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The BurmaNet News: January 21, 1999



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

The BurmaNet News: January 21, 1999
Issue #1190

Noted in Passing: "Without rigorous accountability, money intended for
humanitarian relief will end up prolonging my country's misery." - NCGUB
Minister Bo Hla Tint (see NCGUB: PM SAYS BURMA AID MUST BE INDEPENDENT OF
REGIME) 

HEADLINES:
==========
NCGUB: BURMA AID MUST BE INDEPENDENT OF REGIME 
AP: OPPOSITION SAYS LEGISLATOR FLED TO BORDER 
ABSDF: BURMESE MILITARY IMPOSES RELIGIOUS RESTRICTIONS 
BKK POST: ARRESTED RANGOON SPY CONFESSES 
THE NATION: BURMA BID TO DEVELOP CROPS 
ASAHI (JAPAN): MYANMAR VISIT DRAWS PROTEST 
BKK POST: OVER 600 BURMESE WORKERS DEPORTED 
ANNOUNCEMENT: BAIJ HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING 
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NCGUB: PM SAYS BURMA AID MUST BE INDEPENDENT OF REGIME 
19 January, 1999 

PM says Burma aid must be independent of regime Warns international
community to "feed the children, not the soldiers"

NCGUB Prime Minister Dr. Sein Win today praised U.S. Congressman Tony Hall
for bringing attention to Burma's humanitarian crisis but warned that
international aid to Burma must be independent of the regime.  Dr. Sein Win
said, "The international community must insist that aid is delivered in a
way that is transparent, independent and accountable in order to feed the
children, not the soldiers."

Rep. Tony Hall, who chairs the House Democratic Task Force on Hunger,
returned from Burma last week warning of a humanitarian crisis with the
spread of HIV, hunger and illiteracy.  The ruling junta has long denied
that there are major humanitarian problems in Burma, justifying its
suppression of human rights by claiming that it was doing enough by
providing for the people's basic needs.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur is reporting that Hall will not call for a change
of U.S. policy toward Burma but supports increased levels of humanitarian
aid.  U.S. sanctions policy towards Burma exempts humanitarian aid and
requires that aid be independent of the regime and undertaken in
consultation with the National League for Democracy, which overwhelmingly
won Burma's parliamentary elections.

NCGUB Minister for the Americas U Bo Hla Tint welcomed Rep. Hall's
expression of support for maintaining current U.S. policy towards Burma.  U
Bo stated that:

U.S. policy specifies that humanitarian aid be undertaken in consultation
with the NLD to ensure that the regime is not diverting it to the military
or using aid for its own purposes.  Rep. Hall underscores what the NLD and
the democratic forces have been saying: the most basic job of any
government is to make sure the people have food, medicine and education and
the regime is failing the people of Burma at this.

Burma's military regime now spends more than half of its budget on the
military and less than 3% on health and education combined.  U Bo added
that "The regime has used every dollar they have ever touched to feed
soldiers, not children.  Given the chance, the generals will use aid money
to undermine the people's will expressed through the NLD.  Without rigorous
accountability, money intended for humanitarian relief will end up
prolonging my country's misery."

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AP: MYANMAR OPPOSITION SAYS LEGISLATOR FLED TO DISPUTED BORDER AREA
18 January, 1999 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- An ethnic minority member of Myanmar's Parliament
has fled to an area on the country's rugged border with Thailand lying
outside the government's control, an opposition group said today.

Naing Thaung Shein of the Mon National Democratic Front fled in late
December due to the military government's repression of its opponents, the
All Burma Students' Democratic Front said in a statement.

The statement did not say where the 51-year-old lawmaker had fled but
suggested that he was in an area controlled by ethnic rebels opposed to the
government.

The statement, which cited unnamed sources, said Myanmar's military
intelligence agency detained Naing Thaung Shein's son in retaliation.

The student group, based along the Thai-Myanmar border, said Myanmar's
government intensified a crackdown on members of Naing Thaung Shein's party
after they joined with the country's main opposition party leader, Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in trying to force Parliament to convene.

The military government refused to allow Parliament to meet after Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in a 1990 general
election.

