Weekly Digest 87

Weekly Digest, No. 87 (14-20 March 2004)

Quote

You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Myint Shwe, Bangkok Post, 21 March, likening Rangoon junta to a horse, says Thai leaders have been able to persuade Rangoon to come to Bangkok, but have yet to coax it to follow their recommendations

The World

14 March
Communist China's Parliament amends 1982 constitution, adding a historic clauses Private property obtained legally is inviolable. "It's recognizing that exploitation is good," says a Western diplomat. (Reuters)

Three days after the bombblasts that killed more than 200 people, Spain ousts pro-American Popular Party and places the Socialist Party as its government. A triumph for the bad guys, mourns some papers. 

19 March

Taiwan's president Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu survive an assassination attempt though suffering minor injuries. (AFP)

20 March
Chen Shuibian re-elected as Taiwan's president. 

International Relations

15 March
Dr Sein Win, cousin of Aung San Suu Kyi, urges EU to beef up what he calls "targeted sanctions", those that will affect the military most and the people least, such as import ban on "strategic" goods including timber and gemstones to put pressure on Rangoon. (Reuters)

16 March
Razali is "struck by Aung San Suu Kyi recognizing the need to support" Khin Nyunt. He is also confident she will be freed in a few weeks. According to UN sources, this is likely to happen around the Water Festival in April. 
As for the National Convention, FM Win Aung said in December it should get under way early in 2004. But later during the BIMSTEC foreign ministers summit, he told his Thai counter part it would be in September. 
Razali wants what he calls a twin track process: establishment of a small coordinating council involving the military and the NLD to oversee the NC and the drafting of a constitution. Representatives of the non-Burman could be opted at a later stage. However ethnic leaders are insisting that the overseeing committee should be tripartite from the start. (Bangkok Post)

Razali Ismail, UN envoy to Burma, arrives in Japan to persuade Tokyo to provide aid for Burma, says Dr Min Nyo, Director of Burma Office, which gives legal and social assistance to Burmese living in Japan. The envoy also plans to meet Chairman of the Japanese Trade Union confederation, known as Rengo. (Irrawaddy)

17 March
Pinheiro, UN Human Rights rapporteur, who had planned to visit Rangoon early this week and update his report before his address to the UNHRC next week was denied visa on the grounds that 'the timing is not convenient", according to a UN official in Bangkok. Appointed in 2000, he had already made 6 visits, the last time in November. (Irrawaddy)

Razali tells Dr Min Nyo, Burma Office Director in Tokyo, Khin Nyunt understands the desire for full participation in the process. The problem will be to get permission from Sr-Gen Than Shwe. He is also confident the coming National Convention will be different from the previous one and the participants will be able to enjoy free expression and discussion at the Convention. (Irrawaddy)

Visiting Swiss President Joseph Deiss tells Thai PM Switzerland will join the next round of international talks on Burma. The first round was held in Bangkok in December. (AFP)

Thai-Burma Relations

18 March
Thailand upset by 39 simultaneous acts of arson in the Deep South. (Bangkok Post)

Politics

5 March
Pa-Os celebrate National Day (Full Moon, 4th Lunar Month.)

11 March
Riots in Myitkyina blow up coinciding with Phone Maw's Day (13 March) 16 years earlier that ignited the countrywide protest. They were begun by a police officer trying to extort money from couples meeting at a pagoda. (DVB) The day has been celebrated as Burma's Human Rights Day worldwide. 

Five planets in the solar system are found to be in alignment, the first time in 30 years. Astrologers are predict chaos, conflict and change. (DVB)

12 March
NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo turns 77. Birthday celebrations attended by his wife on his behalf. (AFP)

13 March
Beginning today, regarded as Burma's Human Rights Day, NLD members in Yenangyaung have resolved to wear traditional jackets to show NLD unity. (DVB)

14 March
KNPP Foreign Minister Able Tweed says the 9 member Karenni peace delegation to Rangoon in the near future will include Yoshia, Home Minister Shar Reh, Chief of Staff Be Htoo and Quartermaster General Maj Elijah. (Shan-Eu)

