BC Burma Courier No. 79 11-07-98

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Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 15:45:07 -0700


B.C. Burma Courier - Issue no. 79 - July 11, 1998

Headlines:	  
	REFUGEES TO BE MOVED TO PHOP PHRA FOREST RESERVE	
	LEARNING TO SURVIVE AT A KARENNI RELOCATION SITE
	CAN ASEAN TEACH THE GENERALS WHAT 'DIALOGUE' MEANS?
	
******************************************************************
At the borders

REFUGEES TO BE MOVED TO PHOP PHRA FOREST RESERVE 
Supamart Kasem in the BKK Post:  July 11, 1998
News  (edited)

TAK -- More than 17,000 refugees from two camps in Tak will soon be moved
to a degraded forest area in Phop Phra District under a state policy to
ensure refugee safety.

Fourth Infantry Regiment Task Force commander Col Chayutti Boonparn said
the delayed relocation would be carried out as soon as public service
agencies prepared the location to  shelter  8,570 refugees from Huay Kalok
Camp in Mae Sot District and 8,935 others from Mawkier Camp in Phop Phra
District.

According to him, the new refugee camp will be built in a
one-square-kilometre denuded forest at the Phop Phra National Forest
Reserve in Tambon Phop Phra along the Mae Sot-Umphang Highway.

Tak Governor Huekharn Tomornsuek and deputy Third Army commander Maj-Gen
Ittipol Sirimonthon inspected the plot last week and chose the land for the
relocation program since the plot is outside wildlife sanctuaries and
national parks and has enough water sources, Col Chayutti added.

All concerned staff from Tak province, the Third Army and some
non-governmental organizations will meet soon to work out an operational
plan for the project which is to be subsidized by the NGOs , he said.

The province scrapped its plan to transfer 8,935 refugees from Huay Kalok
Camp to Mae La Camp in Tha Song Yang District which houses 25,673 refugees
last month after finding that part of the new shelter site was inside a
forest reserve.

Following the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)'s attacks on Huay Kalok
and Mawkier camps in Tak in March, Thai authorities announced a policy to
relocate all refugee camps near the border to safer areas located at least
10 kilometres from the border.
--------------------

JAPAN TO ASSIST REFUGEES AT THAM HIN
Based on a news item in the July 8 edition of the Bangkok Post

BANGKOK -- The Japanese government yesterday pledged US$ 75,000 to assist a
project in benefit of refugee women, children and elderly people at Tham
Hin camp.  The camp is located close to the Thai-Burma border about 75
kilometres west of Ratchaburi and houses refugees who fled the Tenasserim
offensive of the Burmese army in April 1997.  The project will be under
supervision of the Burma Border Consortium.
--------------------

LOWER MAINLAND KARENS CONTINUE FUND RAISING FOR RAID VICTIMS
BurmaNews - BC:  July 5, 1998

YARROW -- Over 150 members and friends of the United Mennonite Church today
crowded the basement of the church in this rural community about 80
kilometres east of Vancouver for a luncheon in benefit of the refugees who
were burned out of their homes in attacks on the camps at Huay Kaloke and
Mawkier.  The luncheon of traditional Burmese food was prepared and served
by members of the Canadian Karen Community (CKC) who earlier led the Sunday
morning worship of the congregation.   More than C$ 840 was donated to
assist the border refugees at the service and luncheon. Yarrow is the home
of Aung Mya and Lulu Thein and their family who lived at the Mawkier camp
up until last year.  

Afterwards, directors of the CKC met at the Thein residence to finalize
plans for incorporation of the organization under terms of the Society Act
of the Province of British Columbia.  The CKC is believed to be the first
of the exile groups in B.C. to undertake registration of this kind.  The 
organization is in contact with over a hundred persons of Karen origin and
their families across Canada. 

