BurmaNet News: September 14, 2000

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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
_________September 14, 2000   Issue # 1620__________

	
INSIDE BURMA _______
*AP: Myanmar lawyer jailed for distributing foreign press clippings 
*AFP: Burma: NLD Leader Tin Oo Says All Restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi 
Lifted
*SPDC: Meeting With National League for Democracy
*Los Angeles Times: Myanmar Activist's Backers Wonder if Compromise Is 
in Order  

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Reuters: Annan welcomes lifting of restrictions on Suu Kyi
*AP: Congressman proposes immunity for Burmese leaders

ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Asian Pulse: Indonesia's Timah Eyes Reserves in Myanmar, Vietnam		

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http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com


__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
	

AP: Myanmar lawyer jailed for distributing foreign press clippings 

YANGON, Myanmar (AP)  A 77-year old lawyer has been sentenced to 14 
years in jail for allegedly distributing foreign press clippings with 
anti-government slogans written on the back, legal sources said 
Thursday. 

 Cheng Poh, a well-known lawyer in Myanmar, was arrested in July. He was 
sentenced by a special court inside the compound of Yangon's Insein 
prison of Yangon on Wednesday, the sources said, speaking on condition 
of anonymity. 

 His family plans to appeal the verdict, they said. 
 The Myanmar government was not immediately available for comment. 

 The sources said the state prosecution accused Cheng Poh of copying 
anti-government foreign media publications and distributing them with 
statements written on the reverse, such as ``No Freedom, Our Mouths Are 
Sealed.'' 

 He was given seven years under the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act and 
seven years under the 1962 Printers and Publishers Act to be served 
consecutively, the sources said. 

 Myanmar, also known as Burma, is ruled by an unelected military regime 
which faces widespread international censure for its human rights 
record. It keeps a tight control on all media and is intolerant of any 
dissent. 

 Earlier this month, the government closed down the headquarters of the 
opposition National League for Democracy and put its top nine leaders 
under virtual house arrest, including 1991 Nobel peace laureate Aung San 
Suu Kyi. 

 The government says the NLD is being investigated for suspected links 
with terrorists.
 
 The NLD won national elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take 
office.
 


____________________________________________________



AFP: Burma: NLD Leader Tin Oo Says All Restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi 
Lifted

YANGON, Sept 14 (AFP) -- The Myanmar junta has lifted the house arrest 
placed on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi following a roadside 
showdown but barred her from leaving the capital, her deputy said 
Thursday. Aung San Suu Kyi and the nine other central executive 
committee members of her Nation League for Democracy (NLD) were now free 
to move around Yangon, National League for Democracy deputy leader Tin 
Oo told AFP.

 "All the restrictions have been removed and I was told by officials 
that the NLD office could function as before and that nothing had been 
removed from it," Tin Oo told AFP. The party's office had been closed 
down by the authorities following the opposition leader's roadside 
showdown with the military junta earlier this month. 

Aung San Suu Kyi was now free to visit relatives and diplomats if she 
wished, Tin Oo said. Diplomats said earlier Thursday they had been 
allowed to see Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo. "We 
just completed a visit to see Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo. We were 
allowed to see them," said a spokesperson at the British embassy in 
Yangon. Police and security officials have also been withdrawn from NLD 
headquarters, Tin Oo said. 

Officials told him the party was free to return to its headquarters, he 
said. Tin Oo had not yet checked the office but would do so Friday when 
NLD leaders will meet to discuss matters, he said. NLD leaders met with 
Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday after the restrictions were lifted, he said, 
adding she was in good health. Officials from the US embassy in Yangon 
also visited Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence where senior NLD members 
gathered for a key meeting, the British embassy official said. 

"The situation is now back to where it was before the standoff. It is my 
understanding that Aung San Suu Kyi will be allowed to move around 
Yangon," said an official at the US embassy in Yangon. But Aung San Suu 
Kyi will not be allowed to leave the capital, he said. Aung San Suu Kyi 
and the other members of the party's central executive committee were 
placed under virtual house arrest on September 2, after she and other 
NLD leaders tried to attend a party meeting outside the capital. This 
triggered a prolonged standoff with the junta in which the NLD leaders 
remained camped by their cars for nine days before being taken back to 
the capital by security officials. 

Aung San Suu Kyi told diplomats she had been forced back to Yangon after 
the standoff, despite statements by the junta saying she had happily 
returned to the capital. The NLD leader and Tin Oo Thursday looked 
noticeably thinner than they were before they were placed under virtual 
house arrest, and they clearly appeared grateful to receive visitors, 
diplomats said. The junta said earlier Thursday that the detained 
opposition leaders were no longer required to stay in their homes, where 
they had been under house arrest. "Since noon today those senior 
National League for Democracy members are no longer required to stay at 
their respective residences, resuming their daily activities as usual," 
the government said in a statement. The junta said in its statement that 
intelligence chief Khin Nyunt had a "fruitful meeting" with NLD chairman 
U Aung Shwe on Thursday morning. At the meeting, Khin Nyunt told U Aung 
Shwe: "We have very much appreciated the NLD's understanding of the 
government's fundamental obligation and responibility to protect the 
rights of all its citizens." The NLD won a landslide general election 
victory in 1990, but the junta has never recognised the result and is 
accused by foreign critics and human rights groups of severe repression 
of its opponents. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burmese independence 
hero General Aung San, was put under house arrest for six years and has 
subsequently had her movements greatly restricted. 

