Information Sheet A.0548(I)

[OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx]

                                          Information Sheet

                                       A.0548(I)       Aug.9, 1998

(1)		1.8 Million Acres Put Under Paddy Crop In Bago Division

		It is targeted to cultivate paddy on 2.2 million acres in Bago Division this
year and 1.8 million acres have been put under paddy this year. 

(2)		Foreigner Deported In Mitigation Of Punishment

		Mr James Mawdsley, who holds dual British and Australian citizenship, was
released on 6 August in mitigation of punishment.  Mr James Mawdsley entered
Myanmar illegally and engaged in anti-government acts, and was sentenced to
five years? imprisonment on 15 May under Section 13 (1) of the Immigration
Law.  His mother met him at Insein Prison on 5 June, and his father arrived
Yangon on 5 August to meet him.  It is reported that his father submitted an
appeal to the Head of State for his son.  He was deported on 6 August after
the rest of the punishment was commuted under Section 401(1) of the Criminal
Procedural Law.  Accompanied by his father, he left Yangon by Thai Airways
Flight 306 at 8 pm on 6 August.31st July 1998.


		The rebuttal by Mr. Nicholas Greenwood, Travel Writer & Tour Consultant
(Myanmar) in London to the Independent, London for your information.

John Jackson
The Independent
London

Dear Mr Jackson,
		Your call for British sanctions against Burma (Myanmar) in your column in
today?s Independent is as  misguided as is your obsequious hero-worship of
Aung San Suu Kyi sycophantic.

		You and your cronies at the Burma Action Group always rely on the case of
South Africa as an example for the imposition of sanctions against Burma.  But
those of us who know Burma intimately know that a far more accurate analogy is
that of Iraq, for, it is the Iraqi people themselves who are the clear losers
in the sanctions? war. Health facilities-- where they exist at all- are basic
in the extreme: under an imposition of sanctions and embargoes the medical
welfare of the Iraqi people would be even more gravely jeopardised.
 
		By continuing to use the apartheid regime of South Africa and former
communist Eastern Europe as means of justifying your argument, you are merely
deluding  yourself, and at the same time betraying a complete lack of
understanding of Burma?s situation. As a so-called  ?Burma expert?, you should
know by now that Burma is-- and always has been- unique. And ultimately, it
should be the wishes and ambitions of ALL the citizens of Burma -- and not
just the privileged few with access to Western media -- that must be both
respected and fulfilled.

		In this context, let me mention a group of foreign travellers (exactly the
kind of people you would wish to see banned from the country) who were so
moved by the somewhat inadequate schooling facilities in the town of  Yawnghwe
( Nyaungshwe) in Southern Shan State that they have provided funds to upgrade
the facilities, I, too, through my tours -- which you and your Burma Action
Group would also wish to be stopped forthwith -- contribute to an orphanage in
Mergui. Such projects benefit greatly from voluntary (Foreign) donations, and
their very existence and survival would also be in great jeopardy by any
boycotts and economic sanctions.

Your article displays a total lack of understanding of a quite unique country
and is as misguided as it is biased and inaccurate.

Yours sincerely
Nicholas Greenwood
TRAVEL WRITER & TOUR CONSULTANT (BURMA)

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