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BurmaNet News: December 25, 1999
- Subject: BurmaNet News: December 25, 1999
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1999 19:01:00
---------------- The BurmaNet News ----------------
December 25, 1999
Issue # 1429
----------------------------------------------------
==========
HEADLINES:
==========
Inside Burma-
ASIAWEEK, INTELLIGENCE: IS THERE ANY PLAN AT ALL IN MYANMAR?
MIC: PREPARATIONS FOR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER AT FINAL STAGE
AWSJ: DAILY STRUGGLE IN MYANMAR
AP: HEAVY FIGHTING ON MYANMAR-THAI BORDER
SSA: BATTLE IN THE TRANS SALWEEN
International-
JAPAN TIMES: JAPAN HARPS ON DEMOCRATIZATION
THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN: WTO AND FORCED LABOR
XINHUA: WIN AUNG TRIPS TO CHINA (I)
XINHUA: WIN AUNG TRIPS TO CHINA (II)
REUTERS: U.S. ADDS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TO OLD SANCTIONS
NATION: THAI ANGLER SHOT DEAD
BANGKOK POST: FISHING BAN PRESERVED TO REPLENISH STOCKS
Editorial-
BURMANET: [OP/ED]: MYANMAFICATION - BURMA (CF. MYANMAR) AS A `BRITISH'
INVENTION
NATION: BURMESE STUDENTS REJECT CHAVALIT'S ALLEGATIONS
***********************************************
Asiaweek - Dec 23, 1999.
Is there any plan at all in Myanmar?
The generals in Yangon are among the few leaders in the world
still dealing with Y1K issues like competition and the
reality of modern communications. The regime had allowed
a private Internet service provider, Eagle IT,
to set up business -- and it was doing just fine.
Earlier this year, Eagle's executive director John Chen
told Asiaweek: "We have about 500 clients already and our
customer base is growing." Perhaps that was simply too
much for the telecoms ministry, which was Eagle's main
competitor. But who knows for sure in secretive Myanmar?
All that is certain is that Eagle's e-mail service was
abruptly shut down on Dec.13 and apparently some of its
staff were detained. Maybe the worldwide web spooks the
spooky generals.
***********************************************
Information Sheet No.B-1192 (I) 24th December,1999
MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE
YANGON
Preparations For Internet Service Provider At Final Stage
Under the existing rules and regulations Myanma Posts
and Telecommunications is the only entity allowed for
public postal and telecommunications services in
Myanmar. Preparations for Internet Service Provider
including Internet and E-mail are at the final stage
and these sevices will soon be provided to the general
public. MPT has been providing X-400 E-mail service since 1997.
***********************************************
AP: HEAVY FIGHTING ON MYANMAR-THAI BORDER
December 22, 1999
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Heavy fighting has broken out close to
Myanmar's
border with Thailand.
Reports say that several thousand troops from Myanmar are battling
ethnic Shan guerrillas. The clashes may be linked to the area's
endemic drug trade.
Shan guerrillas have been defending a string of hilltop bases for
several days.
Reports say they've faced persistent attack from up to four thousand
government soldiers, as well as shelling, and latest reports say the
Shan are pulling back.
The sound of battle has been heard across the border in northern
Thailand. Casualty figures aren't known. The fighting started about a
week ago, following an ambush by the Shan on a convoy of tribesmen who
were carrying drugs through the area's isolated hills.
Unconfirmed claims say the column was guarded by troops from Myanmar.
Shan troops showed reporters the body of one man who was wearing
the uniform of the Myanmar army. Opponents of the military regime
in Yangon have long alleged that it has a hand in the country's
booming drugs trade, a claim the government strongly
denies.
Following the ambush, one tribesman was captured and handed over
to Thai authorities. Shan guerrillas have been defending a string of
hilltop bases for several days. More than four hundred thousand
amphetamine tablets, almost certainly bound for dealers in Bangkok and
other Thai cities, were in the captured man's possession.
The Shan State Army (SSA) says it's carrying out an anti-drug sweep in
its territory, codenamed "Operation White Tiger".
It's part of an attempt by the army to convince the outside world
that it's changed its ways. For many years it was the personal
army of Khun Sa, one of the world's major producers of heroin.
He struck a peace deal with Yangon in 1996 and now lives in the capital.
The SSA says it's fighting for independence from Yangon.
It claims to have 12,000 men under arms, although that's almost
certainly an exaggeration.
Like other ethnic peoples in Myanmar, the Shan have suffered mass
relocations as Yangon bids to deprive the rebels of support in the
countryside.
***********************************************
Friday, December 24 8:05 AM SGT
AWSJ: Column: Daily Struggle In Myanmar
HONG KONG
(Dow Jones)--In the Golden Monastery in Myanmar's Mon state, head monk
Ku Thala greets visitors on the cool, concrete floor, flanked by
Buddha images, some of them life-size, and tells of the slow, relentless
decline in living conditions in his corner of the world.
The evidence is on display in the dilapidated facade of the once
magnificent wooden building, more than 100
years old, which is maintained by local donations.
