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BurmaNet News: December 14-15, 1994
- Subject: BurmaNet News: December 14-15, 1994
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 16 Dec 1994 05:44:00
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************************** BurmaNet **************************
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
**************************************************************
BurmaNet News: Wednesday-Thursday, December 14-15 1994
Issue #81
**************************************************************
Contents:
1 BURMANET: WHERE YOU ARE
2 BAG-UK: REQUEST CONCERNING "BEYOND RANGOON"
3 BURMANET: TRYING TO LOCATE PEOPLE ON-LINE
4 BURMANET: DEATH OF COL. JAMES HAMERLE
5 REUTERS: KAREN GUERRILLA MUTINEERS SAID DETAINING ENVOYS
6 REUTERS: CHINESE PREMIER TO VISIT RANGOON - OFFICIAL REPORT
7 BKK POST: THAIS TABLE PLAN FOR DAM ON SALWEEN IN BURMA"
8 NATION: NEW ALLIANCE PORTENDS DEFIANCE OF SLORC
9 BKK POST: ASSISTANT ARMY CHIEF LEADS TRIP TO BURMA
10 NATION: PADAENG EYES BURMESE SITE
11 REUTERS/NATION: CARRIER BOOSTS WORLD FLIGHTS
12 REG.BURMA: POSTING ON DEA/STATE DEPARTMENT
13 NATION: THE UNSTOPPABLE HUMAN WAVE
14 BKK POST: BURMESE STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE AT EMBASSY
15 BKK POST: FIGHTING FOR SOVEREIGNTY (MON)
16 BKK POST: KEEPING THE CULTURE AND TRADITION ALIVE (MON)
17 BKK POST (TRAVEL): OPENING THE DOOR TO THE GOLDEN LAND
18 UWD: STUDENTS PROTEST UW INVESTMENTS IN BURMA
19 AP: INVESTMENT IN BURMA HITS $2.7B
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1 BURMANET: WHERE YOU ARE
December 14, 1994
This monthly survey of the Burma on-line community is posted to
give people a sense of who else is on the net and approximately
where they are. In order to protect their privacy, BurmaNet will
not give reveal the addresses or names of subscribers. There is
a trade-off here because a public directory of on-line Burma
addresses would facilitate networking among the various groups.
To promote cooperation across the net while still protecting
privacy, BurmaNet is initiating a set of contact groups on
subjects that are of more than individual interest. The first
group available is: "Fonts and Webs".
Fonts and Webs (FAW) is a contact group for those interested in
computer fonts for any language from Burma as well as World-Wide-
Web, gopher or ftp sites devoted to Burma. Listing your name
with FAW is completely voluntary; just send BurmaNet your name,
e-mail address and interest area. Everyone who lists with the
FAW contact group will receive a list of everyone else who is
registered. If there is enough interest in this subject, it may
be possible to organize a specific mailing list to contact group
members only.
As of December 10, The Burma On-line neighborhood consisted of
160 direct subscribers to the BurmaNet News in at least 13
countries. Postings and private letters indicate that the actual
readership is a good deal wider but any estimate would be
guesswork. The News is also distributed to the Seasia mailing
list (with a subscribership of 500) and the soc.culture.burma and
reg.burma newsgroups and which have at least an occasional
readership of over 2,000. Readers in four countries also
indicate that they download the news for further distribution in
newsletter form.
Breakdown of direct BurmaNet subscribers by domain:
AU:Australia=12
EDU: Australian Universities=9
Australia National Univ=3
COM: Commercial providers=3
CA:Canada=10
Canadian Universities=6
University of Guelph=4
Other=4
COM: Commercial Providers (mainly in the U.S.)=30
Compuserve=5
Delphi=1
America On Line=7
MCI=2
Netcom=2
Prodigy=2
Other=11
EDU: Universities in the United States=47
Columbia Univ=3
Cornell Univ=2
Harvard Univ=6
Univ. of Hawaii=3
Emory Univ=2
FI: Finland=1
IN: India=1
GOV: U.S. Government=2
JP: Japan=2
LV: (???)=1
NET: Networks=7
Clark Net=3
Other=4
NL: Netherlands=2
NO: Norway=6
NZ: New Zealand=1
ORG: Non-profit Organizations=12
SG: Singapore=2
TH: Thailand=16
UK: United Kingdom=6
US: United States=2
**************************************************************
BAG-UK: REQUEST CONCERNING "BEYOND RANGOON"
December 15, 1994
>From the Burma Action Group--United Kingdom:
The Burma Action Group is trying to find out more information
about the film "Beyond Rangoon" being made by John Boorman. We
have seen several reviews in this country (the UK!) but that is
about all the information we have had.
I am hoping that we might be able to organise something with the
distributers when it is released in the UK. It seems to be an
amazing opportunity to raise awareness and to reach a far wider
audience than we have ever been able to access before. People
who know absolutely nothing about Burma will be going to see this
film, and we want to make sure that they know where they can find
more information and join the campaign.
Obviously there are several things which could be done; a premier
(which would both raise awareness and money); distribution of
leaflets with the film; having something on the screen before
or/and at the end of the film to tell people where they can get
more information etc etc.
I am sure that people in other countries must be having exactly
the same thoughts about the possibilities. I would very much
like to know what people are planning, how far they are along
with their plans, who to contact, what the best approach might
be, and so on. I have heard that their are plans being made in
Washington and would like to know more about that.
So, any information ) addresses and who to write to ) director,
producer, distributors etc, and what approach might be best, when
it is expected to be released ) in the US, in the UK, in Asia
etc, information on what other people are up to, etc etc ) would
be very greatly appreciated.
Our E)mail address is bagp@xxxxxxxxxx
Very best wishes,
Sarah Sutcliffe
Co)ordinator, Burma Action Group, UK
**************************************************************
BURMANET: TRYING TO LOCATE PEOPLE ON-LINE
December 15, 1994
BurmaNet has received an enquiry from a subscriber who is trying
to locate the following people:
Dr. Kyaw Nyunt
Zaw Win Maung
Min Lwin
U Tint Zaw
A comrade of theirs just arrived as a refugee in Minnesota, and
he wants to re-establish contact. His name is [deleted to protect
privacy], and he was formerly a lawyer in Rangoon.
Please reply to cesloane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you.
**************************************************************
BURMANET: DEATH OF COL. JAMES HAMERLE
December 15, 1994
BurmaNet received the following note from a subscriber announcing
the death of Col. James Hamerle. The source of this obituary is,
like Col. Hamerle was, a friend of democracy in Burma who has
also on occasion "laid his butt on the line to help."
Colonel James Hamerle died. He was a friend of democracy in
Burma, and really and often laid his butt on the line to
help.
Even if you didn't know him, send a prayer for his spirit,
for he was truly a man in search of freedom for all.
**************************************************************
REUTERS: KAREN GUERRILLA MUTINEERS SAID DETAINING ENVOYS
December 14, 1994
By Sutin Wannabovorn
BANGKOK, Dec 14 (Reuter) - Disgruntled guerrillas of the
Karen National Union (KNU), Burma's largest remaining guerrilla
army, have detained KNU envoys in a worsening mutiny, Karen
sources said on Wednesday.
About 300 mutineers have occupied a strategic hill at the
confluence of the Salween and Moei rivers in southeastern Burma
since December 2, in defiance of the Christian-dominated
leadership of the KNU.
