The BurmaNet News: September 10, 19

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: September 10, 1998
Issue #1093

Noted in Passing: "Some members of the NLD have been invited by the
Government to help ensure a peaceful transition to a multiparty democracy.
The NLD members have been very cooperative, and are being comfortably
housed in government guest houses." - Myanmar Information Committee ( see
INFORMATION SHEET NO.A-0600(I) ) 

HEADLINES:
==========
MIC: INFO SHEET NO.A-0600(I) - U.S. REMARKS INACCURATE 
FEER: FINAL COUNTDOWN 
THE NATION: THE "FIGHTING PEACOCK" IS BACK 
THE ASIAN AGE (NEW DELHI): PEOPLE STILL LOVE SUU KYI 
ASIAWEEK: ROUGH ROAD TO MYANMAR 
BKK POST: BURMA NON-COMMITTAL ON THAI BID
BURMANET SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE: SPDC: INFORMATION SHEET NO.A-0600(I)
9 September, 1998 from <OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx> 

[[Information Sheets issued under the email addresses MYANPERSP@xxxxxxx and
OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx match those issued by the Directorate of Defence
Services Intelligence (DDSI) in Rangoon, and can be assumed to reflect
official SPDC opinion.]

YANGON

Government of Myanmar Says U.S. Remarks are Inaccurate

The Government of Myanmar noted with concern the inaccurate remarks by U.S.
State Department spokesman James Rubin on  September 8 regarding "
Arbitrary Detentions " of opposition figures, and " a decision to deport "
Ms. Suu Kyi.

No member of the National League for Democracy has been arrested or charged
with any crime. Some members of the NLD have been invited by the Government
to help ensure a peaceful transition to a multiparty democracy. The NLD
members have been very cooperative, and are being comfortably housed in
government guest houses.

The U.S. State Department has also mistakenly accused the Government of
threatening to deport Ms. Suu Kyi. The Government has made no such threats.
One writer in a daily newspaper expressed his opinion that Ms. Suu Kyi
should be deported, but that was merely the opinion of one  private
individual. Other writers in Myanmar newspapers have expressed different
views towards Ms. Suu Kyi, encouraging her to take a more helpful role in
developing the country.

The Government has an obligation to protect the rights of all Myanmar
citizens to a safe, secure environment. The Government of Myanmar would
like to remind the United States that Myanmar remains a peaceful country,
without the political violence that exists in many other developing
countries around the world.

The Government of Myanmar welcomes any efforts by the United States and the
international community to help Myanmar maintain the current stability
during its transition to a multiparty democracy. Irresponsible remarks by
uninformed observers only make that transition more difficult, and should
be avoided. 

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FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW: FINAL COUNTDOWN
10 September, 1998 by Bertil Lintner 

Bangkok

DISSIDENT AND GENERALS PREPARE FOR THE ENDGAME

Poles apart politically, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and
military-intelligence chief Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt have finally acquired
something in common. Under pressure to shore up support from their
respective constituencies, both are adopting hardline positions -- a risky
game in which a collision appears imminent.

Khin Nyunt is toughening his stance against Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy, a move that's ratcheting up the tension in their long-running
political stand-off. In an August 29 speech to a group of teachers in a
Rangoon suburb, he branded the NLD "traitors" who are trying "to stir up
instability."

Khin Nyunt's sharp new rhetoric is designed to appease more-dogmatic
opponents within the junta who're growing increasingly impatient with what
has hitherto been a relatively diplomatic approach to the NLD, says a
Rangoon-based Asian diplomat. The opposition, led by Suu Kyi, has meanwhile
declared that it intends to convene a "people's parliament" in Rangoon in
September -- an open challenge to the junta that has raised the risks of an
army crackdown.

"The difference in approach between that of Khin Nyunt's somewhat more
sophisticated inner circle of intelligence officers and the cruder army
types who think enough is enough has become more evident since the NLD took
this bold initiative," says the diplomat. Time may be running out for the
NLD, which won a landslide victory in a May 1990 general election but was
prevented from forming a government.

