Burma Update

SCMP-Wednesday, October 22, 2003
NELSON RAND

Earth-shattering thunder over the jungle canopy made it difficult to distinguish the storm from incoming mortar rounds as 80 ethnic Karen rebels were trying to fend off about 400 attacking Myanmese soldiers last Tuesday. Pounding the Karen lines with artillery, machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles, junta soldiers aimed to take the high ground on the mountain where the rebels were dug in with fewer men and less powerful weapons - but with the distinct advantage of firing down on the Myanmese ascending the heavily mined mountainside.

After a fierce battle that lasted about 30 minutes and brought the closest attackers within 100 metres of rebel positions, the junta soldiers ceased fire and retreated - leaving four of their soldiers dead according to radio transmissions intercepted by rebels later that day.

The defenders of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) held off the initial assault without taking casualties, though they were wet, cold and tired - and without eliminating the threat of the 400 Myanmese soldiers still within striking distance of their jungle trenches. Two days later, the Karen guerillas tactically retreated into the surrounding jungle and the soldiers took over their 7th brigade headquarters at Ta Kaw Bee Tah in Myanmar's Myawaddy township.

Last week's fighting was the latest in a decades-long war between Yangon and the Karen, who are fighting for an independent homeland in eastern Myanmar - one of the longest unresolved conflicts in the world waged by one of the largest ethnic groups in Southeast Asia without an independent state.

Numbering about seven million, the Karen inhabit the mountainous jungles that straddle the border of eastern Myanmar and western Thailand. When Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, received independence from Britain in 1948, the Karen demanded an independent state of their own - as promised to them by the British during the second world war, when Karen fighters sided with them during the campaign for Burma.

In 1949, the Karen took up arms for their independence drive and have been fighting ever since.

The capture of the KNLA's 7th brigade headquarters was the main objective of a junta offensive that began on August 5, according to KNLA Colonel Saw Ner Dah Mya. But he says the capture was not a setback as his men had just tactically retreated and will "continue to harass the Burmese with guerilla fighting".

"Our objective is to hurt them as much as possible," the colonel says. The KNLA has seven brigades, totalling about 5,000 fighters.

Two days before Tuesday's battle, 11 Myanmar army porters reached KNLA positions after escaping and walking through the mine-infested jungle for four days. They were all taken from jails in Myanmar and forced to carry ammunition and supplies for the army.

One of the escapees, 46-year-old Zaw Win, says he was forced to carry 2,000 rounds of ammunition weighing about 25kg for more than one month. He was taken from a prison in Pegu Division where he was jailed for involvement in an underground lottery. He says about 1,000 forced porters - mainly prisoners - are being used for this offensive, which includes 10 battalions of government troops, according to Colonel Ner Dah.

"All the porters are afraid," Win says. "They want to run away but they are afraid of landmines and they don't know the way."

The 11 escaped porters add that at times they were used as "human minesweepers" - walking in front of the soldiers in places suspected of being mined - a practice that has been reported in the past by various human-rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Win says when the porters were walking with Myanmese soldiers they had to keep pace or they were punished. "You cannot rest. If you do they will kick you or hit you with a stick," he says.

The escapees are all underweight and say they were only fed once a day for more than a month and then nothing during their four-day ordeal to rebel lines - where they said they were being treated well. Many of them, such as 26-year-old Thang Saw, have badly cut shoulders from rope burn caused by carrying supplies on their backs in bamboo baskets. Saw was also taken from a prison in Pegu Division where he was jailed for knife-fighting. Asked what he thinks about the soldiers for whom he was forced to porter, he replies: "They are very, very cruel."

Win says the porters were told by their captors that if they escaped and managed to reach KNLA positions, the rebels would kill them. But he says it wasn't the rebels he was afraid of, so he took his chances and fled his unit on the morning of October 8 with another porter, 45-year-old Aung Min. Their captors were wrong. "I'm just afraid of the SPDC," Win says, referring to the acronym of the State Peace and Development Council, the official name of Myanmar's ruling junta.

With 11 fewer porters and an unknown number of soldiers dead and wounded (the government does not release casualty figures and the junta has remained silent on the latest fighting), the Myanmar Army has accomplished its objective of capturing the KNLA's 7th brigade headquarters. But with 80 Karen guerillas looming in the nearby jungle and reinforcements being sent to the area, keeping it may prove difficult

SCMP-Wednesday, October 22, 2003
SIMON MONTLAKE

Thailand says it has won support from the mainland to hold talks this year among "like-minded" nations on reconciliation with Myanmar.

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met his Thai counterpart, Surakiart Sathirathai, on the sidelines of the Apec forum yesterday and expressed support for the idea.

Thailand and China have hailed Myanmar's recent "road map" to peace, which critics say is designed to keep the ruling military in power, as a viable alternative to western pressure for reform and democratic change.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said the meeting would include countries with a history of engagement with Myanmar, including representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

He said the Myanmese government had yet to be invited to the talks, which should begin "before the end of the year".

