BurmaNet News: September 12, 2001

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
           September 12, 2001   Issue # 1882
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________


INSIDE BURMA _______
*Xinhua: Myanmar Actively Launches Military Diplomacy 
*AP: Myanmar government free six more political prisoners 

MONEY _______
*Business Day (Thailand): PTT may be linked to laundering scheme 

GUNS______
*DVB: Burma: Time bomb discovered at Akyab meeting 
*Shan Herald Agency for News: Another border war brought close to by 
outpost seizure

DRUGS______
*Reuters: Myanmar police seize pills, guns from drug camps

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*The Ottawa Citizen: Fellow refugees mourn: Woman was 'lucky' to escape 
Myanmar regime 
*The Ottawa Citizen: 'Why would someone do this?'
*The Ottawa Citizen: Accused 'calm and collected' 

EDITORIALS/OPINION/PROPAGANDA________
*Inter Press Service: Bangkok shakes hands with Myanmar junta 

OTHER______
*Headlines in BurmaNet Karen, September 11, 2001 


					
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________




Xinhua: Myanmar Actively Launches Military Diplomacy 

By Duan Tingchang 


YANGON, September 12 


In recent years, especially since entering into the new century, 
Myanmar's military diplomacy has been active with gradual increase of 
military exchange with foreign countries, constituting an important part 
of the country's exchange with foreign nations. 

Myanmar's military diplomacy has played an important role in breaking 
the sanctions imposed on it by western countries, expanding its 
diplomacy space and strengthening the friendship between armed forces of 
Myanmar and foreign countries. 

During this year, high-ranking military commanders from Indian, China, 
Thailand, Russia, Cambodia and Indonesia have visited Myanmar. These 
frequent visits have indicated Myanmar is actively launching its 
military diplomacy in the service of its politics, foreign diplomacy and 
military affairs. 

A fact that deserves special mention is that a fleet of Pakistani naval 
vessels comprising a submarine, a destroyer and a tanker made a 
nearly-week-long friendly visit at Myanmar's Yangon Port on April 25 
this year. It was the first time for Myanmar to permit foreign naval 
fleet to visit its port in several decades. 

Besides, during the August visit to Myanmar of the Russian Vice-Defense 
Minister, the two sides signed a contract on sale of ten Russian MIG-29 
fighter aircraft to Myanmar worth of as high as 130 million U.S. 
dollars. 

It was the first time for Russia to sell such fighters to Yangon. 
Equipped with these advanced fighters, Myanmar air force's fighting 
capability will greatly increase. 

The military exchange between Myanmar and India has drawn special 
attention. According to Indian official statistics, in the past seven 
years, exchange of visits between military authorities of the two 
countries amounted to 20 times, of which Myanmar military delegations 
went to India for eight times. 

Of the 12 tours to Myanmar by Indian military delegations, there 
included those made by  Chief of the Army Staff, Chief of the Air Staff 
and Chief of the Navy Staff and Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee. 


According to the Indian News Annual published by the Indian Embassy 
here, in recent years, there has been a further intensification of 
relations between defense forces of India and Myanmar with a 
progressively large number of Myanmar defense personnel going to India 
for training and the border units of the two armies meeting twice a year 
at the border to ensure peace and tranquillity along the 
1,400-kilometer-long front. 

In addition, the two countries have also agreed to enhance cooperation 
in combating drug trafficking and suppression of activities of ethnic 
separatists in border areas. 

Since 2000, Myanmar and India have successively carried out joint 
military operation twice against the National Socialist Council of 
Nagaland, destroying five bases on the Myanmar side set up by the 
separatists. 




___________________________________________________



AP: Myanmar government free six more political prisoners 

September 10, 2001

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar's military government on Monday freed six 
more political prisoners as a ``goodwill gesture in the process of 
political transition,'' a government news release said. 

The releases were the latest in a series of such moves by the ruling 
junta since it began holding closed-door talks with opposition leader 
Aung San Suu Kyi late last year to break the country's political 
deadlock. 

