The BurmaNet News: June 16, 1999

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: June 16, 1999
Issue #1294


HEADLINES:
==========
AP: MYANMAR EXILES SAID TO BE ABDUCTED 
REUTERS: MANDELA WOULD CONSIDER MEDIATOR 
BKK PHUCHATKAN: PROGRAM SAID BENEFITING SPIES 
XINHUA: TRADE FALLS BETWEEN MYANMAR, INDIA 
XINHUA: MYANMAR'S DRUG ADDICTS REACH OVER 60,000
BKK POST: PROBE INTO ILLEGAL LOGGING ORDERED 
REUTERS: THAI POLICE KILL 3 SUSPECTE TRAFFICKERS 
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AP: MYANMAR EXILES SAID TO BE ABDUCTED
15 June, 1999 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The Myanmar military has abducted two Myanmar
students
living in exile in China, a group of exiles reported today.

The All Burma Democratic Students Front said the military intelligence
arrested
the students June 10 while meeting supporters of Myanmar's pro-democracy
movement near the town of Rulli in southern China.

The government of Myanmar issued a statement saying that it was too early to
comment on the claim but that an arrest would be unsurprising ``since they are
a threat to national security.''

Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, is also known as
Burma.

Those arrested were Moe Kyaw and Than Zaw, senior leaders of the organization,
the group said. The two were taken to Military Intelligence Unit 23
headquarters in Kutkai, in Myanmar's northern Shan state.

``The abduction is a clear violation of Chinese sovereignty. The Burmese
regime
has no respect for international law or for borders, and so we are very
worried
about activists along the border,'' the students said.

Myanmar's government spokesman did not immediately respond to the allegation.

Several pro-democracy groups have presences in China, Thailand and India near
their borders with Myanmar. Thai army officials have accused Myanmar troops of
crossing onto Thai soil to attack dissidents and refugee camps.

China is Myanmar's strongest ally, providing the relatively isolated country
with economic and military aid.

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REUTERS: MANDELA WOULD CONSIDER MYANMAR MEDIATION-DIPLOMAT
15 June, 1999 by David Brunnstrom

BANGKOK, June 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's Nelson Mandela would consider
acting as a mediator to break a deadlock between Myanmar's ruling military and
his fellow Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a South African diplomat
said
on Tuesday.

But the outgoing president would need a formal request from Suu Kyi's
pro-democracy opposition, said the Bangkok-based diplomat, who preferred
not to
be identified by name.

``He has indicated he is willing to act as an international peacemaker, and
the
Burma issue is one of concern not only to South Africa but to the
international
community,'' he said.

``Maybe the opposition should be seriously considering making a concerted
effort to deliver a serious message of invitation.''

The diplomat said the request could come from Suu Kyi or Myanmar's
pro-democracy movement as a whole and would need to make clear exactly what
Mandela was expected to do.

``It would be a bit broad to say 'come and act as an intermediary' while the
lines are not drawn,'' he said.

``If in his mind he feels he has to act on it and has the resources to do so,
then he will. But it's better if we don't put the cart before the horse and
say
he definitely will -- it would pretty unfair to start raising expectations.''

The diplomat said the invitation of Myanmar's powerful military intelligence
chief Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt for Wednesday's South African presidential
inauguration could be looked upon as movement towards such a role for Mandela.

This invitation has raised eyebrows among pro-democracy activists given
widespread criticism of Myanmar's human rights record which has provoked U.S.
and EU sanctions.

``They should see this as a first step of not necessarily embracing the
military junta officials -- no way, we can't do that -- but with a view to
opening up some kind of negotiations on behalf of the Burmese,'' the diplomat
said.

He said South Africa had been under no obligation to invite Khin Nyunt and the
move could be compared to the contacts it established with Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi -- something that provoked Western anger but helped resolve
the
impasse over the 1998 Lockerbie airline bombing.

