The BurmaNet News: June 3, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: June 3, 1999 
Issue #1285

Noted in Passing: "If they see us in the jungle or farming at our old
villages,
they shoot us. They say even if they see one dog in the village, they will
kill
it." - Lung Pan, aged 50, a Shan farmer who has fled to Thailand.(see: THE
GUARDIAN: THOUSANDS FLEE BURMA ARMY RAIDS)

HEADLINES:
==========
MIZZIMA: UNEASY BURMESE IN MIZORAM STATE OF INDIA
THE GUARDIAN: THOUSANDS FLEE BURMA ARMY RAIDS 
FINANCIAL TIMES: CITY DEVELOPERS TURN TO FARMING 
AFP: PHILIPPINES TO ASK MYANMAR TO ALLOW VISIT 
THE NATION: SANCTIONS WILL HELP TEACH JUNTA  
THE NATION: RELOCATION OF REFUGEES FUELS CONCERN 
SHAN: NEW BOOM TOWN FOR "HORSE PILLS"
BKK POST: BURMESE ARREST MISSIONARY
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MIZZIMA: UNEASY BURMESE IN MIZORAM STATE OF INDIA
2 June, 1999 from: mizzima@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Due to deteriorating economic and political situation in Burma, a large number
of Burmese crossed the Indo-Burma border for better job opportunities in
India's North Eastern States. Mizoram, a tiny land-locked state, is one of
them
and it has been increasingly receiving Burmese in the past decade.

"Before 1988, there were about 50 Burmese handloom weavers in Aizawl. But
after
the 1988 military coup, many Burmese came to Mizoram for jobs", said U Pho Ni,
a Burmese handloom weaver in Aizawl. He and his family came from Amarapura,
which is known as the center of traditional handloom industry in Burma. They
have been working in a handloom house owned by a Mizo since 1984.

There are estimated 5,000 Burmese working as handloom weavers, taxi drivers
and
maids in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram State. Most of Burmese handloom
weavers
in Mizoram are from Amarapura of Sagaing Division of Burma. But many also came
from other cities of Upper Burma such as Shwe Bo, Mon Ywa, Kalay, Gangor,
Pakhutku, Meitthila and Tarhan townships.

"Most of these Burmese came to Mizoram due to economic reasons. While a
handloom weaver's daily wage in Burma cannot satisfy his or her stomach, a
Burmese weaver in Mizoram can look after himself well", said U Pho Ni.

A Burmese handloom weaver in Mizoram gets average 100 Rs. per day whereas in
Burma it is difficult for a handloom weaver to get even half of this amount
for
a day.

However, he said the business is not good nowadays. As there are many Burmese
weavers waiting for jobs, local Mizo owners pay less than what they used to.

On the other hand, as Burmese population number has been increasing in recent
years, local Mizos and authorities are concerned that it might disturb the
social and economic stability of Mizoram in next few years.


They also accused the Burmese of often committing crimes and drug smuggling in
Mizoram.

Mr. Lalbiakmawi Ngente, General Secretary of the Yong Mizo Association (YMA)
said that 60 % of the taxi drivers in Aizawl are from Burma and 80% of weavers
in Mizoram are from Burma. YMA, founded in 1935, is the largest and powerful
social organization in Mizoram State. It has branches in almost every locality
of the Mizoram State.

"We know the situation in Myanmar and generally we are sympathetic with them
and the conditions from which they came. But there are also anti-social
elements mixed with them. These anti-socials commit crimes here in Mizoram",
said Mr. Ngente.

According to Mr. Ngente, at least 60% of crimes in Mizoram are committed by
the
people who come from Burma. "We (Burmese and Mizos) are friendly each other
and
Burmese handloom weavers are peaceful people. In fact they are helping our
economy. But we have to distinguish between criminals and ordinary peaceful
people. We need to contain the anti-social elements. The best way is the
Burmese themselves to evolve some ways to contain these elements", said Mr.
Ngente.

In a seminar called "Mizoram Towards Peace and Stability", organized
jointly by
Indian Council for Gandhian Studies and YMA in Delhi on June 1, 1999, the YMA
demanded the State Government to check the large-scale "infiltration" from
Burma and Bangladesh.

Due to the pressure from YMA and some nationalist political parties, Mizoram
police occasionally arrest the Burmese and send back to the border. About 500
Burmese were sent back to the border in 1986 and almost the same numbers were
deported back to the border in 1994.

