SPECIAL: MORE PARANOIA IN SPDC

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

MORE PARANOIA IN SPDC
***************************************************
By Julien Moe
9/8/99

Rangoon's streets are calm according to a diplomat's email from Rangoon.
One
should not forget the fact that "there is a calm before the storm".
Overseas
phone calls are monitored more than ever as the 9/9/99 is drawing
closer.
Despite the fact that the 11th anniversary of the 8/8/88 uprising went
by
quietly, the regime led by Lt. Khin Nyunt is obviously concerned and
scared
considering the official warnings about foreign subersions and
instigations
by dissident groups. Simultaneously rice price has gone up and the
military
intelligence has had  to warn the rice merchants not to increase the
price.

More foreigners are carefully screened  and scrutinised by SPDC's
embassies
worldwide. The military intelligece units are  more occupied  these days
for
overtime work to watch possible activists inside Burma. The traffic
between
Thailand and Burma is being checked by the Burmese authorities more
thoroughly on a daily basis. Fear for  high price for commodities is
gripping the citizens of Burma nationwide. Dissident groups in Thailand
and
in the United States are now preparing to hit the regime hard. What they
are
trying to do is yet to be found out when 9/9/99 comes.

The regime's fear for democratic forces within and without Burma is
unequivocal and preparations are being made in Rangoon and elsewhere all
over Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi, Opposition Leader of NLD, has urged the
regime
to start dialogues with her party  while dissident groups have condemned
ASEAN for engaging with Burma and ASEAN is being blamed for supporting
the
unpopular regime in Burma. ASEAN has become a marionette for Burma. The
regime's moves within the month regarding appointments of new diplomats
also
demonstrates how much the  regime has faith in their own people.
Paranoia
and fear are growing inside the regime itself.. The One who has always
defied with confidence and faith is still staying strong no matter how
she
is being attacked.