News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 21 February, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 21 February, 2011
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NLD's Prisoner Assistance Gains Momentum
Letter from Rangoon
AIPMC declares its new leadership configuration
Mon Army Vows to Keep Arms
Jailed Australian editor loses Myanmar Times roles
Loxley eager to invest in Dawei project
EU officials to visit Thailand to review Myanmar refugees
New Alliance fast becoming the only game in town
Myanmar Sets Terms Of Land Lease For SEZ Development
Thailand Closely Watches Cross-Border Diseases
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NLD's Prisoner Assistance Gains Momentum
By HTET AUNG Monday, February 21, 2011

Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is stepping up its efforts to assist political prisoners, calling on Burmese living abroad to sponsor detainees serving long sentences for their political beliefs in the country's notorious prisons.

This new initiative was started on Jan. 4, Burma's Independence Day, when the party's leaders set up a lottery scheme to assign sponsors to individual political prisoners and provide financial and other forms of assistance to prisoners and their families.

The NLD program has so far provided humanitarian assistance to more than 600 political prisoners. Party leaders Aung San Suu Kyi, Tin Oo and Win Tin are among those taking part in the program.

“The NLD has long had a political prisoner assistance program, and some Burmese living abroad who were aware of it made donations,” said Win Tin, an NLD executive member who spent 19 years in Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison. “Under the new program, we are actively seeking new sponsors.”

“We sent a list of the prisoners to the Burmese community living in the United States and Singapore to find sponsors, because we knew that some Burmese there are willing to join this program.”

This is the first time that the NLD has looked outside of the country to seek the support of the Burmese diaspora. The goal is not just to increase the level of financial assistance, but also to establish solidarity between overseas supporters of the democratic movement and prisoners who are suffering enormous hardships because of their commitment to the cause.

Asked how many of the prisoners this sponsorship program is now reaching, Saw Naing Naing, the person in charge of the NLD's political prisoner assistance program, said: “We have individual sponsors for nearly 600 political prisoners, but more assistance is needed for other prisoners.

“For those willing to sponsor a political prisoner, we will provide the contact details of the prisoner's family so they can be contacted directly,” he said. “If there are some difficulties contacting the family, we can help to make sure that this assistance reaches the prisoners and their families.”

There are millions of Burmese living outside the country, including more than two million in Thailand alone.

Asked about the NLD's sponsorship program for political prisoners, Bo Kyi, the secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), said: “This is a very good program that is really needed to provide material and moral support to both the prisoners and their families. We hope that as many people as possible will join it.”

However, he expressed concern that prisoners' families might be reluctant to accept donations coming from outside of the country because of the threat of harassment by the authorities. He also suggested that there should be a system in place to provide long-term assistance to prisoners who are suffering badly behind bars.

According to Win Tin, the NLD provides around 5,000 kyat (US $5.60) per month to each political prisoner, but much more is needed, especially for prisoners serving their sentences in remote prisons located far from their families.

“That includes medicine and some travel expenses for the families,” he said, adding that the NLD is currently spending around 4,000,000 kyat (US $4,470) per month to support political prisoners and provide some education assistance to their children.

Win Tin said that donations to the NLD's political assistance program have increased since Suu Kyi's release from house arrest last November. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20798
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Letter from Rangoon
February 2011

I can't pose as any kind of expert on Burma. This is my first visit, and it will probably be my last until things change here. I'm not going to be able to get out of Rangoon. Worse, I'm living under cover, and my main concern is hiding from the secret police. And yet I've already fallen in love with the place.

Let me explain: I'm here to report on the release of the democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, from seven years' house arrest, and this is a country which doesn't admit foreign journalists. There are, nevertheless, a couple of dozen of us here, on tourist visas, being filmed and photographed and followed everywhere by the security police. So far we've avoided arrest.

Over the decades I've interviewed dozens of dissidents around the world. In a few cases, I've wondered if the government which banged them up didn't have something of a point: they were rabble-rousers, extremists, dangerous characters. Others were gentle idealists who couldn't be trusted to look after the local sanitation board. But some were, quite simply, inspirational.

