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The BurmaNaut, Issue #2
*************************** BurmaNet *****************************
"Appropriate Information Technologies--Practical Strategies"
******************************************************************
++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE BURMANAUT +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++ The newsletter for the Burma on-line community +++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Incorrect ideas and opinions which do not accord with the times"
(and other things banned by the Press Scrutiny Board)
++++++ Issue #2 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ June 15, 1994 ++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++ strider@xxxxxxxxxxx +++++++++++++++++++++++
The BurmaNaut is distributed over the soc.culture.burma and reg.burma
newsgroups and the SEASIA list. In the future, copies will be available via
gopher at igc.apc.org. The BurmaNaut may be redistributed without
restriction.
____________________________________________________________________
IN THIS ISSUE:
1 BURMA MAILING LIST
2 ARMYTRAK SOFTWARE IN DEVELOPMENT
3 ABOUT LANGUAGE SOFTWARE AND FONTS
4 SOC.CULTURE.BURMA ARCHIVES
5 THE BURMANAUT GUIDE
6 BURMA TOURISM DEBATE ON COMPUSERVE
________________________________________________________________
1 BURMA MAILING LIST
BurmaNet is launching a new Burma mailing list primarily for those who do not
have regular access to soc.culture.burma. If you would like to be added to
this list, please send a note to:
strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
It will for the most part echo s.c.b. so if you do not want to clutter your
mailbox, read s.c.b. using the newsreader at your local site.
________________________________________________________________
2 ARMYTRAK SOFTWARE IN DEVELOPMENT
A database program to keep track members of the Burmese armed forces and
their involvement in human rights abuses is now being developed by a
programmer in the United States. To help the programmer develop a better
piece of software, BurmaNet is calling for input from possible users. A
simple working model of the software has already been written and a finished
version is expected by September, 1994.
Currently, it is envisioned that the software will be useful to track
military personnel in the Burmese armed forces by name and unit affiliation.
Once a significant amount of data has been entered, it should also be
possible to develop unit profiles and keep track of human rights abuses and
combat activities by military units down to at least the battalion level.
In addition to correlating specific names and units with specific incidents
of human rights abuses, the software should also be useful for close
observers of the Burmese armed forces. Military academy affiliations,
graduating class membership and other information relevant to analyzing
factionalism within the armed forces will also be recorded. Finally, family
connections and known close friendships or business connections will be
noted.
If you are a potential user of this software, please write to BurmaNet with
your ideas about useful features. Although it is being developed to track
the Burmese army, the uses for this program in tracking abuses and personnel
in other countries where the military abuses their people is pretty obvious.
Given this, suggestions from potential users not connected with Burma are
also welcome.
The program is being written in C and will run in DOS and MS-Windows
environments. The tentative name of the program is "Armytrak" but this could
easily change.
________________________________________________________________
3 ABOUT LANGUAGE SOFTWARE AND FONTS
A number of people have expressed an interest in sending Burmese and other
language documents across the Internet. It would probably be a good idea to
start a discussion on soc.culture.burma about language software and fonts for
Burmese, Karen, Mon, Shan and other languages of the peoples of the Union of
Burma. If it is possible to promote a single standard format for each of
these languages, it will make exchanging data far simpler than at present.
There are basically two practical ways of handling non-English language
documents on the Internet. The first is to use a word processor especially
written for the language in question. For example, there are word processing
programs that are written in Burmese and produce documents using standard
ascii characters. The other basic way of handling non-English languages is
by using a Windows-based (or Macintosh) word processor and a "true-type
font." Assuming that you were using the same true-type font as the person
you were exchanging mail with, you would then be able to use any word
processor that handles true-type fonts. This includes Microsoft Word for
Windows, Aldus PageMaker, WordPerfect for Windows and a number of others. It
also allows for an easy exchange of messages across platforms. You could for
example, type your message in Burmese using Word for Windows on an IBM-
compatible computer and e-mail it to someone using Pagemaker on a Macintosh.
As I understand it, the main advantage of a dedicated-language word processor
over a true-type font is that with the former, you can post ascii-fied
versions of your messages directly to the news groups like soc.culture.burma.
BurmaNet's own initial suggestion is to use a single standard true-type font
for messages on the Internet, but maybe we should hear from several people
who are already using various pieces of software and fonts.
BurmaNet has collected a couple of Burmese fonts and a Karen-language word
processor. A Mon ttf font is also being developed and it will be posted as
soon as it is done. If you have copies of fonts or software in any of the
languages of the Union of Burma, please contact BurmaNet. I will draw up a
complete listing of everything that is out there and make them available by
gopher, ftp and WWW.
