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  ________________ THE BURMANET NEWS _________________
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Thursday, March 16, 2000
Issue # 1488

To view the version of this issue with photographs, go 
to-
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$243

_______________________________________________________

 NOTED IN PASSING:

Burma "wishes to use in its development Yugoslav 
technology." 

Than Shwe (See TANJUG: FOREIGN MINISTER'S TRIP TO 
MYANMAR, LAOS, N. KOREA)


_______________________________________________________



*Inside Burma


MTBR: US$ 144M MOBILE PHONE NETWORK READY IN 'WEEKS'

MTBR: DAIWA SECURITIES BOSS IN YANGON

SHAN: JUNTA OFFICER EXPORTS HORSEPILLS

SCMP: MESSING ABOUT ON THE IRRAWADDY

*International


BANGKOK POST: FLOOD OF SPEED PILLS FROM BURMA EXPECTED 
THIS 
YEAR

MTBR: ABANDON SANCTIONS CALL AS US CONTENDERS BID FOR 
VOTES

BLOOMBERG: `BURMA AND THE ART OF LACQUER' EXHIBIT OPENS 
AT BRITISH MUSEUM


*Other


___________________ INSIDE BURMA ______________________



MTBR: US$ 144M MOBILE PHONE NETWORK READY IN 'WEEKS'


The Myanmar Times & Business Review

(Myanmar's first international weekly Journal)

March 6-12, 2000, Volume 1, No.1


MT Exclusive
By San Tun Aung

MYANMAR will kick-off its financial year with one of the 
biggest investments in the country since the Asian 
currency crisis with the launching of a massive US$144 
million mobile phone project.	But it may be two months 
before users in Yangon and Mandalay get to telephone via 
a Global System for Mobiles (GSM) - the much awaited 
technology is expected to be introduced in May.

The Myanmar Posts & Telecommunications (MPT) is the 
vehicle through which GSM will operate.

The Myanmar Sky-Link Company, linked to Sky-Link 
Communications Ltd, a British Virgins Islands entity, is 
handling installation of the system before transferring 
it to MPT, once becomes operational.

The price of a handset to be set by MPT, is estimated at 
k500,000 (US$1540) - way below the K2m (US$6000) price 
tag prevailing for some cellular phones in Yangon. 
Disconcertingly, of the wide range of handsets that can 
be used with the system, MPT will decide which make of 
hand phone will "suit the country 
best".

But, according to Myanmar Times sources, the price of the 
service, once connected, will be lower than the cellular 
network currently being used throughout the nation.

A Sky-Link official, during an exclusive interview with 
Myanmar Times, said GSM phones offer better sound 
quality, provide new and improved data transmission and 
has a sophisticated billing system.

GSM will provide a major boon to business struggling to 
regain
momentum after the Asian financial crisis. The technology 
allows true multimedia facility and phones can double as 
fax machines message banks - even hook up with the 
Internet.

The Sky-Link official said because of GSM's advanced 
technology cloning could not occur and the ability to 
"eavesdrop or hack" would be severely hampered or 
disappear entirely.

The company will make sure that users need not make a 
number of attempts to make a call because of congestion 
within the system.

The intention is to have 26 and 14 micro cells set up in 
Yangon and Mandalay respectively.

More will be installed in areas if greater calls are made 
than the existing system accommodates. GSM phones also 
work inside buildings and can penetrate three layers of 
walls. In places like supermarkets built in the basement, 
micro cells will be installed.

Altogether 70,000 phones and 30,000 phones will be made 
available in Yangon and Mandalay under Phase I. The next 
step will be to make the system operational in 11 smaller 
towns where a total of 33,000 more mobiles can then be 
put into the system.

With more than 225,000 fixed line telephones and about 
10,000 cellular mobiles at present, the introduction of 
the GSM system will in three years' time, increase by 50 
per cent phones in use in Myanmar, currently estimated to 
stand at 0.44 to 0.66 per hundred people.

The launching of Phase II, to take place within six 
months of completion, will enable people travelling 
between Yangon and Mandalay to use their phones in any 
location.

International roaming, which is seamless and affordable, 
will also be possible if agreements can be struck within 
the rules of the GSM Association based in Ireland.

As the ability to roam was designed into the GSM right 
from the start, it would greatly be appreciated by 
frequent travelers. The system, originated in Europe, was 
created in such a way that users could use the same phone 
number and handset to make and receive calls throughout 
the continent.