"The objective of the meeting is to allow the Myanmar government to explain its road map and work towards engaging the international community in the process," the Thai spokesman said.

"For things to progress further, it's essential the international community . . . has a real understanding of the situation in Myanmar."

China is a key economic and political ally of Myanmar and, along with other Asian neighbours, has resisted western pressure to punish the repressive regime.

Thailand argues that stiff US sanctions on Myanmar, imposed after the recent crackdown on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, are not the best way forward.

Although US officials raised the issue of Myanmar and the plight of Ms Suu Kyi during bilateral talks with Thailand, Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation delegates said Myanmar was not discussed at the summit that ended yesterday.

US President George W. Bush - a staunch supporter of Ms Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest - had been expected to badger Asian leaders to do more to push Myanmar's generals for her release.

"We did not discuss Myanmar at all," Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said.

Myanmar's junta, which often crosses swords with the US, seemed to have anticipated a lashing and released a statement before the summit ended.

Ms Suu Kyi is under house arrest in Yangon after a violent attack on a convoy of her supporters in May.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

By Cem Ozturk

As the world continues to glare at Burma's ruling junta for its ongoing oppression of the country's popular democracy movement, it is hardly by coincidence that tensions between Buddhists and Muslims, in the past instigated by Yangon in times of political crisis, are on the rise again.

Some in Burma point the finger at alleged new "terrorists" among the Muslim minority. Do these allegations represent a heightened Islamist presence in Burma, or is this just the inner grumblings of a regime hoping to use the "war on terror" for desperately needed international support?

With red robes, a freshly shaven head and a look of serene indifference across his face, the seated monk was a near perfect emulation of the gold image of Buddha placed against the far wall. His words, however, were far from tranquil.

"We have a problem in Burma; we have a problem here in Mandalay. The problem is called Islam. There are many new Muslims in Mandalay from Pakistan [and Bangladesh]. These people are thieves and terrorists. They do not respect our religion and our women. We are Buddhist, and we are peaceful, but we must protect ourselves."

The scene was a Buddhist seminary adjacent to Shwe In Bin Monastery in Mandalay - Burma's second largest city. In this deeply Buddhist nation, the monkhood is second only to the government in public influence. The abbot, a charismatic Burman named Win Rathu, is a highly respected leader among the Mandalay clergy whose tough talk has earned him the Hollywood-esque nickname "The Fighting Monk". He is widely accepted as the leader of a growing anti-Muslim movement.

Several weeks prior to his conversation with Asia Times Online (September 14), he gave a speech on the matter which attracted a voluntary audience of nearly 3,000 monks - a substantial number by all accounts, and one that reflects the seriousness with which the perceived Muslim threat is being taken by the monkhood.

This perceived threat is nothing less than the largest religious minority in Burma. Numbering approximately 2 million people, Burma's Muslims comprise at least 4 percent of the overwhelmingly Theravada Buddhist state - a percentage as large as neighboring Thailand's. The percentage is very likely to be even higher as the ruling junta in Yangon refuses to recognize a large number of Muslims as citizens, and furthermore, all official statistics from the Burmese government are known to be far from reliable at best, and completely fabricated to fit the government's needs at worst.

There are at least four ethnically distinct Muslim communities in Burma, all of which are Sunni. The ethnically Chinese Hui, with roots in Yunnan, dominate much of the cross-border trade in Mandalay and the north. Indian and Pakistani Muslims, who arrived with British colonial rule, are still found all over the country, most evident in Yangon and Mandalay. The ethnically Burman Muslims were converted in the same wave of Indian and Arab traders and scholars that influenced Thailand and Malaysia between the 9th and 14th centuries, and live throughout the central plains. The largest, also the poorest, Muslim ethnic group in Burma today is that of the Rohingyas. This struggling community shares both a border and a common cultural heritage with Bangladesh's Bengali Muslims, and live primarily in Burma's northwestern Rakhine state.

"These Pakistanis - they are the worst ones," says Win Rathu. "They are making it bad for everyone in Burma. The real reason America put the sanctions on us because they wanted to punish al-Qaeda, which is here - and now we are all paying. Buddhists are starving because of their connections to al-Qaeda."

While Win Rathu might be the first to claim that the US's sanctions on Burma are aimed at terrorists rather than the ruling junta, he is not the first person to claim that terrorists have mingled with Burma's Muslims. International attention was drawn to the Rohingya Muslim community when its links to Islamist groups were discovered. Anti-terror officials around the world took note, and so did the ruling junta in Yangon.

The government in Burma has never recognized the Rohingyas as a native population. It sent hundreds of thousands of them fleeing into Bangladesh in 1978 during a cleansing campaign ominously named Naga Min (Dragon King). Similar pogroms erupted again in the early 1990s, resulting in similarly massive migrations of refugees.