``Now everybody's moving into Libya wanting to invest and make business,'' the
diplomat said. ``The belief in South Africa is that there is no need to
isolate
someone, to demonise a government if the channel to negotiating a peaceful
settlement exists.

``Let's monitor the situation, then maybe six months down the line we'll say
'oh maybe that's why they invited these people'.''

Myanmar's rulers and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy have been locked
in a bitter battle of wills since the military bloodily crushed a
pro-democracy
uprising in 1988 then ignored the results of a 1990 election the party won
by a
landslide.

The two sides blame each other for a lack of dialogue.

Another diplomat suggested Mandela's interest in helping in Myanmar might stem
from shared experiences.

``What Suu Kyi has gone through -- of personal humiliation, and arrest and all
those things -- is something that he personally went through. So maybe in a
way
there are some similarities, some parallels between their lives.''

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BANGKOK PHUCHATKAN: JOB PROGRAM SAID BENEFITING BURMESE SPIES 
10 June, 1999 

[BurmaNet Editor's note: The Bangkok Phuchatkan is a business-oriented daily
newspaper.  The following article has been translated from Thai.] 

The program to repatriate foreign workers after 4 August has served to
encourage abuses in the project involving a survey of ethnic minority people.
The project draws money from the Miyazawa plan. Some employers have claimed
that their employees are ethnic minorities to exploit loopholes in the survey
interview. Security officials fear that Burmese spies might infiltrate by
including themselves in the employment surveys. They say the Burmese military
intelligence service is very dangerous as its spying skills have succeeded in
toppling Khun Sa's regime.

The Local Administration Department has launched a project to survey and
register people from the highlands in 20 provinces by hiring vocational school
graduates as temporary employees for 3 months to conduct the survey under the
supervision of the deputy district officers. The project is funded by money
from the Miyazawa plan. The project has provided a window for abuses by the
officials connected with it. It has also endangered national security and the
economy in the long term because it has been discovered that people from Burma
crossed the border to apply for cards to be issued after the survey. It has
also been discovered that foreign workers who received reprieve from having to
apply for work permits in the past 2 years have disguised themselves and
succeeded in deceiving the survey officials to issue identity cards to them.

According to Orachon Ratanamani, a job placement official working for the
Chiang Mai branch of the Labor Department, Burmese workers who have been
granted reprieve from applying for work permits concealed themselves as ethnic
minorities to successfully apply for identity cards in the survey project.
This
is strange because in the information they provided earlier to the Immigration
Office and to the Job Placement Department, they said that they were Burmese
nationals. But they have been given green cards, which are issued to people
who
have successfully passed the screening in the survey project.

Orachon said her office became skeptical when several employers, who employed
foreign workers who had been given reprieve from applying for work permits,
inquired whether they could rehire these workers after the 4 August
deadline as
they now hold green cards. She said this situation could endanger national
security in the future as it is common knowledge that these workers have been
in Thailand for only 2 years under the work permit reprieve program.

Orachon said she filed a report on 1 June to the Job Placement Department
regarding this unusual situation and consulted whether her office has the
authority to issue work permits to these foreign workers. She has not received
a response from the department.

In 1996, as many as 18,000 foreign workers benefited from the work permit
reprieve program, which was approved by the Cabinet. This number dropped to
about 3,000 after the program was not extended last year. However, it is
common
knowledge that the 18,000 foreign workers who benefited from the reprieve
program never returned to Burma, but still remained in the north. Some of them
could already be holding cards which were issued by the survey project that
identify them as members of an ethnic community.

According to a report which noted the survey process conducted by temporary
officials under the supervision of deputy district officers, the survey teams
have only one month, from 15 May to 13 June, to complete their job in the four
northern provinces of Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, and Phrae. They had two
months to make advance preparations. They had a detailed manual on how to
carry
out the survey. The applicants in the survey will be interviewed and have
to be
vouched by reliable persons in the community in order for them to be placed in
proper categories. They are then given house numbers as their addresses. Their
families are photographed, while applicants older than 12 years old are
photographed individually, and the data is stored in a computer system.

