Notes from Asia Society "Debate"

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Whoever provided these notes, would you please send more verbatim notes,
was there reference to the "constitution", to recogntion of the 1990
election results, to role of NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. What is
offered here does not present evidence of a debate, but a stage to
rebutt accusations in any question and answer session. Why doesnt he get
nice invitation from Columbia Univeristy or New York University so he
can talk about human rights since he seems to wish to do it. ds 
> 
> Junta? s minister says military wants to surrender
> Power
> Aung denies regime guilty of repression
> Harry Rolnick, Bangkok Post New York
> 
> We are like people holding a hand grenade,? said Burma?s Minister of
> Foreign Affairs U Win Aung on Friday ?where the safety pin is out.?
> In a speech to the Asia Society in New York, Mr Aung admitted previous
> economic errors, said the current regime was in power reluctantly, and
> discussed the problem of ethnic divisions in the border regions.
> The hand grenade image, which startled diplomats, businesspeople,
> Burmese officials and dissidents in attendance, referred to ?a society
> which had been torn apart in the past, but which, under the new
> Constitution, is coming together again?.
> Mr Aung said his government had been arguing over the best way to
> bring in the warring factions, but that ?it must be done.
> We must stop the fighting, because we cannot survive without national
> unity.?
> He said there must be power-sharing in Burma. ?This is the only
> solution, so that we can gradually form a sense of unity.?
> Mr Aung said ?the present government is a transitional one. Our goal
> is to end this for greater democracy. But we cannot survive without
> the unity of our people?.
> He said isolationism and past economic policies had been mistakes, and
> that a market economy was the only way for Burma to prosper.
> ?We plan to privatise 100% of the state sector,? he said.
> Concerning Burmese refugees in Thailand, Mr Aung refused to admit they
> even existed, referring to them as ?military camps, not so-called
> refugee camps?.
> ?All Myanmar people, whether they live in Thailand or the United
> States or anywhere else, are always citizens of our country.?
> In rebuttal to Mr Aung?s speech, David I. Steinberg, director of Asian
> Studies at Georgetown University, said that, far from the minister?s
> avowal of Burma?s recent progress, ?the evidence is that the
> government is hunkering down and ... is more isolated than it has been
> since 1988?.
> Mr Steinberg said Burmese military officers ?feel they cannot
> relinquish essential powers because of their perceptions of internal
> threats to the unity of the state?.
> Mr Steinberg said the military has isolated itself from the people
> through its suspicion. He did not believe it had any intention of
> surrendering power.
> In a heated debate, Mr. Aung himself a product of the Rangoon Military
> College said Burma?s government is not an elite military affair but
> has representation from ?farmers, workers and people from throughout
> the country?.
> Mr Aung denied that there has ever been human rights violations or
> religious repression under his government.
> ?A government,? Mr Aung said, ?not only must rule but must take
> responsibility. But when the West wants to demonise a country, they
> can demonise it.?
> 
> -----------------------------------
> Nearly 1 million speed pills seized
> Wa group plans new amphetamine plant
> 
> Mae Hong Son
> Police seized almost one million methamphetamine pills on the weekend
> amid indications the Wa National Army is planning to open another drug
> factory.
> Border sources said the new factory was being set up by elements of
> the Wa National Army in a village in Burma's Shan state, opposite
> Muang district, Mae Hong Son.
> The source said Col Maha Sang, the WNA leader, and Col Maha Ja, his
> younger brother, who are behind the scheme, were planning to take
> advantage of the limited autonomy Rangoon has allowed in Shan state.
> Authorities have stepped up suppression efforts to curb the inflow of
> methamphetamines, largely coming from factories in Shan state run by
> the United Wa State Army. An estimated 200 million pills are imported
> annually from Burma, according to the authorities.
> The border source said the new plant was being built in Mae Or Luang,
> about 20km south of the Ho Mong base of the UWSA and opposite the Ban
> Rak Thai border crossing.
> It was likely to be equipped with machinery to be delivered from Ho
> Mong and several other towns in Shan and Kayah states, where small
> drug factories can each produce only 250,000-300,000 pills a month.
> In the weekend seizures, eight suspects were arrested in two raids.
> On Saturday, police searched a car at a toll plaza near Don Muang and
> found 470,000 pills in a suitcase in the car's boot. Sunthorn sae Lee,
> 28, and Somchai Cheewinrungroj, 27, who were charged with trafficking,
> said the drugs were intended for delivery to a client at a hotel on
> Rama IV road.
> On Sunday, six men were rounded up in Din Daeng, Suan Luang and Klong
> Toey and charged with possessing 434,000 speed pills with intent to
> sell. Police said the suspects, identified as Mongkol Pongsrimas, 34,
> Kaufei Sae-pan, 27, Akkaradej Pongsrimas, 17, Peerapong Pongsrimas,17,
> Nopparuj Siripankul, 26, and Ongart Chitcharoen, 32, told them they
> worked for one Bangkok-based dealer.
> The Narcotics Suppression Bureau said it has seized 5.9 million speed
> pills, 104kg of heroin, 42kg of cannabis and 159 ecstasy pills since
> January.
> During the same period, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board also
> confiscated some 25 million speed pills. It expects to to seize five
> million more.
> ==========================