BurmaNet News Supplement, Part III;

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: BurmaNet News Supplement, Part III; October 12

"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
**************************************************************

BurmaNet News
Wednesday, October 12, 1994
Supplement to #32

BURMA SURVERY: PART III

*************************************************************
BKK POST: NAVIGATING THE IMMIGRATION SEA
Friday, October 7, 1994
 
THAILAND is being swamped by illegal immigrants. Are they stealing 
Thais' jobs, or are they helping industry with cheap labour? Should they be 
treated as criminals or rescued from exploitation? SANITSUDA EKACHAI 
explores the dilemma at hand. 
 
Her face red from a high fever, her hands covered in a rash, a teenage girl 
from Southern China looked pleadingly through the wires of her prison cell. 
She spoke in broken Thai: "No clothes. No money.
Give me to go home."
 
A Burmese man held his baby girl in a small, congested cell. While the 
faceless inmates competed with each other to shout for cigarettes, sugar, 
soap, shampoo, and coffee from the visitors, the young father asked for 
milk. 
 
A young man from Pakistan was crying hysterically. His hands and feet 
were seriously swollen and wounded from a bad case of skin disease. He 
was afraid they might have to be amputated. 
 
An average of 2,800 illegal workers, mostly Burmese, are arrested for 
overstaying their visas and sent to prison at the Immigration Detention 
Centre in Soi Suan Phlu everyday, costing the centre nearly 90,000 baht 
daily for food alone. 
 
"Actually, this arrest figure is meaningless compared to the actual number 
of illegal workers out there," Pol Lt Gen Jaruek Mekvichai of the 
Immigration Bureau said at a seminar on illegal migrant workers, recently 
organised by Mahidol University's Institute for Population and Social 
Research. 
 
"But we cannot afford to arrest more. There's no space to hold them and 
the costs for their food and deportation would be too tremendous." 
 
And for nothing, too. 
 
A recent news report in the Bangkok Post revealed the nonsensical cat-
and-mouse chase. A group of Burmese and Chinese deported at the border 
checkpoint in Chiang Rai simply walked right back across the border. 
 
A policeman on the spot said he could do nothing. In an attempt to ward 
off the reporter's questions, he reportedly offered him one of the young 
women as a bribe. 
 
Thailand's unquenchable sex trade continues to lure young girls from 
poorer neighbouring countries. Their brothers, meanwhile, are willing to 
work rough jobs on fishing boats, at construction sites, in mines and on 
plantations for low pay and no security. 
 
For them, being arrested is part of the risky game they have to play in order
to escape poverty, civil war and political oppression back home. 
 
According to the immigration police chief, it is estimated that there are at 
least 500,000 illegal workers in Thailand, comprising about two per cent of
the country's total workforce. Of these, more than 330,000 are from Burma.
About 100,000 are Chinese, another 80,000 are South Asian, and 10,000 come
from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. 
 
And the numbers are increasing at an alarming rate. 
 
"It's time for Thailand to get tough," insisted Pol Lt Gen Jaruek. "If we do 
nothing, our children will have no jobs in twenty years' time." 
 
The crime rate, he added, usually increases with a huge influx of poor 
migrant workers. He also foresees a rise in hate crimes and social violence 
as angry Thai workers take revenge on those who are stealing their jobs. 
 
"To prevent future disasters, we must stop being kind," urged the chief. 
"The country's survival must come before humanitarian concerns." 
 
Arrest has been the main policy for dealing with illegal migrant workers, 
since the problem is defined as a national security issue. But industries, 
academics, and human rights advocates want to change that, although for 
different reasons. 
 
While the police are for cracking down, economists call for unskilled 
migrant labour to be legalised and regulated. For businesses, these workers 
are a desirable source of cheap and submissive labour. But human rights 
advocates insist that they should receive the same pay and welfare as 
Thais. 
 
Physicians, meanwhile, are concerned about the spread of contagious 
diseases through uncontrolled migration. 
 
"AIDS and tuberculosis are cases in point," said Prof Dr Pradit 
Charoenthaitawee, Mahidol University rector. "There are also new and 
more severe strains of malaria developing along our borders with Burma 
and Cambodia. 
 
"And now with the Indian plague, who knows what illegal migrant workers 
from India are bringing with them?" 
 
But Boonrak Bunyaketmala of the Thailand Research Fund feels that 
controls need to be implemented delicately: "The problem of international 
migration is too complex to be defined as an internal national security issue
whose decision-making power is in the hands of a few." 
 
The seminar was the first time that representatives from a wide variety of 
sectors -- including Immigration Division and Foreign Ministry officials, 
economists, and NGO representatives -- had come together to discuss the 
immigration situation from all angles. 
 
Migration across borders is nothing new in the region's history. In the old 
days, labour was seen as an asset and war victors usually expatriated 
people from defeated enemy kingdoms to their own countries. 
 
Thailand, however, had its first taste of the threat of migration a century 
ago when Chinese migrants flooded into the country, giving rise to a wave 
of fervent nationalism during the reign of King Rama VI. 
 