Ku Thala, age 52, who supervises the education of a dozen young novices
where he himself entered the monkhood as a teenager, speaks quietly, in
keeping with the tranquility of the surrounding countryside, where
security has improved since Karen rebels were forced to retreat toward
the Thai border. The serenitycontrasts sharply with the daily struggle
he describes.
He says farming costs have outstripped the price of rice, while
The vagaries of the weather have brought severe flooding and washed
away the fertile topsoil.
About 40% of the people living nearby own their own land and are OK, but
for the rest who work as day laborers, life is difficult. "It has become
worse" over the past 10 years, he says.
This year, with government approval, I traveled thousands of kilometers
around the land still widely known as Burma, by aircraft, helicopter,
boat and four-wheel-drive vehicle, mostly unaccompanied by officials.
The forays confirmed my earlier impression of a country strikingly
beautiful in parts, with the vast majority of people desperately poor
and merely trying to survive. What they think about the standoff
between the ruling State Peace and Development Council and Aung San Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won an election in 1990 but
wasn't allowed to take office, often remains unstated. But the impasse
between the military and its democratic opponents
distorts domestic policies, denies Myanmar most international assistance
and prolongs the suffering.
David Steinberg of Georgetown University observes that Myanmar
celebrates Martyrs' Day, the anniversary of the assassination of
national hero Aung San and his colleagues in 1947, and Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi, his daughter, has been described as a martyr to the cause of
democracy. "Yet it is the people who are the real martyrs," he says.
"They have no say in their future while their economic, social,
educational and health standards have deteriorated, as
spending and talent are focused on the military, rather than servicing
the population."
The landscape is littered with everyday martyrs, from village
processions walking kilometers each day to get water, to young women
standing patiently on the roads to collect temple contributions, to the
legions of kids unable to afford the luxury of primary school. But it
should be noted that the situation varies, with oases of relative
prosperity in a desert of deprivation. In Pwehla township in southern
Shan state, a group of longyi-clad farmers explain through an
interpreter why they welcome self-help livestock and
poultry projects organized by the United Nations Development Program.
"For example, I'm retired," chimes in Saw Nyunt Aung, 70, grinning
broadly at the chance to use his rusty English. "I have taken 100
chickens and have a side income of 4,000 kyat a month." (The current
free-market exchange rate is 324 kyat to the dollar.)
He was a teacher and later a member of parliament in Yangon, as Rangoon
is now called, during the socialist period that ended in 1988. It's
impossible to live on his 600-kyat pension? "Very impossible," he
retorts. "Not enough even for rice." As it is, by growing wheat, maize
and cabbages, as well as taking care of the chickens, he and his wife
have a combined income of 7,000 kyat a month. "I can save 1,000 kyat,"
he says. The elderly couple get by on the equivalent of $18 a month.
Within sight of the unmarked Chinese border across picturesque paddy
fields and bamboo patches, the 100,000 people of Namkhan would appear to
have few worries. Their district hospital is the hilltop stone complex
built in the 1920s by Dr. Gordon Seagrave, an American who stayed for
more than 40 years and passed into Western history as the "Burma
surgeon." Although the roof leaks occasionally and some of the original
steps are rotting, the 10 doctors and 60
nurses have adequate stocks of medicine and equipment.
But it turns out that alcoholism is a problem, with about one in 100
locals addicted to a home brew made from coconuts and consumed in
copious quantities in cold weather. "It's one of the customs. They've
been doing it for years," says Dr. Myint Oo.
Another illness is hypertension. Surely not from stress? "Not here," he
laughs. "It's the diet. Some of the food is fatty and salty."
At a border post in eastern Shan state, half way down a long receiving
line, a sad-faced man is almost overlooked in the festive welcome for
Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt, Secretary 1 of the SPDC and chief of military
intelligence. Lo Hsing-han has been invited to the celebrations in Mong
La because he helped persuade factions of the Burmese Communist Party to
revolt against their leadership 10 years ago and end the insurgency.
The presence of the former drug king from the early 1970s, who spent
time in prison and now heads the diversified Asia World Group, is all
the proof that some foreign critics need to accuse the government of
involvement in the narcotics trade. They say Mr. Lo, 66, is still in
heroin, behind a legitimate business cover. As far as Yangon is
concerned, Mr. Lo is a normal citizen who has been going straight since
his release. "I gave up drugs" when I was
arrested in the 1970s, he tells me. "I welcome anybody to come to
Myanmar to look for themselves." Closer to the capital, the politics
swirl and the rumors fly, aggravated by Yangon's tight control of
information.
The buzz is that a recently issued 1,000-kyat bill has been withdrawn,
after the authorities noticed that it contained a stylized khamauk,
the straw hat worn by farmers that also happens to be the electoral
symbol of the opposition National League for Democracy.
Nonsense, says government spokesman Lt.-Col. Hla Min, explaining that
the bill was issued in only limited numbers. He attributes gossip about
the khamauk to rumormongers. "No one even thinks it resembles one," he
says.
A visit to the home of Tin Oo, vice chairman of the National League for
Democracy, provides a depressing glimpse of the political stalemate.