``The situation is very tense and we are very concerned over
the fate of our delegates,'' a source in the KNU leadership told
Reuters by telephone.
He said four groups of delegates had been sent to negotiate
with mutiny leader Kyaw Tan since fighting broke out on Sunday,
but so far only KNU vice president Muang Muang had returned.
``We do not have any more information about the rest of our
delegates. The Karen leaders are trying their best to settle the
internal conflict,'' the source said.
Thai army officers based on the border, quoting Thai
intelligence sources, said the mutineers had killed at least
three delegates. They said seven guerrillas were wounded in
fighting when the mutineers tried to cross the Salween towards
KNU headquarters at Manerplaw, located about 280 kms (175 miles)
northeast of Rangoon on the Moei river.
There was no independent confirmation of the incident, and
the sources did not know whose side the seven wounded were on.
The mutiny, rooted in differences between rank-and-file
Buddhists and KNU's mainly Christian leaders, has forced the KNU
to put on hold plans for peace talks with Burma's rulers.
KNU leader General Bo Mya announced at a news conference in
Bangkok on December 7 that he planned to hold peace talks with
the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), the ruling
body of the Burmese military junta, through the mediation of a
Japanese-Karen friendship association.
The KNU, fighting the Rangoon central government since Burma
gained independence from the Britain in 1948, wants to follow 13
other ethnic minority armies that have signed ceasefires with the
SLORC since the latter offered peace talks in April 1992.
``The mutiny was initially the result of religious conflict
but personal and ideological issues are involved too. This is our
immediate problem. We will talk about negotiations with the junta
later,'' a senior Karen source said.
Karen sources said Burmese troops, allegedly breaking their
own ceasefire, had meanwhile taken advantage of the Karen
disarray to make military advances.
``The Burmese army is very active these days. There has been
some sporadic shelling at Kaw Moo Raw and hundreds of them have
been moving towards our position at Jyauk Nyat,'' one source
said.
Reports of the shelling and troop advances came only from
Karen sources. Rangoon has not commented on the situation,
although the SLORC is continuing its policy of peace negotiations
with the rebels despite the internal conflict with the mutineers.
Kaw Moo Raw, about 60 km (37 miles) south of Manerplaw, used
to be the centre of dry-season fighting between government troops
and Karen rebels, until the SLORC two years ago declared a
unilateral suspension of military operations against ethnic rebel
armies.
Jyauk Nyat is about 10 kms (six miles) north of where the
mutiny is taking place.
At least four people were killed and an unknown number were
wounded in a shootout four months ago when a group of young Karen
guerrillas stormed Bo Mya's residence and demanded immediate
peace talks with Rangoon, according to Thai army sources.
REUTER
**************************************************************
3 REUTERS: CHINESE PREMIER TO VISIT RANGOON - OFFICIAL REPORT
December 15, 1994
RANGOON, Dec 15 (Reuter) - Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng
will make an official visit to Burma in the near future, official
Burmese media reported on Thursday.
Li would be the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit
Burma since the ruling junta, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), rose to power five years ago, official radio and
newspapers said.
No date was given but visits anticipated in the ``near
future'' by official media have followed as quickly as a week
later.
China has been the SLORC's biggest backer and has provided
Burma with both military and non-lethal assistance, while the
Western world and most democratic countries have shunned Rangoon.
The SLORC launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy
protesters in a nationwide uprising in September 1988, killing
hundreds and probably thousands.
Li's visit to Burma is in response to the visit of the
SLORC's powerful intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Khin
Nyunt, to Beijing in September.
REUTER
Transmitted: 94-12-15 05:20:34 EST
*********END
**************************************************************
4
BKK POST: THAIS TABLE PLAN FOR DAM ON SALWEEN IN BURMA"
November 29, 1994
[This should have been posted two weeks ago but slipped through
the cracks--Editor]
"THAILAND proposed a construction plan for a dam on the Salween
River in Burma yesterday in a bid to speed up a decision from
Rangoon on the project. Senior officials said the plan was among
a number of issues discussed by senior officials from the two co
untries in preparation for a ministerial meeting of the
Thai-Burmese Joint Commission Thursday and Friday.
Foreign Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Burmese counterpart Ohn
Gyaw are scheduled to co-chair the second meeting of the joint
commission. Deputy Foreign Permanent Secretary Saroj Chavanaviraj
said Thailand had submitted a memorandum of understanding on the
Salween dam project more than a year ago and was still waiting on
a decision from Rangoon. Thailand will not force the issue as the
Goverment has not set a timetable for the proposed dam
construction"," he said. The issue is opened for discussion, he
added. Mr Saroj"," who heads the Thai delegation to the two day
senior officials meeting"," expressed disappointment with the
absence of representatives from Burma's Energy Ministry"," which
has a main role in such matters.
The absence indicates Rangoon is far from decided on the
proposed project"," sources said. Thailand proposed the
construction of the Salween dam and said it would buy any
electricity the dam produces. Construction of the dam"," with the
proposed generation of 4","540 megawatts of electricity"," is
estimated to cost 100 million baht. Rangoon has told Thailand the
project will be discussed after the two countries reach a deal on
gas purchases. Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding to
buy natural gas from the Gulf of Matarban in September and a full
agreement is expected to be signed soon. Other cooperation
discussed at the meeting included a soft loan for a ring-road
under the quadrangle development scheme"," progress on opening
checkpoints"," border demarcation"," fishries and academic
cooperation.
Burma asked Thailand to cut the interest rate on a 300 million
baht soft loan from three to 1.5 per cent. Rangoon plans to use
the money to improve the road from Tha Chilek opposite Chiang
Rai's Mae Sai District to Keng Tung some 160 kilometres further
north. The road will link with the road from the Chinese border
to Keng Tung. When completed"," it will connect Chiang Rai
Province with China's Yunnan.(BP)"
**************************************************************
5 NATION:NEW ALLIANCE PORTENDS DEFIANCE OF SLORC
December 14, 1994
Yindee Lertcharoenchok analyzes the emergence of an ethnic
alliance formed last month by eight armed groups active in
Burma's Kachin and Shan states.
Less than a month after the Burmese junta declared the Kachin and
Shan states s trifefree regions, eight armed ethnic groups which
signed a ceasefire with Rang oon announced the creation of an
alliance to fight for democracy and greater ethnic rights and au
tonomy.
Although the groups, which have retained their armed troops
despite the truce p acts, have fallen short of declaring also a
"united military force", the Peace and Democratic Front (PDF) is
a clear signal of "ethnic unity" and an "open def iance" against
its truce partner, the ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council (Slorc).
According to a Thai border intelligence officer, the alliance is
"a new threatening force" as it controls about half of the
territory of the Shan State and the northern area of the Kachin
State. Their combined forces could be as high as 50,000, said the
officer, who has monitored the Burmese ethnic activities for the
past few decades.
The Front was formed at a meeting between Oct 28 and Nov 3 in the
ethnic Wa headquarters of Panghsang in eastern Shan State. The
gathering was attended by leaders and representatives of eight
armed ethnic groups and an ethnic Lahu political party, which had
contested the May 27 general elections. The Lahu National
development Party, a registered political party which was later
outlawed by the Slorc, participated in the meeting as an
observer.
