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BurmaNet News August 26, 1996
- Subject: BurmaNet News August 26, 1996
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 04:23:00
-----------------------------BurmaNet--------------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: August 26, 1996
Issue #499
Noted in passing:
The fact that democracy is often abused, leading to chaos
and paralysis, does not mean that dictatorship is the answer.
- Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
(see: WSJ: MALAYSIA OFFICIAL ASSAILS
AUTHORITARIANISM IN REGION)
HEADLINES:
==========
WSJ: MALAYSIA OFFICIAL ASSAILS AUTHORITARIANISM IN REGION
WSJ: US FOCUSES ON BURMA WITH KEY POSTING
SYNAPSES PROJECT BURMA : HYPOCRISY UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY
US EMBASSY RANGOON: FOREIGN ECONOMIC TRENDS - BURMA
AIM: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST MINORITIES
AP: SUU KYI ATTACKS BURMA ARRESTS
REUTERS: U.S. DENOUNCES JAILING OF DISSIDENTS IN BURMA
THE TIMES OF INDIA: MYANMAR AND ASEAN
BKK POST: PRO-SLORC KAREN REBELS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN OF TERROR
REUTERS: SCORE OF RELOCATED KARENNI REFUGEES
FBC: BLOCK SLORC VISIT TO THE USA
CFOB: MYANVIEW MAGAZINE
KYEMON: ...FOR THOSE WHO ARE PRETENDING TO BE BLIND
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WSJ: MALAYSIA OFFICIAL ASSAILS AUTHORITARIANISM IN REGION
August 26, 1996
MANILA, Philippines -- In a speech here Friday, Malaysian Deputy Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim attacked authoritarianism in the
region and said that democracy "is a basic necessity for responsible and
ethical government."
It isn't the first time Datuk Ibrahim -- who is considered the leading
candidate to take over the reins of the governing party and as prime
minister after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad eventually steps down
-- has voiced such views. And observers say that Datuk Ibrahim mostly
airs his views overseas, rather than in Malaysia. But this time, they said,
the message was more strongly worded than previous ones.
Datuk Ibrahim spoke as a guest of honor at a Philippine-sponsored
conference on the centennial of its 1896 revolution. Afterwards, he
reiterated his views at a press conference.
The timing also made the speech noteworthy. Coming amid a continuing
purge of political opponents and pro-democracy groups in Indonesia and as
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has come under attack for being
passive in dealing with human-rights abuses in Burma, the speech was a
strongly worded argument in the normally hushed debate over the region's
future political development.
'Democracy Is Not a Luxury'
"It is essential that power be vested in a democratically constituted
authority rather than in the hands of the individual," Datuk Ibrahim said.
"Power personalized is power plundered from the people. Democracy is not
a luxury that Asians cannot afford, as some would want us to believe."
Datuk Ibrahim, 49 years old, is a generation younger than many of the
leaders who run the countries in the region. While the fight for
independence from the colonial powers shaped much of the mind-set of
leaders such as President Suharto of Indonesia, former Prime Minister Lee
Kuan Yew in Singapore and Malaysia's Dr. Mahathir, Datuk Ibrahim grew
up when the student movements of the 1960s, the Vietnam War and the
radical insurgency groups in other developing countries dominated the
political and ideological agenda. He was detained for nearly two years
between 1974 and 1976 under Malaysia's Internal Security Act for
leading student demonstrations.
An aide said Datuk Ibrahim had been very upset about recent events in
Indonesia: "Those are his friends being arrested," the aide said,
presumably referring to the fact that many of those detained are student
activists, as he once was.
The Middle Path
"I do not defend the condescending attitude of Asian leaders toward their
citizenry," Datuk Ibrahim said at the press conference.
In his speech, Datuk Ibrahim dismissed the idea that democracy is a
Western concept, saying that Asians can build on their past "civilizational
ideals and intellectual legacies" to develop democracies based on "ethical
principles and moral uprightness."
He also said, "The fact that democracy is often abused, leading to chaos and
paralysis, does not mean that dictatorship is the answer."
He warned that imitating the West blindly could lead to a social, economic
and political morass, and that "unbridled individualism" must not dominate
over majority interests. "The Asian way is to reach consensus on national
goals within a democratic framework, to take the middle path ... to exercise
tolerance and sensitivity toward others."
