Burma Courier No. 201 Oct 9, 19

[dohrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Burma Courier No. 201     Oct 9, 1999 


BURMA COURIER No. 201           Oct 3 - 9, 1999

"Please use your liberty to help promote ours."
-- Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma

Headlines:	  
	THAI PM WADES INTO ROW WITH JUNTA OVER HOSTAGE CRISIS	
	THE WARRIORS: THEIR MISSION AND THEIR ALLIES 
	UNCERTAINTY GRIPS MANEELOY STUDENT CENTRE
	DE SOTO VISIT HERALDS NEW OFFENSIVE AT THE UNITED NATIONS
	RAPE OF TEENAGERS PAYS OFF FOR BATTALION # 524
	SWIFT RETRIBUTION FOLLOWS OFFENDING NEWSPAPER PHOTO
	
******************************************************************
Political developments

THAI PM WADES INTO ROW WITH JUNTA OVER HOSTAGE CRISIS
>From AFP and NLM news stories:  October 7, 1999

BANGKOK -- Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai on Thursday slammed the
Burmese press for its criticism of the way authorities here handled the
hostage crisis at its Bangkok embassy.

In the strongest remarks by a Thai official yet amid the brewing row, Chuan
said Thailand had been trying its best to peacefully solve a problem thrust
upon it by its neighbour. "They cannot escape anywhere," Chuan said
referring to Burmese students who have sought shelter in Thailand, "so they
come to our country, which is helping solve the problem."  

Five student radicals last week stormed the military junta's embassy in
Bangkok taking nearly 40 hostages, including diplomats, and holding them
for more than 24-hours.  Thai authorities bowed to the radicals' demands
for an escape helicopter to the border.

Chuan said that Thailand's first priority in handling the situation had
been the safety of the embassy staff and other hostages. "On the one hand
Myanmar sends an official letter to thank us, but on the other its
officials issue critical statements," he complained.

At a press briefing in Rangoon on Tuesday, Col Thein Swe of the Office of
Strategic Studies was devastating in his critique of the lack of secure
communication in negotiating with student radicals while they held the
embassy.  Part of the actual negotiations were broadcast live by a private
station in Bangkok which managed to intercept the cell-phone conversations
between Interior Minister Sanan and Kyaw Ni of the radical students group. 

Thein Swe ended by saying that it was a "fortunate day indeed" for the Thai
Interior Minister that the siege of the Myanmar Embassy had ended without
bloodshed.  "The Thai Government's response to terrorism ? is one which
seems to invite many kinds of violence, and no matter how much the Thai
leaders may be congratulating each other, Thailand is an easy target
suitable for committing crimes of all sorts". 

In a statement on Monday, the junta reserved special venom for comments by
Sanan shortly after the stand-off ended, in which he had called the student
radicals "democracy fighters" rather than terrorists.  "One wonders at any
point during the entire siege of the embassy, if the trigger-happy gunmen's
 ... activity resulted in death of not only the embassy staff but families
including children, can they still be regarded as 'not terrorists, but
students who are fighting for democracy'," the statement said.

Sanan has been blasted all week by the Thai press for the same comments. 
In fact, the shrewd appraisal of the character of the Warrior group and the
use of the helicopter flight to the border to evade having to deal with
their demands was probably the best solution both the Thais and the junta
could have hoped for. 

====================================================

SUU KYI WARNS FRUSTRATION COULD TURN VIOLENT IN BURMA 

BANGKOK, Oct 7 (AFP) -  Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has
warned that frustration within the ranks of democracy activists and the
general population is  building and could turn violent.

The comments by the National league for Democracy (NLD) leader came after
members of a radical student group stormed the military regime's embassy in
Bangkok, taking hostages and demanding the junta open talks with the
opposition.

"I think we can say that resentment is growing all the time," she said in a
video-taped interview on October 5.  "And will it explode into violence? 
That is a possibility.  And of course we are concerned about this, we don't
want change to come about through violence."