____________________________________________________


SPDC: Meeting With National League for Democracy


MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE
                    YANGON

             Information Sheet
     N0. B-1531 (I)   14th September, 2000



Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development 
Council met with U Aung Shwe, the Chairman of the National League for 
Democracy at 9:00 am on 14th September at a Government guest house for a 
meeting. 

"We have had a fruitful meeting and we have very much appreciated the 
NLD's understanding of the Government's fundamental obligation and 
responsibility to protect the rights of all its citizens to a safe, 
secure and stable environment and to safeguard the national security 
during the nation's transition to democracy," said Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt. 

The meeting was also attended by U Khin Maung Win, Deputy Minister for 
Foreign Affairs and he described the meeting as, "frank, cordial and 
fruitful". 

The Government expressed its appreciation for the cooperation of the 
senior NLD members for staying at home as requested during the course of 
the investigation and its regret for the inconvenience caused to those 
involved. Since noon today those senior NLD members are no longer 
required to stay at their respective residences resuming their daily 
activities as usual. 
Meanwhile, the Government together with the people of Myanmar and the 
political parties shall continue working hard towards maintaining the 
existing peace, stability and tranquility the nation and its people are 
enjoying. 

Photo for "Meeting with National League for Democracy" at - 
http://www.myanmar-information.net/infosheet/2000/000914.htm

____________________________________________________



Los Angeles Times: Myanmar Activist's Backers Wonder if Compromise Is in 
Order  

By DAVID LAMB, 
Times Staff Writer

 - Sep 13, 2000. 

BANGKOK, Thailand--The scene in Myanmar was a familiar one: 
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, headed to a political gathering 
that would test the limits of the military regime's tolerance, was in 
her white Toyota, going nowhere. The engine was off and the vehicle 
surrounded by police officers.  

She was, they said, free to travel in only one direction--home. So for 
nine days, the recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize camped out with 
supporters until early this month, when she was forcibly escorted the 
few miles to her posh lakeside residence in Yangon, the capital.  

Like a similar roadside protest in July 1998, Suu Kyi's aborted trip 
focused world attention on the struggle for democracy in Myanmar, 
formerly Burma. The standoff unleashed international criticism on the 
ruling generals, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair calling her 
treatment a disgrace. 
 
The military responded by raiding her National League for Democracy, or 
NLD, headquarters and placing leaders under house arrest, their phone 
lines and access to outsiders cut. 
 
Suu Kyi, 55, faded from center stage to plan her next move. But a decade 
after the junta voided her party's landslide electoral victory and 
announced that it was keeping power, her options appear to be fewer. 
Many in Yangon are beginning to question whether her democratic goals 
might be better served if she softened her all-or-nothing approach and 
sought some form of accommodation with the generals.  

"No one doubts her courage or commitment to democracy, and she's admired 
for that," said a Western resident of Yangon. "But people are growing 
poorer, many of the universities are still closed, and the standoff 
between the government and the opposition has brought Myanmar to a 
standstill. People I talk with would like the two sides to sort out 
their differences and just get on with the job of rebuilding a 
devastated country."  
In November, a revered abbot, Ashin Kunthalabhivamsa, released a letter 
backed by about 1,000 monks at his monastery near Mandalay, scolding the 
country's key leaders--Suu Kyi, former strongman Ne Win and junta chief 
Gen. Than Shwe--for their unwillingness to compromise. They "have been 
fighting one another over the past 10 years and that makes us, the 
monks, sick at heart," the abbot wrote.  

In a country where monkhood is the most respected institution--Myanmar 
has nearly as many monks (350,000) as soldiers (400,000)--his message 
was significant. At about the same time, a senior monk in the city of 
Bago spoke out, urging dialogue and agreeing with the abbot's comment 
that the two sides should "join hands and work for the good of the 
country."  

Even some Western diplomats, who consider Myanmar's repressive junta the 
most repugnant government in Southeast Asia, believe that Suu Kyi's 
tactics have failed to yield any progress toward democracy. If anything, 
they say, the regime--known as the State Peace and Development 
Council--has solidified its control and is in a stronger position today 
than it was five years ago, despite U.S.-led economic sanctions.  
Through intimidation and imprisonment, the regime has caused hundreds of 
NLD members to renounce allegiance to the party. And through 
negotiations and payoffs, Myanmar's leaders have bought peace with the 
independent armies of drug-producing minority groups. Today, the regular 
army encounters resistance only from scattered pockets of ethnic Karen 
rebels. 
 
