Daily News - 01 September, 2005 - Thursday
  • ABSDF denies junta's claims of hand in bombings
  • NLD lawyers lodge appeal to Burma’s High Court for prisoners
  • Thai FM arrives in Rangoon to meet Burma's leaders
  • Meeting to discuss Burma's risk of instability
  • Myanmar to enact intellectual property protection law
  • Naga tribes demand homeland on Indo-Burma border



    • ABSDF denies junta's claims of hand in bombings

    Hindustan Times, India

    Bangkok (AFP) - A Burmese dissident group accused by the ruling military junta of involvement in deadly May bombings in the capital Rangoon denied the charges on Monday.

    The junta said Sunday that the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) was one of three political groups that would be outlawed because they intended to disrupt the country's stability. An ethnic rebel army would also be banned.

    The junta also accused the ABSDF of involvement in the May 7 bomb attacks that killed 23 people and injured 162 at two shopping malls and a convention hall in Rangoon.

    "All of the accusations are nonsense, groundless and meaningless," ABSDF chairman Than Khe told AFP by telephone from the Burma-Thailand border.

    Than Khe also denied the junta's claim that his group worked with Maung Maung, alias Pyithit Nyunt Wai. Rangoon said Maung Maung had masterminded the bombings with the help of a large foreign government.

    Previous reports incorrectly said that the junta blamed two men for the attacks, not one man using an alias.

    "We the opposition groups are never involved in terrorist action against the people," Than Khe said. "Even though we have taken up arms, we never attack people."

    Than Khe said the ban would have no effect on the group or its struggle to bring democracy to Burma.

    Only dialogue coupled with the release of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition figures would bring stability to Burma, he added.

    The junta also outlawed the US-based National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, which comprises parliamentarians elected in a 1990 ballot that was won by the National League for Democracy but never recognised by the junta.

    The US-based Federation of the Trade Union of Burma and the northeastern Shan State Army, which in May merged with the Shan State National Army to fight the military government, were also outlawed.

    Burma has been ruled by the military since 1962.

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    NLD lawyers lodge appeal to Burma’s High Court for prisoners

    Democratic Voice of Burma

    Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) legal advocates, on 31 August, lodged appeals to the High Court in Rangoon on behalf of two party members from Shwe Kyin Township, Pegu Division in central Burma.

    Shwe Kyin Township NLD chairman Bo Gyi and member Pe Tin were arrested on 12 May and sentenced to seven years in prison on 27 May by the township court. The latest appeals came after judges at district and divisional levels rejected them downright.

    Similarly, other lawyers are preparing to lodge an appeal to a Rangoon District court on behalf of private tuition teacher Aung Pe from Rangoon Twante, who was imprisoned for saluting the picture of Burma’s nation hero Gen Aung San and singing song in honour of him.

    The authorities have at long last allowed the lawyers to go ahead with appeals on behalf of Ahlon Township NLD chairman Ba Myint and four other youth members, by issuing an official legal document for their clients. Lawyers are also preparing to lodge official complaints to the High Court regarding another NLD youth Aung Hlaing Win who was killed at a detention centre during an interrogation session in early May.

    The authorities concerned 'liquidated' his remains by means of cremation and notified his death thereafter to his family members and they also attempted to shut them up with meagre bribes.

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    Thai FM arrives in Rangoon to meet Burma's leaders

    Kyodo News

    Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon arrived in Rangoon on Wednesday evening for a two-day official visit at the invitation of his Burmese counterpart Nyan Win.

    The trip is part of his "introductory tour" to fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, traditionally undertaken by new ASEAN foreign ministers and political leaders.

    Kantathi is scheduled to meet with Burma's junta leader Sr. Gen. Than Shwe on Thursday morning after holding talks with his counterpart Nyan Win, a Thai diplomat said.

    Other Burmese leaders, including Vice Sr. Gen. Maung Aye and Prime Minister Gen. Soe Win, are expected to be present at his meeting with Than Shwe.

    Kantathi is scheduled to leave Rangoon in the evening after visiting Burma's famous Shwedagon pagoda and Gems Museum.

    Thailand is Burma's largest trading partner and has invested up to $1.34 billion in 55 projects in Burma as of last November.

    Burma and Thailand are ASEAN member countries, together with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

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    Meeting to discuss Burma's risk of instability

    BBC

    A meeting to discuss preventative measures so Burma does not slide into instability will be held in September but without any representatives from the National League for Democracy.

    The meeting is part of the "Countries at Risk of Instability" analysis conducted by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and will run from September 4 to 6 at Wilton Park, Sussex.