The oppostion leader repeated earlier NLD denials of involvement in the
Bangkok hostage drama, but said she understood what had driven the gunmen
to storm the embassy last Friday.

"We understand why these young students felt that they had to do something
like this. It's because of some sense of frustration, it's because they
have been subjected to great injustice, it's because they want democracy to
come quickly to Burma," she said.
 
"We have to face this kind of situation from day to day in Burma," she
added, referring to the regular detention of party members and officials by
the ruling military.  "But what we want to say to them (the student gunmen)
is that what we are fighting is the use of arms to bring about political
change."

In the interview Aung San Suu Kyi also expressed solidarity with the people
of East Timor, comparing their sufferings with those of her own people. "We
feel a great sense of empathy for the people of East Timor because we have
suffered the same kinds of wrongs."

Aung San Suu Kyi said she had a great deal of admiration for former
guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, widely expected to become independent East
Timor's first president. "I think he'll have to come and visit me in Burma,
he seems to be freer than I am," she said.

====================================================

THE WARRIORS: THEIR MISSION AND THEIR ALLIES 
Based on news reports from The Nation, AFP and NLM: October 6, 1999.

BANGKOK -- Details are beginning to emerge about the group calling
themselves the Vigourous Burmese Student Warriors who seized the Burmese
junta's embassy in Bangkok last weekend.

Reports and witness accounts have confirmed that two of the five men who
took part in the raid were residents at the Maneeloy holding centre in
Ratchaburi, but speculation that one of the them had also been involved in
the hijacking of a Burmese domestic flight ten years ago was dismissed this
week by the Thai Government.  A spokesman said the 1989 hijacker was older
than any of the student radicals who occupied the embassy last Friday.

The two Maneeloy students were identified as Kyaw Ni or ''Johnny'' and
Myint Thein known at the camp as ''Preeda'' or "Beeda".  During the siege
Kyaw Ni was the principal spokesperson for the group.  It was "Beeda" who
was confused with San Naing, alias Ye Thi Ha, one of two radical students
who was involved in the plane hijacking. 

Chaiyapreuk Sawaengcharoen, former chief of the Maneeloy holding centre,
who was summoned as a negotiator for the siege, said he knew Johnny and
Preeda. He said the relationship he had with the two at the Maneeloy centre
had led him to accept the request to act as a negotiator.    During the
incident, he asked Johnny why he had led the group to seize the embassy and
said he believed his answer. ''Johnny said he was fed up with passive
resistance and wanted the world to pay attention to the problems in Burma. 
He did not demand money.  He just asked for a helicopter to go back." 

Along with Deputy Foreign Minister M R Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Chaiyapreuk
also took part in the helicopter flight to the Thai-Burma border, when the
two served as replacements for the embassy hostages.  He admitted that he
was afraid because he did not know the other three who had taken part in
the takeover of the embassy.   Reports from other sources have suggested
that they were probably Karens and that at least one of them was a militant
in the youthful armed sectarian group known as God's Army. 

God's Army, operates in the sector known as Kamaplaw in the mountainous
area of eastern Tenasserim opposite the Thai district of Suan Phung. 
Members of the group are believed to have formed the unidentified armed
band which greeted the hostage takers when a Thai helicopter dropped them
some 500 metres inside Burma last Saturday.

Chaiyapreuk said he believed that the seven Asian and Western hostages who
were seen waving and shouting support for the activists before the flight
did so because they sympathized with the group and understood the motive
behind their act.  Several sources have suggested that the "friendly"
hostages had actually connived with the Warriors beforehand to be at the
embassy at the time of the takeover.

A team of 800 Thai officials, comprising police, army officers, officials
from foreign and interior ministries, the National Security Council and the
National Intelligence Agency, has been deployed to investigate the
incident.  On Friday, arrest warrants were issued against the five charging
them with eight criminal trespasses.  It was also announced that a former
resident of the Maneeloy centre, Aung Soe, who was arrested near the
embassy shortly after the raid was still being detained by police.  He was
found carrying a sports bag containing the attackers' demand leaflets and a
"diary'' with a detailed plan of the armed operation.