Teams of plain-clothed security personnel stake out his house around the
clock, trailing him when he ventures out, openly following him into
hotels and photographing his visitors. They have been at it so long that
they are on polite terms.
***********************************************
SSA: BATTLE IN THE TRANS SALWEEN
December 25, 1999
Battle in the trans SalweenOn 23rd December 1999,
from 09:30 to 10:00 hr., SSA's 727th brigade, led by Maj. Tern Khur made
an ambush on the way between the village of Nam Yoom and border post 1
(BP 1) near the Thai-Burma border opposite of Amphoe Chiang Dao. They
fought with the combined forces of SPDC and their militia where 2
trucks were destroyed. The enemy suffered 5 dead (1Lt, 1 Second Lt, 1
Sgt and 2 privates) and 3 wounded. SSA troops captured 1 pistol and
84,000 tablets of amphetamine.
One of our men had sacrificed his life while trying to liberate his
motherland. Besides this casualty, there had been no wounded.On the
following afternoon, at 14:30hr., 4 soldiers from SPDC's 359th IB ( who
had been stationed at BP 1) were wounded by mines not far from the
battle site. They were (1) Lt. Myint Maung, (2) Sgt. Tin Aung, (3) Cpl.
Aye Kyaw, (4) Cpl. Soe Naing.
***********************************************
JAPAN HARPS ON DEMOCRATIZATION
Staying engaged with Myanmar
By HISANE MASAKI
Staff Writer
Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist, impoverished country that would be
cheered by any outside aid. But if its military rulers had expected
early Christmas presents from Japan ? the world`s largest aid donor
-- they may now be feeling deeply disappointed.
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met with Than Shwe, the top leader of
the Myanmar military regime, in Manila on Nov. 28 on the fringes of
the meetings between top leaders from the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations and also from Japan, China and South Korea.
It was the first time since the military took power in Myanmar
-- or Burma, as the country was once referred to -- in a
1988 coup that a Japanese prime minister had held official
bilateral talks with a top leader of the Myanmar military regime.
Three days later, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto visited
Yangon on a mission organized by a nongovernmental Japanese
organization and met with Than Shwe, chairman of the State
Peace and Development Council(SPDC), as the military junta now
calls itself. Hashimoto currently serves as Obuchi`s supreme
foreign policy adviser.
But neither Obuchi nor Hashimoto offered any fresh economic aid ?
except a minuscule amount of technical cooperation to help the
Southeast Asian country promote its economic reforms. Separately,
they instead pressed the SPDC chairman to move toward democratization.
In their 20-minute meeting, Obuchi told Than Shwe that Myanmar
needs to make progress on democratization "step by step"and "in
a visible manner," although achieving a full democratization
overnight may be impossible, according to Japanese officials.
While claiming that the SPDC is making democratization efforts,
Than Shwe apparently sought a Japanese understanding of and
patience with the military regime`s policy, citing an old
Myanmar proverb that a village will not be in sight until
a traveler reaches the end of the road, according to
the officials.
Hashimoto`s blunt words
Hashimoto was more specific on the democratization issue. He was
quoted as telling Than Shwe that the military regime should completely
lift a decree shutting down universities in Myanmar -- a measure taken
to pre-empt student prodemocracy activities - as soon as possible and
that the role of ensuring security should be transferred from the
military to police.
The military rulers rolled out the red carpet for Hashimoto. Than Shwe
Himself hosted a dinner for the former Japanese premier, an honor
usually reserved for foreign heads of state or government on official
visits.
The last time the two had met was at the end of 1997 in a summit in
Kuala Lumpur, when Hashimoto was still a prime minister. During his
recent Yangon visit, no officials accompanied Hashimoto.
Although Than Shwe broached specific proposals for official
economic cooperation between Myanmar and Japan, Hashimoto was
quoted as reminding his host that he was there only in a
private capacity and not as Obuchi`s adviser. Bluntly, he said
that those proposals should be discussed only between government
officials of the two countries.
Minoru Kiryu, a professor of economics at Osaka Sangyo University,
said that the SPDC had not expected Than Shwe`s recent talks with Obuchi
and Hashimoto alone to bring about a breakthrough in stalled
official economic cooperation between the two countries.
"They(Myanmar officials) seem to be very happy with those contacts
because they expect high-level political contacts will pave the way
for a full-scale inflow of official Japanese aid sometime in the
future," said Kiryu, a leading Japanese expert on Myanmar affairs.
In recent years, the United States and other industrialized countries in
Europe have toughened economic and other sanctions against Myanmar for
its military regime`s alleged violations of democratic principles and
human rights, including the continued crackdown on the prodemocracy
movement led by Suu Kyi. She was released from house arrest in 1995 and
Japan was widely credited for having a key role in persuading the
regime to take that step.
In addition to the economic sanctions, the Asian economic crisis that
erupted in 1997 dealt a serious blow to Myanmar economy, which saw a
sharp decline in foreign investment, especially from its fellow ASEAN
members.
