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BurmaNet News: May 21, 1995




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The BurmaNet News: May 21, 1995
Issue #177

SAR-PAY JOURNAL (LITERARY JOURNAL): THE ETERNAL FLOWER
BURMANET: URGENT REQUEST--INFO RE. SLORC'S USE OF CHEMICAL
           WEAPONS
NATION: UNSTABLE CONDITIONS ON BURMA BORDER FORCE SCHOOLS
          TO CLOSE
BKK POST:KAREN REFUGES TO BE MOVED TO A SAFER AREA 
BKK POST:ABSDF MEMBERS TRAVELLED
REUTERS: BURMA REBELS RAID VILLAGE, 11 DEAD
BURMANET: LOOKING FOR PEOPLE WHO WITNESSED DAW SUU'S ARREST
REUTERS: BOORMAN BRINGS BURMA RIOTS TO SILVER SCREEN
ABSL (INDIA): AUNG SAN SUU KYI--HERALDING A NEW DAWN IN BURMA

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SAR-PAY JOURNAL (LITERARY JOURNAL): THE ETERNAL FLOWER
April 1995 

Sar-pay Journal is a Rangoon-based magazine.  This is 
the first poem to be published by Tin Moe since his release 
from Insein in February, 1995.


The Eternal Flower

Each year abundant nature's blooms burst forth
Each year to fade and wither
But human art in prose or rhyme
Makes flowers that live for ever.

Translated by AJA, AA, CB from the original Burmese



BURMANET: URGENT REQUEST--INFO RE. SLORC'S USE OF CHEMICAL
           WEAPONS

Please reply to carol@xxxxxxx

A Japanese journalist, Schu Sugawara, is gathering evidence about
SLORC's use of chemical/biological weapons against ethnic groups &
dissidents. He intends to use the evidence to convince MITI and the
Foreign Ministry that ODA to SLORC violates the terms of the ODA
Charter. He believes the time is ripe to do so: Japan is now obsessed
with AUM, the cult thought to be responsible for the March chemical
attack on Tokyo's subway, which killed 12 and injured more than 5000.
          
Sugawara already has Karen Human Rights Group's excellent reports;
what he would like is corroborating evidence from other sources (e.g.,
articles from major newspapers in your country, UN reports, reports by
well-known NGOs).  Please fax any such documentation by Thursday, May
25
to:

Schu Sugawara
Fax: +81-3-3364-1228
or call him at: 
+81-3-3367-4255

Post queries about this message to carol@xxxxxxx

Thanks for your help.






NATION: UNSTABLE CONDITIONS ON BURMA BORDER FORCE SCHOOLS
          TO CLOSE
 21.5.95/The Nation


Security concerns on the Thai-Burmese border has forced closure of
five elementary schools in Mae Hong Son's Sop Moei district ,
provincial elementary school director Sayan Klaewkanikum said
yesterday .

Security is also to be provided to teachers travelling to seven other
school in the border district , he said .

After a visit to the area, Sayan said the five schools would remain
closed until there is an improvement in security conditions along the
border, adding the border will be closely monitored.

 He said authorities have been asked to coordinate with Border  Task
Force 35 in the provision of security guards to protect teachers
travelling into the area.

"Some schools lie in areas that are at risk because teachers and
students need to cross the Salween River," Sayan said.


The teachers will  be provided with radios to keep them informed of
conditions and to given them confidence, he said.

Teachers and students affected by the closures could move to nearby
schools. But when the schools re-open extra classes will be scheduled
to help students catch up on missed lessons , Sayan said.

Agence France-Presse adds :  Some 15,000 Karen refugees who fled
fighting in Burma to the northern Thai province of Mae Hong Son are
likely to be relocated in a single area, the Mae Hong Son governor 
said yesterday.

Governor Somjet Viriyadamrong said Karen refugees at two villages in
Sop Moei district and five others in nearby Mae Sariang district would
be moved to join other Karen at Mae Mala Luang village, which can
house up to 20,000 people.

Mae Mala Luang in Sop Moei covers a plain of about 50 rai, surrounded
by mountains and woods. Located 10 kilometres from the border , the
village is considered a safe haven , Somjet told AFP by phone.

Mae Mala Luang would serve as a temporary shelter,  as the " Thai
government has no policy to set up a permanent refugee camp," Somjet
said, adding that the Karen would be repatriated when the situation
across the border normalized.

Although Mae Mala Luang village was attacked once in April by armed
intruders from Burma, it was considered the most suitable place, he
said. 

Karen refugees along the border Mae Hong Song and nearby Tak province
to the south are prone to attacks by armed units from Burma who Thai
authorities have said were forces of the Democratic Kayin Buddhist
Organization [DKBO].

