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The BurmaNet News: August 14, 1998



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

The BurmaNet News: August 14, 1998
Issue #1072

HEADLINES:
===========
AWSJ: ASEAN'S CHOICE ON BURMA
THE NATION: SUU KYI IN NEW FACE-OFF WITH JUNTA
THE NATION: SNAG HOLDS UP FATE OF 18 ACTIVISTS
BKK POST; TENSION ON THE RISE IN RANGOON
BKK POST: RANGOON SAYS SOME REFUSING TO 'COOPERATE'
BKK POST: UN'S ANNAN SENDS LETTER TO SUU KYI
BKK POST: STUDENTS ATTACKED
BKK POST: US OIL FIRM SET TO HALT OPERATIONS
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ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL: ASEAN'S CHOICE ON BURMA

12 August, 1998

Review & Outlook

Three days after Burma's military regime detained 18 foreign human rights
activists, authorities yesterday began allowing diplomats in Rangoon to
visit their nationals. With luck, the ruling State Peace and Development
Council will live up to its name for once, and deport the activists instead
of sending them to jail.

Since some of those detained for handing out leaflets are citizens of Asean
member states, a mild slap might avoid the necessity of members breaking
the organization's own rules to comment on the internal affairs of a member
state. Burma has been the chief beneficiary of this code of silence, so the
generals may see the wisdom of safeguarding this handy policy by bringing
the activist episode to a quick and tidy close.

That's a hope, not a certainty, about the fate of the 18 -- from Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia and the United States.
Presumably they knew when they arrived in Burma last weekend that by making
a gesture of solidarity with that country's oppressed democrats they risked
also sharing the fate of the country's many political prisoners. 

Their chosen method was to wear T-shirts with slogans and dispense tiny
pamphlets urging people to remember the democracy uprising of August 8,
1988. Though the 8th passed quietly in Rangoon this year, there can not be
a single person there who needs reminding about the events of 10 years ago,
when up to 3,000 people are believed to have died in the fight for
democracy. The foreigners who sought to protest openly last Sunday in the
nervecenter of one of the world's most repressive regimes were either very
brave, or very naive.

That does not mean they deserve to suffer any more for the "crime" of
speaking out against the government than do the citizens of Burma. The
country, after all, held democratic elections in 1990, and the National
League for Democracy won. The generals who refused to respect the results
of those polls, and who continue to persecute and jail the victors, cannot
make laws that are morally valid. In a country where free speech and free
assembly are banned, and basic rights denied, to oppose these things is to
obey a much higher, natural law.

Now that they are in custody, however, the activists are about as powerless
to exercise their rights as the Burmese people themselves. They do have
something the Burmese do not, which is authorities in their own countries
to work on their behalf. Certainly Thailand, the Philippines, the United
States and Australia are deeply concerned, in the way that governments in
democracies are when their nationals are nabbed by authorities of a police
state. Some Malaysian officials may not be sympathetic to the plight of the
same sort of pesky "activists" whom they have themselves criticized in the
past. But Malaysia, like Indonesia, has an overriding interest in trying to
achieve a positive outcome here. 

So, in fact, does Asean, which has made a virtue of welcoming Burma into
its ranks with the assertion that membership in that auspicious clubs can
help speed Burma's entry into the ranks of respectable nations. Thailand
and the Philippines have been urging, Asean for some time to take a more
active role in promoting positive values among its more retrograde members.
With some of their own nationals in distress, perhaps Indonesia and
Malaysia too will take this unforeseen, opportunity to test the waters of
constructive engagement.

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THE NATION: SUU KYI IN NEW FACE-OFF WITH JUNTA

13 August, 1998

Reuters, AFP

RANGOON -- Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ratcheted up the
pressure on the military government yesterday by setting out on another
road trip to visit supporters in the west of the country.

International pressure also increased for the immediate release of 18
foreign activists detained for allegedly attempting to incite unrest.

Sources close to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) said the
1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner slipped out of her closely guarded lakeside
home in Rangoon at about 10.15 am (10.45 am Bangkok time) and drove towards
Pathein township, about 190 kilometres west of Rangoon.

At least two NLD vehicles, including a light mini-bus, were halted close to
the village of Anyarou, around 27 km west of Rangoon and not far from where
Suu Kyi was stopped on a similar trip in July, one witness said.

That venture developed into a six-day stand-off on a bridge and was ended
forcibly on July 29 when she was overpowered by security men and taken back
to the capital.

Suu Kyi became severely dehydrated during the stand-off and spent several
days recuperating, diplomats said. She had promised to venture out again
when she was fully recovered.

