The BurmaNet News: August 31, 1998

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: August 31, 1998
Issue #1085

HEADLINES:
==========
REUTERS: SUU KYI TO CALL "PARLIAMENT" IN SEPTEMBER 
BKK POST: NLD WARNED OF POSSIBLE DISSOLUTION 
AFP: MYANMAR MEDIA STRIKES OUT AT FOREIGN DIPLOMATS 
SPDC EMBASSY, CANADA: THE VIEW FROM THE EMBASSY 
ASIAWEEK: A CHANCE FOR DIALOGUE 
FEER: REVIEW: SIDELINING SUU KYI 
BKK POST: CRASHED PLANE, BODIES FOUND IN GOLDEN TRIANGLE 
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REUTERS: SUU KYI PLANNING TO CALL "PARLIAMENT" IN SEPTEMBER
30 August, 1998 

YANGON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told
supporters this weekend she intended to convene a ``People's Parliament''
in September, sources in her party said on Sunday.

Plans announced earlier this month by Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD) to convene a parliament have put the opposition on a
collision course with the ruling military State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC).

``In her informal meeting with about 500 NLD members who came to ask after
her health on Saturday afternoon, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said the NLD would
go ahead with its plan for a People's Parliament in September, but she did
not mention an exact date,'' an NLD source told Reuters on Sunday.

Government officials could not be reached for comment on Sunday but have
previously said such a move would be illegal.

State-run media have suggested the opposition could be outlawed and Suu Kyi
deported if the party proceeds with its plans.

The opposition has threatened to convene a parliament, including
representatives of different ethnic groups, after the military ignored its
calls to convene on August 21 an assembly based on the results of a 1990
general election.

The military has said a parliament cannot be convened before a constitution
is finalised. The NLD says the government is stalling.

The NLD easily won the 1990 election but the result was never recognised by
Myanmar's military, which has since arrested scores of opposition members
and curtailed the party's activities.

Relations between the two sides appeared to be easing as high-level
representatives of the two sides met for the first talks for more than a
year on August 18.

But progress has stalled as the administration refuses to hold talks with
1991 Nobel Peace Laureate Suu Kyi, a condition the NLD says is a
prerequisite for genuine dialogue.

The state-run press has repeatedly attacked the opposition, which has
responded with a series of protests including the first student
demonstrations in Yangon since 1996.

In a speech quoted in state-run papers on Saturday, Secretary General
Number One of the SPDC, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, condemned the
opposition as traitors motivated and supported by foreign powers.

Articles carried in the same papers said power could not be handed to the
NLD and that Western-style democracy was an inappropriate form of
government for Myanmar.

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THE BANGKOK POST: NLD WARNED OF POSSIBLE DISSOLUTION
28 August, 1988 by Nussara Sawatsawang 

Burmese Ambassador to Thailand Hla Maung yesterday said his government was
prepared to dissolve the main opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) party if it acts illegally.

The ambassador's remark underscored a state-controlled Burmese media report
suggesting the NLD should dissolve and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, should
be deported following recent confrontations between the two sides.

The NLD announced early this week that it plans to summon a "people's
parliament" after the failing to convince the ruling military junta to
convene representatives of a parliament elected in 1990.

But Hla Maung suggested such action would be considered illegal because the
government, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has no
intention of convening the parliament.

"No matter whoever they are, they are not entitled to convene the
parliament if the Burmese government doesn't mean to do it," he said.

"And no matter if it is the NLD or whatever group, it may be warned or
dissolved if it goes beyond the law ... We are prepared to dissolve it."

Hla Maung, who is known to be close, to powerful SPDC secretary Khun Nyunt,
also insisted the government will not hold talks with Mrs Suu Kyi on
national reconciliation, as demanded by the international community,
including the Thai government.

"We will talk to the NLD. We will, not talk to only one person ... That
person is not chairperson of that party," he said, referring to Mrs Suu
Kyi, who is the party's secretary.

Rangoon last week had a one-hour meeting with representatives of the NLD,
but excluded Mrs Suu Kyi.

Other Rangoon officials said yesterday it wants to keep fledgling meetings
going with the opposition, but diplomats questioned government intentions
partly because Nobel laureate Suu Kyi would not be included.

The government, facing a month of low-level but concerted agitation by
pro-democracy forces, reiterated that it found other leaders of the NLD
more "responsible".

Government officials have been briefing diplomats and foreign military
attaches over the past few days, stressing that the NLD's demands to
convene a civilian parliament would upset attempts to hold talks between
the two sides.