The Moral Voice
Asked at the press conference whether his views meant he disagreed with
the ASEAN policy of constructive engagement with Burma's military
regime, he said that he couldn't see any viable alternative for the
seven-member body. "We will have to define the limits of what an
international congregation can do. The moral voice, the concern can be
expressed, but you can't assume that a foreign country shall be given the
ability to interfere because then there is no end to it."
Datuk Ibrahim warned of Western and Asian hypocrisy: He said that when
Western countries or their companies disregarded human rights or
environmental degradation, there was little or no reaction to be heard;
however, once Asians did the same thing, roars of protest could be heard
from Western media and governments. Likewise, Asian use of religion,
tradition and values to defend excesses is just as wrong and hypocritical,
he said.
"There are also Asian values that are aligned to feudal practices, to
tolerance of corruption," he said. "And this must be rejected."
*********************************************************
WSJ: US FOCUSES ON BURMA WITH KEY POSTING
August 25, 1996
The selection of Kent Wiedemann to head the American embassy in Burma
is meant to signal U.S. determination to respond to continued political
repression in the country.
In tapping a career service officer who has occupied top Asia-policy posts
in Washington, President Bill Clinton's administration is underlining the
importance it attaches to the Burma beat. When announcing Mr.
Wiedemann's appointment, the State Department took the opportunity to
express concern about jail sentences recently handed down to the first of
about two dozen supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy.
"We view this as another in a series of oppressive actions by the regime to
prevent Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters from exercising their
rights," said spokesman Glyn Davies.
Mr. Wiedemann, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the
Pacific, will take over in October as charge d'affaires in Rangoon from
Marilyn Meyers, who is leaving at the end of a two-year term. Washington
hasn't named an ambassador to Burma since 1990 to protest the ruling
State Law and Order Restoration Council's failure to recognize the results
of a general election that year that was won overwhelmingly by the
National League for Democracy.
Protecting Current U.S. Investments
In May, Mr. Wiedemann delivered a statement to the Senate Finance
Committee that indicated for the first time the administration's
willingness to support firmer action against Burma. Although Washington
was unable to persuade its Asian allies to support sanctions, the U.S.
continues to block international financing for Burma and discourages
American trade and investment through a number of measures.
A new U.S. policy, still being fleshed out, aims at providing some
protection to the democracy movement without hurting American investors
already established in the country. Details were contained in an
administration endorsed amendment to an appropriations bill that was
approved by the Senate late last month.
Keeping the Heat on Slorc
It would authorize the president to ban any further U.S. investment if he
finds that Slorc has "harmed, rearrested for political acts or exiled" Ms.
Suu Kyi, or has committed large-scale repressive or violent acts against
other democratic leaders. The amendment also would deny U.S. visas for
junta members, and it calls for the U.S. to work with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations and other interested countries on a "multinational
strategy" to improve human-rights practices in Burma.
As charge d'affaires -- as opposed to ambassador -- Mr. Wiedemann's
appointment doesn't require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Nor does it
require the explicit agreement of the Burmese government.
With the U.S. vowing to keep the heat on Slorc, analysts say Mr.
Wiedemann is bound to find the position as challenging as any he has
occupied abroad. He has served three times in China and done stints in
Singapore and Israel.
Mr. Wiedemann "clearly has a tough job ahead of him," says Mike
Jendrzejczyk, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch/Asia,
noting that Slorc is "digging in its heels" and continuing to confront Ms.
Suu Kyi's democratic forces.
*********************************************************
US EMBASSY RANGOON: FOREIGN ECONOMIC TRENDS - BURMA
July, 1996
Sources and data - Recent improvements in publicly available economic data.
Since mid-1995, publicly available information on Burma's economy has
improved substantially. In 1995, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and the a World Bank, to which Burma belongs, implemented new policies
of increased transparency. These new policies entail routine publication
of periodic and occasional reports on member countries economies,
circulation of which had previously been restricted to the staffs of these
international financial institutions (IFI's) and officials of their member
governments.
In October 1995, the World Bank published a 150-pg report entitled,
"Myanmar: Policies for sustaining Economic reform", presenting the
findings of the World Bank technical missions that visited Burma between
November 1994 and September 1995. In December 1995, the IMF published
a 100-pg report, prepared in October 1995, entitled 'Myanmar - recent
Economic Developments.'