"She was stopped on the same road about four miles further on," said one
local source. He said the NLD cars appeared to be well-prepared this time
with plenty of dried rations and water.

"Aung San Suu Kyi of the NLD and central executive member U Hla Pe left for
Pathein by cars at 10.15 am this morning to encourage the NLD elected
representatives against whom action has been taken by the government," the
NLD said in a statement.

Suu Kyi travelled with the same people on her July trip.

The government has stepped up action against the NLD since the party set an
ultimatum in June for the government to convene parliament by Aug 21 of
members elected at polls in 1990.

This is the fourth time Suu Kyi has left home in an attempt to visit
supporters in recent weeks. Released from six years of house arrest in July
1995, Suu Kyi is restricted in her movements by the military and her
visitors are monitored.

Meanwhile, the fate of 18 foreign activists detained in Burma on Sunday for
distributing pro-democracy leaflets remained unclear yesterday, with
diplomats saying the detainees were well but had not been told if they
would be charged or deported.

The detainees included six Americans, an Australian, three Thais, three
Malaysians, three Indonesians and two Filipinos.

Government-run newspapers have accused the activists of being part of a
plot to destabilise the country and said the authorities would take
"necessary actions against them".

State-run television has charged in a broadcast monitored in Bangkok that
the foreign activists had received training in sabotage and were bent on
destabilising the country.

The broadcast late on Tuesday showed footage of the detainees. "These
actions are encouraged by organisations in some big nations which accepted
and looked after the expatriates and are providing training on the methods
and techniques of sabotage," the broadcast said.

The United States, the Philippines, and human rights groups in Thailand and
Indonesia called on Burma to free the activists without charge as they
spent a fourth day in detention.

"We are now asking for prompt resolution and the release of those
detained," a US Embassy official said.

"We regard the passing out of leaflets, as a normal and natural activity
and freedom of expression in our country. These were simply benign statements.

"We hope for their release and that's what we are urging."

Philippine President Joseph Estrada pressed Burma to respect the rights of
the two Filipino detainees.

"I also enjoin the concerned authorities to release them accordingly as
warranted by the situation," Estrada said.

The Burmese military also came under more external pressure yesterday with
a coordinated appeal from eight leading nations for the government to open
a dialogue with Suu Kyi. UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has sent a letter
to Suu Kyi and hopes to dispatch top envoy Alvaro de Soto to the
military-run state, the UN representative in Rangoon said.

UN coordinator in Burma Juan Aguilar said the letter was delivered last
Tuesday and "Kofi Annan has proposed the visit of Alvaro de Soto". It is up
to the government of Burma really to accept or not, or decide when they
want to have a UN envoy." A Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in
Tokyo that the embassies of Japan, Australia, Britain, France, Germany,
Italy, South Korea and the United States were to make representations to
Burma.

The appeal called for dialogue with Suu Kyi and her supporter and
criticised the government's infringement of her freedom of travel and
association.

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THE NATION: SNAG HOLDS UP FATE OF 18 ACTIVISTS

13 August, 1998

The Nation

BURMA yesterday told Thailand it had run into a technical problem which
would cause a delay in deciding the fate of the 18 international democracy
activists who are currently being detained in Rangoon.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul said he was informed by a senior
Burmese official by telephone yesterday that some of the 18 international
activists arrested on Sunday for questioning over the distribution of
leaflets, have refused to cooperate thus hinderig the authorities' ability
to compile a report.

The report will be submitted to higher authorities who will eventually
decide on the fate of the 18 democracy activists including three Thai
participants.

Kobsak said U Nyunt Maung Shein, the Burmese Foreign Ministry's director
general of the political department told him over the phone about the
obstacle in the questioning process, however, the Burmese official would
not reveal the names of those refusing to cooperate with the junta.

"There are many confusing reports based on rumour and hearsay with regard
to the 18 detained who are being questioned and Maung Shein has confirmed
that they are being detained and questioned and no legal charges have been
filed," he said.

Quoting Maung Shein, Kobsak said the 18 activists from six countries are
not being regarded as prisoners and are being well looked after.

Meanwhile, Burmese officials in Bangkok have complained to the ministry
over the demonstrations outside its embassy saying that the protesters are
preventing the embassy from performing functioning normally.

Kobsak said the embassy officials complained that demonstrators were
blocking the entrance and exit to the embassy compound and that Thailand
was violating the Vienna Convention in not taking action. "Thailand, as
party to the Convention and host country has to ensure the proper
functioning of diplomatic activities," he said.

