Breaking News (05/01/98)

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Editor Note:
The Rangoon Post working group strongly condemns the military regime self-
named SPDC that sentenced death penalties over the six democracy advocates. We
firmly stand that they are innocent and call for free and fair trials in
publics. We also call people of Burma and world community to standup for
injustice in Burma. It is time us to speak up the harsh repression over the
human rights advocates.  
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Financial Times (London) 
 
                   April  30, 1998, Thursday LONDON EDITION 1 
HEADLINE: Six face death penalty in  Burma  
 
   Six face death penalty in  Burma  
      Burma's  military government sentenced six people to death for carrying 
explosives. Four of them belong to a group the government has linked with Aung
San Suu Kyi's opposition democrats. 

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Agence France Presse 
 
               April  30, 1998  Myanmar -crackdown lead 09:31 GMT 
 
HEADLINE: Student group fears secret crackdown after six sentenced to death 
 
DATELINE: (ADDS junta comments, details of sentences) 
 BANGKOK, April 30 (AFP) - An exiled student group on Thursday accused 
 Myanmar's  junta of launching a secret crackdown on opposition groups
following
the sentencing to death of six political activists. 
 
   The All  Burma  Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) said  Myanmar's
military 
regime had stopped publishing details of arrests in its official newspaper as 
part of a campaign against opposition in the lead-up to the resumption of the 
national convention possibly this year. 

   ABSDF foreign affairs secretary Aung Naing Oo said the junta was also
trying 
to stamp out dissent ahead of the re-opening of universities which were closed
more than a year ago. 
 
   "We are in the middle of a new crackdown and I would say there are a lot of
things going on that we don't know about," he said. 
 
   "They're trying to conceal what they're doing by keeping all these arrests
in
the dark." 
 
   He said death sentences handed earlier this month to six men, including
four 
former ABSDF members, showed Yangon was hardening it's stance against dissent 
including its main rival, the National League for Democracy (NLD). 
 
   "This is some kind of reminder to anyone who wants to be associated with
the 
opposition groups. Although there is always a lot of these sort of arrests in 
 Burma,  this is something quite different," Aung Naing Oo told AFP. 
 
   The ABSDF claims more than 100 people -- including politicians, lawyers and
students -- were arrested or detained in January alone. 
 
   The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has said the six
people
sentenced to death were involved with the ABSDF's "armed terrorist group", a 
claim the ABSDF denies. 
 
   A junta spokesman said they were caught with explosives and intended to
bomb 
government buildings and assassinate top generals, adding that 33 other people
had recently been given terms of up to 10 years for involvement in the plot or
"activities to cause instigation and agitation in the country". 
    The Thailand-based ABSDF has issued regular press releases about the
recent 
spate of arrests, including the jailing of former parliamentarian San San for
25
years -- allegedly for talking to foreign media -- as well as a 15-year term
for
student leader Aung Tun, who had written a history of the student movement. 
 
   On Thursday the ABSDF said five more activists and leading figures in the 
resistance movement were given prison terms of seven to 10 years for assisting
Aung Tun in his historical research. 
 
   Those sentenced were prominent lawyer Maung Maung Kyaw, student activists
Suu
Suu Win and Khin Moe Aye, journalist U Tha Ban and political campaigner Khun 
Sai, the ABSDF said. 

   Aung Naing Oo said the military council -- which seized power in 1988 and
has
refused to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in 1990 elections -- was
trying
to send a message to student activists. 
 
   He said the SPDC also wanted to cement its authority before the national 
convention resumes after a break of more than a year, to continue its task of 
drafting the isolated state's new constitution. 
 
    Myanmar (Burma)  has not had a constitution for 10 years. 
 
   "They don't want anyone demonstrating when they resume the national 
convention or re-open the universities," Aung Naing Oo said. 
 
   But an SPDC statement received Thursday accused the ABSDF and other
"outlawed
organisations" of running a smear campaign. 
 
   "This movement has been synchronised and coordinated to bring more 
international pressure on  Myanmar  and to exploit the situation in the
stoppage
of foreign direct investment," the statement said. 
 
   The United Nations and rights group Amnesty International this month 
condemned human rights violations in  Myanmar,  which are said to include
rape, torture and forced labour. 
 
   On Monday the European Union agreed to extend sanctions against the regime 
for another six months, saying it was abusing the basic rights of its people.