After World War II, at least 200,000 more immigrants flowed into Thailand 
to escape hardship in Southern China. But a combination of strict 
regulations by Thai authorities close cultural similarities, and Thailand's 
relatively open society allowed them to assimilate successful 
 
Today, second- and third-generation Chinese immigrants are active and 
successful in all spheres of Thai society. 
 
Will the sons and daughters of Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and other South 
Asian countries be given the same chance to thrive here? 
 
The world's unprecedented flow of international migration following the 
end of the Cold War makes experts fearful rather than optimistic about the 
fate of migrants. 
 
According to United Nations estimates, there are between 15 and 30 million 
illegal workers, 20 million displaced persons, and 19 million refugees 
worldwide. 
 
The magnitude of a problem that respects no borderlines has rendered 
policies based on national interest alone -- which are often prejudiced and 
exploitative -- ineffective. 
 
Despite their different policy preferences, seminar participants agreed that 
the "push" and "pull" factors have created a heavy flow of migrant workers 
both into and out of Thailand. 
 
"In a capitalist system which creates income disparities, workers will go 
where they can be paid the most," said lawyer Naiyana Supapueng. 
 
In the pla yai kin pla lek or "big fish eats small fish" system, unskilled
Thai workers rush overseas for better pay. They often end up being exploited,
especially women workers, while Thai industries give foreign labourers the 
same treatment.
 
It is estimated that there are over 400,000 legal Thai workers overseas. More
than 100,000 people still leave annually to find work abroad, mostly in the 
Middle East, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. 
 
Thailand's successful population control and steady flow of outbound 
workers have also led to a decrease in the domestic labour pool, 
economists at the seminar agreed. 
 
"From about 700,000 people in 1992, the labour pool dropped to only 
400,000 in 1993," said Dr Kasemsant Jinnawaso of the National Economic 
and Social Development Board. 
 
Rapid economic growth, he said, has meant that unemployment is no longer 
a problem in Thailand. The unemployment rate, he predicted, will continue 
to drop from 0.5 per cent in 1992 to .25 per cent in 1996. 
 
Meanwhile, the minimum wage recently rose from 132 to 135 baht. The 
fishery, construction, rubber, and mining industries have been among the 
hardest hit, as they depend heavily on cheap labour. To keep their 
industries competitive in the world arena, they have opted for unskilled 
migrant labourers, mostly Burmese. 
 
"Internal conflicts and civil wars in neighbouring countries are pushing 
their people across the borders to seek work in Thailand," said economist 
Dr Nipon Puapongsakorn of the Thailand Development Research Institute. 
 
Not all illegal workers are unskilled, he said. There are skilled workers
from Hong Kong and Taiwan who are working for investors from their countries 
without work permits. Many Europeans marry Thai women and set up bars. 
Others come to teach English on a freelance basis and have their tourist 
visas extended every three months. 
 
But it is the unskilled who are at rock bottom. 
 
"We couldn't possibly stop foreign migrant workers from coming in. Like it 
or not, Thailand has become a gold mine," said Dr Nipon. "Since we cannot 
stop the tide of immigration we should strive instead for a proper 
management system which includes workers' rights." 
 
This, he said, should start with a rational discussion on the pros and cons 
of cheap foreign labour. 
 
"It is obvious that investors will gain from cheap migrant labour. But 
consumers will also benefit from lower prices for goods and services," said 
Dr Nipon. 
 
Among the arguments against cheap migrant labour is that it takes jobs 
away from Thais, depresses labour wages, and retards technological 
development. 
 
"Investors won't be interested in improving their technology if they can 
profit from exploiting cheap migrant workers," said economist Worawit 
Charoenlert. 
 
Exploitation of cheap migrant labour, he warned, may also cause future 
trade rifts with Western countries which link trade status with labour 
standards. 
 
"But if the number of immigrants is large enough their spending will 
increase the demand for goods and services, which will in turn create more 
job opportunities," argued Dr Nipon. 
 
"And if foreign workers are not allowed in Thailand, businesses may 
transfer jobs to countries where cheap labour is abundant." 
 
Some seminar participants questioned the myth that migrant workers come 
to Thailand to feed the country's manpower shortage. Cheap labour, they 
said, is the central issue -- and industries would use fewer migrant 
labourers if they were forced to give them better wages and benefits. 
 
"The main question is whether or not the advantages of immigrant labour 
exceed the disadvantages," said Dr Nipon. 
 
A free immigration policy for foreign workers, he added, would be desirable 
for Thailand if Thai workers were compensated, if migrant workers were 
kept from certain public subsidies, and if the government could deport them 
at will. 
 
But while such measures would protect Thailand's economic interests, 
"they may be inhumane," said Dr Nipon. 
 
Despite the lack of policy guidelines, the authorities have begun, slowly, to
relax the rules governing migrant labour in response to pressure from the 
business sector. 
 
They have recently allowed the conditional employment of Burmese 
workers in the border provinces of Chiang Rai, Kanchanaburi, Tak, and 
Ranong. 
 
The fishery industry has also obtained official permission to use Burmese 
labourers on their trawlers. Owners of big rubber plantations are now 
fighting for the same privilege. 
 
