Burmese or Thai logs?
Mistaken paperwork or tricky smuggling?
By Jon Fernquest[Introduction|Vocabulary|Article]
[Reading Questions|Answers]
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The Thai government often has a very difficult time controlling trade in Thai-Burma border areas.
Todays article shows how powerful interests operate in the Thai-Burmese borderlands.
On the Thai side of the border this includes powerful business people with military and/or police backing, according to the article.
On the Burmese side, this includes minority rebel armies engaging in what is known as conflict trade, "the import and/or export of non-military goods to finance or otherwise maintain local war economies."
In the timber-rich western Thai-Burma borderlands timber is the basis of conflict trade.
Further north in the Shan States, illegal drugs such as heroin and mephamphetamines (Thai: yaa baa) have long been the basis of conflict trade.
A recent report noted the hidden and illegal nature of such trade and the variety of different people involved in it:
"...the systems put in place to financially exploit such trade, such as taxation, protection rackets, concessions, and other forms of rent extraction are of central importance since they offer insights into the wide array of government and private-sector actors involved in perpetuating the violence. Understanding the complex links between local and non-local actors involved in such trade is both the first step and key challenge to developing constructive solutions to prevent similar conflicts as well as resolve existing ones. (Capitalizing on Conflict, page 15)Many cases like this remain only unsubstantiated rumours lacking enough substance to print in a newspaper, or if published, enough information to resolve once and for all. Yet these cases are important because they represent powerful interests controlling important parts of the economy.
Today's article provides a good case study of traces left by hidden illegal businesses that are able to extract economic rents (rent seeking) due to their lack of transparency.
For further reading, read a report on conflict trade in the western Thai-Burma borderlands: Capitalizing on Conflict: How Logging and Mining Contribute to Environmental Destruction in Burma, A report by EarthRights International with Karen Environmental & Social Action Network, October 2003 [Link to report].
Read a 1998 report on the history and long-term environmental impact of logging along the Thai-Burma border and about the history of timber trade in Southeast Asia.
Read the 2005 UNDP sponsored Mae Hong Son Millenium Development Goals Report which focuses on aleviating poverty in this very rural and remote province.
Read a Bangkok Post article about special tariff exemptions to encourage agriculture along the Thai-Burma border as well as regional economic cooperation.
Read a previous Bangkok Post article about freedom of the press and transparency.
Reading Questions
Here are some questions to guide your reading (See answers at end):1. Under what conditions will logs from Burma be blocked from entering Mae Hong Son province?
2. Are Thai companies logging in government controlled or rebel controlled areas of Burma? What must these firms do to get permission to log there?
3. Will permission to export logs from rebel groups in Burma be enough to import the logs into Thailand?
4. What did authorities discover being smuggled into Burma recently?
What might this be evidence of, according to authorities?
5. Where is the company that smuggled the equipment into Burma headquarted?
6. Has this company received logging permission from the Burmese government?
7. What other countries has this company logged in?
8. How might Thai timber be involved in smuggling?
9. What kinds of Thai businesses are suspected of being run in rebel areas within Burma?
10. Whose support do these businesses in Burmese rebel areas reportedly enjoy?
Bangkok Post Article May 05, 2007
Border log imports could be blocked
Firms doing business in rebel-held areas
CHEEWIN SATTHA
Mae Hong Son - Mae Hong Son governor Direk Konkleep has ordered border authorities to block the imports of Burmese logs if the importers cannot produce the documents needed to certify their imports.
The order was issued after suspicions were raised that some logging companies doing business in the ethnic minority-controlled areas opposite the province may not have received permission from the Burmese government and the certificates of origin for the timber to be imported.
A source said firms bringing in logs from Burma requires permission from the military junta.
But since the logs they want are being felled in the strongholds of anti-junta ethnic rebels, the firms must also pay the rebels an access fee.
A close watch is being kept on a logging firm that had smuggled log-cutting and wood-processing machinery into Burma via tambon Pang Mu in Muang district on Sunday. Authorities suspect it may be preparing to bring in logs and processed timber into the country illegally.
Border intelligence sources say the firm also had two elephants and three trucks loaded with tanks full of petrol sent over the border.