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, or NLD, won more than 80 
percent of seats in a 1990 election, but the military, which has ruled 
Myanmar since 1962, refused to allow parliament to convene. 

Those freed Monday included five people who won seats in the election. 
The official statement identified the five as Kyin Thein, Aye Zan, Hla 
Min, Aung Kyin and Tun Kyi. The other freed prisoner was Ma Khin Hla 
Htay, an ordinary member of Suu Kyi's party. 

According to an NLD official, the freed prisoners had been serving 
sentences ranging from three to ten years. 

``They are in good health and are back with their respective families,'' 
the government's statement said. 

Though details of the talks between Suu Kyi and the government have been 
kept secret by both parties, the NLD has said that the release of 
political prisoners has been one the topics discussed. 
Suu Kyi told her senior party colleagues that the release of prisoners 
has been slow but reportedly said she was optimistic with the ongoing 
talks. 

According to NLD vice chairman Tin Oo, Suu Kyi had requested that the 
authorities give priority to the release of women prisoners and members 
of ethnic minorities, as well as elderly and ailing prisoners. 

Last week, after an official visit to Thailand by the junta's No. 3 
leader, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, Thai Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh 
also expressed optimism about the talks. 
``We expect to see every party in Burma join together to set up a 
government to work for the people and the country,'' Chavalit was quoted 
as saying by the Bangkok Post newspaper. 
Monday's government statement said that since January this year, a total 
of 167 NLD members including 48 member of Parliament ``were released 
before completion of the terms of their respective sentences.'' 

NLD spokesman U Lwin said in August that 29 of the party's elected 
representatives and 1,500 political prisoners were still in prison. 




______________________MONEY________________________





Business Day (Thailand): PTT may be linked to laundering scheme 


September 12, 2001



Industry Minister Suriya Chungrungreungkit has ordered the establishment 
of a committee to investigate the Petroleum Authority of Thailand's 
(PTT) alleged involvement in the 7.49 billion baht money laundering 
case. 

Suriya said that he had appointed Inspector General Sathit 
Sirirungkamanond to act as the head of the investigative committee, and 
that the findings should be reported within two weeks. "In its latest 
oil export report, the PTT listed figures that were different from the 
amount actually exported to Cambodia by Thai Petroleum Industry . 
Therefore, there might be a connection with the illegal money transfer 
case," he said. 

He said TPI applied in 2000 for export endorsement from the PTT for 74 
million litres of oil. The PTT then endorsed the export of 97 million 
litres. The real amount of oil exported to Cambodia, however, was 49 
million litres. 

Of the total, 9.5 million litres were sold by PTI through Trade Pacific 
Company, which has close ties with Sosalin Chorpradit, one of the 
suspects in the case. 

"PTI applied for a higher volume oil export endorsement than was 
actually exported in order to launder money in Cambodia." 

"PTT will have to look into PTI's export documentation. The information 
will be submitted to the national police bureau for further legal 
action. It could be a big money laundering gang backed by influential 
politicians," he said. 

PTT managing director Aphisith Rujikiatkamjorn said the firm exports 
100-130 million litres of oil a year to Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. 



___________________________________________________




_______________________GUNS________________________



DVB: Burma: Time bomb discovered at Akyab meeting 


Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 9 Sep 01 




A local resident told DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] that a time bomb, 
due to go off in less than half an hour, was discovered and defused 
during the Arakan State Union Solidarity and Development Association 
USDA Annual General Meeting. The meeting, held at Akyab Town Hall, was 
attended by State Peace and Development Council SPDC Science and 
Technology Minister U Thaung, Brig-Gen Khin Maung, deputy minister of 
agriculture and irrigation, and Brig-Gen Than Swe, commander of military 
operations management command, who attended on behalf of western 
military commander. Furthermore, over 400 USDA members also attended the 
meeting. 

