Soros raps Myanmar aid

[tinkyi@xxxxxxxxx]

( Article by Tom Diederich, The Daily Yomiuri - Thursday, January 18, 1996 )
Soros raps Myanmar aid

Soros, who spoke Wednesday about his Open Society Fund and his many 
other philanthropic activities, criticized Japan's financial aid to Myanmar and
called on Tokyo to withhold further economic assistance to that country.

'' I'm involved in trying to help establish open societies in the countries 
where 
they don't exist....and ( Myanmar ) is one of the places that qualifies as an 
oppressive and closed society, '' Soros said.

'' To have Burma-which is a very closed society-open up, is a worthy objective.
But the present regime is not interested in that. It is only interested in that. 
It is 
only interested in preserving itself. ''

Soros said progress toward improving Myanmar's human rights record was seen
with the July release from house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi 
but
that little has been done since.

Information Committee
B.Y.V.A- Japan.