select1 : AB 99-5 (r)

[tzang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

No.99-5                                         ANALYTICA BIRMANIE
TRAVEL ADVISORY: BURMA TOURISTS ARE ROUTINELY SPIED UPON

For those who insist on visiting Burma, they are warned that they are 
routinely spied upon by the very people who serve them: hotel managers, 
reception clerks, tour guides, hired chauffers, taxi drivers, and so on. 
    Below, is a letter by a Burmese national to a newspaper in Thailand 
which explains the process. 
    Burma is not a normal country. Its government (defacto) -- the State 
Peace and Development Council/SPDC is not a government, but an illegal 
imposition on the country which usurped power in a bloody massacre in 
1988 and has since then ruled at gunpoint. The SPDC's main concern is not 
with peace and development, but with holding on to power at all cost, 
even if it means the destruction of the country and the dire 
impoverishment of the people.   
    "Tourism" in Burma is a racket run by the junta to earn hard foreign 
currency in order to, One, maintain its instruments of repression, mainly 
arming and paying it soldiers and networks of intelligence personnel;  
and Two, to personally enrich senior officers who impose themselves on 
all private enterprises as "partners" or "shareholders". The feudal 
system of paying personal tribute to the nearest overlord is fully 
operative in Burma today.  


Analytica Birmania
March 1999.

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ITEM: Letter to the Editor

THE NATION (Bangkok) - March 17, 1999
Mailbag

Burma military gives itself rooms for profit


IT is compulsory for top military officers in Burma to have a share in 
all businesses. Each share by them is only in name for they do not need 
to put in any cash.

After the completion of a project, the military officers ask for their
share of the profits not knowing whether that project gain benefits or 
not.

Two different kinds of hotels have to be registered. One kind is for
foreigners and the other for locals. Hotels that cater to foreigners have
to pay tax in American dollars or FEC.

When a foreigner registers at a hotel, he or she is first asked the
following four questions. 1: State your occupation. 2: Which places do 
you intend to visit. 3: How long will you stay. 4: Do you intend to go to
University Avenue.

The hotel proprietor has to watch and gather information and then pass on
the facts to the MIS (military intelligence service) until the foreigner
departs.

The military officers always ask for their shares of profits from such
hotels in which they are shareholders in name only. In reality, all the
hotels are almost empty of visitors.

The taxis have to make two licences and they, too, have to give details
about the visitors to the MIS.

The military government, instead of promoting the hotel and tourism
business, is urging the hotel proprietors and taxi drivers to act as 
unpaid informers for them.

Thet Oo
Washington D C
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