A local resident who does not wish to be identified told DVB that while 
the USDA General Meeting was in progress a bag was found near the venue. 
After investigation, the authorities discovered that it was a time bomb 
set to go off in the next half hour. DVB has learned that the regional 
military intelligence personnel have arrested some suspects in Akyab in 
relation to the incident. 





___________________________________________________



Shan Herald Agency for News: Another border war brought close to by 
outpost seizure


September 11, 2001

Sources recently told S.H.A.N. last month's seizure of an empty Thai 
outpost by Rangoon troops had nearly brought the two countries to 
another war since February.  

The taking of Pangnawk outpost in Doilang, opposite Mae Ai District, 180 
km north of Chiangmai, on 29 August prompted both sides to bring their 
heavy weapons and artillery pieces to the location. The confrontation 
ended two days after both agreed to keep the outpost unoccupied.  

"The incident was quickly hushed up because of impending visit by Gen 
Khin Nyunt on 3-5 September," said sources close to the Thai army. "The 
Burmese probably wanted to feel us out before his historic call followed 
by the regional level meeting."  

RBC 19 (19th Regional Border Committee meeting) was held in Pattaya, 5-7 
August. 



________________________DRUGS______________________




Reuters: Myanmar police seize pills, guns from drug camps


11 Sep 2001 06:08

 
YANGON, Sept 11- Myanmar police seized weapons and over four million 
methamphetamine pills in raids on drug refining camps near the Chinese 
border in August, state-media said on Tuesday. 

Anti-drug squads also uncovered 110 kg (242 lb) of opium, the raw form 
of heroin, when they arrested a trafficker in the Kokang Region, 670 
miles north east of the capital Yangon. 
"Moreover, authorities...seized three arms and China-made handgrenades 
and chemicals for drug refining," official media reported. 

Cross-border cooperation between China and Myanmar to try and stem the 
tide of illegal drugs from the region has increased since an accord 
signed in January. 

Yangon has signed a similar agreement with Bangkok, but relations 
between the two countries have long been uneasy because of Thailand's 
claims drugs from Myanmar are flooding across the border. 

Bangkok has said the United Wa State Army (UWSA), an ethnic minority 
militia group allied to the Yangon government, is the main producer of 
heroin and the hundreds of millions of methamphetamine pills flooding 
Thailand. 

Myanmar denies the UWSA is involved in the drugs trade and says the 
rebel Shan State Army (SSA) is the region's main drug producer. Yangon 
has accused the Thai army of backing the SSA and profiting from the 
drugs trade. 

Thai-Myanmar relations have improved in recent months after a series of 
high level exchanges but earlier this year there were several skirmishes 
along their 2,400 km (1,490 mile) border. 
Drug addiction is growing in China, and the country has become an 
important gateway for heroin produced in the Golden Triangle, which 
straddles Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. 

Ministers from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and China met in Beijing last 
month to discuss ways to improve cooperation in the war on drugs.




___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				




    
The Ottawa Citizen: Fellow refugees mourn: Woman was 'lucky' to escape 
Myanmar regime 


September 11, 2001 Tuesday Final EDITION 



Zev Singer 

 
News of Deena Naw's killing in Ottawa over the weekend has already 
spread internationally among her fellow refugees from Myanmar. For them, 
her death is a compounded tragedy: Ms. Naw was one of the "lucky" few 
able to escape the oppressive and brutal military regime and start a new 
life in Canada. 

"She overcame a lot, avoided or escaped from a lot of dangerous 
situations," said Saw Kapi, a community leader in San Francisco. "When 
she came (to Canada) full of opportunity to make a living, to work, to 
study and yet life ended this way, that is a very sad story." 

Mr. Kapi said yesterday that he remembered Ms. Naw from the refugee 
camps in Thailand where many ethnic minority members have been forced to 
flee. 

"She was fun loving," said Mr. Kapi. "And she was just a nice person." 

