KAO WAO NEWS No. 57

An electronic newsletter for social justice and freedom in Burma

November 15-December 1, 2003

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READER’S FRONT

MON URGED TO JOIN National Convention

FARMERS REFUSE TO SIGN OVER LAND

YOUNG WOMEN PROP UP THE REGIME

FARMERS’ PROFITS UNDERMINED AGAIN

ABSDF GAINS SUPPORT FROM FORMER MEMBERS

MON NATIONAL DAY COMMITTEE FORMED

BURMESE APARTHEID AND MULTINATIONALS

MILITARY RULES MON STATE

EFFECT OF SANCTIONS AGAINST RANGOON WEIGHED

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READERS' FRONT

Dear Readers,

We invite comments and suggestions on improvements to Kao-Wao newsletter. With your help, we hope that Kao-Wao News will continue to grow to serve better the needs of those seeking social justice in Burma and Thailand. And we hope that it will become an important forum for discussion and debate and help readers to keep abreast of issues and news. Above all, we hope the newsletter will be used as a vehicle for those who want to share their views and experiences.  We reserve the right to edit and reject articles without prior notification. You can use a pseudonym but we encourage you to include your full name and address.

Regards,

Editor

kaowao@hotmail.com, kaowao@shaw.ca

www.kaowao.org

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Dear Editor,

Are we expecting the U.S to help us for a regime change in Burma?  (President Bush Betrays Democracy and the Burmese People: Kanbawza Win)  Do you believe that President Bush or the U.S will help bring democracy in Burma?  Our citizens and movement inside will solve the problem of Burma.  When the movement has a tradition of waiting hands from the outsiders, the longer the military government will retain power.  We should learn the lessons of the U.S invasion in Iraq.  While Saddam Hussein has been toppled by the coalition troops, the country is still facing war against each other, having one more enemy to fight, the Americans.

Bo Bo (Malaysia)

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Hi Kao Wao,

Happy 2nd Anniversary! You have done a great job of getting out Mon news and debate on Burma. I hope to read more.

Hammer

(OR, USA)

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Dear Editors,

I am very pleased to read the article of Mon Renaissance.  

Mahn Kyaw Swe

Canada.

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Dear Kao Wao,

Congratulations on your 2nd anniversary.  Thank you for updating me about Burma issues from time to time.  You have done a fabulous job! Keep on working.

Jenice Lee

(Australia)

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MON URGED TO JOIN National Convention

(Kao Wao: November 27, 2003)

The ruling military junta has urged New Mon State Party to attend its new national convention.

According to sources, the cease-fire party is facing a tough decision whether to attend the State sponsored national convention.  If the NMSP is not taking the chance, the regime will bring other Mon groups who surrendered to the Burmese Army and those who have been fired from the Party for corruption after the cease-fire deal.

A senior leader said the NMSP has no interest in attending unless other cease-fire groups and ethnic forces are allowed freely to express their opinions.  However, the Party will debate its role at the Central Committee's emergency meeting which will start on December 2, 2003 at the Headquarters in Southern Mon State.

Since General Khin Nyunt of the State Peace and Development Council was appointed Prime Minister in Burma and laid down a Road Map plan, cease-fire groups were informed to name their delegates to join in.

In exile, a Mon MP Nai Thaung Shein says that the Mon should join only after certain conditions are met by the regime:  the release of imprisoned Mon National Democratic leaders and other political prisoners; and to allow all ethnic forces including non cease-fire groups to debate freely in the convention

The Mon National Democratic Front played a major role among the Mon population and won five seats in the 1990 General Election.  However the MNDF was dissolved and its leaders were arrested while Nai Thaung Shein fled to Thailand.

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Life in Mon State

FARMERS REFUSE TO SIGN OVER LAND

(IMNA: November 26, 2003)

Farmers in southern Mon State are refusing to sign over their land into the hands of the military regime.

Although the Burmese Army promises local farmers compensation for confiscated rubber and fruit trees, the army pays only Kyat 4,000.00 (4 US Dollar) per acre of land.

Last month, before the UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur went to Burma, local battalions called a meeting with the landowners who lost their land to discuss compensation, saying they would pay only according to the numbers of trees.   

The source reported the BA would pay 250 Kyat per one tree, but now have changed their decision declaring they would pay only Kyat 4,000 per acre of land.   

One acre of land normally has about 500 rubber trees and landowners would get about Kyat 125,000 (125 US Dollar), now will get only Kyat 4,000 (4 US Dollar).

