the past 18 years.
Three MPs died in police custody. Tin Maung Win, NLD MP of Khayan
Constituency (1), Rangoon Division, passed away on January18, 1991 in the
notorious Insein Prison. Hla Than from Coco Islands Constituency (also
Rangoon Division) died on August 2, 1996 at the guard ward in Rangoon
General Hospital. Saw Win (a.k.a) Kyaw Zaw Lin, who had won Htee Lin
Constituency (Magwe Division) on Aug 7, 1998 in Thayawaddy Prison.

Three law makers passed away soon after their release from jail. Kyaw Min
of Bassein West Constituency (Irrawaddy Division), died of liver cirrhosis
on July1, 1999 in Rangoon General Hospital. San San Win, who represents
the Ahlon Constituency (Rangoon Division), passed away in 2000 and Hla
Maung who had won Kyainseikkyi seat from Karen State died November 27,
2003.

Win Ko who represented Ye Oo Constituency (Sagaing Division), was
assassinated in Kunming, China, on Nov 1, 1992 and Hla Pe, (Pyaw Bwe
Constituency, Mandalay Division), was eliminated on the outskirts of
Bangkok on June 16, 1993. At least 12 law makers are languishing in the
Junta's notorious prison. And the appeals by the international community
-United Nations General Assembly including for their release have gone in
vain. In fact, there are some 1000 political prisoners. They include the
1991 Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myint Thein, a Member of Parliament and spokesman for NLD who was jailed
repeatedly, died at age 62 in Singapore on 29 March. He was last detained
in Yangon's notorious Insein Prison on Sep 27, 2007, after the peaceful
protests led by Buddhist monks ended in a brutal crackdown. Myint Thein
had been in declining health while he was incarcerated and he had to be
hospitalized upon his release on Oct 30, 2007. Frequent detentions and
lack of medical treatment and inadequate food in prison made him sick.

Suu Kyi and NLD stand for dialogue as they firmly believe in Gandhian
values and concepts. But the Junta has cold shouldered NLD and ignored its
dialogue offer. So NLD has no place at the National Convention the Junta
had convened. The second-largest pro-democracy party, the Shan National
League for Democracy (SNLD), did not turn up dubbing the convention as
undemocratic. The United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), which represents
the ethnic parties of Shans, Karens, Kachins, Chins, Arakans, Mons and
Karennis also declared ahead of the convention that they would not go to
the forum in the absence of the NLD.

It goes without saying that minus NLD, the junta's seven-step roadmap
becomes a farce with no genuine democratic principles and objectives.
SPDC's roadmap has three foremost objectives. First whitewash the junta's
crimes against humanity including the premeditated massacre at Depayin.
Second do away with the result of the 1990 General Elections. Third
persuade regional governments to support a sugar-coated
military-monopolized parliament as a legislative body of Burma.

However, present situation in Burma shows that the military junta has been
adamantly marching along the anti-democracy road. For instance, the junta
continues to detain and imprison nearly 2,000 political prisoners,
including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under
house arrest on and off since 1990, leaders of the '88 Generation Students
such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Hla Myo Naung, Mee Mee, Aung Thu, Ko Ko
and political leaders such as Shan leader Hkun Htun Oo and U Win Tin, a
prominent journalist and executive member of the NLD, who at 78 has been
languishing in prison since July 4, 1989.

Moreover, Su Su Nway, a member of the NLD, has been kept in custody in
notorious Insein Jail since November 2007, following a peaceful
demonstration. She received the 2006 Humphrey Freedom Award from the
Canada-based group, Rights and Democracy, for her human rights activities.
She was arrested in 2005 and 2007. Many political prisoners are reportedly
seriously ill and receive only rudimentary health care. The International
Committee of the Red Cross has been denied free access to conduct
confidential prison visits since December 2005. Arrests and intimidation
of political activists and journalists in Burma have been going on for two
decades.

