Daily News-July 04 - 2001- Wednesday

  • Burma allows 70 Thai boats to fish in territorial waters
  • North Korea, Burma reportedly strengthen military cooperation
  • Burmese students among four women killed in fire
  • Thai PTT/Gas Payment : Gas Price Negotiations Ongoing
  • Thai PTT/Gas Payment : Premier Oil Gets $19.3M
  • 20 Burmese, 3 Thai nationals chargesheeted
  • Rangoon asks for a delay to Chavalit visit
  • UN seeks Thai action against stubborn Burmese camp refugees
  • Crackdown on Burmese Continues in Mae Sot
  • Dengue Fever Epidemic Hits Burma

    • Burma allows 70 Thai boats to fish in territorial waters

    BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jul 3, 2001

    Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 2 July

    DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] has learned that Burmese authorities have permitted Thai fishing boats to fish in Burmese territorial waters. The fishing concessions granted to the Thai fishing companies were revoked since the Vigorous Burmese Students Warriors seized the Bangkok SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] embassy in October 1999. DVB correspondent Myint Maung Maung filed the following report allowing 70 Thai fishing boats to fish in Burmese territorial waters.

    [Myint Maung Maung] DVB contacted a Burmese seaman in Ranong about the Thai fishing boats allowed to fish again in Burmese waters.

    [Unidentified seaman] Well, in Ranong, all the fishing boats are being repainted, maintenance carried out, and new equipment fitted. They are also recruiting seamen and deck hands. The news has made the Burmese workers here very happy because now they will have employment. Most people believe and expect the industry to grow.

    [Myint Maung Maung] According to fishing entrepreneurs in Ranong, the fishing boats approved for fishing will have to go for inspection to Mergui first before being able to come to Ranong. Presently, the Burmese authorities are asking for more dollar rates than before.
    North Korea, Burma reportedly strengthen military cooperation

    BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jul 3, 2001

    Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

    Seoul, 3 July: North Korea and Myanmar are strengthening bilateral military cooperation through exchange visits by foreign affairs and defence officials. A South Korean government official said Tuesday [3 July] that a high-level North Korean delegation visited Myanmar's capital of Yangon [Rangoon] 20-22 June.

    The Pyongyang delegation, led by Pak Kil-yon, a vice foreign minister, met Myanmar's deputy defence minister, Khin Maung Win, and discussed cooperation in the defence industry.

    In November last year, a delegation of the Yangon government made a secret visit to the North and had talks with high-ranking officials of North Korea's Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, the government source said.

    Another Seoul government official said that North Korea and Myanmar appear to be seeking conventional arms sales and technology transfers rather than high-tech weapons sales.

    According to reports by Jane's Defence Weekly, a Britain-based defence magazine, North Korea sold Myanmar about 20 howitzers with a range of 27 km in 1998.

    Meanwhile, officials said that in the two rounds of talks, Pyongyang and Yangon did not discuss the reopening of ties severed after North Korea's 1983 terrorist bombing of a South Korean delegation in Myanmar, which at that time was known as Burma.
    Burmese students among four women killed in fire

    China Post; Jul 3, 2001

    Hsinchu police said two of the four women killed in yesterday's predawn fire at a rental house on the city's Chunghua Road were international students from Burma. Local fire department received the call for help at around 4:20 a.m. and immediately dispatched 11 fire trucks along with some 100 volunteer firemen to arrive on the scene to put out the house fire.

    However, as rescuers got to the site, they soon discovered that the street where the burning building was located was too narrow for the reach of some fire engines. Pressed for time, firemen were forced to rely on less efficient fire-fighting devices to extinguish the fire.

    And when rescuers finally managed to keep the blaze under control, they then discovered four badly burned bodies, all female, on the second and third floors of the house. Upon investigation, authorities learned that the two Burmese students killed in the fire were students at Minghsin Institute of Technology in the area.

    Other than the two international students, one of the other two women perished in the predawn blaze was the wife of Hsu Chung-chen, the man who leased the rental house from its owner. Authorities said aside from Hsu's wife, the three women found dead in the tragic incident were all tenants who subleased rooms in the house from Hsu, said investigators.

