Burma's Generals fight back Through

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Subject: Burma's Generals fight back Throught Internet

                 Copyright 1997 South China Morning Post Ltd.  
                            South China Morning Post

                                 March  19, 1997

SECTION: Pg. 12

LENGTH: 427 words

HEADLINE: Generals fight back through Internet

BYLINE: WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok

 BODY:
    The junta has been the target of a human rights campaign in cyberspace but
is fighting back.

    Rangoon's generals have their man "somewhere in California", retaliating
electronically against activists who use the Internet to lobby for the regime's 
international isolation. 
    Political activists and exiles are spluttering with rage over the regular
bulletins of e-mail "news" being supplied by okkar66127  Burma  might have only 
recently emerged from three decades of self-imposed isolation but the State Law 
and Order Restoration Council recognises its opponents' Internet campaign is a
formidable weapon.

    Professional Web sites have whipped up a lively anti-junta movement across
the globe - from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam.

    Simon Billeness, who runs an "ethical" investment fund in Chicago and is a
canny Internet operator, believes  Burma  has become "the South Africa of the
1990s".

    The council created a Web site last year located at http:www. myanmar. com -
but sites have impact only if people look at them.

    "Okkar", believed to be a former Burmese embassy official, injects his
missives into a 24-hour "Burmanet" information channel.

    One Burmese exile in Bangkok said people should try to look on the bright
side. He added: "We keep asking the council to engage in a debate. This might
not be much of a debate but it's a start." 
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: March 20, 1997