_______________________________________________________


SHAN: JUNTA OFFICER EXPORTS HORSEPILLS

16 March 2000

No: 3 - 10


A company commander in eastern Shan State was reported to 
have been 
involved in the exportation of amphetamines into 
Thailand, according to 
S.H.A.N.'s source from the border.

On Saturday 4 March, Captain Kyaw Sein, Company 
Commander, IB 65 (Mongton) took 40 men in 3 offroaders to 
BP-2, opposite Fang District of Chiangmai. (BP-1 is 
oppositeChiangdao District, also of Chiangmai.)

At Loi-oon, a small hillock 2 miles north of BP-2, he met 
Jala, a Muser tribesman from Nawngphai, Tambon Mawngpin, 
Fang District, where he delivered 500,000 "horsepills" at 
12 baht apiece..

According to the source, Jala had already given B. 
1,500,000 to Ltc. Myint Sway, Commander of IB 65, in 
advance. Jala was instructed to pay the rest to Jakaw of 
Nawngpayen after completion of sale.

"As it was the day the Thais went to the polls for their 
senatorial elections, few knew what was taking place at 
the border," said the source, a border-runner.

Prices vary inside, S.H.A.N. was told. The following is 
the list S.H.A.N. received from him.

Nakawngmu - B. 11

Nawngpayen - B. 10 - 11.50

Hoyawd/ Hopang - B. 9.50 - 10

Monghsat - B. 9.50



_______________________________________________________



SHAN: OPIUM PRICES STILL ON THE RISE


16 March 2000

No: 3 - 9


Informed sources from the border told S.H.A.N. that price 
of opium is reaching its peak during the last week.

The price of opium which began at B.24,000 per viss in 
January is now B. 28,000 - 30,000 according to source who 
visited Nakawngmu, roughly halfway between Mongton and 
BP-1 and now dubbed as the biggest drug market in the 
area.

The other markets are Nawngpayen and Hoyawd, both between 
Monghsat and Mongton, and Monghsat.

The price of heroin however is climbing down from B. 
290,000 per jin (700 gram) to B. 281,000 in Nakawngmu and 
Nawngpayen, B. 275,000 in Hoyawd and B. 274,000 in 
Monghsat. "It is still a cash-on-delivery basis, so 
people are happy," said a source.

But sources also agree that the price of raw opium is due 
to come down soon with the expected invasion of the 
latest crop which is currently being harvested.

"All these are happening under the blessings of the local 
Burmese commanders," they said.

Dissident groups from the Shan States and Karenni had 
issued a press release on 16 February urging all agencies 
concerned about drugs to engage directly with the people 
instead of Rangoon.





_______________________________________________________



MTBR: DAIWA SECURITIES BOSS IN YANGON

The Myanmar Times & Business Review
(Myanmar's first international weekly Journal)
March 6-12, 2000, Volume 1, No.1, Page-6


Yangon-23 Feb- Minister for Finance and Revenue U Khin 
Maung Thein met Chairman of Daiwa Securities Group of 
Japan Mr. Sadakane Doi and party 15 February. The Daiwa 
Securities Welfare Foundation also donated US$5000 to the 
School for the Blind (Kyimyindine).

_______________________________________________________



SCMP: MESSING ABOUT ON THE IRRAWADDY


Wednesday, March 15, 2000

TRAVEL


NATALIE HAWKINS

It was a desire to discover more about the people that 
took us on the ferry from Mandalay to Bagan down the 
Irrawaddy River. There are two ferries that run that 
particular route, the "tourist" ferry and the local boat. 
The local ferry is slower, departs at some ungodly hour 
of the morning and makes numerous stops en route, but we 
were assured it was by far the best way to travel for a 
real experience of Burmese people and a glimpse into 
their lifestyle. It sounded perfect.

Mandalay pier, 4.30 am: We board the Ponapyan ferry in 
the pre-dawn quiet, stepping over the prone bodies of the 
locals who chose to sleep on deck the night before. 

The boat gradually comes alive as the silvery grey sky 
shimmers and allows streaks of pale pink sun to creep 
through. We are seated in comfortable rattan chairs, 
deckside, and are in prime position to view the sunrise. 
The highlands of Mandalay provide the backdrop as we pull 
away and begin to travel down the Irrawaddy. 


The river opens before us, wide and peaceful, and the 
ferry makes slow but easy progress downstream. 
Subsistence farmers go about their daily lives on the 
banks of the river that stretches a remarkable 1,600 
kilometres from the Himalayas to the Andaman Sea. 
Fishermen calmly cast their wide nets from the shore with 
balletic grace; women clad in colourful wraps pound their 
washing on the rocks, their children ducking and diving 
in the shallow waters around their feet.

