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/* Written  7:46 am  Apr 25, 1994 by mbeer@xxxxxxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
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   8TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.                  

                   Copyright 1994 Newspaper Publishing PLC  
                                The Independent

                             April  24, 1994, Sunday

SECTION: THE WORLD PAGE; Page 15 

LENGTH: 754 words

HEADLINE: Dissidents in  Burma  have last laugh

BYLINE: TIM McGIRK in Rangoon

 BODY:
    WHEN WORD reached General Ne Win,  Burma's  feared despot, some years back
that a comedian nicknamed ''Tweezers'' was poking fun at him, he ordered the
secret police to bring the comedian before him.

    ''Now let's hear the kind of jokes you make about our government,'' the
general snapped. Without hesitating, the comic, named Zargana, reached out and
whipped the pair of spectacles off Ne Win's face, put them on and began
mimicking the general. There was stunned silence. Scores of the general's foes
had been tortured and tossed into prison for much lesser impertinences.

    But the silence lasted only a few seconds. General Ne Win grinned, then
laughed. The general's laughter was not often heard; his rule, from 1962 to
1988, was fearsome. Even today, aged 84 and retired, his orders are still obeyed
by the ruling military council.

    Nevertheless, he let the comedian go - for a while. As one top government
official explained, ''The military liked it at first. Then, when things blew up
in 1988, they didn't like Zargana so much.''

    General Ne Win lacked the levity and self-assurance to keep a jester at his
court. He much preferred the company of astrologers. An uprising against his
repressive and often dotty policies - he was so obsessed with his lucky number
nine that he dropped the decimal system and changed banknotes to denominations
of 45 and 90 - led to the political emergence of Aung San Suu Kyi.

    The daughter of Aung San,  Burma's  independence hero, became the focus of a
long-suppressed desire for democracy. Zargana's mother joined the National
League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, and it was while cracking jokes at a
political rally, campaigning for his mother in 1990, that Zargana was arrested.
He was hauled before the chief of military intelligence and told: ''Let's see
how funny you are in prison.''

    We don't know hw many laughs he got among the prisoners. Although he has
just been released, Zargana, 33, was warned by the junta to keep his mouth shut.
It could prove difficult. He is irrepresible.

    Trained in Rangoon as a dentist, he started telling jokes to his patients
trapped in the chair. Soon, his needling political satire made him famous.
Zargana is one of more than 100 poets, artists and intellectuals imprisoned for
criticising the regime. Many were arrested without trial under the catch-all
category of ''maintaining contacts with unlawful associations''. The number of
    
political detainees runs far higher - into several thousands, according to human
rights activists - and includes Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for
more than four years, even though she won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

    ''It is not power that corrupts but fear,'' Suu Kyi once said. And indeed,
the military regime retains its grip on the Burmese through a vast web of spies
and informers. They infest the univerities, government offies and every level of
the military.

    Laughter may be fear's only antidote, but the Slorc - an appropriately
sinister acronym for the State Law and Order Restoration Council, a 21-member
military council that seized power in 1988 - is not known for its sense of
humour or its ability to face criticism.

    Before anything is published, even children's stories or historical essays
on Buddhist monks, it must pass the censors at military intelligence, not known
for their literary talent. What is blue-pencilled is often bizarre, Kafkaesque.
The word ''sunset'' is often banned since it can be considered an attack on Ne
Win, whose name means ''Brilliant as the sun''. The word ''red'' is also
suspect, since it smacks of communism.

    One dead female novelist's photograph was removed from a book jacket because
the censors thought she resembled Suu Kyi too closely. A poem about a football
match in which the referee was biased earned its author a jail term. ''The
censors always take the breath out of the story'' said one writer. ''But what
can we do? If we don't write, our pens will dry up.''

    Rumours spread that, while in prison, Zargana had his teeth kicked in - the
bully's usual riposte to a wisecrack. When he was released, Zargana simply
remarked: ''I've grown allergic to green'' - the colour of army uniforms.

    While the other arts wither under the military regime, a few comedians still
thrive, partly because of the subtle nature of Burmese humour. In Burmese double
entendre, even a compliment can be twisted into an insult. This way, the
generals are never sure whether they are being honoured or ridiculed.


                    The Xinhua General Overseas News Service

                            APRIL  23, 1994, SATURDAY

LENGTH: 118 words

HEADLINE: 15 hydro power plants built in 5 years in  myanmar 

DATELINE: yangon, april 23; ITEM NO: 0423082

 BODY:
    myanmar  built 15 hydro-power plants with a total capacity of about 66.9
megawatts in the past five years, according to an official report today.  before
1988, 14 power projects were completed with a total capacity of about 228
megawatts.  altogether, 29 hydro-power plants have been put into operation with
a total capacity of nearly 295 megawatts.  moreover, 12 power projects are now
being implemented, and will generate 4.8 megawatts on their completion.
according to official surveys, there are 152 large, medium and small rivers in
 myanmar  with a potential generating capacity of 108,000 megawatts.  up to now,
the total exploited capacity only accounts for 0.21 per cent of the potential
capacity.

                                                                              

                    The Xinhua General Overseas News Service

The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Xinhua News Agency.

                             APRIL  22, 1994, FRIDAY

LENGTH: 119 words

HEADLINE:  myanmar  fisheries export exceeds target

DATELINE: yangon, april 22; ITEM NO: 0422117

 BODY:
    myanmar  fisheries enterprises' incomes from export exceeded the target by
14 percent as the export fetched 85.12 million kyats (14.19 million u.s.
dollars) against 74.94 million kyats (12.49 million dollars).   myanmar 
livestock breeding and fisheries minister brigadier general maung maung gave the
figure on thursday at a coordinating meeting on work for the 1994-95.   myanmar 
fisheries enterprises exported 6,644 tons of fish and prawns against the
targeted 6,243.70 tons.  the fisheries department exceeded the target in its
services for collecting revenues and distributing fingerlings which had fetched
457.40 million kyats (76.2 million dollars) against 281.29 million kyats (46.88
million dollars).
 

The Xinhua General Overseas News Service

The materials in the Xinhua file were compiled by The Xinhua News Agency. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Xinhua News Agency.

                             APRIL  22, 1994, FRIDAY

LENGTH: 135 words

HEADLINE:  myanmar  permits 17 foreign invested hotels projects

DATELINE: yangon, april 22; ITEM NO: 0422078

    myanmar  minister for hotels and tourism lieutenant-general kyaw ba said
today that  myanmar  foreign investment commission has given permits for 17
foreign-invested hotel projects.  at a ground breaking ceremony of a
foreign-invested hotel in yangon today, the minister also disclosed that three
more hotel projects are soon to be finalized for signing of contracts, and the
total foreign investment for hotels in  myanmar  will amount to over 500 million
u.s. dollars.  the emerald rose garden hotel, a 500-room hotel with
international standard, was invested by the emerald development ltd from hong
kong and may li aung international company of  myanmar.   in the 1993-94 fiscal
year ending last month, over 60,000 visitors came to the country, an increase of
230 percent over the previous year, kyaw ba said.

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