The state-run newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, said the arrests were
made by peace-loving people to prevent instigators from trying to cause
insecurity and strife. The '88 Generation Students' group condemned the
action. It is improper and immoral to assault, perturb, harass and detain
those demonstrating peacefully for change. The student group urged the
government to start dialogue with the detained opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi for the sake of national reconciliation.

Earlier than the 18th anniversary of Burma's 1990 General Elections which
falls on 27 May 2008, the key regional players, China, India, Japan and
ASEAN, should recognize their obligation to Burma. They must urge SPDC to
give up its fruitless policies and unproductive plans. If the junta is
reluctant to recognize the will of its own people, the consequences that
follow may not be to its likings. People's will cannot be wished away nor
their aspirations just as the verdict in a popular election cannot be
brushed aside endlessly.

People believe that the decision to hold a referendum this May is a
fruitless attempt of Sen. Gen. Than Shwe. It will be hard to convince the
country's voters that it was not a controversial constitution written by
pro-military delegates. On the contrary, Than Shwe has declared a war not
only on the people of Burma but also towards the world body by neglecting
the UN's decisions. Than Shwe dares enough to challenge Ban Ki-moon as if
he knew of rival's weakness. It is time Ban puts a thinking cap and takes
a fresh look at the Burma question in its entirety.

____________________________________

April 16, Mizzima News
India's shortsighted approach to Burma policy – Bibhuti Bhusan Nandy

India and China are Burma's two giant neighbors - the former is the
world's largest democracy and the latter is a communist dictatorship.
Since the advent of a Chinese policy under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping
placing China's economic interests above ideological pursuit, Beijing has
increasingly supported the repressive Burmese military junta, leading to a
country awash in Chinese arms. Burma's generals have used Chinese weaponry
in suppressing the country's democratic movement and ethnic insurgencies.
In return, China has enjoyed enormous trade concessions from Burma and
cornered a lion's share of Burma's oil and natural gas – besides securing
strategic facilities for China's own military operations, including
facilities for the collection of technical intelligence on Burma's
southern coastal belt. The Chinese have proven obstructionist toward most
international initiatives to help restore democracy in Burma.

In contrast to Chinese support for military rule in Burma, India had
actively sympathized with the cause of democracy for Burma. After his
removal from power following the 1962 military coup, former Burmese Prime
Minister U Nu took shelter in India. The all-round moral and material
support given by India to the heroic struggle for democracy in Burma made
citizens of the country proud. It earned high respect and admiration from
lovers of democracy and freedom around the world. Indian diplomats
throughout Southeast Asia earned high plaudits for their country's
unquestioned and unconditional help to the pro-democracy movement in
Burma.

The abrupt reversal, in the mid-1990s, of New Delhi's stance in favor of
the ruling military junta marked a radical departure from India's
time-tested Burma policy. The bankrupt Indian foreign policy establishment
in the South Block has abdicated its responsibility for formulating and
executing India's policy towards Burma. It is now left to Indian generals
to conduct our diplomacy in that country. India's army-driven Burma policy
is solely geared to placating Burma's generals and is unconcerned with
addressing the needs and concerns of the 53 million people of Burma
comprising diverse races and religions. Such a policy has resulted in
military supplies, provision of road and railway communication facilities
and trade concessions to the generals ensconced in Naypyitaw, thereby
strengthening the repressive military regime.

In 1998, the machinations of the military junta in collusion with an
Indian army colonel butchered a number of Arakanese freedom fighters in
the Andamans. Thirty four other Arakanese nationals friendly to India were
arrested and detained under concocted charges of gun-running and waging
war against the state. While the rogue colonel is freely moving about in
Burma serving the Burmese military intelligence and lining his pockets,
the hapless Arakanese are rotting in a Calcutta jail paying the price of
friendship with India. The CBI has failed to produce even a shred of
evidence against the prisoners, but the trying court has been drawing out
the case from date to date. All this is happening in sovereign, democratic
India, at the insistence of the tin-pot Burmese Tatmadaw [Army].