Eight years is a long time and Suu Kyi must soon show her supporters she is
capable of producing change. "If not, she risks losing her popular support,
which is still significant," the diplomat says. Seen in that perspective,
it's not only Khin Nyunt's position in the Burmese power equation that's in
question. "This could be Suu Kyi's last stand," says a long-term Rangoon
resident.

The NLD won 392 of the 485 seats contested in the 1990 poll for what even
the military authorities then called a pyithu hluttaw, or people's
assembly. But the assembly was never convened, and many elected MPs have
since suffered arrest, fled into exile or simply quit politics. Suu Kyi
says the remaining NLD MPs plan to meet in Rangoon "some time in September"
to finally claim their election victory. That plan is the "treachery" Khin
Nyunt was referring to in his speech. Several spokesmen for the military,
including Burma's ambassador to Bangkok, Hla Maung, have said the NLD may
be banned and Suu Kyi deported if the opposition goes ahead with its meeting.

Any kind of rapprochement between the various players in the Burmese
imbroglio now seems out of the question. Suu Kyi is bent on confronting the
military, and the few members of the junta who have opposed the use of
excessive force to crush the opposition are being pressured to fall in
line. "There's even some risk that Khin Nyunt may be made the fall guy for
the present mess," says the long-time Rangoon resident.

Last November, Khin Nyunt led a purge of excessively corrupt ministers
within the government, but the move didn't bring the expected increase in
investor confidence or influx of foreign money. On the contrary, many
investors are pulling out of Burma, partly as a result of the regional
crisis but also because they have found it impossible to conduct business
in the country.

Khin Nyunt has also come under pressure for his role in leading Burma
toward closer relations with the region and steering it into Asean. Deeply
embarrassed by the repression in Burma, and the international criticism it
has attracted, top Asean officials such as Thai Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan and his Philippine counterpart, Domingo Siazon, have openly urged
the junta to change its ways.

Like Suu Kyi, Khin Nyunt urgently needs to shore up his credibility by
producing some tangible results. "So far, there has been zero, zero, zero,"
says the Rangoon resident. "But even so, there are very few military
leaders in Burma with any vision. The situation would certainly not improve
if Khin Nyunt and his guys were sidelined."

Other observers in the Burmese capital say that even if the military
manages to hold together, and an understanding is reached between Khin
Nyunt and what one diplomat terms "the more dinosaur-like officers within
the military elite," Burma seems to be sliding back towards its xenophobia
and self-imposed isolation of the 1970s and early 80s. Almost daily, the
New Light of Myanmar and other government-controlled media now run
vitriolic attacks on "foreign conspirators" and "neocolonialists who are
colluding with traitors" within the country to cause unrest and even
"deprive Burma of its independence."

Foreign observers in Rangoon fear that a massive crackdown on the NLD --
especially a ban on the party followed by mass arrests -- would cause an
international uproar and push the military deeper into its shell. How Suu
Kyi intends to deal with that possibility isn't clear. Several of her
former colleagues question whether she even has a strategy for such an
eventuality. The talk in diplomatic circles is that she may choose to
become a martyr. But will that change Burma? Suu Kyi apparently thinks it
will. "She says she's prepared to go to jail for her beliefs," says a
Westerner who recently met her. 

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THE NATION: THE "FIGHTING PEACOCK" IS BACK 
9 September, 1998 by Aung Zaw 

THE UNREST INTENSIFIES IN BURMA AS STUDENTS CONTINUE THEIR SPORADIC
PROTESTS. "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH," THEY ARE SHOUTING. 

They were on the streets again. This time they say they no longer want to
see the military rule in their country.

During the recent protest, the students in Rangoon cried that enough was
enough and asked Rangoon authorities to stop military rule.

The students chanted: "Down with the military dictatorship, release all
political prisoners."

"They are angry -- they don't want this situation to go on like this
forever," said a source close to students.

Obviously, the students aren't alone.

