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The BurmaNet News: July 1, 1998



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: July 1, 1998
Issue #1038

HEADLINES:
==========
SCMP: DEATH WARNING TO AUNG SAN SUU KYI
NCGUB: CALL FOR PROTECTION 
SCMP: BURMA VOWS TO STOP NARCOTICS "WITH OR WITHOUT HELP"
BKK POST: YADANA TEST FLOWS DELAYED TWO WEEKS
BKK POST: SECRETARY-GENERAL LAUDS "FRANKNESS"
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South China Morning Post: Death Warning to Aung San Suu Kyi 
30 June, 1998 by William Barnes 

The state-controlled media has warned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
that she could become another Ngo Dinh Diem -- the former US-backed
president of South Vietnam who was murdered in a coup.

The regime also threatened the Nobel Peace prize winner with legal action
for taking her political party on a collision course with the Government.

"The Myanmar [Burmese] Government and its people can no longer tolerate the
acts of Aung San Suu Kyi who ignores the interest of the nation and the
people," said warnings carried in all three state-controlled newspapers
yesterday.

Similar threats were made in 1989 shortly before Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was
incarcerated for what turned out to be six years of house arrest.

The Burmese media faithfully reflects the views of the ruling junta, which
appears to have been provoked into using strong language by the National
League for Democracy's (NLD) call for parliament to be convened this week
along the lines of the 1990 general election which it won by a landslide.

Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD colleagues used a rare party convention at
her house last month to try to boost supporters' morale by reminding the
world of its stunning election victory eight years ago.

Yesterday's strong threats might have been directed at Ms Aung San Suu
Kyi's supporters and sympathisers rather than the party leader, observers
said.

"I don't think they can possibly risk the international reaction by hurting
her or even locking her up," said Aung Naing Oo, the foreign affairs
spokesman for the All Burma Students' Democratic Front in Bangkok.

The reports said Ms Aung San Suu Kyi should learn from Diem, who was used
by Western powers but did not win public support. 

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NCGUB: Call for Protection of NLD Leader, Arrested MP's
30 June, 1998 from < ncgub@xxxxxxxxxxx> 

PRESS RELEASE

National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma 
815 Fifteenth Street, NW, Suite 910
Washington DC 20005

Dr. Sein Win, the Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government of
the Union of  Burma  (N.C.G.U.B.) condemned the ruling junta for
threatening to kill Aung San Suu Kyi and carrying out mass arrests of
elected members of parliament.  

"I am alarmed that the junta has threatened to assassinate our leader and
is arresting elected representatives," said Dr. Sein Win, who is also Aung
San Suu Kyi's cousin.  "Civilized governments do not behave this way and
the international community must act quickly to safeguard Daw Suu and my
fellow members of parliament or it could be too late."

In an article printed in the state-controlled New Light of Myanmar
newspaper, the regime warned that Aung San Suu Kyi could become another Ngo
Dinh Diem, a former President of South Vietnam [who] was assassinated at
the direction of generals in the South Vietnamese army during a coup in 1963.

In the last 48 hours, military intelligence agents have also been arresting
MPs in Irrawaddy, Mandalay, Shan and Pegu Divisions and are gathering
around party headquarters in Rangoon, where more arrests appear imminent.
The N.C.G.U.B. has confirmed the names of three of those arrested and is
trying to determine how many others have been taken.   Elected M.P.s
arrested thus far include Mahn Johny, (N.L.D., KyongPyaw township), David
Hla Myint, (N.L.D., Ngapudaw township and Dr. Tin Min Htut, (N.L.D.,
Pantanaw township).

Burma is seeking Overseas Development Assistance from Japan, which would be
imperiled if Aung San Suu Kyi and the others are harmed.  The regime in
Burma is increasingly becoming an embarrassment to the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations,  leading some members to reconsider their
long-held policy of not criticizing fellow members. 

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South China Morning Post: Burma Vows to Stop Narcotics "With or Without Help" 
27 June, 1998 

Burma, one of the world's biggest drug-producing countries, claims it can
wipe out narcotics within 15 years if international aid is provided.

But Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing, chairman of the Central Committee for
Drug Abuse Control, said yesterday in a ceremony marking International Day
Against Drug Abuse that Burma would eradicate narcotics "with or without
external assistance".

"In the past, Myanmar [Burma] has had problems with heroin and opium abuse.
Now there is a gradual rise in the abuse of psychotropic tablets," Colonel
Tin Hlaing said.

In neighbouring Thailand, which shares the notorious Golden Triangle
opium-producing region with Burma and Laos, authorities burned 632kg of
drugs seized in the past year, mostly heroin, opium and amphetamines.

Assistance to remote areas of Thailand has largely eliminated opium
cultivation, though the country remains a key smuggling route for heroin.

