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BurmaNet News: February 27, 2001
- Subject: BurmaNet News: February 27, 2001
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 07:05:00
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
February 27, 2001 Issue # 1745
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
INSIDE BURMA _______
*AP: Leadership changed in Kachin ethnic army amid rumors of coup
*The Nation: KIO denies leadership change result of coup
*AFP: Myanmar shrugs off US rights report
*The Asian Age (New Delhi): Bahadur Shah Zafar a saint in Burma
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Bangkok Post: Talks Fail to Settle Dispute at Frontier; Hopes Now Rest
with High-level Discussion
*The Nation: Burma Asks for 40' Spies' to Be Released
*The Nation: M'sia Urges Asean Not to Isolate Burma
*Bangkok Post: Sniper Kills Influential Kamnan in Mae Sai
ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Xinhua: Japan-Invested Instrument Factory Goes into Production in
Myanmar
OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*Boston Globe: Hope for Burma
*Bangkok Post: Helping Burma is a thankless task
*Bangkok Post: Opposing Positions over Burma Conflict
*Japan Times: Guest Forum-myanmar's Best Hope Lies in Reconciliation
*India Today magazine (New Delhi): Stillness of Change
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
AP: Leadership changed in Kachin ethnic army amid rumors of coup
Feb. 27, 2001
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ The leader of a prominent ethnic army in
Myanmar has stepped down because of poor health, a senior group member
said Tuesday, denying reports that he had been ousted by fellow
officers.
Gen. Zau Mai was replaced by Maj. Gen. Tu Jai as president of the
Kachin Independence Organization and chief of staff of the group's armed
wing, the Kachin Independence Army, the official said.
Zau Mai, who is in his late 60s, suffered a stroke four years ago, said
James Lumdau, who sits on the 16-member central committee of the
organization. He said Zau Mai stepped down last week at the group's
headquarters at Pajau, in Myanmar's northernmost Kachin State near the
Myanmar-China border.
The group's 6,000 troops ended a three decade rebellion when Zau Mai
signed a cease-fire with Myanmar's military government in 1994. But some
elements of the group, one of Myanmar's biggest ethnic armies, are
believed to be dissatisfied with the pace of development and
democratization.
The Shan Herald Agency for News, a Thailand-based news agency
sympathetic to anti-government rebels in eastern Myanmar, claimed Zau
Mai was ousted in a mutiny and that he and other leaders supporting him
were under detention in Pajau.
Lumdau, who is based in Bangkok, said Zau Mai is staying at home in
Pajau with his family.
The Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based website and magazine on Myanmar issues,
reported that many ordinary Kachins and Kachin Independence Organization
officials had been upset by Zau Mai's business dealings with Myanmar
generals and businessmen in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan,
involving gold and jade mining and logging concessions in Kachin State.
It reported that since the cease-fire deal, the Kachin, who are
predominantly Christian, had been allowed to practice their religion
freely and human rights abuses had reduced, but Myanmar had increased
its military presence in the region.
The Myanmar regime has reached cease-fire agreements with 17 ethnic
armed groups in border regions since 1989 through a combination of
military pressure and promises of development assistance.
Curbing decades of civil war is viewed by the military as one of its
greatest achievements. But it has yet to reach a political settlement
with any of the groups. The regime has also ignored the results of
national general elections in 1990 won by democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.
A spokesman for Myanmar's military regime contacted in Yangon confirmed
there had been a ``peaceful and systematic'' change of leadership in the
Kachin group, but gave no details.
He denied reports that three battalions of Myanmar troops had sealed
off the Kachin group's headquarters amid fears that the leadership
change might affect the cease-fire agreement.
___________________________________________________
The Nation: KIO denies leadership change result of coup
February 27 , 2001
[Abridged]
A KEY Burmese ethnic group, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO),
yesterday acknowledged a significant change to its leadership but denied
that the move was the result of an internal coup.
Rumours have been rife since the weekend of an internal KIO conflict
that saw a group of discontented young officers pushing for the removal
of their chairman Lt-General Zau Mai to be replaced by his deputy
Maj-General Tu Jai.
There are also rumours that some top Kachin leaders are being held by
the coup plotters.
In an interview yesterday with The Nation, KIO spokesman Jen Lomethong
confirmed that Tu Jai had "officially" become chairman on Saturday.
But the change was the result of a "collective decision" within the
organisation and not the result of a coup, he said.
Tu Jai also replaced Zau Mai in two other top positions, as president of
the Independence Council and chief of staff of the Kachin Independence
Army.
Jen rejected rumours that Zau Mai, KIO vice president Zawng Hra and a
few other top leaders, had been detained by the coup plotters, saying
all the top Kachin leaders had been carrying out their usual daily
schedules.
The KIO is one of Burma's strongest armed ethnic groups and known for
its tough resistance to the Burmese Army. The group, which has control
over the resource-rich northern Kachin State, struck a cease-fire
agreement with the Burmese junta in February 1994 after three years of
negotiations.