"Foreign and local businessmen are unhappy with the junta's performance --
the Burmese are complaining about mismanagement of the economy and the poor
education system," a recent visitor said. "The government is losing its
confidence. The people have no faith in this government."

The political heat in Burma is rising as students realise the time is right
for action.

In recent weeks, Burma's students staged a second large protest on their
campuses. Though they were asked to disperse, they continue the protest in
their hostels.

On Sept 3, students from Yangon Institute of Technology [YIT] complained
about the inadequate transportation system provided by the military
government in their university.

But as they gathered and fussed with the issue, the crowd suddenly turned
into an anti-government protest. Finally, the nature of the protest simply
went beyond the students' affairs.

In late August, college students who were sitting for exams surprised
military intelligence and officials by staging a small protest in Hledan
Junction. They dispersed quickly though.

"That was clearly an anti-government and pro-democracy gathering,"
commented a veteran journalist in Rangoon. "Actually, they were just
looking for a spark. They know time is ripe to strike," said an insider who
is close to active students.

Students hoisted the student union flag, the fighting peacock. A
Rangoon-based observer said the act is a formidable challenge to the
military government which has been facing mounting pressure at home and
from abroad.

"The students are coming out again -- this time they are more political and
saying enough is enough", an observer said.

The recent protest in YIT and Hlaing campuses pose a formidable challenge
to the ruling junta, now known as the State Peace and Development Council
[SPDC].

It is believed that more target places and dates have been designated by
underground students for more protests.

But there is uncertainty about how they will co-ordinate their actions as
the junta has tightened the screws on activists and has closed down schools
and universities.

In fact, universities have been shut since December 1996, shortly after
students took to the streets to denounce the military government. It was
the largest students gathering in years.

Analysts said that the recent protest, in the wake of growing political
tension between the opposition party and the junta, had evidently surprised
the junta leaders who recently decided to hold exams for students without
opening the colleges and universities.

"The exams were separately held in different high schools in towns.
Intelligence officers and the police were watching while the professors
treated us like kings," said a student who studies zoology in Rangoon's
Hlaing campus. Although the officials were surprised by the campus
protests, it seems the junta was also prepared for possible unrest. They
immediately sent out riot police and set up road blocks.

"We cannot go and see them, they [riot police] came and told us to shut the
doors and windows," said a woman who lives opposite YIT. Authorities
quickly shut down all nearby tea shops and restaurants.

However, the Rangoon-based analysts said the recent protests had shaken the
regime which has refused to convene a parliament demanded by the opposition
party the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Rangoon-based observers also commented that the recent protests in campuses
also provided tremendous political backing to Aung San Suu Kyi who was
twice prevented by the junta from going to meet her supporters in the
provinces.

Analysts said the junta has been handling the protests carefully and
diplomats acknowledge the junta's low-profile and middle-of-the-road approach.

"This time if they come and shoot [students] everything is finished -- we
are going to fight back," a truck driver told a foreign visitor. In 1988
hundreds of students were fatally gunned down during street protests.

"Riot police are running around like mad men but there is no shooting or
any violent crackdown so far," a Burmese journalist said. But he feared
that isolated students in campuses will face brutal crackdowns.

Sources in Rangoon confirmed that about 100 people, including female
students and NLD activists, have been rounded up since August 24 and are
now in interrogation centres.

Their parents have reportedly been told to "take care of their sons and
daughters".

"They [parents] are threatened with facing detention if they don't," said a
student source in Rangoon.

The current protests are believed to be engineered by the All Burma
Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) which went underground in 1962.

The Students' Union building was demolished in 1962 and the ABFSU was
outlawed. But students have continued their underground activities against
the military dictatorship and the ABFSU is still active.

About 1,000 students are being detained in prisons and Min Ko Naing who was
chairman of the ABFSU in 1988 is serving a 20-year prison term.

Analysts said the ABFSU students who were frustrated with the political
stalemate decided to take the risk. "They have decided to take to the
streets but they don't want to waste energy and their fellow students so
what they are doing now is sporadic -- hit-and-run tactics."

