BurmaNet News: November 9, 1994

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************************** BurmaNet ************************** 
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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BurmaNet News: Wednesday, November 9, 1994
Issue #57
 
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Contents:
 
1. BKK POST/AFP: BRITISH OFFICIAL IN RANGOON FOR TALKS WITH JUNTA 
2. BKK POST: FISHING INDUSTRY BIGGEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS EMPLOYER
3. BKK POST: NATURAL GAS SUPPLY CALLED INADEQUATE 
4. BKK POST: THAILAND PLANS MORE AID TO BURMA, LAOS AND VIETNAM 
5. NATION: EXCHANGE RATE CHANGES EASES BURMA SHOPPING BLUES
 
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BKK POST/AFP: BRITISH OFFICIAL IN RANGOON FOR TALKS WITH JUNTA 
9 November
 
A SENIOR British official arrived here yesterday on an offi- cial
three-day visit, the first ever since election were held in 1991,
to open a "critical dialogue" with the mili- tary junta.
 
David Dain, Foreign Office under-secretary for Southern Asia and
the Pacific, will take with senior member of the mili- tary junta
as part of efforts to promote bilateral relations, British
ambassador Julian Hartland-Swann told AFP.
 
"The visit is part of our continuing efforts to promote relations
within the framework of British policy on Burma", the senior
diplomat said.
 
A British Foreign Office spokesman in London said the talk would
be in the nature of "critical dialogue."
 
The spokesman highlighted the new approach, a departure from a
previous policy based on sanctions to force democratic changes in
Burma, which was endorsed by European countries in Bangkok last
July during a regional summit.
 
The visit followed a similar one last week by a US delega- tion
led by Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Hubbard. He met the
first secretary of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, for high level
talks on human rights, democratisation and counter-narcotics
efforts. Britain and the United States are the leading critics of
the military junta in Burma.
 
The United States is one of a few hold-out countries which
continue to support sanctions against the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, or SLORC, the official name of Rangoon's
ruling military regime. (BP)
 
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BKK POST: FISHING INDUSTRY HERE BIGGEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
EMPLOYER November 8, 1994
 
The fishing industry employs the largest number of illegal
immigrants in Thailand, mostly Burmese and Mon. There are between
20,000 and 30,000 job vacancies on fishing vessels in Rayong,
Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram, Samut Songkhram, Samut Prakan,
Songkhla, Chumphon, Ranong and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces,
according to a report of the Ministry of Social Welfare and
Labour.
 
Because of the acute shortage of crew, fishing vessels in Rayong
are lying idle at their moorings. A boat skipper in Ban Laem,
Petchaburi province, said northeastern worker who in the past
made up the bulk of the work force have turned to less dangerous
jobs in the cities or have gone overseas.
 
Many northeastern fishermen were horrified by Typhoon Gay which
devastated Chumphon six years ago and killed hundreds of
fishermen, he said.
 
Trawlers usually keep no records of crew before they leave port.
As a result relatives in the Northeast only found out their loved
ones had perished in the storm when they failed to return home,
in many cases after months of anxious waiting. The Ban Laem
skipper said that on most trawlers all the crew, apart from the
captain, are illegal Burmese or Mon immigrants. Skippers prefer
Mon fishermen to Thai because they are tougher and more
courageous, adding that the high risk involved and the prospect
of ending up in jail in foreign countries prompted Northeast
workers to look elsewhere.
 
Apart from the fishing industry, rubber plantations in southern
provinces - Phuket and Nakhon Si Thammarat for example also hire
a large number of illegal Burmese employees. The same goes for
sugar cane plantations in Kanchanaburi and Suphan Buri. They also
employ illegal Mon and Burmese immigrants because of the cheap
labour.
 
A government official admitted that trying to catch illegal
immigrants is like a "search and destroy" game. He said in most
cases the illegal immigrants who were caught, convicted and
deported try to return because the prospects here are much better
than in Burma even though they risk getting caught.
 