Last month, according to local sources, three truckloads of Burmese were sent
back to the border point on Champhai-Rhi sector. But they came back to Aizawl
after some days.

Mizoram is the only state among seven North Eastern States of India, which
does
not have local insurgency. It formally became a part of India after Indian
Government and armed rebellion of Mizo National Front (MNF) led by Mr.
Laldenga
singed a peace agreement in 1986. Currently, Mizoram is under the rule of
MNF-led government after it won a victory over the Mizoram Congress Party in
recent elections.

Moreover, some Indian NGOs estimate that there are between 40,000-50,000 Chin
nationals from Burma living in Mizoram State. Many of them have already
settled
in Mizoram State and become Indian citizens as Chin and Mizo speak more or
less
the same language and they come from the same ethnic group.

"I think many of them have been enrolled in the electoral roles. The general
feeling is that unless they are not the citizens of India, they should not be
enrolled as voters. Those people who have already enrolled cannot be deleted
from the list. Probably they will remain as voters. But new ones should not be
enrolled", said Mr. Lalbiakmawia Ngente.

(Indian Rupees 42.5 is equivalent to US $ 1)

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THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: THOUSANDS FLEE BURMA ARMY RAIDS
6 June, 1999 by Matthew Pennington

Fang district, Thailand

Thousands of Shan villagers are fleeing their homes in the opium-growing
mountains of east Burma every week because of a military policy to depopulate
rebel areas.

The mass relocation of more than 300,000 Shans from their homes to
ill-supplied
resettlement sites next to army bases has driven thousands into the jungles of
Shan state. Bearing tales of attempts to strip their communities of their
ethnic identity and suppress their language and culture, growing numbers are
trekking illegally into Thailand to find sanctuary." They [the Burmese army]
are forcing us to move and won't let us grow anything," said Lung Pan, aged
50,
a Shan farmer who has fled to Thailand. "If they see us in the jungle or
farming at our old villages, they shoot us. They say even if they see one dog
in the village, they will kill it."

Northern Thailand has seen between 1,500 and 3,000 refugees a month pour
across
the border, prompting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to
call
on Bangkok to grant temporary asylum to Shans escaping persecution.

Colonel Yod Serk, leader of the rebel Shan State Army (SSA), which is the
largest ethnic group still fighting for independence from Rangoon, said last
week: "The Burmese military are killing and torturing the people because the
rural villages have close links with the SSA, so they want to separate us."

Shan-language signs have been torn down to be replaced with ones in Burmese,
and in Lai Kah, one of the largest towns in the relocation zone, 30 Shan
temples have been torched and looted.

The current insurgency, which began three years ago, has been marked by
thousands of killings as well as the relocations, according to the
Thailand-based Shan Human Rights Foundation.

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FINANCIAL TIMES: BURMA- CITY DEVELOPERS TURN TO FARMING
31 May, 1999 by Ted Bardacke on Nyaungdone Island, Lower Burma

Yesterday's property developers are today's farmers in Burma. A few months ago
the dozers and excavators that propelled a building frenzy in the capital of
Rangoon were lying idle as an economic boom came to an end and foreign
investment slowed to a trickle.

The military government's response is to chant a self-sufficiency mantra.
Agriculture is the new priority and in this command economy the private sector
must play along. So the earth movers now grind away on the Irrawaddy Delta,
draining potentially fertile land and plunging the country back into
agricultural self-reliance.

"When we liberalised our economy the private sector invested in other areas
first. But now hotels and housing have reached a saturation point. So we are
encouraging the construction companies to move into the agriculture sector,"
says Mya Maung, director general of the Department of Agricultural Planning.

"There's no big difference working for the government or the private sector,"
says Izaya Lin, former director of the government's Agriculture Mechanisation
Department and now project manager for the Myanmar Billion Group, a consortium
of local entrepreneurs with no experience of agriculture who began reclaiming
30,000 acres in January.

So far 29 companies have been granted concessions for 1.1m acres, some of it
under 10ft of water. On Nyaungdone Island alone, 71,220 acres have been
reclaimed, nearly doubling the amount of arable land. Agriculture officials
say
19m more acres around the country are waiting to be claimed. Planting on it
would double the amount of sown land and multiply Burma's farm output several
times.