In a statement dated Aug 29 announcing the formation of the Vigorous
Burmese Student Warriors, Kyaw Ni and Myint Thein are named along with 16
other members. The statement, which gave the group's intention as joining
forces to establish democracy in Burma, also included the names of three
members living outside both Thailand and Burma, Ye Thu Naing (Australia),
Tin Khaik (Japan), and Than Htay (Canada).

There was some speculation this week that members of the group living in
the countries outside of Thailand could have been involved in collecting
money to finance the operation. The 'Warriors' were armed with expensive
hardware, including three AK- 47 assault rifles, one M ?16 , two pistols,
and four hand grenades.

===================================================

UNCERTAINTY GRIPS MANEELOY STUDENT CENTRE
Based on articles in The Nation:  October 7, 1999

MANEELOY -- Life may have returned to normal for most of the residents at
the UNHCR supervised camp for Burmese 'students' at Maneeloy, following the
25-hour siege of the junta's Bangkok embassy, but residents are
apprehensive about toughening of security rules promised by Thai
authorities.

The Maneeloy centre is situated in Ratchaburi Province, approximately 140
km west of Bangkok near the Thai-Burma border, and is the main refuge for
many Burmese 'students' who fled the bloody military crackdown in their
country in 1988. 

Residents at the centre said this week that the seizure of the embassy last
Friday had shaken them.  Many are apprehensive that Thai authorities will
began to clamp down on their activities, which involve bringing to the
world's attention the atrocities committed by the military government in
Rangoon.

At least two of the five radical activists who siezed the embassy last
Friday are known to have lived in the camp up until very recently.

One student leader at Maneeloy who claimed to know Kyaw Ni and the radical
group that stormed the embassy, insisted that the students had acted alone,
without any help from other armed rebel groups.  Others identified Kyaw Ni,
main spokesperson and apparent leader of the five attackers, as ''a
troublemaker'' and ''stubborn'' who often gave camp officials a hard time. 

This week officials of Thai Ministry of the Interior which is responsible
for the camp warned after a meeting at the centre that drastic measures
would be taken to re-inforce security there.  Deputy Secretary Veerachai
Naewboonnean said that that a more severe code of conduct would be laid
down along with new disciplinary measures, since existing rules were not
being respected by the Burmese students.

Until now, the camp compound had been fenced with barbed-wire which was
easily breached. But in the near future, inmates would be forced to enter
and leave through one entrance Ratchaburi governor Gomet Daengthongdee said
after the meeting.  He admitted that officials have not been strict enough
with the students' entry and exit procedure.   Gomet said new identity
cards would be issued and that in future the camp chief would have
authority to grant residents a maximum of only two days leave.  Under
existing regulations, the camp chief has the authority to permit students
to leave the site for as long as seven days.

Privately, security officials in Ratchaburi accused the central government
of being out of touch with the situation on the ground.  Measures dictated
from Bangkok are not always practical and at times are difficult to carry
out, they said.  There is no way the government can contain the movements
and activities of all the Burmese refugees, displaced people and
asylum-seekers, one official warned.  ''There are just too many of them. If
we go too hard on the dissidents, the international community and the UN
will come down on us.  But if we let them do whatever they want to, then
their actions could come back to haunt us.'' 

The camp is designated as a final staging area for 1988 student veterans
who have indicated a desire to emigrate overseas.  The 800-1,000 residents
have been identified by the UNHCR as refugees in need of resettlement.  
During their stay at Maneeloy they are interviewed by counsellors from
foreign embassies for possible acceptance as immigrants.  Another
1,700-2,000 Burmese students in Bangkok are also said to have recognition
as 'persons of concern' by the UNHCR.

Thai National Security Council chief Kachadpai Burusapatana said this week
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees needed to hurry its work and process
the Burmese at Maneeloy in order to get them to third countries as quickly
as possible.  The NSC boss said the UNHCR had agreed to cooperate and as a
first step would check the exact number of Burmese students in Bangkok and
along the Thai-Burmese border. He said the next step would be to consult
with third countries, such as the United States, Australia and Canada, on
their readiness to accept them.