The officials have described recent meetings with party officials as
confidence-building measures, but diplomats said the briefings were filled
with threats to arrest opposition members and declare Mrs Suu Kyi's party
illegal.

"We do not feel such actions are confidence-building measures' by any
stretch of the imagination and are thus skeptical of the government's
sincerity," a US embassy official said on condition of anonymity.

Mrs Suu, Kyi has been recovering since Monday from a 13-day roadside
stand-off against authorities preventing her from travelling to the
provinces to meet supporters. She was suffering kidney and urinary tract
problems, dizziness and low blood pressure, according to the NLD.

Meanwhile, the country's holiest Buddhist shrine, the gold encrusted
Shwedagon pagoda, reopened after an unprecedented one-day closure due to
apparent fears of anti-government protests.

The temple was closed on the anniversary of an important speech given there
by Mrs Suu Kyi in 1988 during a nationwide uprising against military rule.
Troops eventually crushed the unrest, killing an estimated 3,000 people.

The government said yesterday in a fax to the Associated Press it views NLD
chairman Aung Shwe as "the most responsible person of the party" and is
also willing to meet with "officially recognised central executive
committee members". 

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AFP: MYANMAR MEDIA STRIKES OUT AT FOREIGN DIPLOMATS 
28 August, 1998 

YANGON, Aug 28 (AFP) - Myanmar's state-run media on Friday lashed out at
foreign diplomats here, accusing them of inciting unrest and lending
support to opposition parties.

"The code of conduct does not state that diplomats should make contacts
with or give support to organisations opposing, criticising and attacking
the government," a commentary in the New Light of Myanmar said.

"Some embassies are one sidedly favouring the National League for
Democracy," it added, referring to the main opposition party led by Nobel
peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The commentary urged diplomats to
cease meddling in the military state's internal affairs, saying the junta's
own foreign envoys set a good example for them to follow.

"They always stay away from places where people of (the) host nation are
starting to gather for some political reason," the column, generally
regarded to be officially inspired, said.

"They never mingle with such crowds or gather information or instigate
them," it added.

On Monday police dispersed student demonstrators in the first street
protests in Yangon for almost two years. Some protesters and bystanders
were detained but no injuries were reported.

The United States has stepped up efforts to highlight human rights abuses
in Myanmar, with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright calling regional
leaders to express concern about Aung San Suu Kyi. Albright telephoned the
foreign ministers of Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand over
the weekend to discuss the situation in Myanmar, where Aung San Suu Kyi has
been barred from travelling outside the capital. A Thai spokesman Thursday
said Albright had spoken with Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan and urged
Association of Southeast Asian Nations members to pressure the junta into
talks with the opposition.

A frail Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Yangon on Monday after a 13-day
standoff outside the capital with security forces who prevented her from
meeting supporters. US embassy officials in Yangon plan to visit the Nobel
peace prize winner "as soon as her health permits," a US spokesman said
earlier.

The Myanmar opposition has demanded military authorities convene parliament
in accordance with 1990 elections which they won by a landslide. The junta
has refused to allow them to form a government. 

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SPDC EMBASSY, CANADA: THE VIEW FROM THE EMBASSY 
31 August, 1998 from <OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx>

MYANMAR EMBASSY 
OTTAWA 
MYANMAR NEWS LETTER 1 
AUGUST 31, 1998 VOL NO.2 

EDITORIAL

THE VIEW FROM THE EMBASSY OF MYANMAR IN OTTAWA

THE REAL FLASH-POINTS ARE ELSEWHERE

It has been a month since the Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM ) took place
and ten days since the "dead line" set by a local politician against the
government passed But It was at the AMM in Manila that Mrs.M.K.Albright
repeated her usual prediction that Myanmar was on the verge of a social
"explosion" because of political instability, rapid economic deterioration,
being epicentre of an AIDS epidemic etc. This editorial then threw a spot-
light onto her dismal record with the crystal-ball -and stressed that
whenever Crises were being  predicted in Myanmar; the "flash point" have
always been elsewhere in the world.

During the month long period since the AMM, much to one's regret, the
fighting in the Balkans, crises in the middle-east, bomb-blasts near US
Embassies in East Africa, resumption of civil wars in Central, West and
North Africa, retaliatory rocket attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan etc. have
captured much media attention and that of the U. S. and Western
governments, with the United Nations and its agencies helplessly looking on
and trying to cope with these crises.

Now it remains to be acknowledged once again, that the Union of Myanmar,
despite western instigation of local politicians by even sending in 18
foreign activists posing as tourists, has maintained its peace and
stability and has proven the western prophesies wrong like it has done so
many times in the past 5 years.

