The BurmaNet News - 10 February, 19

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------------------------------ BurmaNet -----------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies
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The BurmaNet News, 10 February, 1998
Issue #931

Noted in passing:

"The key to Mandalay's present boom is unquestionably China, or 
more precisely, the ethnic Chinese who live in the city, the closet
entrepreneurs who have been among the first to benefit from the 
junta's more open economic policies." - journalist Stephen Mansfield.
(see MAINICHI DAILY NEWS: ROAD TO MANDALAY LINED WITH CAPITALISTS)

HEADLINES:
==========
MAINICHI DAILY NEWS: ROAD TO MANDALAY LINED WITH 
ASAHI SHIMBUN: THE DEATH OF A JAPANESE GUERRILLA
XINHUA NEWS AGENCY: MORE TELEPHONE LINES INSTALLED
AFX NEWS: FUJITSU PLANS TO BUILD 600 MLN YEN PARTS
BKK POST: BURMA CLAIMS THAIS MUST PAY FOR DELAYS
THE NATION: COMMITTEE LIKELY TO INVESTIGATE YADANA
VOA: U-S ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS ABROAD 
BKK POST: BALLOON LANDING A COUP FOR GENERALS
AFP: SWISS TEAM FLIES TO MYANMAR TO RESCUE
THE NATION: GOVERNMENT TO CUT FUNDS TO NEIGHBOURS
BKK POST: BURMA FREES THAI PRISONER FOLLOWING TALKS
THE NATION: EL NINO INDUCED BAD FLOODING IN BURMA
BURMA DEBATE: VOICES OF BURMA
KYODO NEWS INTERNATIONAL: MYANMAR TO BE EXCLUDED
BURMA NEWS UPDATE NO. 50: EXTRACTS

ANNOUNCEMENT: PEOPLE'S PROGRESSIVE FRONT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

MAINICHI DAILY NEWS: ROAD TO MANDALAY LINED WITH 
CAPITALISTS
5 February, 1998
by Stephen Mansfield

Ethnic Chinese in northern Burma are taking advantage of the
Rangoon regime's economic liberalization to get on with business, 
Stephen Mansfield reports. 
 
Mandalay is a rather disagreeable town, it is said to have five main 
Products all beginning with P, namely, pagodas, pariahs, pigs, priests
and prostitutes. -- "Burmese Days", George Orwell 
 
Orwell, had he been alive today, might have added a sixth P, to signify 
profit. Mandalay's dusty grid of hot, disheveled streets and ruined 
pavements may suggest a once royal capital putting a brave face on its 
reduced circumstances, but winds of change have been blowing through 
this town of just over half a million people for some time now. A 
blossoming cross-border trade with China and the government's more 
free-wheeling economic policies have spawned a number of new, 
modestly sized hotels, restaurants, night clubs and even karaoke bars. 
New Japanese cars have appeared overnight, replacing the vintage British
jalopies and World War II jeeps visible until just recently on Mandalay's 
busy roads. Markets and shops are now full of Chinese and Thai merchandise,
expensive audio systems and color televisions. Many people now believe 
that Mandalay, rather than Rangoon, is set to become  Burma's  foremost 
city. 
 
While the boom in "informal trade" between the two countries and their 
frontier states might be seen as little more than the reactivation of 
time-honored Asian forms of border commerce,  Burma's  former black
market, a vast, informal operation in which practically everyone has 
participated at some time, provided just the right conditions and 
know-how for this kind of shady commerce. Not that Burma's black 
market was ever really that shady or clandestine. Never openly condoned, 
but tolerated none the less, the black market allowed the Burmese, as 
writer Saw Myat Yin has explained, to "survive in the face of an 
inefficient government distribution system which rationed everything 
from matchboxes and spools of thread to rice and oil." In 1987, the 
turnover from this parallel economy, in an ironic taunt to then 
prevailing "socialist economics," was estimated at over 1.5 billion
dollars, almost half the country's gross domestic product. 
 
The key to Mandalay's present boom is unquestionably China, or 
more precisely, the ethnic Chinese who live in the city, the closet
entrepreneurs who have been among the first to benefit from the 
junta's more open economic policies. Times have not always been 
so full of promise for the Chinese in Burma.  The main motive 
behind the Burmese independence movement was to dismantle 
what deputy prime minister Kyaw Nyein described in the 1950s 
as a social pyramid which had "millions of poor, ignorant, exploited
Burmese at its base, and a few outsiders, British, Indians and Chinese,
at its apex." Most of the Indian migrants, particularly the much 
despised Chettiar money lenders, fled the country in 1962 along with
thousands of Chinese merchants and shopkeepers when Gen. Ne Win
took over the government and implemented policies that effectively 
excluded foreigners and residents of foreign extraction from participating
in the economy. A second wave of Chinese left in 1967, the year of 
violent anti-Chinese riots in Rangoon. The majority of Chinese who
remained and watched as  Burma's  ill-conceived notions of socialism
brought the country steadily to the brink of ruin remained in their old
settlements along the great rivers and near the northeast trade routes 
into China. 
 