The eight PDF members include the United Wa State Party; the
Palaung State Liberation Party; the Shan State Progress Party;
the Kachin Defence Army; the Myanmar National Democracy Alliance
Army (Kokang); the New Democratic Army (former BCP 101 War Zone
in northern Kachin State); the National Democracy Alliance Army
Military and Loca l Administration (former BCP 815 War Zone in
north of Kengtung in eastern Shan State); and the Karenni
National People's Liberation Front.
The PDF is headed by the Wa leader Chao Nyi Lai with Wa Commander
Pao yu Chang as his deputy. Lin Ming Xian, former BCP 815 War
Zone commander, serves as secr etary of the alliance. Other PDF
committee members include Paluang leader Col Aie Moung, Kokang
leader Yang Mo Leng, and Kachin leader Ting Ying.
The groups, said the official, had held at least two secret
meetings in China prior to their first official conference in the
Shan State where their top leaders pledged to unite and cooperate
in their fight for democracy, ethnic rights and greater autonomy
. The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the strongest
ethnic group to have entered a truce agreement with the Slorc in
February, did not attend the gather ing, though invited, as it
was engaged in its internal meeting to elect new leadership,
according to a KIO spokesman here.
Thai security and intelligence authorities in Bangkok and
northern provinces said the formation of the alliance is an
"interesting phenomenon" and a "significant political
development" in Burma where the Slorc has, in the past few years,
tried to consolidate its power through endless efforts to woo
active armed ethnic groups into a peace pact and to forcibly
suppress urban political opposition.
The eight ethnic groups are among a total of 13 which have, at
different times since 1989, negotiated peace and eventually
signed separate truce deals with the Slorc. The PDF was formed
less than a month after powerful Slorc Secretary Lt Gen Khin
Nyunt announced at a ceasefire ceremony on Oct 9 with the Shan
State Nationali ties Liberation Organization, known as the Red
Pa-O, that the whole Shan State was now free of ethnic-based
insurgency.
Some Thai authorities believed the Front was conspired "primarily
as a bargaini ng power" with the Slorc, which still refuses to
recognize and accommodate seve ral of their demands especially
the one that addresses ethnic rights and autonomy.
"PDF members have been disappointed that the Slorc has not
responded positively to their demands and that their attempts to
push forward their needs in the Na tional Convention have proved
to be futile," said one authority. The Slorc has organized the
National Convention, picked its 700 participants and tailored a
set of rules and gu idelines from them to draft a new national
constitution.
In contrast, the groups feel that they have been forced to
proceed with the Slo rc's imposed development programmes and
political, social and economic agendas without being consulted.
The growing disappointment has several times threatene d the
fragile truce and nearly resulted in an outbreak of new military
clashes. The Wa group, for example, has since February 1993
demanded the establishment o f an "autonomous or self-ruled" Wa
State on the east bank of the Salween River in eastern Shan
State. it also demands direct contact and international assista
nce to help develop and rehabilitate the Wa area, which yields no
staple corps except for the opium poppy. The Slorc, which has
promised the Wa regular monthly rice supplies, has cut down the
food ration and demanded that the group reduce its estimated
25,000-30,000 troops by half or more. The group has recently
boycotted the National Convention. At this early stage, it is
still unconfirmed if the PDF has established any off icial link
with the three remaining armed groups_ the Karen, Karenni and
Mon_ which still refuse to finalize or enter peace talks with the
Slorc.
But interestingly, the two sides share and echo similar demands
for the restoration of democracy, release of all political
prisoners including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, put under
house arrest without charges and trials since July 1989, the
recognition of ethnic rights and greater autonomy through
self-administration.
With the alliance coming into existence, Thai authorities still
differ over the likelihood of an eruption of renewed fighting in
the Kachin and Shan States. They believe, however, that the
Slorc, which has forbidden contacts among the ce asefire groups,
must be unhappy with the emerging scenario and must closely
monitor the movement and activities of the united front.
Rangoon, said one authority, stands to lose if the ceasefire
breaks down as its years-long attempts to court armed ethnic
adversaries and to restore peace in strifetorn border areas
would be wasted, thus affecting other parts of its imme diate
political agenda and programmes which are designed to boost its
legitimacy at home and abroad.
The authority believed that the Slorc will have to tread
carefully in its appro ach and policy towards the alliance.
Moreover, it has to avoid offending the al liance by giving in,
at the very least, to some of the ethnic groups' needs. The other
Thai officer, however, expressed pessimism at the current
situation, predicting that the PDF members would not hesitate to
start fighting as most ha ve previously repeatedly threatened to
break the ceasefire. (TN)
**************************************************************
6 BKK POST: ASSISTANT ARMY CHIEF LEADS TRIP TO BURMA
9 December 1994
ASSISTANT Army Commander-in Chief Gen Chetha Thanajaro yesterday
led a group of senior officers on a visit to Burma to
strengthen military ties with key members of the Burmese military
regime, an Army officer said yesterday.
The officer said Burmese eastern forces commander Gen Kae Seng
had invited Gen Chetha for the visit to last two days.
"The trip is aimed at strengthening understanding by key military
figures from the two countries," said a senior army officer.
However, the officer said there might be good news from Gen
Chetha's visit on which he was accompanied by senior officers
from the last,3rd and 4th armies whose supervision area bordered
Burma.
Gen Chetha, the former commander of the 1st Army, is former
chairman of the Thai-Burma Regional Border Committee. It is Gen
Chetha's first trip to Burma since he was promoted to assistant
army commander-in-chief last October.
Army Commander-in-chief Gen Wimol Wongwanich is in France where
be will have me etings with senior french armed forces officers.
(BP)
**************************************************************
6 NATION: PADAENG EYES BURMESE SITE
December 14, 1994 [Check exact date before citing]
PICHAYA CHANGSORN (The Nation)
PADAENG Industry Plc submitted its bid to take part in a mineral
exploration pr oject in the northern part of Mandalay, Burma on
Nov 30.
Arsa Sarasin, chief executive officer of Padaeng Industry Plc,
said that the project is aimed to explore for lead, copper and
zinc.
If Padaeng wins the bid, it will jointly explore the site with
Ban Pu Plc, a major mineral concern on the stock exchange.
Padaeng and Ban Pu, two months ago, joined hands to explore for
mineral resourc es in Laos at a site Padaeng holds the concession
rights to, to find lead, copper and zinc.
Chanin Vongkusolkit, president of Ban Pu Plc, said that he
expected to cooperat e with Padaeng in the same format they have
done in Laos; they would jointly supply workers for the
exploration and will share production costs. Ban Pu will finance
40 per cent of the project, and the rest will come from Padaeng.
Doing business overseas normally carries a high risk, but Chanin
said that the cooperation with Padaeng would ease the risk
burden because Padaeng has expertise in technology, marketing and
exploring fields.
according to Chanin, the exploration cost in the first year would
amount to Bt 12 million, and will increase along with the
positive results of the exploratio n work. It would take about
three years to confirm that mineral resources exist at the site.
Chanin said that, at any rate, the result of the bidding in Burma
has yet to be announced. He noted that the Burmese government's
requirement is very strict a nd difficult for the contenders to
meet. he also has no idea who else has bid a gainst Padaeng. (TN)
**************************************************************
7 REUTERS/NATION: CARRIER BOOSTS WORLD FLIGHTS
December 14, 1994 [check date before citing]
Reuter RANGOON_Burma's state-controlled Myanmar Airways
International has said it will increase the number of flights to
Thailand and Singapore, and start a service to Bangladesh.