Pro-democracy supporters belonging to different Burmese dissident groups
have been camping outside the embassy since last Monday. They have pledged
to remain until Aug 21, the deadline given to the Burmese government for
convening parliament.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that unidentified assailants threw
bottles at those protesting outside the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok early
yesterday, injuring eight of them.

In two separate incidents, at 1 am and 4 am, groups of men riding in a
truck and on motorcycles drove past and threw bottles at the protesters as
they slept outside the embassy. The assailants were chased by two Thai
policemen guarding the protesters, but they escaped.

The eight who were injured were taken to Chulalongkorn Hospital. The extent
of their injuries are not known.

On Tuesday, Aug 11, The Nation incorrectly quoted Debbie Stothard from
Alternative Asean for Burma on the front page. The correct quote should
have read: "They were well aware they might be arrested but arrest was not
a goal," Stothard said.

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

BKK POST; TENSION ON THE RISE IN RANGOON

13 August, 1998

Junta blocks Aung San Suu Kyi again

Rangoon, AFP

Political tensions soared in Burma yesterday as opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi tried for the fourth time to leave the capital to visit provincial
supporters only to be blocked again, diplomats said.

Eighteen foreign activists meanwhile spent a fourth day in detention for
allegedly seeking to incite unrest by handling out leaflets on human rights
and democracy.

The Nobel peace laureate was blocked by officials some 25 kilometres
outside Rangoon as she tried to make her way to the town of Bassein, some
125km to the west, her fourth such failed attempt in just over a month,
they said.

It was almost exactly the same position where she was stopped on a similar
trip nearly three weeks ago, they added.

"The latest information we have is that she is in roughly the same place as
last time," said one western diplomat, referring to the last stand-off
which began when officials blocked the National League for Democracy leader
last time.

"But this time she is in a bigger vehicle -- she is in a mini-bus and has
more supplies."

The junta confirmed it had stopped Aung San Suu Kyi, saying the measure was
for her own safety since she, an NLD official and two drivers had tried to
enter Ayarwaddy province "without proper security arrangements."

"The government of Myanmar regrets that security conditions in Ayarwaddy
division make it unsafe, for Ms Suu Kyi to travel there at this time, but
the government encourages Ms Suu Kyi to return home and continue her
political activities in a more secure environment in Yangon," it said in a
statement.

"However, she and her companions remain free to return to their homes at
any time or to continue staying by the roadside as long as the conditions
remain safe."

In the last incident, the NLD leader was forcibly driven back to Rangoon
after spending spent six days in her car on the side of a rural highway.

A government security team, ostensibly deployed to guard Ms Suu Kyi at her
request, was withdrawn last week at her request. Sources close to the
incident said she believed they had tipped off authorities each time she
tried to leave.

The NLD said members and supporters of the party had suffered constant
harassment since the party in June told the junta it must convene
parliament by August 21 or face unspecified consequences. 

The United States, meanwhile, demanded Burma's junta immediately release
six Americans detained in Rangoon along with 12 other foreigners for
allegedly inciting unrest, a US embassy spokesman there said.

"We are now asking for prompt resolution and release of those detained,"
the spokesman told AFP by telephone.

"We regard the passing out of leaflets as a normal and natural activity and
freedom of expression in our country" they added. "These were simply benign
statements."

"We hope for their release and that's what we are urging."

The detainees were three Thais, six US nationals, three Malaysians, three
Indonesians, two Filipinos and one Australian, the junta said. Ten were
male and eight female.

Diplomats visited the 18 on Tuesday and embassy sources said several of the
foreign missions had requested access to their nationals again yesterday.

The foreign activists yesterday spent their fourth day in detention, with
all in high spirits but uncertainty surrounding their fate, diplomats said.

Lengthy items on state television showed some of the detainees eating and
drinking together but gave no indication what action authorities planned to
take against them.

The television broadcast also showed mugshots of the detainees and some
pairs of shoes' with the soles slit open, apparently showing how the
business card-sized leaflets were smuggled into the country.

Exiled pro-democracy groups have called for a mass campaign of civil
disobedience in Burma and warned of confrontation if the junta does not
convene parliament by the August 21 deadline.

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

BKK POST: RANGOON SAYS SOME REFUSING TO 'COOPERATE' 

13 August, 1998

Prisoners' fate still unknown amid probe

Burmese authorities yesterday said they could not decide on the course of
action for 18 foreign activists arrested in Rangoon on Sunday because
"some" of them had failed to cooperate during questioning.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul said the point was made to
him by U Nyunt Maung Shein, director-general of the Burmese foreign
ministry's political department, during a telephone call from Rangoon.