The LIB No. 588 confiscated lands from 28 farmers to build residential lines for army families.  

3 farmers have consistently refused to sign the agreement while others are forced to sign that they are voluntarily offering their lands.  Some landowners are forced by the army to sign promising that they are offering their lands permanently to the army without future consideration.   

Land confiscation in the southern part of Burma is a relentless undertaking and has increased substantially under the regime’s ‘self-reliance’ policy that encourages the BA to find own income.  Farmers and their families already suffering from years of hardship have no rights and are forced from their land to feed a territorial army; already poor they face a future of starvation and impoverishment.   

About 8,000 acres of land in the Mon areas have been confiscated during 1998 to 2002 period.   

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News Report

YOUNG WOMEN PROP UP THE REGIME

(By Banya Hongsar/ KaoWao)

November 16, 2003, Bangkok -- The capital city of Burma has turned into a sex haven offering a quick fix to not only ordinary customers but also strangers visiting the capital.  In various locations throughout Rangoon, from street corners to popular clubs and hotels, young vulnerable girls are seen standing out among the general population, reported a journalist from the Burmese language New Era Journal recently.

Under the title of “Economic Sanction, Clothing Factory and Prostitution” a detailed article written by Warazein covered in depth the life of street sex workers in Rangoon who are exploited by ‘Sex Bosses’, a term in Burmese referred to as ‘pha-gaung’.

According to Warazein, almost all female sex workers do not use condoms because they wish to avoid legal hassles in court, the secret police force watch out for people buying condoms to exploit the vulnerable. There is a higher-class of sex workers who are set up in city apartments with a telephone; their bosses arrange the meeting over the phone with rich customers including senior members of the military who can afford it, the report said.

There are three categories of sex workers in the city: The first works out on the street; the second in the nightclubs; and the last group in private apartments. Currently, the most popular nightclub is JJ Club at Mingalazay in Kyauk Myaung. During special events, thousands of sex workers are seen hanging around the clubs, the report added.

Local police officers sometimes threaten the girls for arrest confesses one worker, complaining they must pay not only cash but provide sex as well in La Tha area. Some have formed their own working group and occupy a location at the central main streets of Pan-soe-tan, Sulay, the City Hall, Anow-ra-tha and the corners of major cinema theatres.

Those who ply their trade in the nightclubs are protected by the Military Intelligence Officers and their business partners including the so called “peace groups or cease-fire groups” in the city.  Well-known nightclubs including Theinkyizay D and Asia Plaza are the regular hotspots for family members of military officials, the report said.

The report affirmed that female sex workers were involved in the sex industry well before economic sanctions were imposed on Burma by the west. It concluded that the significant increase of young women working the streets is the result of the mismanagement of the current authority on the domestic economy, not the result of the closing down of clothing factories.

According to Warazein, after major hotels suffered a loss in business from the decline of visits from foreign guests and customers, many decided to turn to opening private nightclubs selling sex as a quick fix to their economic problems. It’s a condition in which women are always used when times get tough, now so commonplace, sex workers don’t have to produce their ID card to rent a room, “just go on ahead” the manager says, casual as going in for a cup of tea, a meeting that will destroy society as it is doing in many countries in Africa and around the world.  

The State Peace and Development Council, the current ruling military regime implemented “Four Social Objectives” as a core agenda.  Its first social objective boldly states, “Pride highly the spirit and moral principles of the nationality.” Absurdly, the real picture is that hundreds of thousands of young girls, many of whom are from ethnic groups have turned themselves into hookers for survival to prop up the regime from economic ruin.

Female sex workers in Burma are found in the major urban centers such as Rangoon and other areas along trade routes and international borders. A shocking finding is that 52% of all female sex workers in Burma are HIV positive, reported the Burma Center Netherlands in October 2002, a growing crisis hardly reported in the international media regarding AIDS.

HIV prevalence among commercial sex workers tested in Rangoon and Mandalay has increased from approximately 4% in 1992 to 26% in 1997.  HIV prevalence among women, visiting antenatal care clinics remained about 2% in 1998-1999 and 2000, the report of Burma Center Netherlands indicated recently.

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FARMERS’ PROFITS UNDERMINED AGAIN

(IMNA: November 20, 2003)

Even though the State Peace and Development Council do not have a deliberate policy to buy rice, farmers are ordered to sell their rice at a low price.