Western countries, particularly the United States, have limited similar
assistance to Burma to protest against the military regime and its
suppression of dissent, plus allegations that the leadership benefits from
the drug trade.

The Government denies the charges and says the American CIA encouraged the
production of opium in the rugged borderlands to fund anti-communist
Chinese refugees after Mao Zedong came to power in China in 1949.

Burma is the source of 60 per cent of the heroin reaching the US. 

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The Bangkok Post: Yadana Test Flows Delayed Two Weeks 
30 June, 1998 by Boonsong Kositchotethana

Unit brought from Kamphaeng Phet needs modifications
Test-run supplies of Burma's Yadana natural gas were originally due to flow
into Thailand tomorrow.  But the country will be unable to take even the
smallest trial quantity for at least two weeks, as it will take that long
to install a 25-megawatt gas turbine at the Ratchaburi power plant as a
temporary gas burner.

The Electricity Generating of Thailand (Egat) moved the burner from
Kamphaeng Phet to the Ratchaburi plant for the test run. It had to move
quickly as the commissioning of the first pair of 200-megawatt gas turbines
destined for Ratchaburi, the plant built largely to use Yadana gas, is
likely to be delayed until the end of this year.

Contractors for the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) were racing
against time to modify pipes and other equipment for the temporary turbine
to take the gas, officials said.

Modifications are necessary because the very small volume which the
Kamphaeng Phet gas turbine can currently handle is much below the minimum
capacity of the PTT's original gas distribution system.

The Kamphaeng Phet unit requires only 8-10 million cubic feet per day
(MMcfd) of gas while the PTT facilities were designed for at least 2 MMcfd.

A senior PTT spokesman confirmed yesterday that the 260-kilometr pipeline,
running from the Thai-Burmese border at Thong Pha Phum to Ratchaburi power
house, and related facilities had been completed.

A senior Egat official said the Kamphaeng Phet unit would be ready tomorrow
to generate electricity on diesel oil, the fuel used to test the generator.
It might be able to switch to Yadana gas two weeks later.

Officials of both state enterprises cautioned that tomorrow was only the
commencement date for the whole system and should not be taken as the
commercial start-up.

But they acknowledged the magnitude of problems that had led to the long
delay for the PTT and Egat in matching the agreed gas flow rates from the
Yadana developers. This would affect the expected cashflow from the US$1
billion project.

The delay in taking gas has marked implications in terms of penalties for
Thailand. The 30-year deal calls for the average delivery of 525 MMcfd of
Yadana gas to the PTT, starting tomorrow. Because of the take-or-pay nature
of the contract, the PTT is subject to paying $81.57, million to the Yadana
consortium if it fails to take the Burmese natural gas supply five months
after the contractual start-up date of gas purchases.

Senior PTT officials were recently in Rangoon to discuss this issue with
the Yadana group and Burmese officials.

Egat earlier slowed down construction of the Ratchaburi plant in
anticipation that the 16.5-billion-baht gas line would be delayed by
conservationists protesting against the laying of pipes through forests in
Kanchanaburi. The slowdown was complicated further by the need to repair
faulty parts.

On March 6, police led by Kanchanaburi governor Direk Uthaiphol arrested
anti-pipeline campaigner Sulak Sivaraksa and about 56 demonstrators, mostly
students who were blocking the pipeline construction by staging a sit-in in
the forest.

Mr Sulak began his protest shortly after Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, on
February 29, decided that laying of the pipeline must continue. Other
conservationists then moved from the protest site.

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The Bangkok Post: Secretary-General Lauds "Frankness" Among Members 
30 June, 1998 by Achara Asayagachat 

Asean Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino yesterday hailed a "higher degree
of frankness" now being demonstrated among Asean ministers, and emphasised
the "interconnection" between member states.

Speaking to reporters after talks with Thai Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan, Mr Severino said "circumstances today do not permit us to live in
isolation".

Financial and environmental problems that affect the entire region
underline "the nature of the interconnection among us," he said.

"Asean ministers have discussed frankly, may [be] not as the non-Asean do,
but there is a higher degree of frankness, and as Asean family we should
talk frankly," he said.

Mr Severino said his talks with Mr Surin covered the issue of Asean member
states becoming more active in addressing their concerns. But Mr Severino
stressed that there was no mention of them "constructive intervention,"
earlier advocated by Mr Surin.

Mr Surin did not comment on his talks with Mr Severino. But Mr Surin said
Asean foreign ministers, during their meeting in Manila next month, would
try to solve the problem of bringing Burma into the framework of
co-operation between Asean and the European Union.

The EU called off a meeting set to take place in Bangkok last November
after Asean insisted on Burma taking part.

Mr Severino is in Bangkok as part of a staggered tour of the member states
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

He also met Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, Deputy Prime Minister Supachai
Panitchpakdi, and Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanhaeminda yesterday. He is
due to leave for Laos tomorrow.

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