Employers, however, are required to put up a guarantee of 5,000 baht for 
each worker. "I doubt that many investors will do that. We still have 
problems of corruption resulting from excessive red tape and legal 
loopholes," said Dr Kasemsan. 
 
Corrupt officials create a considerable obstacle to the liberalisation of 
foreign labour, noted Dr Nipon. 
 
It is in their interest to guard bureaucratic red tape at all costs so that
they can benefit from turning a blind-eye to powerful racketeers who are
often closely linked to the drug and flesh trades. 
 
Abuses are rife. "There are abundant stories of alien girls being arrested, 
raped and fleeced by officials on their way across the border to visit home,"
said feminist lawyer Naiyana Supapueng. 
 
"Our argument against foreign migrant labour is like any host country's," 
Janya Prompiam, a labour activist who works with Thai workers in 
Singapore. 
 
"We are calling for fairer treatment for our workers overseas while we 
commit the same abuses with our foreign migrant workers. "How can we help our
own people if we are still following a double standard?" 
 
As of yet, words have done nothing to change the situation at the 
immigration detention centre. On a bad day inmates in the group cells can 
only lie down when half of them stand up to make room. 
 
"We are trying to take humanitarian concerns into consideration. But the 
reality is that if we make the prison too comfortable, people won't be 
afraid," said Pol Lt Gen Jaruek Mekvichai. "A lax policy will encourage more 
illegal immigrants to come." 
 
Pleading eyes stare from the cells, longing for freedom. 
 
"Our country's security comes first," the immigration chief insisted. "We 
must harden our hearts." 
 
*********************************************************
BKK POST: ANGEL IN WHITE AT THE IMMIGRATION PRISON
Friday, October 7, 1994
 
[Photo caption: Immigrant children shower Sirichan Sudarat with kisses of 
thanks.
 
ALMOST every day, Sirichan Sudarat takes it upon herself to take bagfuls 
of cake crusts to her "children" awaiting freedom at the Immigration 
Bureau's detention centre. 
 
"They are not criminals. They are just poor people who want to have a 
chance in life," said Sirichan. "They need help." 
 
A small room near the women's cells is full of clothes and other basic 
necessities such as soap, shampoo, and toothpaste which she bought from 
wholesale markets to give the illegal immigrants in jail. 
 
"These people are unseen. No one thinks of them just because they are not 
Thai. And that's why I'm doing this," said Sirichan or "Mama Noi" to the 
inmates. 
 
Sirichan, 55, started visiting the inmates at the Immigration Bureau two 
years ago for religious reasons. 
 
"I had a big upheaval in my personal life and I took refuge in religion. I 
meditated to bring back calmness," said the tiny woman in a white dress 
 
"I came to realise that whatever bad things happened to me might be a 
result of the laws of karma. 
 
"I was a wild child and. I was cruel to animals, killing them for fun. I want
to make up for what I did by doing something good for people who need me,' 
she said. 
 
Sirichan says she has dressed in white since her religious reawakening 
because "I felt like being reborn." 
 
When she walks past the cells, the inmates compete for her attention, 
shouting "Mama Noi". Some ask for basic necessities, while others wave 
letters through the bars, pleading with her to get in touch with relatives. 
When she calls familiar inmates by their names, their faces light up, 
showing how happy they are not to be lost in the faceless crowd. 
 
"When I came here for the first time, I couldn't say a word. It took me a 
whole week to pull myself together and to realise that these are the people 
who need help the most." 
 
The helping, though, goes both ways. 
 
"I was pretty much living in my own painful world. But here they are, the 
poor and destitute struggling with hunger and hopelessness robbed of 
their freedom. 
 
"Their pains put mine into perspective. " 
 
Almost every day, she said she goes to collect cake crusts donated by a 
relative who is in the bakery business. 
 
"For us, this crumbs are of no value. But they are precious for the people 
here who have nothing," she said. 
 
When immigrants with children are sent to jail, so are their children. 
Sirichan said she is grateful that the police have allowed her to organise 
some activities for the kids. 
 
People often ask her why she has been doing this for two years. To answer 
their question, she tells them this anecdote: 
 
"Right before a one-legged Khmer was going to be released, he ran toward 
me and told me that his baby son was still in the women's cell. 
 
"A woman inmate who had been taking care of the child for nearly a year 
didn't want to let him go, so she demanded 3,000 baht for the baby." 
Sirichan helped negotiate until the woman finally settled for 500 baht, which
she helped to pay. 
 
"The man was so thankful. He said that without my help he didn't know if 
he would have ever seen his son again." 
 
Apart from giving inmates moral support, food, and necessities, Sirichan 
said she has helped pay fines for many immigrants who had overstayed to 
keep them out of jail.
 
I once hit rock bottom in my life. It taught me to make merit by giving. I 
want to let people know that there are a lot of people here who are in need
-- not only of things, but of care and attention.
 
"Giving someone their freedom is like giving them life. Its the best gift
of all."