Airline chairman Colonel Tun Aung told a news conference on
Wednesday that the airline, established in August 1993, had
broken even by March 31 this year and showed a $800,000 profit
for the first half of fiscal 1994-95 (April-March). Tun Aung gave
no details of the airline's ongoing aircraft lease agreement with
Malaysian Airline System (MAS), or other financial data.
Starting December 21, Myanmar will start a service from Rangoon
to Dhaka in Ban gladesh, Tun Aung said, but did not give details
about its frequency. Flights from Rangoon to Bangkok will be
increased to 10 per week from seven, an d Rangoon-Singapore
flights to four per week from three, the airline said. A second
Boeing 737-400 which Myanmar is leasing from MAS arrived on
Wednesday.
Tun Aung also said Myanmar was considering a cooperation
agreement with Air India and expanding its network to China. (TN)
**************************************************************
REG.BURMA: POSTING ON DEA/STATE DEPARTMENT
December 9, 1994
Subject: Re: BurmaNet News: 1st Week of Dec. 199
For everyone's information, US policy with Burma, whether drug
related or not, is run by the State Department, not the DEA.
The DEA's presence in Burma and along the Thai border is quite
small compared with that of the State Dept., and all foreign aid
programs are run by State. Those anti-drug helicopters used by
the Burmese Army to defoliate crop land in rebel areas a few
years ago were provided and funded through State Dept. diplomats
in the Rangoon embassy. While the DEA runs around in the jungle
and often does stupid things, all of DEA activities must get
approved by embassy diplomats, who usually are more concerned
with keeping good relations with the host government regardless
of how abusive, corrupt or repressive it is.
On Thu, 8 Dec 1994 gew400@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Subject: Re: BurmaNet News: 1st Week of Dec. 199
>
> I feel compelled to reply to your report on Khun Sa. It has
been=
> clear to
> me for some time that US policy on the Burma-Thai border is
largely=
> run by
> the DEA. Khun Sa and the M=F6ng Tai Army has been in recent
months=
> the most
> consistent opponent of SLORC and the horrors perpetrated by the
government
> in Rangoon. The drug problem is essentially one for
user-countries=
> to solve
> and its seems decriminalization is the surest way to remove the
profit
> motive from trading. Tai peasants in Shan state have little to
support
> themselves and opium growing is a rational choice. That MTA has
used=
> the
> trade to support its fight for independence must be understood
by=
> the world
> community.=20
>
> The liberation of M=F6ng Tai is more important than the
preoccupations=
> of DEA.
>
> Good on you, Khun Sa.
>
> Gehan Wijeyewardene, gew400@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
**************************************************************
NATION: THE UNSTOPPABLE HUMAN WAVE
Friday, December 9, 1994
"The truth about migrant labourers and illegal workers is that
for the most part they don't go home. They often move and live
in underground networks, held in disdain by the native
population and a potential source of social conflict should the
host economies sour. And yet as transnational migration reaches
unprecedented levels, most governments would prefer to sweep the
issue under the mat. Susan Cunningham reports on what is shaping
up as one of the central political issues of the new century."
[Photo caption: ON THE VISA LINE: Asia has become the largest
source of legal and illegal migrants.]
IN SHEER numbers, people are moving across borders like never
before. Throughout the world, there may be 100 million migrant
workers. At least 10 million may be "illegal immigrants." Most
originate in Asian countries. Despite the ample evidence to the
contrary, governments continue to behave as if they can control
emigration, immigration and permanent settlement. For the
recipient countries, refusing to acknowledge their new
minorities today is a virtual guarantee of severe social
conflict in the future.
"Migration is one of the central political issues of the late
20th century," Stephen Castles of Australia's University of
Wollongong told a conference at Chulalongkorn University last
week.
The United States continues to accept more immigrants than any
other country, accounting for 19 per cent of global immigration.
As with Australia and Canada, between 40 and 50 per cent of its
legal immigrants are now Asian born. Much less is known about
the growing migrations within Asia itself, social scientists
say, in part because so many are undocumented or "illegal
immigrants."
While at least 300,000 Burmese and Laotians are employed here in
the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs, Thais and Indonesians are
pursuing similar work in Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia. As many
as two million Indonesians and Filipinos are living -- illegally
-- in East Malaysia. South Asians are assuming more of the
Middle East jobs (as wage rates fall). Mainland Chinese are
contracted to Taiwan and Hong Kong (South Korea may be next).
Filipinos of all skills are everywhere. And the newest and
potentially most volatile trend is the upsurge in Asian
emigration in Japan.
The approximately 500,000 foreigners now living in Japan are a
special cause for worry because Japan so prides itself, not
quite accurately, on its ethnic purity. A landmark immigration
law, effective in 1991, does not recognize that temporary
workers hold any political or civil rights and Japan's
discriminatory treatment of its Korean and Chinese minorities --
whose ancestors were brought over as forced labour -- is not a
promising precedent. While its stiff penalties have so far been
little enforced, the law
has left plenty of opportunities for labour brokers, crime
syndicates and exploitation.
Yet demographics show that, like it or not, Japan is on the way
to becoming a multi-ethnic society, said Saskia Sassen, a
professor of urban planning at New York City's Columbia
University. Japans population is aging so rapidly that more
younger foreign workers will be needed to fill jobs in the
service and manufacturing sectors. Moreover, as in any developed
country, natives no longer want the lowliest jobs. Japanese
analysts project a labour shortage of between 1 million and 2
million by the end of the decade, she said.
In the keynote speech, Castles traced Germany's post-war
experience to illustrate the futility, at least in democratic
societies, of policies intended to maintain national
homogeneity and control "guestworkers." When Germany began
recruiting from Turkey and Southern Europe in the late 1950s,
the low-skilled migrant labourers were given one-year contracts,
housed in barracks, restricted to specific occupations and
forbidden to bring dependents. Moreover, the first workers had
no intention of settling permanently. With the first oil
shortage crisis of 1973, labour importation abruptly cut off --
and Germans discovered they had a minority population of 4
million. Today it is 7 million. The recruitment ban, Castles
said, unintentionally encouraged people to stay in Germany.
To Germany's credit, Castles said, it never proposed draconian
measures to evict the Turks and other minorities. "Less
creditably ... political leaders continued to assert that
Germany 'is not a country of immigration' and to refuse to take
steps to achieve full social and political integration of
immigrants." It remains difficult for the emigrants to become
German citizens. There have long been simmering sentiments that
the marginalized minorities pose a threat to national identity,
but when Germany found itself struggling with both recession and
reunification, they boiled over into racist attacks.
The Gulf states and Singapore have enacted many measures
comparable to Germany's initial safeguards to ensure that
low-skilled foreigners quickly return home. Without a semblance
of Germany's democratic process, they probably have better but
not complete control. Singapore even forbids low-skilled workers
to marry Singaporeans, punishes visa overstayers with prison
terms and canings and requires maids to submit to periodic
pregnancy tests. Nonetheless, said Diana Wong of Singapore's
Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, it's an open secret that
due to the "dire shortage of maids" many foreign women extend
their stays for a long time. As for the Gulf states, where
immigrants often constitute the majority of the workforce, it
remains a great mystery whether many manage to settle and form
families.