"There has been no coup, and nobody has been arrested," said Jen, who
refused to speculate on the origin of the take-over rumour.
He added that the change in the KIO leadership would not affect the
group's truce with Rangoon and that both sides remained committed to the
agreement. The KIO spokesman said Zau Mai had stepped down because of
"poor health". The 65-year-old general has suffered "two minor strokes"
in the past two years and had repeatedly expressed his desire to retire.
"The general is now resting at his home near Pajau", which is the KIO
headquarters on the Sino-Burmese border, Jen said.
The Kachin spokesman also denied that several battalions of Burmese
troops had been deployed to take advantage of the KIO leadership change.
Informed sources in northern Thailand said there had been discontent
among a number of KIO members over Zau Mai's refusal to stand up to the
junta's increasing political and military pressure on the armed group
and the civilian population.
Since the cease-fire, the Burmese army has increased its military
deployment in Kachin State and taken over some territory formerly
controlled by the KIO.
Rangoon has also granted a lot of mining concessions and other contracts
to foreign businesses, particularly from China.
Zau Mai took over KIO chairmanship after the untimely death of the
charismatic and diplomatic Brang Seng after a second stroke in August
1994. Zau Mai was seen as a tough soldier who had risen steadily through
the ranks. Tu Jai has been part of the KIO since its formation in 1961.
He was a sergeant in the Burmese Army before joining the guerrilla
movement. Tu Jai was actively involved in the KIO cease-fire
negotiations with the Burmese junta.
BY YING NAMKHAM
___________________________________________________
AFP: Myanmar shrugs off US rights report
YANGON, Feb 27 (AFP) - Myanmar's ruling military on Tuesday shrugged off
a damning report from Washington accusing it of brutal and severe
repression, saying it was a litany of "made-up stories and fabricated
reports."
"It is regretful that the US annual report on Myanmar's human rights
situation is the same tune, as usual totally based on made-up stories
and fabricated reports coming from anti-government quarters," a
statement from the office of the junta spokesman said.
"Today the words 'human rights' seem to be the most misused and
abused."
In its annual report on global human rights issued Monday, the State
Department reserved a hefty 20,000 words to detail allegations of
political repression, torture, forced labour, rape and other human
rights abuses in Myanmar.
Reports of a tentative dialogue between democracy leader and Nobel
Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta amounted to "hopeful signs,"
said the acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights
and Labor, Michael Parmly.
But as he unveiled the report, he said the National League for
Democracy (NLD) leader was held incommunicado last year and an official
campaign of intimidation against the party had gone on unchecked.
"The Government's extremely poor human rights record and longstanding
severe repression of its citizens continued during the year," said the
report, which refers to Burma, Myanmar's former name.
"Citizens continued to live subject at any time and without appeal to
the arbitrary and sometimes brutal dictates of the military regime."
The United States, which leads an informal international coalition
which has imposed sanctions and investment restrictions on Myanmar, is a
frequent critic of the generals.
According to the State Department, basing its conclusions on
information culled from its embassies in Southeast Asia, the government
still holds 48 members of parliament elect and 1,000 NLD supporters in
detention.
The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990, but the result was
never recognised by the military.
In addition to their alleged repression of basic political rights, the
government was also accused of violating international humanitarian law
in internal conflicts against ethnic insurgencies.
___________________________________________________
The Asian Age (New Delhi): Bahadur Shah Zafar a saint in Burma
February 26, 2001
By Ramesh Bhan
Rangoon, Feb. 25: Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor whose tomb
in Rangoon is a mute testimony to the torture that Indian freedom
fighters had to face at the hands of the British, is worshipped by the
people here as saint-emperor who can fulfil their wishes.
Faithfuls visit his mausoleum every day and prayers are held on Fridays
as in a mosque.
A visit to the mausoleum that houses the graves of Zafar, his wife
Zeenat Mahal and granddaughter Raunaq Zamani Begum lying side-by-side,
is ôlike a pilgrimageö, particularly for an Indian for whom, a visit to
Rangoon is incomplete without a visit to ZafarÆs tomb.
India has urged the Burmese government for maintenance of the tomb. The
issue was raised by home minister L.K. Advani with his Burmese
counterpart Tin Hla when he visited India last year.
Even Pakistan has laid claim to the maintenance of the tomb on the
ground that Zafar was a Muslim and the king of the undivided
sub-continent that included Pakistan.
ôthe basic thing is that Pakistan has to come in where India stakes its
claim,ö said a member of the trust that presently looks after the tomb.
Before the military takeover, it was maintained by another trust set up
by the descendants of Zafar. The trust was then headed by Ismail Baggia,
originally from Surat in Gujarat. A prayer hall was constructed with
Indian assistance in 1991 which was inaugurated on December 15, 1994.
One can enter the room where the three graves of Zafar, Zeenat and his
granddaughter lay after passing through the prayer hall.
