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BurmaNet News: March 5, 2001
- Subject: BurmaNet News: March 5, 2001
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2001 03:50:00
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
March 5, 2001 Issue # 1749
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
INSIDE BURMA _______
*Reuters: Angry Myanmar tells Thailand stop ``war hysteria''
*AFP/Times of India: Myanmar says Thai "buffer zone" cause of border
conflicts
*AP: Myanmar blames Thai army for border tensions
*Xinhua: Myanmar Hopes to Solve Border Issues With Thailand Peacefully:
Official
*AP: Working elephants make last stand in Myanmar's teak forests
* DVB : Disaffection in army after helicopter deaths
*Myanmar Times: Satellite dish owners will be okay, says DG
*Daily Star (Bangladesh): Tremor jolts northeast India, Myanmar
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Mizzima: George friend of Burmese rebels, says Bhagwat
ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*The Nation: Chavalit Is Back with a Vengeance
*The Age (Australia): ACTU urges book boycott for Burma
*AFP: Malaysia to send first ministerial trade team to new Manila
government
OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*The New light of Myanmar: The Bad Neighbour
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
Reuters: Angry Myanmar tells Thailand stop ``war hysteria''
March 5, 2001
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, March 5 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government told Thailand
on Monday to curb ``war hysteria'' over bloody border clashes last month
and to cooperate in ``quiet diplomacy'' to restore frayed relations.
In a statement, the government again accused members of the Thai
military of aiding ethnic Shan rebels battling the Myanmar military.
``Above all, it is time for Thai officials, including military
officers, to stop providing support and assistance to insurgent groups,
which is the main reason for the present unhappy situation,'' the
statement said.
``Let amity be eternal and enmity ephemeral.''
Myanmar called for an end to ``war hysteria and inflammatory statements
emanating from Bangkok.''
Relations between Thailand and Myanmar plummeted last month after a
series of clashes along the border. The usually busy border crossing
between the Thai town of Mae Sai and Myanmar's Tachilek remains closed
because of the tension.
Bangkok says Myanmar troops crossed into Thai territory on February 10,
seizing an outpost which was later recaptured. A day later, shells hit
Mae Sai as Myanmar soldiers and their allies in the United Wa State Army
(UWSA) clashed with ethnic Shan rebels across the border.
Thai soldiers retaliated by firing at Myanmar military positions.
Myanmar denies firing any shells into Mae Sai and says they were fired
by the Shan rebels. It also says the border outpost taken over by its
troops was not in Thai territory.
``It must be emphasised that this hillock is right on the borderline
and therefore cannot be said to be within Thai territory,'' the
statement said.
TRADING ACCUSATIONS
Bangkok says the UWSA is the major player in the drugs trade in the
region and is the source of most of the heroin and amphetamines flooding
Thailand. Thai officials have accused the Myanmar government of allowing
the drugs trade to flourish.
But Myanmar says the rebel Shan State Army is to blame for most drugs
trafficking in the area.
``It is quite absurd...to state that all Myanmar officers along the
border are getting kickbacks from drug trafficking and that they have a
vested interest in the drugs trade,'' the statement said.
``The very fact that Myanmar forces have been sacrificing life and limb
to fight the war against narcotic drugs relying on its own limited
resources gives the lie to such illogical comments,'' it said.
``The truth is that some Thai army units are supporting and helping the
narco-insurgents and are assisting them in their attacks against Myanmar
troops and installations.''
Thailand's new government, led by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is
widely expected to be less confrontational with Myanmar than the
previous administration.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh says he can boost ties through his good personal
relationship with some of Yangon's ruling generals.
But elements of the Thai military have been less conciliatory in their
approach to Myanmar. Yangon said the Thai military was pursuing ``a
hidden agenda.''
``Some elements of the Thai military are trying to drive a wedge
between the Myanmar leadership and the new administration in Thailand,''
the Myanmar government statement said.
(With additional reporting by Andrew Marshall in Bangkok)
___________________________________________________
AFP/Times of India: Myanmar says Thai "buffer zone" cause of border
conflicts
March 4, 2001
YANGON: A senior Myanmar military figure said Saturday the situation
along the border could remain tense as long as Thailand continues its
policy of maintaining a "buffer zone." Deputy chief of military
intelligence Brigadier General Kyaw Win accused the Thai military of
supporting the ethnic Shan State Army (SSA) fighting Yangon's rule in
the remote east of the country in order to create a "buffer zone".