On board, everyone is wide awake. The canteen, 
essentially two old men with wide spontaneous grins and a 
pot of boiling water, do a roaring trade, providing 
steaming bowls of noodles. The children brush their teeth 
and the women brush each other's thick black hair, tying 
them in elaborate designs entwined with fresh flowers.

The first of our stops is Minimu, a scene of utter chaos. 
The boat echoes with the cries of women selling their 
wares. Trading takes place across the lower deck to the 
shallow water off-shore, and as business picks up and 
gets more frenzied, women wade waist-deep into the river 
to get closer to the ferry to push their bounty. Slices 
of ripe watermelons
sit on an open basket balanced precariously on the head 
of a woman screaming for business. Bread, biscuits, fruit 
and a variety of other foodstuffs are exchanged over the 
murky water as passengers shuffle on and off the boat 
across a ricketty wooden plank, and immense crates of 
cargo, mostly bananas, are loaded into the hold.

The scenery has changed so naturally from the wide river 
full of fishing boats just outside of Mandalay, to palm 
fronds lining the paddy fields where the women walk one 
behind the other, their clothes vibrant splashes of 
colour against the lush green of the fields.

Locals mix with tourists on the ferry and the women are 
forthright in bringing over their baskets of blankets and 
fabrics to sell or trade. Their sales techniques range 
from tactful persuasion to outright bullying, but it is 
all taken in fun. The designs are wonderfully geometric 
and colourful, but too bulky for our load. 

We, as tourists, are not just regarded as consumers by 
the locals, particularly as the government does all it 
can to regulate the spending of foreign dollars. On this 
journey we are also sources of amusement.

The scenery catches our attention again, a reminder of 
our progress down this famous river. Tall rushes at the 
water's edge and the dugouts tied loosely to a half-
collapsed pier indicate that further inland lies a 
village. As we round a bend wafts of smoke rise into the 
air, far away in the jungle. An excited mother gathers 
her belongings and children and
squeals with anticipation at her husband waiting to meet 
her.

Part of the joy of the day is the interaction with the 
locals - a genuine exploration and appreciation of each 
other's backgrounds. Food is shared between us and the 
boundaries come down and the initial awkwardness of 
conversation and broken English disappears.

Twelve hours have slipped by, a relaxing and entertaining 
journey. Over the course of the day most of the locals 
have disembarked at the five or six waterside village 
stops en route to Bagan. The sun shifts lower as we 
approach our destination and still the remaining locals 
persist in trying to sell their goods. Lipstick seems to 
be equivalent of hard currency for them, as are most 
Western goods, and out of the corner of
my eye, I see a fellow traveller pull off his shirt and 
sandals in a last-minute trade for a bundle of goods.

The view has been consistently green on the way, with 
palm trees and small thatched houses, but the landscape 
changes as we approach the old city of Bagan. No longer 
do we see the sloping sandy riverbanks. Instead there are 
cliff-like rocks that jut rudely out of the waters, 
covered with isolated pagodas and stupas.

The promise of further discovery lies here in Bagan. The 
time has been memorable and we disembark, happy to have 
experienced travel where the journey has been as profound 
as the destination. 



___________________ INTERNATIONAL _____________________




MTBR: ABANDON SANCTIONS CALL AS US CONTENDERS BID FOR 
VOTES


The Myanmar Times & Business Review
(Myanmar's first international weekly Journal)
March 6-12, 2000, Volume 1, No.1, Page-3



MYANMAR'S status with the United States is under the 
spotlight as the US presidential campaign gets serious. 
The leading candidates - Democrats Bill Bradley and A1 
Gore, and Republicans George W. Bush and John McCain, are 
now scrambling to define their foreign policy positions.

The campaign debate over sanctions is of particular 
interest in
Myanmar where Washington imposed a unilateral ban on new 
investment in May 1997.


Despite efforts by Washington to garner international 
support, no other countries have joined the US, leading 
to criticism that the policy is strategically ineffectual 
and a diplomatic flop.

The Clinton Administration justified the sanctions by 
saying that Myanmar was "an unusual and extraordinary 
threat to the security of the United States" - a comment 
widely ridiculed at the time, for obvious reasons and the 
sanctions continue to be renewed every six months despite 
no clear evidence that they are improving American 
security.

The United States also ended bilateral aid in 1988, and 
in 1996 it banned travel to the United States by Myanmar 
officials.

Sanctions legislation by individual states , known as 
"selective purchasing laws " is currently being debated 
in the US Supreme Court.