Today's statement added that the chairman of the Mon National Democratic
Front, Naing Htun Thein, had been detained without trial and that three
other members of the ethnic party had been sentenced in December to seven
years' imprisonment.

Asked about the claims made in the student group statement, a government
spokesman responded by fax that the three convicted men had been found
guilty of attempting to create a misunderstanding and trying to derail an
existing peace agreement between the Mon ethnic group and the government.

The spokesman, who insisted on anonymity, said Naing Thaung Shein fled
because he was wanted on the same charges and that his son was arrested for
violating immigration laws. 

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ABSDF: BURMESE MILITARY IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON CATHOLIC PRAYER MEETINGS 
19 January, 1999 from <lurie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 

The Burmese Military's No. 7 Tactical Command has ordered the Roman
Catholic community in Pekhon, Shan State not to organize any activities
involving more than 10 people at a sacred religious site.

The order came in late November when a group of 30 young villagers from
Jayrawbalo village in Pekhon went to the Mother Mary's Cave to carry out
cleaning before the annual religious ceremonies in early December. Major
Kyaw Soe, from the Burmese army troops stationed on the mountain where the
cave is located, stopped the group entering the cave and banned altogether
any activities involving more than 10 people.

The township authorities also summoned members of the committee formed to
organize the religious festivities and warned them to follow the order
strictly. They were told to submit the number of Christians who would
participate in the activities to the authorities. The authorities turned
down the committee's request to hold prayer meetings on a
village-by-village basis at different times during the festival.

On December 3 more than 15,000 Catholics went to the mountain to hold a
religious ceremony.  However they were not allowed to ascend the mountain
to worship at the cave. The prayer meeting therefore had to be held at an
open space in the village.

Father U Htun Maung, who was leading the services, was repeatedly warned by
the authorities to watch over the worshippers. The incident has created a
great deal of dissatisfaction and resentment amongst the Catholic community
against the Burmese army.

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

THE BANGKOK POST: ARRESTED RANGOON SPY CONFESSES 
20 January, 1999 

A Burmese soldier arrested at a Karen refugee camp in Suan Phueng,
Ratchaburi on Sunday night has allegedly confessed to being assigned to
conduct intelligence work at the camp.

Mi Suya, alias Pid Sura, 29, said he was attached to a Rangoon based
intelligence unit, a military source said. He arrived in Ratchaburi on
January 17 and was arrested while he was about to enter the refugee camp at
Ban Tham Hin. His assignment was to gather information about the camps, the
refugees and anti-Rangoon movement.

According to the source, the man was once assigned to pose as a deserter
and defected to the Karen National Union's 10th battalion of the 4th
Division on an intelligence mission.

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

THE NATION: BURMA BID TO DEVELOP CROPS 
20 January, 1999 

DEUTSCHE PRESS- AGENTUR

RANGOON - Under a new scheme to increase the yield of crops, Burma's junta
has in recent months given 209,600 hectares of unused land free to local
and foreign entrepreneurs for crop development, news reports said yesterday.

On Monday junta officials passed out 200,000 acres of wetland near Pantanaw
township in Irrawaddy Division, 120 kilometres north of Rangoon, to 19
local and foreign investors, said the state-run newspaper New Light of
Myanmar.

Witnesses attending the handover ceremony in Pantanaw said there had been
at least three foreign investors among the recipients, including the
Japanese firm Mitsubishi.

Burma's military regime launched a programme of distributing unused land
free of charge to private investors in October 1998 on the condition that
they invested about 150,000 kyat (US$450) per hectare in crop production.

So far the government has passed out 117,000 hectares of free land to
investors in Magway Division, 14,000 hectares in Rangoon Division and as of
Monday 81,000 hectares of wetland in Irrawaddy.

State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) second secretary Lt- Gen Tin Oo,
who presided over the handover ceremony in Pantanaw on Monday, said the
next plots of land to be given away would be in Taninthayi Division,
Burma's southernmost province, which borders Thailand.

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

ASAHI (JAPAN): MYANMAR VISIT DRAWS PROTEST
20 January, 1999 by Kishiko Hisada 

Asahi Evening News

A high-ranking official with Myanmar's military government arrived in Tokyo
today for meetings with Japanese politicians and senior officials, the
Foreign Ministry said.