On the other hand, the much touted cooperation from the Burmese side in
tackling northeast insurgent groups operating from across India's border
in Burma has remained an empty promise. Instead, for example, Burmese
security agencies have continued as before to support the insurgents of
Manipur.

One rationale for appeasing the Burmese generals is that this would help
erode Chinese influence. How realistic this expectation is, was brought
into question when Burma gave short shrift to India's overture for the
supply of natural gas from new gas fields in Arakan state, instead
deciding to divert the valuable resources to China.

Thanks to New Delhi's unmitigated policy of appeasement, in the past few
years Burmese military intelligence has spread its tentacles far and wide
in this country. Intelligence agents operating from the Burmese embassy in
New Delhi and the Burmese consulate in Kolkata have effectively penetrated
the country's military establishment, civil services, intelligentsia,
media and academic institutions. The treacherous military junta has
repeatedly rebuffed all U.N. initiatives and efforts for a peaceful
transition to democracy in Burma, but New Delhi has preferred to remain a
silent spectator of the military's intransigence.

In September of last year, the junta ruthlessly crushed the peaceful
pro-democracy demonstrations of students and Buddhist clergy. The rest of
the democratic world roundly condemned the mayhem, but the Government of
India and the media in this country maintained a deafening silence over
the bloodshed. After wavering for two decades over the road to democratic
rule, Burma's military junta, euphemistically named the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), has recently produced a draft constitution
scheduled to be put to a referendum next month. It debars Aung San Suu Kyi
from contesting the parliamentary election, provides 25 percent
representation in parliament to the defense forces and military rule in
the event of a declaration of national emergency in the country. In other
words, in the name of restoring democracy the treacherous generals are out
to enact an enormous constitutional fraud. The present Indian government
and its media have to date failed to react to this massive act of deceit.

Meanwhile the junta, through its special agencies and agents of influence,
has been manipulating events and policies to its advantage without
hindrance. Last month, the Kolkata-based Maulana Azad Institute of Asian
Research, funded by the central government, organized a seminar at the
Astoria Hotel on Indo-Burma relations. The subject and the focus of the
seminar, as well as the speakers, were decided by an old and trusted
contact of the local Burmese Consulate. The Institute imposed a thick veil
of secrecy over the seminar, to the point of insulting anyone who showed
any interest in it. One reason for this excessive secrecy is that most of
the participants were Burmese military officers. Questioned about the
rationale of the hush-hush manner of conducting the seminar, a senior
official of the Institute claimed that this was done on the advice of the
Ministry of External Affairs.

In the past two decades, thanks to the pusillanimity of our ruling class,
intellectuals and academics, Indo-Burma interactions have been strictly
confined to the military. The devastating consequences will be felt when
democracy returns to Burma. In that event, friendless India will have no
clue as to how to go about developing mutually beneficial ties with the
people and government of a democratic Burma.

The author is Former Additional Secretary of cabinet Secretariat,
Government of India.

____________________________________

April 16, The Straits Times
Myanmar migrant workers deserve better – John Gee

I AM sure many who read about the deaths of 54 migrant workers from
Myanmar in a container in Thailand must have felt very sorry for them, as
well as for those who survived the ordeal.

Last year, there were expressions of sympathy from all around the world
for the suffering of many people in Myanmar, but the plight of the
thousands who have fled their country in desperation since then does not
seem to have aroused the same degree of sympathy.

Most are simply seeking a way to earn money to survive as they have no
opportunities at home, and that is what drives so many to break domestic
and foreign laws in order to find work.

Unfortunately, this leads them into work situations where they are
vulnerable to exploitation and, because they have violated the immigration
laws of their host country, they are often treated as criminals rather
than as people who deserve consideration.

There have been many instances in recent months of undocumented Myanmar
workers shamelessly exploited by employers and treated in a hard-hearted
fashion by agencies in both Thailand and Malaysia.