Back in 1978, when I visited Moscow for the first time, I was taken to see the most famous of the dissidents in the old Soviet Union: Andrei Sakharov, the nuclear scientist who had turned his attention to politics and spoke up with remarkable courage in defence of personal freedom. Sakharov was resting in his bedroom when we came in, because he had a heart problem. In front of him lay, face down, one of those old green-jacketed Penguin crime classics, which he was reading to improve his English. 'As you say in England,' he grinned, gesturing first at the book and then at the walls and ceiling of the room, which were no doubt embedded with any number of KGB listening devices, 'everything you say here will be taken down and used in evidence against you.'

Sakharov was a joy to be with — funny, charming and deeply intuitive. At that stage, he was one of the most famous people in the world, and what with the excitement of giving his KGB guards the slip (always do these things at lunch-time, is my advice), my confusion at the technicalities of working the camera myself, and my awe at being in the presence of such a heroic figure, I found it hard to stutter out a question. He could see this, and gripped my arm in the most paternal of ways. 'You are only interviewing an old man, you know,' he said.

I've boasted quite enough in these pages about my various meetings with Nelson Mandela, but he was just as gentle and charming as Andrei Sakharov. There seems to be something in the experience of being held prisoner for long periods of time which brings out the generosity, the forgiveness and the naturalness in some people. Perhaps it's just that they've begun to understand what's really important.

In the former Czechoslovakia, at the height of the repression of the 1980s, I slipped in for a few days to report on the Charter 77 group, headed by the playwright Vaclav Havel. He was always in and out of jail, but it did nothing to dampen his sense of humour and his sheer enjoyment of living.

In a park on the outskirts of Prague, Charter 77 had a meeting with some British sympathisers. I, and other foreign journalists, turned up for it. The secret police were everywhere: there must have been 50 of them, big brutal characters, sitting on the benches and hiding in the bushes. It would all have been very ludicrous, if they hadn't beaten a German photographer to a pulp. Some had climbed the trees to get a better view, and hung in the branches. Havel said to me an hour later, with his usual comic precision, 'The secret police always try to put the laws of Darwin into reverse.'

So here I am now, sitting in Aung San Suu Kyi's headquarters, waiting for her to make her way through the crowds of her supporters, in full view of the cops opposite, to do an interview with me. It is hot. The outside temperature is 101°F, and inside the temperature is so much higher that it actually feels cold when you go out.

How she stays cool, I cannot imagine: my hair is plastered down with sweat, my jacket (quixotic of me to wear one, I agree) is already soaked, and she is gentle and calm and entirely at ease. Our interview goes smoothly and easily: it's like talking to a friend, not a political leader, even when I ask her some fairly probing questions.

She has been a prisoner, on and off, for 21 years, in virtual solitary confinement for part of that time, and yet she is entirely gracious about her captors. I did get the feeling, though, that like Sakharov and Havel, she found them rather amusing.

It occurred to me that she had been shut up during the key period of recent technological advance, so I asked her about using a mobile phone for the first time. She'd seen them in magazines, she said, but it had never occurred to her that they were so small. 'It seemed very inadequate to me — no mouthpiece to talk into, and you moved it around, first of all trying to put it to your ear and then to your mouth. But in fact it worked perfectly well.'

I don't get starstruck with presidents and prime ministers, but I confess that I do with calm, gentle, intelligent people who have been through the wringer and emerged with their dignity, their humanity and their sense of humour enhanced.

Sweaty though I was, I asked her when the interview was over if I could have a kiss. It was a great moment, and in fact I got two. Now that was something I didn't ask Vaclav Havel for. Nor Nelson Mandela, either.

John Simpson is the BBC's world affairs editor and can be seen around the globe on BBC World News, available in 200 countries and territories worldwide, and on selected British Airways flights. http://www.bahighlife.com/News-And-Blogs/John-Simpson/Letter-from-Rangoon.html
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AIPMC declares its new leadership configuration
By Zin Linn Feb 21, 2011 6:54PM UTC

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) has proclaimed that Ms. Eva Kusuma Sundari, Member of the Indonesian Parliament, has taken over as President of the AIPMC following the end of the term of Mr. Kraisak Choonhavan, Member of the Thai Parliament. Mr. Kraisak will continue to serve as Vice-President of the AIPMC and as chair of the Thai national AIPMC caucus.