The officials said the 11-day visit by Brig. Gen. Kyaw Win at the official
invitation of the ministry will provide Tokyo with an opportunity to
express its concerns over democracy and human rights issues in Myanmar
(Burma), among other things.

But human rights groups in Japan were already protesting the visit.

The visit "undermines the Western efforts to restore democracy in Burma,"
one human rights advocate said.

"This is the time for Japan to admit that their constructive engagement
policy toward Burma is totally failed," said a letter of protest delivered
to the ministry by the Tokyo-based People's Forum on Burma and other human
rights groups last week.

Constructive engagement is a phrase used by governments, including Japan,
who hope to draw Myanmar's ruling junta into democratic reform by tying aid
and economic support to constructive dialogue.

But human rights groups say the recent escalation in tension between
Myanmar's military leaders and the pro-democracy forces led by Nobel-prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi are further proof that Japan's policy is not
working.

Hideki Morihara, a spokesperson for Amnesty International in Japan, said he
is concerned that Kyaw Win's visit may send the wrong message to the junta.
He said Tokyo must let the junta know that it is seriously concerned about
human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Kyaw Win is deputy director general of the Myanmar Defense Ministry's
Office of Strategic Studies. He is believed to be the right-hand man of Lt.
Gen. Khin Nuynt, the regime's intelligence chief and No. 3 man in the
military government, now called the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC).

The ministry officials said Kyaw Win was invited because he is perceived to
be a young opinion leader in the Myanmar regime and may have some influence
in accelerating the process of democratization.

"We want Kyaw Win to know that there are in fact various opinions among
Japanese leaders toward Myanmar, meaning not only favorable opinions but
also critical ones," one official said.

In March, Japan decided to resume loans of 2.5 billion yen to the regime
for improving the Yangon (Rangoon) Airport. The decision was criticized by
the United States and human rights groups.

At the time, then-Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sent a letter to
Myanmar's leaders requesting that they make every effort to promote
democracy in the country. But Myanmar's government has done little to
respond to the appeal, the ministry officials said.

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

THE BANGKOK POST: OVER 600 BURMESE WORKERS DEPORTED 
20 January, 1999 

Tak- More than 600 Burmese were arrested in Mae Sot and deported yesterday
under the government's plan to repatriate all illegal aliens by August.

Some 100 immigration, border and tourist police officers managed to seize a
total of 608 Burmese nationals in raids on suburban slums and forests along
the Mae Sot-Mae Sariang and Mae Sot-Um Phang highways and set up
checkpoints on the two roads since 4 am yesterday.

Most of the arrested had worked as labourers at construction sites and
farmland, as maids at some villagers' houses and as tricycle taxi riders at
local markets.

On the same say, these aliens were sent back to Burma through Myawaddy
checkpoint, opposite Mae Sot.

Immigration police commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Chidchai Wannasathit said the
operation was part of his agency's plan to arrest and repatriate all
Burmese, Laotian and Cambodian illegal workers before August 18.

Similar raids are to take place soon in Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: BAIJ HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING 
19 January, 1999 from <lawkanatt@xxxxxxxxx> 

The Burmese Association in Japan at its annual meeting in Tokyo
Sunday,January 17, 1997 elected the following persons -

Chairman: U Soe Win
Vice-Chairman: U Tun Wei
General Secretary: U Zaw Win
Financial: Daw Cho Cho Aye 

and  seven executive members: U Than Htay, U Thomas Gon Aung, U Tin Win, U
Toe Naing, U Khin Maung Latt, U Khin Maung Htwe, U  Maw Min Lwin.   

-----------

The BAIJ will not be responsible for any action by  Mya Mya Win, Tun
Aye(Mya Mya Win's husband) and Win Naing (Mya Mya Win's relative). The BAIJ
expelled them from the organization on October 18, 1998.They have said and
done many things against or incongruent with democracy and human rights.

They are also trying to cling on to the other side of the BAIJ by calling
their group Myanmar Association in Japan (MAIJ).

Please do not confuse  MAIJ ( which is like an ambitious temporary arm of
the junta in Japan) and BAIJ (a prodemocratic organization representing all
people from Burma).

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