The GOB periodically issues various publications, in both English and
Burmese language versions, containing National economic data. Among the
most useful of these are four publications of broad scope, prepared by the
Central Statistical Organization (CSO) of the Ministry of National Planning
and Economic development, which contain some data not presented in the
above mentioned IMF and World Bank reports.
e.g.: "Review of Economic Social and Financial conditions"
"Selected Monthly Economic Indicators
"Statistical Abstract 1994"
"Statistical Abstract 1993"
However, not only the GOB's public economic statistics, but all publicly
available statistics on Burma's economy are flawed in a variety of aspects,
of which the following six are salient:
(1) All available statistics are incomplete. They exclude an extraordinarily
large extralegal economy, concentrated in the external sector, including:
vast illegal opiates exports; substantial unrecorded exports of wood, fish,
jade, rice, gems and metal ores; much informal ethnic Chinese family
business investment; and a large informal banking system. They exclude
a large extralegal money supply, consisting of US and Chinese paper
currencies, gems, gold, British Raj silver rupees, and above all, domestic
and international credits in the informal banking system and in the ethnic
Chinese business community. They also exclude substantial uncompensated
"contributions" mostly of labor, to public sector construction projects.
The per capita legal money GDP figure implied by exchange rate adjusted
GDP and by GOB population estimates - US $113 for FY 94/95 - is clearly
too low by a factor of at least two, given that PPP - basis per capita GDP is
generally estimated to be in excess of US $600, that the Kyat is not grossly
undervalued and the cash economy extends throughout the country. This
suggests that the hidden extralegal economy is at least as large as the legal
economy, that is , the part of Burma's economy that the GOB can observe
and, at least in principle, tax.
(2) Burma's national accounts are pervasively distorted by a dual exchange
rate system in which the national currency, the Kyat, is now officially valued
at more than twenty times it's legally traded parallel rate value. Since external
sector transactions are recorded in GOB statistics at the official rate, GOB
statistics grossly undervalue the external sector. Since the public sector is
heavily engaged in the external sector, the dual exchange rate also seriously
distorts GOB public sector financial accounts as well as national income
accounts. Furthermore, since much of the legal money supply consists of
foreign currency dominated deposits and bank notes, it also distorts the
monetary aggregates.
(3) Comparison of GOB data on the composition of Burma's merchandise
imports with UNCTAD data on the composition of merchandise shipped
to Burma from other countries, as reported to the UN by the governments of
those countries, indicates that the GOB data, since FY 92/93, has consistently
and increasingly overstated the proportion of capital goods, thereby tending
to make investment appear larger than it really is.
(4) The GOB's aggregate price indicators, including it's GDP deflator, are
flawed in ways described in the discussion of aggregate price inflation. They
appear systematically to understate aggregate price inflation in recent years.
(5) There ids at least one identifiable anomaly in the GOB's data for
FY 92/93 that causes GDP and hence GDP growth to be overstated. Published
GOB data suggests that the average expenditure pre arrival by sea or air was
about US $3,500 for FY 92/93, whereas it was between US $1,300 and
US $2,200 for all other recent years. Similar anomalies could also be present
in the domestic sector GDP accounts for FY 92/93, where they would be
more difficult to detect. Pressure to meet or exceed annual GDP targets
may account for some overstatement in official statistics.
(6) As the IMF states publicly every month in it's International Financial
Statistics, some military imports are excluded from the GOB's balance of
payments (GOP) accounts.
Some related financial flows also appear to be excluded. At least for most
recent years, financing of military imports appears to have been excluded
from long - term loan dispersments in the capital account. External debt
incurred in connection with military imports appears to be consistently
excluded from the GOB's statistics on external debt.
All the statistics presented in this report are bsed on (1) GOB data,
published either by the GOB or in the 1995 IMF or World Bank report
(2) World Bank data on Burma's external debt, based on information
supplied by Burma's external creditors; (3) UNCTAD data on merchandise
shipments to Burma declared by other governments; and (4) the Embassies
monthly observations of the parallel market kyat/dollar exchange rate.
Embassy estimates that are not fully determined by these data are clearly
labelled as such.
In sum, this report attempts to offer a statistical overview of the Burmese
economy that may be substantially more meaningful and useful in important
respects than any that has been published to date. Nevertheless, it falls far
short of providing a set of national accounts adequate to serve as a basis either
for structural adjustment planning or for external financial planning.