Mrs Yee, a 54-year old Mon who lives in Ban Wang Ka, Sangkhla
buri, said her son had gone to work as a fishermen in Phuket for
a SALARY OF 2,000 bath a month. The deal was arranged by a broker
who charged him 3,000 bath.
 
The demand of cheap labour, especially illegal immigrants from
Burma, has given rise to lucrative human smuggling racket,
sometimes involving local officials.
 
A broker who declined to be identified admitted  they charge
2,500-3,500 bath to bring an illegal immigrant from the Burmese
border to Bangkok.
 
"Employers in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Pathhum
Thani phone us to say they want labourers to work in their
factories," according to Ms Kanchalee Vichitthanakul, a labour
official in Ranong province.
 
She said about 1,000 business and industrial premises in Ranong
have or more illegal Burmese immigrants  working for them.
 
A total of 17,000 Burmese workers are registered in Ranong, she
said. The actual number of illegal Burmese immigrants is thought
to be much higher because many of them have not registered with
the local authorities.
 
A Ranong provincial official pointed out that the decision to
allow illegal immigrants to work in the provinces was based on
economic considerations - to overcome labour shortages - but in
doing so the authorities may have overlooked security risks. (BP)
 
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BKK POST: NATURAL GAS SUPPLY CALLED INADEQUATE 
November 8, 1994
 
INDIGENOUS natural gas production, even in the most optimistic
case, is unlikely to be enough to satisfy Thailand's demand
forecast for beyond the year 2005, according to Thai Shell
Exploration & Production's managing director.
 
J.P. Spicher provides this scenario despite have been found in
the Gulf of Thailand, deliveries of gas from Burma are due to
start in 1988 and strong growth in demand for fuel used in power
generation is expected.
 
Thailand would need to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet
its gas demand, he said, suggesting that Thailand should not burn
the major part of its indigenous reserves before looking for
alternative energy supplies. But "there should be fine tuning
between domestic and imported gas in the from of LNG or piped gas
and the security of the much-needed energy supply."
 
Citing a World Bank report, the Swiss executive said the bank
recommended that LNG be seriously considered as an alternative
fuel option for Thailand because it was cost-competitive with
coal and more environmentally friendly.
 
Thai Shell, part of the Royal Dutch/Shell group, has coordinated
the oil group's effort to promote the NLG project in Thailand.
 
In an interview published in Shell Thailand's in-house magazine
Spotlight, he said Thailand needed to start thinking about the
LNG project because it required a very long lead time.
 
The next step is to see the reaction of the Independent Power
Producers (IPPs) to the invitation to bid for the new power
plants as required by the Government for the privatisation of
power utilities.
 
"If they do intend to submit projects using LNG, they will need
to have definite assurance that LNG will be available at the time
required, the years 2001-2002."
 
According to Mr Spicher there are several possible source of LNG
supplies. He named them alphabetically rather than in any order
of priority as: Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Oman and
Qatar. Discussions have taken place with producers in all these
countries.
 
"However, the difficulty in concluding a deal is to identify the
producer who has the right volumes available at the required
time, This considerably reduces the number of candidates," he
said. (BP)
 
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NATION: CHANGE IN LEGAL EXCHANGE RATE EASES BURMESE SHOPPING
BLUES 
November 8, 1994
 
SHOPPING in Burma (we're not talking about border-side markets)
today is easier Every tourist still has to exchange $300 into the
local currency, Kyat, they can now legally do so at a reasonable
rate: $1 per 100 Kyats.
 
The Foreign Exchange Certificate (FEC) rate was introduced as a
bid to tighten a gas of black market exchange rates and the
official rate. Formerly, the black market's rate was $1 per 120
Kyats. However, the official rate today remains unchanged: $1 per
6 kyat.
 