Throughout the conference, speakers reiterated that once the
migration paths have been formed by immigration workers, there's
little that sending or receiving countries can do to obliterate
them. Immigrant workers everywhere help family and friends back
home to join them. They may even employ the newcomers in their
own shops or restaurants. The new dynamic is "globalization" --
the integration of the world's economies that has been hastened
by the end of the Cold War.
"When formerly cut-off areas are opened to global economic,
technological and cultural influences, migrations, both internal
and international, are an almost inevitable result," Castles
noted.
Britain and France have become multi-cultural societies in the
past 40 years due to the economic and cultural ties with their
former colonies. Today, when Japanese factories set up off-shore
factories and subsidiaries, Sassen suggested, they also spawn
relationships that ease the way for the new immigrants. Siriporn
Skrobanek of the Women's Foundation said that Thai women
suddenly began seeking their fortune in Japan shortly after the
first onslaught of Japanese sex tours here.
JAPAN will be constrained in its ability to head off illegal
immigrants by denying visas or other methods, Sassen predicted,
because of the need to preserve bilateral business relations.
Two-thirds of the tourist and business executives entering Japan
come from the same Asian countries supplying the country's
illegal workers, she explained. Jorge Tigno, a political
scientist at the University of the Philippines, wasn't sure the
Japanese would be so considerate. It's more common that the
labour exporting country is overly deferent to the interests of
the receiving ones. The Philippine government, for example, has
tended to gloss over mistreatment of its workers in "Malaysia,
Singapore, Japan and Saudi Arabia, among others," from perhaps
exaggerated fear that it would be shut out of a valuable labour
market, he said.
Migrant flows will increasingly become a multilateral as well as
bilateral issue, Tigno and others predicted. The crisis during
the Persian Gulf War, when 350,000 foreigners had to be
evacuated before full-scale hostilities could begin, wasn't
merely "a problem for the peoples and countries of the Gulf
alone. It also involved the rest of Asia and the world as well,"
Tigno said.
If it goes into effect, the new world trade pact signed under the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt) will undoubtedly
influence migrant movements. In precisely what way, participants
at least week's meeting were hesitant to forecast. Regardless,
they did agree that trade negotiators exhibited considerable
naivete if they believed they could simultaneously step up flows
of goods, services and capital while maintaining control of
flows of people.
In broad outlines, they also agreed on the future direction
government policies should take. Most countries with large
populations of foreign workers should enable the migrants to
work legally -- in order to ward off illegal immigration, worker
exploitation and attendant organized crime. Migrant workers
should be entitled to basic civil rights.
Since some immigrants inevitably will become permanent settlers,
governments should be prepared to integrate them. "Above all,"
Castles said, "that means being honest the with local
population." Concluded Chulalongkorn's political scientist
Surachai Wungeo: "We can't solve the immigration 'problem'." We
should learn to live with it.
MIGRATION MYTHS
For an international groups of social scientists, last week's
conference on Transnational Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region
offered a chance to challenge some of the conventional ideas
about migrant labour. Following are some favourite myths.
* Migrant workers are poor people from poor countries,
development will halt immigration. On the contrary, emphasized
Stephen Castles of the University of Wallongong, "Development
itself leads to migration." In Thailand, there may seem to be
many Burmese, Cambodians and Laotians, but they don't figure
large in the international labour circuit when compared to other
Southeast Asians and South Asians. Moreover, the low-skilled
workers that head, say, to the Gulf states or Singapore, usually
aren't from the poorest strata. They need a substantial amount
of capital to afford the move. While Taiwan, Korea, Singapore
and Hong Kong have become labour importers, a critical
proportion of their top professionals are emigrating higher up
the development scale to countries like the United States and
Australia.
* Earnings for migrant workers will foster prosperity in their
home countries. Most remittances sent home end up on purchases
of food, appliances, dowries or, at best, a small piece of land.
The standard living of individual households may improve, but
there's little evidence that remittances contribute to capital
investments, according to Jorge Tigno, a University of the
Philippines political scientist. The less skilled the worker, the
less likely the family will profit. The "second wave" of Thai
migrants, construction workers who went to the Middle East in
the 1980s, found they were able to save very little, according
to Amara Pongsapich, vice-president of Chulalongkorn University.
* Migrant workers learn new skills. In fact, they may represent a
temporary or permanent loss of skills from their homelands. This
was the case with Korean and Filipino mechanics who were among
the original migrant workers in the Gulf states. Most notably
when the Philippines exports doctors and nurses, the richer
countries benefit while the poorer exporting country incurs the
training costs. Citing the Filipina university graduates working
as housemaids in Hong Kong, Tigno said that emigrant workers may
actually become "de-skilled."
* Refugees are "forced" across borders, illegal immigrants are
"unforced." Ruprecht von Arnim, representative here of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, delivered the
standard, impenetrable UN logic on how to distinguish between
the two. Yet as Diana Wong of Singapore's Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies noted, the thrust of the conference papers was
that it's impossible and perhaps useless to make distinctions
about all kinds of emigration and immigration.
* Migration can be controlled. In countries with a semblance of
democratic process, there's little proof that it can. Restricting
legal immigration to narrow categories promotes networks of
illegal immigration, as is now being evidence in Japan. Total
immigration bans encourage existing migrant workers to stay in
the host country. Migration within Asia is rapidly increasing.
There should be more research on why people decide to seek work
in foreign countries. A more interesting line, Wong suggested,
might be "why do people stay?"
**************************************************************
BKK POST: BURMESE STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE AT EMBASSY
Sunday, December 11, 1994
[Photo caption: A Burmese student slashes his hand during a
protest in front of the Burmese Embassy on North Sathorn Road
yesterday. Photo: Bamrung Jinakul.]
MORE than 40 Burmese students demonstrated outside the Burmese
Embassy on Pan Road yesterday to commemorate International Human
Rights Day and mark the third anniversary of Daw Aung San Suu
Kyis winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948.
Suu Kyi, who is in her sixth year of house arrest in Rangoon, won
the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1991.
The first group of protesters, from the All Burma Basic Education
Students Union, arrived at 9 a.m. and rallied with posters at the
embassy entrance on Pan Road for 15 minutes.
Two of the students then slashed their arms and wrote protest
slogans in blood condemning the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, the ruling Burma's junta.
The second batch, numbering about 30 arrived soon after the first
group of 12 students dispersed.
They were members of the Overseas National Students Organisation,
Action Group for Human Rights in Burma and the Burmese Students
Art Group.
Some of them were dressed in mock Burmese military uniforms and
armed with toy M-16 rifles.
They staged a drama depicting the arrest of Suu Kyi and
suppression of 1988 pro-democracy demonstrators in Burma.
Both groups urged the international community to help Burmese
enjoy human rights and called for the world to exert more
pressure on SLORC to free Suu Kyi, and all political prisoners
unconditionally.
They asked that concrete steps be taken against the illegitimate
military regime to force it to hand over power to the winning
party (NLD) in the 1990 general election, and to earnestly urge
the civilised world community to denounce SLORC again on this
auspicious day.