These strategic geo-commercial routes, and the connections between 
The Chinese in  Burma and the people of Yunnan in southern China, 
have left them well placed to become key players in the growth of 
recent cross-border trade, profits from which are said to now exceed 2 
billion dollars annually. Cheap Chinese goods have been flooding into
the country and unofficial estimates place the contribution of this trade 
to Burma's otherwise lackluster economy, at over 6 percent a year. 
 
Ethnic Chinese have bought up large chunks of Mandalay real estate
in recent years and fortunes have allegedly been made as prices have
soared. Even tourists, who stay at such places as the Tain Pyu Hotel, 
a prestigious establishment owned by U Kyaw Than, a well-known 
local Chinese entrepreneur, cannot fail to note a strong Sino-Burmese
presence in Mandalay. 
 
As with most things in  Burma,  however, there is a sinister side to
the north's resurgent economy, one that is likely to elude the attention 
of most visitors. One guidebook for example, claims that the two 
owners of the popular Lucky Hotel are close relatives of the infamous
Sino-Shan ex-opium warlord, Khun Sa, and another former drug kingpin,
Lo Hsing Han, now apparently absolved by the military of all former 
crimes, has a large stake in the Mandalay property market, and may 
have a hand, like many others, in the fairly innocuous but highly 
lucrative trade in second-hand Japanese cars which are driven - 
without tax or duty being paid -- up to the border and sold to dealers
from Yunnan. 
 
Mandalay appears to be the place where all kinds of deals are made. 
A report in the Bangkok Post quoted people in Mandalay as saying 
that, "there are three lines of business here -- the green line, the red line
and the white line. That's jade, rubies and heroin."  Burma, of course, 
along with Pakistan, is the world's premier cultivator of opium. 
Papaver somniferum, the Eurasian poppy, grows ideally at a height
of slightly over 1,000 meters, an altitude readily found in  Burma's 
portion of the Golden Triangle. The drug is hardly new to Southeast 
Asia, where it has been used as a narcotic and painkiller for centuries.
Burmese kings took a strong stand against the drug and punished 
offenders by pouring molten lead down their throats. Despite the 
protests raised by the Chinese, who are concerned about the spread of 
drug addiction in their territory, the present leaders of  Burma appear
to have a more lenient attitude toward dealers, ameliorated, no doubt,
by generous payoffs. Balance sheets from drug syndicates may not be 
available, but it can safely be assumed that profits from narcotics in 
Burma are in the high millions. 
 

Profits aside, the heroin trade in this region is a potential source of 
racial conflict and a threat to the fragile peace achieved along the 
northern border. The Kokang and Wa hill tribe guerrillas, who have 
agreed to end their resistance to Rangoon, have done so only on the 
condition that they can still keep their weapons and continue to deal 
in opium from their bases in the Golden Triangle. Resentment against 
tribes like these, whose leaders are often seen flaunting their money 
in the nightclubs and restaurants of Mandalay, goes with envy of the
city's increasingly prosperous Chinese business community, and what 
a Financial Times correspondent called a new "generation of flashy 
black marketeers ... who boast of their ability to buy police chiefs and 
immigration officers." The Chinese presence in Mandalay and the north
it seems, has led to a lucrative trade in fake Burmese ID cards, many of 
them allegedly issued by the military itself, which, in cohorts with 
officials in neighboring Yunnan province over the border, have 
encouraged Chinese businessmen to emigrate and set up shop in 
Mandalay. Corrupt immigration officers have even been suspected of 
selling off the papers of deceased Burmese people to immigrants from
China. 
 
The north's trade in rubies may be less contentious than heroin but the 
profits are, nevertheless, impressive. Burmese rubies are considered the 
finest in the world, and those known as "pigeon-blood rubies," a variety 
unique to Burma,  command staggering prices. Rubies were much favored
by members of the Burmese royalty in former times. A strong occult power 
was attached to the stone and carrying one into battle was supposed to make
the wearer invincible. Burma's main ruby mines are located around Mogok,
a mountain town northeast of Mandalay. A strategically important and 
pleasant town by all accounts, few people outside of the trade itself and the
Chinese buyers who have been allowed special permits to purchase these
gems, are ever allowed passed the formidable security shield that surrounds
the town. 
 