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European Report 
 
                                 April  29, 1998 
 
SECTION: No. 2311 
 HEADLINE: EU FOREIGN MINISTERS EXTEND SANCTIONS ON  BURMA.  
 European sanctions will continue against  Burma (Myanmar)  for a further six
months, following an EU Council of Ministers' decision, passed without 
discussion on April 27, to extend once again the common position adopted 
originally on October 28, 1996 until October 29 of this year. The sanctions, 
designed to put pressure on the military regime to improve its human and
labour 
rights record, include the expulsion of military personnel attached to
Burma's 
diplomatic representations in EU Member States, an arms embargo and the 
suspension of non-humanitarian aid. Measures introduced more recently, such as
a
ban of the issue of visas to the regime's leadership and army officers and the
suspension of high-level government visits, will also continue. 

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AAP NEWSFEED 
 
                            April  30, 1998, Thursday 
 
SECTION: Nationwide General News; Overseas News 
 HEADLINE: WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF 
 
 US  BURMA  
 
    LOS ANGELES, April 29 AFP - Supporters of human rights and democracy in 
 Burma  will begin a three-day fast on Sunday in 25 cities in four countries
to 
protest ARCO's investments in  Burma, Burma  Forum announced today. 
 
    Demonstrators will also protest outside Atlantic Richfield Company's 
(ARCO's) annual shareholder meeting in Los Angeles on Tuesday to demand that
the
company withdraw all investments from  Burma.  
 
\    "Hundreds of people will be joining the fast and the demonstration," said
Kevin Rudiger, one of those who will fast in Los Angeles. "Our message to ARCO
is very simple: stop supporting this murderous regime." 
 
    Burmese exile and demonstrator Khin Maung Shwe said that by continuing to 
invest in  Burma,  ARCO was "helping to prop up a brutal army junta which is 
terrorising my country". 

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AP Worldstream 
 
                  April  30, 1998; Thursday 08:05 Eastern Time 
 
SECTION: International news 
 
DISTRIBUTION: Europe;Britian;Scandinavia;England 
 
LENGTH: 349 words 
 
HEADLINE: Student group says  Myanmar  regime hands down jail terms 
 Myanmar -Prison Sentences, 1st Ld-Writethru 
 
DATELINE: BANGKOK, Thailand 
 
 BODY: 
     Myanmar's  military regime has sentenced five people to long prison terms
for helping produce a history of the anti-government student movement, a group
of student exiles said Thursday. 
 

   The prison terms were the latest revealed by the All  Burma  Students 
Democratic Front in a series of disclosures about recent court rulings against
activists, including death sentences for at least two people. 
 
   The five were reportedly charged with violating emergency and publication 
laws by supplying historical background and information to Aung Htun to write
a 
book. Aung Htun, a leader of the ABSDF, was sentenced to 15 years last month, 
the group said. 
 
   Maung Maung Kyaw, a lawyer, and two ethnic leaders, Khun Sai and Tha Ban, 
received 10-year sentences, the ABSDF said. Suu Suu Win and Khin Moe Aye, 
student protest leaders, received seven years. All have served previous prison
terms related to opposition work. 
 
   The government of  Myanmar,  also known as  Burma,  tolerates almost no 
political opposition. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the
1991 
Nobel Peace Prize, has spent most of the last nine years under house arrest or
close confinement. 
 
   The government has accused the ABSDF of waging a disinformation campaign
but 
has confirmed several of the prison terms disclosed by the ABSDF this week. 
 

   A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied in a
faxed 
statement the ABSDF's assertion that none of the five had legal
representation. 
 
   The government generally claims the punishments were meted out for alleged 
terror and treason offenses, rather than those cited by the ABSDF, such as 
giving an interview to a foreign journalist or trying to pass a letter to a
U.N.
official. 
 
   The ABSDF was formed by students who went into exile and took up arms after
the military, which has ruled the country since 1962, bloodily suppressed 
anti-government demonstrations in 1988. 
 
   Weakened by desertions and battlefield setbacks over the years, the group 
says it has renounced armed struggle, but the government till regards it as a
terrorist organization. 
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The Washington Times 
 
                     April  28, 1998, Tuesday, Final Edition 
 
HEADLINE:  Burma  boycott targeted in lawsuit 
 
BYLINE: Lorraine Woellert; THE WASHINGTON TIMES 
 
A U.S.  business group plans to mount a constitutional challenge this week 
to a Massachusetts boycott of companies that do business in  Burma.  
 
    The lawsuit could set up an debate pitting supremacy of international
trade 
treaties against America's free speech tradition.  A ruling could affect more 
than two dozen laws in states and localities across the country, including 
Takoma Park. 
 