****************************************************
BKK POST: FIGHTING FOR SOVEREIGNTY (MON)
Sunday, December 11, 1994
A battle for sovereignty has been part of Mon life for 46 years
since Burma won independence from Britain. The war is on two
fronts: through arms and the law, Naowarat Suksamran reports.
[Photo caption: #1 Raft houses of the Mon in Ban Wankha,
Kanchanaburi. #2 A Mon family in Huphak camp opposite Prachuab
Khiri Khan.]
[Map of Mon refugee camp:]
BURMA| THAILAND | | * Ban Wankha refugee camp
| | * Bangkok | | | | *
Prachuab Khiri Khan | | Huphak * | Resistance|
Camp|
WITH the so-called mighty lions poised to render to the elegant
swans what are rightly theirs, the Mon race will not be the same
again by the end of next year.
This was prophesised by Phra Utama, the Buddhist monk more
revered by the Mon people.
The Mon with their rich cultural heritage will gain more and more
recognition from the international community, said the abbot of
the Vangvivekaram Temple in Sangkhla Buri, Kanchanaburi, in a
recent sermon to the Mon faithful.
Ever since Burma's declaration of independence from Britain 46
years ago, the Mon have been just one of the small minority
groups which have fought unsuccessfully to liberate themselves
from Burmese rule.
We Mons have to take up arms while pressing ahead with our legal
battle, said Aung Myint, president of Mergui district opposite
the southern Thai province of Prachuab Khiri Khan.
The Mergui leader contended that a fight for independence is
indeed part and parcel of the Mon way of life.
The situation is not as bad as before now that the State Law and
Order Restoration Council [SLORC] has held more conciliatory
talks with Burma's various minority groups, particularly the Mon
tribespeople, Aung Myint said.
Unlike the dissident students who fight for democracy, and the
Karen who struggle for independence, the Mon warriors are
fighting to establish themselves as a nation.
The border resistance camp in Huphak, Mergui district, holding
2,000 displaced Mon from Tavoy in southern Burma, is under the
control of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) with Aung Myint as
provincial president.
The camp is four kilometres from Thap Sakkae, a Prachuab Khiri
Khan district bordering Burma.
The administration style of the 40-year-old NMSP is similar to
that of any government in the world, Aung Myint said.
The governing committee assumes full leadership with visionary
plans of leading the Mon nation into the future whenever it
becomes liberated, as patiently longed for.
The regional representatives of the NMSP regularly meet the
central committee and the provincial president, who is elected
every three years.
The main task of the representatives is to work for the welfare
of the Mon in their areas of jurisdiction. They also try to
instill in the tribesmen a national awareness.
The Mon resistance territory, with outreach of education and
public health services, has expanded far and wide, and now
includes densely populated Sittaung, Tavoy, Mergui and the
capital Moulmein.
An exodus has resulted from Rangoons suppressive military
activities as well as the abandonment of arid land to seek
fertile regions.
The Huphak camp, because of its fertile land, has drawn 300
families who earn, in all, four million baht annually from
small-scale growing of chillies and other vegetables.
Thai merchants buy the vegetables from the Mon farmers, said Aung
Myint. Only one-baht tax is levied on a kilo of produce sold.
He said four high-budget Thai timber merchants, including two
Opposition MPs, had won logging concessions with Rangoon in Mon-
dominated territory.
The Mon officials have a say in the size of the trees to be
felled as well as the fees involved.
The dos and donts were also to be observed by Thai concession-
holders while they operate on Mon-controlled territory, Aung
Myint said.
No damage to vegetable farms will be tolerated.
A tax of 250 baht per cubic metre was levied on felled trees
compared with 1,000 baht imposed by Rangoon, he said.
The Mon control more than 10 wood-processing centres, including
the densely-forested Tavoy and Mergui, where wild animals facing
extinction such as gibbon, rhinoceros and rare varieties of
birds are strictly protected species.
Besides tapping natural resources, the NMSP benefits from its
control of southern Burma, the gateway to the sea. As a result,
a substantial income comes from Thai fishing boats using the
water it controls.
Some 5,000 to 6,000 Thai fishing boats each pay the Mon governing
body 50,000 baht annually for protected fishing, said Aung Myint.
The payment could be made in two installments.
However, Thai fishermen are not always out of harms way, as
besides the Mon there are other minority groups including
dissident students who independently prey on fishing boats
straying into the waters they dominate.
The Mon dont as a rule arrest or harass Thai fishermen, Aung
Myint said. If found they have not paid a protection fee, they
will be asked to cooperate and then let go unharmed.
Thai fishermen would be safe as long as they did not said into
waters controlled by unruly minority groups, he said.
The Mon-controlled territory is rich in natural resources.
Huge projects are not feasible as illegal activities will soon by
found about by the government, he said.
Today the scattered Mon still hope to consolidate themselves as a
sovereign nation.
In the face of intensified suppression by Rangoon, a large number
of younger generations of Mon have sought haven in refugee camps
along the Thai border. Many have from time to time been smuggled
into Thailand in the hope of a better life.
However, the dream has not come true for most of them. Many
things have turned out contrary to their expectations.
THOSE employed as fishermen or in sweatshops, while in constant
fear of deportation, have to be content with sub-minimal wages
and terrible working conditions.
We cant stop the free Mon from seeking employment in Thailand,
Aung Myint said. Bur we are confident they will return to the
resource- rich Mon state the moment we become a sovereign nation.
The Mon leader cited Panya Aung as a heroic Mon warrior worthy of
intimidation.
He [Panya Aung] is charged with several areas along the border. A
liaison officer, he speaks fluent Thai.
Aung Myint, while keeping alive his struggle for a liberated Mon
nation, said he planned to work with foreign agencies for a
better lie. He believes, just like his forerunners, his family
would be better off educationally and materially in Thailand.
He said he would make it a point to have his family well-versed
in the Mon language to keep alive our ultimate national goal.
The bottom line lies in Aung Myints determination to struggle for
Mon liberation and his preparedness to sacrifice himself for the
national goal.
****************************************************************
BKK POST: KEEPING THE CULTURE AND TRADITION ALIVE (MON)
Sunday, December 11, 1994 by Naowarat Suksamran
[Photo caption: Mon girls at Ban Wankha.]
THE merit-making festival marking the end of Buddhist lent is
always a joyful occasion for ethnic Mon, Shan and Karen.
Three temples in Sangkhla Buri district, Kanchanaburi,
traditionally known as ethnic Mon spiritual centres, take turns
in hosting the seasonal event.
They are Wat Somdet, Wat Sri and Wat Vangvivegaram.
With joss sticks, flowers, rice, dried food and other religious
offerings, merit-makers converge for a mass ceremony in a
festive mood.
Each year sees the temples flooded with different varieties of
sweets for the monks to dispose of in any way they deem best.
The monks, to comply with the wish of the donors, distribute
donations to villages, especially the poor and underprivileged
children, according to a visitor.
Young merit-makers generally show up in their best dresses,
wearing traditional costumes or fashionable clothes. Those who
work in Bangkok make it a point not to miss the annual event.
The ethnic Mon have for ages faithfully observed the seasonal
merit- making. Because of their close-knit community life in
exile, they appear to the whole world as the landless nation
constantly on the move.