(continued next edition)
*********************************************************
SYNAPSES PROJECT BURMA : HYPOCRISY UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY
August 22, 1996
On Monday, August 26 at 10:30 am, a PRESS BRIEFING and
DEMONSTRATION will be held at the Jane Addams Park just west
of the entrance to Navy Pier, Chicago, to highlight the hypocrisy
of the Democratic Party towards Burma. While, on the one hand, the
Democrats will honor Burmese Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, with the prestigious with the prestigious Averell Harriman
award (presented by the National Democratic Institute for International
Affairs), with the other, they have blocked sanctions legislation called
for by the pro-democracy leader.
Ever since her release from house arrest last year, Aung San Suu Kyi has
pleaded for foreign investment to end in Burma as long as the illegal
military junta remains in power. In an August 14, 1996 interview with
Bangkok's The Nation, she again endorsed the idea of international
sanctions, saying "...we have come to the conclusion that investments in
Burma have not in any way helped the people in general nor the course of
democracy."
Last month, however, 27 Democratic Senators and President Clinton bowed to
pressure from the oil lobby to vote down effective economic sanctions
against the junta known as the SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration
Council). Despite worldwide condemnation of the SLORC for its atrocious
human rights record, the Senate, including many democrats who are usually
strong on human rights such as Illinois' Paul Simon, voted 54-45 against
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy in Burma. The Senate then passed a
substitute bill which exempts present investments and leaves Unocal, Texaco
and Arco, the three US oil companies who have joint ventures with the
junta, untouched. Income from oil and heroin is regarded as the junta's
major economic lifeline.
Aung San Suu Kyi's stand for democracy against a regime that is the worst
since the Khmer Rouge has inspired people around the world. The National
Democratic Institute's choice to award her is commendable, but honoring her
courage while undermining her efforts puts the Democratic Party to shame.
Grassroots supporters of democracy in Burma call on President Clinton and
the Democratic National Convention to be consistent in word and deed by
implementing strong economic sanctions against the outlaw rulers of Burma.
Burmese pro-democracy activists Harn Yawnghwe and Zar Ni will speak at the
10:30am press briefing just prior to the 11:30am awards ceremony at Navy
Pier. Harn Yawnghwe is the publisher of Burma Alert and an expert on
foreign investment in Burma. Currently living in Canada, he is the son of
the first president of Burma who died while imprisoned by the junta. Zar
Ni is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and
coordinator of the Free Burma Coalition, an organization active on 95
college campuses
**********************************************************
AIM: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST MINORITIES
August 8, 1996 (Amnesty International Myanmar)
Amnesty International in concerned that the Burmese army has arbitrarily
detained, extrajudicially killed, tortured and ill-treated members of
ethnic minorities in the Shan and Mon States and the
Tanintharyi(Tenasserim) Division in eastern Myanmar. This report is drawn
from January and February 1996 interviews with dozens of members of the
Shan, Akha, Lahu, Karen, and Mon ethnic minorities in Thailand. Most of
these refugees are farmers and villagers who said they had fled from their
homes because their lives were made impossible by the security forces.
The information contained in this report deals with events which took place
in 1995; however, recent reports indicate that human rights violations
continued in 1996. In the Shan State tens of thousands of people have been
forcibly relocated by the military since March 1996. These relocation's have
reportedly been accompanied by threats from the army that those who
remained would be shot on sight. Since February 1996 in the Mon State and
Tanintharyi Division hundreds of people have fled from continuing human
rights violations by the army to areas of the Mon State controlled by the
New Mon State Party (NMSP, the armed opposition group in the Mon State).
Civilians have been arbitrarily seized as porters from their villages by
the military and held in army custody for periods ranging from a few days
to a month or more. Those who were seized were usually not told how long
they would be held and have expressed fear of the consequences if they
refused the military's demands or protested the fact that they were being
held against their will. Many of those forced to act as porters have been
subjected to torture and ill-treatment as punishment if they could not
carry their loads of supplies and ammunition. Young ethnic minority girls
have been raped by soldiers while being forced to act as porters; two
Akha girls died after being repeatedly raped in April 1995. Others who have
been seized as porters have been extrajudicially killed if they attempted
to escape or were unable to carry their loads.