    Meanwhile, upon an initial survey of the scene, fire fighters said the blaze first broke out on the three-story house's first floor, where Hsu and his late wife used to run a vegetarian restaurant. Investigators also pointed out that the reason the occupants died was because all exits that could have been used as fire escapes were all installed with anti-theft iron bars.
    Thai PTT/Gas Payment : Gas Price Negotiations Ongoing

    SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--The Petroleum Authority of Thailand last week paid over US$300 million in overdue payments owed to producers of natural gas from Myanmar, a senior PTT official said Monday.

    PTT had withheld the money, pending negotiations with producers of gas from the Yadana and Yetagun fields, in Myanmar's Andaman Sea. PTT sought "flexibility" in gas pricing, after the slipping value of the Thai baht (US$1=THB4.33) and higher global crude and products prices raised the effective price of the gas."In principle, we have reached an agreement, but we need to work on the details," Panu Suttsirat, PTT Gas vice president for supply, said Monday.

    The missed payment stems from gas PTT was obligated to buy, when it didn't yet have the infrastructure in place to receive the volumes specified in the contract. Gas from Myanmar began flowing in early 2000, but didn't reach full volume until early this year after a connection from the Myanmar pipe to Thailand's eastern gas grid was completed.

    PTT had met payments for gas it actually received, withholding only the payments for contracted volume it didn't offtake, PTT officials said earlier.
    Thai PTT/Gas Payment : Premier Oil Gets $19.3M

    PTT will continue to take gas from the Yetagun and Yadana fields at 115% of the contracted amount, for up to 12 years, to make up for missed volume, Panu said. The gas contract allows 15% flexibility.

    Panu declined to comment on any resolution to PTT's request to restructure the gas pricing, saying only that the parties "have agreed in principal to be flexible temporarily on price."

    The Myanmar gas is pegged to Singapore fuel oil prices, which rose together with crude to peak in the second half of 2000. At the same time, the Thai baht has lost value, falling about 7% since the beginning of the year.

    The Yadana field is operated by TotalfinaElf SA (TOT), with 31.24%. Its partners are Unocal Corp. (UCL), with 28.26%, PTT Exploration & Production PCL (H.PTT), with 25.5%, and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, with 15%.

    The Yetagun field is operated by Premier Oil PLC (PMOIY), with 26.67%. Premier's partners in Yetagun are Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (P.PET), or Petronas, with 30%, MOGE with 15%, and PTTEP and Nippon-Mitsubishi Oil Corp. (J.NPO), each with 14.17%.

    Premier Oil received US$19.3 million for its share of the outstanding payment, the company said in a release to the London Stock Exchange Monday.
    20 Burmese, 3 Thai nationals chargesheeted

    UNB, Bagerhat
    The Daily Star

    Mongla thana police on Sunday chargesheeted 20 Myanmar nationals and three Thais who were arrested from the Bay for intruding into Bangladesh territory.

    Bangladesh Navy arrested 23 foreigners along with a trawler, firearms and ammunition on December 18 last. They were later handed over to police and a case was filed against them with Mongla police. After investigation, police submitted the chargesheet to the local magistrate court.
    Rangoon asks for a delay to Chavalit visit

    Source : Bangkok Post

    Burmese military leaders, citing their tight work schedule, have asked Thai Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to put off his July 28-29 visit to Burma until August, a source in the Supreme Command said.

    The change of plan will cut short Gen Chavalit's trip to neighbouring countries.

    Since he was not going to Rangoon, he would be back in Thailand after his July 27-28 visit to Phnom Penh for a military meeting, the source said.
    UN seeks Thai action against stubborn Burmese camp refugees

    Source : Bangkok Post

    Thailand has been asked by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to take action against 400 illegal Burmese immigrants remaining at Maneeloy holding centre in Ratchaburi.

    Yesterday, a UNHCR representative met National Security Council secretary-general Kachadpai Burusapatana to discuss the UNHCR-monitored repatriation of Burmese students at Maneeloy centre.

    Mr Kachadpai said Maneeloy centre is expected to be closed down by the end of this year since the UNHCR had sent 1,786 Burmese students from there to third countries and would repatriate 400 more in a few months.

    The UNHCR wants Thai authorities to seek legal action against some 400 Burmese residing at the centre who will not be included in the repatriation programme.

    Mr Kachadpai said these Burmese will be sorted out and treated differently depending on whether they are students, illegal immigrants or other groups.
    Crackdown on Burmese Continues in Mae Sot

    Source : Irrawaddy Magazine

    July 4, 2001--Again last week, hundreds of police officers in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot stepped up efforts to crackdown on Burmese nationals illegally living and working in Thailand.