''It's time to implement the policy [of resettlement]. We have been paying
lip-service but have never taken action, not until trouble landed on us,''
he said.  The move was among the measures agreed upon at a meeting of the
anti-international terrorism committee of the security council in response
to the embassy siege which has embarrassed the whole Thai intelligence
network.

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Commentary

IT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN . . . 
Editorial in The Nation:  October 9, 1999  (abridged)

The flow of criticism coming out of Burma over Thailand's efforts to end
the embassy siege is deeply hypocritical.  It seems to have been forgotten
that it is the Burmese junta's continued oppression that forced the
students and those seeking democracy to flee the country in the first
place, and is ultimately making them reluctant to return home. It is not
the policy of Thailand to keep the students in exile forever. But as a
democratic nation with a conscience, we have a duty to work with
international organizations, especially the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees, to ensure that their human rights are protected. For more than 25
years, Thailand has opened its door to hundreds of thousands of refugees
from neighbouring countries.

It is ridiculous to suggest that Thailand is using the Burmese students for
its own ends. Like other countries with rule of law and elected
governments, Thailand is not prepared to allow foreign embassies to be
attacked, let alone be occupied by militant forces. The Burmese students in
exile are patriotic, even though they have been forced to stay in Thailand
for a decade. They long to return home, and it is hard to blame them if
their frustrations build up. Nobody has any great influence over these
students -- if they did, such dramatic actions as the embassy siege would
have occurred more frequently.

Thailand took the chance to end the siege peacefully, and in good faith,
and not without some risk. So instead of engaging in rhetoric, the Burmese
leaders could at the very least put an end to the awkward situation they
have created for Thailand by respecting the will of their own people,
instead of clinging to power as they have done for the past 10 years. If
Burma enjoyed the kind of political situation that the people want, then
these students and exiled Burmese around the world would return home.

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At the borders

FISHERS AND FACTORY WORKERS HURT BY BORDER CLOSURE

BANGKOK, Oct 8-9, (The Nation) -- The Burmese junta has closed its waters
to Thai fishing boats operating out of southern Thailand following the
hostage crisis at the Burmese Embassy last Friday.

Thai trawlers licensed to fish in Burmese waters under the Burmese flag
were asked to stop fishing and report to Burmese authorities within 20
hours on Oct 6, Wanchai Sangsukiam of the Thai Overseas Fisheries
Association said.  A Rangoon military spokesman was quoted by The
Associated Press as confirming that fishing concessions granted to Thais
had been ''suspended for the time being for security reasons''.

About 400 Thai fishing boats operate under Burmese flags in Burmese waters.
 In addition, the Burmese authorities asked 300 Thai boats with Thai flags
operating in the Burmese territorial waters to report to Burmese
authorities within five days.

Bancherd Viphakkit-anan, chairman of Ranong Fisheries Association, said
that several Thai trawlers have already made advance payment worth several
hundred thousand baht to Burmese authorities.  Thai trawlers pay between
US$8,000 and US$10,000 in monthly licence fees to the Burmese, who also
collect taxes on every fish as the catch has to be exported from a Burmese
port.  Wanchai said the move would not only affect the Thai trawlers but
also a higher number of migrant workers from Burma who have jobs aboard the
vessels.

Late in the week it was announced that about Thai fishing 70 vessels
detained near Burma's Victoria Point, opposite Ranong province, had been
released after Burmese authorities checked their licences.  However, they
were only allowed enough petrol to get out of Burmese waters.  According to
Thai prime minister Chuan Leekpai, Burma could not provide the petrol
because it did not have enough for its own consumption.