Like Mr. Kapi, Ms. Naw was a member of the Karen people, a Christian 
minority who live in the eastern part of the country, along the Thai 
border. The Karen people have struggled against the government and in 
recent years many have been pushed out of the country. 

Mr. Kapi, who is 31 just like Ms. Naw and her husband, and is a leader 
in the Karen National League, said of perhaps seven million Karen people 
only a few thousand have made it to the west. 

"Life in Burma was terrible," he said, "because of the political 
situation. Especially for those who came from the rural jungle area. 
They were under constant oppression by the military. Government soldiers 
overran their village every summer and they had to go away and flee. The 
danger was horrendous." 

The region poses special dangers for women. According to an Amnesty 
International report, Karen women, along with women of other ethnic 
minorities, "have become victims of the (government's) 
counter-insurgency strategy, which includes mass forcible relocations, 
forced labour, and extra-judicial executions." 

The Women's League of Burma, in fact, brought their cause to the 
just-completed World Conference Against Racism in Durban South Africa. 

The plight of the Karen people drew world-wide attention in January of 
2000, when two Karen child soldiers, twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, were 
shown on television. 

The cigar-smoking twins, who acted like hardened soldiers at one moment 
and like playful boys the next, were revered by a band of jungle 
fighters who considered the two invincible leaders. 

Myanmar's elected government, chosen by the people in 1990, is still in 
exile. 






___________________________________________________



   
The Ottawa Citizen: 'Why would someone do this?'

 Deena Naw worked two jobs to support her family after fleeing 
persecution in Myanmar in 1988. On Sunday, she died after being beaten 
to death. 



September 11, 2001 Tuesday Final EDITION 



Gary Dimmock 


Deena Naw had conquered much hardship in her life only to be beaten to 
death on her living room floor, allegedly by her husband, a man she put 
through college by working two jobs. 

She worked on a factory assembly line during the week, and behind the 
counter at a gas station on the weekend. Still, she made time to walk 
with her parents in the park, volunteer at two churches, and send the 
few extra dollars she had back home to family living in a refugee camp a 
world away. 

Her flight from persecution in Myanmar began in 1988. She found safety 
at a refugee camp for ethnic Karens in Thailand. There, she led a 
human-rights campaign against military rule in her homeland while 
looking for a safe place for her family abroad. On June 15, 1994, she 
landed in Sarnia with the hopes of a better life. Together, Ms. Naw, 31, 
and then fiance, Kolumbus Moo, settled on making Ottawa home. 

They married, and both quickly landed jobs, with Mr. Moo, 31, mopping 
floors and his bride working the assembly line at an east-end 
electronics factory. 

She managed to send money back home to her older sister, two brothers 
and parents. Unlike his wife, Mr. Moo said little about his family, and 
next to nothing about his father, a retired church minister now living 
in the U.S. 

It was this difference in family life that left them at odds. A deeply 
religious woman who played piano at church, Ms. Naw never stopped 
fighting to bring her parents to Canada. After finding a sponsor, Harvey 
Gay Su, 72, and Shella Tin, 67, arrived in Ottawa on Nov. 30, 2000. 

They lived with their daughter and son-in-law in a $900-a-month, 
two-bedroom apartment on Bayshore Drive. 

The rent was becoming difficult to come by, for Mr. Moo was now enrolled 
in a course at at Algonquin College, studying to become an electronic 
technician. 

His wife was holding down two jobs to pay the bills and trying to keep 
peace between her husband and parents. 

"You should respect your elders. But he did not show me respect. And he 
never approved of our presence," said Mr. Gay Su, the dead woman's 
father. 

The young couple had their share of verbal arguments but there was never 
any violence in the presence of her parents. 

But Ms. Naw's mother feared the worst, and her suspicions of domestic 
violence prompted a private conversation with her youngest daughter. 

Ms. Naw told her mother "she would never let it happen," Ms. Tin said. 