"As long as this policy is being pursued, it would be difficult to
defuse the situation. And our two militaries will not be able to work
together," Kyaw Win said in a statement. Tension has been running high
along the border region after incursions by Myanmar troops into Thailand
last month in their fight against the SSA. Yangon has accused the Thai
army of using the SSA to fight a proxy war, while at the same time
justifying its crackdown on the rebels to curtail their role in the
production and trafficking of drugs. The SSA is one of the only major
armed factions in Myanmar yet to agree to a ceasefire with Yangon.
It has been fighting for an independent state for decades. However, Kyaw
Win stressed Myanmar would take every possible step to maintain peace
along the border and played down the "isolated shooting incidents." "We
understand that the present issue is bigger than the normal border
issues and needs to be addressed at a higher level.
"Our two governments can coordinate with each other to improve the
situation but it is still unclear whether the present administration has
any control over the third army," he said, referring to the SSA. Kyaw
Win said the exchange of fire between Thai and Myanmar forces last month
had stopped since the new Thai government of Thaksin Shinawatra had
taken office.
"There is friendship between us and the Thaksin government ... our
friendship with some of its leaders go back a long way and our armies
understand each other," he said. Kyaw Win outlined Myanmar's policy
towards Thailand, saying "we give priority to friendship ... we have
never allowed anti-Thai elements to establish bases on our soil." He
also opened the door to possible conciliatory meetings. "Once it is
established by both sides when it would be convenient to hold such
meetings ... we will choose a time convenient to both sides," he said.
(AFP
___________________________________________________
AP: Myanmar blames Thai army for border tensions
March 3, 2001
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar has ``friendly'' relations with the new
Thai government despite recent fighting on the border, a senior Myanmar
military officer said Saturday.
But tensions will not ease unless the Thai army overseeing the northern
frontier stops giving military help to Shan rebels fighting the regime
in Myanmar, said Maj. Gen. Kyaw Win, deputy director of the defense
services intelligence.
``As long as the Third Army does not change its attitude, the
improvement of the border situation will be slow,'' Kyaw Win said in
Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. Myanmar is also known as Burma.
The Thai government has repeatedly denied helping the rebels.
Kyaw Win said a Thai-Myanmar regional border committee would meet to
resolve the dispute, but did not say when.
Last month, Myanmar and Thai troops clashed when fighting between
Myanmar and ethnic Shan rebels spilled into Thailand. At least five
civilians were killed on either side of the border, driving relations to
their lowest point in several years. Border checkpoints in the region
were closed.
Kyaw Win intimated that relations would be better under the new
government of
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose defense minister, Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh, is a former prime minister with close ties with Myanmar's
ruling generals.
Thailand's previous premier, Chuan Leekpai, did not visit Myanmar
during three years in office. His government was relatively outspoken
about the political conflicts in Myanmar.
Kyaw Win said Myanmar had ``friendly relations'' with Thaksin and noted
that Chavalit was the first Thai general to visit Myanmar after the
military junta took power 12 years ago.
The State Peace and Development Council assumed control in September
1988 after a military crackdown on protests for democracy in which
thousands of civilians were gunned down, drawing international
condemnation and sanctions.
Lt. Col. San Pwint, a military intelligence officer, said the Shan
rebels launched a series of attacks this week on a Myanmar border
outpost at Lwe Taw Kham, 550 kilometers (340 miles) northeast of Yangon,
with supporting fire from Thailand.
``The attack was well-planned and aided by the Thai army on the
border,'' he said, adding that the attacks were covered by Thai
television networks.
Twenty-three Myanmar troops were killed and 62 soldiers were wounded
between Feb. 5 and March 2 in the fighting along the border, San Pwint
said.
___________________________________________________
Xinhua: Myanmar Hopes to Solve Border Issues With Thailand Peacefully:
Official
YANGON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Myanmar military official
said Saturday that the country hopes to solve the current border issues
with Thailand peacefully by holding a border meeting at regional level
as soon as possible. Major-General Kyaw Win, Deputy Chief of the Office
of Strategic Studies and Deputy Director of the Myanmar Defense Services
Intelligence, told a press conference here that there were gun- fire
exchange since February 5 up to March 2 between Myanmar government
forces and the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA), an anti-government
Shan ethnic armed group led by former drug warlord Khun Sa's close aide
Lieutenant-Colonel Ywet Sit, around Tachileik, a Myanmar border town
opposite to Mae Sai of Thailand. He accused Thailand of supporting the
SURA's series of attack on the Myanmar side across the border with
artillery cover and disclosed that during the battles period, 23 Myanmar
soldiers were killed and 62 others injured, without mentioning any
casualties on the SURA's side.