In Rangoon and other major cities, leaflets have been distributed and small
protests are breaking out more frequently.

There is no doubt that the SPDC has been caught off-guard by the
re-emergence of the students, who have been active in Burmese politics
since 1920. However, an analyst in Rangoon described the situation as an
ant fighting an elephant. "But this time the elephant is weak and the ant
isn't alone. The ant and his companions are well-organised this time
around," he added.

"The students' determination will not be crushed easily. I think these
events mark the beginning of something significant."

After protests on the campuses, the capital turned eerily quiet and a
resident said he could feel an uneasy calm. Significantly the junta's
newspapers refrained from its personal attacks on Suu Kyi after the
students took to the streets on August 24.

But on the campuses, the students are shouting so loudly that the generals
will have to listen. Though it is quiet on the streets of Rangoon, the air
is pregnant with expectation that major changes are going to take place
soon as students push the stubborn generals to end their rule.

"They [military] have no choice but to back down because this time they are
alone."

In spite of the repression and the brutal crackdown, Burma's students are
coming back to the streets. They have sent a clear message to the generals:
the fighting peacock is back. 

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THE ASIAN AGE (NEW DELHI): PEOPLE IN BURMA ARE A LITTLE WARY, BUT THEY
STILL LOVE SUU KYI 
9 September, 1998

Reuters

They think twice before even mentioning her name, but Burma's opposition
leader retains a special secret place the hearts of her people.

"In Burma, first come Buddha and second is Aung San Suu Kyi," said one
Rangoon resident. In the ten years since the crashing of pro-democracy
uprising, the country's military rulers have done all they can to destroy
the influence of the charismatic daughter of national hero Aung San.

But judging by the guarded command of the Rangoon resident, they have
failed. Despite six years of house arrest, the severe curtailing of her
movement, the banning of songs by singers who expressed support for her a
decade ago and road blocks around her lakeside residence, Burmese people
have not forgiven Ms Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy speeches.

"She is a very good girl," said one time member of her National League for
Democracy. 

"I'm not member of NLD, but I like Ms Aung San Suu Kyi," said another man.

Recent photographs of her are never seen in public. But along side a small
shrine, in hidden corners of some homes, sits a fading snapshot of Suu Kyi
taken years ago. It is a risk. If the feared military network learns that
someone has been expressing support for Ms Suu Kyi, that person is liable
to be detained and interrogated, residences say. "If they hear that I have
said I like Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, they will take me away and want to know
why," said one.

Photographs of Ms. Suu Kyi as a small child can be seen at a museum
dedicated to her father, who was assassinated in 1947 as he was preparing
the country for independence from Britain. In the modest house where the
family lived, there are photographs of a tiny Ms Suu Kyi with her father,
mother and two brothers.

The "Bogyoke" or general is Burma's greatest hero, having helped to form
its armed forces during World War II.  His daughter's voice is one that is
hard to silence.

Unable to criticize her ancestry the state-controlled press instead attacks
Ms Suu Kyi's choice of husband, British academic Michael Aris. Official
articles refer to her disparagingly as "the wife of a white" or "Bo-ga-daw"
-  the wife of a British colonialist. "Bog" was how Burmese people address
the British officials in colonial times.

Newspapers on Tuesday accused Ms Suu Kyi of trying to destabilize the
country and called on the military government to deport her, saying her
marriage to Mr Aris made her a foreigner.

Burma's state media have repeatedly said that western style democracy was
not an appropriate form of government for the country and that power could
not be handed to the NLD. The party won a landslide victory in elections in
1990, but the military refuse to hand-over power.

Some analyst also have express doubts in the past about Ms Suu Kyi's
confrontational strategy, suggesting that Burma was still too poor and
driven by too many ethnic divides to cope with this type of politics.

Returning to Burma in 1980s to nurse her sick mother, Ms Suu Kyi became the
relying point for the country's democracy movement almost by accident. Now
53, supporters worry about the toll her recent protests are taking on her
health. Diplomats suggest the members of the government may be deeply
worried about who might be blamed if she died or was killed.

