Weekly Diary No. 157 (23-29/07/05)

RANGOON GIVES UP ASEAN CHAIR FOR “NATIONAL RECONCILIATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION”!

Think Piece

The UN put up a dialogue table in Burma. Razali is a facilitator and he can't initiate anything unless there is something in black-and-white on the table. It is to our advantage  our responsibility  to make use of the UN and Razali and to put a dialogue proposal on the table, officially and in plain sight.
Chao Tzang Yawnghwe (1939-2004)
22 February 2004

How a Nation come into being
“The territory of Siam was defined as a residual of colonial expansion. The nation was imagined to fit this space and encompass whoever was inside it.”
History is selective. It can inform, but it can also distort… (The eternal enemy) Burma was by no means an eternal, but only an intermittent, enemy.
Malcom Falkus, Review on A History of Thailand, Bangkok Post, 23 July 2005

The World

23 July
Al-Qaeda linked suicide car bombers kill at least 88 people, mostly tourists, at Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. (AFP)

28 July
The IRA announces end to its armed campaign against British rule in northern Ireland and vows to pursue its aims through politics. (Reuters)

International Relations

21 July
According to the Rockefeller think tank Council on Foreign Relation’s “HIV and National Security, Where are the links,” strains of the killer virus covering a region from Kazakhstan to southern Vietnam, with the exception of China’s Henan province, have “genetic fingerprints” that can be traced to Burma.
In northern Burma, infection is as high as 77%, from which HIV has spread to neighboring countries and beyond. “Cambodia and Burma are the only two countries in Asia where the population prevalence is approaching African levels where you could have as many as one in 25 or even one in 20 adults with HIV infection,” says Dr Chris Beyer, expert on HIV/AIDS at Johns Hopkins University. “Burma has displayed no commitments towards political reform,” says a Thai regional analyst. “They have also shown little interest in HIV, even though it is becoming such a threat to regional stability.” (IPS)

26 July
Burma relinquishes its turn to be the chair of Asean to focus its attention on the ongoing national reconciliation and democratization process, announces Laotian Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavat in Vientiane. ‘Giving up the chair is not the end of the story,’ says Asean Inter-parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar. The move does not necessarily translate into real progress, says Professor Kyaw Yin Hlaing, National University of Singapore. (Irrawaddy)

26 July
Foreign Minister Nyan Win sends message to UN envoy Razali Ismail that he would be too busy with engagements at the Asean meetings to meet him. (AP)

26 July
The UN Security Council votes for a series of measures to protect children involved in armed conflict, including those conscripted by the Burma Army and the KNU. The measures will include the establishment of a monitoring and reporting mechanism to highlight grave rights violations against children, while offenders will be ordered to prepare a timetable to end such abuses.
Over a quarter of a million children are being used as soldiers, says UN whose Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict is Olara Otunnu. (Irrawaddy)

27 July
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing becomes the 4th top diplomat to skip the annual security gathering of Asean, when he cuts short his visit to Laos and flies to Burma. The three others were the United States’ Condoleeza Rice, Japan’s Nobutaka Machimura and India’s Natawar Singh. (AP)

27 July
U Ye Win has been appointed as the new ambassador for Thailand replacing U Myo Myint. (New Light of Myanmar)

29 July
A senior Chinese diplomat believes a new constitution will have been drawn up by the end of the year and put to a referendum in early 2006. A senior ethnic community leader from northern Burma also thinks new elections will be held after Thingyan (Songkran that falls in April).

Beijing also believes Than Shwe will step down and become a civilian president. Shwe Mann would take over both as head of the army and head of the junta. A mass amnesty to all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi will then be granted, according to Asian diplomats. (Bangkok Post)
The article says nothing about Maung Aye, the regime’s No.2 man. (SHAN)

Thai-Burma Relations

22 July
Three Pagodas Pass opens temporarily today. It will be opened for 4 days. (Kaowao)

23 July
Chuchai Udomphote, Chief of Maesai customs house, says revenue has fallen 65% due to increase in diesel oil prices. Main export to Tachilek in June was fuel, 46 million baht ($1.15 million). Major imports include oxen, buffalo, fresh mango and prepaid phone cards. (Chiangmai Mail)