The population of ethnic Mon has grown considerably since the
first exodus to Thailand. For generations the Mon culture and
traditions have been part and parcel of those born in Thailand
or living in the country for decades. For the ethnic Mon, out of
sight does not necessarily mean out of mind. They all long for
the time they will be able to establish themselves as a
sovereign nation.
The Mon refugees have been restricted to the Ban Wankha area in
Kanchanaburi since the mid-1970s. They are required to wear pink
ID cards issued by the Interior Ministrys Local Administration
Department. They need a special permit to leave the refugee
camp.
The number of the refugees is not known as there has been a
constant influx of illegal aliens. There are hundreds of
thousands of Mon with proper ID cards. But there is no means of
knowing the exact number of aliens living illegally with their
relatives and friends inside the camp or somewhere nearby.
The Mon refugees, in search of a better life, have slipped out of
the camp to seek employment, particularly in Bangkok. While some
regularly make it to the capital, many are intercepted by police
and sent back where they belong.
The refugees caught way from the camp are sent to the Ban
Halockhani refugee camp near the Thai-Burma border in
Kanchanaburis Sangkhla Buri district.
Despite the strict measures against escapers, the confined Mon
never stop trying to get away from the restricted area to work
as house maids, fishermen and factory workers.
The Interior Ministry labourers granting citizenship to Mon
children born in Thailand so they would be eligible for free
primary-level education, said a Mon community leader who asked
for anonymity.
The descendants of the Mon who migrated to Thailand before 1976
would, just like those of the Vietnamese refugees in Sakon Nakhon
and Udon Thani provinces, be eligible to apply for Thai
citizenship, he said.
It has been a popular practice for ethnic Mon who are well-off to
send their children to Thai schools. A number of those on low
incomes use humble temple schools run by Buddhist monks. For
practical reasons, some let their children stay at temples,
especially at the famous Wat Prok in Bangkok, as monks
attendants.
A school at Wankha was established to accommodate Mon parents who
prefer to have their children close to them. Students are taught
both Mon and Thai under close supervision of a government
agency. The Mon textbooks were written by Acharn Ampai Makkaman,
an ethnic Mon academic now in charge of academic affairs of Wat
Palatraet School in Bangprong, Ratchaburi province.
Another ethnic Mon, Montri Panchata, introduced electronic
entertainment to the Mon community at Ban Wankha two years ago.
Montris Myint Honsa Trading offers satellite TV services
including BBC, Star TV and NTV from Burma at the rate of 150
baht per month. The installation cost is 2,000 baht.
There are 180 subscribers. The entertainment services are
available from 5.30 a.m. to 1 a.m., except for some occasions
such as the World Cup soccer tournament when extended service
hours are permissible.
Our next target is to open a cable TV station at the Three Pagoda
Pass to serve local and Burmese subscribers, Montri said.
One of the main aims of Myint Honsa Trading, he said, was to
bring modern technology to the Mon community.
We want them to derive knowledge and entertainment from available
sources.
The Mon are now well-informed about current events and
entertainment programmes.
I enjoy watching Dao Phra Suk and Khlao Pluak, said a woman fan
of the popular Thai soap operas.
Sornram Theppitak and Tao Huajok are my favorite stars, said
another woman.
Rich or poor, they make it a point not to miss the popular TV
shows. The homes of wealthy Mon are the gathering places of the
less-fortunate who cannot afford TV sets.
MANY Mon have made a fortune in their terms from selling
souvenirs to tourists at the Three Pagoda Pass.
The tourist attraction is also blessed with the presence of the
sacred Wat Vangvivegaram, the temple presided over by Abbot
Uthama, whose devotees include Thais, Mon and Karen. The monk is
also highly revered by top military leaders.
The Thai-Burmese border has great economic potential. Besides a
joint gas pipeline project, there have been construction and
development projects with the Three Pagoda Pass as the two
countries converging point. The new checkpoint promises to be
more significant than those in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai, and Mae Sot,
Tak. It is the most convenient gateway tot he sea.
The Mon race, accounting for 30 per cent of Burma's total
population, is far greater than any of the countrys minority
groups.
A large number of the descendants of the Mon, who are living
happily in Thailand, will soon become Thai nationals. However,
while absorbing Thai education and culture, the ethnic Mon still
aims to become a free nation of an envisaged federation
comprising Burma, Mon, Shan and Karen states. The constitution
would serve the interests of member states, with a new president
elected every four years.
**************************************************************
BKK POST (TRAVEL): OPENING THE DOOR TO THE GOLDEN LAND
Sunday, December 11, 1994
Myanmar or Burma, Asias fabled Golden Land, closed for so long,
is now on the tourist agenda, offering visitors a double bonus
-- an opportunity to enjoy a great get-away Yangon discover
holiday plus some of the best shopping in Southeast Asia.
[Photo caption: #1 The 2,500-year-old Shwedagon shrine -- a must
see for everyone who comes to Yangon. #2 A Buddha image at
Shwedagon. #3 Smiling Myanmar girl. #4 Yangons China Town. Most
of the buses are always crowded with local people.]
THERE is a recognisable different in Yangon or Rangoon these
days. The capital, formerly as closed and silent as a clam
behind its bamboo curtain, is exhibiting a new buoyancy and
feeling of excitement as the authorities that make up the
government realise that the first steps towards a market economy
can only come with a general loosening of control.
Sitting in the lakeside Karawek Restaurant, enjoying the
selection of fine Myanmar dishes -- slightly sweeter and not as
spicy-hot as the Thai variety -- and watching the graceful
traditional dancers weave their spell, it is easy to forget that
this is the Myanmar that has been subject to so much criticism
for its repressive closed-door policies.
But times have changed, visa regulations have been relaxed, and
as everyone will tell you, so have the strong-arm policies that
have held the country in bondage for so long.
Yangons open-air markets, as colourful as any in Asia, are
crowded with shoppers, eager to pick up bargains from among the
goods brought in from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and
Thailand. New model cars are very much in evidence and there is
a general feeling of relaxed gaiety in the wind that hasnt been
there for a long time.
Overseas tourists have begun trickling back in greater numbers
and outside foreign influences, like western movies, pop music
and lifestyle habits, are now much more in evidence.
The Dolphin Seafood Restaurant cum Nightclub, serving classic
Chinese cuisine, is obviously one of the hang-outs for Yangons
well-heeled preppie set. The big attraction is the local pop
singers who belt out the old-time favourites like Ancient
Melody, Sabai-Sabai and Stevie Wonders I Just Called to Say I
Love You to rousing cheers, whistles and applause.
Weekends and holidays, when the normal pace of life slows down
even more, will find most families intent on organising picnic
excursions in Yangon's splendid Shwedagon Pagoda, to Inya Lake
for the boat races, or to the zoo and the aquarium.
But despite the changes, Yangon itself, basking under the sun-lit
winter skies, remains what it has always been, one of the last
undiscovered and untouched jewels of Southeast Asia.
The citys broad avenues, laid out by the British during colonial
days, shaded by lush evergreen tropical trees, add to Yangon's
relaxed and royal air. Getting around to see the sites is both
easy and convenient, and visitors will find the Myanmar people
to be hospitable hosts, smiling and always eager to please.
