Daily News- February 16 - 2003- Sunday
  • Karen Union welcomes Thai govt's offer for national reconciliation
  • Burma's women team dashed hopes of Malaysia in Asian Archery
  • US considering new sanctions on Burma
  • Five Singaporeans are on death row in Burma
  • Burmese exiles Seeking support for their cause in India
  • Burma says rumours aggravate bank deposit runs


    • Karen Union welcomes Thai govt's offer for national reconciliation

    Source : Bangkok Post

    The Karen National Union yesterday welcomed the Thai government's will to push for national reconciliation in Burma.

    KNU president Pado Saw Bathin Sein said Thailand's involvement as a mediator was more than welcome, following Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's recent remarks on his return from a visit to Burma.

    Mr Thaksin said Thailand would play a supportive role in bringing about national reconciliation.

    Mr Pado said the government had yet to approach the KNU.

    ``No government officials have contacted us, only some senators. Our door is always open to anyone who wishes to use peaceful means to resolve the conflict and create unity,'' he said.

    KNU and the Burmese junta government have held several rounds of talks since 1949 to put an end to the armed struggle, but there has been no progress.

    National League Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Rangoon recently held talks in attempts to kick-start the national reconciliation process.

    Mr Pado also suggested that small rebel groups hold talks to find common ground before going to the negotiating table.

    The KNU president backed Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, who called on the government to set up a special committee to pursue the matter.

    Representatives from five armed rebel groups last week called on the Burmese junta to resolve the conflict through peaceful means.

    The KNU, Karenni National Progressive Party, Chin National Front, Arakan Liberation Party and Shan State Army said they would maintain their military alliance to pressure Rangoon to pursue a peaceful settlement.

    Kun Saen, a representative, said the rebel groups should not be pressured or forced to negotiate with the Rangoon military junta. She said some armed groups had reached ceasefire agreements with the junta only to secure benefits for their leaders.



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    Burma's women team dashed hopes of Malaysia in Asian Archery

    Source : The Nation

    Japan underlined their supremacy at the Asian Archery Grand Prix’s first leg by capturing 12 medals – including five gold – with Asian Games champion Hiroshi Yamamoto powering the squad to victory and the last gold in the men’s team recurve event at the Hua Mark range yesterday.

    Burma came from nowhere to take the day’s first gold in the women’s team recurve event, defeating Malaysia 213-109 in the final. The strong trio of Thin Thin Khine, Myat Thu Zar Myint and Nang Mo Hwom stunned the in-form Malaysia, whose Mon Redee Sut Txi helped the team win two gold medals on the first two days.

    “Our scores [Malaysia and Burma] were very close after the end of the second end of shooting,” said Malaysian-born Mon Redee, 21, a Buddhist who can speak and read Thai fluently.

    “I’m not happy with the way I performed, which completely dashed my dream of making a clean sweep of the three golds.

    “I confirm that I’m Malaysian, not Thai. I hold Malaysian nationality. Despite looking and speaking Thai, I’m much prouder to be Malaysian and serve the nation,” she added with a friendly smile.

    In the men’s team compound event, Singapore outclassed Thailand in the final 233-205. China won the bronze after storming past the Philippines 240-209.

    In the men’s team recurve event, the last event of the day in the 14-nation tournament, Japan, spearheaded by Asian Games gold and silver medallists Hiroshi Yamamoto and Yuji Hamano, foiled Burma’s hopes of clinching their second gold by beating them 241-234.

    In the third-place play-off, the Philippines surprised Bhutan 223-211 to take the bronze medal. Thailand, competing without its ace archer and KL SEA Games gold medallist Prawit Poljungreed due to a shoulder injury, lost in the quarter-finals to Japan 229-243.

    “I think the Thai archers performed well despite the absence of Prawit [Poljungreed]. However, they are still inexperienced. If they train harder, I’m convinced they can make their mark in the near future,” said Thailand’s South Korean coach Lee Myung Yong.

    At the end of the tournament, Japan were the overall champions with a haul of five gold, three silver and four bronze medals. Second and third places overall went to Singapore (four golds, three silvers and three bronzes) and Malaysia (2-2-0), with the Philippines (2-1-3) and Burma (1-3-0) in fourth and fifth places respectively. Thailand and China shared sixth place.

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    US considering new sanctions on Burma

    Source : AFP

    The United States said it was highly sceptical that Burma's military was serious about reform, and warned it was considering further sanctions as its patience wears thin.

    Lorne Craner, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Democracy and Labor delivered a highly pessemistic survey of the political situation in Burma.

    He said that the US government was disappointed that the release from house arrest last year of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was not followed by a geniune effort by the government to enter dialogue with the opposition.

    "We remain highly sceptical about the regime's commitment to any political transition," Craner said at a conference here of exiled Burmese politicians and rights activists.