The interview is supposed to separate applicants into different categories:
those who would receive Thai citizenship, those who entered the country
illegally but have stayed long enough to be allowed to apply for an alien
permit, or those who entered the country illegally but have no privileges at
all.

The report noted that for applicants to be placed in the first two categories,
which face less risk of repatriation, they have to make some underground
payment. These incidents are found mostly in the border districts.

Evidence of loopholes in the survey project in the border districts, such
as in
Wiang Haeng District, is the fact that the project in that district had to be
referred to the provincial administration as it was discovered that many
foreign soldiers and Burmese citizens sought to be included in the survey.
Last
week, Wiang Haeng District officer Bunsoem Chitchensuwan, together with
teacher
representatives and village leaders, found that many people in the survey list
had never been in the area before and decided to remove them from the list.
This clearly demonstrates that foreign nationals have exploited the survey
project. In addition, Burmese nationals were arrested in Mae Tha District,
Lamphun Province, carrying green cards issued by Tana subdistrict, Chiang Dao
District and Nong Bua subdistrict, Chai Prakan District. They claimed that
they
were Haw Chinese and Lisu tribesmen. This demonstrates that there were abuses
in the process of issuing cards in those subdistricts. There were reports that
abuses also occurred in Wiang Haeng, Mae Ai, and Mae Rim Districts which
enabled foreign soldiers to infiltrate the survey project, causing Chiang Mai
governor Prawit Sisophon to seek permission from the Interior Ministry to
postpone the survey project to reexamine the survey process.

Dangerous Burmese spies [subhead]

According to a report by a national security official who met with the Chiang
Mai governor early this week, some Burmese intelligence officials and spies
could infiltrate the country by seeking to be included in the survey. But
it is
not known at this time what categories--naturalized privilege or alien permit
category--these spies were placed by the survey.

The infiltration of Burmese Military Intelligence Service [MIS] into Thailand
has occurred for some time. Most of the infiltration succeeded by posing as
alien workers, monks, businessmen, beggars, among others, and these spies
spread out to the various strategic areas and residences of important
political
figures.

Third Army Region Commander Lt. Gen. Thanom Wacharaphut said at the meeting of
the National Security Council in Chiang Rai in mid-1997: "It is interesting
that the Burmese military now gives greater emphasis to intelligence
collection
in Asia, spending some 20-30 percent of the Armed Forces Development Fund on
the MIS."

A Thai military intelligence official based in the north said that the MIS'
capability ranked as high as fourth in the world, applying the intelligence
craft of the Israeli Mossat, the British MI-6, the CIA, the FBI, and the KGB.
MIS' capability is evidenced by the downfall of Khun Sa. The MIS spent four
full years to gather intelligence in Shan State about the loss of
confidence by
the Mong Tai Army and the soldiers' morale and succeeded in pressuring Khun Sa
to surrender to the Burmese Government.

The latest MIS achievement is the disintegration of KNU under the
leadership of
Gen. Bo Mya and the subsequent emergence of the Karen Buddhist-Christian armed
force which is currently active along the Thai-Burmese border opposite Tak and
Mae Hong Son Provinces. The MIS was used to gather information before the
Burmese government took effective action to reorganize its border management.

According to an anti-Rangoon source, the MIS has 27 battalions altogether and
its headquarters is in Rangoon. The number of battalion units range from one
through 28, with the exception of number 13 which is considered an unlucky
number. Each of the 27 MIS battalions has no more than 50-60 members. The
battalions have no privates. The lowest-ranked soldiers are private second
class. Each soldier receives three to four months of training before given a
field assignment. On the average, every state and region has two MIS
battalions, but there are five battalions in Shan State. Battalion 1 and 16
are
in Mandalay, battalion 2 is in Tongyi, battalion 3 is in (?Tongu), battalion 4
is in (?Pasim), battalion 5 is in (?Maulamang), and battalions 6, 7, and 28
are
in Rangoon.