The Chinese have recently also made inroads into the trade in jadeite 
which, like that in precious gems, has always been government 
managed. Contrary to common assumptions, the world's finest jade 
does not come from China but from the state of Kachin in northern 
Burma. The Chinese have always had a special appreciation for 
Burmese jadeite and have imported vast quantities of  it for centuries.
China's finest jade figures, in fact, such as those on display in Beijing's 
Forbidden City Museum and the National Museum collection in 
Taipei, or those reserved for the top end of their export market, are
carved from Burmese jadeite. For decades the richest deposits of 
jadeite lay in an area under the control of the Kachin Independence 
Army. Large quantities of jade were spirited over the border into 
China, with profits from its sale providing the main funding for 
their resistance movement. Officially, jade from mines near the 
northern town of Mogaung can only be sold through licensed shops
which are monopolized by the military. A security cordon around 
the town, which is strictly off-limits to foreigners and unauthorized
persons, appears at first to confirm that the official regulations 
controlling the trade are being enforced, but Burmese observers who
have visited Mogaung tell of an illegal jade market where Chinese 
buyers, paying generous cuts to the local police, acquire whatever 
quantities they like of the commodity in open defiance of the sales ban. 
 
The Chinese have always believed that high-quality jade contains 
curative properties and brings good luck, success in business and 
long life. Perhaps that is why they are singing Chinese songs now 
in the karaoke bars of Mandalay. 
 
[Stephen Mansfield is a writer, freelance journalist, and frequent 
traveler in Asia.]
 
******************************************************

ASAHI SHIMBUN: THE DEATH OF A JAPANESE GUERRILLA
5 February, 1998
by Uda Yuzo

-- Last July 3rd, Asahi Shimbun introduced Nishiyaa Takasumi (32) as
 "a Japanese guerrilla" who was fighting with the Karen against SLORC. 
He died of malaria in Thailand last November.  A photo journalist, 
Uda Yuzo (34) met Nishiyama in the Karen region and they had become
friends.  Uda wrote to Asahi Shimbun about Nishiyama's activities while
he was alive. --

Nishiyama said the encounter with the Karen was destined to happen.  
In his twenties, he quit college and had traveled around Southeast Asia 
with a spirit of adventure.

In the beginning he may have only been searching for a reason to live 
>From the battlefield.  But as he joined the battle, he was moved by the 
Karen who fought for the freedom of their people.  Nishiyama said, 
"Only because they are the Karen, they have been constantly attacked, 
had everything taken away, and been killed.  I couldn't stand by and not
do anything.  Under the SLORC's merciless violence, how have they 
been resisting for the last 49 years?"

Nishiyama discovered the Karen's strong yeaning for freedom, and 
Capacity for kindness and helping each other in the midst of great 
difficulties.

Being a volunteer soldier, he also did many kids of jobs for the Karen.
Back in Japan, he worked at construction sites and as a mover to earn
money. With that money he bought many things such as medicine, toys
and stationery. He asked Japanese relief organizations to secure food for
refugees.

In the past few years he found his strength failing because of malaria.  
He began spending more time travelling with organized mobile clinics 
Than fighting in the battle field.  He didn't inform his parents of his
activities because he didn't want them to worry.  He only told his 
closest friends.

As soon as his parents heard of their son's death, they hastened to 
Bangkok. Some officers and Karen friends crossed the border at the 
risk of their lives to explain how Nishiyama had devoted himself to 
the Karen.

It might be hard for Japanese who are used to peaceful conditions to
understand fighting with arms.  But after hearing of how his son was
trusted by the Karen, Nishiyama's father said, "If I had been young, I 
might have done the same thing as my son."

Nishiyama, who had seen many people dying, wrote, - "People can't 
choose how to die and where to die.  So I choose how to live and 
where to live." -

I felt the purity of Nishiyama's activities.

In order to inform the world about the Karen's plight he also worked very
hard on a homepage.  When he had problems with his computer, even if it 
was in the middle of the night, he mercilessly telephoned me.  When I stay
up late at night even now, I feel as if Nishiyama might call me.

************************************************************

XINHUA NEWS AGENCY: MORE TELEPHONE LINES INSTALLED
IN YANGON
6 February, 1998

More telephone lines are being installed in Yangon, capital of Myanmar,
And new communications systems are also being introduced, according 
to  Myanmar posts and telecommunications sources. 

There were 88,000 telephones in Yangon out of a total of 195,494 in the
whole country at the end of August 1997, operating with 21 exchange
stations. There were only 73,545 in the country in 1990.  A total of 7,000
more telephone lines for three townships in the capital are due to be 
added by March, the end of the present fiscal year (1997-98). 

As the expansion of telephone use in Yangon exceeded the numbering 
capacity, the numbering in the city was changed to 6 from 5 digits in 
April 1996.  Following extensive use of cellular phones in Yangon, which
now has 2,000 lines,  Myanmar  began introducing the United-States-made
CDMA radio-telephone system in the capital last October, setting up 
initially 3,000 lines at two stations. Each station has a 16-kilometer 
communication radius covering 22 townships.

Since the establishment of a digital micro-wave system in the country in 
1995, the capital has been able to link nine other cities through the
system, ensuring smooth and direct trunk calls.  Moreover, the capital is
able to connect 14 remote border towns through local satellite stations set
up in recent years.  