The graves were considered ?real? until the original grave of Zafar was
discovered in 1991. Zafar was imprisoned by the British and taken to
Rangoon in 1858 along with his wife, granddaughter and grandson Sikandar
Bux, two daughters and one literature teacher.
The whole family was lodged in a garage attached to the bungalow of a
junior British officer till Zafar?s death on November 7, 1862. Nobody
had been allowed to meet the family. Zafar died on November 7, a Friday,
and was buried secretly under a tree later on the same day. (UNI)
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
Bangkok Post: Talks Fail to Settle Dispute at Frontier; Hopes Now Rest
with High-level Discussion
February 27, 2001
Local-level talks yesterday between Thailand and Burma on border
disputes in Chiang Rai ended in failure with no agreement reached and
border crossings still closed.
The meeting was regarded by Third Army commander Lt-Gen Watthanachai
Chaimuenwong as only an effort to paint the picture of a better border
situation.
Four-hour talks between members of the Thai-Burmese Township Border
Committees (TBC) began yesterday morning after Thai border officials
entered Burma's Tachilek province to attend the first half of the
negotiations.
Later, participants from both sides crossed the border into Mae Sai
district for the second half of the talks where a news conference on the
results of talks showed a lack of progress.
The Thai representatives were led by Chiang Rai army district chief
Maj-Gen Tawat Jaruklat while the Burmese team was led by Lt-Col Myo
Chit, commander of the 359th battalion in Tachilek.
Maj-Gen Tawat said the main reason why no deals could be struck was
because proposals tabled from both sides were the same old issues which
could only be dealt with by higher officials. Neither the withdrawal of
soldiers from troubled areas nor the reopening of border crossings were
discussed at yesterday's meeting, he said.
"The proposals will be re-submitted to higher level officials for
consideration. Anyway, I believe this meeting will certainly lead to
talks between senior officials," the Chiang Rai army district chief
said.
At the meeting, Burma accused Thailand of supporting the Shan State Army
in attacking a Burmese military base in Palang Luang on Feb 21 and also
demanded the release of 42 Burmese villagers who were recently arrested
by Mae Sai police on illegal entry charges The Thai side urged Burma to
negotiate a settlement over the Phuteng Na Yong border area and to have
the English- and Burmese-language statements on the Feb 12 ceasefire
agreement corrected.
According to Maj-Gen Tawat, the Thai-language statements said it was
Burma to blame for this month's border skirmishes in Mae Sai but the
ones in English- and Burmese languages said it was Thailand's fault.
The Third Army chief said he believed yesterday's TBC-level meeting was
nothing but an attempt to present a good image and would not bear any
fruit, saying only high-level talks now hold a chance of a breakthrough.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai said Burma's accusation that Thailand supported the
SSA was unacceptable.
Subin Khuenkaew Chiang Rai
___________________________________________________
The Nation: Burma Asks for 40' Spies' to Be Released
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
BURMA called on Thailand yesterday to free 40 of its nationals who have
been detained over the past three weeks on suspicion of spying on Thai
troops following border clashes between the two sides, officials said
yesterday.
The request was made at a meeting of the Township Border Committee
(TBC), a mechanism jointly created by both governments to tackle border
problems at local levels, which met for the second time in the past
three weeks.
Chiang Rai provincial commander Maj General Thawat Charakalasa told
reporters after the meeting that he does not have the authority to
release the 40 suspects but would forward the request to higher civilian
and military officials.
Thawat said the two sides have made "some progress" in this second round
of meetings, saying Thai and Burmese delegates understood the situation
although neither has the authority to act on any requests.
The meeting also agreed to hold the border committee meetings elsewhere
and not just in Mae Sai-Tachilek.
Thailand has also asked that the Burmese army pull their troops out of
Koo Teng Nai Yong, a strategic hill just two kilometres south of Mae Sai
that overlooks Tachilek and Mae Sai. The hill was the scene of heavy
fighting between Thai and Burmese troops two weeks ago.
Thawat quoted the Burmese delegation as saying that the request would be
forwarded to Maj General Thein Sein, commander of the Triangle Region.
Any decision to pull back the troops and open the border would be made
by higher authorities, he said.
Allegations that Thai troops were supporting rebel Shan State Army (SSA)
were also brought up at the meeting yesterday. Thawat dismissed the
accusations, saying the Thai Army had no policy to support any armed
group fighting in Burma.
Thai and Burmese troops began exchanging gunfire and shells about three
weeks ago after the Burmese refused to retreat from Koo Teng Na Yong
Hill and Ban Pang Noon in nearby Mae Fah Luang district, which they had
taken from a platoon of 19 Thai Rangers the day before. The Burmese
wanted the hill so they could position their artillery to shell the SSA.
Thailand accused Burma of using the United Wa State Army, the largest
drug producer in this region, to wage a proxy war with Thailand.