Forced labor by civilians continues on the Ye-Dawei railway in
southeastern Myanmar on a large scale. In at least the last five years the
SLORC has increasingly used forced civilian labor to build railway lines,
airports, dams, quarries and roads throughout the country. The army has
forced hundreds of thousands of ethnic Burmans and members of ethnic
minorities to work as unpaid laborers on these construction projects.
Conditions are often harsh, in many cases amounting to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment. laborers have been subjected to ill-treatment,
including being held in chains and receiving inadequate food and medical
care.
Amnesty International is seriously concerned by the practice of forced
portering and forced labor in Myanmar, and over a number of years, has
reported on the human rights violations that are associated with these
practices. The SLORC has shown little willingness to put a stop to such
violations. In addition, the practice of forced portering is inherently
arbitrary as it allows military commanders to effectively detain people -
usually members of ethnic minorities - for indeterminate periods of time.
This practice should be abolished. As regards the practice of forced
labor, until such time as the SLORC introduces measures to ensure that
those who perform their required periods of labor are treated fairly and
are protected against ill-treatment and abuse, the practice should also be
abolished.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Ethnic minorities have historically been targeted and singled out by the
Tatmadaw for widespread and persistent repression. Amnesty International is
gravely concerned by this ongoing pattern of human rights violations
committed against members of ethnic minorities. The violations have
continued to such an extent that Amnesty International believes that all
members of ethnic minorities in border areas are at risk of arbitrary
detention, forced portering, and forced labor, during which they are
routinely subjected to ill-treatment.
Recommendations
Amnesty International makes the following recommendations to the SLORC:
1. Initiate immediate, through, and prompt investigations into the
allegations of extrajudicial killings, torture and ill-treatment described
in this report.
2. Bring those found responsible for such human rights violations to
justice.
3. Abolish the practice of forced portering, as it allows the military to
detain people for indeterminate lengths of time, which is inherently
arbitrary.
4. As regards the practice of forced labor, until such time as the SLORC
introduces measures to ensure that those who perform their required periods
of labor are treated fairly and are protected against ill-treatment and
abuse, the practice should also be abolished.
'em
AP: SUU KYI ATTACKS BURMA ARRESTS
August 24, 1996
RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
denounced a new wave of arrests of her supporters Saturday, and a senior
leader of the military regime pledged to crush her movement.
The statements follow a week where state-controlled media have reported
the arrests or sentencing to long prison terms of at least 30 people said to
back Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
Analysts attribute the new crackdown to the ruling junta feeling
emboldened following Burma's admission as an observer to the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations last month.
Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, told several thousand
supporters at a weekend rally outside her home that authorities were
stepping up oppression against her movement.
``Our people are arrested, threatened and intimidated,'' Suu Kyi told
reporters afterward. ``This is absolutely not necessary.''
``If the government believes in what they are doing, if they believe what
they are doing is the right thing, then it should be confident that they will
gain the support of the people without arresting them,'' Suu Kyi said.
The State Law and Order Council, the latest in a line of military
dictatorships that has ruled Burma since 1962, has said it wants to
develop an open economy following decades of socialism that has beggared
Burma.
Although the regime freed Suu Kyi from six years of house arrest last
year, it has rejected her calls for a dialogue and shown no sign of
willingness to soften military rule toward the democracy she seeks.
Gen. Maung Aye, deputy chairman of the regime, said in a speech cited
Saturday by official media that the army would remain strong and
``annihilate'' anyone trying to disrupt the country's development.
The speech was clearly aimed at Suu Kyi's movement, which the regime has
denounced as the puppet of Western powers bent on bringing Burma under
colonial domination.
``Internal lackeys who could not find support at home rely on external
elements and are trying to destroy the political, economic and social
foundations laid by the government,'' Maung Aye said.
The recent speech, to an army officers' graduation ceremony, urged the
cadets to build a strong, modern army to crush ``destructionists.''
The term is used by the ruling council to describe Suu Kyi's movement.
Suu Kyi's supporters overwhelmingly won parliamentary elections in
1990, but the regime never honored the result and parliament never
convened.
A party congress she defiantly held in May on the sixth anniversary of the
elections was undercut by the mass arrests of 262 people.