    "The (junta's) disregard for human rights and democracy extends to every conceivable category of violation and we will be cataloguing these this year.

    "The regime suppresses political dissent by censorship, persecution, beatings, disappearances and imprisonment," he said, at the event sponsored by the Free Burma coalition.

    Craner said that the United States could not verify that more than 100 political prisoners the regime promised to release have yet been freed, and said hundreds more remained in prison in poor conditions.

    He said that Washington still harbors hope that a UN-brokered dialogue between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi will yield results.

    But he warned : "we are disappointed and frustrated by the recalcitrance of the (government)."

    "Our patience for positive change is beginning to run out and we, along with the UK and others, are considering all options, including further sanctions."

    The United States currently maintains an investment ban, travel restrictions for Burmese officials and an arms embargo on Burma among other sanctions.

    "Only our sanctions on Iraq are tougher," Craner said.

    Washington is a frequently fierce critic of Burma, and a strong supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi, who won an overwhelming election victory in 1990 which was never recognised by the ruling military.

    On Wednesday she called for dialogue with the military government to start a process of national reconciliation but questioned the junta's desire for talks.

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    Five Singaporeans are on death row in Burma

    Source : The Straits Times (Singapore)

    Five Singaporeans are languishing on death row in Burma. They were arrested at Rangoon's international airport in 1999 for trying to smuggle heroin out of the country. In all, they tried to take out nearly 11 kg.

    NANCY last saw her husband, Peck Guan Hock, 43, in April 2001, in Rangoon's Insein Jail.

    He had been there since Nov 5, 1999, when he and two others were prevented from boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur with more than 5 kg of heroin strapped to them.

    'When a person is desperate for money, he will do anything,' said Nancy (not her real name), a slim-built woman in her 30s.

    She took two of their three children to see their father in jail. Their eldest child is 14.

    Usually, prisoners and visitors communicate by telephone across a barrier. But there was a blackout, so they were allowed to meet.

    She said: 'We were lucky. He was able to hug our two daughters.'

    He wore a sarong and a shirt, and looked neat but much thinner. He gets rice porridge with vegetables, and often goes hungry.

    'He gets meat once a week, but he can buy canned food and is allowed to cook some meals inside.'

    Until recently, she used to send him $100 a month for food. But she ran out of money, so she can't visit him or pay for any more appeals.

    When he was tried in 2000, his lawyer's fees cost her several thousand dollars.

    She remains curiously loyal though she describes him as a layabout with a passion for gambling and that she struggled to raise their children on her own, holding down two jobs to pay off his bills, car summonses and mounting debts.

    Even now, loan sharks come knocking at the door of their four-room flat in Bukit Panjang demanding the more than $30,000 he owes them.

    'I was not scared. I told them to look for him in Yangon,' she said.'

    She once considered divorce, but feared he would harm the children.

    'If I divorce him, he will have no one else to support him as he is an adopted son and is not liked by his own family,' she said.

    Now that he's on death row, divorce is the last thing on her mind. She's physically and mentally tired, she said.

    'When I learnt from his father that he was in jail, I could not afford to collapse because my children will also collapse. I must remain steady.'

    She recalled what he said on her last visit: 'He told me he had done many wrong things in his life and there was nothing he could do about it now.

    'It is the same with me. It was my choice that I married him and now I stick to it as my fate.'

    Arrested along with Peck were Chua Eng Yeow, 33, and Goh Eng Joo, 30.

    Goh's mother, Madam Teo Ah Tee, 50, showed off a picture of her son, a tall, broad-shouldered former cook.

    She spoke of him as if he were just on an extended adventure: 'I last saw him about two years ago. He said he was going overseas. He is old enough and I expect him to look after himself.'

    Two other Singaporeans on death row, Soh Ban Chuan, 30, and Ng Chiong Beng, 34, were arrested on Oct 28, 1999, a week before Peck and his friends.

    Ng's sister, Donna, a 40-year-old clerk, said she sends him $100 a month and saw him last April. The family has visited him three times and they exchange messages through the Singapore Embassy in Rangoon and the Red Cross. Ms Ng said her parents doted on him because he was the youngest but he became wayward.

    'My brother said he was forced to do the job because somebody held his passport and identity card,' she said.

    'My mother was broken-hearted. She did not get to see him before she died in 2001.'

    He has asked to see their father, she said, but the father is 78 and is too frail to travel.

    'We have learned to accept his fate and hope for the best. I told him the five of them, being the only Singaporeans, should look out for one another in prison.'

    She added: 'Till today, I am scared of any Singapore official coming to see me because I am afraid he might have some bad news about my brother.'

    Burma's government is considering the fate of the five Singaporean drug traffickers currently on death row, more than two years after its Supreme Court rejected their appeals.