It Is also regrettable but getting increasingly obvious that the developed
western countries have little or no capability of predicting correctly
where the world's next "real flash points" are going to be, leave alone
institute preventive measures against possible catastrophic events.

It is, indeed, high time for them to realise that the Union of Myanmar
harbors no hostility towards any one including those governments that have
been doing their worst not only to destabilise her but also discredit her
in the eyes of the people in their own countries. They have, in fact, used
every possible means at their disposal either directly through their media
or indirectly through organizations and institutions that they control or
influence such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and even the
United Nations.

But over the past five years, in spite of all such pressures,  Myanmar have
been proving its critics and adversaries wrong by maintaining it's
stability and even bringing about the 50 years old armed insurgencies to an
end by extending the olive branch to every ethnic nationality involved in
the fighting. These former insurgent armies, who were not involved in the
electoral process of 1990, have now been incorporated into the National
Convention without whose participation in drawing up the new constitution,
(under which a new government must be installed), the result will be
hollow. The country could then possibly descend once again into the kind of
civil war that the world has been witnessing in many countries at this
time. There are at present two critically important points that must be
acknowledged.

Firstly it needs to be emphasized that neither the National League For
Democracy nor its General Secretary Mrs. Suu Kyi Aris were involved in this
crucial peace process. Since last year, almost all leaders of these former
insurgents (the Kachin Independence Organization, Shan State Army, New Mon
State Party, Kayinni Organizations of Kayah State, etc) who now have
political control over their respective 'States", called on Mrs. Aris to
stop her foreign campaign against the Union and severely criticized her for
endangering the sovereignty of the nation by relying too much on foreign
powers ("the Gorbachev Syndrome") for her own political ascension to power.
If this situation is properly understood, it should be easy to understand
why all the efforts to discredit the government and bring about civil
unrest and social "explosions" have failed so miserably so far.

Secondly, the superficial and short-sighted assessment of the Myanmar
mentality- that people are afraid, "cowed" by the power of the SPDC
government is severely flawed. It offends the pride and basic decency of
the Myanmar peoples and at the end of the day will be counter productive.
It also insults them to their core and ignores their historical courage and
resilience that kept their nation independent, except for once, in their
long and proud existence over a thousand years.

However, we are aware that scarcity of objective information always tends
to make disinformation campaigns easy. The Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
therefore is providing it's periodic "short perspective of the country's
political development" once again as follows:

1 The Union of Myanrnar is NOT yet a democracy. It is move towards a
multiparty democratic system from the massive destructive anarchism it
suffered 10 years ago.

2.	It should be noted that there are still countries in the neighbourhood
of Myanmar (China, Laos & Vietnam) who have not yet allowed democratic
parties to be formed and yet making good economic progress. Therefore
Myanmar should also be accorded the right to develop itself with its own
pace and geo-political determinants in mind. The country is not rich at
present but has already come a long way from that of 1988.

3 The Government of Myanmar allowed democratic political parties to be
formed and even held an election to form an assembly that was intended to
oversee the development of a national constitution. This was possibly
misconstrued by the western democracies who joined the winning political
party in demanding for an immediate transfer of power. When this was denied
many elected delegates went underground, took up arms against the
government and forced the Election Commission to declare their elections
null and void.

4. The remaining "legal" delegates then joined the national convention
-which is actually a forum for "dialogue" where representatives from all
walks of lives and from all the former warring factions of the ethnic
national races, except one, participated. However, the 'wait' for the last
ethnic insurgents to return to the legal fold and some remaining work on
intricate details caused a "recess" of the plenary sessions to be called.
Up to the present, 17 out of 18 groups have returned with only a fraction
of the Karen National Union (but mainly the Christian leadership) still
procrastinating for some unfortunate reasons. But the work of the
convention goes on at committee levels.

5. Since the formation of the democratic parties were allowed, the
government spelled out certain disciplinary rules that still restrict them
from full- blown "politicking" that are already standard practices in fully
democratized countries. But one of the parties whose General Secretary Mrs
Suu Kyi Aris was disqualified by law (since 1947 constitution drawn up
under her father's patronage) to stand election (because of her marriage to
a foreigner), became the tool of the western powers to campaign and
agitate, first for immediate transfer of power and later slightly toning
down to convening of the elected but outdated National Assembly which has
been already in disarray for past eight years. Two years ago she also
ordered her party delegates attending the National Convention to walk out
of the DIALOGUE and automatically disqualifying them according to the
disciplinary rules as delegates to the National Convention But them "eight
years" is far beyond any legitimate tenure of any elected assembly. The
time has come to think a new.