___________________________________________________
The Nation: M'sia Urges Asean Not to Isolate Burma
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR- Malaysia is developing into a broker in talks between
Burma's military government and the opposition and is urging other
Southeast Asian nations to step up economic aid to encourage the
generals to embrace democracy.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said that Malaysia would try to build
on progress made during a recent visit by Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad to end decades of isolation for Burma by encouraging political
reform through economic development.
"We believe that Myanmar [Burma] would change but this change would only
be brought about through economic development," Syed Hamid said. "When
people are more conscious, more aware, more affluent, then they will
demand more freedom, more democracy."
Mahathir made an unofficial visit to Burma in January and met with
Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the ruling State Peace and
Development Council. The trip coincided with a UN mission to Burma, led
by special envoy Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat.
After his visit, Razali revealed that junta leaders had been holding
reconciliation talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a
potential breakthrough in a decade-old impasse.
Mahathir had developed a special relationship with members of Burma's
ruling council by encouraging democracy without criticising the regime,
Syed Hamid said.
"The prime minister is not seen as dictative," Syed Hamid said. "He
consults and discusses and they feel he is discussingwith them. That
enables the prime minister to make his views and recommendations on
things to do, but at the end of day the choice is with Myanmar." Syed
Hamid said the Burmese generals had shown their willingness to accept
democracy, but that they must be allowed to make changes at their own
pace.
He added that countries within the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations should help Burma build its fragile economy.
___________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: Sniper Kills Influential Kamnan in Mae Sai
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
Bodyguards flee scene of shooting
Subin Khuenkaew
Chiang Rai
An influential kamnan with close links to the United Wa State Army was
shot dead on the Mae Sai river yesterday.
Saengsanit Chaisri, better known as Kamnan Daeng, was shot in the head
by a sniper with a high-powered gun at about 10am.
"With such a precise shot from a long distance, this could be carried
out only by someone who has been specially trained in sharpshooting," a
local observer said.
He said the influential kamnan was usually surrounded by bodyguards,
making it impossible for would-be assailants to approach. His two
bodyguards disappeared after the shooting.
Kamnan Daeng was known to have close ties with several local politicians
including former deputy commerce minister Samphan Lertnuwat and former
assistant police chief Pol Gen Prasarn Wongyai.
A provincial Thai Rak Thai MP, who asked not to be identified, said he
was not surprised at the assassination since Kamnan Daeng was "bound to
be murdered sooner or later".
One of the employees at Kamnan Daeng's sand-dredging site said he did
not hear any gunshot. The influential kamnan had just returned from
Burma, where he had been in hiding following a death threat.
"A sharpshooter could have hidden in a nearby bush about 40m away from
where Kamnan Daeng was standing when he was shot," a villager said.
Kamnan Daeng's residence in Ban Pang Haa was searched several times over
the past three months by local security and drug suppression officials
who suspected him of drug trafficking.
He was also known to have had close ties with several senior Burmese
military officials, who awarded him several construction contracts along
the border.
A road linking Burma's Tachilek border town to the UWSA's Mong Yawn was
built by a construction company with Kamnan Daeng's blessing. "His
investments in Burma may have reached 100 million baht," a local
businessman said.
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
Xinhua: Japan-Invested Instrument Factory Goes into Production in
Myanmar
YANGON, February 27 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese-invested factory, which
produces instruments for operating theaters and for dental and eye
operations, has opened at Hmawby, the outskirts of Yangon, official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday. Monday's inaugural
ceremony of the factory of the MANI Yangon Ltd of Japan was attended by
two Myanmar Ministers at the Office of the Chairman of the State Peace
and Development Council Brigadier-General Abel and Lieutenant-General
Min Thein, and other ministers as well as Japanese ambassador to Myanmar
Shigeru Tsumori.
The Japanese factory was set up with full foreign investment and the
products will be exported to Japan, South America and European
countries. According to official statistics, Japan so far invested a
total of 232.88 million U.S. dollars into Myanmar since late 1988 when
the country opened to foreign investment, ranking the 9th in Myanmar's
foreign investment line-up. Meanwhile, Japan also stands as Myanmar's
fourth largest trading partner after Singapore, China and Thailand with
their bilateral trade amounting to 227.55 million dollars or 6.94
percent of Myanmar's total foreign trade in the first ten months of
2000.
_______________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________
Boston Globe: Hope for Burma
HANKS IN LARGE PART to the effect of sanctions imposed by the United
States, the European Union, and the International Labor Organization,
the military junta ruling Burma has finally opened talks with Nobel
Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi. She is leader of National League
for Democracy, the party that won 80 percent of the seats in Parliament
in a 1990 election which the junta has disregarded.
It is crucial that President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin
Powell do not feel impelled, because of a general distaste for economic
sanctions, to alter a policy that is just beginning to show desired
results.
The sanctions on the Burmese military rulers are multilateral, although
not universal. China, which has a strategic interest in neighboring
Burma, continues to trade with the junta, overlooking not only that
regime's horrific human rights abuses but also the diffusion of drug
addiction into China from a country that has become, in tandem with
Afghanistan, a source for more than 90 percent of the world's heroin.