    Police reportedly cordoned off several factories where low-paid Burmese migrants are known to be working. The workers were allegedly arrested and detained at local police stations before being deported back to the Burmese border town of Myawaddy.

    The crackdown comes just one week after Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made his highly publicized first visit to Burma. This recent wave of arrests is seen by some analysts as an attempt by the Thai government to quell the ongoing rift between the two countries.

    The arrests in Mae Sot have purportedly slowed this week after Thai authorities arrested and deported approximately 500 to 700 Burmese workers a day last week, according to sources in Mae Sot.

    Independent NGOs based in Mae Sot, estimate that there are roughly 60,000 Burmese nationals living and working in the Mae Sot area.

    There have been recent complaints in the media by Thai officials about the rising crime rate in the Kingdom and many authorities have attempted to link the crime rate to the large number of Burmese illegally living and working in Thailand.

    However, it seems the Thai officials have little clue as to how to tackle the immigration problem. Some officials have even proposed replacing the Burmese workers with Laotians and Cambodians.

    Moe Swe, a spokesperson for the Burma Labor Solidarity Organization (BLSO) working in exile in Mae Sot, said that arresting Burmese workers does not solve the immigration problem in anyway.

    He said that the arrests create a variety of problems for the workers. Some find themselves incarcerated for months at a time in overcrowded cells where arbitrary beatings and the extortion of money are commonplace. On the other hand some Burmese workers are able to return to Thailand the same day they are deported via the Thai/Burma Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot.

    Thai and foreign businessmen who have opened factories in Mae Sot welcome the Burmese workers as they demand roughly half the wage of a Thai worker and rarely complain for fear of deportation.

    A Thai businessman who has run a hotel and restaurant in Mae Sot for 20 years recently told the Irrawaddy that he to welcomes Burmese workers because they will work for a low wage and they do not complain. He went on to say that hiring Thai workers is expensive when they demand 120 baht per day compared to a typical Burmese who will work for 35 to 50 baht per day.

    Last year, the Thai government issued only 2,000 one-year work permits for Burmese workers in Mae Sot. The BLSO has suggested that since Thailand obviously needs the labor from Burma they should regulate the laws and issue enough work permits to satisfy the demand in Mae Sot.

    Although the media in Thailand often paints a negative picture of Burmese immigrants, NGO and human rights workers said that Burmese workers living in Mae Sot have a profound effect on the local economy.

    Moe Swe told the Irrawaddy, "Each worker spends roughly 500 baht per month to buy food and basic items for themselves and their families. That equates to about 30 million baht each month that goes back into the Thai economy."
    Dengue Fever Epidemic Hits Burma

    Source : Irrawaddy Magazine

    A dengue fever epidemic has been spiraling out of control in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State, Burma. During the months of April and May the epidemic reportedly killed over one hundred people including forty-one adults and eighty-eight children. The total death toll is thought to be much higher, as many cases have gone unreported, according to a source in Moulmein.

    The source said that within this short period over a thousand patients, including 620 children, have been admitted to Moulmein Hospital. There is currently no end in sight as the deadly virus continues to spread unabated throughout the area.

    The main cause of the outbreak and its continued spread can be linked to Burma’s ongoing shortage of clean drinking water. Residents of Moulmein receive sanitary drinking water for just four hours a week. Less than half of the population of Burma has access to regular supplies of safe drinking water.

    The shortage means that citizens are forced to store drinking water in bowls and tanks throughout the week, and the storage containers in turn become prime breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which spread dengue and other diseases. Although the state health department has warned people that this presents a health risk, the authorities have yet to offer a solution to the drinking water shortage.

    Burma’s ruling military regime allocates just 1.7 percent of the country’s GDP to the health sector, leaving most hospitals without adequate supplies of proper medicines and medical equipment. Medical schools in Burma have also not been producing nearly enough doctors for the growing population. In 1997 roughly 650 doctors were trained in Burma, and only one-third of them sought work at government hospitals.

    Last June the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked Burma second from last in its annual World Health Report, which ranks the healthcare systems of nations around the world, placing it just above war-torn Sierra Leone. The Burmese Ministry of Health angrily denounced the WHO’s findings. "That Myanmar’s health performance is assessed to be worse than that of failed states is totally biased," read an official press release.