Recently, the local authorities forced the traders who buy the paddy from farmers to form a Traders Association from township to the village levels.  

According to sources, the Association also has to enforce the old regulation of buying paddy and the farmers have to sell the set amount of paddy depending upon how many acres of lands they farm.   

Farmers thought the regime has reneged to implement the new plan to benefit them, but instead will confiscate paddy as it has done in the past.

The source reported the Myanmar Agriculture Products Trading (MAPT) avoids buying paddy from farmers as previous years and use Traders Association.

 The Traders Associations were formed at the instruction of the MAPT and the authorities trained them how to collect paddy from the farmers.  The authorities order the Associations how many tons to impose, farmers are restricted in transporting and husking of their crops, they are also required to meet a set quota.

The Association pays about Kyat 170,000 (US 170) for 100 baskets of paddy (about 4,600 lbs) and the authorities only allow traders from the Association to buy paddy from farmers in Mon State.   

The normal price of paddy in the market is about Kyat 300,000 for 100 baskets.  Members of the Associations have full rights to buy crops from farmers and they have to pay a Kyat 10, 000 for membership fee to the authorities.

In southern Ye Township, where the regime is unable to administer the area due to ambush attack by the guerrillas, military battalion forces farmers to give 4 baskets of paddy as a tax.

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ABSDF GAINS SUPPORT FROM FORMER MEMBERS

(Kao Wao: November 17, 2003)

The Burmese community in Fort Wayne, Indiana, hosted a meeting to support their student army, which fights against the military regime in Burma.

According to a source from a former member, over 100 ABSDF members joined a meeting on November 16 to welcome Chairman Ko Than Khe and, as a result, it founded a support group.  The former ABSDF members handed the funds they have collected to the current Chairman.

Ko Than Khe said that Burma is a multi-ethnic country and ABSDF, as a multi-ethnic organization, accepts the different culture and history of ethnic people and supports their movement.

The former first Chairman Htun Aung Gyaw delivered a speech and urged the former freedom fighters not to forget the struggle for democracy and their comrades who are still fighting in the jungle.

According to Gyaw, the past ABSDF have more members but the leaders lacked unity while the present central committee who has fifteen years of experience is more united.

The ABSDF (All Burma Students Democratic Front), known as a Burma’s student army, was founded when thousands students fled to the jungle in 1988 uprising after the bloody coup by the military regime in Burma.

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MON NATIONAL DAY COMMITTEE FORMED

(Kao Wao: November 30, 2003)

The Mon community in Calgary, Canada formed a working committee for the upcoming 57th Anniversary of Mon National Day to be held in February 2004.

According to the event organizer Chit (Simon), the Mon National Day will reach out across to all Mon communities around the world that will generate a great outpouring of hope and motivation for the Mons living in every corner of the world.

Two meetings were held on November 5 and 16 to prepare for the upcoming 57th Mon National Day in Calgary.

The gatherings formed a Main Committee and Sub Committees for Reception and Decoration, Cultural Performance, Food and Beverage and, Service and Inspection.  Among those elected were, Ms. Ong Mon Chan as Chairperson, Nai Sao Meh Neh as Vice-Chairman, Nai Simon (Chit) as Secretary General, and Nai Khaing Weang, Nai Cham Toik and Nai Chan Tha as Patrons.

The worldwide Mon communities from around Europe, North America, Australian and Asia normally issue a joint statement on the national day.  Back home in Burma, various Mon communities celebrate the event with military parade, sports, literacy competition, cultural performances including dance and music, and political statements.

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JUNTA TROOPS RUN GAMBLING OUTFITS

(IMNA: November 19, 2003)

Government troops in Mudon and Thanphyuzayat townships run gambling outfits during drama shows in the villages.

In cooperation with the local authorities, senior officers of the Burma Army troops hire San Metta, Chit Yazar and Nan Thapye drama groups to perform in local Mon villages.  Even though the drama groups are unpopular in the Mon community, the military officials force local people to go the shows while the Army runs a gambling business to collect illegal tax, says a local source.

While the Mon villagers have no desire to watch the show in Burmese, Burman entertainers are forced to perform their singing in Mon native songs with very little pronunciation, a local source added.

The military officials charged one Nee-Doung (typical gambling game) for Kyat 25,000, one An-Galone table was charged for Kyat 5,000 and Card Player is charged for Kyat 1,000 per night.