Most of the Rohingyas have since repatriated to Burma. However, over 100,000 remain inside Bangladesh. Some enjoy the relative protection of United Nations refugee camps, but all live in dire situations as refugees in a state than can scarcely manage to support its own people.

From the desperate conditions of these camps have sprung several generations of small resistance groups which have operated a low-level insurgency along the northwestern border for some decades. Most of these groups have sought equal religious and economic standing in Burma, and a few have demanded the creation of a separate Muslim state along the border. All of these groups have been completely ineffective against Burma's large military - battle hardened by 50 years of counter-insurgency warfare.

The Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) is one of these groups, and the subject of much of the world's attention on Burma's Muslims. Founded in the early 1980s, the RSO has aped movements such as the Taliban and the Kashmir-based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. After a failed merger with another Rohingya insurgent group to form the moderate Arakan Rohingya National Organization, the RSO split into several factions, all claiming the name RSO.

As the South Asia Intelligence Review reports, at least one of the RSO's factions is known to have enjoyed financial and technical support from a variety of pan-Islamist organizations throughout South and Southeast Asia, including the Bangladeshi/Pakistani Jamaat-e-Islami, Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami, and most importantly, Bangladesh's Harakat-ul-Jihad-ul-Islami (HuJI) - all of whom are unquestionably linked with al-Qaeda.

Videotapes of Bangladeshi/Rohingya mujahideen training camps acquired by the media and US intelligence during the October 2001 campaign in Afghanistan also support this link, as does the fact that Rohingyas were among some of the Taliban fighters captured by the Northern Alliance and coalition forces. According to Islamist network expert Subir Bhaumik, Rohingya volunteers have been sent to international flashpoints as far away as Kashmir and Chechnya. Further establishing the links is the fact that Osama bin Laden himself has openly referred to the persecution of Muslims in Burma, as well as his supporters there, in at least one speech.

Back in Win Rathu's office, the tranquil smiling continued as he switched on a digital video camera, a Compaq PC, and an air conditioner - all incredible luxuries for anyone in this desperately poor country, and especially unusual material possessions for an avowed ascetic monk.

"There have been problems before, but the problems have really grown in the last several years with the Pakistani Muslims," said Wi Rathu. "They want Burma to be Muslim - but Burma is Buddhist. They want the rest of Asia to be Muslim and live by Muslims rules - but we are Buddhist."

Win Rathu's fears call to mind the stated goals of some of the pan-Islamist jihadi groups such as Jemaah Islamiya, which wish to see an Islamic super-state encompassing territory from Bangladesh to Indonesia. It is not difficult to see why this idea might be cause for alarm. His other fears, however, call to mind nothing but the kind of superstitions that give rise to religious violence in the first place.

"The Muslims are responsible for nearly all of the crime in Burma: opium, theft, many rapes. They want to deface images of the Buddha like they did in Afghanistan. Now they mock us with these longyis [a common traditional garment]". As he said this, three young monks presented framed pictures of the longyis - on which they claimed patterns of Buddhist symbols were placed next to symbols which supposedly represented female genitalia. The longyis, they asserted, were worn and sold by Muslims, and were imported from Malaysia - a Muslim country.

It was this kind of tension which led to nationwide sectarian riots in 2001. Violence broke out between the two faiths in the towns of Taungoo, Prome, Sittwe, Pegu and Mandalay, as large mobs often led by what appeared to be Buddhist monks attacked Muslim businesses, homes and mosques. The violence resulted in at least nine deaths and considerable destruction of property.

As Human Rights Watch reported in its 2001 report, "Crackdown on Burmese Muslims", monks, working with the support of the government, have distributed anti-Muslim pamphlets such as the 2001 tract "Myo Pyauk Hmar Soe Kyauk Hla Tai (The Fear of Losing One's Race). Distribution of the pamphlets was also facilitated by the Union of Solidarity and Development Association (USDA). The USDA is the civilian support wing of the military regime, and the same group that recently ambushed and abducted democratic opposition leader Aung San Su Kyi.

While the idea of monks actually leading rioters may seem unusual, certain details make it less so. Burma's large and much feared military intelligence service, the Directorate of Defense Security Intelligence is commonly believed to have agents working within the monkhood. The monks have always been courageous supporters of the democracy movement. It would seem that monitoring dissident monks is not their only function.

Human Rights Watch also reported that monks in the 2001 riots were carrying mobile phones, a luxury not readily available to the Burma population - as very few without government connections can afford them. It is also reported that there was a clear split between monks who provoked violence and those who did not. It has been suggested by Human Rights Watch and others that these facts may reflect the presence of agents provocateur among the monks. That suggestion may not be far off.

"Win Rathu works for the government," said one monk to Asia Times Online on strict condition of anonymity. "What he says is not Buddhist. What he does is not Buddhist. Very many monks do not support these views." Indeed, by his own admission, Wi Ra Thu's speech was not licensed or supported by his seniors among the clergy. One doubts as well that it is the clergy which finances his princely lifestyle.