26 July
Township Border Committee’s 42nd meeting held in Chiangmai: Burma demands return of Doilang while Thailand claims it’s Thai territory. Burma also accuses Thailand of allowing the SSA to hold meetings with the intention of launching terrorist operations in Burma. Thailand rejects the charge. (Manager online)

25 July
Maroot Mrigadat, president of PTT Exploration and Production, signs agreement securing rights to explore Block M-11 in the Gulf of Martaban. The ceremony is witnessed by Thai energy minister Prommin Lertsuridej. (Irrawaddy)

25 July
Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, on a visit in Burma, meets Generals Than Shwe and Shwe Mann. No details of the talks are made available. The visit comes just ahead of the Asean foreign ministers meeting in Vientiane tomorrow. (Japan Economic Newswire)

Politics

13 June
The Kachin Independence Organization organized meeting on the National Convention, 11 June, in Waingmaw’s Namhsarmyang banned by Northern Region Commander Maung Maung Swe at the last minute. (Mizzima)

22 July
Gen Khin Nyunt receives a 44-year suspended sentence. His two sons, Maj Zaw Naing Oo and Dr Ye Naing Win, get 68 years and 50 years respectively. His suspended sentence surprises diplomats in Rangoon. “Perhaps some officials, who rose with him together, were willing to spare him a little.” (AFP)

Shans

18 July
Hkun Htun Oo and Sai Nyunt Lwin, facing 7 charges including treason, went on trial on 14 July. Cin Shin Thang and Ohn Tin testified as defense witnesses. (VOA)

24 July
119 soldiers from SSNA’s 6th Brigade and SSA breakaway faction surrender to the Burma Army at Lashio. (New Light of Myanmar)

Economics/Business

21 July
UNOCAL has endorsed a $17 billion takeover offer from Chevron, putting its back on China National Offshore Oil Corp that had offered $18.5 billion because of potential of intervention by the US administration. (Lloyd’s List)

23 July
The re-evaluation of Yuan the previous day comes as bad news for Burma’s border traders. It has made imported goods into Burma more expensive.

Pre-May bomb attacks        1,000 Kyat per 8 Yuan
Post-May bomb attacks     1,000 Kyat per 7.5 Yuan
22 July                            1,000 Kyat per 7.3 Yuan
25 July                            1,000 Kyat per 6.6 Yuan

Some economists believe the instability of the kyat is of much greater concern than the Yuan’s shift. (Irrawaddy/Mizzima)

26 July
Rubber price in lower Burma where rubber is planted extensively jumps from 450 Kyat ($.45) per pound to 600 Kyat ($.60) after traders were allowed free export to China two days ago.(IMNA)

Human Rights

10 July
A soldier form Light Infantry Battalion 587, based in Ye township, has been sentenced to 7 years in jail for raping a 14-year old girl on 7 June. The soldier is identified as Private Yan Naing. (Kaowao)

20 July
A Mon school at Lamine, a town in Ye township, that had cost the Mon community 20 million Kyat ($20,000) to construct, has been told to move out of the town limits. The authorities have agreed to pay 1.5 million Kyat ($1,500) in compensation. (Kaowao)

Environment

23 July
At the Trans-border issues in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region conference held in Ubon, 30 June-2 July, Dr Jingjai Hanchanlash of the GMS Business Forum, singled out the river’s “reverse Robin Hood syndrome” where you rob from the poor to give to the rich. (Chiangmai Mail)

Drugs

25 July
A report by Taunggyi police force on 18 July says it has been found poppy cultivation in Hopong, Panglawng and Phekon (Faikhun) has increased. (S.H.A.N.)

War

21 July
Government servants who have arrived in the new city of Yezin are without electricity. Those with families have been given apartments. Singles have yet to be accorded same privilege. ‘Too many mosquitoes,” says an agricultural official. (BBC)

24 July
Conditions of the 13 Karenni rebels who were exposed to chemical gases used by the Burma Army in February have worsened. (Kantarawaddy Times.)