The collapse in May 1998 of Presidents Suharto`s regime in Indonesia
Apparently was another serious setback for the SPDC, which was widely
believed to have seen the Suharto regime as a political model for
Myanmar. Despite all these, the council has shown no clear signs of
budging on the democratization issue.
Amid these circumstances, the Obuchi-Than Shwe meeting in Manila
And Hashimoto`s visit to Yangon raised some eyebrows in the U.S.
But Tokyo insists that they never represented a change in its
Myanmar policy.
"If we do not meet and talk (with Myanmar officials), we cannot
encourage favorable changes in the country," a senior Foreign
Ministry official said, requesting that he not be named.
While calling for improvements in the protection of democratic
principles and human rights in Myanmar, Japan has pursued a
policy of "constructive engagement" with the Southeast Asian
country, instead of isolating it internationally.
Although Obuchi told Than Shwe in Manila that Japan was ready to
Provide technical cooperation to help Myanmar develop its human
resources, the offer itself did not mean any deviation from
Tokyo`s official aid policy toward the postcoup Myanmar.
Since the 1988 coup, Japan has suspended fresh yen loans
and grant-in-aid except for what it regards as humanitarian
purposes. But small amounts of technical cooperation, such
as inviting economic trainees, have remained intact.
Nevertheless, the administration of President Bill Clinton,
the most virulent in criticizing the Myanmar military
regime, is believed to be unhappy about the even small amounts
of technical cooperation flowing from Tokyo into Yangon.
Country report blocked
The World Bank sent a fact-finding economic mission to Yangon in June
and has drafted a country report on the Myanmar economy based on the
mission`s findings. But the Clinton administration is putting
political pressure on the bank to refrain from finalizing the draft
country report, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the
matter.
The Clinton administration fears that once the report gets ready, the
World Bank may move to initiate some economic aid, including
technical cooperation, for the Southeast Asian country, the
sources said.
It is very unlikely that the World Bank will extend a large
amount of aid to Myanmar in the foreseeable future despite
strong U.S. objections. The U.S. is the largest financial
contributor to the bank and wields enormous political influence
over its business.
But Japan believes that the time has come for the World Bank to
initiate at least technical cooperation to help Myanmar reform
its economic structure.
This question pitted Japan and the U.S. against each other in
late October, when their representatives and those of other
industrialized countries, including Britain and Australia, met
secretly in New York together with United Nations officials, the
sources said. The U.S. vehemently opposed the idea of technical
cooperation.
Although Tokyo strongly denies any shift in its Myanmar policy, the
Meetings with Than Shwe apparently reflect a government concern about
a possible sudden change in the U.S. policy toward the Southeast Asian
country, according to a person familiar with the Japanese
government`s thinking.
This person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the
government is "feeling pressed" to do something more to advance its
relations with Yangon because it believes that the U.S. may
change -- or at least ease -- its sanctions policy toward Myanmar
after presidential elections in November next year.
"Even if a Democratic candidate wins the U.S. presidential election,
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright(who is known to be a strong
personal admirer of Suu Kyi) may leave the White House and the U.S.
administration of a new president may pursue a Myanmar policy different
from the one the Clinton administration take now,"
the person said.
>From Analysis: Asia section of THE JAPAN TIMES, published in DECEMBER
17, 1999
***********************************************
THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN: WTO AND FORCED LABOR
Vol. 24, No. 12
Dec. 22-28, 1999
Worldview: Burma
WTO AND FORCED LABOR
by Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean
At the recent debacle in Seattle, WTO director-general Michael Moore
used strong rhetoric to condemn slave labor and assuage labor leaders?
concerns that the WTO would become a battering ram used against hard-won
labor rights here and abroad.
In a Nov. 30th speech to the International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions in Seattle, Moore suggested that the International Labour
Organization , the U.N. agency in charge of monitoring worker rights
around the world, would play a key role in determining countries?
involvement in the WTO. "Who supports slave labour?" Moore asked. "Or
prison labour? Who wants their children in factories rather than in
school? ...None of us."
According to the WTO Wed site, Moore receives "documentation" from the
ILO on labor issues. "The WTO will be guided by [ILO] Ministers on the
issue of trade and core labour standards," it says. Since taking office
in September 1999, Moore has met twice with ILO director-general Juan
Somavia.
That Moore could make those statements at a WTO gathering that
included the Burmese ambassador and welcomed Burma (Myanmar) as
an equal partner in the WTO is extraordinary, labor and Burma
activists say. In an unprecedented action last June, the ILO
virtually expelled Burma from its ranks, banning it from receiving
aid or attending meetings until it halts the widespread use of
forced labor. The United Nations labor organization chided the
Burmese military government for imposing a "contemporary
form of slavery" on its people. Activists assert that
Burma?s inclusion as a member in good standing of the WTO
calls everything Moore says into question.
One of those activists is Stephen Dun, a member of the Karen
minority, which has been decimated by the military regime in
Burma. He presented a statement at the AFL-CIO rally held in
Seattle during the recent WTO meetings.
"This is the strongest action ever undertaken by the ILO in
its 80-year history! Incredibly, Burma under the military junta
is a member in good standing of the World Trade Organization,"
Dun said in his statement.