In the past, the military regime has launched major campaigns against one or another internal minority during times of major political crises. The logic is clear - without internal crisis as an excuse for government crackdowns, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)has no justification for its heavy-handed rule. Indeed, the SPDC has often been accused of inciting such sectarian violence for its own political ends. In February 15, 2000 testimony before the United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus Stephen Dun, a Christian member of the Karen ethnic minority, related how the 1994 split between the Buddhist and Christian factions of Karen rebels in the south was caused by agitators. The sectarian schism resulted in the fall of the rebels' most important stronghold, Manerplaw, to SPDC forces - a nearly mortal blow to the Karen rebellion.

The 1991 scapegoating and subsequent exodus of 250,000 Rohingyas into Bangladesh occurred at a time of major political crisis - the ruling military regime had just been overwhelmingly defeated by the National League for Democracy (NLD). Refusing to recognize the NLD's victory, the regime was condemned domestically and internationally.

As the government faces economic sanctions and renewed international condemnation for its imprisonment and treatment of Aunt San Su Kyi from the West, one should expect the same diversionary tactics from the regime. The recent military campaign against Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) rebels in south confirms this.

The Muslim minority is another easy target. However, unlike the KNLA, operations against Rohingyas have the added political value of being framed as part of the international "war on terror". If tension continues to escalate, setting off violence like it did in 2001 - the same kind of desperate conditions that gave hold to Islamist groups in the first place will be exacerbated. A further radicalized Muslim minority directly adjacent to a major terrorist target like Thailand, in a region already struggling to cope with terrorism, could indeed constitute a heightened Islamist threat.

If violence does once again break out, it will be agitators like Win Rathu at the lead. And this religious violence threatens to divert the world's attention from the real issue in Burma - the continuing deprivation of its people's prosperity by an unpopular military dictatorship.

[source: Asia Times]

SCMP-Saturday, October 11, 2003

PETER KAMMERER

The hope shared by western governments and human rights groups that Southeast Asian countries would be able to force democratic change in Myanmar has died. This week's summit of the region's leaders in Bali revealed the reality - that the Asian way of non-interference prevails.

Myanmar's Prime Minister Khin Nyunt won plaudits from the Association of South East Asian Nations for promising to convene a constitutional convention and embark on a previously touted "road map" to democracy. There was no sign of the criticism made by Asean foreign ministers in Cambodia in July, nor was mention made in official statements of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi or her National League for Democracy political party.

That the clock had been turned back since Ms Suu Kyi's re-arrest on May 30 and return to house detention on September 26 escaped their attention. Instead, the leaders spoke of progress.

The summit's chairperson, Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri, spoke of "recent positive developments" and Myanmar's "pragmatic approach" which "deserves understanding and support". Malaysia's outgoing Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, in contrast to a statement in July warning Myanmar that it faced expulsion from Asean, said he had "no regrets" about bringing the nation into the grouping in 1997. He urged western governments not to use sanctions.

General Khin Nyunt did not outline a timetable or indicate whether Ms Suu Kyi and her party would be allowed to participate. His vagueness on details suggested that the regime remained reluctant to give up power and was buying time.

Yet there is ample proof that the State Peace and Development Council, as the junta calls itself, is willing to make changes. Its problem is that each time a window has been opened to Ms Suu Kyi, the tide that will sweep it aside has been glimpsed and the view has been firmly closed off again.

Such was the case in 1990, when elections were held and the National League for Democracy won 80 per cent of the seats in parliament. That victory was quickly snatched away and Ms Suu Kyi has spent half the time since under house arrest.

Her decision in May to visit supporters outside Yangon was tolerated, but the overwhelming approval she received became too much to bear. On May 30, in the Kachin state town of Ye U, violence erupted between her supporters and the junta-sponsored United Solidarity Development Association, leaving dozens dead and putting the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and scores of her supporters back in detention.

Amid the passing by the United States Congress of toughened diplomatic and economic sanctions and the threat of similar action from the European Union, Asean broke its policy of not criticising a fellow member. General Khin Nyunt replaced Than Shwe on August 25. Five days later, he announced the seven-stage road map for democracy.

Singapore-based Myanmese political scientist Kyaw Yin Hliang believed the regime would make further changes, if the right approach was adopted by the international community. "When you talk to them in a friendly manner, they often try to respond positively," he said. "If they are pushed, they will not do much."

The road map may not mean much to western countries, but to Asean it represented a big change.

"The military has talked about a road map before and didn't do anything, but this time they will try to do something," Dr Kyaw said. He admitted that such a process could take years. The junta would move when it felt the time was right.

The United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, knows the feeling well. He has made little progress - some critics argue none - in the 11 trips he has made to Yangon in the past three years. On his return to Malaysia on October 2, he was at least able to report he had met Ms Suu Kyi and that she was in good health after undergoing major surgery.