    All have asked for clemency, said Burma's drug enforcement chief, Colonel Hkam Awng, adding that there was no indication when the outcome would be known. In the predominantly Buddhist nation, death sentences are often commuted to life imprisonment.

    Burma, part of the notorious poppy-growing Golden Triangle, is the world's second largest producer and trafficker of heroin, according to the United States State Department.

    But Col Hkam Awng cited two recent and separate surveys, by the US State Department and the United Nations Drugs Control Programme, which show dramatic drops in opium production.

    'Both surveys show a drop within the last five years, from 2,600 tonnes in 1996 to below 900 tonnes last year,' he told The Sunday Times by telephone from Rangoon.

    Burma gets little anti-drug aid. US aid has been suspended since 1988, after the Burmese government suppressed the pro-democracy movement.

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    Burmese exiles Seeking support for their cause in India

    Source : The Hindu (India)

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Feb. 15 - For the past 12 years, Tint Swe, a doctor from Burma, has been working from a quiet corner in his tiny apartment in West New Delhi, trying to help a scattered community stick together and all the while lobbying support for the repressed people of his country.

    A Member of Parliament of the National League for Democracy, the political party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, which went on to win 82 per cent of the seats in the elections held in May 1990, Dr. Swe has never been able to go back to his homeland.

    ``I cannot go back, because I was sentenced to prison for 25 years and my clinic and my house was sealed by the military regime. Several of my friends and party workers are still in jail. I lost my mother during my exile and could not see her,'' he says.

    Dr. Swe was on a visit to the city, along with two other Burmese exiles, Nyo Htun and Phyo Phyo Kyaing, as part of a tour of south India, sponsored by Amnesty International, seeking solidarity and support for the cause of the Burmese people.

    Dr. Swe, who had been working with the socialist government in Burma for over 15 years, had to quit when the military regime ordered all those who were involved with political activities to quit. In the elections held in May 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) went on to win a landslide victory. Dr. Swe had also won a seat, from the Pale constituency.

    ``But even after three months, the junta refused to convene the People's Assembly (Parliament) and we organised a series of secret meetings to discuss the situation. But the intelligence agencies came to know about this. My house was surrounded by the military, but I managed to go underground for 15 days and then six of us crossed the Indo-Myanmar border,'' he says.

    He managed to flee but the regime targetted his family in Burma. His wife, who had been working with the women's wing of NLD, was jailed on a false charge of theft. His younger brother too was put in prison for a three-year term, for `helping his brother escape'. It was only in 1995 that Dr. Swe managed to bring his wife and four children to India.

    Meanwhile, the elected representatives of NLD managed to meet on the Thailand-Burma border on December 18, 1990 and formed a Government-in-Exile. They established offices in Washington in the U.S., in Thailand and in India. These groups have been doing the lobby work, meeting Governments, pressure groups and NGOs, soliciting support for the repressed people of Burma.

    Today, there are about 2,000 exiles, including four of NLD's MPs, in New Delhi and about 200 on the Manipur-Mizoram border, doing intelligence work. They are subsisting on the meagre aid given by UN's Refugee Commission. Dr. Swe no longer has his practice, but has been running a free medical service for refugees.

    ``In Myanmar, the situation is changing every day. Suu Kyi is officially free, but the regime is now targetting her supporters. The economic situation has worsened, there are the very rich on one side, while the ordinary people are mired in poverty and starvation.''

    ``There is so much frustration, that we fear further unrest. Our country cannot stand another uprising and chaos, which is why we are pressing for dialogue. We believe in Gandhiji's philosophies,'' says Dr. Swe.



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    Burma says rumours aggravate bank deposit runs

    Rangoon, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A senior Burmese leader has blamed "destructive elements" for spreading false rumours that aggravated public runs on deposits at the country's 20 privately owned banks, a state-run newspaper reported on Sunday.

    The Burmese-language Kyemon newspaper quoted Khin Nyunt, Secretary One of the ruling military government, as issuing a warning on Saturday that the bank deposit runs could hurt the Burma's economy if left unchecked.

    "There were rumours about the private banks due to fabrications by the destructive elements... They are doing what should not be done. It is necessary to notice that if the banks suffer losses because of these maliciously fabricated rumours, the country will also suffer losses," Khin Nyunt told a meeting of teachers.

    Runs on private banks started last week after the collapse in recent months of 16 deposit-taking companies that faced financial troubles from their business of offering clients exorbitantly high interest rates.

    The closed non-bank companies had offered depositors annual interest rates of up to 70 percent, compared with an average of 10 percent at state-run and privately owned banks.

    The runs on Burma banks continued despite an assurance of their viability by the Burma central bank last week. They forced the government to impose limits on bank deposit withdrawals last Friday.

    "Nothing to worry about the private banks. All 20 private banks are operating successfully and they all are under the systematic control of the central bank," Central Bank Governor Kyaw Kyaw Maung told a press conference last week.



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