Despite Western condemnation of the crackdown, ASEAN opened the door for
Burma as an observer in July and vowed not to pressure the junta toward
democratic reform. It a diplomatic coup for the junta, ASEAN said it
considered the regime's stalemate with Suu Kyi an internal Burmese
affair.
*********************************************************
REUTERS: U.S. DENOUNCES JAILING OF DISSIDENTS IN BURMA
August 22, 1996
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The United States Thursday denounced
the reported jailing of 11 Burmese dissidents and called on
Burma's military rulers to start a dialogue with the opposition.
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) reported
the seven-year sentences Wednesday. It said those jailed
included Win Htein, personal assistant to the party's Nobel
Peace prize-winning leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said Washington was
concerned by the reports.
``We view this as another in a series of oppressive actions
by the regime to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters
from exercising their rights,'' he told reporters.
Davies described as ominous recent actions by Burma's ruling
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). ``The SLORC has
violated with impunity the human rights of the Burmese people,'' he said.
``What remains to happen in Burma ... is that (the
authorities) enter into a genuine dialogue with the National
League for Democracy ... That is the key to reconciliation in
that country,'' he added.
Davies said the United States had not ruled out sanctions
against Burma and continued to discuss firmer measures against
the Rangoon government with regional powers including Japan,
Thailand and Australia.
Washington gained little support for such measures, however,
at a meeting last month of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
In a separate development, Davies said deputy assistant
secretary of state Kent Wiedemann had been appointed new U.S.
charge d'affaires in Burma and would take up his post in
October. He succeeds Marilyn Meyers.
******************************************************
THE TIMES OF INDIA: MYANMAR AND ASEAN
August 25, 1996
(excerpted from Aging leaders, politic and
torture by Harvey Stockwin, in Hong Kong, comment on the
recent political developments in South-East Asia.)
The government of Myanmar, better known as State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), has lost no time providing the obvious:
that the ASEAN policy of "constructive engagement" is neither constructive
nor a meaningful engagement.
Rather than moderating SLORC policies and assisting in the development
of a more democratic Myanmar, "constructive engagement" has merely
strengthened SLORC's political hard-liners. So, within weeks of becoming
a full member of ASEAN, the SLORC has set about the task of further
internal repression with gusto.
Eleven NLD members have been given seven-year prison sentences. At
least five of them, including Suu Kyi's aide Win Htein, have been
imprisoned for daring to state that the nation's harvest was not good as
the SLORC claimed. The fact that they took videos of barren fields was
also held against them. Foreign sources claim that 19 more NLD activists
have been detained.
The policy of Myanmar's rulers is to isolate Suu Kyi, Other aides have also
been detained. At least 30 of the 260 NLD leaders picked up before recent
NLD meeting have not been released. Many of those released have had to
renounce their NLD membership first.
The ASEAN failure to attach any conditions to Myanmar's regional
acceptance is thus having its inevitable result. Tyrannies everywhere are
usually adept at recognizing and exploiting appeasement to their own
advantage.
Surprisingly, Indian leaders have also decided to keep quiet
about the latest crackdown. The only nation making a few
distant protests remains the US.
********************************************************
BKK POST: PRO-SLORC KAREN REBELS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN OF TERROR
August 25, 1996
Supamart Kasem
Mae Sot
Pro-Rangoon Karen rebels have launched what amounts to a terror
campaign to force Karen refugees living near the Thai border to
return to Burma, Thai military sources said yesterday.
The sources cited a sudden upsurge of gunfire attacks and raids
carried out by members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
(DKBA) against the refugees and troops loyal to the anti-Rangoon
Karen National Union.
On Friday about 20 DKBA troops from SLORC-controlled Kawmoora
camp opened fire from two longtail boats at the house of a former
KNU officer in Don Pa Klang refugee camp in Ban Huey Bong, Mae
Ramat.
Cpt Tun Kyi was killed and several refugees in the same
neighborhood were forced to evacuate to safer places away from
the border demarcated by the Moei River.
The same refugee camp was raided by about 15 DKBA renegade Karens
before dawn yesterday.
The intruders robbed Mrs. Nas Da's store in the camp of cash,
dried food, liquor and cigarettes worth altogether 3,000 baht.
They forced two camp officials Kaw Lawa, 55, and Kyaw Shwe, 50,
t go with them in two commandeered longtail boats belonging to
Thai vi lagers.