The key to change in Myanmar is its closest ally, China - but eliciting democracy in its southern neighbour and threatening the strategic gains made from the relationship are not in its interests.

Sanctions mean little to a regime used to isolation. Such pressure will infuriate, not cajole.

Asean's approach may seem timid, but the grouping has its own deadline - Myanmar taking the chairmanship in 2006.

Continued persuasion and encouragement is a better approach to ensure that a democratic nation, rather than a military regime, leads the organisation.

Peter Kammerer (peter.kammerer@scmp.com) is the Post's Foreign Editor.

SCMP-Thursday, October 9, 2003
ASSOCIATED PRESS and REUTERS in Bangkok

Excessive logging in Myanmar by its military junta, insurgent groups and Chinese companies has cleared vast swathes of virgin forests in an ecological destruction of unimaginable scale, according to an international watchdog.

Money earned from the exploitation of the resource - in one of the most thickly forested countries in the world - is financing the war between the government and ethnic rebels, according to the London-based Global Witness.

"Revenue derived by the regime and insurgents alike . . . has perpetuated violent armed conflict throughout Burma," the watchdog's Jon Buckrell said.

Last year, logging represented about 9 per cent of legal foreign exchange earnings of the junta, which has been in power since 1962, a report entitled "A Conflict of Interests: The uncertain future of Burma's forests", says.

But Mr Buckrell said the real trade was at least double that.

"Burma is resource rich but surrounded by resource-hungry nations and the regime has used this fully to its advantage," he said.

Official data shows timber exports ranged from 700,000 to 800,000 cubic metres in recent years, but the report says the real numbers are probably much higher due to "informal" logging it blames on corruption and mismanagement.

"Unrecorded exports in excess of one million cubic metres, worth US$250 million, strongly suggest that the regime has lost control of its forest sector," Mr Buckrell said.

Myanmar is home to 60 per cent of the world's natural reserves of teak and its high quality is prized by furniture makers, despite calls for bans and boycotts.

"We're not saying don't import Burmese timber under any circumstances, but if logging is not sustainable and is supporting conflict then it's not a good thing to do," Mr Buckrell said.

Myanmar officials were not immediately available for comment.

The watchdog's report says logging activity increased after Myanmar's junta signed ceasefire agreements with various ethnic guerilla groups in 1989 and gave them logging concessions.

At the same time, the military is also heavily involved in logging, as are guerilla groups that remain hostile to the regime, it says.

The biggest beneficiaries are the Chinese who do the work for concession holders, charging exorbitant amounts because of the difficult nature of the job.

"Logging has led to environmental destruction, particularly in Kachin state, where Chinese logging companies have clear-cut vast swathes of virgin forests," the report says.

The Chinese are making roads and employing tens of thousands of Chinese labourers to extract timber and transport it across the border to furniture factories in China. China banned logging in its own country in 1988, the report says.

The report says China needs Myanmar's natural resources to fuel development on the border and in Yunnan province.

According to Chinese import data, China imported more than 1 million cubic metres of timber from Myanmar last year and this figure is likely to exceed 1.4 million cubic metres this year.

"There is a lot of hypocrisy going on there. They are simply exporting their environmental burden to Burma," Global Witness researcher Simon Phillips said.

SCMP-Thursday, October 9, 2003
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Japan urged Southeast Asian leaders to press Myanmar to move towards democracy, while the Philippine foreign minister said the leaders had not been tough enough with the army-ruled state.

"Japan wants to see democracy restored in Myanmar and Asean has a role to play in this aspect," an Asean official quoted Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as telling the group's leaders. Japan has suspended new aid to Myanmar over its crackdown on the opposition.

Myanmar won praise rather than censure at Asean's Bali summit even though fellow members had urged the regime to free democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi before the summit.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said Asean had not been tough enough on Myanmar and its slow progress towards political reform.

What Asean members had so far said at the summit was "not strong enough", Mr Ople said. "They should have acknowledged the problem in the formal statement, but they did not."

Regional rights activists were also critical.

"Asean has willingly swallowed another crop of lies served up by the Burmese military regime," one group said.

Max de Mesa, of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, said the road map was a rehash of previous excuses for delaying genuine political and economic reforms."

SCMP-Monday, October 6, 2003
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Bali

Military-ruled Myanmar won support for its "positive steps" towards democracy when Southeast Asian foreign ministers met yesterday to prepare for a regional summit.

The support came despite indications the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was toughening calls for greater democratic reform in Myanmar.

It also came despite the country's refusal to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest before the Asean summit in Bali tomorrow and Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Singapore called for Myanmar to lift all restrictions on Ms Suu Kyi, while on Saturday the Philippines also flagged a hard line, urging the junta to release her immediately and accusing it of not being serious about political reform.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said the foreign ministers' recommendation "will be towards a strong declaration about the situation in Myanmar".