The DKBO split late last year from the mainstream Karen National Union
[KNU], ethnic Karen rebels who have fought  the Burmese junta for
autonomy for decades. The DKBO joined forces with Rangoon to defeat
the KNU early this year.

Thai military, police and civilian officials met Friday in Mae Hong
Son to map out plans to reduce refugee camps which dotted this stretch
of the Thai border with Burma to a single site for security and
management reasons.

The relocation plan has yet to be approved by the Interior Ministry.

The Bangkok office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees [UNHCR] has sent officials to observe the new sanctuary for
Karen at Mae Mala Laung but has not decided whether it would
participate in the plan.

The humanitarian organization Medecins sans Frontieres [Doctors
without Border] has agreed to help , Somjet said. 



BURMANET: LOOKING FOR PEOPLE WHO WITNESSED DAW SUU'S ARREST
May 21, 1995

As part of an article I'm researching on the events leading up to Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest on July 20th, 1989, I'm trying to locate
anyone who was in her compound that day or in the days immediately
prior to the 20th.  If you or someone you know has information that
can help, please contact strider@xxxxxxxxxxxx





KAREN REFUGES TO BE MOVED TO A SAFER AREA
20 MAY 1995

THE provincial authority plans to move 30,000 Karen refugees to Ban
Mae Mala Luang in Sob Moei district, Governor Somjet Viriyadamrong
said yesterday.

Speaking after a meeting with military, police and civilian officials
dealing with national security, Governor Somjet said it was agreed
that Karen refugees will be moved from camps scattered along Thai
border to a new shelter at Ban Mar Mala Luang.

The site covers 1,200 rai and is sufficient to house a large number of
refugees, he said. Thai authorities will be in a position to take care
of and en- sure security for the refugees more easily if they are all
in a single controllable  spot, he said.

If the Karen refugees remained attack from Burmese forces or the DKBA,
he said. The recolation plan has been forward to the Interior
Ministry. Ban Mae Mala id regarded as a temporary shelter for
refugees, not a refugee camp, he said.

The private sector and foreign NGOs will provide financial sup- port
to the refugees while Thai authorities will handle securi- ty and
supply medical services.
Mr Somjet said the UNHCR may not get involved in the move on the
grounds that Thailand did not officially announce the shel- ter as a
refugee camp.

According to the principles of the UNHCR, it will get involved in
refugee affairs only if a refugee camp is set up.

Asked what according to the principles of the UNHCR, it will get
involved in refugee affairs only if a refugee camp is set up.

Asked what measures will be taken to deal with a number of Ka- ren
refugees continually fleeing to Mae Sariang and Sob Mei districts of
Mae Hong Song, Governor Somjet said the Government has mapped out a
repatriation plan if the situation in BUrma returns to normal.(BP)


BKK POST: ABSDF MEMBERS TRAVELLED
20 may 1995

SEVERAL members of the ABSDF travelled from KNPP's Camp 99 northward
yesterday, sources said.

The students, armed with 12 M-16 assault rifles, 15 AK-47
rifles, 2 RPG rocket launchers and a pistol, were reportedly headed
for Burma's Ban Naom in a bid to mobilise other students living along
the Thai-Burmese border.

It was reported that the ABSDF tried to contact leaders of Karen
minority groups to step up security for women and
children taking refuge along the Thai-BUrmese border in Mae Hong Son
province. (BP)





REUTERS: BURMA REBELS RAID VILLAGE, 11 DEAD

      RANGOON, May 21 (Reuter) - Eleven villagers in northeastern
Burma's Shan state were killed in a raid by guerrillas loyal to opium
warlord Khun Sa, Burma's state-run Myanma News Agency (MNA) reported
on Sunday.
      About 30 members of Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army (MTA) raided Wanphwe
village in Ke-Hsi Mansan township during a religious festival on May
13, killing four men and seven women and leaving 26 others wounded,
the MNA reported.
      The news agency did not say why the guerrillas attacked the
village, 140 km (90 miles) east of Burma's second biggest city
Mandalay, nor did it explain the delay in reporting the
incident.
      Burmese government forces captured an MTA area of control in
mountains to the west of the Shan state border town of Tachilek in a
two-month campaign which ended earlier this month.
      Burma's military government has denouced Khun Sa as a
``terrorist'' drug trafficker.
      Meanwhile, military authorites in southeastern Burma have ordered
a Moslem village of some 2,000 people to move, traders arriving in the
Thai border town of Mae Sot told Reuters.
      The traders said all inhabitants of Na-Bu village, near the town
of Kawkareik, have been ordered to leave as soon as possible or their
homes would be burnt down.
      Military authorities gave no explanation for ordering the
inhabitants of Na-Bu, the majority of whom are Burmese Moslems, to
leave their village, the traders said.



