Daily News- February 22 - 2003- Saturday
  • EU voices serious concern over political persecutions in Myanmar
  • Suu Kyi goes free after family row ends in court
  • Texchem in Myanmar joint venture
  • Burmese government says it has bailed out failing private banks


    • EU voices serious concern over political persecutions in Myanmar

    ATHENS, (AP)Greece - The European Union sharply criticized Myanmar's military government Friday for the "growing pattern of harassment" against opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

    Suu Kyi - who won the Nobel Peace prize in 1991 - was sentenced to a week in jail Friday in a connection with a family dispute but she was released after a judge suspended her sentence. Myanmar is also known as Burma.

    "The EU notes with serious concern that reports of restrictions on freedom of expression and political arrests and detentions in Burma/ Myanmar," a statement said. "Of particular concern is the growing pattern of harassment and attempted intimidation of Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burma/Myanmar authorities." The statement was issued in Greece which holds the current presidency of the EU.

    "The EU calls on the Burma/Myanmar authorities to respect their promises to release all political prisoners and to immediately hold a substantial dialogue with the National League for Democracy ... with a view to proceeding to the democratic transition of the country."

    Myanmar's junta came to power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy protests.Suu Kyi, who heads the National League for Democracy, was kept under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 after being held without trial on national security charges. A number of nations, including the European Union and the United States, have placed sanctions against Myanmar.

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    Suu Kyi goes free after family row ends in court

    By Kathy Marks
    Independent, UK

    The Burmese Nobel peace laureate and pro- democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, narrowly avoided being jailed yesterday after being convicted of an offence relating to a family dispute.

    Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest last year by the military junta, was found guilty of unlawfully keeping her cousin, Soe Aung, out of a residential compound that they shared in Rangoon, the capital. She was sentenced to a week in prison but was allowed to go home after the judge suspended the sentence.

    Her opposition National League of Democracy (NLD) party accused Burma's military rulers of exploiting the domestic dispute for political gain. The NLD chairman, Aung Shwe, said the conduct and outcome of the trial showed there had been political interference. "This judgment and the trial are politically motivated," he said.

    Relations between Suu Kyi and the regime remain strained despite the generals bowing to international pressure and granting her freedom after 19 months under house arrest. United Nations-mediated talks between the military and the opposition have stalled and hopes of reform have receded.

    The altercation that led to the court case took place shortly after Suu Kyi, the widow of an Oxford don, was released last May. Soe Aung allegedly punched her in the face during a row about alterations that he had made to the family property while she was in detention.

    She sued him for assault and refused to allow him to enter the compound. Her lawyer, Nyan Win, said she wanted to avoid further incidents and steer clear of confrontations between her cousin and her security guards, members of the NLD's youth wing. Soe Aung counter-sued, charging her with "unlawful restraint of a person".

    Suu Kyi has been embroiled for several years in a separate dispute about the property, which was given to her mother by the government after her father, the independence hero General Aung San, was assassinated in 1947. Her estranged older brother, Aung San Oo, is suing her for half-ownership of the property, where she spent her childhood and has lived since returning to Burma in 1988.

    The court in Bahan township, near Suu Kyi's home, ordered her to go to jail or pay a fine of 500 kyat, equivalent to about £50. She refused and her lawyers lodged an appeal to have the ruling revised.

    That process usually takes days but shortly afterwards the Western Yangon District Court – a higher court with authority over the township – announced that the sentence was suspended. The court said it would make a final ruling later.

    Outside court, Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1991 for her non- violent efforts to promote democracy, criticised the country's legal system. "Now we know what the law means in Myanmar [Burma]," she said.

    The NLD won a landslide victory at the latest general election in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power. Before the recent period of house arrest, Suu Kyi spent six years detained in a two-storey lakeside property in Rangoon, where she was held without trial on national security charges.

    The gulf between the opposition and the military appears to be widening, with the generals railing earlier this month against threats to the country's stability. Suu Kyi told supporters recently that Burma's society and economy, ruined by mismanagement and isolation, were suffering because the government was refusing to conduct a meaningful dialogue.

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    Texchem in Myanmar joint venture

    Star, Malaysia

    TEXCHEM Resources Bhd's (TRB) wholly-owned subsidiary Texchem Food Sdn Bhd has entered into a joint-venture agreement with Myanmar- based Mascot Industries Co Ltd to manufacture and market surimi, fishmeal, seafood sticks and aqua culture products in Myanmar.

    Texchem Food, an investment holding company, will own 4,431,600 shares or a 90% stake in A.S.K Andaman Ltd, the proposed joint- venture company, while Mascot will own the balance 482,400 shares.

    TRB's total capital and investment outlay for this joint venture will be US$4,341,600 and US$6,238,220 respectively, to be financed through internally generated funds and/or borrowings. TRB expects the proposed venture to reduce its earnings for the year ending Dec 31, 2003, by 2.4 sen per share.

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    Burmese government says it has bailed out failing private banks

    Rangoon (AP) - Breaking a silence on Burma's bank crisis, the government said it had bailed out crippled private banks after a panicked rush by depositors to withdraw their funds, official newspapers reported Saturday.

    "In reality, all banks have collateral. The government has given necessary support to the banks to help solve the problem of the people," Gen. Khin Nyunt, who ranks No. 3 in Myanmar's ruling military junta, told ministers and officials Friday.

    Khin Nyunt did not specify what kind of support the government had provided, but Central Bank sources said last week that the bank had loaned 25 billion kyat in credit to the Asia Wealth Bank, the Kanbawza Bank and the Yoma Bank. Loans to other banks will follow, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    The amount is worth about US$4 billion at the official exchange rate or US$25 million at the widely used and fluctuating black market rate.

    Khin Nyunt's speech at a Ministry of Commerce meeting was the first time government leaders have talked about the crisis since the runs began the second week of February. State-run daily newspapers and private weekly journals also remained silent.

    The collapse of about a dozen companies that had illegally sold shares to the public, offering greater returns than the interest given by banks, is generally believed to be one of the factors that sparked the panic.

    Private bank officials have told customers that the bank runs were "due to sudden and simultaneous withdrawals surpassing deposits" and gave assurances that it was a temporary problem.

    Customers who have received worn notes from the banks in recent days said they were given crisp new 1,000 kyat notes on Friday.

    On Feb. 10, Central Bank Chairman Kyaw Kyaw Maung attempted to quash rumors that several banks were heading into bankruptcy. Crowds have been gathering at banks since then, and withdrawals have risen.

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