    Members of the National Foreign Trade Council, an umbrella group of large 
industrial corporations, will file the suit in Boston this week, according to 
people familiar with the case.  The group's executives had no comment on the 
case yesterday. 
 
    The lawsuit, which has been in the works for about a year, targets a 
Massachusetts law that prohibits state agencies from awarding contracts to 
corporations that do business in  Burma.   Since the Massachusetts General 
Assembly passed the law in 1996, it has been copied in cities, counties and 
states nationwide, putting pressure on companies that risk losing billions of 
dollars in local contracts. 
 
    Massachusetts Delegate Byron Rushing, Boston Democrat and author of the 
 Burma  legislation, said he welcomed the lawsuit. 
 
    "We're looking forward to it," Mr.  Rushing said.  "We're advocates for 
something.  In order to build this movement, we want publicity, we want lots
and
lots of nice targets." 
 
    The Foreign Trade Council and USA Engage - an affiliate group formed to 
protest boycotts and unilateral trade sanctions - announced their intention to
sue last summer.  The case has been slow in coming in part because no single 

company has been willing to take the brunt of negative publicity the lawsuit
is 
sure to bring. 
 
    Foreign Trade Council officials yesterday wouldn't say who would be named
as
the plaintiff in the case. 
 
    The lawsuit also was delayed because there was no legal precedent for it. 
 
    "There were no cases at all challenging the anti- Burma  law and very
little
of any relevance challenging the anti-South Africa law on which they are all 
based," said David Schmahmann, a lawyer with the Boston firm Nutter, McClennen
&
Fish, which represents companies with interests in  Burma.  
 
    Nevertheless, Mr.  Schmahmann said, "There is plenty of law . . . that 
strongly suggests that if the U.S.  Supreme Court ever saw this law they would
strike it down." 
 
    A key legal argument against local and state boycotts is the Federal 
Commerce Clause which, among other things, requires the United States to speak
with one voice when it interacts with foreign countries. 
 

    But shooting down the  Burma  boycott would be akin to striking down "buy 
American" and other selective-purchasing laws that advocates say are protected
by the First Amendment. 
 
    As such, any company named as a complainant in the trade council lawsuit 
could suffer "a public relations meltdown," said Simon Billenness, of the 
Franklin Research Institute, an investment firm that led the call for 
Massachusetts'  Burma  boycott. 
 
    "It's going to publicly identify the company as defending business with a 
brutal dictatorship," Mr.  Billenness said.  "It's also going to publicly 
identify them with a lawsuit that's attacking the democratic process here in
the
United States." 
     Massachusetts was following in its own footsteps when it passed the
Burma  
boycott two years ago.  The law is nearly identical to one that imposed a 
boycott on South Africa and planted the seeds for international sanctions that
helped end apartheid. 
 
    That was 20 years ago, however, and times have changed.  Today, the United
States and its trading partners are bound by a set of international trade laws
under the World Trade Organization, a group that didn't exist during the
apartheid era.  The anti- Burma  law could violate WTO rules. 
     Mr.  Rushing has proposed amending the anti- Burma  law to make it WTO-
legal. 

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FT Asia Intelligence Wire
                                 April  28, 1998 
 
 
HEADLINE: Brunei  Myanmar  delegrates meet local businessmen 
 
 "Brunei businessmen at the moment are not yet involved in any business 
activity with  Myanmar.  
 
    However we look forward to trade and investment between the two countries.
Hopefully in the future, local entrepreneurs could pay a working visit to the 
country." 
 
    This was part of the welcoming remarks by President of Brunei National 
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hj Mohd Hassan while hosting a business 

dialogue between businessmen from  Myanmar  and Brunei on Sunday at the 
Centrepoint in Gadong. 
 
    Business delegates from  Myanmar  were led by Brig. General Abel, the 
Minister at the Office of the Chairman of the State Peace and Development 
Council of  Myanmar  and Major General Kyaw Than, its Minister of Commerce. 
According to  Myanmar  delegates, such dialogue would cement friendship
between 
the two parties, seek avenues for cooperation and promote trade and
investment. 
 
    The government of  Myanmar  has been striving hard to promote overall 
development of the national economy to improve provisions of food, clothing
and 
shelter for the people so as to improve their living standards. 
 
    In this connection, steps have been taken to ensure mass participation
with 
maximum utilisation of the capabilities of people and to attract foreign 
investment on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. 
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                              Agence France Presse 
 
                     April  30, 1998 ADB- Myanmar  14:55 GMT 
 
SECTION: Financial pages 
 
LENGTH: 283 words 
 
HEADLINE:  Myanmar  complains of being shut off from aid 
 
DATELINE: GENEVA, April 30 
 
 BODY: 
    Myanmar (Burma)  complained bitterly on Thursday of having been "unfairly"
shut off from international financial aid for the past decade. 
 