15 March
Arakan Rohingya National Organization issues statement over founding of Arakan National Council, 1-6 March. It requires a commitment for both unity and diversity, and willingness to share power (between the two major people i.e. Buddhist Rakhaings and Muslim Rohingyas) it says. (Kaladan)

15 March
9-member Ethnic Nationalities Council, the policy making body of the Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Cooperation Committee, formed during the three-day meeting, 12-14 March. The ENC is chaired by Saw Ba Thin and the ENSCC, the 5-member working body, by Chao Tzang Yawnghwe. (Statement)

17 March
The March 2004 edition of Readers' Digest, featuring Aung San Suu Kyi a candid and damaging material, including reference to a brutal attack last May, is being sold uncensored in Burma. The article describes her as "the soul of the nation" and "sole repository for the Burmese people's hope." One Rangoon observer says the move indicates that tensions have eased slightly. (AFP)

21 March
Rimond Htoo, KNPP secretary, confirms a delegation will be sent Rangoon before the end of the month. (NMG)

Shans

14 March

Gunyawd, Shan leader whose revolt in 1995 toppled warlord Khun Sa dies of liver cancer at his Khaihsim HQ in Hsipaw. (S.H.A.N.)

15 March
91 tube wells have been dug in northern Shan State in cooperation with Japan International Cooperation Agency - JICA, the Japanese government's overseas aid agency, under the natural water supply project which runs from 2000-2001 fiscal year. (XNA)

16 March
NLD leaders: Nyunt Way, Soe Myint and Than Tun meet UNA leaders, led by Khun Toon Oo to exchange views on their meetings with Razali. KTO says Razali seems to be "acting like a political agent" for the junta and not in accordance with UN mandate. He seems to want them to attend the National Convention despite UN resolution calling for a tripartite arrangement. (DVB)

Economy / Business

14 March
Rangoon is holding a week long biannual sale of gems, jade and pearls, 16-21 March, in an attempt to control sales of precious stones, as many are being smuggled out of the country. Its gem market is still unable to compete with Thailand and Hongkong. (AFP)

16 March
Burma Campaign UK urges EU to get "serious" and implement targeted sanctions on Burma. (Text)

17 March
Burma and India are jointly launching a pilot industrial project run with bio-gas under the energy sector development program from the 5-country BIMSTEC in Mandalay Division's Myingyan area. (XNA)

18 March
Burma will be hosting the Asean Tourism Forum in 2006. The compulsory change of $200 into Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) is no longer required. Aviation agreements have been lightened to allow more foreign airlines to fly to Rangoon. During peak months THAI flies 3 daily services from Bangkok and Myanmar Airways International 10 weekly services between the two cities. MAI also flies 5 times a week from Singapore and twice a week from Hong Kong. Currently, Rangoon has 154 hotels with 6,119 rooms with half categorized as tourist or 4-star class. (Bangkok Post)

About 40 cars from Japan cross the Three Pagoda Pass Checkpoint each day to Moulmein where the market is booming. The cars, about 150,000 baht ($ 3,700) each at the border is about K 5 million ($ 6,000) there. Smugglers pay about K 1 million per vehicle to move the cars through several checkpoints on the way. 
Currently the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings is the country's only legal importer of motor vehicles. (Irrawaddy)

Bangkok's plan to issue new work permits to Burmese migrant workers in April has been postponed, after Burma requested that Burmese citizen must return to Burma first. Myawaddy has set up a holding center for more than 6,000 people going back and provided free transportation to Pa-an as well as 500 kyat each. 

Local fisheries association in Ranong says most trawler operators find the Burmese concession terms unacceptable. The areas on offer are short on fish. Only Siam Jonathan Co. took up Rangoon's offer. (Bangkok Post)

19 March
U Okka, 62, Deputy Director of Burma's Labor Department, who has been overseeing the construction of a holding center for returnees form Thailand dies suddenly. Cause undisclosed. (FIG)

Human Rights

1 March

Youth Power Media, a Shan group set up last year, publishes its newsletter #5, in Shan. It has improved its quality a lot since its first issue, comments a Shan elder. (S.H.A.N.)