"Forced labor is used to build roads, to build airport runways
for tourists, to build military camps and facilities, and to
produce crops and products for international trade," he said.
"Let me tell you about the conditions for forced laborers:
Girls and women are harassed, molested and raped by soldiers.
Men and women are chained at night like animals, so that they
cannot run away. Those who work too slowly are beaten, and even
killed."
A 1998 ILO report stated that government officials and the
military ?treat the civilian population as an unlimited
pool of unpaid forced laborers and servants at their disposal?
and that life under the current regime is "a saga of untold
misery and suffering, oppression and exploitation of large
sections of the population.?
According to a September 1998 Report on Labor Practices in
Burma by the U.S. Department of Labor, "forced labor has
reportedly been imposed upon many hundreds of thousands
of people in Burma since the early 1990s."
Because of the extremity of these findings and the historic
action by the ILO to expel Burma, the Burmese dictatorship has
become the ultimate "poster child" for those working to improve
labor standards in the context of free trade, says Larry Dohrs,
director of public education for the Free Burma Coalition. "How
can the WTO rationalize having a member that has been kicked out
of the ILO?" he told the Bay Guardian.
Perks for dictators
Along with the advantage of a huge pool of free labor, Burma?s rulers
have benefited from WTO membership perks. The WTO was the first to
challenge a 1996 Massachusetts law that prevents the state from doing
business with companies that deal with Burma. The law is modeled after
the successful anti-apartheid boycott laws that were adopted by 25
states and 80 local governments.
For the time being, the WTO was let off the hook because a U.S. federal
district court ruled against the Burma purchasing law, and last November
the Supreme Court decided it would rule on the case. But the trade
organization is ready to back Burma?s iron-fisted rulers if the court
decides in favor of the people of Massachusetts. Ironically, a lawless,
unelected military junta has the world?s most powerful trade
organization attempting to override the laws of a democratic country.
The rulers of Burma have also benefited from other services provided to
them by the WTO. Last July, the WTO sponsored a two-day course titled
"Internet Technology" in Rangoon, Burma?s capital. "Manager Mr. Jean Guy
Carrier of World Trade Organization spoke on the occasion," reported the
New Light of Myanmar, the state-controlled newspaper. In contrast, the
few citizens of Burma who can afford a computer are denied the right to
have one. Those caught with an unsanctioned computer face imprisonment
for as much as 15 years.
Participating in the elite computer training course with some 30 junta
members were officials from the Office of Strategic Studies, which is
headed by Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, one of the junta?s most
powerful and feared members. The OSS is a military think-tank comprising
high-ranking intelligence officers who wield tremendous authority. Khin
Nyunt, who has also been head of the Directorate of Defense Services
Intelligence for 15 years, is responsible for much of the brutality and
terror that has been inflicted on the Burmese people, partly through his
OSS.
Free trade in drugs
Khin Nyunt has also had success in stimulating free trade in one of his
country's most profitable business ventures: the export of heroin and
other drugs. On Oct. 1, he paid a visit to the rural headquarters of Wei
Hsueh-kang, an ethnic-Chinese drug lord who is wanted for trafficking by
both U.S. and Thai authorities.
The U.S. State Department has called Wei's outfit "the world's biggest
armed narcotics trafficking organization" and has a $2 million bounty
out for his capture. His amphetamine factories are believed to be the
key source for the explosive wave of Burma?s newest export, which is now
devastating the youth in neighboring Thailand. But this has not stopped
Khin Nyunt from comfortably visiting road and dam-building projects
being undertaken with drug profits in Wei's area.
In fact, this particular free trade zone is expanding, thanks to Khin
Nyunt and the rest of the Generals in charge. Wei has recently been
allowed to spread his business south, infuriating Thai officials. The
Bangkok Post argued that the regime's "tacit approval of Wei's drug
activities can only add to the regime's foul reputation as a real danger
to the well-being of the global community of nations."
As early as 1993, narcotics officials in Thailand had linked Khin Nyunt
to Lo Hsing Han, who had been one of the largest heroin traffickers in
the world. A memo from the Thai Government's Office of Narcotics Control
Board names Khin Nyunt as key "supporter" of Lo, and says that in
February 1993, Lo Hsing Han was granted the "privilege from Brig. Gen.
Khin Nyunt to smuggle heroin from the Kokang group to Tachilek [on the
Thai border] without interception." Now Lo and his son, Steven Law, are
two of the leading lights in Burma?s business community.
The drug-connection was definitely on the minds of the Burma
pro-democracy activists in Seattle. Among their numbers was a retired
army sergeant who had served in numerous U.S. special operations as well
as several tours at the U.S. embassy in Burma. The sergeant, an
intelligence specialist who worked directly with the State Department,
helped carry a 20-foot, 40-pound mock hypodermic needle into
demonstrations on the streets of Seattle.
"Our message with the needle," said the career soldier who requested
anonymity, "is that heroin is Myanmar's number one money making export.
>From a trade standpoint, heroin is definitely their thing." The Seattle
police seized and crushed the giant syringe.