*************************************************************
AIDS
*************************************************************
NATION: BLOOD, SEX AND BORDER CROSSING POINTS
Friday, October 7, 1994
 
Increasing intra-regional trade is playing a significant part in the spread
of Aids, Don Pathan reports.
 
[Photo caption: STARTING YOUNG: Thailand is the only country in Asean 
with an effective anti-Aids campaign.]
 
Each year at the Mae Sai border crossing in Chiang Rai province, some 
10,000 Burmese women and girls as young as 12 are brought into Thailand 
for prostitution, according to Asia Watch, a US-based human rights 
organization. Lured with the promise of jobs, many of these women end up 
in horrific brothels in Thailand. Those who are caught, or "rescued", in 
police raids are treated as criminals instead as victims. What is worse, many

have returned to Burma with HIV. The WHO believes that there are over 
200,000 HIV cases in Burma. The Burmese Health Ministry has put some of 
the blame for the high HIV infection rate along the border on Thailand's 
free-flowing sex industry.
 
"There can be no doubt that the tentacles of the sex industry in Thailand 
are reaching out," said Aye Kyu, an official at Burma's health ministry Aye 
Kyu cited a ministry survey at a Shan hospital in which 75 of the 191 people 
who checked in for suspicious diseases in 1993 were found to be HIV 
positive. Out of these 75 people, 24 percent were drivers who make frequent 
trips to Thailand.
 
Dr. James Chin, a clinical professor of epidemiology at the University of 
California, Berkeley, and formerly chief of surveillance for the WHO Global 
Programme on Aids, pointed out that South and Southeast Asia is at an 
early stage of the Aids epidemic. As a result, Aids is not perceived as a 
significant public health problem by the general public. His studies indicate

that the infection rate in Thailand and Burma is increasing rapidly and the 
virus is beginning to spread from core groups -- injection drug users (IDU), 
commercial sex workers (CSW) and male, clients of sexually transmitted 
disease (STD) clinic -- to the general public. 
 
Various case-studies conducted by NGOs have shown that the border 
towns in the region of Southeast Asia have some of the highest HIV 
infection rates in the world. The WHO estimates about two to three million 
adults infected with the Aids virus are in South and Southeast Asia. 
 
WHO predicted that by the end of this decade, Asia will overtake Africa in 
terms of newly infected people. Although the infection rate is relatively 
high in Southeast Asia, very few infections have progressed to Aids. For 
example, by the end of 1993 Thailand have reported a total of 5,000 Aids 
and Aids-related cases-out of an estimated 600,000 HIV infections. 
Yunan, a southwestern province of China located just north of the Golden 
Triangle, is reported of having the highest infection rate in China. This 
province is also known for having a high number of drug users. 
 
A study conducted in 1992 by the United Nations Drug Control Programme 
(UNDCP) around the Thai-Burmese border found alarming levels of HIV 
infection along the border area. Among those found to be infected were: 31 
percent of males inflicted with sexually transmitted diseases in Chiang Rai, 
40 per cent of drug users in Mae Sai, 22 percent of brothel prostitutes in 
Ranong, 58 percent of low-income prostitutes in Chiang Rai, 16 per cent of 
entertainment workers in Chiang Rai, 7.5 per cent of blood donors in Mae 
Hong Son, and 4.3 per cent of pregnant women in Mae Hong Son. The 
same pattern holds true along the Chinese-Burma border where 95 percent 
of the HIV positive persons identified in 1991 were from the two provinces 
bordering Burma. Unfortunately, the Thai government's aggressive 
campaign to promote condom use has little effect on Burmese sex workers 
because of the language barrier. Furthermore, if these Burmese women are 
caught, they are usually charged with illegal entry instead of being treated 
as victims. 
 
Vietnam and Cambodia are expected to become more vulnerable to the Aids 
threat as the two countries open their border to international business and 
tourism. Already, many Vietnamese prostitutes working in Cambodia have 
been reported to be HlV-infected. It is likely that these women will return
to 
Vietnam and spread the disease. Experts expect the new bridge between 
Thailand and Laos's capital city, Vientiane, will not only strengthen 
economic ties between the two countries but facilitate the flow of Aids as 
well. 
 
Cambodia, impoverished and recovering from civil war, has only recently 
begun to consider Aids a potential problem for monitoring. With heavy 
border activities between Cambodia and Thailand and high trafficking of 
prostitution between Cambodia and Vietnam, some experts are predicting a 
sizeable epidemic in the future. 
 
Malaysia, on the other hand, has a different problem. According to 
government figures, 5,140 people have tested positive for HIV and 72 for 
full-blown Aids. Private medial workers estimate, however, that as many as 
50,000 people may be infected. In the March 1994 edition of the Far Eastern 
Economic Review, Terry Scott, a regional Aids specialist with DKT 
International, a US-funded agency, pointed out that Malaysia is one of the 
few countries in the world that has the infrastructure and capability to 
effectively counter the spread of Aids. 
 
However, with strong opposition from both Catholic and Muslim groups, 
the campaign against Aids remains an uphill battle. For example, the 
government $9.3 million 1993 Aids budget was spent on NGOs 
programmes, blood screenings, and health education but nothing was 
spent on condom promotion. 
 