Nevertheless, the willingness of China and other Asian states to trade
with Burma has not been sufficient to save the junta from severe
economic decline. Mismanagement, corruption, and the effects of the
multilateral economic sanctions have left in distress a country that was
once regarded as one of Asia's most blessed in natural resources.
This month, the Far Eastern Economic Review reported that ''inflation
remains high, fuel prices are rising, and the value of the currency has
fallen sharply.'' Also, ''the price of rice is falling'' and ''there
also isn't enough rice for domestic consumption.'' Burma's military
bosses have become so desperate for development aid and foreign
investment that they may have decided any price is worth paying to end
their pariah status - even dialogue with Suu Kyi and a democratic
opening.
If the Bush administration were to relax sanctions on the junta at this
juncture, it would be acting at cross purposes even with Burma's
neighbors. Recently, because of cross-border raids by Burmese troops
pursuing ethnic Shan rebels, there have been armed clashes between
Thailand's army and Burma's. The Thais are also angry at the junta
because they blame it for allowing Burma's drug lords to hook Thai youth
on heroin, as well as methamphetamine and the drug ecstasy.
Moreover, the primary defender of authoritarianism as an Asian value,
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, counseled junta members
during a January visit that they could best resolve their problems at
home and within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by relaxing
their iron grip on their people and talking to Suu Kyi.
Bush and Powell could not undo US sanctions on the junta without
discrediting America as a champion of democracy and human rights.
___________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: Helping Burma is a thankless task
By Thongbai Thongpao
February 25, 2001
The situation along the Thai-Burmese border has been tense for decades.
But the latest clashes in Mae Sai have changed the attitude Thais have
towards their neighbour. We call Burma our neighbour because our
countries are adjacent but we don't want them firing at us over the
fence.
Sporadic conflicts are nothing new with all our neighbours. But peace is
usually restored without difficulty. The only exception is Burma.
Looking back, it seems the relationship between Thailand and Burma has
been a marathon war. Hundreds of years ago, Burma invaded Thailand
several times, twice seizing Ayudhaya, the old capital of Siam. On the
first occasion, Siam remained under Burmese control for 15 years before
King Naresuan restored independence. On the second occasion, the Burmese
attacked and burned down the entire capital. Even revered Buddha images
were plundered for their gold coatings. Eventually King Taksin the Great
again restored independence.
There are many legends from these times. One involves a man called Nai
Khanom Tom who beat nine Burmese in a boxing match, thereby surprising
the Burmese who thought the Thais to be cowards. "If all Thais had such
courage, they would not have lost the city to us," the Burmese said.
Another legend concerns Bangrachan Thai villagers who saved their
village from invasion by the Burmese. The story has been made into many
movies with last year's version grossing over 100 million baht and
finding its way into school curricula.
The disputes ended temporarily when Burma was colonised by Britain. Siam
managed to maintain its independence and when Burma was eventually freed
we rejoiced with them. We forgot what the Burmese had done to us and
hoped our neighbour would grow with us. The relationship proceeded
normally until the military junta seized power. Although we regard the
dictatorial rule as Burma's internal affair, its policies have
reverberated on Thais. The suppression of minorities has resulted in
refugees flooding into Thailand from Ranong in the south to Chiang Rai
in the north. Hundreds of thousands of minorities migrated to Thailand.
Some remain in refugee camps supervised by the United Nations. Thailand
did its best to be a kind host but was many times criticised by the
world community for violating the refugees' human rights. Some became
illegal labourers in fisheries, rice mills and factories, causing
problems for Thai workers by accepting lower wages. What's more, we pay
for their medical care and suffer their crimes. Even when Burmese
children cross the border to join Thai schools, we gladly embrace them.
The crisis intensified when groups of refugees seized Ratchaburi
hospital and Samut Sakhon jail, causing the deaths of two Thai
officials.
Worst of all is the drug trafficking from production bases on the
Burmese side of the border. This threatens a worse war than between our
armies.
Thailand has always had patience with the Burmese, hoping that they will
one day return to peace and democracy. We have never interfered in
Burma's internal affairs. Some western countries have put pressure on
the junta to stop their human rights-violations. Nonetheless, Thailand
still abides by the constructive engagement policy. But all we get in
return is bullets.
Some ministers in the new cabinet may claim to have good relations with
the junta but one still wonders what they can do with a 'friend' who has
always acted like an enemy.
Will the new government take a conciliatory stance as in the past or
will it be more assertive? Especially important is the policy regarding
human rights which has pushed Burmese minorities into Thailand.
Drugs is another issue. So far we have always tackled the problem
downstream among traders rather than upstream at the production bases
inside Burmese territory. Perhaps it is finally time to get tough.