The firm was reportedly looking to transport processed golden teak wood and logs from Hauy Ponglao, a site of the Karenni National People's Liberation Front (KNPLF) base, via Ban Nam Piang Din in the province's Muang district yesterday .
Mr Direk said the firm has contacted the provincial customs office for border clearance, but not the provincial office, which it must also do.
He insisted that no foreign logs would be allowed in from Burma if the importers can't produce the required certificate and proof of the Burmese junta's approval, as required by the Foreign Trade Department.
According to a border security source, the company is located in Yannawa district of Bangkok and has not been awarded a concession from the Burmese junta to conduct commercial logging in the KNPLF-held area.
Checks with the National Security Council have found that the firm had previously carried out logging activities in Laos.
Mr Direk said he had asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry to help run a check on the company's track record.
Verification into the company's claim that it was granted a concession by the Burmese government has also been sought, but no reply has been received from Burma as yet.
The authorities fear there may be a secret arrangement in Burma where a firm could illegally cut Thai logs, send them across the border and then pretend to import them as foreign wood.
The arrangement, which may have been made with the help of minority rebels, could taint Thailand's good relations with Burma.
Col Nopporn Ruenchan, chief of the 7th infantry regiment taskforce, said the army has been alerted about the matter and is ready to catch any log smugglers.
A border security source said at least five Thai investors are suspected of running illegal logging and mining operations in KNPLF-held areas. There was no word on how long they had been doing it, though says they are well-connected to high-ranking men in uniform in Thailand.
Vocabulary (in discussion above)
an ethnic group - a group of people sharing the same culture and language (for example Yawi of southern Thailand or the Akha hill people of northern Thailand; See Wikipedia on ethnic group, Akha, and the Yawi language)
ethnic (adjective) - belonging to an ethnic group (for example "ethnic food" meaning food that is part of the ethnic group's traditions)
ethnicity (noun) - belonging to an specific ethnic group
a majority - a sub-group that is more than 50% of a larger group
a minority - a sub-group that is less than 50% of a larger group
a minority group - a small group of people in a country sharing the same identity, (usually ethnicity but could also be based on religion, disability, age, or gender (gay, lesbian, transexual (Thai: Guh-tuh-ee)); See Wikipedia)
an ethnic minority - a small group of people in a country sharing the same ethnicity (See Wikipedia)
rebels - people opposed to their country's political system who are trying to change it by force
rebel-held areas - territory under the control of a rebel army
minority rebels - members of an ethnic group who oppose the government by force (very common in Burma-Myanmar)
a stronghold - a strongly defended place (for example, a fort, a building, or territory)
rebel strongholds - territory controlled and well-defended by rebels
conflict trade - the import and/or export of non-military goods to finance or otherwise maintain local war economies.
unsubstantiated - truth is uncertain, lacks evidence, unproven
unsubstantiated rumours - news whose truth is uncertain
has substance - probably true
lacks substance - probably not true
resolve - solve a problem, find a solution to the problem (See glossary)
once and for all - finish (so it never has to be done again)
resolve once and for all - finish solving (so it never has to be solved again)
traces - signs and evidence that indicates some event occured in the past
economic rents - the income received by owners of a resource (e.g. land, labour) that is above the minimum income they would require in order to be willing to make the resource available for use by other people, a measure of market power (See The Economist's glossary and Wikipedia)
* extract economic rents
rent seeking - making money by manipulating the economic environment rather than through honest trade and production of wealth, making more money from customers without giving them anything more in exchange (See The Economist's glossary and Wikipedia)
transparency - actions are not hidden or secret, so they can be directly evaluated by the public and/or stakeholders (See Wikipedia)
* lack of transparency - does not have transparency
certify x - officially state that x is true and valid (for example, the election commission certifies election results)
a certificate - an official document stating that certain facts are true
certificates of origin - an official document that proves that something comes from a certain place (in this case that the logs actually come from Burma and not Thailand)
a log - tree trunk (or thick branch) cut so it can be transported, unprocessed timber
felled logs - trees that have been cut down
logging - cutting trees down and cutting them up, commercially (See Wikipedia)
timber - wood, ranging from wood in living trees in forests to already cut and processed wood for use in building houses or manufacturing paper (See Wikipedia)
process - turning raw materials into a finished product in a factory
* processed timber
* wood-processing machinery