******************************************************************
Inside Burma

LEARNING TO SURVIVE  AT A KARENNI RELOCATION SITE

Since mid-1996 Burma's military government has destroyed over 200 villages
covering at least half the geographic area of Kayah State, homeland of the
Karenni people, in eastern Burma.  At least 20,000-30,000 people have been
displaced and forced to relocate to sites closely controlled by the
military.  The following information about life at the Mawchi relocation
site in the southwestern part of the state comes from an interview
conduction by the Karenni National Women's organization.  It was posted
this past week on the BurmaNet as part of a report by the Karen Human
Rights Group. 

In Mawchi it is difficult to eat because trucks carrying dried foods are
not allowed to travel between Loikaw, the state capital and Mawchi.  People
are not permitted to grow food in the camp, and the available food is
reserved for the people who work in the mine and for the civil servants,
not for the villagers. The military will not allow food to be brought in
from other areas.  The people have ration cards, but the ration they get is
not enough and the price of the rice is very high: 2,500 kyats for one big
tin.

Some people have paddy rice hidden in the forest but if the Burmese troops
see them going into the forest they shoot them.  In March this year  one
woman tried to go.  She was captured by the Army and tied to a tree.  She
stayed there for three days and had already died when Karenni soldiers
found her and untied her.  She was single and 26 years old.  Her name was
Naw Kreh, she was from Shaw Daw Ko village.

Some village headmen have been killed at the Mawchi relocation site.  So
now many of the village heads, even in the relocation sites, are women. The
site is divided into four sections.  There are about 40 or 50 families in
each.  The people from each village on the site are clustered together and
and village heads retain their positions, representing their villagers in
front of the SPDC.  

There is almost nothing to do in Mawchi to earn money.  At first the women
could get work in the mine nearby, but now they have to pay for a pass to
go.  Then they must sell whatever they get to the government.  There is
sometimes forced labour in the mine but not often.  Usually the  people who
work in the mines are government workers.  They use 
dynamite, so a lot of the people who work there get lung diseases from the
dust of the exploding rock.  Now there are not a lot of minerals left in
the mine so it is getting harder and harder to find anything.

The villagers have to work at clearing the land on either side of the road
from Mawchi to Toungoo.  The clearing or "killing ground" is 600 feet wide
to prevent ambush or sabotage by KNPP troops.  The road work started in
November 1997 and it is nearly finished now.  A lot of soldiers were
brought in but it is the villagers who really do the work. Every family is
assigned a stretch along the road and one person from every house has to go
each day.  It mainly the women and children who do the work.  They take
their own food and sleep beside the road.  There are no machines to do the
work.

Apart from the work on the road, people also have to build fences for the
Burmese army camp.  The Mawchi site is surrounded by hills and there are
military posts on top of these hills so the people  have to climb the hills
to bring water and food to those posts.  The food rations for the soldiers
come from Loikaw by Army truck.

******************************************************************
Feature

CAN ASEAN TEACH THE GENERALS WHAT 'DIALOGUE' MEANS? 

A year ago Burma's military regime was eager to get in on the benefits of
being a part of ASEAN.  Now ASEAN can no longer ignore the potential for
violent confrontation that the junta in Rangoon has been allowed to create
for the country it claims to rule.  Across the region a consensus is
beginning to build that ASEAN must take it upon itself to teach the
generals in Rangoon the difference between dialogue and diatribe.

ASEAN CANNOT IGNORE CONFRONTATION IN BURMA
Editorial in the BKK Post:  July 10, 1998

Burma formally became a member of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations ASEAN) one year ago.  The regime still appears unaware that both
responsibilities and rights were attached to that membership. Unrest or
worse in any ASEAN member has a
direct effect on other members.

It is ironic that the tension in Burma has occurred at this moment. Thai
officials just this week have been explaining their concept of increased,
direct interest by ASEAN members in each other's actions. This new policy
marks a sea change within ASEAN. In the past, members of the group were
expected to remain stonily silent in the face of even the most egregious or
harmful errors by their neighbours. That is now changing, and we should
take some pride that our foreign ministry is the leader.