According to the sources, Myanmar has a total of 80 auto-exchange
stations and 416 manual exchange stations in the whole country, 
operating nearly 200,000 telephone lines.  A number of foreign 
companies from Australia, Israel, Germany, Japan, Singapore and 
the United States have in recent years been involved in the installation
of new telephone communications systems in  Myanmar.  Myanmar 
introduced its first computer communications system last November in
its latest move to improve the country's telecommunication links at home
and abroad. 
 
**********************************************************

AFX NEWS: FUJITSU PLANS TO BUILD 600 MLN YEN PARTS
PLANT IN  MYANMAR
5 February, 1998 
 
TOKYO (AFX) - Fujitsu Ltd plans to build a 600 mln yen factory 
employing 100 people near Yangon in Myanmar,  formerly Burma,
to make components for  communications equipment, a company 
spokeswoman said.

Fujitsu is seeking the Myanmar  government's approval before setting
up a unit to run the factory in an industrial complex near the international
airport in Yangon.

"We expect to obtain the approval in about a month at the earliest," the 
she said. 

Fujitsu decided to build the plant in  Myanmar  because of cheaper 
production costs and expectations that demand for communications 
equipment will increase in  the country, the spokeswoman said.  

The spokeswoman declined to specify the kind of the parts, but said the  
company may produce computer parts there in future.  

***********************************************************

BKK POST: BURMA CLAIMS THAIS MUST PAY FOR DELAYS
9 February, 1998

RANGOON: PIPELINE TO BENEFIT THAILAND

RANGOON, AFP -- Thailand must pay thousands of dollars a day in
compensation if the launch of a disputed gas pipeline linking Burma 
and Thailand is delayed by Thai protesters, officials said here yesterday.

The comments came after demonstrators in western Thailand last
week rallied to block construction of a remaining section of the
line, due to start pumping in July and bringing in
desperately-needed revenue for military-run Burma.

The compensation is crucial as the cash-strapped Burmese
government has pledged much of the expected monthly revenues from
the project to debtors and will find its debts ballooning if the
project is held up, analysts said.

"The Thais do have to compensate the consortium building the
Burmese side of the pipeline as well as the government if it does
not go online as planned in July," a senior government official
said.

Construction was suspended last month as the government examined
the conflicting claims of supporters and opponents of the scheme
and is creeping towards the protesters guarding the forested
area.

The Thai government has set up committees to establish whether
the operator of the 260km Thai pipeline, the state-owned
Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), will be liable for penalty
fines or compensation if the project does not launch on schedule.

The conservationists and local villagers, who say the pipe will
destroy one of Thailand's last areas of virgin forest, are
blocking the bulldozers sent in to finish the project.

But while the scheme is being held up at a crucial time in
construction, the government, hit by Asia's economic firestorm,
can ill-afford penalty fines or compensation to the Burmese
builders of the troubled pipeline.

But an official of Burma's military government expressed
confidence that work on the disputed scheme will likely continue
after talks and mediation efforts.

"It's a matter for Thailand, but the pipeline will ultimately
benefit the Thai economy and develop industry, so it is also in
Thailand's interest to see it finished," he said.

He however conceded that the revenue from the pipeline - which
will carry gas  from fields in Burma's Andaman Sea to Thailand-
was "crucial" for cash-strapped Burma which is battling its own
economic crisis.

Experts estimated when construction work began in 1996 that the
pipeline would bring in up to $400 million a year for Burma's
generals, potentially making it their largest single source of
liquid funds.

The revenue, according to analysts, could help Burma  battle its
economic woes, including falling foreign reserves and a massive
trade deficit, but any delays in the project could deal a harsh
blow to the country's finances.

********************************************************

THE NATION: COMMITTEE LIKELY TO INVESTIGATE YADANA
PIPELINE PROJECT
9  February, 1998 [abridged]
by James Fahn

NEGOTIATORS discussing the controversial Yadana gas pipeline
being built in Kanchanaburi are close to agreeing on the
establishment of a national committee to examine the project,
informed sources said yesterday.

The committee, which would reportedly be chaired by former PM
Anand Panyarachun, will look at all aspects surrounding the
project for eight to 10 days and then pass on its findings to the
Cabinet, which will then make a final decision on how to proceed
with the pipeline.

Construction of the pipeline will be halted while the committee
holds, its deliberations, but the protestors who have been
hampering construction by camping out in the Kanchanaburi forest
will have to close down their encampment and leave the site once
the Cabinet has made its decision. 

A final agreement on the national committee had yet to be reached
as of early yesterday evening, according to one NGO source, but
if the details can ultimately be worked out, a press conference
is due to be held at Parliament this morning to announce the
agreement.