The AIPMC has also stated that Agung Putri Astrid has taken over as Executive Director of the AIPMC following the resignation of Roshan Jason. She was formerly Executive Director of the Indonesian Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, Elsam.

The AIPMC expressed its gratitude to its outgoing President Kraisak Choonhavan for his leadership of the secretariat during 2008-2010.Since its initial meeting in Kuala Lumpur, on 26-28 November 2004, AIPMC has been calling on the military government in Burma to create changes and democratic reforms in the country.

The grouping of ASEAN Legislators from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Cambodia have constantly called for the unconditional release of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as for the freedom of almost 2,200 other political prisoners in Burma. One of AIPMC’s initial campaigns was to urge ASEAN to deny Burma its turn at chairing the regional bloc in 2006.

Having succeeded in its campaign, members of the Caucus have now further called on ASEAN and the UN via the UN Security Council to take concrete and binding actions on the military regime of Myanmar as it continues to show a lack of regard to human rights and fails to adopt concrete democratic reforms in the country.

According to the current AIPMC leadership configuration Eva Kusuma Sundari (Indonesia) has become President (since November 2010) of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar (AIPMC) Steering Committee (2010-2012). The grouping’s five vice-presidents are Charles Chong (Chairperson, Singapore Caucus), Son Chhay (Chairperson, Cambodia Caucus), Lorenzo Tanada (Chairperson, Philippines Caucus), Lim Kit Siang (Chairperson, Malaysia Caucus) and Kraisak Choonhavan (Chairperson, Thailand Caucus).

Teresa Kok (Malaysia) takes responsibility as the Secretary of the AIPMC. Senior Advisers of the grouping are Loretta Ann Rosales (Philippines), Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Malaysia), Nursyahbani Katjasungkana (Indonesia) and Djoko Susilo (Indonesia).

The AIPMC has been seeking to reach the fundamental objective towards restoring freedom and instituting democracy in Myanmar or Burma. It has not only asked the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi but also urged to reinstate all her civil and democratic rights. At the same time, it also urges the junta to allow the participation of all sections of Myanmar’s diverse society, including minority groups, in the democratic process.

In addition, it constantly claims the unconditional release of all political detainees including all Members of Parliament elected during the 1990 General Elections. The most important demand of the grouping is to hold a meaningful, representative and legitimate National Convention to lay the basis for democratization and national reconciliation which should involve tripartite participation of the military junta, the National League for Democracy and the ethnic nationalities,

In a statement dated 16 March 2010, AIPMC calls on ASEAN and its member states to immediately take decisive actions with regard to Myanmar (Burma), in line with the approach of other concerned countries, such as strict and targeted economic sanctions against Myanmar, thus cutting off the financial lifelines of the brutal and self-serving despots who have so far driven its citizens into terminal poverty.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/48832/aipmc-declares-its-new-leadership-configuration/
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Mon Army Vows to Keep Arms
By LAWI WENG Monday, February 21, 2011

The New Mon State Party (NMSP), an ethnic cease-fire group in southern Burma, will not give up its arms and is prepared to resume fighting for the freedom of their people, according to Mon leaders.

Addressing a crowd of about 1,000 people gathered to mark the 64th anniversary of Mon National Day in Banan Bon, a village near the NMSP's headquarters, Nai Rot Sa, the group's vice chairman, said: “We agreed to a cease-fire with the regime in order to solve our political conflict peacefully, but we did not get the right to solve it.

“They (the regime) want us to surrender our arms to them. We will never do it. We will join our people and fight for freedom with these weapons,” he said.

The NMSP signed a cease-fire agreement with the regime in 1995, but the deal broke down last year after the group refused to become part of a Border Guard Force (BGF) under Burmese army command last June.

The NMSP has been preparing to go to war with the regime since then because of a number of violations of the cease-fire agreement by the Burmese army. As part of its preparations, it has invited former fighters to rejoin its ranks. So far, about 100 have returned, according a source close to the party.

“We need to get tough this time. If we don't, we won't win,” said Soe Win, a former member of the NMSP who rejoined last year. “If I catch someone this time, they won't get away alive.”

An officer of the NMSP said that group would wage guerrilla warfare to achieve its goals. Among other things, it said it would specially train snipers to shoot regime troops.

“We have about 1,000 troops. We can select 200 troops for special troops to wage this guerrilla war,” he said.