Meanwhile, Thursday's Myanmar official Information Sheet said that in
view of the fact that Myanmar and Thailand are both members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), it is about time to
initiate a proper assessment on this buffer policy so that the visions
and wisdom of the ASEAN leaders in safeguarding the political, security
and economic interest of the region embracing all 10 countries of South
East Asia can be realized. According to Thai official sources, Myanmar
soldiers seized one of its border outposts on February 10 and hit Mae
Sai with stray shells during a battle against the SURA. The tension
between the two countries has prompted Thailand to shut down the Mae Sai
border check point, the sources said, adding that the Thai side would
only reopen the border point if there is assurance that Myanmar soldiers
would not cross the frontier in their battles against SURA. Thailand
also urged Myanmar to show goodwill by not deploying excessive troops
near the Thai border, warning Yangon not to divert attention from the
real cause of the problem that Myanmar troops had encroached on Thai
soil, while Thailand has taken the leading role in drug suppression.
___________________________________________________
AP: Working elephants make last stand in Myanmar's teak forests
Feb. 4, 2001
SHWE PYI AYE CAMP, Myanmar (AP) _ Deep in a jungle where motors fear to
tread, a bull elephant drives his tusks, trunk and forehead against two
tons of felled teak, sending the log crashing down a steep riverbank.
Nearby, three workmates power their way through the forest, flicking
aside thick branches, shoving logs into clearings and hauling them away
with chains.
``Swe, Swe'' _ ``Pull'' _ shouts a rider, using one of 28 commands
obeyed by these ``living vehicles,'' intelligent, indispensable laborers
of Asia's forests for hundreds of years.
But across the continent, elephants have lost one job after another:
first as battle ``tanks,'' then beasts of burden, finally as loggers. In
neighboring Thailand, a dramatically shrinking elephant population is
relegated to tourist rides and carnivals.
The working elephant and the ancient traditions that go with it are
making their last stand in Myanmar, also known as Burma. At least as
long as the forests remain _ and they appear to be rapidly vanishing.
Richard Lair, an expert on the species, estimates Myanmar is home to as
many as 7,000 domesticated elephants _ more than 30 percent of the
world's population _ and up to 6,000 wild ones.
``Elephant-wise, Myanmar is in an entirely positive sense a living
museum, seemingly frozen in time decades or even centuries ago,'' said
the Thailand-based Lair.
Myanmar's elephant men hope it long will remain one.
``Vehicles can't go up there,'' says Wan Thun, a veterinarian and
elephant manager, pointing to a steep, forested hillside. ``Our terrain
and weather won't allow mechanical vehicles, so elephants have a good
future.''
Mechanized logging is feasible when forests are clear-cut, but the
government's Myanmar Timber Enterprise, which has a monopoly on teak
extraction, uses a selection system inherited from British colonial
days.
Under this, only trees of a certain girth can be felled within a
designated area that is harvested in a 30-year cycle. With much of the
often dense forest left intact, elephants are not only more suitable but
less destructive to the environment than churning, polluting mechanical
skidders.
Myanmar Timber Enterprise, which employs 2,700 elephants around the
country, runs what Lair describes as a classic, 19th century logging
operation.
The Shwe Pyi Aye base camp is a collection of thatch and bamboo huts in
the Pegu Yoma Range of central Myanmar that provides support for 82
elephants and 25 ``oozies,'' or riders, who work out of seven primitive
logging camps even deeper in the forest.
Shwe Pyi Aye, which translates as ``Peace and Quiet,'' includes a
clearing where a 3-year-old elephant is starting schooling based on
lore, understanding and love of the animal handed down through the
generations.
The still unnamed baby is getting accustomed to being roped to a tree,
his patience rewarded by sugar cane, tamarind and other pachyderm
favorites. Shadowing him is Than Aye, a 32-year-old cow, who also serves
as a mentor, going through routines the youngster clumsily imitates.
Elephant kindergarten lasts a month, with students learning one command
every two days. Sessions run daily from 5 a.m. to midnight, with one
hour of rest and bathing alternating with an hour of classroom time. Not
unlike humans, elephants don't leave school until age 18, when they're
put to work.
Wan Thun, the veterinarian, describes labor regulations more
enlightened than for most human beings in Asia: Elephants can work no
longer than eight hours a day during the cool season, five hours when it
gets hotter. Weekends are off, and vacation lasts from mid-February to
mid-June. There's mandatory retirement at 55.
Wan Thun, who has worked with elephants for 19 years, says he or
another veterinarian are always on standby to treat diseases or
on-the-job injuries with both Western and traditional medicines.
``It's all from the jungle,'' the vet says as an oozie throws saddle
padding made of tree bark across an elephant's back in preparation for
late afternoon work. Next comes the harness, originally designed in the
time of Myanmar's ancient kings.