They should receive a warmer and more considerate reception, in line with
Asean expressions of sympathy for the plight of the people of Myanmar.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

April 16, European Parliament
Burma: EU needs "coherent strategy" ahead of military's poll

What road will Burma and its Monks take?
As the world's attention is focused on Tibet, another Asian country where
monks are revered is also under pressure. Burma - held under a firm grasp
by it ruling military junta. So total is the regime's power that it
thought nothing of renaming the country and moving the capital city. Its
next move is a 10 May referendum on a Constitution that will give the
military power and keep opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi out of
politics. A parliamentary hearing on 2 April discussed what Europe can do.

It is estimated that over 1,800 political prisoners languish in Burma's
jails - many of them monks. Dutch Socialist Thijs Berman, who chaired the
hearing, called for the UN Security Council to launch an inquiry into
human rights violations. He said he hoped it would lead to suspects being
brought before the International Criminal Court. He called for parliament
to adopt a resolution on Burma when it next meets in plenary session.

Monks barred from voting

The generals' ploy is a "roadmap to democracy", which they hope will lead
to a Constitution giving the military 25% of seats in parliament. The
military has already barred the 400,000 monks who led the protests in
August and September last year from voting in the referendum.

Under the terms of the proposed Constitution anyone who has been married
to a foreign national is barred from public office. This is directed at
opposition leader and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi who was
married to British academic Michael Aris. During the last stages of his
illness in Britain (he died in 1999) the generals refused to allow him to
visit his wife whilst encouraging her to leave Burma. Her party won the
1990 general election but the result was declared void by the military and
she has been under virtual house arrest in Rangoon ever since.

EU support urged for Aung San Suu Kyi

Speaking at the hearing, Portuguese MEP José Ribeiro e Castro (EPP-ED)
called on the EU to give Ms Suu Kyi more support (she has already won the
parliament's Sakharov prize). He also called for a coherent strategy in
relations to Burma's key neighbours China and India in order to coordinate
the international response to the regime. China is one of Rangoon's few
international friends.

British Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock said any development assistance to the
country (Burma is one of the poorest in the world) should be linked to
political progress. It was part of a wider call by many participants for
"smarter sanctions" and other measures to bring the regime to heed
democratic calls. One solution could be to apply stricter travel
restrictions to leading figures in the regime.

Generals rejected UN democracy plan

Economic pressure should also be applied according to Mr Berman, who would
like pressure put on international companies who do business with the
regime.

The EU's special envoy for Burma Piero Fassino told MEPs that the regime
had refused a UN plan that would have led to democracy. He said the plan
had stressed the importance of dialogue and recognition but that it had
been rejected. As the date of the referendum draws nearer, the pressure
within Burma is certain to mount.

________________________________


April 16, The Canadian Friends of Burma
Refugees at risk from rising food prices

The Canadian Friends of Burma and other Burmese activists in Canada are
raising alarm that rapidly rising food prices have put Burmese refugees in
Thailand's refugee camps at risk.

Tin Maung Htoo, the Executive Director of Friends of Burma, said that
price increases are posing a crisis for the 142,000 refugees in Thailand's
camps. "Rice is the staple food for refugees," he said "and humanitarian
agencies are facing serious challenges to raise enough funds continue to
feed them." Rice prices in Asia have increased from $360 to $760 a ton in
the last several months, and could possibly rise to $1000 a ton.

International agencies supporting the refugee program in Thailand are
scrambling to find additional funds.  Jack Dunford, the Executive Director
of the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium, the main humanitarian agency
feeding refugees, was in Ottawa this week meeting with government
officials to request additional Canadian funds. He left Ottawa
empty-handed.

"Canada has been a key supporter of the Burmese democracy struggle," said
Mr. Tin Maung Htoo.  "We have been very pleased with the government's
position with respect to democracy and human rights.  But we also urgently
need additional humanitarian assistance otherwise these people could face
starvation. "

Canada is among fourteen other countries providing assistance to Burmese
refugees in Thailand.  However, Canada is among the smallest government
donors, providing about 2% of the costs of the refugee food program.  So
far, Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands have announced additional
assistance to deal with the price crisis.

For more information contact:

Tin Maung Htoo, Canadian Friends of Burma, 613 297-6835