In a separate development, an official source on the Thai-Burmese border in
Tak province said Burmese troops had rounded up 60 of its nationals and
placed them under detention for trying to cross over to the Thai side.
Hundreds of Burmese workers cross over to Mae Sot daily to work in
factories and at other jobs in the border area.  The shutdown with Thailand
has been in effect since last weekend following the incident at the Burmese
Embassy in Bangkok.

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International focus

DE SOTO VISIT HERALDS NEW OFFENSIVE AT THE UNITED NATIONS

RANGOON, Oct 5, (BNBC) -- The announcement this week that U.N. Assistant
General-Secretary will visit Rangoon later this month signals a new phase
in a major offensive by the Burmese junta at the United Nations. 

Arrangements for the visit were laid out by the military regime's foreign
minister, Win Aung, before he left New York last Saturday to return to
Rangoon.  De Soto is expected to arrive in the Burmese capital at a still
unannounced date in October.  He will serve as emissary for Kofi Annan who
has been asked by the General Assembly to persuade the generals in Rangoon
to initiate a dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  The
military government has already postponed a visit by De Soto on three
occasions this year without explaining why.

Observers believe that the timing of the visit is part of a long term
strategy aimed at removing Burma's pariah status in the international body.
A first step in this process would consist in blocking or softening the
annual resolution condemning the junta's human rights record when it is
brought to the floor of the General Assembly in late November or early
December.

Since the beginning of the year, Win Aung and his foreign ministry henchmen
have been busy cultivating contacts with a specially selected roster of
countries whose support they hope to count on to when the human rights
resolution is discussed in committee before being brought to the Assembly
floor.  There have been missions to Sri Lanka, North Africa and Iran, very
public support for Beijing's one-China policy and discreet contacts made
during Khin Nyunt's well-publicized trip to South Africa in June. 

In 1999 alone, relations have been formalized with eight new countries
including Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan, and Ukraine who might also be expected to show support.  Just
this past week the red carpet treatment was being given to the new
ambassador of Turkey to Rangoon. Many of the countries contacted or
cultivated during the diplomatic push have themselves highly unsavoury
human rights records.

Certainly, Win Aung has been tackling his job with enthusiasm since he was
appointed a year ago.  Quite a contrast with the stolid, uninspiring
performance of his predecessor, Ohn Gyaw, who was 'allowed to retire' in
the middle of the U.N. session in 1998 when the junta delegation suffered
its most humiliating defeat yet in the international body.  Perhaps, the
new boy on the block has not forgotten what happens to ministers who fail
in their responsibilty to the generals in Rangoon. 
  
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Links

BANGLADESHI ENTREPRENEURS EAGER FOR BUSINESS WITH BURMA
Based on reports in Bangladeshi newspapers:  October 8, 1999

DHAKA -- Burmese junta Commerce Minister Kyaw Than finally got to make his
postponed visit to Bangladesh this week.

He found members of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(BFCCI) eager to step up business and commercial ties between the two
countries.  The Bangladeshi entrepreneurs would like to increase sales of
pharmaceutical products, jute and leather goods, garments, piping materials
and a variety of smaller housewares to their eastern neighbour.  They asked
Kyaw Than to drop restrictions on the export of  Burmese rice, teak,
livestock and cattle hides to their country.   They also told the junta
minister there was a market for increased sale of Burmese cement, gravel,
pulpwood, market vegetables, spices, sugar and betel nuts in Bangladesh.  

The Bangladeshis are especially interested in opening up commerce with
neighbouring Arakan state in Burma.  Arakanese seafood products such as the
hilsa fish which commands a price of $ US 750 to 800 a ton and crab at $
600 a ton are in high demand in Bangladesh.  The coastal state would also
provide a ready market for the domestic goods which are a staple of the
Bangladesh manufacturing  industry.

In a meeting with the minister and his five person delegation, BFCCI
president Abdul Awal Mintoo proposed the setting up of free trade zones in
the troubled coastal border area between the two countries and joint
venture companies which could invest in cement plants, pulp and paper
mills, tanneries, agro-processing industries and marine fishing units. 
Kyaw Than told the BFCCI that the junta was open to investment in
agro-based industries.  