For Indonesia, a nation with 184 million, an outbreak of the HIV epidemic 
could be devastating. In an interview with Science's Jane Stevens earlier 
this year, Paul De Lay, a technical adviser to the US Agency for 
International Development (USAID), pointed out that ''An epidemic of HIV 
in Indonesia would have a major impact throughout the Pacific Rim." One 
major advantage Indonesia has is the fact that the disease has not yet 
established itself. However, statistics reveal that the number of new HIV 
cases is doubling every year. At the beginning of this year, only 51 Aids 
cases were reported and the government estimated that between 20,000 to 
40,000 are infected with HIV. 
 
Like Malaysia, Indonesia's anti-Aids campaigners are confronted with 
opposition from the conservative elements of the society. Promotion of 
condoms is still considered unacceptable and according to the USAID 
estimates, condom usage is only five percent. 
 
By ,the end of this year, Indonesia will receive from the US, Germany, and 
Australia a 5-year, $40 million package to monitor HIV infection rates, buy 
lab equipment, strengthen educational programmes, improve health 
facilities, and assist NGOs that promote Aids education. However, even 
with millions of dollars pouring into Indonesia, the nation's thriving 
commercial sex industry with its broad client base, low condom usage and 
high rate of STDs suggest the environment is ripe for rapid HIV infection. 
 
Aids experts have identified the three principle high-risk groups for HIV 
infection in the Philippines as commercial sex workers, male homosexuals, 
and overseas workers who have returned home. 

*************************************************************
"THE NATIONAL RACES"
*************************************************************
REUTERS: THOUSANDS READY TO FLEE OPIUM WARLORD'S STRONGHOLD

By Sutin Wannabovorn 
BANGKOK, Oct 6 (Reuter) - Thousands of followers of Golden Triangle
warlord Khun Sa face starvation and are preparing to flee his stronghold
on the edge of Burma's Shan State after Thailand sealed its border, Shan
sources said on Thursday. 

Ho Mong, a normally thriving town of more than 6,000 people, has
turned quiet. Goods are scarce at the morning markets and shophouses since
the Thai military blocked jungle tracks between the two countries two
months ago. 

``The situation is very bad. Many people are preparing to flee from Ho
Mong,'' a senior Shan guerrilla who arrived in Thailand last week told
Reuters. 

The Ho Mong base of Khun Sa is dependent entirely on supplies from
Thailand because Burmese government troops, with orders to eliminate the
drug baron, are drawn up on the west bank of the Salween river, part of
which forms the border between Thailand and Burma. 

The Thai national security council confirmed the border had been
sealed. 

``The Mae Hong Son provincial governor and local armed forces have
been ordered to seal off the border for security reasons,'' a council
spokesman told Reuters by telephone. 

The Shan guerrilla said hundreds of people including himself,
believing worse was to come, have slipped into Thailand despite the border
closure. Thousands more are preparing to flee deeper inside Shan State
where they can obtain food, he said. 

``The man (Khun Sa) is just about finished. His practice of bribing
his way through does not work any more,'' the same source said, adding
that Thailand had arrested a Khun Sa envoy who had tried to negotiate a
border reopening. 

``Yes, people are suffering hardship. They spend most of their time
trying to get supplies from the Thai border,'' Kuen Sai, a spokesman for
Khun Sa, told Reuters by telephone. 

The spokesman said hundreds of people have to trek down jungle paths
on 10-hour journeys in order to smuggle goods to Ho Mong from the black
market on the border. 

The price of rice and other goods in Ho Mong, about 20 km (12 miles)
north of the Thai border, has more than trebled in the past two months. 

``People have to pay up to 400 baht ($16) for 15 kgs of rice and 40
baht ($1.6) for one litre of gasoline,'' a woman living in the town said. 

The Shan rebel said he believed Thailand had closed its border under
pressure from the United States, which has called for tougher action
against Khun Sa since a U.S. court indicted him in 1990 for heroin
trafficking. 

Khun Sa, 60, is the half-Chinese, half Shan commander of the 8,000
strong Mong Tai Army (MTA) which he says is fighting for the independence
of Shan State from Burma. 

Thai and U.S. drug enforcement agencies accuse him of using the MTA as
a private army to protect his heroin business. Khun Sa denies the charge
and says he only taxes opium traders who traverse the territory he
controls. 

Closure of the border could prove decisive in the long struggle
between Khun Sa and Burmese government troops, because it for the first
time traps him between Thai forces and the Salween river line held by the
Burmese government. 

*************************************************************
NATION: PHRA PHAYOM SEEKS PREVIEW OF YANTRA'S BIRTHDAY SHOW [KARENS]
Friday, October 7, 1994
 
PHRA Phayom Kallayano, abbot of Wat Suankaew, recommended 
yesterday recording a local Karen show to be performed at the birthday 
party of Phra Yantra Ammarobhikku, to see if the performances were 
against Buddhist disciplines. 
 
The performances are to involve Karen from 12 villages in order to celebrate 
Phra Yantra's 43rd birthday. 
 