Those are certainly brighter prospects than anything the urban economy can
muster. Inflation is running at around 40 per cent and the black market
exchange rate is 60 times higher than the official rate. Half-finished
buildings dot Rangoon's skyline, while many of those that have been completed
stand half-empty. A $200 hotel room can be had for less than $50, while the
price of a new condominium has fallen by more than half.

The region's economic crisis has caused investment from other south-east Asian
countries, the country's main investors, to fall by 70 per cent. Most western
investors outside the oil sector have gone home, victims of economic
sanctions,
consumer boycotts and the military's arbitrary rule changes. Foreign tourist
arrivals have plummeted.

And yet the economy has not imploded. The generals attribute this to a
combination of self-sufficiency in food and a relatively closed economic
system. Their new rural priorities seem a natural progression.

Burma was once the world's largest exporter of rice, though amounts have
fallen
sharply in the past two years.

But turning property speculators into agricultural producers is no easy task.
Returns take a long time to materialise, as does the technical task of
draining
the delta land.

Privileges for the new farmers are being arranged. The central bank recently
cut interest rates to make the agriculture projects easier to fund. Other
developers are seeking licences to import used cars to finance their farm
investments.

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AFP: PHILIPPINES TO ASK MYANMAR TO ALLOW VISIT BY UN ENVOY
1 June, 1999 

MANILA, June 1 (AFP) - The Philippines will ask Myanmar to allow a visit there
by a special envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Foreign Secretary
Domingo Siazon said Tuesday.

Philippine President Joseph Estrada informed UN Deputy Secretary-General
Louise
Frechette of Manila's initiative during their meeting here on Monday, Siazon
told reporters.

"We told her that we are working with Myanmar on the visit of the
representative of (the) UN Secretary-General together with a team of World
Bank" officials," Siazon said.

The proposed visit would be "to talk about development and other issues," he
added.

The UN Human Rights Commission passed a resolution in April condemning Yangon
for widespread human rights abuses.

Myanmar's ruling military junta is accused of human rights abuses including
torture and forced labor and is vilified for refusing to cede power to the
pro-democracy opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi, which won a landslide
victory
in elections in 1990.

Annan's special envoy, Alvaro de Soto, had visited Yangon last October with
Manila's help. Both countries are members of the Association of Southeast
Asian
Nations, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Siazon said he will be meeting the Myanmarese foreign minister on Wednesday in
Tokyo. Siazon will be accompanying Estrada to Japan on a three-day working
visit.

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THE NATION: SANCTIONS WILL HELP TEACH JUNTA CIVILISED CONDUCT
2 June, 1999 

LETTERS TO EDITOR

Let's face it: the problem of Burma is really much deeper, less simple and
more
international than most people assume. Constructive engagement has been tried
(really not in good faith) and has failed. It is now badly discredited and has
been called "increasingly bizarre".

It is generally accepted that the ruling junta, the SPDC, is reprehensible and
change is necessary. The debate between human rights and the SPDC's violent
intransigence (condoned by its apologists) begins to seem like a dispute
between intelligent, sensible compassion and senseless, stupid brutality. But
there is another, more thoughtful debate: pro-democracy human-rights groups
demand to isolate Burma and pressure the international pariah to step down or
at least open a dialogue with the NLD [National League for Democracy] and
minorities or so called insurgents.

But more conservative businessmen insist: "Sincere friendship and promises of
rewards will encourage the Burmese government to change and open up. Isolation
is counterproductive and may make the SPDC worse. Good business and economic
progress will help and result in political development, democracy and
prosperity for (almost) all."

Interfere is a smear word contrived to associate human-rights issues with
rude,
intrusive violation of privacy, knowing how offensive it is to East Asian
values. Unocal, Total and Mitsubishi are major investors in Burma and promote
this propaganda to resist international pressure and criticism. They even have
professional lawyers composing articulate, fortified, anti-sanction,
pro-investment arguments.

"Sanctions are counter-productive. They hurt people, not regimes. Consider
nearly four decades of failed US sanctions against Cuba and other countries
[i.e. Libya, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq] ... their leaders remain entrenched," said a
lawyerly article signed by Unocal's president. Aside from the question of what
use constructive engagement is, the comparison with Burma does not apply. None
of these regimes has a strong, active, organised, internal opposition, an
internationally famous, charismatic, courageous opposition leader like Aung
San
Suu Kyi.

Lately the SPDC has been extremely insecure. But however unpopular, unwanted
and hated, they are very actively supported in secret by their allies in
China,
Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The dictators Suharto and Ne Win are very
close friends and clearly act like regional godfathers. The SPDC also avoids
early bankruptcy by its highly evident involvement in the drug trade.