Presently Bangladesh has a mere $US two million invested in joint venture
operations in the cement and garment industries in Burma.  Considering
their close proximity, trade between the two countries is abysmally low,
fluctuating around $US 10 million a year.

About all the four-day visit produced in the way of concrete results was an
agreement in principle to set up a coastal shipping service between the
countries, to study the possibility of building a bridge at the Naf River
border crossing and, on the part of the Burmese junta, to consider a new
visa arrangement which will permit Bangladeshi business people to spend
fifteen days in Burma, instead of the current two.

Kyaw Than even got a visit in with Sheikh Hasina who is said to have told
the visiting  delegation that Bangladesh and Myanmar enjoy very cordial
relations.  News reports mentioned nothing about the sore spots in the
relationship such as the long delays in getting identity papers for
returning Ronhingya refugees and the wrangling over disputed coastal waters
which resulted in an attack upon a Bangladeshi fishing vessel only a few
weeks ago. 

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Bottom line

INVESTMENT GURU WANT SINGLE EXCHANGE RATE FOR KYAT

SINGAPORE, Oct 3 (AFP) -- The Burmese junta expects to revamp its
beleaguered currency structure, including a change to bring the official
exchange rate closer to the actual market value of the currency, according
to a senior junta minister.

The review would also include the question of whether the kyat should be
partially or fully convertible, Brigadier General David Abel said in an
interview during recent meetings of ASEAN trade ministers.  Even as he
spoke the kyat slumped to new lows against the U.S. dollar. 

"We are looking at mechanisms to realign our currency to an acceptable
rate," said Abel, a former finance minister, but he declined to give a
definite time frame for the review.

Asked how the authorities would determine the "acceptable" rate, he said
among factors to be considered were Myanmar's gross domestic product and
foreign exchange earnings.  He said the structural framework and
calculations were already in place and only needed to be adjusted to the
prevailing situation at the time the change was made.

Pressed for some indication on the timing of the currency revamp, he said
the military government had delayed the planned review due to the Asian
currency turmoil which erupted in mid-1997 and plunged most of the region
into a recession.

"After the crisis, we have to be more prudent in dealing with this matter.
It might take some time.  When we feel that when we do it, it will not
affect the man on the street, then we will do it," he said.

Abel said the Myanmar authorities were aware of the difficulties endured by
foreign investors on the dual exchange rate for the kyat -- the black
market and official rates. "We cannot have a dual rate - it is bad for
investment, bad for trading.  It is better to have one single currency
rate," Abel said, adding that the unit "might be partially convertible,
wholly convertible from what we have now which is a fixed rate."

Abel also said European and US sanctions on Myanmar had little effect on
the economy and added that investments particularly from Europe had not
stopped flowing into the manufacturing, telecommunication, transportation,
oil and gas, forestry and mining sectors.

*******************************************************************
Monitor

RAPE OF TEENAGERS PAYS OFF FOR BATTALION # 524
Based on a case history in the September report of the Shan Human Rights
Foundation

CHIANG MAI -- The message sent out by the generals at the top of Burma's
SPDC about the big advantages of opening up the country to the market
economy is beginning to filter through to the lower ranks, especially in
the war-ravaged areas of central Shan state. 

On June 29 a group of seven villagers were busy on their rice and sesame
farm about three and half miles west of Mong-kung town when they were
interrupted in their work by the arrival of a patrol unit from Infantry
Battalion 524 which is stationed in the township. Troops of Brigade 759 of
the Shan States Army - South are also known to be active in the township.

The villagers, originally from Naa Pung in the Wan Phui tract, were
forcibly relocated to the outskirts of Mong-kung in August, 1997.  They and
others from Naa Pung had been engaged in cultivating their rice and sesame
plantations west of the town since April of this year.  Among the group
were Loong Taan Lu, his wife Pa Tin, their son-in-law, Zaai Kham Mon, his
wiife Naang Seng Phaa and three teen-age daughters of Loong and Pa, Naang
Thung Ung, 19, Naang Lawn, 17, and Naang Wo, 15.