Lending legitimacy
"It's ironic to think that peaceful demonstrators - truly peaceful -
were gassed and shot with rubber bullets as they sat, in order to
protect an institution that was meeting inside with the Burmese
dictators treated as honored guests and normal members," Dohrs said.
While the attacks on pro-democracy demonstrators took place on the
outside, Burma?s ambassador U Tin Win, attended President Clinton?s WTO
luncheon on Dec. 1. At this event, he listened to a speech presented by
Moore.
"This is the chance to help build the new world. There are so many in
this conference who also marched, protested, went to prison, fought,
suffered. The idealists sit in this conference...These men and women
were chosen by their people, they must ask their Parliaments and
Congresses to ratify what they agree."
"Burma must have slipped Moore?s mind when he made this statement,"
Dohrs said. "Not only is democracy nonexistent in Burma, it is for all
practical purposes illegal." None of Burma?s current rulers were
chosen by their people, and the duly elected Parliament has been
prevented from taking office by those whom Win represents.
In a recent interview, the chief of the Myanmar (Burma) mission in
Washington, Minister U Thaung Tun, who attended the Seattle summit with
the ambassador, said he thinks issues such as labor and the environment
have no place within the WTO.
"Every issue deserves concern in an appropriate forum. And for labor, it
is the ILO," he said, surprisingly referring to the United Nations body
that had expelled Burma for its practice of massive forced labor. He
believes that the ILO "allegations" were made for "political reasons"
and says he has invited an ILO delegation to ?come and look.? However,
during the ILO investigation all requests from the ILO commission for
access to the country were denied
"They're running the entire country as if it was the army,? said the
veteran sergeant who carried the giant syringe. ?Membership in the WTO
lends the regime legitimacy. Anything that gives the regime legitimacy
is just not right."
photo caption
To the point: Pro-democracy activists carried a 20-foot mock hypodermic
needle during last month?s WTO protests in Seattle to make the point
that heroin is Burma?s leading export.
Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean are coproducers of Flashpoints, a
political analysis program broadcast on KPFA.
***********************************************
REUTERS: U.S. ADDS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TO OLD SANCTIONS
December 23, 1999
By Jonathan Wright
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will impose no new sanctions on
the
five countries it says are particularly restrictive of religious
activity,
the State Department said on Thursday.
The countries -- China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar and Sudan -- are already
subject to layers of sanctions and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
has told Congress which of the existing measures meet the requirements
of the International Religious Freedom Act, passed by Congress in 1998.
The act requires that the U.S. administration annually designate
governments which have ``engaged in or tolerated particularly severe
violations of religious freedom''.
It offers a menu of 15 policy responses -- eight diplomatic and seven
prohibitions on U.S. aid or economic sanctions, but also gives the
administration the option not to act.
The State Department designated the five countries in October, to
criticism from religious activists who thought it should have cast its
net much wider.
Representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who fought hard for
the Religious Freedom Act, said the Administration should not have
spared countries such as Vietnam, North Korea, Laos, Cuba and Saudi
Arabia.
In the case of China, Albright told Congress the operative sanctions
under the act would be the existing restrictions on exports of crime
control and detection instruments and equipment, a State Department
statement said.
The State Department will continue to pursue all means to change Chinese
behavior toward religious freedom, it added.
In the cases of Iran and Iraq, the sanctions will be the existing
restrictions on U.S. security assistance. For Myanmar, it will be the
prohibition on exports of defense articles and defense services, the
statement said.
In the case of Sudan, the United States will continue to oppose any
loans to Sudan by international financial institutions, it added.
The decisions have no immediate effect but State Department spokesman
James Rubin said in October that in cases where the original reason for
imposing sanctions no longer applied, the same sanctions could stay in
force to meet the requirements of the Religious Freedom Act.
In its annual report on religious freedom worldwide, the State
Department cited China for persecuting Tibetan Buddhists, Muslim Uighurs
and Protestant and Roman Catholics who do not belong to ``official''
churches.
It said the Chinese constitution provides for freedom of religious
belief but in practice the government ``seeks to restrict religious
practice to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of
worship and to control the growth and scope of religious groups.''
Iran was faulted for trying to ``eradicate'' the Bahai faith, while Iraq
was criticized for conducting a campaign of murder, execution and
arrests against the Shiite Muslim population.
The Sudanese government has been repeatedly accused of trying to impose
Islam on the animists and Christians of the south. Buddhists say the
military government of Myanmar has executed some Buddhist monks and
destroyed monasteries, charges the authorities have denied.
***********************************************
XINHUA: WIN AUNG TRIPS TO CHINA (I)
December 23, 1999
Chinese, Myanmar Foreign Ministers Meet in Beijing Chinese Foreign
Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Aung, in their
meeting today, agreed that further promoting bilateral relations
complies with the fundamental interests of the peoples in both
countries.
They reached a consensus that China and Myanmar should continue
high-level exchanges and draw up a plan for further promoting and
developing relations in the 21st century.