11 March
Maesod is posting posters across the district warning illegal migrant workers to leave Thailand before 15 March. Some opt to go home, but others have decided, "to stay in a hideout." 100,000 Burmese nationals work in Maesod but only 35,000 have work permits. Some says if the fee, 4,450 baht, is reduced by half, everyone would have applied for the permits. 
Some businessmen complain that his workers do not stay long-term so they can apply year-to-year work permits for them. (Irrawaddy)

14 March
Peanut fields in Magwe Division's Taungdwingyi township bulldozed just before harvest by Defense Industry #18 in late February. 45 farmers lost both their lands and fruits of their labor. Sugarcane fields in the same township suffered the same fate in November. Since the founding of DI #18, people have lost more than 10,000 acres to the Army. (DVB)

Burma's exiles in Thailand organize multi-religious prayer meetings for peace in Chiangmai, Maesod and Maehongson. (NMG)

15 March
Beginning this month college and university female students are being forced to join the Myanmar Women Affairs Federation chaired by Daw Khin Win Shwe, Gen Khin Nyunt's better half. (DVB)

Copies of Matriculation examination question papers, together with answers, are being sold by officers' wives in Mongywa based Northwest Regional Command. (DVB)

16 March
Thousand of homes and buildings in Tamu are being ordered to move to make way for a 200-ft wide Asian highway that will connect India through Burma with Thailand. (NMG)

Maesod ghostly quiet as crackdown on illegal residents start. More than 6,000 had exited to Burmese territory a day earlier. Many businesses are now suffering manpower shortages. About two-thirds of Maesod populations are estimated to be Burmese origins. (Irrawaddy)

Environment

14 March
German embassy will be holding Mysterious Mekong: Impressions from Expedition Mekong 2002, a photo exhibition at Sheraton Chaignmai Hotel on Thursday, 25 March at 19:00. The exhibition will be displayed during PATA Mekong Tourism Forum on 26-28 March, 09:00 - 18:00. (S.H.A.N.)

Water in private hands can keep people thirsty, say environmentalist in Thailand on Annual International Day of Action against Dams, who want government to scrap water privatization scheme. The US has pressed Bangkok to go ahead with water privatization because several US-based companies are eager to invest in the water market, says social activist Jaqueschai Chomthongdee of Focus on Global South. (Bangkok Post)

Fire breaks out on the Sino-Burma border. 2,000 fire fighters from Baoshan rush to build isolation belt, 4,000 meters long and 30 meters wide. (People's Daily)

15 March
Salween Watch launches new version of its website www.salweenwatch.org. Updates #1-15 are available there. It can be contacted at <salweenwatch2003@yahoo.com>. (S.H.A.N.)

Alan Rabinowitz of Wildlife Conservation Society, says he has been working with Burma's Forest Department for the past 10 years to triple the size of the 2,500 sq.m. Hukawng Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kachin State, where fewer than 100 tigers remain. Both the KIA and SPDC are exceptionally receptive to the idea of creating the tiger reserve, he reports. (National Public Radio)

Drugs

21 March
One of Bao Youxiang's opponents in Panghsang says coup rumors, rampant a few months ago, have died down. Coup is remote as long as Li Ziru and Shao Minliang remain his deputies. Bao spends more of his time taking care of his private businesses rather than the UWSA. 

China's blockade is no more. The real reason for it was the tax problem. There are not restrictions on people crossing the border. Business however is down because of reduction in the opium harvest due to bad weather. 

Methamphetamine production continues. Every UWSA units has its own equipment to produce it. 

UWSA also produces ammunition and homemade weapons. 

There are SPDC troops inside Wa region but they do not carry weapons. They are there for construction of roads. As for Wei, he is at Nam Hpak Lern in Tangyan township. He has changed his name to Ai Nyok. (Bangkok Post)

War

8 March
A 19-year old woman is killed and 4 others wounded when Karenni guerrillas fire upon a passenger bus, according to a Loikaw General Hospital staffer. The 4 are not in serious condition. (Irrawaddy)

16 March
Clashes between KNU and DKBA that started on 14 March continue. KNU captures 6 weapons. The conflict started after 10 KNU members were arrested by the DKBA. (NMG)

18 March
Air Force commander Maj-Gen Mya Hein promoted to Lieutenant General. (S.H.A.N.)