   " Myanmar  is a land with rich natural resources to be tapped for
development
purposes," finance minister Khin Maung Thein told Asian Development Bank
member 
delegations gathered in Geneva for its annual meeting. 
 
   "Unfortunately, multilateral financial assistancs to  Myanmar  has been 
unfairly suspended since 1988," he said. 
 
   The current Burmese regime, accused of systematic human rights violations
and
repression, took power in September 1988. 
 
   The close of aid spigots was particularly unjust on the part of ADB, which 
had neglected  Myanmar's  development efforts. Yangon (Rangoon) had cooperated
with the Bank and had serviced its outstanding payments regularly, up to the
end
of 1997, he said. 
 
   "I would like to exhort the Bank to assist all member countries on an equal
footing, without any political bias", he added. 
 
   The minister stressed that foreign direct investment in the country was 
increasing, reaching seven billion dollars by the end of March 1988. 
 
    Myanmar's  economy grew by 4.6 percent during fiscal 1997/98. Gross
domestic
product growth for 1998/1999 is targeted at 6.2 percent, driven by
agriculture, 
mining, tourism, manufacturing and energy, he said. 

    Myanmar  would soon begin providing natural gas to Thailand following the 
discovery of huge reserves in the country's Yandana and Yetagun fields which 
foreign oil companies had been granted access to. 
 
   "The discovery of immense natural gas reserves...has placed  Myanmar  on
the 
regional oil and gas map for the first time in thirty years," the minister
said.
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1998 BUSINESS TIMES, April 30
   
STEPHEN Hansford Petroleum (M) Sdn Bhd, a petroleum-based lubricant product 
manufacturer, yesterday signed a joint venture agreement with S.T.O. Maldives 
(Singapore) Pte Ltd for the export of its products to  Myanmar.  
 
   Under the two-year agreement signed yesterday, S.T.O Maldives, the 
wholly-owned subsidiary and trading arm of the State Trading Organisation of 
Maldives, will import the products from Stephen Hansford and export them to 
 Myanmar.  
 
   Managing director of Stephen Hansford, Mr Stefan Chew, hopes the agreement 
will lead to the penetration of the  Myanmar  market in the next few years. 
 
   ''The market in  Myanmar  for lubricant products is about US$ 6 million
(US$ 
1 
RM3.77) a year. We hope to penetrate at least half of the market. 
 
   ''We will also look into other areas besides the trading of products. For 
example, we will see if we can start manufacturing the products there,'' 
 
   Chew told reporters after the signing ceremony yesterday. 
 
   The signing was witnessed by Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Leo Michael
Toyad.
 
   Stephen Hansford specialises in lubricant technology, but it is also
involved
in the production and marketing of household and consumer products. 
 
   Chew also said that Stephen Hansford's overseas efforts are starting to
bear 
fruit in countries not only in the region (China, Hong Kong,  Myanmar,  Taiwan
and Vietnam) as it will also implement projects in countries like New Zealand 
and Australia. 
 
   Meanwhile, managing director of the State Trading Organisation of the 
Maldives, Mr Mohamed Maniku said Maldives is seeking profitable international 
ventures. 
 
   ''Maldives' economy has been highly dependent on tourism and seafood export
industries. 
 
   ''To accommodate its diversification efforts, the Maldives Government
formed 
the State Trading Organisation about 13 months ago in Singapore as the 
international trade and investment arm of the country,'' he added. 
 
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AP Online 
                   April  30, 1998; Thursday 06:23 Eastern Time 
  
HEADLINE:   Myanmar  Bans Tinted Car Windows AP- Myanmar -Tinted-Window-Ban 
,0144 
 
DATELINE: BANGKOK, Thailand 
 
 BODY: 
     Myanmar's  military government has banned tinted windows on autos in the 
capital, saying it needs to keep a clear view of potential criminals and 
security risks. 
 
   The ban is believed to have been instituted because of the kidnapping of a 
well-known doctor's daughter in Yangon in February. The criminals used a car 
with tinted windows. 

   Since March, the government has posted signs in gas stations urging
motorists
to remove the plastic tinting. Most refused, having paid up to $40 to have the
tinting applied. 
 
   A notice in the state-run New Light of  Myanmar  newspaper announcing the
ban
said the fine for first-time offenders will be $20. 
 
   At $2 a customer, workers have been doing a brisk business removing the
tint.

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