    The FCO said this meeting is a "British initiative which focuses not on policy but on the situation in the country."

    Attendees include representatives from Department for International Development, the Burmese, Britons with interest in Burma and non-British invitees with expertise on Burma. There will be no one from ASEAN or EU.

    The NLD, which won the 1990 election, however, is unable to send any representatives even though the British ambassador in Burma met and invited party leaders on Monday.

    U Myint Thein, a member of NLD's Information Committee, was present at the meeting. He says besides not being informed of the Wilton Park meeting earlier, it is "practically not possible" for NLD leaders to attend.

    "Of course, we, as a leading party calling for democracy in Burma, should be involved in matters concerning Burma."

    "At the moment, we have difficulty even travelling within the country, let alone to London."

    Those who are attending "will be encouraged to make their inputs as individuals, not because who they represent," says FCO.

    Although it is not known what exactly will be discussed because the meeting is unscripted, it is believed issues such as the long-term impact of HIV/Aids in Burma could be on the agenda.

    This could include the unbearable burden on families caring for HIV patients, losing key skilled workers to HIV and increase in orphans and street children.

    Burma is one of the first countries chosen by the FCO to apply the "Countries at Risk of Instability" analysis, which was completed earlier this year by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit.

    The analysis identified numerous factors that could destabilise Burma including the country's economic decline, low GDP, the impending HIV/Aids crisis, Burma's bad regional neighbours and its dependence on the fast-depleting natural resources.

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    Myanmar to enact intellectual property protection law

    People's Daily, China

    Myanmar is finalizing a draft intellectual property protection (IPP) law for promulgation by next January to provide legal basis for artists in their undertakings, legal sources said on Thursday.

    The law, drafted under guidelines of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), would cover intellectual property rights in terms of literature, arts, trade mark, mechanical design and invention, it said.

    Artists of respective fields including literature, music, drama and film industry have expressed welcome over the move, saying that the law would help provide protection for art creators.

    Myanmar's drafting of the law began in 2004 and the country is the last among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to promulgate such law, the sources added.

    The move constitutes part of the implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement reached in January 2000.

    Myanmar became a member of the WTO and WIPO in 1995 and 2000 respectively and was set to complete drafting of the IPP law by the end of 2005 along with other least developing countries.

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    Naga tribes demand homeland on Indo-Burma border

    KOHIMA, India (Reuters) - A fierce Christian hill tribe took to the streets in Nagaland on Wednesday to raise a new demand for a homeland sliced out of areas dominated by them in India and neighbouring Burma.

    Thousands of tribesmen, many wearing traditional headgear made of bamboo sticks and feathers, and women with handwoven shawls around their waists marched through Kohima, the capital of Nagaland, carrying spears and placards.

    At a public rally, Naga leaders reiterated their demand for an expansion of Nagaland to include Naga-dominated parts of neighbouring Indian states in the remote northeast, and made a new call for the inclusion of parts of northern Burma as well.

    "No artificial boundaries can separate us, let the world know the Nagas are one and want to live like a family," said Wangyuh Konyak, the sole member of parliament from Nagaland at the rally in Kohima, a small town perched on a ridge and surrounded by cloud-covered mountains.

    Two million Nagas live in Nagaland, another million in neighbouring states and roughly the same number across the border in the forested hills of Burma.

    Separatist Naga rebels have been fighting Indian and Burmese government forces for independence for five decades, after British colonial rulers left the sub-continent in 1947.

    The conflict has left more than 20,000 dead, mostly on the Indian side, until the most powerful Naga rebel group signed a ceasefire with the Indian government in 1997.

    Since then the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah), has been campaigning for the unification of Naga-dominated territory into a single "Nagalim" or Nagaland.

    It is a demand fiercely opposed by other ethnic groups in the northeast and by New Delhi.

    The NSCN (IM) and their allies stepped up their campaign in June and July by blockading roads leading to the neighbouring state of Manipur for more than 50 days.

    Tensions with the Meitei people of Manipur have risen since Nagas began pushing for an expansion of their territory.

    Observers say the issue has complicated the search for peace in India's northeast, home to scores of separatist rebel groups.

    Culturally and ethnically different from the rest of the country, Nagas were headhunters, divided into 32 constantly warring tribes, until the arrival of British colonial troops and American Baptist missionaries in the 19th century.

    Since then, united by common traditions and by the Christian faith, they have forged a strong sense of nationhood.

    "All Nagas want to live together as one people in a unified Naga homeland, and that integration of all Naga areas must be the foundation of any political settlement," Naga tribal and political leaders said in a declaration in Kohima on Wednesday.

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