The downtown city-hub is centred around Sule Pagoda and not too
far away is the Central Market, where you can bargain-shop for
everything from rare antiques to knick-knack mementos of the old
Raj days, hand- carved inlaid teak furniture, wood-carvings,
silver jewellery, ruby, jade and emerald gem-stones, tapestries,
puppets, lacquerware, hand-loomed fabrics and sarongs of silk
and cotton, and handicrafts representative of the diverse ethnic
groups that make up todays Union of Myanmar.
And not too far away is colourful Chinatown, the spacious grounds
of Yangon University and Inya Lake, enclosed in a park-like
setting that is also the home of the aquarium and the zoo.
>From there, the streets radiate in a southwards pattern to the
banks of the historic Yangon River, with its bustling ferry
traffic, and eastwards to the dazzingly golden Shwedagon Pagoda.
This 2,500-year-old Buddhist shrine, the biggest pagoda in
Myanmar, crowns the neighbouring hillside towering over the city
and is a must see for everyone who comes to Yangon.
But what makes Yangon really so special is the air of quietness
and gentility that embraces it. There are smiles on all the
faces -- the ladies in
traditional sarongs and the men in lungis [longyis], moving about
with graceful ease as if they had all the time in the world on
their hands.
You are very far from the hectic rush of a modern industrialised
traffic- cramped city like Bangkok where time is money has now
become the official credo.
Here, you can still believe you are in the Yangon of Rudyard
Kipling, Somerset Maughaum and George Orwell -- not as it used
to be but as it still is -- and without too much difficulty you
will find yourself caught up in a lulling time-warp all the more
precious because you cannot find it anywhere else in Southeast
Asia.
Both Bangkok and Singapore have already lost much of what remains
of an earlier age. Today they are both economic dragons which
only pay lip service to the past. But in Yangon the past is
still the present and the only troubling question you can ask
yourself is for how long?.
Plans are afoot to change it and large-scale development is
certainly on the books. Myanmar, the business people who make up
the travel industry will tell you, is on the leading edge of a
tourism boom and Rangoon will certainly be the first to feel the
impact.
Robert Thein Pe of the Bangkok-based Baiyoke Hotel group says he
saw it coming as early as April 1991 when he made his first
return visit, 28 years after leaving the country on his
honeymoon in 1963.
I stayed one week, had a quick look and decided there was an
acute shortage of hotels in the capital and that this was the
time to move in. For Robert Thein Pe, a former Myanmar national
who emigrated to Thailand and took Thai citizenship, it wasnt
too difficult, he says, to revive the contacts.
His first project, the small 34-room Jade Pavilion Hotel in a
friends renovated villa, opened in November 1992. Six months
later, he signed a lease agreement with the state authorities
for the renovation and extension of Yangon's lakeside Kandawgyi
Hotel, a first-class 198-room property. He has more projects on
his plate and is talking about opening up 50 to 100-room hotels
in Pagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake and along Yangon's long southern
coastline.
But he is not the only one; there are at least 11 foreign
investment hotel and resort projects on the books, with the
Shangri-la and AccorGroups leading the list.
The vene rable Strand Hotel, with a view of the Yangon River, is
Yangon's equivalent to Singapores Raffles and Bangkoks Oriental.
Somerset Maughaum is said to have left his imprint on all of
them. A luxury-class property, it is under the management of
Hong Kongs New World Group which also manages the partially
renovated Russian-built Inya Lake and Thamada Hotels.
Yangon currently has 53 hotels with 749 rooms but expects to have
1,500 more very soon. Accommodation, like that in every capital
city, varies from the small guesthouse-style hotels like the
Jade Pavilion to the fortress-like Inya Lake (so Russian in
architectural design despite the pleasing renovations), the
first-class Nawarat Hotel, the newly-opened Yangon City Hotel,
up to the impressive and luxurious Strand.
Apart from the cultural similarities -- both Thailand and Myanmar
are Theravada Buddhist countries, theres a lot to see and do;
the food is very good -- there is a lot of fresh seafood
available, shopping is excellent, costs are relatively low, and
Yangon is closer to Bangkok than Chiang Mai. Less than an hours
flight away by Thai International and Myanmar Airways
International, which plans to increase its daily flight schedule
to ten each week from December 11. Thai International is now
having seven flights per week.
Within Myanmar itself, Air Mandalay, a new domestic carrier with
international-standard inflight services, links Yangon, Pagan and
Mandalay on a daily flight schedule using two brand new ATR
72-210 QC carriers from France. Air Mandalay is a joint-venture
between the national carrier Myanmar Airways and the
SingaporeUdon Thani provinces, be eligible to apply for Thai
citizenship, he said.
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UWD: STUDENTS PROTEST UW INVESTMENTS IN BURMA
University of Washington Daily 12/7/94
Students Protest UW Investments in Burma By NANCE CUNNINGHAM
Daily Staff
Students leading the effort to have the UW take action on
investments of Burma learned that the UW portfolio contains
approximately $2-3 million worth of stocks in firms doing
business in that country. The present military government in
Burma, known as SLORC, is notorious for human rights violations.
The UW students who met with the administration are concerned
that foreign investments give SLORC legitimacy and provide the
money SLORC needs to stay in power and buy weapons to use
against the Burmese people.
These students would like to see the UW use its votes as a
stockholder to influence the firms to get out of Burma. "The UW
has about $1.7 million invested in Pepsi. A stockholder
resolution from an investor with that many shares could make a
strong statement," said Timothy Landon, one of the students at
the meeting. PepsiCo has an interest in a bottling plant in
Burma, (officially renamed "Myanmar" by SLORC) and sells its
products there. "It is not easy to get a handle on what companies
are doing business in Burma, as it is in flux," said V'Ella
Warren, Board of Regents treasurer. "I felt [introducing a
stockholder resolution] was a very interesting proposal."
The UW had asked a research agency, the IRRC (Investor
Responsibility Research Center) to look into what companies were
in Burma, but so far had only preliminary results. More complete
results are expected in January, said Warren. Aside from having
stock in several firms doing business in Burma, the UW has a
purchasing contract with a distributor which makes Pepsi
products available on campus. "As I understand it, cancelling
that contract would require a change in the state purchasing
laws," Warren said. The students are planning to work on changing
the state law, and a potentially quicker way to end the
contract: the distributor might withdraw is campus sales were
too low. "Our next step will be to educate people on campus not
to drink Pepsi," said Pwint Htun, another of the students
involved.
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AP: INVESTMENT IN BURMA HITS $2.7B
December 14 1994(approx)
RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Foreign investment in Burma has grown to
$2.7 billion, the government said Tuesday, adding that it expects
the economy to expand by a further 6.4 percent during the 1994-95
fiscal year.
The official New Light of Myanmar reported that Lt. Gen. Khin
Nyunt, secretary of the ruling junta, give the figures Monday in
aspeech detailing how significantly Burma's economy has grown
sincethe military government introduced a market economy in late
1988.
Khin Nyunt said there were 113 foreign investment projects in
the country worth $2.7 billion and noted that the government was
attempting to build on that by designating 1996 Visit Burma Year.
The government is trying to build enough hotels to accommodate
500,000 visitors that year, Khin Nyunt said, adding that the
country already boasts a capacity of 4,384 rooms. That is up from
600 rooms before 1988.
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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
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 EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW
IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
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-RUN NEWSPAPER, RANGOON)
S.C.B.:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
S.C.T.:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COMMITTEE
USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
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