The party, arranged by Phra Yantra's followers, is to be held at the 
Sunyataram monastery in Kanchanaburi province from Oct 13 to l5. 
 
Phayom said some previous Karen performances he had seen on television 
were inappropriate as they were sexually explicit. However, to judge 
whether or not the planned performances were proper for monks he would 
have to see some evidence first before making a decision. 
 
If the performances, said by Phra Yantra's followers to be "cultural and 
artistic", were sexually provocative they would be inappropriate and 
damage Buddhism, he said. 
 
He said it would be amazing if tens of thousands of people attended the 
party and did not realize that what they were watching was sinful. 
 
The abbot added that Phra Yantra was not a proper monk as he failed to 
turn up for a blood test recently. The test was to try to prove whether he 
fathered a child with one of his former female followers. 
 
Phrakru Samuthawat Manavaro, secretary of the abbot at Wat Thatthong, 
said watching the planned performance was simply against Buddhist 
disciplines, even if it was held at a temple. 
 
He said such performances were for people in the secular world, not in the 
religious one. 
 
Meanwhile, Phra Mahaaphichet Aphichettho, leader of Sahatham and 
Mahachulalongkorn temples, yesterday urged the people with 
responsibilities concerning the sexual misconduct allegedly committed by 
Phra Yantra to review their roles. 
 
 



*************************************************************
CULTURE
*************************************************************
NATION: WITTY REMARK ON BURMESE COOKING
Sunday, October 9, 1994
Book Review
 
Under The Golden Pagoda: The Best of Burmese Cooking
by Aung Aung Taik 
Chronicle Books 1993
 
FOR those of you who have read "Memories of Shwedagon," you'll 
remember Aung Aung Taik to have a witty, open mind about most 
everything having to do with the mind and spirit. It was only a matter of 
time before he got around to writing about the fuel of mind and spirit -- 
food, Burmese food, of course.
 
While there are a couple Burmese cook books out and around, one 
"so-so", one a scholar's opus and a few also-rans, this new book is an 
overdue, welcome, intelligent and amusing addition.
 
Some interesting food habits and customs are covered along with 150 
recipes from all parts of Burma -- now a state-of-mind. Anyone for 
Myamnarian cuisine? No? Well, anyway, this is Burmese. The recipes 
demonstrate the intricate nature of Burmese cuisine and you'll notice the 
differences between Thai and Thai-Burmese food. Curries are covered 
extensively along with some very interesting dishes, notably pork with 
calabash (bottleneck gourd), a nice twist on squid salad and caramelized 
chicken with coriander.
 
*************************************************************
S.C.B.: BURMESE BOOK 'FOLKTALES OF LUDU U HLA
from soc.culture.burma   12:34 PM  Oct  9, 1994


Dear All

I thought I'd just let you know of a Burmese book called 'Folktales of
Ludu U Hla', written by Ludu U Hla, of course. It contains 8 well
known Burmese folktales written in both Burmese and English, with
illustrations. It was published in June of this year. The stories
themselves came from the various indigenous people in our country,
namely, InLay, Kayar, Shan, Kachin, Kayin (Karen), Chin, Mon and
Yakhine.

The stories were translated to English by U Khin Zaw, Kathleen Forbes
(Daw Yin Yin) who holds a PhD in Linguistic from London University and
was the Head of English Dept. in Mandalay University, and her husband Dr.
Than Tun, Professor of Botany. 

The book contains around 150 pages, A5 size, paper back and published by
Kyi Pwa Ye Press.

Having read the book I found the stories very well told, enjoyable and
brought back my childhood memories of the times when I read the stories
for the very first time.  (I read the stories in English first and read
them again in Burmese and found that each language gave its own unique
flavour.)

The reason I'm telling you about this book is that if you are a Burmese
who have children growing up outside Burma and wish your children would
read more Burmese related books then this could be one of them. They can
read the English text first and then read the Burmese version and
hopefully this would entice them to learn more Burmese, while at the
same time learning little bit about the people and the culture back
home. 

The address of the publisher is:

Daw Tin Win
Kyi Pwa Ye Press
No 221, 84th Street
Letsaigan Quarters
Mandalay
Burma

[Dis]claimer: Unlike the usual disclaimers I must admit to been
related to the author and the publishers. Ludu U Hla is, or rather
was, my uncle (since he died when I was just a kid) and I'm promoting
this book purely on the grounds of its own strengths. I don't receive
any benefit, financial or otherwise, by people buying this book. In
fact, my aunt, Ludu Daw Amar (who compiled this book) and her daughter
Daw Tin Win don't even know that I'm publicising one of their books. I
got hold of the book because my aunt always send to me any new books
that she publishes.

Even if you decide that you would like a copy of this book, there are
many obstacles to go through before the book can be sent to you. For a
start, they don't have an account in a bank that the overseas banks
can send money to; they don't have a bank account, full stop! So you
can't send a cheque and forget your credit cards too.