Khun Sa and other war lords live in luxury, impunity and safety, while illicit
money-laundering accounts for a large part of the SPDC's mysteriously large
income, and 45 to 65 per cent of the national budget goes to the military.

To call the problems mere national, internal affairs is another absurd myth!
International sanctions will thwart the SPDC's survival tactics and are an
alternative to "open warfare". They are the only way to teach the SPDC lessons
in civilised conduct.

Marilyn Vanderheyden 
Jim E Lucas 
Bangkok

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THE NATION: RELOCATION OF REFUGEES FUELS CONCERN
2 June, 1999 

THAI Army chief Gen Surayuth Julanont yesterday said that the authorities
needed to take into consideration the safety of Burmese refugees who had fled
fighting between government troops and rebel soldiers when relocating them
to a
new camp site.

Surayuth said Huay Kalok refugee camp near Mae Sot district was less than four
kilometres away from the border, making it an easy target for any armed groups
from Burma to launch an attack on the refugees.

Huay Kalok, home to about 8,000 refugees, most of whom are ethnic Karens, has
been burnt to the ground twice in the past three years by pro-Rangoon armed
groups, allegedly with the assistance of Burmese government soldiers.

Surayuth said the Burmese army had complained that the refugees had been able
to travel from refugee camps in Thailand to Burma to regroup with rebel groups
and take up arms against them.

The general said he was concerned about the accusation but the safety of the
refugees and the country's ability to provide them with adequate protection
remained a high priority when dealing with refugees.

Over 100,000 refugees from Burma are in Thai border camps. Most are ethnic
minority groups who have fled fighting between the military government and
armed rebel groups seeking autonomy.

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SHAN HERALD AGENCY FOR NEWS: NEW BOOM TOWN FOR "HORSE PILLS"
1 June, 1999 from: <shan@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 

A hitherto unknown Shan village near the Thai border has recently become the
jumpboard for methamphetamines for users in Thailand, says a informed source.

Nakawngmu, "Pagoda Paddy field", in Mongton Township, Monghsat District, 20-km
across the border from Chiangdao District, Chiangmai Province has become known
to the local people as the new springboard for methamphetamines, better known
as Yaba, and even better as Yama, "horse pills", which are being manufactured
far up near the Chinese border.

It used to be a village administered by the Lahu militia. But now the junta's
units are also stationed there with a commander of the area operations
command,
Col. Sein Win. "Until last year, it was Hoyawd in Monghsat Township, that used
to be the main distribution center. Most of the horse pills entered Thailand
through Chiangrai. But since the drug agents paid so much attention there
resulting in several huge seizures, they decided to move to Nakawngmu", said
the source. "But I can't tell how long it will last as a way station".

Asked by SHAN, how the traffickers could survive under the eyes of the junta
officials, she said, "Nothing happens there that they don't like".

"From Nakawngmu, the horse pills entered Thailand through a number of routes
via Fang, Chaiprakarn, Chiangdao and, to a lesser extent, Wianghaeng
districts", she added. She said the reason for this was the Shan States Army
led by Yawdserk had been active against the drug operators during the past 7
months.

"The SSA's activities have become so disturbing that traffickers and the local
Burmese commanders are working hand in hand to protect their interests", said
another source. "Weapons and uniforms from Thailand are being purchased to
form
security teams".

Yawdserk declared war on drug traffickers on 1 September 1998. He claimed to
have destroyed several refineries including one belonging to the junta's
secretary-2, Lt - General Tin Oo.

Shans had joined Burma in 1947 under the treaty called Panglong Agreement
which
guaranteed Full Autonomy, Human Rights and Democracy for them. They have been
fighting against successive Rangoon governments since the terms of agreement
were violated. Their main party is the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy
that won the General Elections in the Shan State in 1990 and their central
armed movement is the Shan States Army.

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BANGKOK POST: BURMESE ARREST MISSIONARY
1 June, 1999 

Burmese soldiers have arrested a Karen missionary and three members of his
family on suspicion of spying for the anti-Rangoon movement.

The missionary, identified only as Sae, was detained along with the other
three
captives since Friday following his arrest on Sunday opposite Ban Wangtakian.

Border security officials said Mr Sae was arrested after Karen National Union
guerrillas seized a Burmese soldier and four village chiefs on Friday night.
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