6. Although the government is not able to give Mrs. Aris any special
political privileges still denied to other political parties it has
tolerated her defiance and political antics up to a certain limit simply
because she happens to be the daughter of Gen. Aung San , the nationalist
leader. But it has been made clear that anything beyond that limit will
have to be dealt with firmly although "exercising utmost restraint"
ensuring that nobody, including herself, gets hurt.

7. Up to this point, the people of Myanmar with their usual low level of
interest in party politics, have given little attention to the so-called
"incidents" in contrast to the way they have been blown out of proportion
in Western Countries, where a negative media campaign has been
simultaneously waged.

The Union of Myanmar, always conscious of attempts from abroad to
destabilise her, will cautiously continue to reject any infringement on her
sovereignty and interference in her internal political affairs with a firm
resolve like it has successfully done so in the past. Myanmar will,
however, steadily continue it's transition toward a multiparty democratic
system which must be in keeping with her tradition and culture-not
something that has been "cloned like molly the sheep" in the western
developed countries.

At one month after the US Secretary of State expounded at the AMM, her
interpretation of the situation in Myanmar, the country remains peaceful
and calm. Crime rates (including those drug-related) for cities remain
among the world's lowest, natural gas from her off-shore fields are about
to flow into the national pipelines to augment the energy resources, new
bridges span major rivers and new dams irrigate arid but fertile lands.
University exams have been fully conducted and even the leaders of
"Burmese" dissidents in Japan relinquish their refugee status to return
home. Also noteworthy is the fact that UNDP's Human Development Index for
Myanmar (rising from position 131 in 1994 to 111 by 1997) remains higher
than all it's immediate Western neighbours and data evolved from the WHO
and Anti-AIDs Organizations in Asia will easily reject the defamatory
statement that Myanmar is the epicentre of AIDs in South and South East Asia.

It is time for big powers to stop barking up the wrong tree!
The real flash-points are elsewhere!

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ASIAWEEK: A CHANCE FOR DIALOGUE 
28 August, 1998 by Roger Mitton 

But behind the scenes, the sparring continues

MYANMAR HAS SEEN A flurry of activities the past week. The dialogue between
the military government and the opposition National League for Democracy,
begun on Aug. 18, continued with a second session a week later. At the same
time, NLD leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi abruptly ended a
13-day car sit-in outside Yangon to direct party matters back home. And for
the first time since December 1996, up to 100 young people demonstrated in
the capital against the junta. The protest lasted about an hour before it
was broken up by baton-wielding riot police. But it is understood that no
arrests were made and the city stayed calm.

Observers, however, fear that a repetition of such protests may cause the
junta to abandon its recent conciliatory posture - including a promised
re-opening of universities - and launch a crackdown similar to the one in
1988 that killed hundreds. Says a foreign professional in Yangon: "I'm
afraid that those in the government who pushed to open up the economy, join
ASEAN and take a softer line with the NLD may be shunted aside."

The conciliatory course - urged on the generals by their ASEAN colleagues
and key investors like Japan and South Korea - began in May when the
government allowed the NLD to celebrate its 1990 election victory. The
party decided to adopt a firmer attitude toward the junta. Soon, Suu Kyi
flouted official advisories and made journeys outside Yangon in a bid to
meet provincial party officials. She was stopped each time, but not
prevented from setting out again. Her third such outing led to an
internationally publicized, six-day stand-off. The government forcibly
returned her to the capital.

Even so, the generals made more subtle concessions. At Suu Kyi's request,
they withdrew a security unit stationed in her compound. The next day, they
invited NLD chairman Aung Shwe for talks. The invitation was spurned
because it did not include Suu Kyi - a decision many outsiders felt was a
tactical error by the NLD, which portrays itself as the party of dialogue.
Others, however, thought the rejection justified. Says U.S.-based academic
Mya Maung: "If Aung Shwe were to accept, the leadership would be split and
Suu Kyi undermined." Ties between the two have long been strained.

Despite the rejection, the junta again softened its position. On Aug. 8,
government newsletters began referring to the NLD leader as "Ms. Suu Kyi"
rather than "Mrs. Aris" (after her British husband Michael Aris). "That's
quite a move forward," says an ambassador. "For years, the generals have
not been able to speak her name." Next day, when 18 foreigners were
arrested in Yangon for distributing pro-democracy cards with the NLD logo,
they were quickly tried for inciting unrest, sentenced to five years - then
freed and allowed to leave the country.