___________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: Opposing Positions over Burma Conflict
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
It has become clear in recent days that the aim of Burma in the
northeast of its country is to increase the territory and power of the
regime's ethnic Wa allies. This creates a deeply disturbing rift with
Thailand, which has already suffered innocent casualties and damage from
the border combat. As serious as the conflict spillover has been to
Thailand, it will be nothing compared to the huge risk that outright
Burmese victory will produce. If Rangoon succeeds, Thailand and China
will be border-to-border with an unfettered, unchallenged drug cartel.
Rangoon's army and the private United Wa State Army are fighting as a
unit opposite our northern provinces. Their aim is to destroy the Shan
State Army, and to push its remnants and Shan people south into central
Burma. This will leave northeastern Burma in the hands of the UWSA. This
will free the Wa to expand their massive drug cartel, which already
controls all methamphetamines and most heroin.
Such a large, forced migration would always concern Thailand, for
reasons both of human rights and future security. Ethnic clashes have
been a constant, destabilising feature of Burma since its independence
from Britain. But the added threat of expanded drug operations is deeply
disturbing.
In some cases, Burmese attempts to shift blame for the border fighting
to Thailand could be mildly, if maddeningly, amusing. In the situation
at present, they are dangerous. Burma is well aware of Thai concern over
the border insecurity. Rangoon also knows well that Thais consider drug
trafficking the nation's greatest security threat. Burma's refusal to
consult Thailand must trouble every Thai. Rangoon's decision to
encourage the Wa drug trafficking by helping to establish even better
access and security is deeply disturbing.
Academics have warned the government that Burma seeks territorial
advantage through its alleged civil war. Several of our senior military
officers have strong feelings about the situation. Army commander Gen
Surayud Chulanont has been outspoken that Thai lives in the region, and
Thai security in general, are at great risk. Lt-Gen Wattanachai
Chaimuenwong, the Third Army commander on the front line, has become
blunt in his frustration. "All Burmese unit commanders who caused the
conflict should brought before a firing squad," he told our reporters
recently.
No one hopes for a conflict with Burma. In fact, there is only one
permanent solution to the problem, and that is a political conclusion.
Such a solution requires two partners, and Burma has refused to join
talks. Indeed, under the outdated and faulty claim that no one can
interfere with its internal affairs, the Rangoon dictatorship has
effectively blocked all bilateral or multilateral discussions or
negotiations.
As a story in this newspaper pointed out, this creates a division which
cannot, at least for now, be bridged. Burma wants to create a secure
area for the Wa, where they will be free to grow, manufacture and
traffic in drugs. Thailand must oppose the results of such a plan.
If there is room for negotiation-and there is-it is on the points on
which Thailand does not have a vital stake. Burma's problems with ethnic
groups are long and lingering. They are, however, uniquely Rangoon's
problems. The central government and the minority groups must settle
their divisions in a way that is best for them. Where the Wa and Shan
settle is of no strategic interest to Thailand.
Thailand's interest is not to be threatened, intimidated, exploited or
victimised. Thais have learnt many lessons while trying to fight drug
makers and traffickers-some of them the hard way.
Negotiations with Burma are entirely possible if they centre on how to
make a peaceful border free of drugs. This would require Burma to commit
itself to weaning both Rangoon and the Wa off the drug trade. It would
be encouraging if Burma were to start this immediately
___________________________________________________
Japan Times: Guest Forum-myanmar's Best Hope Lies in Reconciliation
By Nyunt Shwe
"To those who have visited even briefly, Myanmar is one of the most
attractive and intriguing places in Asia. It has vast potential for
economic growth thanks to its natural resources. And its human resources
are equally promising. Indeed, it was expected that after independence
the country would do as well as most countries and better than those
less endowed."
This kind of statement was frequently made by academics during the
period immediately before and after Myanmar, formerly known as Burma,
gained its independence in January 1948.
But military dictatorships have held power for nearly four of the five
decades that have since passed. The essential conditions for economic
and social progress, political stability and the rule of law, have been
absent. The military government uses corruption both as a political
tactic to control people and out of sheer greed. Worst of all, people
have to live under constant fear for their safety and economic well
being.
Although conditions have slightly improved recently, it is too early to
feel hope for the nation. While dissident U Tin Oo and more than 80
recently detained youths have been suddenly and unexpectedly released,
National League for Democracy Party leader Aung San Suu Kyi is still
under house arrest and her colleagues remain in prison. Suu Kyi's
colleagues are in their 70s, and should be freed on humanitarian grounds
alone. By doing so, the military regime would raise its credibility and
give fresh hope to all Myanmarese.
If Myanmarese do not commit themselves to prepare for total
reconciliation, the journey to democracy could be long and
unpredictable. Therefore it is very important for all citizens to be
ready to forgive the military regime and forget what has happened in the
past.
We should not press the generals to accept the establishment of a body
based on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Council. If we so
insist, the road to reconciliation will be become impassible.