Assuming that somehow you manage to send money to them (this is a big
problem), they then have to get a permit for each book to be sent abroad
from the Board of Censorships, i.e. they have to send the book to the
Censors, they look through the book, and if they are happy they'll put a
stamp on saying it's clear. Only then the post office will accept the
book. Having succeeded so far, you'll then have to worry about the
reliability (or rather the lack of it) of the Burmese postal system
actually sending the book to you in one piece, and on time. 

The book doesn't cost much locally but will cost a bit more to be sent
abroad. They might even decide that it's not worth their while to go
through all that troubles just to make a little bit of extra money. 

Unlike the SLORC they don't need foreign money to survive; they're quite
comfortably well-off on their own.

If there are a lot of demands for this book then I'll write to them to
tell them the troubles I started and see what they can do. There are
only 1000 copies of this book in publication, but since this book was
done entirely on the Macintosh, it should be relatively easy to reprint
them again. 

Send me an email if you are interested in the book. 

Len Aye 
email:lka@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leonard Kyaw Soe Aung Aye               |Internet: lka@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
School of Computer Science,             |Janet:    lka@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston,     |tel:     +44 (0)21 414-3705
Birmingham, West Midlands B15 2TT, England, UK    |fax:     +44 (0)21
414-4281
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...I realized that all men are cremated equal. I'm concentrating on leaving
the best looking corpse I can..." -- Guy Kawasaki.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

*************************************************************
LETTERS
*************************************************************
FEER: ISOLATING BURMA
(Letters), September 29, 1994, p.4
 
With regard to your editorial "Come Ye Back to Mandalay" [Aug. 11], you 
give the impression that Burma's isolation is at the root of its many 
problems. And you imply that since the State Law and Order Restoration 
Council (Slorc) has abandoned isolationism, it should be encouraged 
instead of re-isolated (in your view) by the West.
 
The perspective is quite troubling because Burma problem is not so much 
isolationism as unaccountable rule by the military and Ne Win. Isolationism 
was a component of the old, socialist order, a system where politics was 
closed off from its citizens and monopolized by the military. At issue is not
isolationism but what kind of openness is best for Burma.
 
Clearly the Slorc wishes to impose only a pseudo-openness. This is evident 
from the man socialist restrictions, structures and regulations still in
place in both the political and economic sphere. It is also evident from its
attempt to impose a semi-closed system in the constitution it is trying to
ram through.
 
The Burmese people and their real leaders -- including Aung San Suu Kyi, 
democratic activists and elected members of parliament -- want real 
openness for politics and the economy, as in Thailand and Malaysia. 
Asean governments and leaders are more enlightened than Ne Win and the 
Burmese military and more cosmopolitan than Den Xiaoping. It is therefore 
incomprehensible that they should fear democracy or genuine openness in 
Burma.
 
It would be more beneficial for all if Asean took under its wings the new 
leaders of Burma -- who spearheaded Burma's opening to the world by 
overthrowing the socialist regime in 1988 -- instead of the armed remnants 
of the closed, old order. Support for the Slorc is analogous to Asean's 
going to the air to Marcos in 1989 and Suchinda in 1992.
 
CHAO-TZANG YAWNGHWE
Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
 
******
[And another letter from the US] 

Your editorial again raises the question of what role the American 
Government ought to play vis-a-vis Burma. The debacle regarding China's 
most-favoured-nation trading status, along with the fact that Asia's 
economic dynamism is rising while the United States suffers from a 
downturn, demonstrates that America can no longer force its views on 
Asean countries. The issue before the Clinton administration is whether US 
interests are best served by standing alone on Burma -- or looking to 
Asean for leadership and supporting its recommendations.
 
THOMAS EDWARD WALL
Culver City, California
 

*********************************************************
FEER: THOUGHTLESS INDULGENCE 
(Letters) September 8, 1994, p.4
 
In your August 11 editorial on Myanmar ["Come Ye Back to Mandalay: 
Asean urges constructive engagement with Burma"], I was dismayed by 
your use of a strong, emotive word -- thugs -- to describe the leaders of my 
country. 
 
They are all graduates of the Defence Services Academy, modelled on 
West Point, or the Officers Training Schools, modelled on Sandhurst. All 
are taught to be patriotic and trained to defend the nation from any external
or internal threat. 
 
The original "thugs" were organised criminal gangs in India . Their modus 
operandus was to befriend and beguile travellers and then murder and rob 
them in the night. 
 
The "assassins" of Central Asia operated similarly. Other examples were, of 
course, those rapacious freebooters who sailed faraway seas to befriend, 
beguile and . . . well, we all know what was looted during the days of 
colonialism. 
 
Hong Kong's prosperity began with the Opium Wars waged by such 
adventurers, and in his historical novel, "Foreign Mud," Maurice Collins 
describes it vividly. 
 
I do hope your dignified weekly will not indulge itself thoughtlessly in such
strong words; it may amount to throwing something bad up to the ceiling 
fan in your own room. 
 