According to the source, the committee will not be limited to
discussing the pipeline's route but can examine all aspects of
the project, including its much-criticised environmental-impact
assessment and the current state of Thailand's energy demands.

Among the issues still being discussed in yesterday's
negotiations, which were being carried out by telephone and
coordinated with the help of PM's Office Minister Supatra Masdit,
was the amount of time to be given to the committee for
deliberations, and by extension the length of the work stoppage.

Pipeline opponents were calling for a construction moratorium of
10 days, while the Petroleum of Authority of Thailand (PTT)
wanted it limited to eight, according to the NC O source, who
stated that the oil company also objected to TV broadcasts of the
committee's proceedings

*Most people in Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces, the media
and Bangkok residents support the Yadana gas-pipeline project,
according to a recent poll by Suan Dusit Rajabhat Institute.

Almost 60 per cent of Bangkok residents, 69.67 per cent of the
press and 82.29 per cent of Kanchanaburi people said they thought
the government should complete the project.

But supporters said that the project should be subject to a
number of conditions, including minimial impact on the
environment, a reliable safety-control system and adherence to
building standards.

Only 8.68 per cent of  Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi residents
disapproved of the project, suggesting that the government should
instead campaign for energy saving, find other natural resources
and review its assessment of the advantages and drawbacks of the
project. Meanwhile, 11.13 per cent of the press and 11.13 per
cent of Bangkok residents said the project should be scrapped.

******************************************************

VOA: U-S ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS ABROAD 
6 February, 1998
by Ed Warner in Washington

Intro:   US efforts to reduce the production of drugs in other countries, 
primarily in Latin Amerca, were discussed at a conference held  today
(Friday) in Washington. 

V-O-A's correspondent Ed Warner reports the sharp debate over the 
certification process used by the United States to put pressure on drug
producing nations.

Text:   Who is to blame for the enormous traffic in illicit drugs?
Consumers, producers or perhaps some of the policies intended to 
reduce the traffic?

These questions were discussed at a recent conference held by 
"drug strategies" and "the Annenberg School for Communication 
University of Southern California)." Their focus was the 
certification process, which suspends US aid and to some extent 
multilateral assistance to any nation that is not considered to be 
cooperating with the crackdown on drugs.

But decertification has led to increasing tensions between the 
United States and some Latin American countries. Critics contend 
the process is selectively carried out and is damaging to the broader 
aims of US foreign policy.

Mathea Falco, President of Drug Strategies, posed the questions 
facing the conference: 

FALCO: "Has this process worked? What has the impact of it been?
Are there more effective alternative approaches? How can we move
this beyond an annual kind of finger-pointing match, which is what it
often becomes right up at the crunch, into something with a much 
broader perspective that can really bring benefits to all countries?"

Gustavo Gonzales Baez, Mexico's Minister for Narcotics Affairs, 
complained that the US certification process disregards other 
nations' concerns:  

BAEZ:  "Such unilateral certification tends to undermine trust 
and the basis for international cooperation to eradicate drug trafficking. 
We think that the struggle against illegal drugs and drug-related 
offenses must be based on the principle of shared responsibility and
must take a comprehensive approach that includes all aspects of the 
problem."

But John Mica, a republican member of the US House of  Representatives, 
said Mexico should be decertified because of its lack of cooperation in 
stopping the traffic in drugs that is so devastating to the United States: 

MICA: "I can tell you as a member of the Drug Policy Oversight 
Committee, the things that we requested of Mexico for compliance, they 
never would have done and never actually took any positive steps until 
decertification was at their doorstep. So this is our hammer. It is our law, 
and it is protecting our interests."

Congressman Mica said the certification process has forced other Latin 
American countries to cooperate in the anti-drug effort. If anything, he
added, the law, should be tougher.

Mr. Baez responded that the United States is no less an offender than
Mexico:

BAEZ: "If Mexico were to resort to the self-indulgent practice of 
criticizing our neighbor, to vent our own frustration for failing to resolve
drug trafficking problems within our borders, we could truthfully assert
that the United States is the world's major consumer of illicit drugs, and
ninety per cent of the weapons that we seize from the criminal 
organizations in Mexico are crossing our common border from the 
north to the south."

Bob Charles, Chief Counsel of the House of Representatives Committee 
on National Security, said decertification has been unevenly applied and
 is unfair in the case of Colombia: 

CHARLES: "I think there is such a thing as the bad application of a good
law. In some respects, what has happened here is that the law has been 
applied with political and inter- personal factors influencing decisions
that ultimately should have been much more objective."

Mr. Charles said one aspect of the certification process tends to be 
overlooked. More US funds should be provided to countries 
combatting the drug traffic.

A paper distributed by the conference sponsors suggests there are
limits to even an exemplary program of interdiction. Despite US and 
other nations' efforts, there has been no apparent reduction  in the 
supply of drugs.  In fact, worldwide production of opium and coca has 
nearly doubled in the past decade.