But, in the end, the ministers appeared to give their most embarrassing member an easy ride.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said after the meeting that Myanmar's Foreign Minister, Win Aung, outlined what he called efforts at reconciliation and democracy. "We are encouraged by the positive steps and we wish to see more positive steps taken by Myanmar within the context of their own road map [towards democratisation]," Mr Wirayuda said.

Asked to confirm that none of the ministers had expressed discontent that Ms Suu Kyi was not freed before the summit, he said: "That is more or less the situation."

Mr Wirayuda said ministers "collectively" expressed their wish to see Myanmar continue to take positive steps.

Mr Wirayuda said that, according to Mr Win Aung, Ms Suu Kyi was "not in the status of detention".

Mr Win Aung said on Saturday that Ms Suu Kyi would "eventually" be freed.

"We do not call it house arrest or anything like that. She is now at home recuperating," he said.

The pro-democracy leader was detained at an undisclosed location after a bloody clash between her supporters and pro-junta demonstrators on May 30.

She was admitted to hospital on September 17 for surgery and transferred from there to house arrest on September 26.

It is her third period of house arrest since the late 1980s.

Myanmar has portrayed the transfer, from detention at an undisclosed location to house arrest, as a positive development.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar indicated before the meeting that Yangon may not come under strong pressure in Bali.

"I don't think it will help in the process of reconciliation or democratisation or the total release of Aung San Suu Kyi for us to tell Myanmar what to do," he said.

"Malaysia's position is very clear. We do not want the reconciliation process to be derailed but we have also stated that there cannot be an open-ended situation, not knowing when Aung San Suu Kyi will be totally released."

He expected the summit's closing statement to touch on the issue.

Indonesia wants the summit to focus not on Myanmar but on its proposal for an Asean security community to handle security matters and disputes in a regional framework rather than bilaterally or through international forums.

The security proposal is part of a document known as Bali Concord II, which will tighten security and economic bonds among the 10 nations. It envisages an Asean economic community to work toward a single market of 530 million people by 2020.

Mr Wirayuda, in his opening remarks, spoke of Asean's resolve "to achieve a community of Southeast Asian nations which embraces all principles of outward-looking, peaceful, stable, prosperous and caring societies".

Asean is also holding talks with dialogue partners Japan, China and South Korea and with India.

Malaysiakini-2:12pm Sat Oct 4th, 2003
Larry Jagan

UN envoy Razali Ismail's latest mission to Burma has ended in apparent failure, leaving him emptyhanded in efforts to revive the dialogue between Burma's military rulers and the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi - not to mention secure her release from house arrest.

Throughout out his two-day visit to Burma, Razali was tight-lipped. "I met all the key people I came to see and as the UN representative had useful discussions with them," was all he would say as he left the country Thursday.

The lack of apparent progress means that Burma is likely to take centre stage at the Southeast Asian leaders' summit in Bali next week. The member countries of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) were hoping to see some kind of sign that Rangoon is planning to introduce significant political and economic change.

Greater pressure

Without any concessions from Burma's military rulers from Razali's visit, there will be even greater pressure on Prime Minister Khin Nyunt to give his Southeast Asian counterparts concrete details and a timeframe for the changes he has in mind as part of a road map to democracy for Burma.

Khin Nyunt is reported to have appealed to Razali to give him more time to be able to prepare for political change. "We need some time," said Burma's Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win.

"The government has announced its seven-stage road map and is working on already - it is the blueprint for the country."

''Our position has always been that the process (of democratisation) must be homegrown,'' he said, adding that Rangoon had all intentions with cooperating with the United Nations.
Still, "there is no doubt that Mr Razali has gone away empty-handed," said a diplomat in Rangoon. "His reticence to comment on the outcome of his mission clearly reflects that."

During his trip Razali did see the country's top three generals - Senior Gen Than Shwe, Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt and the army chief, Gen Maung Aye.

He had intended to see Aung San Suu Kyi a second time before leaving, but decided against it because there appeared to be no message from the generals to convey to her.

But according to Razali, the opposition leader said she was prepared to work with the new prime minister and his road map to democracy - though there would be conditions to that participation.

NLD conditions

Among these conditions is that all the other leaders of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), would have to be freed.

They have been under house arrest for more than four months now ever since the violent attack on Suu Kyi's car and supporters by armed pro-government protestors in the north of the country on May 30, which left several people dead.

Other conditions include the reopening of the NLD's office and party workers being allowed to resume their normal political activities without being harassed or arrested by the authorities.

Suu Kyi has also demanded the release of all political prisoners, with the 30-odd activists detained in the wake of the Depayin incident in May freed immediately.

She is also demanding justice for the victims of the attack and a thorough investigation into what happened, and who was involved.

But diplomats believe that while the opposition leader is adamant that the incident cannot be brushed aside or forgotten, she is prepared not to allow it to stand in the way of serious political talks - if they are in fact in the offing.

Diplomats interviewed here said that the lack of movement on the dialogue with Suu Kyi seems to indicate that Rangoon's military leaders have not quite agreed on how to handle the issue.