Pig fat, a lubricant to prevent skin sores, is smeared on, and four
elephants, along with a baby tangled around its mothers legs, set off
from one of the seven working camps into the forest.
One bull rolls a fallen tree trunk into a clearing where it is quickly
stripped of large branches. Logs are flipped around like matchsticks by
the now revved up elephants.
Htun Nyu, the 38-year-old tusker, has the day's toughest task of
dragging a log he has rolled into the stream through the water and then
up a muddy bank to a roadside pickup point. The hunk of teak _ Myanmar's
``brown gold'' _ is estimated to be 150 years old.
Despite the optimism of people like Wan Thun, Myanmar appears to be
trailing other Asian countries down a sad spiral. This begins with a
hefty demand for elephants in intense logging, followed by a great loss
of jobs, and food sources as the forests are depleted with, ironically,
the help of the animals.
Although their numbers are still relatively large, Myanmar may have
employed as many as 20,000 elephants before World War II.
After the war, 70 percent of the country was under healthy green cover
as compared to some 30 percent today. The environmental group Rainforest
Action Network says the rate of deforestation has doubled since 1988,
when a military junta seized power.
The timber industry is ``fraught with corruption, graft and laundering
of unsustainable, illegal wood into the `legal' chain of custody,'' the
group says. Once pristine forests along the borders with Thailand and
China have been ravaged by foreign concessionaires.
When night falls and a main road is reached, the wondrous trumpeting of
elephants in the jungle is soon replaced with the rumble of trucks
weighed down with teak.
___
On the Net:
Elephant Information Repository: http://elephant.elehost.com
___________________________________________________
DVB : Disaffection in army after helicopter deaths
28 February
DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] has learned that dissatisfaction is
growing among junior military officers since the death of some senior
military officers including SPDC [State Peace and Development Council]
Secretary-2 Lt Gen Tin Oo in a helicopter crash. The discontentment is
more at the Records Office of the Defence Services [RODS], Office of the
Ministry of Defence, and the Artillery and Armoured Battalion.
According to latest reports received by DVB, there was a commotion of
junior officers at No 502 Air Base in Mingaladon. Confirmed sources said
that security personnel have been increased today at Indaing Central
Ammunition Depot. These internal discontentment started after SPDC
Secretary-2 Lt Gen Tin Oo was killed in a helicopter crash on 19
February.
Battalion and tactical commanders from the frontlines were displeased
because the only report they had about the helicopter crash were from
foreign news media sources and no official announcement nor explanation
was made from the military top brass.
Furthermore, some military officers from the Southeast Military Command
wrote a letter to the Defence Ministry on 24 February seeking an
official explanation about the crash. The letter also warned that due to
foreign media reports about the crash, dissatisfaction among the
military officers has intensified and the situation should be put under
control before it gets worse. Leaflets about the helicopter crash were
distributed at the RODS and the No 2 Military Hospital in Rangoon on 25
February while posters were posted at the Defence Ministry. There is
growing displeasure at the Artillery and Armoured Battalion because the
deputy director, Col Win Myint Aung, perished in the helicopter crash.
Early this morning, personnel from other battalions were used for
security duty at No 502 Air Base in Mingaladon and the Central
Ammunition Depot. One commander wrote in his report to the War Office
that the discontentment is not only among the grassroots level solders
but it is also growing among junior officers. DVB has learned that since
the list of the dead from the crash was provided by the foreign media,
some junior officers believed that the government's failure to produce a
news report demonstrates the suspicious nature of the helicopter crash.
__________________________________________________
Myanmar Times: Satellite dish owners will be okay, says DG
February 26 - March 4,2001
MOST existing satellite dish users will be licensed to keep their cable
television equipment under a nationwide check being conducted by the
Posts and Telecommunications Department, according to the director
general of the agency. U Kyi Than told Myanmar Times the department's
ward-by-ward investigation of satellite licences, announced in the local
press in January, could take months to complete, despite its original
January 28 deadline. But he said the department did not expect to
confiscate many satellite dishes. "I am not in a position to describe
the number of satellites that we have found, although they have all been
counted," U Kyi Than, the PTD director general told Myanmar Times. "But
I can say there are a lot of satellite users in Myanmar. Most of the
users are members of the public, and we intend to issue licenses to most
of them."
An official from the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs
(MPT) - of which the PTD is a part - said there could be as many as
20,000 satellite dishes in use across the country. Last month, MPT
announced it would investigate the use of satellite television dishes
and issue licences to "appropriate" users. A decision as to which users
would be licensed to own the dishes, and consequently receive cable
television services, would be made by MPT according to the announcement.