Information that has appeared on s.c.b. on one Burmese word processor and one
font is reproduced here:
To all interested in a Burmese Word Processor:
--------------------------------------------
A Burmese true type font, named SUUKYI.TTF, which can be used with
Windows-based word processors, including Windows Write and Notepad,
is available -- FREE.
The font was developed in honor of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi and all the people devoted to the cause of democracy and justice
in our country, Burma.
The font is available free to anyone who is interested in promoting the
cause of democracy in Burma and provided he/she does not rename or make
changes to the font or sell it to anyone.
Send a disk (any DOS format/size) with a self-addressed envelope and you
will receive the font and a SuuKyi font keyboard layout. Installation
procedures are quite simple and will be on the disk as a readme file.
Address:
-------
INFORMATION OFFICE
National Coalition Government
Suite 609, Bldg 815
15th Street NW
Washington DC 20005
/* ---------- "Fond good Burmese Word Processor!" ---------- */
To All:
A good Burmese word processor can be had by contacting:
Wilfred Bening
Apartment 614
1001 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 294-2964 voice
This runs on any IBM compatible with VGA graphics, and
in its present form prints to the HP Laserjet family.
One enormous advantage is that it saves files to disk in
an ASCII data format, so you can write, then E-mail the files
around as you wish. This could make soc.culture.burma a very
different place, as you could post in Burmese!
Wilfred wrote the code using Turbo C, and the software is
in general use at some Burmese churches to print flyers, songs,
etc. Wilfred will be happy to talk to you, please tell him Randy
Phillips sent you to him via Internet.
Randy Phillips
phillij@xxxxxxx
________________________________________________________________
4 SOC.CULTURE.BURMA ARCHIVES
Soc.culture.burma is now being archived in Thailand at the National Center
for Electronics and Computer Technology. A slightly modified version of
their announcement is reproduced here:
/* ---------- "Announcing soc.culture.burma archiv" ---------- */
Please be advised that an archive for soc.culture.burma articles is now
online for anonymous FTP from ftp.nectec.or.th in directory
/pub/archives/soc.culture.burma/1994
Articles posted in the current month are not on the archive, they will be
online in the following month.
Searching for an article is best done via WAIS full-text search/retrieval
facility. There are many WAIS utilities available for many platforms on
the Internet.
To search and/or retrieve, specify the database:
soc.culture.burma-1994
On the host nexus.nectec.or.th, for instance, from the $ prompt, typing:
$ waissearch -d soc.culture.burma-1994 -h nexus.nectec.or.th 'charter'
would locate articles in the archive that contain the word 'charter'. For
more information about WAIS, consult the newsgroup comp.infosystems.wais.
The original notice was by Trin Tansetthi
________________________________________________________________
5 THE BURMANAUT GUIDE
A number of copies of the 24-page Internet guide for Burmese groups have now
been distributed. If you want a copy and have not received one, contact
BurmaNet. It focuses on access in Thailand but may be useful in other
countries as well. A word of warning however. BurmaNet has received two
reports of accounts used by Burma-related groups in Thailand being turned off
for "political" activity. If you get an account in Thailand, before you
start using it please contact BurmaNet for more detailed instructions on how
to avoid having your account closed.
A new edition of the Internet guide is being drafted now. The title will be
changed to "The BurmaNaut Guide" and it will among other things, include
sections on avoiding account closure and sending documents in languages other
than English.
________________________________________________________________
6 BURMA TOURISM DEBATE ON COMPUSERVE
> Date: Fri, 10 Jun 1994 09:35:47 -0500 (CDT)
> From: Howard Marc Spector <hms@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Help Needed: Burma Info Needed
>
> The following was posted to the Compuserve Asia Travel Forum by Joe
> Cummings, editor of Lonely Planet's *Myanmar* (travel guide):
> >I've been responsible for the updating of the Lonely
> >Planet guide to Burma/Myanmar since the mid '80s and have traveled there
> >yearly since the reopening.
> > Anyone interested in the human rights situation in Myanmar
> >should read the Amnesty International reports. China executed over 1800
> >prisoners in 1993 alone and has executed over a thousand annually for
> >many years now. In Myanmar there have been no public executions since
> >1990. It's interesting to compare the AI reports for several countries,
> >say for instance, Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand, China, India, and Myanmar.
> >Myanmar doesn't come out the worst of the lot - not by far.