The speeches made by Mon leaders at events marking this year's Mon National Day were marked different from those made over the past 15 years, with many reflecting increasingly tense relations between the Mon and the regime.

In the past, NMSP leaders were careful to avoid inflammatory language; this year the tone has become decidedly more combative.

“If the regime wants to eliminate us with their guns, we are also ready to destroy them with our guns,” said Nai Hang Thar, the secretary of the NMSP.

“We are ready to deal with them together with the other members of our ethnic alliance,” he said.

The NMSP leaders said that the new alliance, called the Committee for the Emergence of a Federal Union, which brings together 12 ethnic armed groups, will pressure Burma's newly formed and ostensibly civilian government to address the country's ethnic political issues.

If there are cease-fire talks with the new government in the future, the Mon will not go alone but as part of a group with their ethnic allies, according to Nai Rot Sa.

The Mon leaders said they did not recognize the new government because it was not elected by the people in a free and fair election. They also said that the new government would not be able to solve the country's ethnic political conflicts.

The leaders said that they would continue to support Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who called for a second Panglong conference, which will lead to unity among the ethnic people and peace in the country.

Also speaking at the Mon National Day ceremony in Banan Bon on Saturday were two respected Mon Buddhist abbots, U Palita and Apol Dot.

“Everyone has to die, but we need to die for our people,” said U Palita. “Be a slave of the Mon, but not a slave of the Burmese. If you are a slave of the Burmese, you will go to hell.”

About 100 members of the Mon National Liberation Army, including women, staged a military parade and sang the Mon national song while saluting the Mon flag.

Mon National Day commemorates the day when the first Mon kingdom, Hongsawatoi, was established in 1116 of the Buddhist Era, or 573 CE.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20791
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Associated Press Featured Article
February 21, 2011
Jailed Australian editor loses Myanmar Times roles
By Associated Press ,

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The Australian editor and founder of the Myanmar Times has been stripped of his editorial and executive roles following his arrest earlier this month on immigration charges, the newspaper reported Monday.

Associates have suggested Ross Dunkley's detention on Feb. 10 for allegedly overstaying his visa actually stems from a business dispute with his local partners in the publishing venture. The arrest could raise concerns among foreign investors about the risks of getting involved in joint ventures in Myanmar.

The Myanmar Times reported Monday that its parent company, Myanmar Consolidated Media, had named Tin Tun Oo, Dunkley's local partner and publisher, editor–in–chief of the newspaper's Myanmar–language edition and chief executive of Myanmar Consolidated Media.

One of the paper's foreign investors, Australian Bill Clough, will become chief editor of the English–language edition and acting managing director of Myanmar Consolidated Media, the newspaper said.

Dunkley, who has been held in Yangon's notorious Insein Prison since his arrest, is expected to appear in court for the first time Thursday and could face a fine and up to two years in prison if found guilty.

Dunkley is known for founding English–language newspapers, often with a business emphasis, in authoritarian countries. He started a similar venture in communist Vietnam in the 1990s and bought Cambodia's well–established but financially weak Phnom Penh Post two years ago. He founded the Myanmar Times in 2000 during a period of relative liberalization under the ruling junta.

After Dunkley's arrest, his partner at the Phnom Penh Post, David Armstrong, issued a statement saying the detention came during "tense and protracted discussions" Dunkley had been holding with his Myanmar business partners.

Tin Tun Oo, who holds a 51 percent stake in the company, ran as a candidate of a military–backed party in November elections but lost.

Myanmar's long–ruling junta is preparing to hand over the reins of government to a new, nominally civilian government packed with its allies. With the military expected to continue to exercise power from behind the scenes, no loosening of restrictions on the press is expected. All daily newspapers and electronic media are directly controlled by the government.

The Myanmar Times, a weekly publication, uses many professional journalism conventions — naming sources, portraying opposing sides of issues — though it generally holds back when it comes to criticizing the government, which tightly restricts what is published. http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2011/02/21/146899-jailed-australian-editor-loses-myanmar-times-roles.htm
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Loxley eager to invest in Dawei project

* Published: 21/02/2011 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: Business

SET-listed Loxley Plc, one of Thailand's oldest and biggest trading conglomerates, is making its return to Burma after an absence of several years by studying the opportunities to invest in the massive Dawei development project.