*************************************************************

BKK POST: BALLOON LANDING A COUP FOR GENERALS
9 February, 1998

AFP -- Burma's much reviled military junta scored a rare public relations
Victory by allowing a European balloon to land after its bid to orbit the
'globe was thwarted by China's bureaucracy, analysts said.

The Breitling Orbiter 2 made landed north of Rangoon on Saturday after
generals gave an unusual green light for it to enter the country.

Thousands of stunned local villagers rushed to the site as the balloon
finished a 10-day journey that smashed the non-stop flight record.

The government, air force and army cut through red tape, rushed technical
arrangements for the complex operation and helped to orchestrate the
touchdown. They also took the highly unusual step of granting instant visas
to scores of television and print journalists to cover the arrival.

************************************************************

AFP: SWISS TEAM FLIES TO MYANMAR TO RESCUE
BALLOONISTS APPROACHING YANGON
6 February, 1998 [abridged]
by Marc Lavine 
 
YANGON - Usually isolated Myanmar was Friday bracing for the 
frenzied glare of world attention as a team of balloonists prepared to land 
north of here Saturday after their bid to orbit the globe was scuppered. 
 
A six-man team arrived here on a special flight from Geneva to pick up the 
balloonists after the end of the round-the-world attempt. 
 
The team immediately began talks with senior aviation and government officials
on how best to rescue the balloonists who were late Friday over the Gulf of 
Bengal. 
 
The balloon, which is apparently travelling on a slow wind will not touch 
down in  Myanmar,  formerly  Burma,  before Saturday morning despite early 
reports that it may land Friday, organizers said. 
 
Myanmar granted visas and permission for the special flight to land after 
the military government Thursday gave relatively rare approval for the 
celebrated balloon to land or fly over this Southeast Asian country. 
 
It would be only the second time that foreign would-be record breakers have 
been allowed to land in  Myanmar  which has for decades been sealed from the 
outside world. 
 
The last was in 1997 when a woman pilot circled the globe in a helicopter. 
 
"We wanted to help and now as we are able to do so as we no longer have 
problems with ethnic insurgency which could once have endangered the balloon
and its crew, we have done so," a senior official said Thursday. 

The balloon expedition was Wednesday called off following the initial refusal
by China to allow the balloon to fly over Chinese territory. 
 
The team was hoping to take advantage of the strong head winds over China in 
order to make a record breaking trip around the globe. 
 
No official celebrations for the balloonists were planned as their bid to fly
over the world has not been "a total success", a  Myanmar  official said. 
 
Bertrand Piccard from Switzerland, along with Belgian Wim Verstraeten and 
British flight engineer Andy Elson, left the Swiss Alps on January 28 in what 
was the fifth such attempt to fly around the world in a balloon since last 
December. 

*****************************************************************

THE NATION: GOVERNMENT TO CUT FUNDS TO NEIGHBOURS
9 February, 1998 [abridged]
by Piyanart Srivalo

THAILAND will curtail future financial aid programmes to
neighbouring countries, but continue to subsidise projects under
its previous commitments, PM's Office  Minister Chaiyos Sasomsup
said yesterday.

Citing the country's battered economy, Chaiyos said the Technical
and Economic Cooperation Department will stop handing out money
to neighbouring countries.

However, the government will still provide Bt338 million for
projects it committed to under the 1999 fiscal budget. The money
will be distributed to Laos, Bt178 million; Cambodia, Bt87
million; Vietnam, Bt48 million; and Burma, Bt25 million.

Thailand began to provide funds to neighbouring countries in the
Banharn administration. The funds mainly went for the development
of public health, education and agriculture.

***************************************************************

BKK POST: BURMA FREES THAI PRISONER FOLLOWING TALKS
WITH CHETTHA
7 February, 1998

Rangoon has freed a Thai prisoner and sent him home following
talks between Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Chettha Thanajaro and
First Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen
Khin Nyunt.

The move came after Gen Chettha requested Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt push
for the release of Karin Thongpatchachote, a crewman imprisoned
in Burma's notorious In Seng prison for his involvement in the
thefts of three Burmese fishing boats.

Yesterday Mr Karin, who had been in the Burmese jail for 15
months, met the army commander-in-chief at the First Army
Headquarters to express his gratitude for Gen Chettha's
assistance.

Mr  Karin said Gen Chettha had negotiated with Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt
for exemption of criminal penalties and a decrease in a fine he
must pay Rangoon.

Mr Karin was the only Thai prisoner remaining in In Seng prison
after the Burmese government released 98  Thai prisoners from
that jail last November because he could not afford to pay a US$1
million fine. 

********************************************************

THE NATION: EL NINO INDUCED BAD FLOODING IN BURMA
6 February, 1998 
by James Fahn

PERHAPS as a result of El Nino, Burma last year suffered its
worst floods in at least 30 years, government meteorological
records show, killing hundreds of people and causing millions of
dollars worth of damage.