According to Mr Kobsak, the senior Burmese official did not identify the
detainees whom he said were "not cooperating" but he did indicate his
belief that they did not include the three Thais.

Jaran Ditapichai, 51, a lecturer at Rangsit University, Sawat Uppahad, 37,
member of the Forum of the Poor, and Chanakan Phumdeamvong, 22, of the
Student Federation of Thailand, were interrogated on Monday and Tuesday.
The other 15 include six Americans, three Malaysians, three Indonesians,
two Filipinos and one Australian.

The senior Burmese official was quoted as saying "some of the 18 detainees
are not cooperating with authorities in the investigation. Therefore,
unless full results of the investigation can be compiled, Burmese
authorities cannot decide on how to proceed next."

The three Thai detainees told the Thai ambassador to Burma, Pensak
Chalarak, when he visited them at the Rangoon Divisional Police
Headquarters on Tuesday, that they had been "invited" to take part in 10th
anniversary celebrations of the August 8, 1988, uprising, Mr Kobsak said.

The three also told the ambassador they did not know the other 15 activists
whom they met only after arriving at Rangoon airport last Friday.

In addition, they said they only knew one day before leaving Bangkok that
they would be asked to hand out leaflets, and had decided to do so after
seeing that the contents were not inflammatory. 

Moreover, the three thought they would be handing out the leaflets in
remote areas and that they would be deported if arrested, Mr Kobsak added.

Lecturers at 11 Thai universities have issued a statement calling on Burma
to respect human rights and release unconditionally the foreign
pro-democracy activists.

The 215 lecturers called on the Thai government, Asean and the world
community to negotiate with the Burmese government for the
prisoners'immediate release.

And the Chiang Mai University Student Union called for the urgent and
unconditional release of the 18 activists and also urged Thailand to review
Burma's membership in Asean in view of the arrests.

"The Burmese government's action this time shows that there is no change of
thinkng," a union statement said. "We urge the governments of Thailand and
other Asean member states to review Burma's membership."

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

BKK POST: UN'S ANNAN SENDS LETTER TO SUU KYI 

13 August, 1998

Agencies

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent a letter to embattled Burmese
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hopes to dispatch top envoy Alvaro
de Soto to the military-run state, the UN representative in Rangoon said
yesterday.

"The only thing I can tell you is that the letter was delivered last week,
on Tuesday," acting United Nations coordinator in Burma Juan Aguilar said,
while declining to comment on its content.

Security forces yesterday prevented Mrs Suu Kyi from meeting supporters
outside the capital for the fourth time in five weeks.

The Toyota van in which the National League for Democracy leader and two
party members were travelling was stopped in the late morning about 24
kilometres south of Yangon.

In Bangkok yesterday, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front said Burma's
military government recently detained four more NLD members elected to
parliament in 1990.

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BKK POST: STUDENTS ATTACKED

13 August, 1998

Bangkok Post

A Burmese student suffered a broken nose and nine others sustained injuries
when unknown assailants hurled glass bottles at demonstrators in front of
the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok on Tuesday night.

According to the All Burma Students Democratic Front, Win Aung "required a
number of stitches" as a result of the attack at around 1 a.m. by four
people on two motorbikes who threw soda bottles at the demonstrators. Three
Thai students, two females and one male, were also injured.

During a second attack, two assailants hurled fish-sauce bottles at the
demonstrators and sped off on a motorbike. Thai policemen on duty at the
scene chased the attackers but were unable to catch them, the ABSDF said. 
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BKK POST: US OIL FIRM SET TO HALT OPERATIONS

13 August, 1998

Los Angeles, AFP

The US oil company Arco will cease operations in Burma when its current
contract expires in October, a company spokesman said on
Tuesday.

Arco has invested more than $50 million (two billion baht) in exploring for
natural gas on two blocks in Burma, named M-7 and M-9, spokesman Albert
Greenstein said in telephone interview.

"The scope of the discovery just doesn't warrant our further
participation," he said. "We were really in an embryonic stage of
developing those blocks."

Arec signed production-sharing contracts for blocks M-7 and M-9 in 1995 and
1996. It drilled two wells on M-9 and none on M-7, the company said in a
statement. Arco decided against renewing its M-7 option in June.

The move comes at a moment of escalating economic hardship and political
ferment in Burma, whose junta remains locked in a tense stand-off with its
critics.
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