As a result of this, shoppers may not have to really change money
for kyat. you can pay for souvenirs in the Scott Market in
Rangoon with US dollars, after bargaining the price with sellers
in FEC. However, it's noted that you should have small notes
since the sellers won't give change in dollars but in kyat.
 
At the same time, the convenience of international credit cards
is limited and can only be used in some hotels and
restaurants.Interesting local products in Burma include wood
cravings (i.e, picture frames), oil paintings, which were drawn
by Burmese artists featuring traditional dancers' actions and
views of nature , and Tanaka wood. Burmese women rub the wood
with a stone plate to make it into powder. Precious items such as
jade and silverwares are recommended for experienced buyers only. 
(TN)     
 
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BKK POST: THAILAND PLANS MORE AID TO BURMA, LAOS AND VIETNAM 
9 November 1994
 
BURMA, Laos and Vietnam are to receive more aid from Thai- land
this year while internal problems freeze project in Cambodia, a
senior official of the Department of Technical and Economic
Cooperation (DTEC) said.
 
DTEC director-general Pichet Soontornpipit said the Govern- ment
allocated 278 million baht for the department in the 1995 fiscal
year - about 60 per cent of which has been set aside for the
countries.
 
The rest of the budget was for general purposes such as
administrative expenditure and aid to other countries in- cluding
Cambodia.
 
Thailand's fiscal year starts in October. The department is in
charge of handling government assistance to and from other
countries and international organisations. Security problems in
Cambodia delayed all contact between the department and the Phnom
Penh government and halted approvde projects in the country, Mr
Pichet said. This has prompted the department to use its central
budget to help Cambodia, he said.
 
"The department hardly receives contact from Cambodia officials,"
he said. "Cambodia is facing internal insecurity which resulted
in the delay of our approved projects, especially those in the
countryside."
 
But the department is only able to launch training assis- tance
projects for Cambodians, he said. Mr Pichet reiterated to sour
relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh.
 
DTEC's budget has steadily increased from 247 million in 1994 and
203 million baht in 1993, of which about 60-70 per cent was
allocated to Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam mainly for
development programmes and human resource devel- opment projects.
 
The emphasis underlines a government policy aiming to cement
relations with neighbouring countries, especially Laos, Mr Pichet
said.
 
Laos benefits most from Thai aid in Indochina ahead of Viet- nam,
Burma and Cambodia, he said. Te landlocked country will receive
about 100 million, Viet- nam 50 million and Burma about 20
million baht, he added.The department originally requested 400
million baht this year. Mr Pichet said the department should have
received about 30 million baht more to make it easier to assist
more countries which were Bangkok.
 
The department is also focusing on medium-tern cooperation. Laos
and Vietnam have negotiated a number of the three-year projects
with the department and Burma is seeking a similar deal, he said,
adding that three-year programmes were sched- uled to start in
1996.Next month the department will have an exchange of officials
with Vietnam, transferring officials between the State Planning
Committee in Hanoi and DTEC in Thailand, Mr Pichet said.
 
Thailand started offering assistance, mainly academic coop-
eration, to other developing countries in 1955. The depart- ment
began to focus on neighbouring countries during the Anand
Panyarachun government. (BP) 
 
 
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NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:
 
 AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
 AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
 AW: ASIAWEEK
 AWSJ: ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
 Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt.=US$1 (APPROX), 
 BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
 BI: BURMA ISSUES
 BIG: BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
 BKK POST: BANGKOK POST (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
 BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI
 BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN
 CPPSM: C'TEE FOR PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND 
 FEER: FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW
 JIR: JANE'S INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
 KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
 Kt. BURMESE KYAT; 110-120 KYAT=US$1 BLACK MARKET
                   6 KYAT=US$1 OFFICIAL
 MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN
 NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
 NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-OWNED NEWSPAPER, RANGOON)
 S.C.B.:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP 
 S.C.T.:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
 SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
 USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
 XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY 
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