With Suu Kyi stranded 32 km away in her fourth car sit-in, junta pragmatist
Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt on Aug. 18 reinvited Aung Shwe for talks. This time,
the party chairman accepted and met for 45 minutes with Khin Nyunt and
other senior officials. Khin Nyunt called the talks "fruitful." The news
was prominently displayed in the government media.

Did Suu Kyi authorize Aung Shwe to meet Khin Nyunt? Says a Yangon diplomat:
"She did not object, but we do not know if she gave her approval." Adds Mya
Maung: "I was told Aung Shwe acted with the full knowledge and approval of
Suu Kyi." Other Yangon sources say she was only informed of the meeting
later, and belatedly gave her approval.

The government said it welcomed further meetings. A second took place on
Aug. 24 between two senior NLD officials and Home Affairs Minister Col. Tin
Hlaing. Later that day, Suu Kyi gave up her car ordeal and returned home,
citing ill health. She had refused all food and facilities brought to her
by the government, clearly hoping to generate sympathy - and worldwide
attention. She did, but the impact was less that of her previous car sit-in.

Then came the Aug. 24 protest, which caught most people by surprise. But
onlookers showed no inclination to join in. This mirrored the reaction to
the cards handed out by the 18 foreigners, which were rejected by ordinary
citizens. Indeed, restaurants emptied when the foreigners entered.

NLD officials believe their tougher stance has brought the government to
the negotiating table. That may embolden the party to continue insisting on
Suu Kyi's presence at future talks. The reason, says director Robert Cribb
of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies in Denmark, "is to keep her
central to the issue [because] she has the electoral mandate. The standing
which [the NLD] derived from winning the election is fading by the year."
So the stand-off seems set to continue, with intermittent periods of
rapprochement.

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FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW: SIDELINING SUU KYI 
3 September, 1998 

Burma's military leaders have no intention of opening talks with Aung San
Suu Kyi, the head of the country's pro-democracy movement, according to
sources in Rangoon. In fact, junta members have made it known internally
that they will "talk to anyone but Suu Kyi."

The strategy is aimed at marginalizing Suu Kyi by driving a wedge between
her and other prominent members of the National League for Democracy,
especially those who are retired army personnel. Significantly, Suu Kyi was
not informed of an August 18 meeting between military intelligence chief
Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt and NLD Chairman Aung Shwe until the following day.
Aung Shwe, however, is believed to have reiterated in the meeting that Suu
Kyi must be included in future talks. Sources in Rangoon say the junta's
tactics may backfire, as no one in the NLD leadership has the same popular
appeal at home or international stature as Suu Kyi.

"Without Suu Kyi, the NLD is nothing, and the others know that," says a
source close to the talks with Khin Nyunt. The military, however, is
already planning other meetings with NLD leaders. Rangoon saw its first
street protests in almost two years on August 24, the day Suu Kyi returned
home from a 13-day stand-off with soldiers who blocked her from travelling
to meet supporters.

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THE BANGKOK POST: CRASHED PLANE, 36 BODIES FOUND IN GOLDEN TRIANGLE 
29 August, 1998 

Reuters

POOR WEATHER 'FORCED FOKKER TO CRASHLAND'

Searchers found the bodies of all 36 people that were on board a Myanmar
Airways Fokker F-27 turboprop that crashed five days ago in eastern Burma,
a government spokesman said yesterday.

"A search party arrived at the crash site at 2 am. this morning and found
the debris of the aircraft," he said. "They found all 36 bodies of those on
board."

The dead included four crew members and three babies, he said. A government
official said earlier there were 39 people on board the plane including
passengers and crew.

The spokesman said the plane crashed about six kilometres northeast of the
Shan State town of Tachilek, not in neighbouring Laos as was stated on
Thursday.

A transport ministry official said the plane came down in a mountainous and
forested area.

The Fokker had been on a regular two-hour domestic flight from Rangoon to
Tachilek, the main Burmese town in the "Golden Triangle" region.

The Burmese ministry of information has said the Fokker had been unable to
land at Tachilek due to poor weather. It had flown on to Heho but then lost
contact with ground control.

Officials have given conflicting reports. Earlier this week, a Myanmar
Airways official said the plane had landed safely in Laos. On Thursday, a
Burmese government spokesman said Laos had told Rangoon the aircraft had
crashed there.

It was the second crash of a Myanmar Airways F-27 this year. In January, 14
people, including three foreigners, were killed when an F-27 carrying  45
people crashed near Thandwe, 320 kilometres northwest of Rangoon.

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