Days after Mr. Moo's graduation, a day spent posing for photographs 
outside the National Arts Centre, Ms. Naw told close friends her husband 
had given her an ultimatum: live with me, or your parents. 

She began to help her parents search for a new, less expensive place to 
call home. 

Meantime, life together at the Bayshore apartment was growing tense, 
with Mr. Moo losing his temper, particularly with his wife's father. 

Mr. Moo's job as a technician at Nortel was anything but secure. He had 
been laid off, only to be hired back a week later, working nights, 
according to his in-laws. 

Privately, a small group of friends was concerned Ms. Naw was trapped in 
an abusive marriage but said nothing publicly. 

The grieving parents spoke publicly yesterday with the hopes that others 
who may be victims of domestic violence will break their silence and 
come forward. 

For Ms. Naw, Saturday morning began like any other at the family 
apartment. She caught the bus early for work, and her father got ready 
for another intense day of English lessons. 

Her mother spent the day helping a friend clean. Around suppertime, 
things inside their apartment turned violent, then deadly. 

>From the kitchen, Mr. Moo allegedly grabbed a weapon -- believed to be a 
mortar and pestle -- and began bludgeoning his long supportive wife. 

She lay unconscious on the living room floor, her face badly bruised and 
her skull crushed. Seconds later, a man called police and reported the 
vicious attack. 

Police responded quickly and found the victim's husband in the hallway 
outside the apartment. Mr. Moo was arrested on charges of second-degree 
murder and has been found mentally fit to stand trial. 

His wife was rushed to Ottawa Hospital's General campus, where doctors 
worked into the night to save her. After several surgeries, there was 
nothing more they could do. 

Around 7:30 p.m., her father arrived home from class to find a police 
officer at the door. They told him his daughter had been beaten and that 
his home was now a crime scene and off limits. 

Through the night, her parents and friends prayed. By the next 
afternoon, she was still not breathing on her own. 

It was now up to her parents to decide her fate. 

"I consulted with my wife, and we didn't want to prolong it," said Mr. 
Gay Su. At 2:40 p.m. Sunday, hospital staff switched off her life 
support machine at the request of her parents. 

At this time, her minister, Rev. Terry Dempsey, stood at the head of her 
hospital bed, looking down at her bruised and swollen face as he prayed 
aloud. 

To her left, her mother, Shella Tin, held her daughter's arm for the 
last time. On her side of the bed, two friends stood side-by-side hoping 
for a miracle. 

Her father stood to her right, his head bowed. He kept wondering why 
someone would beat his daughter to death. 

Two more family friends stood next to him and watched helplessly as her 
breathing slowly stopped. She would breathe for what seemed 30 minutes. 

Her parents requested someone take a photograph of their dying daughter. 
They said they wanted her last moments of life on film to represents the 
brutal truth about domestic violence. 

Yesterday, grieving friends and family gathered to mourn. They want the 
public to know that their daughter didn't deserve to die. 

They want everyone to know that she was a loving, caring woman who used 
her spare time to make a difference. They are going to miss their walks 
in the park, the long conversations and her gospel performances at 
church. 

The killing has shaken Ottawa's small Burmese community. It has also 
sparked much talk about domestic violence, and it has many asking 
questions about the real story of a marriage that went wrong. 

And they want answers from their daughter's accused killer, a man whose 
new life in Canada has taken a turn for the worse. 

Mr. Moo will wake this morning behind bars as an accused wife killer on 
what will be a trying trip through the justice system. 

Yesterday, some of his closest friends met with the grieving father. All 
appeared surprised by the weekend killing, and all described the accused 
as a calm, decent man. 

They all say that life without Deena Naw will be hard. 

"It's a big loss for our family. She was loving and friendly. She was 
religious and everybody liked her. She had a good attitude and used it 
to help the community," the dead woman's mother said. 