In reference to the sanctions imposed on Myanmar, a 
Yangon official close to Myanmar Times said: "No 
sanctions against any country have ever worked and they 
are unlikely to do so in the future as well.

"Only certain sections of the people, especially the most
marginalised, fall victim to such moves, and not the 
ruling class, which the move seems to aim at."

In response to the excuse given to the effect that the 
This has been pointed out nation threat to the  American 
security, he said Myanmar's armed forces existed 
primarily for defence purposes and that a build-up of the 
military was not aimed at preparing for war but to keep 
itself in a better position to maintain peace in the 
region in particular, and, the world at large.

"We strictly adhere to the five principles of peaceful 
coexistence," he said.

Sanctions are being discussed so much now partly because 
they have become a central weapon in the Clinton 
Administration's foreign-policy arsenal.

Since 1993, Washington has imposed economic sanctions 
nearly 70 times, on more than 35 nations. That's as many 
as in the previous 40 years, despite scant evidence that 
they work.

According to a study by the institute of international 
Economics in Washington less than one-fourth of sanctions 
imposed by all nations have successfully achieved their 
goals.

Economic sanctions were once hailed as a benign tool of 
diplomacy, but today they bring along with them a huge 
human cost. This has been pointed out time and time again 
by a growing number of international observers.

Some, like UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, have become 
vociferous critics of  sanctions, noting that their 
effects are usually felt most by the poor in any targeted 
country.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter drove that point home 
in remarks to the National Geographic Society in 
Washington in January: "I think in every instance where 
we have sustained sanctions, they are counter 
productive," he said, adding that sanctions against Iraq 
"hurt the people severely...it*s really shocking to look 
at the World Health Organization and the United Nation*s 
statistics of the instance of diease and the shortened 
life expectancy of the children of Iraq."

The way to bring about positive change, Carter said "is  
to abandon our sanctions and let there be free trade, 
free visitation, then give them the food and medicine 
they need and let them see the advantages of trading with 
us and then maybe we can open their eyes to what freedom 
and democracy really mean." So how do the candidates 
stand on sanctions?

Whether it makes more sense to isolate countries, or to 
bring them into the world economy through "constructive 
engagement" is a big issue for many Americans. Asked 
about that at a speech in Boston a few months ago, 
Democrat Bill Bradley said it made sense to use debt 
relief aid and international institutions like the 
International Monetary Fund.

Economic development is key to social justice, he said, 
adding that he supported "bringing countries into the 
international economic system in ways that would allow 
them to have higher economic growth and bring more people 
into the middle class.

Republican George W. Bush, after an embarrassing quiz 
last year by a television journalist in which he failed 
to identify a number of global leaders, has been trying 
to define his foreign policy positions beyond the buzz 
phrase of "distinctly American internationalism."

Like Bradley, Bush also believes that economic 
development leads to better societies. "I view free trade 
as an important ally in what Ronald Reagan called 'a 
forward strategy for freedom.'

Perhaps the most knowledgeable candidate on foreign 
affairs is
Republican John McCain, a former prisoner during the 
Vietnam war. Known for his pragmatic and well-informed 
foreign policy positions, McCain has assembled a high-
powered team of advisors including Zbigniew Brzezinski, 
Jeane Kirkpatrick, Larry Eagleburger and Henry Kissinger.

The candidates of the two major parties will be chosen at 
conventions this summer.



_______________________________________________________





TANJUG: FOREIGN MINISTER'S TRIP TO MYANMAR, LAOS, N. 
KOREA


BELGRADE TANJUG 

03/12/2000


    BELGRADE, 12 March (Tanjug) -- Many times since 
taking office Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic 
has stressed that one of the most important tasks of 
diplomacy was to pave the way for the Yugoslav economy 
and secure markets for our products, construction firms. 

    That important job was also evident during the recent 
visit of the Yugoslav foreign minister to Asian 
countries. 
 
     Jovanovic paid official visits to the Democratic 
People's Republic of Korea, the Myanmar Union (former 
Burma) and to the People's Democratic Republic of Laos, 
with stop-overs in Beijing and in Jakarta, when economic 
links were among the central topics of discussions with 
his hosts. 
 
     The talks in Pyongyang, Yangun and Vientiane were an 
opportunity to get to know better the economic 
development of the three countries. 
 
     Just as Yugoslavia, in the rebuilding of the country 
after NATO's aggression (March-June 1999), the three 
countries also rely primarily on their own forces, but 
are ready to cooperate will everyone in the world who 
accept them as equal partners. 
 
     "I expect that contacts and talks of relevant bodies 
and businessmen will follow that will give concrete form 
to our agreements," Jovanovic said upon return to 
Belgrade. 
 