Vice-Chairman of Tibet Meets Nepalese Consulate General Yang Chuantang,
vice-chairman of the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region,
met today with Shanka Prasad Pandey, the new consulate general of Nepal,
in Tibet.
Sino-Portuguese JLG Holds Farewell Party The Chinese and Portuguese
chief representatives of the Sino- Portuguese Joint Liaison Group (JLG)
held a farewell party this afternoon with about 200 guests.
Summing up the work of the Sino-Portuguese JLG over the past 12 years,
both Chinese chief representative Han Zhaokang and his Portuguese
counterpart Santana Carlos said that the group has witnessed fine
Chinese and Portuguese cooperation to ensure the steady transition of
Macao and smooth power transfer.
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman on China's Diplomacy in 1999 Chinese
foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue gave a review of China's
diplomacy this year in response to a question raised at a press
conference today.
In the face of an ever changing world, she said, the Chinese government
has carried out an independent foreign policy of peace, continued to
maintain world peace and opposed hegemony and power politics while
keeping in mind the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and
people around the world for common development.
***********************************************
XINHUA: WIN AUNG TRIPS TO CHINA (II)
December 23, 1999
BEIJING (Dec. 23) XINHUA - Following are the highlights of today's
diplomatic news released by Xinhua:
China Welcomes Outcome of Talks Between DPRK, Japan China welcomes the
agreement reached between the Red Cross delegations from the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Japan, and wishes an early start
of talks for normalizing relations between DPRK and Japan, Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said here today.
Chinese Vice-President Meets Myanmar Foreign Minister Chinese
Vice-President Hu Jintao, in a meeting here today with Foreign Minister
of Myanmar U Win Aung, spoke highly of China- Myanmar relations, saying
the two close neighbors have a long history of friendship.
Chinese Vice-Premier Meets Myanmar Foreign Minister Chinese Vice-Premier
Wu Bangguo today expressed hope to further promote trade and economic
cooperation with Myanmar as the two countries have made considerable
progress in this respect in recent years. Wu made the remark at a
meeting here with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Win Aung.
***********************************************
Nation: THAI ANGLER SHOT DEAD
Dec 25, 1999.
Local & Politics
Thai Angler Shot Dead
RANONG -- A Burmese patrol boat shot dead a Thai angler in Thai
territorial waters on Friday, police said yesterday. Bunlang Udomsak was
fishing from his boat with younger brother, Assavadej Udomsak, and a
friend, Somchai Sriyaem, near Noppaket Island in Muang district when he
was shot dead.
Assavadej said he and Bunlang had been fishing with rods when
the patrol boat came close and opened fire on them without
asking any questions.
Assavadej and Somchai said they were certain that they had
been fishing in Thai waters in the Andaman Sea and had not
fled when they saw the patrol boat approaching.
***********************************************
BANGKOK POST: Fishing ban preserved to replenish stocks
Dec 23, 1999
Post Reporters
Burma had made clear it will not re-open its waters to Thai trawlers,
saying it needs time to replenish marine stocks.
The Foreign Ministry said Rangoon insisted the closure, now in its 11th
week, was neither permanent nor discriminatory as Burmese fishermen were
also affected.
Burmese authorities, including Maung Maung Thein, fisheries and
livestock minister, discussed the issue with a delegation from the
Agriculture Ministry who visited Rangoon between Dec 20-21. Burma closed
its waters on Oct 2 following the 25-hour siege of its Bangkok embassy
by dissidents.
An industry source said Burma said the matter would be raised on
Saturday in Rangoon at a meeting of the Fishery Federation
***********************************************
BURMANET: [OP/ED]: MYANMAFICATION - BURMA (CF. MYANMAR) AS A `BRITISH'
INVENTION
[Guest opinion/editorials reflect the views of their authors and not
necessarily
those of BurmaNet]
By Gustaaf Houtman
ghoutman@xxxxxxxxx
The regime proclaims majority support for its
May 1989 proclamation that Burma be renamed Myanmar.
In its desire to have Myanmar accepted as the universal name for
the country, the regime has come to argue that Burma is a mere
British invention for which there is neither Burmese support nor
Burmese evidence.
The reality, as I have extensively argued in my
book Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics, is far more
complex than this one-sided and oversimplistic argument allows
for.
In its desire to Myanmify (unify the country under the designation
Myanmar), the regime has at its peril ignored important historical and
vernacular dimensions that continue to validate the country's
designation as Burma.
1. This so-called `British' designation to Burma was in fact adopted
from early Italian, Portuguese and Dutch references. They, in turn,
took up South Asian reference to the country as Brahma-desa.
2. Brahma is by no means to be considered a mere 'foreign'
reference to the country. The fact is that in Burmese /bama/ is a
most commonly used as a colloquial reference to the country.
3. The `foreign' and `indigenous' designations are sometimes difficult
to separate out from oneanother. The brahma-desa reference, in turn,
is derived from a long association between Burma and South Asia,
which included the introduction of Buddhism and the introduction
of writing systems into Burma from the Indian sub-continent.