The senior officials of the government troops have conducted over 30 shows in Mon villages and plan other shows in southern Ye township.

The drama shows are performed in public gathering grounds where villagers do not have to pay any admission fee while the troops charge to gambling business owners.

The local Police Force in Thanphyuzayat also runs similar gambling (cock fighting) events in the town to collect illegal cash from gamblers in the community.

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Feature

BURMESE APARTHEID AND MULTINATIONALS

(By Banya Hongsar)

November 15, 2003, Bangkok—Local villagers were asleep in southern Moulmein, capital city of Mon State when a gas pipeline exploded close by their village forcing them to flee to the nearby mountains. The impoverishment of Mon farmers and other ethnic groups is like that of the previous South African apartheid system in which multinationals ignored the suffering of millions of people.

Development projects, under the direction of the Rangoon military officials, places local people at risk, especially farmers, who receive nothing from the Kanbauk-Myaaingkalay Gas Construction project between Mon and Karen States, while gas flows to a cement factory, money is funneled to corrupt businessmen and opportunistic investors.

Over the last seven years, farmers are forced to hand over their historical farmlands without compensation to the State. Human Rights Foundation of Monland released its exclusive report on "No Land to Farm" condemning the officials of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the current ruling Rangoon regime, which has confiscated over 7,000 acres of farmland in southern Burma. Over three hundred farmers will face constant hardship, which not only threatens their immediate survival, but their natural resources vital for the future of the Mon community who have managed their natural resources for countless generations. With no option for survival, many flee to the Thai-Burma southern borders for sanctuary at one of the Refugee’s camps.

Independent Mon News Agency reported on October 17 that a part of Kanbauk-Myaingkalay gas pipeline, which transports gas from Yatana on-shore gas station to a new cement factory in Myaingkalay village in Karen State, exploded near Kwan-hlar Village of Mudon Township in Mon State, Union of Burma.

The Ministry of Construction manages the construction of the gas pipeline project while Southeast Command base in Moulmein is placed for security.  Nai Toe Nah, a local Businessman in the village said, No (5) Military Intelligence officials based in Mudon are not convinced of a claim that "no actors were involved" in the explosion despite the local Burmese military guards reporting to the head office.

During 2003, four gas explosions occurred in Mon State including the latest, but locals receive no relevant information regarding either the construction of the project or of the security threat it poses. The Rangoon regime claims the project is for the "development" of the region managed by the government. In fact, the 150-mile gas pipeline serves only the military’s interests rather than the good of the public and the surrounding community.

There is no clear information whether TotalFinaElf and Unocal were involved in Kunbauk-Myainkalay Gas project, but the two investors are major shareholders of the Yatana Gas production to Thailand from Burma.

According to a report of the Collaborative for Development Action (CDA) in January 2003, three CDA members, including Mary Anderson, traveled to Myanmar (Burma) from October 18 to 30, 2002 to examine the impact of the Yadana construction’s operations on surrounding communities and, more generally, the impact of corporate operations on the situation in Myanmar.

Since 2002, human rights workers based in Mon State reported that further human rights violations at the gas construction site continue to be exercised by government troops and security guards. No action is ever taken to bring justice to the victims who are beaten, killed, or tortured or compensation given to the farmers who lose their land.

Local people including anti-government armed forces based on southern Thai-Burma border know nothing about the gas line production in the earlier 1990s. Consequently, the Mon National Liberation Army, armed wing of New Mon State Party was forced to agree to a cease-fire deal to Rangoon regime in 1995 as an attribution of Yatana Gas production project in southern Burma.

However, TotalFinaElf proudly announced in its recent statement to the Burmese people that today, 23 villages, and the local population of 34,000 people benefit directly from the program, which was implemented in late 1995. Doctors, agriculturists, communication officers and veterinarians employed by the project live full-time in the villages. The program often extolled by the regime as a model for development, most recently stated by General Khin Nyunt, which encompasses medical and health care, educational initiatives, support for business initiatives, and the construction of infrastructure, such as bridges, roads and drinking water supply and sports fields.

A recently released report of "No Land to Farm" said, since the military came to power, the regime has adopted a policy that every military command be involved in local business activities to raise funds for the welfare of their battalions. In practicing that policy, the southeast command ordered its Infantry Battalions to raise funds for their budgets, which in turn props up the regime.