___________________________________________________




The Ottawa Citizen: Accused 'calm and collected' 


Sept 11, 2001

Jake Rupert 

  

 
A 31-year-old refugee from Myanmar, formerly Burma, who came to Canada 
for a better life, made his first court appearance yesterday on a charge 
of killing his wife and was deemed fit to stand trial. 

Charged with second-degree murder, Kolumbus Moo wore blue prison 
overalls during his brief hearing in where his case was adjourned until 
next week. As he was being led away, Mr. Moo, a Nortel laser engineer, 
waved to a group of friends who attended court. "This is a very terrible 
thing that happened," said Neyaa Zaw, who six years ago attended Ottawa 
Adult High School with Mr. Moo's wife, Deena Naw, 31. 

"We never saw any fighting. We never saw any quarrelling," said another 
couple's friends Lattko Ko. 

"They were planning to have kids." 

Ms. Naw, who worked for a local technology company, died in hospital 
Sunday afternoon. 

She died from massive head injuries suffered the day before in the 
apartment the couple shared with her parents at 58 Bayshore Dr. 

Police said an argument led to a beating, during which Ms. Naw was 
struck several times in the head with a blunt kitchen implement around 
supper time. 

As she fell bleeding and unconscious on the livingroom floor, a call to 
police came from a man who reported the attack. 

Mr. Moo was arrested in the hallway outside the apartment. 

"She was a very nice person," Mr. Zaw said. "Very quiet and very cute, 
too. We will talk to her parents and try to help." 

Yesterday's court appearance was a fitness hearing designed to see if 
Mr. Moo is suffering from any mental disorders that would prevent him 
from understanding the legal process. 

The test for this is very low. All the accused must understand is that 
they are charged and what courts are used for. They must also be sane 
enough to properly instruct their defence lawyer. 

After meeting briefly with Mr. Moo, Royal Ottawa Hospital forensic 
psychiatrist Shirley Braithwaite determined none of these things are 
factors. 

"He's calm and collected," said his defence lawyer Robert Carew. "There 
is no issue with his fitness. We will wait for disclosure and set up a 
date for a bail hearing." 

Mr. Carew couldn't say when he will try to have his client released. Two 
to three weeks is his best estimate. 

Until then, Mr. Moo will be held at the Ottawa Detention Centre on Innes 
Road. 

In court yesterday was Mr. Moo's refugee sponsor, Tony Felice, chairman 
of the Brownley's Road Baptist Church refugee campaign. 

Mr. Felice sponsored Mr. Moo's move to Canada from a refugee camp in 
Thailand in 1995 -- the same refugee camp in which Mr. Moo met his wife. 


They married shortly after arriving in Canada five years ago. 



___________EDITORIALS/OPINION/PROPAGANDA__________




Inter Press Service: Bangkok shakes hands with Myanmar junta 


September 6, 2001



By Marwaan Macan-Markar 

BANGKOK - Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's attempt to pen a new  
chapter in his country's foreign policy toward Myanmar is being derided 
by  champions of democracy in Thailand, but is winning praise from 
others.  

Critics took the prime minister to task following the effusive manner 
with  which a high-ranking official from Yangon was treated during a 
three-day  visit which ended Wednesday. For them, the visit by 
Lieutenant-General Khin  Nyunt, Myanmar's military intelligence chief, 
provided more "disturbing"  clues about a perceived turn in Thai policy 
toward its neighbour - one that  places greater emphasis on building 
friendly ties than being a critic of its  dismal human rights record. 

"It is very disturbing. Now the military guy from Myanmar is being given 
a  red carpet welcome as if he comes from a respectable government," 
Thepchai  Yong, group editor of the independent daily The Nation told 
IPS. "They have  been longing for this handshake, this mark of 
respectability from Thailand.  The generals in Rangoon [Yangon] will get 
the wrong signal from this -  legitimizing the military junta." 