In short, the Burma-India relationship
may well predate any references to `Myanmar' upon which the
regime stakes its claims (much like in the Dutch national anthem
`Diets' (not to be confused with `Deutsch') is a reference to the
dutch that predates the invention of The Netherlands as a political
entity - hence the British designation to people from the Netherlands
as Dutch, though never recognised by the Dutch themselves in
their own language, is in some respects more accurate within the long
historical time-frame than even the Dutch themselves allow for).
4. Burma has been associated with Brahma not only in India, but this
has long been a popular derivation for Burma even within Burma.
It is commonly recognised in Burmese literature and Burmese
reference works. It is also commonly linked to the Buddhist genesis
myth which derives human society and legal and political disorder
from the expiry of the Brahma spiritual ways.
5. In its desire to be seen to fly the Myanmar flag as part of its
anti-colonialist impression management, the regime has overlooked that
Burma was in fact the preferred designation of the leaders of the
anti-colonial struggle. The Do-Bama movement designated the country
as Bama. The regime has ignored at its peril the early and highly
influential and popular nationalist Thahkin Kodawhmaing,
who was not only the ideological leader of the anti-colonial struggle
against the British, but who also explicitly argued for the derivation
of Burma from Brahma, and (see Appendix 1.9). Indeed, he even
wrote a history of the country in these terms. The regime
could not possibly afford to clinch its arguments by designating this
nationalist hero as a British colonial axe-handle.
In enforcing the designation Myanmar at the exclusion of Burma,
therefore, and in arguing that Burma is a `foreign' reference,
the regime has adopted at best a partial interpretation of
Burmese literary history that does not fit its arguments.
The worst case, however, is that it has muddled up things in a way
that could be constructed, given the emotive significance of
Burma-as-Brahma to early anti-colonial nationalists, as having
forced views upon the Burmese population that run counter to
the anti-colonial struggle prevailing under the British.
One of the chief arguments in Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis
Politics is that the derivation of Burma from Brahma
points to an important pattern in the politics of reconciliation.
This reference evokes, in its richest mythical interpretations,
a world in which mental culture rules and in which cultural and
gender differences are transcended to make for an open space
in which diverse civil and military interests can be reconciled.
This world is quite unlike the rather unimaginative
/loka/ the army is shaping Myanmar into, in which identity is
so rigidly enforced.
In enforcing its partial and short-termist view of history, the regime
has shot its Burma foot - it now only has the Myanmar leg to
walk its way into the future. I hope that one day soon the regime will
see the folly of its Myanmafication initiatives and let up a little by
working reconciling the `Myanmar' with the `Burma' views. Let's hope
that 2000 is the year in which this country comes to terms with the
deep rifts that plague it to day.
Feel free to read these arguments, and others, in more detail in
appendix 1.9 (pp 351-54) in
http://homepages.tesco.net/~ghoutman/index.htm
and on the Myanmafication argument in chapter 2 (pp 43-54).
These arguments feed into the arguments about ideology of ethics
and of politics as byama-so taya (chapter 19 and the ideology
of development in chapter 5 pp 128-133).
Useful comments and corrections gratefully acknowledged in the next
edition....
Gustaaf Houtman
ghoutman@xxxxxxxxx
***********************************************
Letters to the Editor
NATION: Burmese students reject Chavalit's allegations
I would like to respond to the report about former Army chief Gen
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's accusations against the Thai government
The Nation, Dec 20, ''NAP leader claims Surin helped fugitive'').
After the ruthless suppression of the 1988 uprising in Burma --
known as the ''four eights movement'' -- the Burmese military
regime was totally isolated from the Western World and Japan.
But New Aspiration Party leader Chavalit, at that time Thai
military Chief of Staff, made a personal visit to Burma and
lobbied the Burmese generals and won fishing and logging
concession rights which gave him a chance to became a
multi-millionaire.
He praised Gen Saw Maung, the leader of the Burmese de facto
regime, as ''my big brother''. He has a close personal link
with the Burmese regime. There are two reasons for his
accusation:
1. Chuan is a rival politician and Chavalit wants to become
prime minister.
2. He wants to please the Burmese regime for his own business
interests, not for the interests of the Thai people.
I am fairly certain of that because when I was the chairman
of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) in 1989,
Chavalit sent back Burmese activist students from Tak airport
by force. He did not care about the lives of the Burmese students
who were the same age as his own child. He knew that their lives
were in danger when he sent them back. He did it because he
wanted a favour from the Burmese regime.
Many activist students were captured after their arrival
and some are missing. Now the fishing concession rights have
been revoked by the Burmese regime and he and his fishing
firms are losing millions of dollars per month.
So he created the story and falsely accused the Chuan
government, who solved the seizure of the Burmese Embassy
by peaceful means. If Chavalit had been the prime minister,
he surely would have ordered the Thai troops to kill all
the people in the embassy compound to please the Burmese
generals.
I want to ask Chavalit not to play dirty games with brave
young people. The students who seized the embassy have no
link with Osama bin Laden. Do not make up stories please. With pride and
dignity,
Htun Aung Gyaw
Civil Society for Burma
Ithaca, New York
The Nation (December 24, 1999)
***END*****************************************
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