Before 1993, PTD issued about 2000 satellite licences, mainly to hotel
and government departments, for the first time. The number of dish users
has grown since then, without any additional licences having been
issued. Non-licence holding satellite users were asked to contact the
PTD at 125 Pansodan Street with information including name; NRC number;
profession; address; location of the satellite dish; its model, log
number and size; and the date it was installed. Anyone who did not
conform with the order, the announcement said, would be punished by law.
__________________________________________________
Daily Star (Bangladesh): Tremor jolts northeast India, Myanmar
March 5, 2001
AFP, Guwahati
An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale shook India's
northeastern region and parts of neighbouring Myanmar early yesterday
morning, officials said. The quake caused panic among the people living
in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram, though there
were no reports of any damage to life and property.
According to AK Sahu, a seismologist with the Regional Seismological
Centre in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, the epicentre of
yesterday's quake, which occurred at 04:26 AM was plotted along the
Indo-Myanmar border.
Reuters adds, a tremor measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit the
western Indian state of Gujarat yesterday, more than a month after a
giant earthquake killed an estimated 30,000 people there.
Residents of Ahmedabad, the state's biggest city, ran out of their homes
in panic but there were no reports of any casualties or damage to
property. An official at the local meteorological office told Reuters
the tremor was felt at around 1.45 pm and lasted eight to nine seconds.
Several high-rise buildings in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's commercial centre,
were flattened in the January 26 killer quake that measured 7.7 on the
Richter scale. India has felt a series of tremors since then.
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
Mizzima: George friend of Burmese rebels, says Bhagwat
New Delhi, March 5, 2001
Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, sacked as Chief of Naval Staff by the present
Indian government on 30th December 1998, accused the Defence Minister
George Fernandes of being an active supporter of the Burmese militant
groups, which are fighting against the Junta. In his book ôBetrayal of
the Defence Forcesö, which is released in New Delhi, the former Naval
Chief has accused that the Indian defence minister has had long interest
in gun running and narcotics operations in the North East India and had
many times met the leaders of the Burmese outfits.
ôHis friends included the leaders of the Kuki National Army. His home in
Delhi was already famous for harbouring Burmese students; a practice he
continued when he became Defence Minister, until it hit the press and
the Parliament. Sometimes these students were involved in the narcotics
trade and propaganda against the Government of Burmaö, said the fomer
Naval Chief.
However, the Burmese students living in India had denied his allegations
of being involved in arms and narcotics smuggling. In his book, Bhagwat
has also alleged that the defence minister has links with rebel groups
based on Indo-Burma border. The two chapters of the book: ôAnti-Gun
Running Operationsö and ôThe Defence Ministerö has detailed these
alleged links. ôFernandes also met Vungzakap, a Burmese from Tiddin
(Chin State), Head of the Zomi Reunification Organization (ZRO), which
had armed rebel camps in Myanmar and North Mizoram and whose objective
was a Zomi home land extending to both sides of the border. Fernandes
had promised political support to him.
He also accused that George Fernandes has close links with an Arakanese
armed group, the National United Party of Arakan (NUPA), which he says
is doing a gun-running business to the North East insurgent groups.
In the aftermath of Operation Leech which was conducted in February
1998, as soon as the BJP led alliance formed a government, the
self-styled foreign minister of the Arakan Independence Army wrote to
Fernandes and thereafter reportedly met him in Calcutta. He assured the
leader that he would conduct an inquiry into Operation Leech..
The book is the latest attack of the former Naval Chief on the Indian
defence minister who is known for his sympathy and political support for
the Burmese student activists in India. Fernandes has several times
denied of aiding Northeastern and Burmese militants.
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
The Age (Australia): ACTU urges book boycott for Burma
By PAUL ROBINSON
WORKPLACE EDITOR
Saturday 3 March 2001
The ACTU has called for a consumer boycott of Lonely Planet travel books
as part of a union campaign against companies who trade with the
repressive regime in Burma.
The ACTU has written to up to 60 Australian companies with commercial
ties with Burma asking them to cease trading with the country also known
as Myanmar.
About 17 companies have told the ACTU that they have made decisions to
cut ties with Burma, including a big fishing company in Perth, known as
the Kailis MG Group.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow is in Tokyo, where she is at a
international conference on the labor movement's approach to the regime.
She said the conference had resolved to isolate the nation because of
its repressive, forced-labor policies.
As AsiaPacific president of the International Council of Free Trade
Unions, Ms Burrow said the ACTU had asked Lonely Planet to withdraw its
travel guidebook on Burma but the company had refused.
"We are extremely disappointed that Lonely Planet has taken this view.