The source also said that many members of certain MIS sections have
infiltrated
Thailand through various disguises, even as beggars. This information was
confirmed due to the fact that the Chiang Rai governor ordered before the
cabinet meeting, which met on rotation in his area on 29 July 1997, that the
beggars in the city be rounded up. Following the crackdown, 10 were sent back
to Burma. Other Burmese spies pose as businessmen, workers, and even Buddhist
monks.

Monk Inta Inthuwiro, the abbot of the Shan temple at Wat Pa Pao, said he
believed that many Burmese workers have been recruited as Burmese spies and
they could be dangerous if a hostility should break out between Thailand and
Burma.

Burmese workers spread out all over Thailand, particularly in the upper north
such as in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Phrae, and
Phayao. An
event which seems to give credence to the reports about Burmese spies is the
attempt by the Burmese Government's Foreign Ministry in mid-1996 to seek
approval from the Thai foreign ministry to allow two Burmese monks to stay in
Si Chum temple in Lampang Province. It claimed that the temple was built by
the
Burmese over 200 years ago when it colonized northern Thailand. The temple was
subsequently badly damaged by fire.

At the time the two Burmese monks became news, a Caucasian who holds a Burmese
citizenship named "Alexander Sebastian" had lived in Lampang for more than a
decade before. He was once appointed as a member of the Si Chum temple
council.
Thai intelligence sources said Sebastian worked as an English tutor in Si Chum
temple at night. About 4-6 years before that, he fled from Chiang Mai. When in
Lampang, he used a fake identity card to marry a Lampang woman. He had no
permanent occupation and taught English as a cover-up. In reality, he has been
an MIS agent since 1987. Many Burmese monks also stayed in Lampang temples,
and
they never extended their passports when they expired. There were also reports
that a Burmese temple in the heart of Chiang Mai have rooms underground.

A Thai intelligence source said: "The MIS people were monitored closely for a
time, but it was difficult as they number more than 1,000. They operate in
cells of about 10 each and each cell has a leader. They use all sorts of
camouflage and spread everywhere. Among the camouflage they use are that of a
construction worker, student, and democracy group member."

In addition, infiltration by MIS agents is more complex than before, as the
MIS' goal and mission have changed from the previous goal of border
management,
particularly with regards to the ethnic minority groups along the Thai border.
After Burma joined ASEAN, the MIS mission changed from collection of military
information to collection of domestic and international economic information.
With the added role, it is certain that the MIS will seek to infiltrate every
possible target and at every level.

The target does not exclude infiltration of groups of Burmese workers who
registered with the Thai Government and would be receiving their "green cards"
from the Interior Ministry. The "green cards" will replace work permits issued
by the Labor Ministry. If these infiltrators are placed in the category that
will allow them to be naturalized for any reason in the future, they will
certainly pose a serious danger to Thailand's national security.

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XINHUA: TRADE FALLS BETWEEN MYANMAR, INDIA
14 June, 1999 

YANGON - Myanmar-India trade, including the border trade, amounted to 30.21
million U.S. dollars in the first two months of this year, falling by 42.54
percent over the 52.58 million dollars registered in the same period of last
year.

According to the latest figures published by Myanmar's Central Statistical
Organization, Myanmar's export to India was 15.63 million dollars during the
two-month period, dropping by 60.74 percent from the 39.82 million dollars for
the same period of last year.

However, Myanmar's import from India during the period increased to 14.58
million dollars, from 12.76 million dollars a year ago.

Myanmar mainly exports to India beans and pulses, timber and timber products
while importing from it iron and steel products, cement, chemicals, rubber
products, paints and varnishes, transport equipment and spare parts, drugs and
pharmaceuticals, jute products and cotton yarn.

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XINHUA: MYANMAR'S DRUG ADDICTS REACH OVER 60,000
14 June, 1999 

YANGON (June 14) XINHUA - The number of narcotic drug addicts in Myanmar has
reached 66,463, according to the latest figures published by the country's
Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control.