However, Khin Nyunt has indicated that he intends to reconvene the National Convention, which was established more than 10 years ago to draw up a new constitution.

But it has not met since 1996 after the NLD walked out, accusing the military authorities of not allowing a free debate or discussion and simply using it to rubberstamp decisions already made by the generals.

Still, the convening committee has been reformed and new members appointed, largely because several older members have retired or passed away. Apart from those who are there because of their legal training or position, many of the new members are from military intelligence and
believed to share Khin Nyunt's vision of change.

"The ethnic minorities have been contacted and told to prepare for the convention's opening," said a ethnic leader in Rangoon who declined to be identified. "Some of them have even been told to have new suits made," he said.

National Convention

Razali discussed the issue of the structure and composition of the National Convention with Khin Nyunt during his visit. "I made some suggestions and observations," he said after his meeting with Khin Nyunt, but declined to elaborate.

"The UN envoy suggested that the prime minister consider reforming the Convention on the basis of forty percent being for the political parties on the basis of the 1990 election results, thirty percent the ethnic minorities - split equally between those who have signed ceasefire agreements and the others, with the remaining thirty percent being military or government representatives," said a senior diplomat in Rangoon.

But neither Khin Nyunt nor his boss Gen Than Shwe seem to have reacted to Razali's suggestions.
"The government still needs to decide who will be attending the National Convention," said the Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Win. "But we are preparing for its opening - the technical and logistics considerations are being dealt with," he said. "Accommodation has been booked and the
transport arrangements - trains and buses have been booked.''

The crucial issue for the region and the international community is whether Burma's generals - especially Khin Nyunt and Than Shwe - are prepared to give Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD a central role in the reconvened National Convention and the national reconciliation process.

The NLD has consistently said it would not return to the Convention unless it is radically reformed and restructured.

"It was the NLD who walked out of the National Convention, so it is up to them to return," said Maung Win. - IPS

SCMP-Saturday, October 4, 2003

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Washington
US sanctions imposed on Myanmar, to press for democracy and the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, are inflicting economic hardship and mass job loss, a US official has said.

Reports from international groups in Myanmar say young women driven out of the hard-hit garment sector are being forced into prostitution, Matthew Daley, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, testified before subcommittees of the House International Relations Committee.

Economic sanctions signed into law by President George W. Bush last July include a ban on the import to the US of all Myanmar products, a freeze on certain of its assets and a ban on the export of financial services to Myanmar.

But Mr Daley said the sanctions were proving to be a double-edged sword. "These measures immediately disrupted the economy in Burma," he said, using Myanmar's former name.

"The garment sector was hardest hit and the junta has been unable or unwilling to assist affected businesses or their employees," he said.

"The measures now in place send a clear signal to the junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners and move down the path to democracy.

"Unfortunately, the sanctions also affect ordinary Burmese. Some international NGOs [non-governmental organisations] have expressed concern that the destruction of already troubled export industries, especially the garment sector, will lead to significant unemployment and a spike in economic migrants seeking illegal work inside Burma or over the border in Thailand or China."

Within the first month of sanctions, said Mr Daley, "we estimate that more than 40,000 garment-sector jobs were lost. In the long term, the garment sector will likely lose 100,000 jobs, most of which are filled by young women."

Credible NGO reports indicated that some of the young women forced into unemployment "have entered the flourishing illegal sex and entertainment industries".

"Such effects are unfortunate, but Burma's greatest misfortune is the junta's misrule and the suffering of all the Burmese people, every day, under this military dictatorship," Mr Daley said.

Ms Suu Kyi told visiting UN envoy Razali Ismail she was willing to work with the junta on a new national reconciliation process, diplomats said on Thursday. But in meetings with the ruling generals, Mr Razali said he was given no indication of when she or other members of her National League for Democracy would be freed from house arrest.

SCMP-Friday, October 3, 2003

ASSOCIATED PRESS in Yangon
Updated at 10.31am:
A UN envoy sent to Myanmar to promote free elections ended his mission without securing the release of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but plans to return later this year.

Razali Ismail, who departed Myanmar on Thursday, said its military rulers did not indicate whether Ms Suu Kyi will be included in their so-called "road map" to democracy, a diplomat who attended a private briefing by Mr Razali said on condition of anonymity.

Mr Razali said he had extensive talks with Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, but received no specific answers about the release of political prisoners or the role of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party in a possible democratic transition.

He also met with Ms Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest and is recuperating from gynaecological surgery, for about 90 minutes Wednesday and said the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner was well.

Mr Razali said Ms Suu Kyi talked about resuming political work by the beginning of next month, diplomats said. She said she could support Khin Nyunt as prime minister and could work with his recently unveiled seven-step government "road map" to new elections. She said she wanted members of her party freed from detention and party offices allowed to reopen, he said.

