Wired News on Feb.24, '95

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on Feb. 24 , 1995
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Australia raises prospect of ASEAN snub for Burma   

  (Adds former prime minister's comments in 8th, 9th paras.) 

    By Mark Bendeich 

    SYDNEY, Feb 24 (Reuter) - Australia said on Friday that Burma's military
government faced possible exclusion from next July's meeting of ASEAN nations
over its alleged continued human-rights abuses. 

    Citing attacks on ethnic-minority rebels and issues of forced labour and
political prisoners, Australia's foreign minister said a case could be made
for barring Burma from the next Association of Southeast Asian Nations
meeting. 

    Gareth Evans also described as a ``charade'' moves by Burma's ruling
State Law and Restoration Council (SLORC) to draft a new constitution. 

    ``If the present situation continues ... then there may well be a strong
case for Myanmar having even less status than it was granted last year,''
Evans told reporters. SLORC changed the country's name to Myanmar after the
army suppressed a nationwide democracy uprising in 1988. 

    A lowering of status at the Brunei meeting would imply that Burma did not
attend at all, Evans said. 

    Burma attended an ASEAN meeting for the first time as a special guest in
Bangkok last July. Its attendance at the talks, which included Australia as
an ASEAN dialogue partner, was part of a regional policy of constructive
engagement with Burma. 

    Evans made his comments after returning from a visit to ASEAN countries
Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia to discuss regional security issues
ahead of the Brunei meeting. The other ASEAN countries are the Philippines
and Singapore. 

    His remarks coincided with what an exiled Burmese dissident called a
shameful show of support for SLORC on Friday by former Australian prime
minister Bob Hawke, whose recent visit to Burma was condemned by some groups.


    SLORC was genuinely committed to improving the economic well being of the
people and was responsible for many ``good things,'' Hawke told a national
parliamentary inquiry. 

    ``We have been uniformly impressed by the competence and knowledge and
commitment of these ministers and their associates to the economic
development of Myanmar as a basis for national and political advancement of
the people of their country,'' Hawke said. 

    Around the time of Hawke's business visit to Burma last month, Burmese
troops launched an offensive against ethnic Karen rebels near the border with
Thailand, sending up to 10,000 refugees across the frontier. 

    ``I feel very shameful on behalf of Mr Hawke's visit and his attitude
toward democracy in Burma,'' Saw Lwin Oo of the Australian Committee for
Restoration of Democracy in Burma, told Reuters. 

    Evans restated his disappointment on Friday at Hawke's failure to discuss
human rights during his visit, though a SLORC representative raised the issue
at one meeting with Hawke. ``There was an ample window there,'' Evans said. 

    On the continued detention of Burmese dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
Evans indicated the sixth anniversary of the house arrest of the Nobel Peace
Prize laureate next July could provide a focus for talks on Burma at the
ASEAN meeting. 

    ``There will be a real test come July and it's one that we ought to be
prepared to impose,'' he said. 

    Aung San Suu Kyi was detained in 1989, but her National League for
Democracy went on to win a landslide victory in 1990 elections, which SLORC
ignored. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-24 05:31:32 EST
*********
      COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Reuter) - Texas Sen. Phil Gramm kicked off the
1996 pres    a0033LBY669reulb r i BC-BURMA-SINGERS   02-25 0207
^BC-BURMA-SINGERS@ 

 ^Don't feed the customers, Burmese singers told@ 

    RANGOON, Feb 25 (Reuter) - Singers and other entertainers in Burma have
been warned to cut out saucy behaviour and be neat and tidy or face the
consequences, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on
Saturday. 

    The Minister for Religious Affairs, Lieutenant-General Myo Nyunt, issued
the strict new set of rules at a meeting with entertainers on Friday, the
paper said. 

    Women performers cannot wear skirts with revealing slits up the sides nor
can they dress in tight trousers. Men cannot have long hair or wear jeans or
shabby leather shirts, the rules state. 

    Singers cannot sing at restaurant tables nor sit on customers' laps. And,
they are banned from feeding customers and drinking through a straw from a
single glass head-on with a customer, the paper said. 

    Severe action will be taken against anyone who acts indecently, Myo Nyunt
was quoted as saying. 

    Burma's ruling military body has in recent years allowed cabarets,
karaoke and other types of bars to open after decades of strict bans on all
such night-time entertainment. 

    Authorities issue regular warnings about the dangers of decadent foreign
influences, and many Burmese say they are worried about the invasion of
foreign culture. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-25 01:52:47 EST
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Burmese general apologises over burden of battles   

    BANGKOK, Feb 24 (Reuter) - A senior member of Burma's ruling military
body apologised to Thailand for the burden of a recent Burmese army offensive
against Karen ethnic minority guerrillas, The Nation reported on Friday. 

    Lieutenant-General Tin Oo, one of the most senior members of Burma's
ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) told Thai army
commanders he was sorry for the unfortunate burden caused by the offensive,
the paper said, citing Thai army sources. 

    A private guest of Thai army commander General Wimol Wongwanich, Tin Oo
arrived in Thailand on Thursday for a low-key three-day visit. 

    Normally cordial relations between Thailand and Burma have been slightly
strained in recent weeks after Rangoon launched an offensive against
autonomy-seeking Karen guerrillas in southeastern Burma, sending up to 10,000
refugees into Thailand. 

    Hundreds of shells landed on the Thai side of the border during attacks
on the guerrilla bases, forcing hundreds of Thai villagers to flee their
homes. 

    Karen guerrillas withdrew under fire from Kawmoora, their last defensive
border base, on Tuesday alleging that Burmese forces had fired chemical
shells in their final assault on the camp. 

    Thai army officers monitoring the fighting said seven Burmese army
battalions, or 3,000 troops, plus an extensive battery of heavy weapons, were
deployed against the 1,000 defenders of Kawmoora. 

    Earlier this month, Burmese army commanders accused Thai forces of
assisting the guerrillas. 

    Thai commanders denied the charge and Bangkok told Burmese forces not to
cross into Thai territory during their campaign. 

    Bangkok officials said any violation of Thai territory could lead to a
re-evaluation of the policy of constructive engagement with Burma's military
government. 

    Burma's powerful military intelligence chief, Lieutenant-General Khin
Nyunt, indefinitely postponed a visit to Thailand shortly after the start of
the offensive, a Thai official said. 

    Burma attended a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) for the first time last year as a guest of host country Thailand. 

    While in Bangkok for the annual gathering, Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw told
Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai that the SLORC would seek a negotiated
settlement to the long-running minority insurgencies. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-24 01:59:04 EST
************

Three die in ambush of Karen refugees in Thailand   

    MAE SOT, Thailand, Feb 24 (Reuter) - Three people were killed when gunmen
opened fire on a truck carrying Karen refugees in northwest Thailand, Thai
police and refugee workers said on Friday. 

    The Thai driver of the truck and two Karen women refugees died and 10
others were wounded in the ambush on Thursday evening, police said. 

    The refugees were moving from a camp on the Thai-Burmese border to a
location deeper in Thailand at the time of the attack. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-24 11:15:31 EST
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