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BurmaNet News: November 14, 1994



************************** BurmaNet ************************** 
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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BurmaNet News: Monday, November 14, 1994
Issue #63

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Contents:

BKK POST: BORDER CAMPS MAY BE USED TO DETAIN ILLEGALS
NATION: LETTERS--PAROCHIAL VIEW ON INFORMATION 
BKK POST: RUBY POLISHING INDUSTRY GETS IMPORT REPRIEVE

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BKK POST: BORDER CAMPS MAY BE USED TO DETAIN ILLEGALS
November 14, 1994

THE Immigration Police Bureau will seek Interior ministry ap-
proval to use former refugees camps along the border for de-
taining illegal immigrants pending repatriation. immigration Police
commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Kiatisak Praphavat said yester- day this
was intended to solve the shortage of places to de- tain the many
illegal immigrants. (BP)

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NATION: LETTERS--PAROCHIAL VIEW ON INFORMATION 
November 14, 1994

Has the gathering of information become an illegal activity in
Thailand? Judguing by the flustered outrage express on hearing that
the Australian Embassy in Bangkok was seeking submissions to an
Australian parliamentary enquiry into the progress, or otherwise,
of democracy in Burma, (the nation, Nov 10) this seems to be case.

Perhaps the Thai government conducts its own parliament enquires in
blissful ignorance of any facts which might bear on the subject of
enquiry. This seems a peculiar way to proceed. The delegation made
by the unnamed "special branch police source", that the Australian
Government was employing  "spies" in Thailand in exchange for
financial assistance, was support only by further allegations."

One was that a Burmese student had been in directed contact with
the Australian Embassy. Is this illegal? The Australian government
has recently offered scholarships to a very limited number of
students from Burma - scholarships which would per- mit them to
complete their interrupted studies in Australia. It seem likely,
therefore, that quite a number of students will have in direct
contact with the embassy. There is no oth- er way to apply for the
scholarships to be regarded as "bribes" for "spying"?

Is that the interpretation normally reached when a rather for-
tunate country offers scholarships to the citizens of a less
fortunate one?

Another piece of "evidence" was that this students had con- vened
a secret meeting at Rankhamhaeng University, at which it had been
decided to issue a monthly news bulletin aimed at supporting the
pro-democracy struggle in Burma.

Is it improper for student to hold meeting at university? Is it
wrong to issue news bulletins? Is it unwise to support the
pro-democracy struggle in Burma? I though that was what the entire
international community, including Thailand, claims to be doing.

The meeting clearing was not secret:, though in the light of the
outcome, perhaps it should have been.

Also not secret are the human rights abuses against Burmese and
other asylum seekers in Thailand. Amnesty International has
recently compiled and published an entire report on these abuses.
But, as it happens, this is not the subject of the Australian
parliamentary enquiry.

In this haste to deflect attention from Australia's accusation that
individuals in the Thai military and business community are
supporting the Khmer Rouge, Thai authorities will appar- ently 
grab at any straw. But they would appear less absurd if they could
at least make out some kind of coherent , support- able case. The
idea that any government would actually pay for information which
is freely available, and which it is anyway not seeking, simply
doesn't bear examination.

More worrying the is the apparent acceptance of the view that
activities such as collecting information, holding meetings,
producing news bulletins and supporting the pro-democracy movements
are viewed with deep suspicion by this country's rulers. Democracy
in Thailand gets shakier every day. (signed, Francoise
Duvalier/bangkok/ TN)


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BKK POST: RUBY POLISHING INDUSTRY GETS IMPORT REPRIEVE 
November 14, 1994

A FOUR-FOLD increase in Burmese rough ruby export to Thailand in
the first eight months of this year is helping the Thai ruby
polishing industry climb out of a serious crisis, according to
local trade analysts. Thailand's imports of rough rubies from Burma
between January and August this year had accounted for 91.2% of the
total supplies coming into the country. These imports were valued
at 37.98 million baht of

Thailand's total imports are worth 41.66 million baht. Analysts
pointed out that this was a positive move for Thailand's polished
ruby industry which had been facing acute shortages of the rough
goods over the past one to two years. Even so, the industry still
remained in a difficult situation with Thailand's exports of
polished rubies recording a marginal +3.5% during the first eight
months of the year with a total value of 3,124.47 million baht.
This is considered to be a major decline over the overall export
performance of the published rubies sector in 1993 which recorded
an upward growth rate of 15.2% over the previous year with exports
worth 4,531.6 million baht.

Trade analysts explained that the projected stronger export growth
in the last quarter of this year is not expected to improve the
situation, and the overall annual growth rate of polished ruby
exports from Thailand for 1994 is not likely to rise beyond the
5-6%.

According to the export target set by the Department of Export
Promotion (DEP), the overall growth rate for the Kingdom's
diamonds, gems and jewellery sector is expected to average 11 13%
for 1994.

Analyst expressed the view that the situation in respect of
Thailand's polished ruby industry would improve  if suppilies of
Burmese rough continued to expand in 1995 as well. Imports of such
rough goods by Thailand from Burma have been steadily increasing
with the Burmese share in the overall supply situaion expanding
from a mare 10.4 in 1992 to 68.6% last year. This share rose to
91.2 in the first eight months of this year.

Thailand's problems over rough ruby suppilies have been put down to
two main causes : the virtual shutoff of rough rubies from Pailin
mines in Cambodia, and the reduction og goods smuggled in by the
Kachin-Shan syncicates from Burma inmto Thailand, mainly through
the Mae Sai border point. Supplies through Mae Sai had been
severely restricted over the past one year or so after the drug
warlord Khun Sa set up a jewellery manufacturing factory within
Shan state, and held back gem supplies previously marketed on the
Thai side of the border.

Trade analysts pointed out that Thailand was also facing a negative
development over its imports of rough sapphiers. The increase of
imports of such goods by Thailand between January and August this
year amounted to 3% over the figure for the corresponding period of
last year. The overall expansion in rough sapphier imports from
Thailand in 1993 was 46.7% over the previous year. As in the case
of the rough ruby sector, Thailand depends on virtually one major
supplier. Over the past few years, Australia has accounted for more
than 90% of the rough sapphier imports by Thailand. In 1992,
Australia's percentage share was 93.4% which rose to 96% last year.
During the first eight months of this year, its share was 94.3%.

According to the latest statistics, the exports of polished
sapphiers from Thailand fared much better than polished rubies with
the value amounting to 3,760.68 million baht over the 3,363,81
million baht in 1992, an 11.8% expansion. Such export during the
first eight months of this year also maintained a samilar upward
growth rate at 12.17% with a value of 2,824.54 million baht over
the figure during the coresponding period of 1993 at 2,518.05
million baht. Analysts pointed out that same negative factors as
those stemming from the problems in Pailin and the absence of rough
goods brought in through Mae Sai applied to Thailand's sapphier
industry as well. Additionally, the supplies from the main local
source, the mines at Kanchanaburi, had been virtually exhausted due
to over- exploitation of these resources.(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; 150 KYAT=US$1 BLACK MARKET
                   100 KYAT=US$1 SEMI-OFFICIAL
                   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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