We have called on students and international travellers to boycott the
company's products," she said. "Their refusal to withdraw the travel
guide on Burma from distribution is to continue tacit support for travel
to a country oppressed by a military dictatorship and is at odds with
the request for boycotts by the democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi."
A spokeswoman for Lonely Planet, Anna Bolger, said the group had been
aware of concerns by tourism lobby groups in Britain about its guide to
Burma and the company had been asked to withdraw it.
But Ms Bolger said she could find no record of an ACTU approach on the
issue. "It may well be that the ACTU has approached the directors (of
Lonely Planet). They are in France at the moment. I will check with
them," she said.
Ms Bolger said the company would not withdraw the guidebook, which had
been reprinted more than six times.
Ms Burrow applauded the actions of the Kailis group and said other
companies said they were moving to wind back their Burma trade.
She said the ACTU would be listing the companies that did not respond to
ACTU correspondence "and urging consumers to boycott them".
Ms Burrow said Asian billionaire Robert Kuoc's international ShangriLa
Hotel chain had been condemned by the ICFTU meeting in Japan for
continuing to operate the Travellers Hotel in Rangoon. Mr Kuoc, with
associated companies, was the leading tenderer for the prestigious
Victoria Harbor precinct at Melbourne's Docklands.
Mr Burrow said Mr Kuoc, who was also in conflict with unions at the
ShangriLa Hotel in Jakarta, would be asked to "de-invest" from Burma or
be targeted by Australian unions.
__________________________________________________
AFP: Malaysia to send first ministerial trade team to new Manila
government
MANILA, March 4 (AFP) - Malaysia is to send a ministerial-level business
delegation to the Philippines this week as part of a bid to boost trade
and investment in Southeast Asia, officials said Sunday.
Led by International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz, it will
be the first ministerial-level investment mission to Manila since
President Gloria Arroyo was installed on January 20 after a military-led
popular uprising.
The four-day business mission comes after a weekend Supreme Court
decision affirming Arroyo's legitimacy as president.
There had been much uncertainty among business groups in thg her
legitimacy.
"The visit is very timely as it also boosts bilateral relations as well
as enhances intra-ASEAN trade and investment," Malaysia's ambassador to
the Philippines Arshad Hussain told AFP.
Malaysia and the Philippines belong to the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Rafidah's mission to the Philippines, comprising officials from up to
40 Malaysian companies, begins Wednesday and is the first stop of a
regional tour that includes Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.
Bilateral trade between Malaysia and the Philippines from January to
November 2000 totalled 2.4 billion dollars compared with 1.6 billion
dollars in 1997, Arshad said. Malaysia is the Philippines' eighth
largest trading partner.
Trade between the two neighbours has been in the Philippines' favour
since 1998, when Malaysia began importing more of Philippines'
semiconductor and electronic components which are key inputs for its
manufactures.
"We want to try to narrow the trade gap as well as diversify trade. The
potential for this is very good," Arshad said. Malaysia has about 40
joint ventures in the Philippines.
Rafidah, a key member of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's cabinet, is
scheduled to hold talks with Arroyo and meet with Philippine business
leaders.
Malaysia's relations with the Philippines had briefly soured during
Estrada's rule following his criticism of Malaysia's handling of the
case of Mahathir's former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, who was jailed for
alleged sodomy and abuse of power.
_______________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________
The Nation: Chavalit Is Back with a Vengeance
Monday, March 05, 2001
Kavi Chongkittavorn
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's new government already faces a huge
foreign-policy problem. By allowing Deputy Prime Minister General
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who also serves as defence minister, to take his
own personal initiatives toward Burma, the country's diplomacy could
unravel in a short time.
This pathetic situation has undermined time and again Thailand's ability
to deal with the repressive Burmese junta. After three years, Chavalit
is back with a vengeance. Sad as it may be, he does not know what is
really going on.
Following criticism from academics and the media, Thaksin and Foreign
Minister Surakiart Sathirathai cancelled proposed visits to Burma. But
somehow this criticism has had the opposite effect on Chavalit. In fact,
it has strengthened his resolve to visit Burma. He told his aides that
he would visit soon, and he recently dispatched trusted aides General
Sanan Kachornkarm and General Phat Akkranibutr to Rangoon to begin
mending fences with the junta.
It is this sort of personal diplomacy that the junta leaders have been
yearning for. Prior to 1997, Burma had mastered this tactic of dividing
Thai civilian and military decision-makers. Hefty incentives were their
main instruments.
Chavalit's determination to lead the policy formulation toward
neighbouring countries has its roots in the security-oriented diplomacy
of the Cold War. For years, the military reigned supreme in
decision-making, covering the gamut of bilateral ties with countries
sharing our borders.