Of the total, opium addicts account for 50.01 percent, heroin addicts 37.4
percent, marijuana addicts 7.7 percent, stimulant addicts 1.2 percent,
tranquilizer addicts 0.99 percent and other addicts 2.7 percent.

However, the U.N. Drug Control Program estimates that the actual number of
Myanmar's drug addicts is significantly higher, totaling about 400, 000 to
500,000.

Up to now, Myanmar has established six major drug treatment centers throughout
the country, giving treatment to about 2,000 drug addicts yearly. The centers
are respectively located in Yangon, Mandalay, Myitkyina, Taunggyi, Lashio and
Kyaing Tong.

The country has also set up eight rehabilitation centers to provide vocational
training for ex-addicts, which are situated in Yangon, Mandalay, Phekhon,
Namlat, Kyaing Tong, Lashio, Myitkyina and Wet Hti Kan.

According to official statistics, there were 61,236 hectares of poppy
cultivation in Myanmar that would yield 665.28 tons of opium and could be
refined into 66.52 tons of heroin annually.

In 1998, the Myanmar authorities exposed a total of 3,546 drug-related cases,
punishing 4,845 offenders.

The authorities also seized during the period a total of 10,794 kilos of
narcotic drugs, including 403.8 kilos of heroin and 5,393.6 kilos of opium, as
well as 16.02 million stimulant drug tablets and destroyed 18, 014 hectares of
poppy plantations.

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BANGKOK POST: PROBE INTO ILLEGAL LOGGING ORDERED
15 June, 1999 by Cheewin Sattha 

Salween logs found near park office
Governor Somroeng Punnayopakorn has ordered an inquiry into ongoing logging in
Salween national park. Mr Somroeng said 255 logs were recently discovered near
the park office. Many of the logs showed clear signs they had been felled with
chainsaws only four or five days prior to the discovery, he said.

In addition, forestry teams had found more than 1,000 teak logs and another
10,000 golden teak tree stumps in Salween national park since March 9.

A forestry source said this meant as many as 30,000 teak logs had been
illegally hauled out of the forest. Some were believed to have been
transported
by truck to sawmills operating in Tak province.

It was possible that more teak logs would be found in the adjoining Salween
wildlife sanctuary, which had yet to be thoroughly searched, according to the
source.

Panya Jeenakham, a Democrat MP for Mae Hong Son, called for a complete halt to
the movement of logs out of Salween forest.

As long as logs continued to be hauled out of the forest, more teak trees
would
fall to the chainsaws of illegal loggers, he said.

The discovery of freshly-cut logs in Salween forest comes as four timber
companies are pressing the Forestry Department to reopen border passes to
allow
them to bring in huge volumes of "leftover" teak logs from across the
border in
Burma, via Mae Hong Son.

The move has sparked suspicions among local environmental groups that
reopening
the border crossings would enable unscrupulous business operators to smuggle
illegally-felled teak logs out of Salween forest and falsely document them as
"leftover" Burmese logs.

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REUTERS: THAI POLICE KILL THREE SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS
14 June, 1999 

BANGKOK - Thai police killed three suspected amphetamine traffickers in a
shootout at an apartment building in Bangkok on Monday.

They said one policeman was seriously wounded in the clash.

``The suspected drug gangsters opened fire on the police first then officers
fired back in self-defence,'' a police spokesman told reporters.

He said police believed the three men killed were members of Myanmar's Karen
minority.

The spokesman said a police unit raided the apartment where the men were
staying after a tipoff and detained three other suspects.

The shooting comes amid charges by human rights groups that the police have
been guilty of an increasing number of extra-judicial killings of drug
suspects
and car thieves.

Last week, border security forces killed seven suspected drug traffickers
close
to the Myanmar border while a unit on Thailand's eastern border killed four
Cambodians suspected of car theft.

Police spokesmen insist officers have acted in self defence.
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