Myanmar's military government put three tasks -- political, economic and
social -- ahead of everything. While this was appropriate, it should
have been done in deeds as well as in words.
Politics is too heavy a burden to be shouldered only by soldiers, who by
the nature of their profession have limitations.
It would be very good timing if the present government decided to hand
over power to a popularly elected body. If this is not agreeable, Suu
Kyi and other politicians have left open the possibility of sharing
power, something the generals should start to seriously discuss.
The third secretary general of the United Nations, the late U Thant of
Myanmar, once said:
"We live in an imperfect world and have to learn to accept imperfect
solutions, which become more acceptable as we learn to live with them
and as time passes. . ."
If such a coalition government is successfully established, great
progress can be made in rebuilding the country's economy and educational
system.
Nyunt Shwe, a former township leader for the National League for
Democracy Party, is a freelance journalist and translator who resides in
Japan.
___________________________________________________
India Today magazine (New Delhi): Stillness of Change
[BurmaNet adds: Among the more egregious inaccuracies in this article,
Swapan Dasgupta identifies Aung San Suu Kyi as a Christian. She is a
Buddhist.]
After prolonged isolation. Yangaon wants to face the world on its own
terms. Will it be allowed to?
>From March 5, 2001
By Swapan DASGUPTA in Yangon
Adjoining The main entrance to the Mandalay Fort, Ding Mindon?s stunning
Golden City that was the seat of royal power from 1861 to 1885, is a
large hoarding that is striking in its incongruity. ?The Tatmadaw shall
never betray the national cause?, it proclaims. The Tatmadaw, for the
uninitiated, is the armed forces, the guiding light of Myanmar since
General Ne Win seized power in 1962.
On the face of it, the Tatmadaw is an invisible force, more prominent in
western media reports than on the streets of Mandalay and capital city
Yangon. There are no uniformed intruders to either distract the awfully
courteous shopkeepers selling rubies, jade and handicrafts for dollars
in YangonÆs Bogyoke Market (formerly the Scott Market) or intimidate the
rows of second-hand booksellers on 37th Street. A teeming metropolis
that is part Mumbai, part Kolkata and part Colombo, Yangon blends the
glitzy market economy with the oriental bazaar. The roadside food stalls
are enveloped in a familiar smell of pickled fish but the five-star
hotels are a picture of sanitized orderliness. There is no fixed price
for goods and hard bargaining is part of a time-honoured ritual,
particularly for tourists who can breeze through the country without
negotiation the uncertainties of wildly negotiable multiple exchange
rates.
The legendary bamboo curtain and a prolonged spell of isolation
notwith-standing, Myanmar just isnÆt another North Korea. There is
laughter in the streets, pesky child monks needling tourists for alms
and a very un-sub-continental orderliness of traffic. There are no
portraits of Senior-General Than Shwe watching over people and there is
no ban on cable television. English is back as a language of
instruction, cricket is making a cautious comeback among the Indians
and, for the enterprising, there are megabucks to be made.
ôBusiness is good,ö gloats U Maung Shwe, a Yangon businessman who works
closely with the Ministry of Commerce. His real name is B.L. Goenka, a
third generation Marwari settled in Myanmar. He is reported to be close
to Lt-General Tin Oo, the Secretary-2 of the ruling State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) who was reportedly killed in a helicopter
crash last week. Goenka may be the archetypal man for all occasions but
even those who lack his formidable connections arenÆt exactly unhappy.
YangonÆs Indian community no longer makes up 58 per cent of the
population it did in 1948 but 25 Durga pujas are still held each year in
the city. The anti-Indian feeling that formed a subtext of early Burmese
nationalism has virtually evaporated.
Myanmar isn?t perfect but it isn?t quite the ?fascist Disneyland? that
concerned human-rights bodies have made it out to be. There is an
overdose of olive green military uniforms in the SPDC hierarchy, the
non-official media wage a guerrilla war with the censors, people are
wary of speaking out and the generals have decreed the country isnÆt
ready to face the subversion of the Internet. However, compared to the
socialist disaster zone Ne Win bequeathed to his successors in 1988,
Myanmar has come a very long way.
That is not good enough for the US and the EU which have imposed
economic sanctions against Myanmar, accusing it of heinous crimes
ranging from the suppression of democracy to drug peddling and slave
labour. Last year, US human-rights campaigners successfully pressured
oil-services provider Baker Hughes to sell out its stake in the Mann oil
fields project in northern Myanmar. Last April, the oil company Premier
was advised by the British Foreign Office to end all commercial ties
with the ôdisgraceful regimeö in Myanmar. Spurring the activist groups
is the open encouragement to international sanctions by the opposition
leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, now under house
arrest in Yangon.
In public discourse, Suu Kyi is a non-person in Myanmar. At best, she is
referred to tangentially as ?the lady? and her National League for
Democracy is nowhere in sight. Despite her credentials as the daughter
of Aung San, the father of Burmese nationalism, Suu Kyi?s claim to lead
Myanmar to a democratic paradise on the strength of the 1990 elections,
is fiercely resisted by the present ruling establishment.