Jingjai Hanchanlash, an adviser to the company, said a team would visit Burma next month to look at project feasibility in Dawei and other parts of the country. Initially, Loxley is interested in power transmission lines and oil and gas terminal projects.

Loxley has a close partnership with SET-listed Italian-Thai Development (ITD), which was awarded a 10-year contract to develop infrastructure and industrial projects in Dawei.

The two companies jointly established a beer and beverage business in Laos and have been in close talks about developments in Dawei, said Dr Jingjai.

Loxley phased out its telecom business in Burma several years ago after its Canadian partner decided to leave the military-ruled country.

"We are making new efforts to resume investment in Burma, which is projected to have brighter economic prospects after the general election last year. The military may open up the country, which would facilitate investments from abroad," said Dr Jingjai, who is also co-chairman of the Greater Mekong Subregion Business Forum at the Joint Public-Private Standing Committee.

The Thai government and businesses have been keen to take part in the Dawei development as well, especially the deep-sea port which would facilitate shipments of goods to southern and central Asia and the Middle East. Apart from infrastructure, Loxley is interested in border trade between the two countries.

Loxley operates power transmission lines in Laos and trades chemical products, animal feed, and information technology equipment in Vietnam.

Business from neighbouring countries contributes 25-30% of its total revenue. http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/222658/loxley-eager-to-invest-in-dawei-project
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EU officials to visit Thailand to review Myanmar refugees

Feb 21, 2011, 10:38 GMT

Bangkok - The European Union's human rights commissioner plans to visit Thailand next month for an update on EU-financed refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, officials said Monday.

Kristalina Georgieva is scheduled to be in Thailand March 10 and 11 to visit border camps where an estimated 150,000 ethnic Karen have been living for decades to avoid fighting in neighbouring Myanmar, said David Lipman, EU ambassador to Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

For the past two decades, the EU has been main source of humanitarian aid to a dozen border camps for tens of thousands of refugees from the Karen ethnic minority group of eastern Myanmar.

The Karen have been fighting for autonomy from central government authority since 1949, making it one of the world's oldest insurgencies.

Karen refugees who were residing in the border camps before 1995, have been made eligible for resettlement in the US and Australia.

Despite the regular departure of Karen refugees to third countries over the past decade, the camps' population has remained constant at around 150,000.

There have been reports of Karens paying authorities to enter the camps to become eligible for resettlement.

'We are conducting a new census for the camps, since nobody knows who is there,' Lipman said.

EU special envoy for Myanmar Piero Fassino was also to visit Bangkok on March 8 to meet with Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya for a briefing.

The EU is in the process of assessing its policy of enforcing economic and business sanctions on Myanmar's military leaders and some 2,000 'crony businessmen' known to be close to the regime.

The sanctions will come up for review by the EU at the end of April.

Myanmar held a general election on November 7 and will have a new government in place in March.

The ruling junta also freed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest on November 13.

Western democracies had long demanded that military-ruled Myanmar hold elections and free Suu Kyi.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1620793.php/EU-officials-to-visit-Thailand-to-review-Myanmar-refugees
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New Alliance fast becoming the only game in town
Monday, 21 February 2011 12:44 S.H.A.N.

The United Nationalities Federal Council. (UNFC), the newest coalition formed in a 5-day conference last week on the Thai-Burma border, could well become the only non-Burman ethnic alliance worth talking about, according to some co-founding members.

The Committee for the Emergence of Federal Union (CEFU), the core group that organized the conference, 12-16 February, declared its dissolution following the founding of UNFC. It was formed by three former ceasefire groups: Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), New Mon State Party (NMSP) and Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ plus three non-ceasefire groups: Karen National Union (KNU), Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and Chin National Front (CNF) in November.

By contrast, other existing coalitions, notably the National Democratic Front (NDF), formed since 1976, and the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), formed since 2001, are bound to be “history soon”, according to sources who request anonymity.

For the NDF, the reason is all of its member organizations, except for Arakan Liberation Front (ALP), have decided to join the UNFC.

As for the ENC, which has been credited for its outstanding State Constitution Drafting Movement that was launched in 2001, has long since bogged down in its efforts to become a state-based alliance. “With the death of Padoe Ba Thin Sein (Karen leader) who was its staunch supporter in 2008, the coalition soon lost its momentum,” said another source.