This changed throughout the Cambodian conflict. The military was unable
to address security issues that had regional implications and drew
international outcries. The Foreign Ministry, which normally played
second fiddle, gradually stepped in and occasionally took the lead. This
joint effort between the military and the ministry later became
institutionalised, but their cooperation is elastic, depending on
personal ties and the issues involved.
At the Foreign Ministry, there is a military-political liaison officer,
who proved useful during the Cambodian conflict in facilitating
cooperation between civilians and the military. However, this position
has now become rather ceremonial.
Furthermore, Chavalit's hard-headed approach to Burma demonstrates his
personal confidence that he alone can improve relations between the two
countries. He was credited as the leader who helped break Burma's
international isolation in 1988. This time, he thinks his old boy
connections will instantly result in better Thai-Burmese relations.
Burma has already let it be known that it would like to deal with an old
pal rather than someone from the Foreign Ministry.
As defence minister, Chavalit's maverick style will cause irreparable
damage to Thai foreign policy. In addition, it will constrict the
Foreign Ministry's manoeuvrability. If this trend is allowed to continue
it will hamper Thailand's diplomacy and international reputation.
Unchecked, it can lead to polarisation of Thai diplomacy into a few
narrow issues, which will further weaken the country's bargaining power
in the international arena.
The military and civilians have been at odds in running foreign policy,
but the rivalry has been subdued in recent years. Under Chuan,
security-related apparatus and civilians worked hand-in-hand to
formulate and implement a unified policy toward neighbouring countries.
The policy had begun to yield results until the Thai Rak Thai Party's
victory.
Thai Rak Thai insiders admit that there is a growing concern about
Chavalit's personal ties with Burma, which can lead to possible
compromises in other areas. Chavalit still has the grand illusion that
when it comes to policies related to neighbouring countries, he has
magical powers to change things - even though history tells of
disastrous consequences.
Chavalit wants to use Burma as a stepping stone in regaining his fading
influence in formulating policy toward neighbouring countries. If he
succeeds, he hopes to extend his influence to Laos and Cambodia. Both
countries have had bad experiences with Chavalit and his associates -
the former was engaged in border war in mid 1980's and the latter in a
coup.
In his second week at the ministry, Surakiart has been quick absorb
views and positions from senior foreign ministry officials on
Thai-Burmese relations. He has postponed his trip to Burma indefinitely,
and is expected to firm up his position in the weeks to come.
The new minister was wise to do that. Otherwise, he could have faced the
possibility of completely losing control over the making of foreign
policy. For one thing, he will not have the luxury that his predecessor,
Surin Pitsuwan, enjoyed in answering to and being trusted by a single
prime minister and defence minister.
When Chavalit visits Burma, it enables the junta leaders to play him
against the Foreign Ministry, which has wrested control over Burmese
policy during the past two years. With Army Chief General Surayuth
Julanond in charge, the army follows the civilian leadership without
dispute.
The Burmese junta can further divide the top echelon in Bangkok by
rewarding Chavalit's personal venture generously. Such an obvious tactic
still works simply because some Thai leaders are foolish and selfish
enough to barter the national interest for vested interests.
__________________________________________________
The New light of Myanmar: The Bad Neighbour
Thursday, 1 March, 2001
Two families, each comprising grand-parents, parents and children and
their uncles and aunts and other relatives have lived in close
friendship. But one family, violating the principles of the
good-neighbourly relations with its immediate neighbour, interferes in
the affairs of the other and instigates quarrels among the members of
the family, setting brother against brother and sister against sister.
The most suitable and clearest words to describe such family making of
interferences in the affairs of the other family and instigations to
cause arguments and quarrels among its members are "The Expansionist
Bad Neighbour".
The above words are my assessment and definition of the bad family.
Myanmar has five immediate neighbours, namely, India, Bangladesh, the
People's Republic of China, Thailand and Laos. Myanmar shares a
903-mile long border with India, 169-mile long border land with
Bangladesh, 1384-mile long border with China, 1,304-mile long border
with Thailand and 146-mile long border with Laos.
Myanmar has maintained not only the good-neighbourly relations with her
neighbouring nations but also cordial relations with all the nations of
the world. In extending friendly ties with her neighbours and all the
world nations, Myanmar strictly adheres to the following Five
Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence:
(1) mutual respect for territory integrity and sovereignty;
(2) non-aggression;
(3) non-interference in one another's affairs;
(4) equality and mutual benefit; and
(5) peaceful co-existence.