MAUNG THITSA
Myanmar Embassy Jakarta

*********************************************************
AW: RESPONSE TO MAUNG THITSA
(Letters & Comment), September 7, 1994, p.16+
 
>From Win Naing in Buffalo, New York, USA:
 
"The View From Yangon on Rights and Dissidents" [LETTERS & 
COMMENTS, Aug 17] is the opinion of Maung Thitsa of the Myanmar 
Embassy in Jakarta. Since Maung Thitsa cannot represent the whole of 
Yangon, your headline is not suitable.
 
The term "repressive policies" used in the Asiaweek article arises because 
in Myanmar one enters this life under repressive policies. If there were no 
repression, there would be no dissidents.
 
How dare Maung Thitsa write that peace and tranquillity prevail. The 
regime trains the military to kill the people and protect itself. If there
are no repressive policies, how come Ne Win since 1962 has said, among other 
things: "If the army shoots, it hits. There is no firing into the air to
scare"?
 
The superficiality of the economy, trade, social affairs, culture and
religion is as the goat skin to cover the dead elephant. The deteriorating
Burma or so-called Myanmar is a volcano ready to erupt.
 
It's pointless Maung Thitsa talking about the hospitality giver to Than 
Than Nu. U Nu's family is one that Ne Win can do whatever he likes to. U 
Nu became an exile only when Ne Win released him and he returned only 
when Ne Win permitted it with an amnesty in 1980.
 
Foolishly he appeared again during the uprising period in 1988 and 
shamelessly announced that he was the prime minister according to the 
1947 constitution. When he was put under house arrest he washed his 
hands of politics. How reliable is he?
 
Don't be so upset by the word "pariah," Maung Thitsa. As long as your 
regime exists, it will be the most appropriate word to describe the country.
If the people have the right to form their own government, nobody will see 
the country as a pariah.
 
WIN NAING


*********************************************************
AW: LETTER REGARDING MYINT THEIN
(Letters & Comment), September 7, 1994, p.12+
 
>From Thanat Khoman in Bangkok:
 
Mr Myint Thein [LETTERS & COMMENT, Aug 24] seems to be lacking in 
unbiased information about Cambodia, or was he brainwashed by 
Australian and some WASP sources of a disinformation campaign against 
Thailand? In reply I offer these verifiable facts:
 
1. First Prime Minister Ranarridh, his father and hosts of Cambodians are 
the substantial beneficiaries of Thai government largesse. In addition, 
hundreds of thousands of Cambodian refugees were sheltered and fed by 
Thailand.
 
2. As to the moronic accusation of Thai support for the Khmer Rouge, the 
fact that these "products of French culture" had killed more Thai villagers 
than people of other nationalities, Australians or Americans, should make 
the charges absurd. Only retarded people would believe it.
 
Mr Myint Thein mentioned that Indonesia is training some Cambodian 
soldiers. It is hoped that these soldiers can be persuaded not to practice 
cannibalism like those presently in service who, according to reports from 
Phnom Penh vernaculars, seem to take great delight in eating human liver 
extracted from them killed victims.
 
3. Another historic feature should also be pointed out, and it is that the 
Norodom branch of Cambodian royals is the usurper. The legitimate 
Sisowat branch lost out because it wanted independence for Cambodia 
while the other won the favor of France by agreeing to place the country 
under French protectorate. As a result, the Norodom royal members 
ascended the throne with French help.
 
4. I wish also to offer friendly advice to Mr Myint Thein, if he wants to 
restore freedom to Myanmar, he should go and fight the SLORC people 
there, not from a faraway place like Texas.
 
As to the suggestion that I should engage myself in that struggle, my reply 
is that this is a job for the Burmese, not outsiders. Personally, I have 
already had an encounter with SLORC's mastermind, namely Gen Ne Win, 
to whom I paid a courtesy call while I was foreign minister. Though the 
conversation started smoothly, it exploded when he complained about 
Thailand allowing Burmese fleeing their homeland to conduct an 
opposition campaign along the border.
 
When I quietly observed that there must be something wrong when the 
people do not want to stay in their country but prefer to exile themselves, 
Gen Ne Win flew into a rage.
 
Later on, the then Burmese foreign minister, who was also present at the 
meeting, assured me that these outbursts were not unusual; he himself had 
to endure many of them. As he had to use a hearing aid, however, he just 
switched it off and remained unperturbed to the annoyance of Chairman Ne 
Win.
 
THANAT KHOMAN
 
Thanat Khoman was Thai foreign minister 1959-1971.
 

ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:

 AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
 AFP: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
 AW: AsiaWeek
 AWSJ: ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
 Bt.: Thai Baht; 25 Bt.=US$1 (approx)
 BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
 BI: BURMA ISSUES
 BIG: BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
 BKK POST: THE BANGKOK POST
 CPPSM: COMMITTEE FOR THE PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND
 FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW
 NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
 S.C.B.:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
 SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST

*************************************************************************
*                                                                       *
* The BurmaNet News is distributed daily via the reg.burma and seasia   *
* mailing lists as well as the soc.culture.burma and soc.culture.thai   *   
* newsgroups.  For a free subscription to the BurmaNet News, send a     *
* note to:                                                              *   
*                                                                       *
*      strider@xxxxxxxxxxx                                              *
*                                                                       *
*************************************************************************