REUTERS: BOORMAN BRINGS BURMA RIOTS TO SILVER SCREEN

      CANNES, France (Reuter) - British director John Boorman, best
known for his escapist adventure films, Friday entered the Cannes
festival with a highly political film about Burma's crackdown on
democracy protests in 1988.
      ``Beyond Rangoon'' is dedicated to Nobel Peace prize-winner Aung
San Suu Kyi, who symbolizes the protest movement in the Southeast
Asian country and has lived under house arrest in Burma since 1989.
      Boorman, 62, said he had to overcome pressure from Burma's
military government to picture its bloody repression on the silver
screen -- it went largely unseen abroad because foreign television
crews were expelled.
      ``A film can't change the world but I do think that when people
have had the emotional experience of seeing a movie like this they
will read more about Burma. We plan to show it to as many politicians
as possible,'' he told a news conference.     ``You could say this
is my first film with a powerful political content but much more
important for me is the courage and the overcoming of fear shown by
the characters,'' said Boorman, who made ``Excalibur'' and ``The
Emerald Forest.''    A young American doctor (Patricia Arquette),
vacationing in Burma to try to forget the murder of her husband and
child, rallies behind the protesters and flees with them as troops
hunt her down.
      Sickened by the repression, she saves an activist and regains the
will to live after crossing rainforests and rapids.     Boorman, who
made several clandestine forays into Burma for research, shot the film
in Malaysia but Rangoon authorities put pressure on his hosts and he
was told to leave after several months of shooting.
      ``We were horrified. We'd built pagodas, villages and a giant
statue of a reclining Buddha,'' he said.
      He managed to negotiate permission to stay provided he strike out
all references to Burma in the script. He obliged and got the script
approved, but went ahead and shot his original plan anyway.
      The team worked from eyewitness accounts and photographs to
recreate crowd protests outside the U.S. embassy in Rangoon and the
army's shooting of protesters. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people
were killed.
      One electrifying scene has Aung San Suu Kyi, confronted by
soldiers pointing their guns at her at a Rangoon demonstration, walk
up to them and lead the crowd through unharmed.
      Leader of the National League for Democracy, she lives separated
from her family and her British husband is allowed only rare visits.
She has refused an offer from authorities to go into exile.
      The NLD swept more than 80 percent of the seats in 1990
elections. But the government ignored the results, claiming a new
constitution had to be drawn up before any transfer of power to a
civilian government could occur.
      Professor and pro-democracy activist U Aung Ko was asked of the
risks he had taken in appearing in the film as himself:      ``I am
aware of the danger and of course I will be careful but that is not
the important thing to me. What is important is to have made this
film.''



ABSL (INDIA): AUNG SAN SUU KYI--HERALDING A NEW DAWN IN BURMA
An Indian Tribute


Kailash S. Aggarwal 



 "It is not power that corrupts but fear", exhorted Suu Kyi. "Fear of
losin g power corrupts those who are subject to it. "Prior to her
detention in 1989, Suu Kyi described courage as "grace under pressure,
grace renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh , unremitting pressure.
"These crisp descriptions of the two antimonies human fac es of fear
and courage sum up both simultaneously-Suu Kyi and Burma. The fates of
bot h are inextricably linked and when she speaks of herself, she
speaks also of Burma. 

 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi ('Daw' is a title of respect for women and the
rest o f her name is pronounced "aung sahn soo chee" and she is simply
Suu to her frien ds and relatives) is the daughter of Burma's
redoubtable national hero, Aung San, the man who would have been
Independent Burma's first prime minister had he not been assass inated
on 19 July 1947, shortly before he was to take office. Suu Kyi, born
on 19 June 1945, was only two years old then and has only the dimmest
recollections of her fathe r. In 1960, her mother, a great friend of
Jawaharlal Nehru, was appointed Burma's Ambassador to India. Suu Kyi,
then a young girl of 15, came with her mother to India. She went to
school at LSR, New Delhi, before going to Oxford. About Suu Kyi's d
ays at St.Hugh's College in Oxford in the 60s, her freshwoman friend,
Ann P.Slater (who used to call her Suu Burmese) says, "Suu's tight,
trim lungi (the Burmese versi on of the sarong) and upright carriage,
her firm moral convictions and inherited social g race contrasted
sharply with the tatty dress and careless manners, vague liberalism
and uncertain sexual morality of my English contemporaries." 