In addition to the public hope for calm in Burma, Thailand is concerned
about building the confidence of local, regional and foreign investors. 
Any violence or even severe political confrontation in Burma will reflect
directly upon Thailand.

Burma still appears unable to grasp the simple fact that Thailand and Thais
have no
desire to dictate the form of government in Burma. But we have the greatest
interest in trying to help the Burmese achieve the government of their
choice through reasonable discussion, with the participation of all Burmese
citizens.

Thailand can, and will, co-exist with different forms of government.  The
type of system the Burmese choose to govern themselves is their business. 
What concerns us is that the dictators in Rangoon will use excessive force
once again against loyal Burmese who only wish to give their views on the
political system.  We hope Burma will consider the appeal of our government
again. Rangoon should move to solve its political differences with the
opposition in a peaceful, open manner
---------------------

ASEAN MUST TAKE A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO BURMA
Editorial in the Australian:  July 7, 1998

SYDNEY -- Thailand's ambitions for the reform of the Association of
South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) deserve support. Bangkok is pushing an
ambitious agenda of reform for ASEAN, which has been shown to be slow and
cumbersome in the face of the regional economic crisis. 

Underlying the Thai approach is a realization that the old ASEAN style, the
old ASEAN culture, is no longer meeting today's requirements.  Today's
challenges are different and require a different institutional response. 
ASEAN's shortcomings have been cruelly exposed by the economic crisis.
Nothing since the end of the Vietnam War has posed such a threat to the
well-being of South-East Asia yet ASEAN, as an institution, has had little
or no role. 

If ASEAN must have Burma as a member, it needs to be free to distance
itself in
international eyes from the depredations of the Burmese government at the
same time as trying to modify that government's behavior at home. ASEAN
must respond to these challenges in the interests of its own people.
Thailand's leadership on this matter is a welcome sign and a harbinger of
things to come.
--------------------

REGIONAL TASK FORCE NEEDED TO MONITOR POLITICAL EVENTS IN BURMA
Statement of Malaysian Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang:  July 8, 1998

KUALA LUMPUR -- ASEAN governments should warn the Burmese military junta of
international and regional censure, if it imposes a crackdown on
pro-democracy activists or take any action against Nobel Peace Prize
laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, whether against her liberty or security.
 .
The ASEAN Secretariat should set up a ASEAN task force to monitor closely
the deterioration of the political situation in Burma and do its utmost to
uphold respect for human rights and democratic freedoms in the ASEAN region
in general and in Burma in particular.

The Malaysian Foreign Ministry should speak up strongly to ask the military
junta to start a process of democratization by engaging Aung San Suu Kyi in
talks to bring about national reconciliation in Burma.
--------------------

OPENING ASEAN'S EYES
Editorial in the South China Morning Post:  July 9, 1998

When members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations decided last
year to admit Burma to their organization, the move was presented as the
best means to bring about a rapprochement between the ruling junta and the
National League for Democracy (NLD) of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Yet still the opposing sides remain polarized. Growing tension in the
country has so alarmed Bangkok that the Thai Government is warning that an
outbreak of violence could hamper the fragile progress toward economic
recovery.

Aung San Suu Kyi's abortive journey to meet supporters in the north, after
giving her "minders" the slip, comes weeks after the military allowed the
NLD to mark the anniversary of its 1990 election victory.  But any
softening of the junta's line ended when the NLD set an August deadline to
reconvene the disbanded parliament.

Since then, the state media have issued veiled death threats against her
and insisted on the familiar theme that the people would rather have food
than democracy. After the economic crisis, this argument has been
undermined by the way in which a lack of democratic institutions has
emerged as a real obstacle to prosperity.

Like it or not, Asean members have to face this issue at their conference
in Manila this month.  After the events of the past year, the old policy of
affecting not to notice what was going on in other member states is less
and less tenable. The crisis has brought the region together.  There must
be a readiness to offer and accept comment from outside - and to judge if
expectations have been met in the case of Burma.

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