As a Christian who was married to a Briton, the 55-year-old Suu Kyi is
not above the majority Burman community?s traditional fear of the
foreign hand. This fear is partly grounded in Myanmar?s humiliating
experience of colonialism British soldiers repeatedly entered the
Shwedagon pagoda with their boots on and transformed the Mandalay Palace
into an officers? club. But equally, it is centred on the Buddhist fear
of a Christian-led cultural transformation of the country. Myanmar
nationalism sees the hand of missionaries behind the alienation and
separatism of minority ethnic groups like the Karens, Kachins and Shans.
Suu Kyi has tried to allay misgivings by also speaking of a traditional
Burmese nationalism arising from Burma?s cultural homogeneity but the
fear of democratization being followed by an assault on Buddhism and the
country?s territorial integrity persists. Her faith in international
pressure on the military regime merely reinforce existing prejudices.
Along with this heightened cultural wariness, there is the fear of the
marginalistion of the military. Unlike India, Myanmar didn?t have a mass
nationalist movement. Aung San and his 30 Comrades effected the
liberation of the country in 1942 by riding piggyback on the invading
Japanese. Thereafter, it was a hastily cobbled army that functioned as
both a political party and militia. The opposition too developed in the
guise of armed, ethnic separatists. A democratic culture never struck
roots.
After a long spell in isolation, Suu Kyi apperars to have recognized
this. For the first time since 1996, she has begun talking with
Lt-General Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the SPDC, through the good offices
of UN Special Envoy Razali Ismail. Both sides have maintained a media
silence but as a gesture of goodwill the Government has dropped its
public denunciation of Suu Kyi. The idea is to lessen the animosity.
With ASEAN pressing for a solution, there are whispers of a rift within
the military over the future course (see box). According to senior
officials in Yangon, there is a blueprint of a quasi-federal
constitution that confers autonomy to the non-Burman states but
institutionalizes the role of the Tatmadaw. The ball, they say, is in
Suu Kyi?s court.
There is a deceptive calm in Myanmar today that could well vindicate
Paul Theroux naughty aside that ôNothing happens in Burma but then
nothing is expected to happen. Underneath the surface, however, the
winds of change are unmistakable. Pro-government notables, with strong
links to the Buddhist clergy, talk of consolidation, the oppositionists
speak of reconciliation. The difference isn?t purely semantic but the
gap is no longer unbridgeable. Exiled Thintbawa editor Tin Maung Than?s
observation in the Bangkok-based Irrawaddy reflects the new mood: The
military is part of our body, whether it is good or bad. The opposition
is also part of our body, whether good or bad. We should be kind to
ourselves as a country.
That?s a sentiment the conflict-weary Myanmarese would readily endorse.
If only they are allowed to, without becoming a part of a new great game
involving the US and China.
Military Balance
Though it is sending peace feelers, there is a tussle in the armed
forces on the future course
IN THE ABSENCE OF OPENNESS. Yangon-watching has been elevated into an
art form, in much the same way Kremlin-watching was 30 years ago.
Inevitably, much of the recent speculation centers on a power struggle
in the military over the succession to Than Shwe.
Curiously, Than Shwe is not the focus. Despite rumours of ill health,
the 68-years-old senior general is alert and in total command. He
actively participated in the talks with India?s External Affairs
Minister Jaswant Singh on February 15 and spoke on a range of subjects
without notes. The suggestion that he will abruptly relinquish power on
health grounds seems somewhat far-fetched.
At the root of the speculation is a bid by Aung San Suu Kyi to exploit
contradictions in the army. In particular, a wellpublicised rivalry
between SPDC Vice-Chairman General Maung Aye and Secretary-1 Lt-general
Khin Nyunt. In the assessment of Analytica Birmanie, a Burma-watch
newsletter, it is a war between those with brawn and elements that
possess a lot of brain and craftiness.
The contrast is striking. As head of military intelligence and the
architect of the cease-fire with ethnic insurgent groups, Khin Nyunt has
held confidence-building negotiations with Suu Kyi. The talks have made
progress and Suu Kyi reportedly told an EU delegation of her
satisfaction with Khin Nyunt. Pro-opposition publications in Thailand
have painted Khin Nyunt as a reformer who enjoys the confidence of
westernized army officers, intellectuals, businessman and, most
important, China. In short, someone who could be a bridge between the
military and the opposition.
In the other corner is Maung Aye, a Buddhist traditionalist enjoying the
full backing of the army. Maung Aye is said to have consolidated his
position last year following trips to India, China and Laos. Wary of
appeasing ethnic insurgents he has been very supportive of India?s
cross-border problems. Once the clear favourite to succeed Than Shwe,
Maung Aye?s ascendancy has raised the hackles of both China and the
West, a reason why Suu Kyi is being encouraged to dabble in
intra-military intrigues.
________________
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