After separating the two men from the women, members of patrol tied up the
men and interrogated them about the presence of Shan soldiers in the area.
When beating and torture failed to produce any information from the men,
each of the women was taken in turn and similarly beaten, tortured and
interrogated, but they, too, had seen and heard nothing about Shan soldiers
in the area.

Eventually, the four younger women were raped by the soldiers.  When the
youngest, who was taken by Captain Win Naing, the commanding officer of the
patrol, cried and struggled, he used his pistol to hit her on the head.  So
severe was the blow that her skull was fractured.  After raping the women
to their satisfaction, the patrol from Battalion 524 finally released the
villagers.

Upon returning to Mong-tung, Loong Taan Lu went to the Naa Pung village
headman to advise him of what had happened to his daughter.  Together with
others members of the village council they went to the base camp of LIB 524
where they lodged a complaint.

The next morning seventy soldiers were lined up by Commander Aung Win of
the battalion and fifteen year old Naang Wo was asked to identify the
soldier who had raped her.  Since Captain Win Naing had been left out of
the lineup, the girl was unable to point out her rapist.

As a result, Long Taan Lu, the headman and members of the village council
who had made the complaint were accused of defaming the military and locked
up at the military base.  The next day the villagers were told that they
had committed a grave offence and could be punished by the military.  They
were asked whether they wanted to take the punishment or pay a fine.  
Before they answered, however, the headman was beaten with a stick until he
lost consciousness.

Later, their families were ordered to pay 2,000 kyat each for their release
while the victims who had been beaten and raped, including Naang Wo, were
fined 500 kyat each.  Evidently, Burma's military is not above making even
rape and torture into paying propositions.

*******************************************************************
In memoriam

SWIFT RETRIBUTION FOLLOWS OFFENDING NEWSPAPER PHOTO 
Based on information received from the NLD (LA) and DVB:  October 8, 1999

RANGOON -- The Burmese military intelligence has come down savagely on the
staff of The Mirror ("Kye Mon"), after the Rangoon daily inadvertently
published a picture of Gen Khin Nyunt just below an article entitled
'Famous Liars of the World' in its September 25 edition.  

The arrest and interrogation of twenty persons on the newspaper staff which
followed have led to the deaths of at least two.  It has been reported that
U Hla Han, in his fifties, died on September 27 after being tortured.  The
family of another Mirror staff member, U Thar Win, was informed of his
death on October 2 and permitted to see his body before cremation.   They
had a glimpse only of his badly bruised face.  Afterwards they were given
10,000 kyat ($US 27) to assist with the costs of his burial rites.  The
families of both men have been forbidden to speak about what has happened. 
Seven of the newspaper staff remain in custody.

Ironically, it was a picture showing Khin Nyunt wiith a group of church
leaders from the Myanmar Christian Council which led to the bloody
crackdown.  According to reports of the meeting, the general prayed with
the Christian leaders before the picture was taken..

The harshness of the retribution has shocked even journalists in Rangoon
where the normal punishment for publishing anything 'disrepectful' of the
military regime is seven to ten years with hard labour.  At least eight
journalists are known to be currently in prison in Burma.  The longest
serving is Win Tin, editor of Hanthawathi until it was banned in 1978. He
was arrested in July, 1989, and is supposedly near the end of a ten year
sentence.   

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Question and answer

CALLING MYANMAR THE CHEAP WAY -- HOPE THIS HELPS!!!

montclair66@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Hello, can anybody tell me the best way to call Myanmar?  
I need  to find an inexpensive way to make calls.  Please I need advice
only from people who actually use those services, not from agents trying to
sell their services.  Thank you.
-----------------------

Jerry wrote back:

Hi, check out http://www.PhoneRateFinder.com They have a database that has
like a million different long distance plans and calling cards.  At least
that is what I use.   To call Myanmar from the U.S. I found a rate of 64
cents a minute using a prepaid phone card.  Hope this helps.

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