Moreover, Myanmar practises the active and independent foreign policy
and takes part in international affairs in earnest. Though Myanmar
lives in accord with these principles, Thailand among the neighbours
has failed to follow the code of conduct of a good-neighbour.
When the people's Liberation Army of the Mainland China, which is
Myanmar's neighbouring country, drove out Kuomington troops of
Chan-Kai-Sheik from the country in 1953, some of the renegade KMT
trespassed on Myanmar territory and stationed its troops in Monghsat
region. Myanmar presented the matter concerning the intrusion of
Nationalist Chinese troops under the command of General Limi to the UN.
The matter was discussed in Bangkok. When the matter could not be
solved, the Myanmar Tatmadaw drove out the Nationalist Chinese troops
from Myanmar territory.
The Nationalist Chinese troops fled to Thailand and took refuge in towns
and villages inside. Thai territory at the border areas and their
descendants are still still there. Since the time of their forefathers,
the Nationalist Chinese have been engaged in drug production and
trafficking. In reality, Thailand should not accept Nationalist Chinese
troops who had intruded into Myanmar territory. But instead of
expelling them from the country it continues to accept and feed them.
Since about 1960, Thailand have been accommodating expatriates and armed
insurgents from Myanmar in her territory. In 1969, Thailand permitted
the expatriate group led by U Nu which was trying to oppose the
Revolutionary Council of the Union of Myanmar to stay in and carry out
acts of sabotage from Bangkok.
Members of the expatriate group from inside the Thai territory at the
border gave a lot of troubles to Myanmar.
KNU insurgents under the charge of Bo Mya and U Nu's expatriates formed
alliance. When the Myanmar Tatmadaw launched offensives against them,
they ran away across the border into Thai territory. What Thailand has
done is like the act of a person in a ward who is accommodating
hoodlums, ruffians, crooks and robbers at his house. These hoodlums,
ruffians, crooks and robbers burgle other houses at night. When the
people in a ward chase them they entered the house of that person and
disappeared.
At the end of 1988 anarchic unrest, many persons who took part in the
disturbances and those who had no dear conscience fled to Thailand.
Thailand opened camps and accepted them as it made much profits by
doing so. There are fugitive camps in Thailand till now. Thailand
violated the principles of the good-neighbourliness in dealing not only
with Myanmar but also with Laos. It was many years ago that Thailand
forcefully took away the Emerald Buddha Image, revered by all the
Laotian people, from Vientiane to Bangkok.
I was included in the Myanmar journalist delegation which visited Laos
in 1999. On our way to Laos, we had to make a stopover at Bangkok
International Airport. During the stopover, the delegation visited the
Emerald Buddha Image. We had to pay the entrance fee to pay obeisance
to the Image. While in Laos, we also visited the temple which is the
original place of the Emerald Buddha Image. We found that the throne on
which the Image was once placed was empty.
When we asked the Laotian hosts why there was no Buddha image on the
throne, they said that one day they would take back their own Buddha
Image and restore it in its original place. It seems that whenever the
Laotian people see the empty throne at the temple, they remember the
hegemony of Thailand with bitterness like a person who always remembers
his enemy whenever he sees the scars inflicted by the latter.
It will become an endless story if I write all about Thailand which has
lost the moral conduct of a friendly neighbour. When the Tatmadaw began
to crush the SURA drug smuggling insurgents under the leadership of
Ywet Sit, Thailand got involved in the matter by giving assistance to
the SURA insurgents. Thailand is showing hostilities and making threats
against Myanmar. A large number of Thai forces were deployed along the
border as a means to show hostilities toward Myanmar.
The Bangkok Post and The Nation dailies in Bangkok are instigating the
Thai armed forces and flattering the new Thai government. The western
media which is jealous of Myanmar is colluding with the Thai dailies.
The Myanmar government is concentrating its efforts on the peaceful
settlement of the problem at Myanmar-Thai border.
Myanmar which has safeguarded its territorial integrity and sovereignty
always respects other nations' territorial integrity and sovereignty.
When the Tatmadaw launched Operation Moehein from phase 1 to phase12
against the Shan insurgents who were producing and trafficking narcotic
drugs at Myanmar-Thai border, it took great care to ensure that its
operations did not give any harm to territorial integrity and
sovereignty of the other country and to ensure that not a single round
fired by its forces landed in the other's territory.
Such instances are the firm proof that Myanmar always strictly adheres
to the principles of the good-neighbourliness and never violates them.
Myanmar in accord with the old saying "Let amity be enduring and enmity
ephemeral" and "Try to be virtuous whoever is otherwise", will continue
to uphold her good-neighbourly relations with all the neighbouring
countries.
Author: Chit Kyiyay Kyi Nyunt
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