News From The Nation (r)

[nyeinchan@xxxxxxxxxxx]

June 19th, 1997
The Nation
Pitak asks Burma to cease trade disruption 



DON PATHAN 

The Nation 

MAE SOT ­ The Burmese junta should end its block on cross-border trading 
and treat border problems and economic activities along the Thai-Burmese 
frontier separately, Deputy Foreign Minister Pitak Intrawityanunt said 
yesterday. 

''Myanmar [Burma] won't be able to open or close its borders as it 
pleases once it becomes a member of Asean [the Association of Southeast 
Asian Nations]. There is certain behaviour and a code of conduct that 
Asean members ... have to abide by," Pitak said during a one-day tour of 
this northern district in Tak province. 

Rangoon abruptly ordered the closure of the Myawaddy border crossing 
last Thursday in response to a dispute over an islet in the Moei River 
the junta claimed had been lost to Thailand when the river changed 
course due to flooding. 

The closure has gravely affected Mae Sot's economy and an estimated 
Bt1-million worth of goods destined for Burma remain stranded on the 
Thai side each day. 

Last week, Maj Rijirawat Vongsriyanarong, head of the Thai-Burmese 
coordinating committee, quoted Lt Col Sai Phone, commander of Burma's 
275th Infantry Division, as saying that the closure was due to a 
decision by Rangoon to reorganise cross-border rules and regulations. 

But border officials have said they believe the closure resulted from 
Thailand's protest at Burma's attempt to dredge the river in order to 
return it to its original position. 

Thailand asked the Burmese to stop the dredging, saying it could affect 
the river's causeway and the frontier. The Burmese argued that the 
original water channel had been altered over the past several years and 
that they had a right to regain the islet, which Thailand had claimed as 
part of a land reclamation. 

Speaking at a meeting of the Mae Sot Chamber of Commerce, Pitak assured 
local businessmen that the border situation would improve considerably 
once Burma joined Asean. 

The traders urged the ministry to study the possibility of making the 
area a ''special economic zone" aimed at attracting labour-intensive 
industry. They also asked the government to relax travel restrictions 
for Burmese workers and allow them to work in the proposed zone. 

Pitak said border problems were likely to continue because the two 
countries share a long common border. ''But this doesn't mean that 
security issues have to disrupt commercial activities," he said. 

Kobsak Chutikul, director general of the ministry's Economic Affairs 
Department, played down the territorial dispute, saying border problems 
did not reflect the entire relationship between the two countries. 

He dismissed recent media reports which called the closure a violation 
of the Agreement on Border Crossing signed last month during Prime 
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's visit to Burma, saying that Article 13 
allowed either country to suspend entries along the border for security 
reasons. 

''Though it was within their [Burma's] rights [to close the border], 
nevertheless, there is an unwritten international code of conduct that 
members of the world community should abide by," he said. 

The traders asked Burmese Ambassador to Thailand U Hla Muang, who was 
accompanying Pitak, to consider the economic well-being of the area 
before closing border crossings. 

The envoy responded by saying that ''man-made border problems take 
longer to resolve than problems created by natural causes", implying 
that it could take some time before the territorial dispute is settled 
and that Burma feels the right to reclaim land lost due to flooding 
overrides Thailand's appeal to maintain the status quo.

Editorial & Opinion 

Letters to the Editor 



Asean nations are on board the same train to glory 

Burma, Cambodia and Laos deserve membership of the Asean club. After 
all, they meet the requirements. 

The Burmese military massacred thousands of protesters and students in 
1988, not as spectacular as the 1965-1966 massacre in Indonesia or 
Cambodia's genocide in the '70s but an acceptable performance none the 
less. 

The Burmese junta often says it would like to follow the Indonesian 
model of mandatory military involvement in politics. What is good enough 
for Asean's engine (Indonesia) should be satisfactory for its carriages. 

Burma has gone one better, the Slorc (State Law and Order Restoration 
Council) is both the government and the military. In other words, one 
party rule, as practised in Vietnam (Asean's most recent member) and its 
little brother Laos. 

Cambodia now chugs relentlessly down that same track trying desperately 
to catch up with Burma. From the moment the counting of votes began in 
the 1993 UN-sponsored poll which cost US$3 billion (Bt78 billion), it 
was plain that the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the old 
Vietnamese-backed communists, would not accept a Funcinpec (royalist) 
victory. And the CPP had the guns and the gall to force power sharing. 
But observers predict there will be no power sharing after next year's 
election, it will be CPP and CPP alone. 

Only the Philippines and Thailand have respectable democracies. Brunei, 
Malaysia and Singapore range from monarchy to guided and manhandled 
democracy. Singapore Worker's Party candidate, Tang Liang Hong called 
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister Lee Kwan Yew and Deputy 
Premier BG Lee liars and ended up with a libel conviction costing S$8 
million (Bt137 million) with more to come. 

Singaporean officials have been through his tax files as often happens 
with troublesome opposition figures or government types who fall out of 
favour. Tang faces another hefty bill for alleged tax evasion, fraud or 
avoidance. 

So when Slorc ignored the 1990 election result which gave 80 per cent of 
the vote to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, it was 
behaving as many good Asean states would. When Slorc put Suu Kyi under 
house arrest for six years, it was just a bonus. Now, she is free to 
take part in the Burmese political process in much the same way as 
Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia or Tang in Singapore. 

And as for human rights abuses, Burma gets the best newcomer award. 
Slorc seems naturally gifted ­ jail a few hundred here and 
systematically torture a few hundred there. Cambodia is trying hard but 
it falls behind some of the older players like Indonesia in its 
treatment of the East Timorese. 

Still, Cambodia gets the quirky, goofy prize (or should that be quirky, 
spooky) for rehabilitating Ieng Sary's Khmer Rouge, suggesting that Pol 
Pot and Ta Mok (''the Butcher") might go into exile, and Khieu Samphan 
be allowed into politics. Ieng Sary was Pol Pot's foreign minister and 
is obviously a real diplomat. 

The one area where Burma lets the side down is business. Its twin 
exchange rate is still in place making imports and exports difficult. 
What we need is a little openness like Thailand's rice market, 
Indonesia's car industry or Singapore's superannuation and savings 
business. 

I'm sceptical when Westerners say Burma produces most of the world's 
opium and heroin. If that were true, wouldn't Vietnam, Cambodia, 
Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand complain about the flood of heroin 
passing through their territory on its way to the world market. 

Have you heard these transit countries speak out against Burmese heroin 
production? Malaysia, for example, has over 200,000 heroin addicts in a 
population of 18 million. Would Malaysia be happy to have Burma in the 
Asean club if the heroin injected into its sons and daughters' veins 
came from Burma? 

Khun Sa has apparently retired to Rangoon. He was the king of the drug 
lords but is now said to be sorry and has moved into legitimate 
business. So how could heroin production increase? 

The US State Department called another Burmese businessmen, Lo Hing Han 
a narco-trafficker and barred his son, Steven Law from entering the 
United States on suspicion of involvement in the drug trade. How could 
this be the case when Singapore allowed Law to establish companies in 
the Lion City and to visit frequently? 

The government of the Singapore Investment Corporation (GSIC) had 
business links with companies belonging to Law and his father. The GSIC 
knows who it is dealing with. It does not get things wrong and neither 
does Asean. 



Asean observer 

JAKARTA


"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."



---------------------------------------------------------
Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
---------------------------------------------------------