Some people believe that Ms Suu Kyi might already have come to power in
this former British colony had she not married a British man.

"Ms Aung San Suu Kyi made one mistake - being married to a British man. If
it was not for that I think she would be our leader already," said one
resident.

While the government may have failed to destroy the people's affection for
Ms Suu Kyi, it has had other successes.

Dozens of NLD members have been thrown into jails and the movements of free
members are heavily monitored.

Ordinary people have been scared away from politics. "No politics, no
politics!" pleaded one taxi driver.

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ASIAWEEK: ROUGH ROAD TO MYANMAR 
11 September, 1998 

Getting a visa from the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok has become a lot more
difficult since the military junta in Yangon deported 18 foreign activists
for distributing pro-democracy leaflets early last month.

What used to be a routine 10-minute procedure can now take up to two weeks
-- even in the case of tourists. Most applicants are interviewed and
"suspicious-looking" people, that is, those who might be undercover
journalists or activists, are referred to the first secretary or the
ambassador. Some cases even go to Yangon.

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THE BANGKOK POST: BURMA NON-COMMITTAL ON THAI BID TO EASE REGULATIONS 
9 September, 1998 by Achara Ashayagachat 

OPENING OF CHECKPOINT DELAYED FOR ONE WEEK

Burma has insisted on delaying the re-opening of a main border checkpoint
with Thailand, initially planned for today, until September 17 and has
reserved comment on Thailand's request to ease trade regulations.

The Burmese position emerged during talks in Bangkok yesterday between
senior officials preparing for the first ministerial meeting today of the
Thailand-Burma Joint Trade Committee.

Deputy Commerce Minister Poti pong Lamsam and his Burmese counterpart
Commander Myo Tint will preside over the reopening of the Mae Sot-Myawaddy
checkpoint, located at the Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge.

The checkpoint, through which 35.4% of bilateral trade flows, has been
closed for five months and the value of trade has fallen by 31.8% in the
first half of this year.

During yesterday's meeting, co-chaired by Trade Director General Pracha
Charutrakulchai and his Burmese counterpart Khin Maung Oo, Thailand
requested the removal of several trade barriers, flowing from the fall in
the value of the baht.

Under the Thailand-Burma Border Trade Agreement signed in March 1996, trade
below US$20,000 must be paid by bank drafts. Trade worth more than $20,000
must be paid with a letter of credit.

According to Niyom Wairatpanij, representative of the Thai Chamber of
Commerce on border trade, trade has deteriorated between the two countries
as the traders are seeking hard currencies.

Khin Maung Oo told Thailand during preparatory talks last June that Myanmar
Economic Bank had opened a branch at Myawaddy and wanted Thailand to start
border trade with US dollar bank drafts.

However, Thai banks are reluctant to receive Burmese bank drafts, said Mr
Niyom from Tak province.

"Now that baht is devalued at 40 baht to the dollar, compared to 26 baht
when the trade agreement was signed, Thai traders have been discouraged,"
he said.

Other sources said that without any relaxation, border traders may be
forced to go underground to avoid rigid regulations.

China and India tend not to trade in US dollars with Burma and Burmese
businessmen are now lobbying their government to switch back to their local
currency trading system, sources said.

The Foreign Ministry, therefore, has yet to continue negotiations with
Burma on the dollar requirement, sources said.

Thailand also asked Burma to relax bans imposed last March against the
import of 10 products, including mono-sodium glutamate, soft drinks,
instant noodles and canned foods, as the ban would affect trade valued at
1,469 million baht.

But the Burmese delegation argued that they have to protect their domestic
industries which produce the same products.

Thailand also asked Burma to liberalise the import of necessary and luxury
products. Under current regulations, Burma only allows the import of luxury
products after necessary products accounting for 80% of the total volume
have been imported.

Thailand argued that these measures were against the spirit of she World
Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) Agreement.
Burma is a member of AFTA.

Thailand also requested Burma to relax regulations to allow private
exporters to export certain items including cattle, wood products, hide and
horn, and coal.

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