tambon Pang Mu in Muang district - a small area near the border and capital of Mae Hong Son (See map on page viv of UNDP report on Mae Hong Son Province and Wikipedia)
a junta, a military junta - a military government in power by force, not elections
a close watch is being kept on x - carefully watching x
intelligence, military intelligence - (See Wikipedia)
border intelligence -
clearance, get clearance - get official approval from the government to do or have something
border clearance - get government approval to bring something into the country
* provincial customs office for border clearance
Foreign Trade Department - part of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) (See MOC website)
a concession - special permission to do a business (See glossary)
x awards a concession for y to z - x gives special permission to do business y to z
the KNPLF - a Karen rebel army, minority rebels in Burma, full name: Karenni Nationalities People’s Liberation Front
Karenni - Kayah, Red Karen, an ethnic sub-group of the Karens mostly living in the Kayah State of Burma-Myanmar near Mae Hong Son in Northern Thailand (See Wikipedia)
KNPLF-held area - territory under the control of the KNPLF rebel army
National Security Council (NSC) - "collects national security related information and gathers experts to give advice to PM, cabinet, related agencies as well as government," not to be confused with the Council for National Security (CNS), the name of the military regime currently governing Thailand (See note on its function from the Thai Parliament)
a track record - a record of past performance (achievements, failures)
verification - proving that something is true (could range from checking your idea card to see if you are Thai to a long investigation, for example to find out if a country is developing nuclear weapons)
a claim - something that someone says is true, but has not yet been proven to be true
x taints y - x harms y's reputation because x is associated with something bad
smugglers - people who move goods between countries illegally
well-connected - know important and powerful people who can help them
high-ranking - military officer with a high rank such as general or colonel
men in uniform - military or police officers and soldiers (wearing a military or police uniform)
Answer Key:
1. Under what conditions will logs from Burma be blocked from entering Mae Hong Son province?
Logs will be blocked from entering if they cannot produce certificates of origin to prove that:
a. The logs actually come from Burma and not Thailand.
b. Permission was obtained from the Burmese government to export the logs.
("He insisted that no foreign logs would be allowed in from Burma if the importers can't produce the required certificate and proof of the Burmese junta's approval, as required by the Foreign Trade Department.)
2. Are Thai companies logging in government controlled or rebel controlled areas of Burma? What must these firms do to get permission to log there?
Thai companies are logging in rebel controlled territory so they must pay an "access fee" to the rebel group.
("But since the logs they want are being felled in the strongholds of anti-junta ethnic rebels, the firms must also pay the rebels an access fee.")
3. Will permission to export logs from rebel groups in Burma be enough to import the logs into Thailand?
No, permission to export logs from the Burmese government is required.
("The order was issued after suspicions were raised that some logging companies doing business in the ethnic minority-controlled areas opposite the province may not have received permission from the Burmese government and the certificates of origin for the timber to be imported. A source said firms bringing in logs from Burma requires permission from the military junta.")
4. What did authorities discover being smuggled into Burma recently?
What might this be evidence of, according to authorities?
Authorities discovered logging and wood processing equipment as well as two elephants and three trucks loaded with gasoline (presumably to run the logging equipment) being smuggled into Burma.
The firm smuggling this equipment is apparently planning to transport logs and processed teak timber into Thailand illegally from rebel controlled territory within Burma in the near future.
("Authorities suspect it may be preparing to bring in logs and processed timber into the country illegally. Border intelligence sources say the firm also had two elephants and three trucks loaded with tanks full of petrol sent over the border.)
5. Where is the company that smuggled the equipment into Burma headquarted?
The company is headquartered in Bangkok.
6. Has this company received logging permission from the Burmese government?
It is uncertain. The company claims it was "awarded a concession from the Burmese junta to conduct commercial logging in the KNPLF-held area," however this has not been verified.
7. What other countries has this company logged in?
The company has also logged in Laos.
8. How might Thai timber be involved in smuggling?
It is also possible that Thai logs are being cut, sent across the border, and imported into Thailand as if it is Burmese timber.
9. What kinds of Thai businesses are suspected of being run in rebel areas within Burma?
a. Illegal logging.
b. Mining operations.
10. Whose support do these businesses in Burmese rebel areas reportedly enjoy?
These Thai businesses in Burma reportedly enjoy the support of high ranking Thai military officers .