The people who are the prime owners and caretakers of the natural resources are excluded from business dealings between foreign investors and the Rangoon regime. Multinationals in Burma while hiding their actions in the dense jungle have claimed no link to the military, the destruction of Burmese farming communities will continue if they have little or no say on issues that affect their daily life and socio-economic well-being in Mon State.

Mon National Relief and Development Committee based on Thai-Burma border has no official communication access to foreign investors in Mon State despite the organization have served the public’s interests in southern Burma for years. The MNDC works in close cooperation with New Mon State Party, a Mon national political party.

Shareholders of the gas production including TotalFinaElf and Unocal have blatantly ignored the impact of Burmese domestic politics while over 300,000 illegal Burmese migrant have fled to Thailand for employment.

Committee for National Development on Border Areas led by the State Peace and Development Council meanwhile fails to use transparency or to acknowledge the impact of the domestic political crisis, which only boasts the positions of members of cease-fire groups and local high ranking Burmese officials.

The AFP reported in August of this year, that the US Oil Giant Unocal must stand trial in California for alleged complicity in human rights abuses by Burma’s military junta, including forced labour, rape and torture. Such action will not take place in Burma to protect the rights of local people or of their right to use natural resources for their survival.

In 2002, there are over thirty non-government organizations in Burma who work on health, education and environmental issues but have no access to rural areas, the so-called "black areas" in the country.

For the Rangoon junta development programs in rural and border areas means the use of forced labor, illegal cash collection, forced relocation, extrajudicial killing and portering. The majority of rural people in southern Burma live without electricity, education, gas stoves, a clean water supply, and telecommunication lines to other parts of the country while foreign investors bring home million of dollars amid claims of acting on behalf of the poor of Burma and demonstrating their goodwill to unskilled Burmese politicians on the wonders they have brought to the local population. Cut off from the outside world, the local community has little knowledge in comparing the benefits of investors with other alternatives.

Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), a government business body serving the military, operates the Kanbauk-Myaingkalay gas production. According to a source from the Mon political community, the cease-fire leaders are unaware of the impact of the environmental outcome which could be destroying their natural resources and who lack interest or understanding for further community debate despite explosions going off in all directions.

Development projects in a country such as Burma with ongoing political instability are a risky business venture. The Mon Women Organization capable of mobilizing the community in Mon State has little access to foreign donors or aid for further cooperation in development and capacity building training because the organization is considered an unofficial association by the ruling military government. This is the major challenge facing the people of Burma, where doors continue to be closed off to the right people who are the true leaders of the community while foreign investors who don’t speak the language continue to ignore the plight of the rural communities whilst claiming to contribute to the welfare of the people.    

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Political View:

MILITARY RULES MON STATE

(By Mehm Pandit, November 21, 2003)

The Thai-Burma border and Moulmein, the capital of Mon State, form a hub of political and commercial interests to many local people including Indian and Chinese descendents. Located on the banks of the Salween River, Moulmein is a seaport to national and regional waters but in a political context, the Mon people do not rule their own State but the Burman military does since its creation in 1974.  

Under “Democracy and Human Rights on Burma”, a clarification is needed on how the social and political forces of the Mon community will play a role within the existing environment.  In particular, what will the driving force of the Mon political community be in urban politics and whether the up coming political transition in the country will be valid for the Mon people as a whole.

Mon political forces has grown weak after leaders were systematically jailed and muted in the 1990s, official political parties were banned, like the Mon National Democratic Front in 1992. From this, the front-runner, a Mon nationalist organization, the New Mon State Party and its armed wing, Mon National Liberation Army adopted a new political stance in 1995 signing a cease-fire agreement with the ruling military authority.

Both have a common interest in establishing self-determination for the Mon but lack a political mandate in Moulmein and other major cities in Mon State.  Despite social and cultural organizations supporting political operations in communities throughout the 1980-2000 period, the Mon nationalist leaders have stuck to local politics while Burmese politics have had an impact regionally for years. To meet this challenge, pragmatic leaders reshaped the image of urban-based national political operations using innovative ideas such as training young leaders.

The Mon, in fact are the prime stakeholders of Burmese Independence in 1948 but the Burman nationalist led political faction has rejected their political, cultural and human rights.  

Successive Mon leaders both from the urban and rural elite have fought for sovereignty of the Mon until the present day.  Weaknesses of Mon politics took place in a pre-Burma independence struggle, while a pro-AFPFL (Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League) faction and the Mon nationalist political forces split over popular support in the 1940s.

