The BurmaNet News: March 25, 1999

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: March 25, 1999
Issue #1235

HEADLINES:
==========
SCMP: HERO NOT FORGOTTEN 
ABSDF: FIFTH ABSDF CONGRESS REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT 
BI: A MOVEMENT STRATEGY: FOUR THEMES OF PEACE 
AFP: CANCER CLAIM A 'POLITICAL PLOY'- JUNTA 
MIZZIMA: DELHI POLICE TO STOP BURMESE'S HUNGER STRIKE 
THE NATION: TROUBLE BREWING BETWEEN BURMA, WA ARMY 
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SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: HERO NOT FORGOTTEN
24 March, 1999 by William Barnes

He hasn't a fraction of Aung San Suu Kyi's international renown. He was
politically active for only a few short months. But to a generation of Burmese
students Min Ko Naing is their Che Guevara.

Min Ko Naing - "conqueror of kings" - was the nom de guerre adopted by a trim,
handsome, moustached zoology student in 1988's street protests.

Baw Oo Tun, 26, was an inspirational leader of the students who first knocked
the military off balance.

"There is no honour greater than the willingness to sacrifice for the
motherland," he told his supporters.

He went underground but was caught in March 1989 and sentenced to 20 years
with
hard labour.

Today, the chairman of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions starts his
second decade in solitary confinement.

The Burmese military has been forced to pull its punches with Ms Aung San Suu
Kyi, the Nobel Peace prize-winning daughter of independence hero Aung San. Min
Ko Naing has no such protection; there were rumours last year that he had
died.

The Bangkok-based All Burma Students' Democratic Front called yesterday for
his
immediate release. It will undoubtedly be disappointed.

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ABSDF: FIFTH ABSDF CONGRESS RE-AFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO POLITICAL WORK INSIDE
BURMA
24 March, 1999 from lurie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Media Release - 21/99

Delegates to the Fifth Congress of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front
(ABSDF) re-affirmed their commitment to political work inside Burma to
mobilize
the people of Burma for democratic change.

The decision was taken unanimously during the Congress, held at a secret
location on the Thai-Burma border from February 26 through March 17.
Fifty-eight representatives and seventeen observers from ABSDF camps along the
Thai, China, Bangladesh and Indian borders attended the Congress.

During the Congress, a political strategy to bring about political change
through mobilization of the people was reviewed and adopted, while other
working programs were laid down and agreed upon. The delegates also reviewed
and adopted new provisions for current international campaigns, the ABSDF
constitution, alliances and the organization's working relationship with
alliance partners.

An ABSDF statement read, "In the past decade, the military has not been
able to
bring about any positive changes - political, economic or social. In addition,
its rule has intensified the general dissatisfaction of the people and their
hatred towards the military. This has made Burma a box of dynamite that will
explode with the slightest activity."

After thorough review of the political situation inside Burma, the delegates
also re-affirmed their support for "peaceful tripartite dialogue" between the
pro-democracy groups led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the representatives of the
ethnic nationalities and the military junta.

At the close of the Congress a new Central Committee was elected,
comprising 30
members. In accordance with the constitution, this committee is to lead the
ABSDF for the next three years

The Congress took an important decision to honour ABSDF members who have died
struggling to promote democracy and human rights in Burma.  Another resolution
was passed to express gratitude, sympathy and respect to those pro-democracy
activists imprisoned because of their work with the organisation, and to their
families.

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BURMA ISSUES: A MOVEMENT STRATEGY: FOUR THEMES OF PEACE
February, 1999 Volume 9 Number 2 by Chris Cusano

At the close of the millenium one thing about Burma's future is certain: the
struggle for peace, justice and basic human rights will stretch will into the
next century. if this is a sobering prognosis, then the movement for change in
Burma may take solace in certain opportunities presented by the long term
view.
Perhaps most encouraging is the chance to think of our work as a struggle for
the 21st century, imbued with the optimism of a new age and the insight gained
from the close of an era. Making the transition, however, is not quite so
simple or automatic as turning the calendar; it requires analysis and
strategic
planning in ways more comprehensive than have yet been tried.

Whether or to what extent a Burma movement exists is an unanswered question at
the end of the 20th century. Undeniably, there's a lot of activity globally,
much motion and commotion, but how well is it all coordinated, based on common
social analysis and striving towards a common goal? This is a key question for
strategic planning.

The first step is to sketch out the framework for such an ambitious strategic
task. It requires consideration of some fundamental issues: the nature of a
social movement; the goal of Burma's struggle; and a critical definition of
peace. These basics have received less attention than they rightfully deserve.
Exploring them will help the movement define itself, evaluate its own progress
and plan for a long-term struggle for social change.