Although the monsoon season in Burma was shortened and produced
slightly below average volumes of rain, what fell did come down
quite heavily, according to U Pike, a research officer with the
Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, who added that this is
fairly typical weather in Burma during El Nino years.

There has also been speculation that the flooding in some regions
may have been caused by increased logging activities,
particularly in the Sittoung watershed, which suffered severe
flooding conditions for an entire month in 1997.

But other Burmese officials suggest that the flooding in many
areas was the result of rising sea levels, perhaps due to
peculiar tidal forces, which broke though embankments causing
salt water to intrude in many upstream areas.

Asked whether the flooding may have been caused by logging, U
Pike, who was attending a conference on "El Nino Related Crises
in Asia", noted that some of .the floods occurred in the Chindwin
Basin in western Burma, which he said is a nonlogging area. But
he acknowledged that there is some logging occurring in the
Sittoung Basin.

"I would not refute that logging has had some impact, but that
was mostly in the past," said another Burmese source, who asked
to remain anonymous. "The main problem in 1997 was rising sea
levels which overflowed the embankments.
     
"In the dry zone where there was a drought, for instance, people
saw the rising level of water in the rivers but were not aware
that it was saline. They became quite excited and drank the
water, and subsequently became sick," the source said. "I'm not
sure why the sea water rose: Maybe it was a result of peculiar
tidal forces."

Whatever the cause of the floods, there is no doubt as to their
severity. Unofficial estimates claim they caused the death of
around 300 to 350 people and damaged the livelihoods of many
others. Another Burmese official stated that 700,000 acres of
farmland was damaged, causing a crop loss of around US$42
million.

At the conference, U Pike showed government hydrology records for
eight major river systems in Burma dating from 1966 up until last
year. They reveal that water stations at the mouth of four of
these rivers - the Irrawaddy, the Chindwin, the Sittoung and the
Shwegyin - recorded the highest water levels in 1997.

Flood levels at the mouth of the Myittha River were at their
second highest level over the last 30 years, while the Salween
River in Pa-an was more than a metre above the danger level for
18 days.

Along the Irrawaddy River, where records have been kept for 150
years, the water station at Henzda in the delta region recorded
the highest water levels this century, U Pike said.

The situation at Madauk at the mouth of the Sittoung River may
have been the most serious, however. Flood levels there stayed
above the danger level for 31 days, from July 24 until Aug 24,
far longer than elsewhere. The current El Nino event, which is
causing havoc in weather patterns around the globe, is believed
to be the strongest in more than 100 years.

**********************************************************

BURMA DEBATE: VOICES OF BURMA
Nov/Dec 1997

This letter was received from Burma, translated and edited for Burma Debate
(Nov/Dec 1997)

December 8, 1997

Travel restrictions on Muslims of Arakan, which were imposed long ago, 
Have been further tightened recently.  Severe restrictions have particularly 
Been put on travel between Maungdaw and Sittwe (Akyab).  Besides getting
permission following a lengthy process which is very costly, intimation and
extortion along the way is now carried out with added momentum.  The latest
method of harassment and brutal dealings are applied against the Muslims at
the notorious "ASEAN gate" in Akyab.  All the Muslim passengers are herded
to the "ASEAN gate" after arrival at the jetty in Akyab, which was erected
recently for the Rohingya passengers, while non-Muslims are allowed to go
through the usual gate.  Rohingyas are kept inside the "ASEAN gate" for
about two or more hours where they are physically humiliated and financially
extorted before being allowed to proceed.  Whatever is demanded by the
combined authorities posted at the jetty, must be provided by the Muslim
Rohingyas.  The Muslims have to unwillingly buy anti-Muslim propaganda
magazines, make donations for building pagodas, and buy lottery tickets with
expired dates.  During the line-up at the infamous gate, the Muslims need to
sit humbly and any movement that would create undesirable attention results
in beating and kicking, without considering that the person may be old or
pregnant.

The authorities have been feeling that it was possible for the SLORC to be
admitted to ASEAN because of the strong support from Muslim countries in
ASEAN.  But what about the Muslims in Burma?  As the junta maintains its
same track - ethnic cleansing in Muslim areas - it has nakedly started
humiliating the Muslims in Arakan by introducing this "ASEAN gate to dispel
any hope in them of strong constructive intervention from Malaysia and
Indonesia to improve that status of Muslims in Burma.

Maungdaw, Burma

**************************************************************

KYODO NEWS INTERNATIONAL: MYANMAR TO BE EXCLUDED
FROM ASEM II SUMMIT
2 February, 1998 
 
LONDON, Jan. 27 Kyodo -- Myanmar will not be invited to the second
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in London in April, a British foreign 
minister and European Union (EU) presidency representative said Tuesday. 
 