Urban-based Mon national leaders formed a united Mon Front but were not granted equal status with the Burman under the constitution in 1947.  The newly formed BSPP (Burmese Socialist Programme Party) government banned the existing rights of the Mon community who were not allowed to learn their mother language in public schools.  

In 1977, after the formation of Mon State, Mon Language and Cultural Association of Ramanya (Moulmein) called a National Assembly at Bang Htaw monastery in central Moulmein.  Over 300 representatives of Buddhist monks and over 300 representatives of political, social, cultural and youth leaders attended the assembly and proposed to the BSPP government (7) points demanding social and political rights of the Mon community in the Mon State. Nothing was granted. As a result, the national movement raised the political climate and hundreds of young leaders fled to the border and joined the Mon National Liberation Army. This assembly is organized by the Buddhist monks community and receive no support from the administration of Mon State.

During 1980-1990, Mon State suffered from serious armed conflicts between the Mon National Liberation Army and government troops.  The government launched military offensives in rural areas with various acts of discrimination against the non-combatant people.  Cultural repression has been the state of affairs for many years, the publication of Mon books was and continues to be banned and progressive Mon youth leaders at universities were jailed for political support to New Mon State Party.  Despite Ramanya Nikaya, leading Mon Buddhist monks associations formed in Moulmein, the teaching of Mon language in public schools were totally dismissed by the BSPP government.

Military appointed native Mon speakers were to be the ears and eyes of the government troops, who rule in every single Mon village today.  

Current military deployments in Mon State are another aspect for outsiders to seriously review in the country.  The Southeast Military Command based in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State has expanded its military deployment in the southern part of Burma. The Military Operation Command No (19) is established in Ye after the Mon National Liberation Army and the Government troop reached a cease-fire in 1995.

Government troops proliferate in Infantries, Regiments, and Battalions throughout every town and major village in Mon State over the last ten years in which troops can spread out into armed conflict zones within a few hours in rural areas, while the Mon National Liberation Army only controls the border territory. Human Rights Foundation of Monland reported that the government troops have confiscated over 8,000 acres of farmland in southern Mon State in the last five years.

In November, Independent Mon News Agency reported that the military government is planning to develop a nuclear reactor in Ka-la-got Island, in Ye township.  Government troops firmly occupy the border trade route to Thanphyuzayat town from Three Pagodas Pass, on the western border of the Thai-Burma boundary.  No matter how loud the Mon people cry out for the formation of a Mon authority, the current military deployment in the territory shows that the regime firmly controls the overall territory with a massive military force.

The second major issue is whether political transition in Burma is a high stake game for the Mon people.  The New Mon State Party (NMSP) has engaged in urban politics for over eight years but there is no strong evidence that the party will play a central role in political transition and mobilization, but at least it has signaled to the Rangoon ruling regime its unity with other non-Burman nationalities in the country.

Up to the present day, there is no clear agenda where the NMSP is heading to with the exception of releasing only a few occasional statements.  The Party is formed with over thirty senior members who hold Executive and Central Committees positions with a back up support of District and Township Committees.  The Party aims to administer five districts.  The Mon community mostly resides in Thadhom, Moulmein, and Thavoy Districts while some others live in Pegu and Myeik Districts. The Thadohm district is mixed within Mon, Karen, Pa-o and Burman despite it being part of Mon State.

Mon National Democratic Front is the only nationalist party contested in General Election in 1990 and maintains its legitimate role as an official party despite the ruling military abolishing it in 1992. Veteran leader Nai Tun Thein, a key member of CRPP, conducts frequent political lectures and workshops for members and key supporters in the community despite the ruling authority banning it to operate. The party’s office is sealed off but the President opens up his home by inviting many from around the Mon community.

Whatever happens in the political transition in Burma; the Mon political  community will structure itself well as an organization for coping with the change.  

As long as Mon State is not ruled by the Mon nationality, the Mon nationalist movement will continue to remain active for the cause.  A popular democratic transition in Burma may leave space for further parliamentary debate on many issues including those who rule the non-Burman states.

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EFFECT OF SANCTIONS AGAINST RANGOON WEIGHED

(Bangkok: Roxanne Toh: Interpress Service: 21-11-03)

 Six months after the violent attack on Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her group, a range of different strategies on Burma, including sanctions by foreign governments, remain -- but where these are leading to remains uncertain.