>
> I would like to offer your contributions to the forum; specifically, do
> you agree with Mr. Cumming's remarks and, if not, could you give specific
> examples of why you disagree? Many people on Compuserve are thinking
> about travelling to Burma and would take your input seriously.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> howard marc spector
> hms@xxxxxxxxxxxx
ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND TOURISM IN BURMA
June 14, 1994
Howard,
What follows presupposes that you have accurately cited Mr. Cummings views on
the human rights situation in Burma. If you have characterized his position
correctly, he seriously misjudges the situation.
Burma's human rights record is extremely bad and is only exceeded in
brutality by such failed states as Rwanda, Burundi, Bosnia, the Sudan and a
few others. I don't know why Mr. Cummings believes the situation to be
better than it is, but it may be a result of his having travelled in areas of
Burma which are relatively peaceful. (Note: Lonely Planet's Burma guide is
half as long as their Vietnam guide even though Burma is twice as large as
Vietnam). A trip through contested areas of Shan State, Karen State, Rakhine
State, Sagaing Division, Kayah State or Tenasserim Division would yield a
different picture. Not only would the picture be different from what Mr.
Cummings has painted, but it is a picture that is deteriorating.
At present there are 500,000 people in forced labor on any given day. Many
of these forced laborers are army porters who must carry military supplies
into war zones. The current scale of forced labor is unprecedented in
Burmese history. Not in the worst days of the Ne Win regime were there this
many forced laborers. What has changed is that the SLORC believes that there
will soon be a boom in tourism and international trade. To prepare for this,
they are rapidly building roads, railroads and even airports; all using slave
labor. For documentation on this, contact Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch- Asia, the U.S. State Department (annual human rights reports),
the Karen Human Rights Group, the Committee for the Publicity of the People's
Struggle in Monland, or any of the multiple reports in the Bangkok Post, The
Nation or any of dozens of other publications that have carried the story.
Slave labor in Burma is no secret unless you people do not want to see
it. In that case, no amount of documentation will change their minds.
As for the number of public executions--so what? Virtually all executions in
Burma are a private affair between the soldiers carrying them out and the
victims.
As an aside, I'll mention that it is odd to compare a nation of more than 1
billion (China) with Burma's 43 million given that the disparity in numbers
is likely to skew the results. But even this is not truly relevant here.
China is also a human rights disaster so I would hesitate to praise any
country simply because it executed fewer people than China either in real
numbers or on a per capita basis.
The real flaw in Cummings argument is that Burma publishes NO reliable data
on executions. If you count killings of unarmed civilians throughout the
country, the number of dead are likely to be fairly significant. We can't
count those dead however because virtually no human rights monitoring is
possible in that country. It simply is not allowed.
If we were to apply Mr. Cummings reasoning to another recent human rights
disaster, we would come up with the odd conclusion that Cambodia was a great
respecter of human rights under the Khmer Rouge because Amnesty didn't tell
the world about the Killing Fields during the years 1975-79. It was only
after the Khmer Rouge were chased out that the scale of the disaster was
known. In Orwellian states like Burma and K.R.-Cambodia, you can't count the
casualties until you dig them up after the regime falls.
Here is the U.S. State Department's basic summation of Burma's human rights
situation. Bear in mind that this document was written in the dry and
restrained language that government documents employ:
...On balance, because of the persistent abuses by the SLORC,
including its use of forced labor, its wholesale denial of basic
political rights, and blatant manipulation of the national
convention, Burma must continue to be judged a serious violator or
international human rights norms.
If you compare Mexico, Thailand and India, I strongly believe you will find
the situations there to be significantly better. I've read the Vietnam
country report and while it is bad, it ain't as bad as Burma. As for
comparing China and Burma, well I don't know for sure which band of murderous
generals is worse.
Hope this helps. By the way, I'll be posting some recent material from the
Karen Human Rights Group that gives detailed examples of how bad things are.
Generally, the KHRG material is more useful for groups like Amnesty because
it is detailed, long and not enjoyable reading. But since Mr. Cummings has
made the claim that the human rights in Burma is not comparatively too awful,
maybe a closer look at the KHRG material by non-specialists is in order.
Finally, for those of you on Compuserve who are considering travel to Burma;
don't. The Burmese regime is using slave labor to build railways and roads
in hopes that you will come. If you reward that government's use of slave
labor, they are all too likely to continue the practice. If you still want
to travel to Burma, try reading the earlier posting "On the Ethics of Tourism
in
Burma" which is also available on Compuserve. If after reading that, you
still must go, avoid the Lonely Planet guide until it is rewritten. Whatever
Mr. Cummings views of the human rights situation, the LP Burma is inferior to
its competition in basic travel information. A better choice at present is
the "Thailand, Indochina & Burma Handbook" published by Prentice-Hall.
Regards,
Reg Strider
END OF BURMANAUT, ISSUE #2