A movement is a strategy for social change. A movement is an organized,
cooperative effort by diverse groups towards a common goal, based on a common
analysis of social institutions. This analysis is both descriptive, a thorough
and unbiased investigation of Burma's social realities, and critical-a search
for the structural causes and effects of suffering and injustice in all their
forms. A movement's strength is its capacity to incorporate many interests,
sectors or classes of society into an overall plan for structural change.
Above
all, a successful movement is constructive, expanding not by conquest or
indoctrination, but by cooperation and a commitment to truth. Critical to
movement building is a shared goal. Too often, it is assumed that all
motion is
working towards the same end, a goal never fully articulated but left in the
realm of abstraction. Terms such as peace, human rights and democracy defy
simple definition and are often left vague in order to avoid the entanglements
of theoretical debate. Rather than shy away from the discourse, however, a
movement must blaze practical paths between the abstract and the concrete.

Peace is a comprehensive idea which encompasses a whole range of positive
social conditions. Of what does peace consist? This simple and profound
question may be as appealing as it is daunting, for it transcends social
barriers of class, ethnicity, religion and nationality; it speaks directly to
the individual without distinction or bias. Its asking may in fact be the
first
step in movement-building. A provisional model, one to be scrutinized, tested
and revised, pieces together four major elements of peace: tolerance of
diversity, confidence in a fair legal system, equitable economic structures,
and a participatory and responsive government.

These four elements of peace may or may not find consensus among the movement.
Upon scrutiny they may be restated, modified, combined or further parsed into
their constituent parts. A never-ending task, the definition of peace itself
becomes an important activity in movement-building, particularly in expanding
the dialogue on social analysis to diverse groups: grassroots Burma,
opposition
politicians, international supporters, academics and the media.

Drawing the contours of peace is not merely an intellectual exercise--it is a
crucial step in strategic planning and movement-building, for it begins to
sketch out a much-needed map for social change. Like all good maps, it should
indicate where people are in the present and should provide an overview of
their options for reaching a goal. The map also suggests a crucial division of
labor, one hallmark of a rational movement based on both inclusivity and the
need to replace commotion with strategic action.

Tolerance of diversity.

Burma's ethnic and religious diversity continues to be a major factor in
social
conflict. Strong suspicions and biases among social groups have both been
inherited from the past and recreated in the present, prolonging contemporary
conflicts, including civil war. The fear of diversity has been an important
force in the militarization of Burmese culture. The remedy to this pervasive
mistrust of the "other" is an ethic of tolerance and the perception of
diversity as an asset rather than a threat. Militarization can be reversed
only
by undoing the culture of fear and mistrust among diverse groups. By the same
token, democratization of society requires a tolerance of diverse opinions and
beliefs.

Confidence in a just legal system. 

The legal system is crucial in providing institutional recourse in
instances of
injustice, and in continually testing and defining the nature of individual
and
collective rights. This recourse addresses social conflict by confirming and
acting on society's values about justice and morality. A fair legal system
treats all people equally and applies the law without political interference.
It is flexible and dynamic, based on laws established by a participatory
government.

Equitable economic structures. 

Peace depends largely on people's assurance in their material security,
including access to food, shelter, land, and good health. This naturally
entails participation in decisions about the use of common resources. Many of
Burma's people depend on subsistence economies built on local control over
natural resources. Economic development can threaten the security of
micro-economies and thus threaten peace.

Participatory and responsive governance.

Regardless of ideological foundation, the government must assume the burden of
establishing and safe-guarding justice within and beyond its borders. This can
only be achieved through significant participation of a populace which claims
ownership of its government, the bureaucracy and its own political destiny.

Where to go next? The elements of peace can be seen as objectives in the
strategic plan, and the next step is to research and analyze the state of each
one. To what extent does Burma enjoy tolerance of diversity today? On what
cultural conditions is this tolerance based? Where are its strengths and what
are its weaknesses? What economic structures serve their purpose well in the
present? What dangers or opportunities do they face? The next analytical
question seeks to identify the main challenges facing the movement: What are
the major obstacles to the full realization of the objective? While it may be
tempting to provide a glib answer in each case--the present military
government-the process is better served by seeking specific structural
answers.
The more emphasis the movement places on the military junta as a lynch-pin for
all injustice in Burma, the weaker its analysis will be. For example, while
one
major obstacle to confidence in a just legal system may be the political
control of the courts (a lack of independence in the judiciary), others would
be widespread corruption of judges and a lack of public awareness of the law.

Each obstacle should highlight some core themes for social change in Burmese
society. Barriers to equitable economic structures are weak land rights,
rural-urban migration, extractive industry and poor national heatlh and
education systems. These suggest the need to strengthen the rural economy, to
promote subsistence farming, to build local control over key resources and
revolutionize social services.