     Diplomacy has done its part, the rest is up to 
businessmen. 
 
    Myanmar registers a growth rate of 7-8 percent and 
has 14 free industrial zones.   It is one of rare 
developing countries that also exports food. 
 
    The president of the state council for peace and 
development of the Myanmar Union Gen.  Tan Shwe stressed 
in talks with Minister Jovanovic that his state "wishes 
to use in its development Yugoslav technology." 
 
     Yugoslav products have been present on the market of 
Burma for 30 years already, and there are now new 
opportunities for business for the factory of railway 
carriages, of Kraljevo, the factory of cables of 
Jagodina, for the firm Minel, the machine and appliances 
industries and the ship-building industry. 


    ...In all those countries, a part of the talks was 
devoted to creating or updating the legal frameworks for 
facilitating mutual economic cooperation. 
 
     Such initiatives of the Yugoslav side have met with 
approval, because with all these countries there is a 
traditional friendship, trust, years of joint activities 
in the UN and in the nonaligned movement, to what the 
current visits have given a new impetus. 
 
     It was with sincere respect that admiration and 
support was expressed, as the hosts said, for the heroism 
of Yugoslavs in the defense of freedom and independence.   
All these countries have had since the beginning of the 
crisis in the territory of the former SFRY a consistent 
and principled stand and they share the position of 
Yugoslavia about the double standards of the West in 
relation to separatism, about the 
unacceptable abuse of human rights in order to impose 
someone else's interests and the importance of preserving 
the principles of the sovereignty of states. 

[Description of Source: state-owned news agency; reflects 
views of Milosevic regime] 






_______________________________________________________





BANGKOK POST: FLOOD OF SPEED PILLS FROM BURMA EXPECTED 
THIS 
YEAR

March 16, 2000

Anucha Charoenpo
An estimated 600 million methamphetamine pills, produced 
in Burma, will find their way into all parts of Thailand 
this year, a deputy commissioner of the Narcotics 
Suppression Bureau said yesterday.
"Burma has a policy of concentrating its ethnic minority 
groups along the border to speed up the production of 
methamphetamines, especially this year," Pol Maj-Gen 
Inthadej Pornpiraphan said.
Intelligence information revealed the drug was being 
produced by as many as 55 factories along the border.
Each refinery had the capacity to produce about one 
million pills a month. Thailand could be flooded by about 
600 million methamphetamine tablets this year, he warned.
Pol Maj-Gen Inthadej called on anti-drug agencies to 
concentrate on solving the problem, since methamphetamine 
pills were being widely used by Thai youths and 
schoolchildren.
Earlier this year, the Burmese junta announced the 
relocation of Wa and Ko Kang ethnic groups from their 
homes in the northern Shan State to areas adjacent to the 
northern Thai border.
Pol Maj-Gen Inthadej said the area would soon become a 
major drug-producing centre since these groups knew 
nothing but growing opium. 






_______________________________________________________




BLOOMBERG: `BURMA AND THE ART OF LACQUER' EXHIBIT OPENS 
AT BRITISH MUSEUM

Wed, 15 Mar 2000, 4:00pm EST

By Vincent Sgro
Bloomberg Lifestyles 

London, March 9 -- A magnificent collection of Burmese 
lacquerware given to the British Museum will go on view 
April 8 at the London cultural institution. 

The gift of Mr. and Mrs. R. Isaacs of their collection 
has created the opportunity for museum visitors to 
explore the history and culture of Burma from the 18th-
20th centuries through the art of lacquer. 

Lacquer, the sap of a tree and tapped like rubber, can be 
used in a wide variety of ways. In Burma, almost alls 
aspects of life were affected by it. 

This major exhibition will cover Buddhist sculpture and 
manuscripts, Burmese music, theatre, medicine, warfare 
and architecture, and the habit of chewing the betel nut. 

The Isaacs Collection will form the core of the 
exhibition, complemented by loans from both national and 
regional collections. 

The exhibition will run through Aug. 13. 

A fully illustrated catalog will accompany the exhibition 
and be available in the museum's gift shop. 

The British Museum is located on Great Russell Street in 
London. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 
noon-6 p.m. Sunday. 

The British Museum, founded in 1753, contains world-
famous collections of antiquities from Egypt, Western 
Asia, Greece and Rome, as well as prehistoric and Romano-
British, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern and Oriental 
collections; prints and drawings; coins, medals and 
banknotes. 



For more information, visit the museum's Web site at
http://www.british-museum.ac.uk.

 




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