Later yesterday, the renegade Karens sent a message through
Karen villagers to camp leader Bo Ye Mya demanding 5,000 baht in
exchange for the freedom of the two kidnapped officials.
But the two hostages were release by their captors without the
ransom being paid.
On the same day about 30 DKBA troops crossed the border into Ba
Mae U-Su in Tha Song Yang.
Just a few days ago the renegade Karens opened fire with assault
rifle from a longtail boat at Ban Mae L Yang in Tha Song Yang. No
injuries were reported.
*****************************************************************
REUTERS: SCORE OF RELOCATED KARENNI REFUGEES
August 22, 1996
BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Scores of villagers die every month in a
Burmese government relocation camp where thousands of people have been
herded under the military's counter-insurgency plans, Burmese
dissidents have said.
Most of the dead were women and old people, victims of malaria and
diarrhea, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) said in a
statement received Thursday.
The villagers are mostly from the Karenni ethnic minority and were
ordered out of their homes in the hills of eastern Burma's Kayah state
earlier this year as the Burmese army battled Karenni guerrillas in
the area.
``At least 150 newly relocated Karenni refugees died within the
month of July at the new relocation site in Shadaw town,'' the ABSDF
said.
The dissidents, citing villagers who fled from the relocation site
to the Thai-Burmese border, said people were living in overcrowded
conditions without medical assistance.
There was no independent confirmation of the deaths but the forced
relocation of civilians from areas in which rebels operate is a
standard Burmese army counter-insurgency tactic.
The Burmese army has forced more than 10,000 people from their
homes in Kayah state in an attempt to isolate the guerrillas in the
area, Burmese opposition sources say.
The relocation sites are on the edges of government garrison towns.
Anyone remaining in the hills is liable to be regarded as an
insurgent and risked being shot, they said.
``Many Karenni villagers were killed by the SLORC troops for
failing to obey the order,'' the ABSDF said, referring to the ruling
military body, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
Several thousand Karenni refugees have trekked from their hills to
camps just inside Thailand in recent months to escape the forced
relocation's, refugee workers in Thailand said.
Karenni guerrillas signed a cease-fire with the SLORC in March
last year but the truce collapsed several months later and
intermittent fighting has continued in several parts of Kayah state
since then.
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FBC: BLOCK SLORC VISIT TO THE USA
August 24, 1996
The SLORC is sending a 40 member tourism promotional team to the Disney
World located in Orlando, Florida. The team is scheduled to be there from
September 9-12, 1996 and is to attend a tourism fair there. The SLORC team
is to be headed by Lt. Colonel Khin Maung Lat of the Directorate of Defence
Services Intelligence widely known as Military Intelligence (MIS). Khin
Maung Latt is also the Director General of Myanmar Tours and Travel (MTT)
in the Ministry of Tourism Affairs.
Actions urged:
1). Please call, write, or fax the US State Department and urge them to
deny their entry visas to the US as they will be promoting tourism as part
of SLORC's "Visit Myanmar Year 1996. SLORC representatives have absolutely
no rights to promote in the United States their tourism project pillored by
forced labor.
Office of the Secretary
7th Floor, 2201 C Street 20520
Phone (202)647-5291
Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher
Executive Assistant Robert A. Bradtke (202) 647-9572
East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau
Assistant Secretary Winston Lord, Room 6205, phone: 202-647-9596
2) If plan (1) doesn't succeed, spiders in Florida and nearby states,
please organize a protest rally at the Disney World around September 9-12.
The Political Situation Inside:
Things are heating up inside Burma. The SLORC is going after supporters of
the NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. While the top leaders of Burma's
democracy movement including Daw Suu, U Tin OO and U Kyi Maung remain free,
the attendees of Daw Suu's weekly "People Forum" are being picked up from
their homes by the Military Intelligence (MI). The number of NLD members
and supporters who are recently arrested is now up to about 60. The MIs
have just taken away eight students from their homes who met with Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi on August 8, 1996.
The on-going crackdown indicates that the SLORC IS out of control convinced
that the Clinton Administration is not going to lift a finger so long as
the SLORC doesn't lay their hand on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
FBC's Plan:
The FBC is planning a 2 day-long Fast for a Free Burma beginning on October 7.
Here is the list of schools and colleges that will participate in the fast.