Both the NDF and the ENC are expected to discuss their future in the coming months. One of the participants at the UNFC Conference however remarked, “It is not necessary to dissolve these alliances. As the UNFC grows in stature, they will shrink to oblivion all by themselves.”

The Central Executive Committee (CEC) members of the UNFC are:

Gen Mutu Saypo Chairman KNU

Lt Gen Gauri Zau Seng Vice Chairman #1 KIO

Khun Abel Tweed Vice Chairman #2 KNPP

Nai Hongsa aka Nai Hantha General Secretary NMSP

Col Hkun Okker Joint Secretary #1 PNLO (PaO National Liberation Organization)

Shwe Myo Thant Joint Secretary #2 KNPP

Mahn Nyein Maung Member KNU

Dr Laja Member KIO

Dr Suikhar Member CNF

Bawmwang Laraw Member KNO (Kachin National Organization)

The new alliance has drummed up interest among Burma watchers due to its avowed intention to set up what it calls a “Union Army”.
http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3476:new-alliance-fast-becoming-the-only-game-in-town&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266
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February 21, 2011 13:01 PM
Myanmar Sets Terms Of Land Lease For SEZ Development

YANGON, Feb 21 (Bernama) -- Myanmar has set terms of land lease in special economic zone development by foreign investors for a period of at least 30 years, according to the country's special economic zone law promulgated and made public recently.

The law grants extension of the land lease for another 30 years and further 15 years for large-scale investment enterprise, another 15 years and further 15 years for medium-scale investment enterprise and two times of consecutive terms of five years for small-scale investment enterprise, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

The developers are prescribed to bear the expenses of transferring and compensation of houses, buildings, farms and gardens, fields, plantation on land if these are required to be moved away, the law said.

The developers shall not modify or alter without permission the topography or the contour of the land which is leased and shall report if natural mineral resources or antiques, not relating to the permitted enterprise and which are not included in the original agreement, are found above or under the land entitled to lease, it also said.

If effective operation of the leased land is not found carried out two years after approval, the land lease permission will be revoked and the land shall be returned, it added.

The law, which comprises 12 chapters as a legal base for foreign prospective investor, also covers special privileges of investor, bank and finance management and insurance business as well as quarantine inspection and confinement and matters related to labour.

-- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=565140
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February 21, 2011 16:40 PM

Thailand Closely Watches Cross-Border Diseases

BANGKOK, Feb 21 (Bernama) -- The Thai Ministry of Public Health has closely watched on and launched strict measures against communicable diseases in areas bordering Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar -- after several migrant workers from the three neighbouring countries were confirmed to have fallen victims of three deadly cross-border diseases, including acute diarrhea, malaria and measles, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

Thai Deputy Public Health Minister Phansiri Kullanartsiri said on Monday that all Thai public health offices in areas bordering the three neighbouring countries have been ordered to remain vigilant against the cross-border communicable diseases, particularly acute diarrhea carried by the migrant workers, namely those working in local fishing businesses; while local employers are also legally required to provide medical check-ups for their migrant workers at hospitals under the supervision of the Thai Public Health Ministry in their respective areas.

The Thai deputy public health minister acknowledged, quoting official figures disseminated by the Thai Ministry of Labour's Office of Foreign Workers Administration, that the number of migrant workers in Thailand had reached over one million as of March 2010, most of them crossed the border onto the Thai soil illegally without medical check-ups required by the Thai Ministry of Public Health; while the Bureau of Epidemiology reported that more than 10,000 of the migrant workers in Thailand were infected with acute diarrhea, malaria and measles over the past year.

Meanwhile, Department of Disease Control Director-General Doctor Manit Theeratantikanont said that there were some 7,000 confirmed cases of acute diarrhea in areas along the Thai-Myanmar border in 2009, or 300-800 case a day on average, and some 2,361 cases in areas along the Thai-Lao-Cambodian border from January 2009-May 2010.

Doctor Manit also revealed that there were 100-500 confirmed cases of malaria in areas along the Thai-Myanmar border from January 2009-April 2010; whereas malaria patients in Thailand's 73 provinces totaled 24,906 last year.

-- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=565222