"We could not have stability and development until we had peace, and 
today we have that peace," Foreign Minister Win Aung said in an 
interview last year. "You have no idea how much better off the country 
is today than when I was a boy, no idea how many bridges and schools the 
government has built. The world just has to give us a chance."  

Most political analysts find his argument unconvincing. However, the 
military, which has ruled the country since 1962, appears to have 
convinced itself that it is winning the battle for control, if not for 
international acceptance. The state-run media even sent up what might 
have been a trial balloon recently, suggesting that perhaps the NLD 
should be closed down and Suu Kyi exiled.  

With foreign investment plummeting in Myanmar--Unocal is the largest 
remaining U.S. investor--China has gained greater economic, military and 
diplomatic leverage and has recently agreed to help build a $90-million 
pulp-and-paper factory. Japan, India and Australia have hinted that they 
might be more accommodating toward Yangon if it showed greater openness 
and flexibility in dealing with Suu Kyi.  

The opposition leader is an Oxford graduate whose father, Aung San, 
helped lead the nation to its 1948 independence from Britain. Suu Kyi 
was first placed under house arrest in 1989 and has battled the regime 
since then.





























___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
			

Reuters: Annan welcomes lifting of restrictions on Suu Kyi

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 
Thursday welcomed a decision by Myanmar's military rulers to ease 
restrictions on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues, 
and he called for the start of a dialogue leading to national 
reconciliation. 

 ``The secretary-general welcomes the fact that access to Daw Aung San 
Suu Kyu and other NLD (National League for Democracy) leaders has been 
restored and that the restrictions on their movement within Yangon have 
been lifted,'' a statement issued through a U.N. spokesman said. 

 Annan was pleased to note that the U.N. resident coordinator in the 
Myanmar capital had met with Suu Kyi, the statement added. 

 ``The secretary-general reiterates his call for the government of 
Myanmar to engage in a substantive political dialogue with opposition 
leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, to initiate the process of national 
reconciliation as soon as possible,'' the spokesman said. 

 The government of the former Burma said in a statement on Thursday that 
senior NLD members, who had been confined to their homes and cut off 
from the world since Sept. 2, were now allowed to leave their 
residences. 

 Several diplomats went to Suu Kyi's residence as word spread that 
visits would be allowed. Diplomats who had tried to see the 55-year-old 
Nobel laureate earlier this month repeatedly were turned away by 
security officials outside her house. 



____________________________________________________



AP: Congressman proposes immunity for Burmese leaders 

Sept 14, 2000

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A U.S. Republican congressman proposed Wednesday 
``some degree of immunity'' for military leaders of Myanmar to get them 
to give up power. 

 Rep. John Cooksey, who has visited the country also known as Burma, 
said at a House subcommittee hearing that the government of the 
Southeast Asian country has made some effort to stem the flow of drugs, 
however. 

 He said it is a country of good, smart people where ``the dummies have 
the guns.'' The military regime is holding back progress, he said. 

 The House International Relations Asian subcommittee approved a 
resolution marking the 10th anniversary of voting in Myanmar won by Aung 
San Suu Kyi and her opposition party, which was never allowed to take 
office. Under house arrest, she later won the Nobel Peace Prize. 

 The resolution calls for a restoration of democracy. It urges freedom 
of speech, a government dialogue with Suu Kyi, and release of detained 
parliamentary election winners. 


 Cooksey said he had warned Myanmar's regime not to harm Suu Kyi saying, 
``If it does, the wrath of the world is going to come down on you and 
wipe you out.'' 

 An amendment to the resolution deleted an endorsement of U.S. sanctions 
against Myanmar. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Doug Bereuter, who 
introduced the amendment, said the sanctions have been totally 
ineffective. 


	


  


____________________________________________________



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_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
 

Asian Pulse: Indonesia's Timah Eyes Reserves in Myanmar, Vietnam

Thursday, September 14 6:47 PM SGT 

 
JAKARTA, Sept 14 Asia Pulse - State-owned tin company PT Timah 
(JSX:TINS) is considering tapping mines in Vietnam and Myanmar in the 
light of the dwindling reserves in the country. 

President Erry Riyana H said tin reserves in Indonesia would be depleted 
in 10 years' time. 

"If the production is increased to 40,000 tons a year the reserves will 
be depleted in seven years," Erry said. 

This year PT Timah, the world's largest tin mining company, plans to 
turn out 35,000 tons of tin. 

He said the company hoped to explore in Myanmar and Vietnam next year 
and that PT Timah was awaiting approval from the governments of the two 
countries. 

The price of tin is hovering at US$5,300 a ton and it is expected to 
continue to stay at that level. 

Erry said dumping exports by China kept the price from rising, but PT 
Timah was not worried by large supplies from China as it could sell for 
as low as US$4,000 per ton.


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