The U.S. government has imposed probably among the toughest measures after the May 30 attack on Suu Kyi's party. In July, it banned Burmese imports to the United States, froze the U.S. assets of the military junta and imposed a visa ban on junta member, relatives and associates.

This month, under pressure from activists and the British government, British American Tobacco withdrew its subsidiary, Rothmans of Pall Mall Myanmar Pte Ltd in Burma.

U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who visited Burma this month, again urged the release of some 1,300 political prisoners in the country. Meantime, Suu Kyi still refuses to be freed from house arrest if colleagues who were taken into custody with her in the May 30 attack, blamed on pro-Rangoon thugs, are not freed.

Still, life - and business - continues as usual in Burma. Recent events also reflect how governments like Thailand believe that western sanctions on Burma do not work.

On Nov. 12, the leaders of Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand met in Pagan, Burma to "increase competitiveness and generate greater growth in the region" and generate investments. It also constitutes Thailand's Economic Cooperation Strategy, and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says it is based on the "four nations, one economy" concept.  Looking back, many find themselves asking what has changed in the last six months in Burma, despite some tough actions against the South-east Asian country.

The issue of "hard" and "soft" sanctions is among the issues most debated in relation to pushing democracy in Burma, where Thailand has been pushing for a 'road map' to political change. "People talk a lot about sanctions - sanctions haven't worked, pressure doesn't work but people talk very vaguely, as if they were real, hard sanctions," said Harn Yawnghwe, director of the Brussels-based European Office for the Development of Democracy in Burma. "The only real sanction I would say in the world would be the (that of) U.S.A.," he said at a seminar on European Union-Burmese links at Chulalongkorn University here.

The EU itself has taken a firm position against Burma. It adopted a common position in 1996 - a "soft" sanction as Hawn Yawnghwe defined - while confirming existing sanctions like an arms embargo and suspension of a defence alliance.  The EU also placed a visa ban on the military government and regime, security officers and all of their family members. No governmental visits to Burma were allowed as well. This was expanded in 1998, when the ban included transit visas and Burma's tourism administration.  Yet Harn Yawnghwe himself said: "In reality, these sanctions are nothing. It's just saying that we are not happy with the situation." 

Even the U.N. joint efforts with the U.S. government and the EU to pressure the Burmese government to release Suu Kyi faces challenges from Thailand, China, as well as other South-east Asian countries that offer them constant military and economic support.  Such support has "undermined attempts to send a clear message to Burma's military rulers that it is time to make way for an elected civilian government," Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division said, even though months earlier members of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) had also called on Rangoon to free Suu Kyi.

The grants and loans that Thailand would provide under the Economic Cooperation Strategy discussed in the Pagan summit is welcome news for Burma, since sanctions have caused the accumulation of "huge debts" over the years. The English-language daily 'The Nation' reported that Rangoon had "earlier expressed a preference for financial aid".  Likewise, Harn Yawnghwe asks if these investments would be entirely independent and free of any relations with the Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Cooperation - solely owned by the military.

Thaksin, whose government is hosting a forum of the much-touted 'road map' this year to let western nations "better understand" Burma, said after the Pagan meeting: "Burmese officials sent a strong signal about national reconciliation. I heard it with my own ears."  One Thai rights activist, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview: "Just when you think things are starting to build up with these actions - sanctions, pullouts - something like the Pagan meeting happens." "Sometimes there seems to be so much happening, but is there really movement to democracy? " he asked.

Choombhon Lertrathakarn, a senior specialist in the Thai National Security Council's international security department, says that Burma's neighbours remain ready to help when democratic change does happen there.  "If you have reform and you move towards democracy, we will help with the economic development," stated Choombhon, adding that Thailand might even have some lessons for Burma given its past rule under the military. However, he said there was a need for a socially "open society" in Burma, where "you have more mobility within..."

Analysts say the picture in Burma remains full of questions, not least around the 'road map' that Thailand is promoting as a seven-step regional approach that would lead to elections. One participant in the seminar suggested the 'road map' include respecting the results of the 1990 elections, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won.  But Chomboon points out that insisting on this - a key demand of the Burmese pro-democracy movement and activists because the junta did not respect its results -- would be a "roadblock" instead of a road map.

Harn Yawnghwe adds that the future is also likely to bring more pressure from the EU as it expands in membership from 15 to 25 next year.  This is because eight out of these ten countries, including the Czech Republic and Poland, were once communist or totalitarian nations, which have experienced transitions to democracy and are "very strong on human rights and democracy", he said.

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