Ms Suu Kyi, 58, was detained following a bloody May 30 clash between her supporters and a pro-government mob. The junta, which says she was detained for her own safety and to avoid unrest, has been unresponsive to widespread international calls for her release.

However, the government last week allowed Ms Suu Kyi to return to her lakeside house while she recovers from surgery.

Ms Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 14 years under house arrest. The latest stint was between late 2000 and May 2002.

Mr Razali, who helped initiate a dialogue between the junta and Ms Suu Kyi nearly three years ago, was tightlipped to the media about his mission, saying on arrival in Thailand only that he would return to Myanmar before the end of the year.

The former Malaysian diplomat was dispatched on Tuesday by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has urged Myanmar to restore democracy by 2006, when it is set to lead the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Khin Nyunt, Myanmar's third-ranking general, unveiled his "road map" to democracy after being appointed prime minister in August. It outlined a path to national elections and a new government but provided no details or timeline.

SCMP-Thursday, October 2, 2003

ASSOCIATED PRESS in Yangon
The United Nations' special envoy held back-to-back meetings with Myanmar's prime minister and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday. They came less than a day after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the country's military rulers to restore democracy by 2006.

Razali Ismail, a former Malaysian diplomat, went directly to Ms Suu Kyi's lakeside home - where she is under house arrest - after a one-hour meeting with Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt.

Details of Mr Razali's meetings were not made public, but the aim of his mission is to secure Ms Suu Kyi's freedom and revive the country's political reconciliation process.

The ruling junta has been under intense international pressure to free Ms Suu Kyi since she was detained while making a political tour of northern Myanmar in May.

In a report to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Mr Annan urged the UN and the international community to work together to bring democracy to Myanmar by 2006, when the country is due to take over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Mr Annan said in his report to the general assembly that there had been "no substantive progress towards national reconciliation and democratisation in Myanmar", but "there is still a small window of opportunity at the present moment to save the process".

He urged the military rulers to immediately release Ms Suu Kyi and her colleagues and quickly initiate a "substantive dialogue" with them.

The secretary-general also met Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung to personally deliver his message that Ms Suu Kyi should be freed, that the government should start a dialogue with her National League for Democracy and other ethnic groups and that the transition to democracy should be completed within three years, a UN official said.

Khin Nyunt will attend next week's Asean summit in Bali, where Ms Suu Kyi's detention is expected to be on the agenda, Singapore's Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

"All restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi should be lifted so that the national reconciliation process can move forward," the ministry said.

Hkun Tun Oo, chairman of the ethnic Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, who met Mr Razali yesterday said the envoy planned to discuss with Ms Suu Kyi the role of her National League for Democracy in a junta-proposed road map to democracy.

He said Mr Razali, who also met leaders from five other ethnic political parties, "told us to bury the hatchet and grab the opportunity" to work together to implement the road map.

The military regime's proposed road map to national elections and a new government is, however, short on specifics and does not include a time frame.

SCMP - Monday, September 29, 2003

REUTERS in Yangon
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has challenged the Myanmese junta's isolation of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ms Megawati, whose country chairs the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), said: "The Myanmar government should state specifically whether it will keep Suu Kyi under house arrest or free her immediately."

With Asean leaders due to meet next week in Bali, The Jakarta Post quoted her as saying: "The road map over whether it [the junta] will free Suu Kyi should be made clear."

Ms Suu Kyi is recuperating from major surgery under house arrest but the military junta is maintaining her four-month isolation from friends and supporters.

Friends, neighbours and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) said they knew of no visitors to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's lakeside home in Yangon since she left hospital on Friday night.

Myanmar's generals, who have ruled the country since 1962 and are now promising a renewed push towards democracy, gave no hint of when she might be free to meet whom she wants.

They have said only that she would continue to rest at home and the junta would ensure she received good medical care. Ms Suu Kyi's doctor said no one would be allowed to visit her without the generals' permission.

One person almost certain to be allowed to see Ms Suu Kyi is UN envoy Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat due in Yangon tomorrow on his 11th visit in an effort to revive reconciliation talks between the NLD and the military.

There was no word on who else might be allowed to see Ms Suu Kyi, despite her doctor saying that she was recovering well from what the junta called a gynaecological operation.

On Saturday, United States and European diplomats were turned away from her lakeside house, which the military put under tight security.

"She is recovering from her illness and not in a position to receive anyone at the moment," a security official said.

Some members of Asean greeted Ms Suu Kyi's return home as a step in the right direction after she was held at a secret location for more than three months before going to hospital.

Ms Megawati, however, appeared less than satisfied.

The members of Asean, which sent two senior envoys to Myanmar last week to try to persuade top general Than Shwe to free Ms Suu Kyi, have long shunned comments on each other's internal politics.

But Ms Megawati's relatively blunt comments appeared to indicate that events in Yangon could overshadow the two-day summit that starts on October 7.

Ms Suu Kyi's return home has prompted renewed calls from the United States, which has tightened sanctions on Myanmar since she was detained on May 30, for her immediate freedom.