At this point the plan makes an important transition from abstract analysis to
looking at the work going on today. How does the Burma-related activism of
today support these peace-building issues? Who is doing what, what is left
out?
Most critically, is work on specific issues-protecting the environment, for
example- consciously working towards the objective of building an equitable
economic system? The dream of a movement becomes a reality when such activism,
no matter how large or small, or where they take place, or who is involved,
identify their role in the movement and focus on its common goal.

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AFP: CANCER CLAIM A 'POLITICAL PLOY'- JUNTA
25 March, 1999 

'RACE TRAITOR' USES DYING MAN AS PAWN

Rangoon's official press yesterday accused the West of conspiring with
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to exploit the terminal cancer of her
husband to discredit the Burmese junta.

Michael Aris has asked. Burma for a visa so he can say a final goodbye to his
wife but junta officials have so far stalled on the request.

In a rare public mention of the application in the state-controlled press, a
commentary branded the saga a "political ploy" by the West to take
advantage of
the "cancer-stricken plight of an ordinary person".

"This like all previous ploys is doomed to failure," the article said.

"If it were a purely personal health and family matter ... our leaders would
broadmindedly not hesitate to grant the wish of a dying man," it added.

However, the article in the Burmese language edition of the New Light of
Myanmar daily questioned the logic and motivation behind the visa application.

"One cannot help but wonder why a critically ill person who is within reach of
the world's best medical facilities right at home has asked for a visa to be
with his wife," it said.

The commentator urged Aung San Suu Kyi to leave for Britain to visit her
husband, a course of action she would surely follow "if she really had any
true
Myanmar blood in her".

Aides say Aung San Suu Kyi, who is locked in a bitter political struggle with
the government, fears she will be barred from returning home if she leaves the
country to see Mr Aris.


Her 27-year marriage is a frequent target of the official press which claims
she is a traitor to her "race" and a foreigner, making her ineligible for high
political office.

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MIZZIMA: UNHCR ASKED DELHI POLICE TO STOP BURMESE'S HUNGER STRIKE
24, March 1999 by Mizzima News Group

Indian police arrested the Burmese refugees who have been on indefinite
hungerstrike in front of the UNHCR office in New Delhi. The refugees were
taken
away at 4.30 p.m this evening from the roadside platform where they all were
lying. It is learnt that they were taken to the nearby police station in Jor
Bagh area in Delhi and finally released around 7 o'clock at night.

The total ten refugees from Burma went on an indefinite hungerstrike on 22nd
March demanding that they be recognized by the UNHCR as refugees and provided
the monthly subsistence allowance of Rs. 1,200.00 like other UNHCR-mandated
refugees in India. In their letter dated 22nd March to the Chief of Mission of
the UNHCR in India, the refugees said that they prefer to die in front of
UNHCR
office in Delhi rather than go back to Burma and get imprisoned or killed by
the military regime there. However, UNHCR on March 23rd, warned the
refugees to
call off their strike. In the letter signed by J.M. Castro Magluff, Chief of
Mission a.i, to the Burmese protestors, the UNHCR responded that it will
not be
able to assist those refugees whose cases were already determined and rejected
by the office. "UNHCR does not condone such action (hungerstrike) and we would
ask you to call off the hungerstrike immediately.......or we will be
obliged to
contact the Indian authorities to intervene...", the letter said.

When the refugees did not call off the strike, UNHCR asked the Delhi police to
stop the strike of the Burmese.

After 52 hours on fast, the Burmese refugees were weak and most of them were
lying down on the platform in front of the international humanitarian agency's
office till they were surrounded by a truckload of police and taken away.

The refugees, between 16 to 27 years old, claimed that they left Burma due to
repressive methods practiced by the ruling military junta. They said that
forced labouring, arrest and persecution by the military authorities were the
reasons for them to leave their country. They accused the UNHCR of neglecting
their genuine plights.

UNHCR office had, after about one-year process, refused to recognize them as
refugees and to extend any assistance as "it found no ground to recognize them
as refugees".

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THE NATION: TROUBLE BREWING BETWEEN BURMA, WA ARMY
24 March, 1999 by Don Pathan 

DOI SAM SAO, Burma - Something is cooking in Burma's northeastern frontier
along the Thai border and it's more than just chemicals being boiled in one of
the numerous heroin labs belonging to Burma's narcotics' trafficking groups.

For the past year or so, tension between the Burmese junta and the United Wa
State Army (UWSA) has been building up, threatening to end a decade old
ceasefire agreement between Rangoon and the armed ethnic group dubbed the
world's largest armed narcotics' trafficking organisation by the United States
government.

The generals in Rangoon have ordered the UWSA to move back to their stronghold
in Panghsang on the Burmese border with China, so far issuing two ultimatums
without specifying the consequences should the armed rebels not comply.

Naturally, the UWSA chose to ignore the demands and instead beefed up their
logistics along the Thai-Burmese border opposite Chiang Mai province.