For Sunai Phasuk, it marks a departure from the way the Myanmar junta 
was  viewed by Thaksin's predecessor, Chuan Leekpai. "Chuan was a 
trenchant critic  of the military rulers in Rangoon and always raised 
the human rights issue,"  said Sunai, a senior researcher at Asian Forum 
for Human Rights and  Development (Forum-Asia), a Bangkok-based rights 
watchdog.  

The Chuan administration's stance on Myanmar's ruling State Peace and  
Development Council (SPDC) was also evident in a suspension of visits 
between  government leaders of the two countries. "By not going, Chuan 
sent a strong  message to the military leaders about what he thought of 
their policies,"  added Sunai. 

Western as well as some Asian governments have put Myanmar at arm's 
length  because of its repressive policies and poor human rights record. 
And althouth  the junta and the opposition leader, Nobel laureate Aung 
San Suu Kyi, have  held talks on possible political reforms, many 
believe it is too early to say  that the military government will end 
its rule. 

By contrast, the Thaksin administration struck a cordial note with Khin  
Nyunt, the third-ranking member of the SPDC, on a range of bilateral 
issues  that needed ironing out - like stamping out the drugs trade, 
illegal  migration into Thailand, and border disputes. The level of 
cordiality was  also evident in the treats offered to the general, 
including a dinner party  on board a luxury riverboat hosted by General 
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh,  Thailand's Defense Minister. On that occasion, 
Chavalit described Myanmar as  Thailand's "best friend". Khin Nyunt was 
also given an audience with  Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej. 

Signs of a shift in Thailand's Myanmar policy surfaced in June, when 
Thaksin  visited Yangon only a few months after border clashes between 
the troops of  the two countries. The justification for such a visit 
emerged earlier when  the Thaksin administration said it was seeking 
"forward engagement" with  Yangon, meaning the government was prepared 
to seek informal ties with  Myanmar. This was different from 
"constructive engagement", a term used by  some Southeast Asian nations 
to describe the way they deal with governments  they want to persuade to 
adhere to international norms. 

The path Thaksin has chosen has come in for some praise, too. This week, 
 Myanmar specialists in Thailand welcomed developments that stemmed from 
Khin  Nyunt's visit. "I can't say I am impressed with the visit, but I 
am pleased  with the outcome and approach," Pornpimol Trichot, a Myanmar 
specialist at  Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, was quoted as saying 
by the Bangkok Post.  

What was significant to her was an unprecedented development: "The first 
time  the two countries had put on the table all contentious issues, 
like illegal  labor, refugees, border disputes and border demarcation, 
and agreed that they  were shared problems. This time both sides went 
directly to these points,"  she said, pointing out that previously the 
Myanmar leadership had refused to  acknowledge such problems existed. 

But such achievements do not impress a Myanmar journalist, who did not 
want  to be identified. "It doesn't surprise me at all, the 'good news' 
coming out  of this week's talks," he told IPS. "Thanks to Thaksin's 
foreign policy, the  rulers in Myanmar will feel that the relationship 
between the two countries  is friendly and normal again. It will help 
them claim legitimacy in the  international community after being 
ostracized and treated like a pariah."  

The irony of this was not lost on Sunai, the Forum-Asia researcher. 
"Thaksin  is an elected leader and one who won with the biggest majority 
in a Thai  election. But he is ignoring his democratic credentials to 
flirt with an  oppressive regime." 

Furthermore, this policy is also undermining Thailand's reputation as a  
vibrant democracy in the region, he added. "It says we don't care much 
about  the plight of people who lack rights and don't enjoy democracy. 
Or they are  secondary matters." 




______________________OTHER______________________





Headlines in BurmaNet Karen, September 11, 2001 

[English translation of headlines]

Kwe Ker Lu: Residents of Tavoy city also have to  face with porter's 
fees
Kwe Ker Lu: 50 Burmese found and arrested underneath vegetable in a 
truck
Kwe Ker Lu: Ehsa's anger killed two captains and a section  commander 
Kwe Ker Lu: People in Burma lose their land Kwe Ker Lu: Japan will help 
Burma with the Dam project









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