Derek Fatchett said that European and Asian countries have decided to stick 
with the seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 
(ASEAN) that constituted ASEAN at the time of the first ASEM summit 
in 1996, rather than include the two latest ASEAN members, Myanmar 
and Laos. 
 
The British minister stressed there was "no suggestion that anyone has been 
excluded from the party that is ASEM II," emphasizing that ASEM II 
attendance was determined at the earlier stage of ASEM I. 
 
 But he claimed that the EU position on  Myanmar is clear, saying, "We have 
been strong in our condemnation of the human rights record of the Burmese 
regime." 
 
He said pressure had been exerted internally and externally for "the 
restoration of democracy and dialogue with the National League for 
Democracy" -- the reference being to the political party led by 
pro-democracy opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi. 
 
Looking at the possibility of Myanmar's future participation, Fatchett said
EU and ASEAN countries shared the hope that "internal democratic change" 
would occur in the country prior to ASEM III. 
 
"If we can achieve real progress, that means that  Burma is no longer a 
problem -- it is a country that would be happily invited to that particular 
party," he said. 

Fatchett stressed that he supported a wider membership for future ASEM 
meetings, pointing to the four countries Britain would like to see join as 
soon as possible -- Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan. 
 
He said, "This is in no way trying to imply any downgrading of any other 
application. But I think it would help the process considerably if South Asia 
were involved." 
 
Fatchett said the summit, which will take place in London on April 3-4, would
be "a landmark in the development of Europe's relationship with Asia." 
 
Apart from the future membership criteria for ASEM, Asia's financial crisis, 
the environment, international crime and drugs are all subjects up for 
discussion. 
 
************************************************************

BURMA NEWS UPDATE NO. 50: EXTRACTS
11 February, 1998

News Update Available via Email
Burma News Update is now available via email! To receive an email version, 
send an email to <majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx>. Leaving the subject field blank, 
type"subscribe bnu (your email address)" in the body of the message.

FORCED LABOR INVESTIGATION
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is investigating  reports that
Burma's army junta is using forced labor to transport military supplies and to
work on state projects around the country. An ILO spokesman in Geneva said 
that many people are reportedly being forced to give up their livelihoods to 
work without pay for the military. An ILO commission of inquiry visiting 
Southeast Asia, which has been refused entry to Burma, will issue a report in
the next few months. (BBC World Service, 4 February)

SANCTIONS HIT "VERY FRAGILE" ECONOMY
Western sanctions, suspension of International Monetary Fund and other aid, 
and other "machinations" are hurting Burma's "very fragile" economy, 
according to Lt. General Khin Nyunt, a top general of Burma's army junta, 
who said human rights are a Western "excuse" to damage the country. The 
official New Light of Myanmar quoted the General as saying that Western
nations "have recruited a group of flunkies to meddle in and disrupt the 
internal situation in the country." Burma's economic growth, hurt by soaring 
prices and a wildly fluctuating currency, has dropped over the past year. 
(Rangoon, Agence France-Presse, 23 January)

*************************************************************

ANNOUNCEMENT: PEOPLE'S PROGRESSIVE FRONT
20 January, 1998

The People's Progressive Front reformed its leading committee on
January 18,1998.

A. PATRON 
1. Yebaw- Ye Kyaw thu (Bring-Gen)- (patron)

B. SECRETARIAT
1. Yebaw-Kyaw Nyunt -- Secretary General (C.O.C), Secretary 
        for Organization, Secretary For News & Information 
2. Yebaw-Min Lwin -- Secretary For International Relation (C.O.C)
3. Yebaw-Zar Ne -- Assistance Secretary For Organization (mass) (C.O.C)
4. Yebaw-Salai Reng Bik -- Assistance Secretary For News & Information (C.O.C)
5. Yebaw-Kyaw Min Naing, -- Secretary For Supply & Resettlement (C.O.C)
6. Yebaw-William Chit Sein -- Secretary For Communications (Technology)
(C.O.C)
7. Yebaw-Min Thein -- Special officer 					

C. ALTERNATE MEMBERS OF C.O.C
1. Yebaw-thein Han - Incharge of Region (5)
2. Yebaw-Win Htun - Incharge of Region (3)
3. Yebaw-Aung Minn - Incharge of Region (1)

D. MILITARY COMMISSION 
The People's Progressive Front has extended its members of the military
commission on January 18, 1998 as following:
1. Yebaw-Kyaw Nyunt -- Chairman
2. Yebaw-Salai Reng Bik -- Secretary
3. Yebaw-Kyaw Min Naing -- (member) 
4. Yebaw-Thein Kyee -- (member)
5. Brig Gen Ye Kyaw Thu -- (Adviser of Military Commission)

(C.O.C =Central Organizing Committee)

Sign 
Yebaw- Kyaw Nyunt 
Secretary General
People's Progressive Front

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