At the same time, the group has begun to welcome outsiders, allowing Thai
merchants to transport everything from household goods to construction
materials. Twice a week, hundreds of local Thai merchants line up at the
checkpoint just north of Chiang Mai's Ta Thon district to be screened by
immigration and customs officers before entering what has long been a no-go
area and only a couple of decades ago a place where headhunters roamed.


Border officials said thousands of Thai nationals are currently working in the
Wa controlled territory, building everything from a small dam to hospitals and
schools. The checkpoint located in Mae Ai district, was opened last August.

A road construction project - financed by both the junta and the UWSA- which
will link Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district to Mong Yawn and Mong Hsat, some 90
kilometres inside Burma's Shan State, is expected to be completed this year. A
loop linking Mong Hsat to the popular border town of Tachilek opposite Chiang
Rai's Mae Sai district is also on the way.

"They are here to stay," said Maj Gen Chamlong Photong, chief-of-staff of the
Thai Army's Third Region. "The pressure is on us to do something about it."

In fact, the Thai general added, the UWSA is on the verge of becoming the next
druglord of the Golden Triangle, replacing Khun Sa and his Mong Tai Army, who
surrendered to the government three years ago in return for amnesty.

Thai and US drug agencies estimate that about 1,700 tonnes of raw opium were
cultivated in the Triangle last year, down from 2,300 tonnes the previous
year,
partly because of bad weather. About 10 kilogrammes of opium is needed to make
a kilogramme of heroin.

"The Wa are responsible for nearly half this amount," said Sorasit
Sangprasert,
deputy chief of Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board.

The UWSA came into existence shortly after the Communist Party of Burma
crumbled a decade ago. A ceasefire agreement, orchestrated by Burma's security
chief Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, was reached soon afterwards.

The idea, say Burma watchers, was to neutralise a 20,000-plus strong army that
had enough weapons to last them at least a decade. Rangoon didn't want these
weapons, most of which came from China, to fall into the hands of other rebel
groups.

For the Wa, it was an opportunity to expand their heroin empire from their
stronghold in Panghsang to a new frontier along the upper Thai-Burmese border.

But nothing comes easy in trouble plagued Burma. The expansion meant that a
war
between Wa and the Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army, the Wa's arch rival and business
competitor, was inevitable.

Three years ago, Khun Sa and his army surrendered to the junta and the
territory once controlled by the former opium warlord was left up for grabs as
Burmese, Thai and Wa troops rushed in to plant their flag poles.

A Wa commander overseeing the crossing point to Thailand said the UWSA will
not
make the same "mistake" as Khun Sa.

Indeed, it's a very different story nowadays. With Khun Sa and his army out of
the picture, the decade-old agreement is losing its appeal as territorial
control along the rugged conlict-plagued borders becomes a higher priority for
certain sectors in the junta's ruling body known as the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC).

The SPDC has demanded that the UWSA retreat to the Chinese border.
Essentially,
this would mean that their heroin and methamphetamine network through Thai
gateways would be shut.

Thai military officers, however, say the implications are too great for the
Burmese to begin a war with the Wa.

"The situation makes it difficult for us," Chamlong said. " Besides, the
Chinese doesn't want them along their border either."

In fact, the growing drug problem in Yunnan province forced the Chinese
authorities to summon UWSA leader Pao Yochang for a stern warming. At one
point, the Chinese threatened to cut off the flow of food to Wa territory.

Nevertheless, the pressure is on Thailand to do something about the flow of
drugs into the Kingdom. No longer is the group producing heroin for European
and American markets. Instead, narcotics officials insist, millions of
methamphetamines - known locally as yaa baa - produced cheaply by the group,
have flooded into Thailand.

"It's cheap to produce and the market is right here in Thailand," Sorasit
said.

During a recent two-day visit to Thailand, Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung
dismissed allegations that Rangoon is to blame for the rise in the
methamphetamine problem in Thailand, saying the precursor chemicals needed for
producing the stimulants comes from abroad.

"Besides, how do you know the drugs are not made here [in Thailand]," he
added.
"They could be produced anywhere."

Burma has come up with an ambitious plan to end opium cultivation nationwide
within 15 years. The plan has received praise from some in the international
community. Critics say the ruling junta is too willing to appease insurgent
groups as foreign condemnations take a back seat to stability in the
hinterland.

"They choose to ignore the reality [in Burma]," Win Aung said.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if the ruling junta is willing to pick a
fight with one of the world's largest producers and traffickers of illicit
drugs.

Besides, the generals in Rangoon have other pressing issues to deal with,
namely the dry-season offensive against armed ethnic groups who refused to
sign
a cease-fire agreement with the government, Chamlong said.

Meanwhile, all parties agree that it is a matter of time before the Wa and
Burmese begin fighting each other again.
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