1-Santa Monica College
2-University of Houston
3-University of Wisconsin-Madison
4-Stanford
5-Radcliffe
6-Princeton
7-UCLA
8-Berkeley
9-Johns Hopkins
10-Northwestern
11-University of Chicago
12-Warren-Wilson College
13-Tufts University
14-University of Michigan
15-Penn State
16-University of Washington
The target number of colleges that the FBC wants for the fast: 50
If your school/community Free Burma group has not signed up for the fast,
but is interested in being a part of this national event, please contact
zni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The fast will be targetted at President Clinton and will call for immediate
sanctions against the SLORC by the executive order. Also it is intended to
call world's attention to the on-going genocide in Burma and the complicity
of US (and other) investors.
According to the Cohen Amendment (a water-down version of
McConnell-Monyihan Burma Bill) recently passed at the US Senate, the Senate
authorizes the US President to impose economic sanctions against the SLORC
by the executive order if there is a crackdown on the democracy movement
and if the SLORC harms, arrests, or exiles Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
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UNCONFIRMED REPORT:
The SLORC's Ambassador to Canada, Maj. General Kyaw Win has just
defected to the Canadian authorities in Toronto. He is a former professor
at the Institute of Medicine II and a trusted physician of Burma's aging
despot General Ne Win. The FBC is still seeking to confirm this news.
*********************************************************
CFOB: MYANVIEW MAGAZINE
August, 1996
from: cfob@xxxxxxxxxxx
To add to the growing Burma reading list, below is the description
of a "pro-investment in Burma" publication.
The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore is the
publisher of a quarterly magazine titled "MyanView".
The advertisement introduces the magazine as filling the need for reliable
and timely information on "Myanmar" as well as critical interpretation on an
economy that has "shed its socialist shackles, has rapidly embraced market
dynamics and is now on a trajectory for take-off".
Its contents are wholly devoted to covering developments in "Myanmar" and is
"tailored for busy executives, entrepreneurs, bankers and financiers from
both the private and public sectors and those interested in the development
of the last frontier within the Asia-Pacific market". The magazine
provides graphics, tables and boxed highlights to give in-depth analysis of
and reports on the country's trade, industry, finance and investments.
MyanView's listing of the contents page of its issues and other ISEAS
publications on Burma can be found on their homepage:
http://merlion.iseas.ac.sg/pub.html.
For Enquiries on MyanView, the Publication Unit's address is:
ISEAS
Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Pasir Panjang
Singapore 119596
Tel: 8702483
Fax: 7756259
email: pubsunit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subscription cost is US$ 130 incl. postage.
********************************************************
KYEMON: ...FOR THOSE WHO ARE PRETENDING TO BE BLIND
August 19, 1996 (SLORC press)
by Htein Win
[Excerpt translated from the Burmese] I am glad and also pleased to
hear the daily denunciations of the destructionists and minions and those
who hold negative views and interfere in other's internal affairs. They
are being denounced due to the present political situation, and they
deserve it. There is no other way to treat them, and I fully endorse this
practice.
They cannot be asked to join hands with the government. They never say
anything good about what the government is doing. They find mistakes and
then exaggerate them. The mixture of truth and lies is very dangerous.
They instruct the people about which path to follow, what to do, and what
to say. When we say white, they say black. There is no way to coordinate
with them because they act perversely like "Kyaw Shwe" [a former movie
actor]. The best way is to get rid of these impediments and rubbish.
Everybody must ostracize and evict them from the village
The mixture of truth and rumors spread by these people is very
dangerous. It can confuse the innocent public. It is important not to
believe these rumors completely. [passage omitted]
Many people suffered during the 1988 disturbance because of the spread
of rumors. People should learn a lesson from this incident. Do not
believe rumors completely. Think, think very carefully before you decide.
The suffering in 1988 shows the effects of the rumors.
The SLORC government's words and deeds are compatible. [passage omitted]
I have a short message for those who hold negative views, who rely on
foreign elements, and who pretend to be blind. I feel sorry for you who
sit in front of a television but dare not listen to the news, music, or
nice dramas. Try to have a wide and clear perception. Do not engage in
insignificant roadside talk. Do not waste your time and energy.
Everything will be shattered into pieces against a rock called the truth.
Do not spread rumors. Try to be self-reliant. Read newspapers, watch
television, and listen to the radio. Think, think, think very carefully.
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