Daily News-December-30-Saturday-2000

  • Suu Kyi'a lawyers challenge the Burmese junta
  • Burma will launch English-language television channel MRTV3 to beam worldwide
  • UN Envoy Razali To Visit Burma Jan 5-9
  • US army to help train Thai troops to counter Wa army's drug trafficking
  • New Leaning Centers Opened in Burma

    • Suu Kyi'a lawyers challenge the Burmese junta

    source : ABC online - Dec 29, 2000

    Lawyers for Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi are challenging the military junta's decision to allow her brother to launch a claim over half her Rangoon home.

    Aung San Oo is filing the suit for half of the home that once belonged to their mother.

    In a brief court hearing, defence lawyer Kyi Win argued that as an American citizen, San Oo is not entitled to inherit any immovable property ... and the case should not have been admitted.

    Should Aung San Oo win the suit, he would be forced to hand his half of the property over to Myanmar's military government.

    Critics say the case will clear the way for the ruling State Peace and Development Council to evict Aung San Suu Kyi from the house and cripple her National League for Democracy.
    Burma will launch English-language television channel MRTV3 to beam worldwide

    source : Myanmar Times:
    Dec 25-Jan 7, 2000/2001

    THE Myanmar Government has announced an ambitious plan for a new English-language television channel, MRTV3, which would be beamed around the globe via satellite to present news and documentaries about life in Myanmar to a world audience.MRTV3, the launch date of which has not yet been finalised, will use the geostationary satellite Thaicom-3 to beam worldwide.

    A senior official of the state-owned MRTV (Myanma Radio and Television) said programs on the new channel would mirror the style, in content and presentation, of some of the best known international news and current affairs cable broadcasters to make them interesting and informative to a broad audience.

    “We will be using the international journalistic norms in presenting what is really happening in Myanmar,” said U Khin Maung Htay, Director- General of the Myanma Radio and Television Department.

    “The project has been aimed at giving an objective response to certain western media’s reports about Myanmar.” The desire to respond to what is often whimsical or fanciful coverage by those sources – and to show the world community a real Myanmar – has been the driving motivation behind the Government’s decision to establish MRTV3.The channel’s programming will incorporate social, cultural and historical aspects of the country besides news and commentaries.Technical developments have also contributed to the development of the MRTV3 concept.

    In the past, under the analogue system, Myanmar used three-fourths of the transponder made available from Thaicom-3 for transmission of its national TV programs.But the recent digitilisation of its transmission means it now uses only one quarter of the megahertz to which it is entitled. Under the new system one-half of the transponder is made available to Myanmar.

    The Government, therefore, will need to fill only the personnel and hardware aspects of the project to be able to transmit MRTV3 worldwide, exclusive of America and some countries in Europe. Broadcasts via Thaicom-3 would cover a major part of Europe, and from Africa in the west to Japan in the east.

    MRTV3 will be telecast each day according to a schedule that coincides with prime time viewing in Europe.To find the personnel needed to produce and present MRTV3, the Government intends to recruit from both the public and the private sectors.The director-general told Myanmar Times that arrangements would be made to train staff recruited to the station.“The Ministry of Education will provide not only conventional English language lessons but also computer-aided classes,” he said.
    UN Envoy Razali To Visit Burma Jan 5-9

    Source : Dow Jones (AP)

    UNITED NATIONS--A U.N. envoy is planning another visit to Burma early next month in a long-standing bid to start a dialogue between the ruling military junta and the opposition led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

    The Jan. 5-9 visit to Rangoon will be the third such visit by Razali Ismail since his April appointment, said Manoel de Almeida e Silva, a U.N. spokesman.

    Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, will urge both Burmese officials and opposition leaders to engage in "a substantive political dialogue that would lead to national reconciliation in Myanmar," the spokesman said.

    Ismail was able to meet with Suu Kyi twice at her house during a visit in October to Burma.

    The military, which has ruled since 1962, refuses to hold talks with Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

    Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy overwhelmingly won elections in 1990, but the military refused to honor the result and Parliament has never convened. Suu Kyi has remained under various forms of house arrest or restrictions since.
    US army to help train Thai troops to counter Wa army's drug trafficking

    Source : Bangkok Post

    The United States army will train Thai soldiers in drug operations from next month, according to the Third Army chief.

    A joint command headquarters will be set up in Chiang Mai as a training centre for anti-drug drives, said Lt-Gen Watthanachai Chaimuenwong.

    During the training programme, American troops will pass on lessons from their experience in efforts to counter the cocaine trade in Colombia.

    Four companies, three from the army and the other border patrol police, will form a rapid deployment force to intensify the drug war.

    Problems will worsen next year with the United Wa State Army likely to raise methamphetamine output to 600 million pills from 400 million this year, said Lt-Gen Watthanachai. Only 25 million pills were seized in Thailand this year.

    The relocation of 10,000 Burmese ethnic minorities to areas close to the border has served to boost production of opium and other drugs.

    "We must urge the international community to pressure Burma to seriously combat drugs. It should not claim that drug precursors are smuggled via Thailand, China or other countries," said Lt-Gen Watthanachai.
    New Leaning Centers Opened in Burma

    YANGON, December 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar has opened a New Century Resource Center (NCRC) and a Resource Center for Ancient Myanmar Manuscripts (RCAMM) to emerge a learning society and to enable the citizens to face the challenges of the 21st century without losing their national identity.

    Chairman of Myanmar Education Committee First Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt Friday attended the opening of the two centers, official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Saturday.

    Deputy Minister of Education U Myo Nyunt said at the opening ceremony that the four-year special national education program is being implemented with the aim of achieving highly-qualified human resource development and regional human resource development. Myo Nyunt stressed that creation of a learning society and implementation of a plan to face the challenges of the knowledge age are included in the special national education program.

    A new system called e-education, which is a combination of information and communication technology and electronic technology in imparting education has been installed at the center, he disclosed, saying that Myanmar National Human Resources Development Division will conduct proficiency courses with the application of e-education technology. C

    oncerning RCAMM, the deputy minister pointed out that due to advances in technology at present, globalization process has become influential and one of the ill effects is the danger of the loss of national identity. A library was also opened and the international-level computerized electronic catalogue system is available at the library.