 At the same time Suu was not a 'sanyasini'. She also had the
curiosity to experience the European, the alien.



 In 1972, Suu married an Englishman, Michael Aris, a fellow at
St.Antony's College, Oxford and an expert on Tibetan and Himalayan
Studies. Suu took the or thodox Burmese community by surprise when she
married the British national of no great standing. But it was
perfectly in tune with her character-upright, independent and sincere
in her relations. Initially they lived for several years in Bhutan,
where their two sons, Alexander and Kim, were raised. Back in Oxford,
she faced enormous difficulties to eke out a living-with two more
mouths to feed, to house and to educate. They had to change houses as
finances remained hard with expenditure.



 In early 1988, Suu's mother suffered a severe stroke and she went to
Rango on to care for her. Suu Kyi's visit to Burma coincided with the
outbreak of a spon taneous revolt against the 26 years of fascist
political repression and economic disast er. During this visit, Suu
Kyi saw in Burma that was had reminded was a generation brought up
under tyranny and with complete subversion of all values in a system
which had attempted to arrest the march of history. At first Suu Kyi
watched the massive demonstrations from her mother's bedside. But for
how long could she remain a p assive witness?



 Ne Win, who had ruled Burma since he led a military coup in 1962,
announce d on 23 July that he was resigning forthwith and that a
referendum on Burma's pol itical future would be held. This
announcement electrified the whole country. And perh aps, pushed Suu
Kyi to make up her mind to step forward. At last the people had a ch
ance to take control of their own destinies. But then the announcement
went hand in hand with mass upsurges demanding democracy and with
increasing military repression. Augu st'88 saw the number of arrests,
beating and army violence that peaked on 8 August 19 88 (8- 8-88),
when the army brutally killed hundreds of innocent students of Rangoon
University.



 In fact, after Ne Win's resignation in July 1988 and the immediate
refusal by his party to agree to a referendum on Burma future, Suu
Kyi's house quickly became the epicenter of all political planning and
activity. Suu focussed on human rights, an expression which had no
meaning in Burma till then. On 26 August she made her m aiden public
speech at the famous Shwedagon Pagoda. Addressing a colossal rally of
se veral hundred thousands of people, she declared: "I could not as my
father's daughter , remain different to all that was going on." While
some argue that she had virtually re nounced her glorious patrimony
but had to embrace it to embrace the cause of the people of her
country, others would say that "she became obsessed with the image of
her fathe r she never knew."

 After 8-8-88 (popularly called four eights) there was all round
discontent and despair. Having decided to directly intervene, Suu Kyi
launched into a phase of intense political activity. Establishing
instant rapport, she took the leadership of al l democracy- loving
peoples, groups and parties and provided direction to the movement.
Thou gh she had lived for so long outside, she found no problem in
quickly closing the cult ural gap. 

 Suu's mother died on 27 December 1988. Milling crowds of thousands
came to attend the funeral on 2 January. This was the only occasion
that the junta offe red whatever co-operation, knowing well the
disastrous consequences of doing otherw ise. As a leader of masses,
Suu is non-pareil. She captivated ever-larger audiences wit h her
revolution of spirit campaigns. Relentlessly touring the Burmese
divisions and ethnic minority states to raise public opinion, to shed
fear and consolidate alliances , she displayed astonishing tactical
skill in navigating the rapids of politics in Bu rma.She not only
emerged as the unique spokesperson of Burma, of the Burmese, and the
ethni c minorities, of students as well as monks, but she also
commanded their unstinti ng faith and respect.

 Her speeches have sent electric waves through the masses. She
remains, in spite of, or rather because of, military defeats, the
mother and symbol of the cause of democracy and human rights in Burma.

 Apart from the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, Suu Kyi has been the recipient
of Sakharov Prize of Freedom of Thought (European Parliament,1991),
Humantitas Hum an Rights Award (USA 1991), Marisa Bellisario Prize
(Italy 1992) Simon Boliver Pri ze (UNESCO 1992) Honorary Professional
Fellowship, Law and Society Trust (Shilanka,1992), Victor Jara
International Human Rights Award (Los Angeles 1993 ) and a host of
others.

 Being pragmatic as any pragmatist could be, Suu Kyi responded to the
chang ing conditions, in both her role and speech. That she was not in
the rat race was c lear. At the end of August 1988, she had asserted,
"A life of politics holds on attracti on for me. At the moment, I
serve as a kind of unifying force because of my father's name and
because I am not interested in jostling for any kind of position." But
since th e military authorities rather than moving towards the
referendum and the formation of a ci vilian government, seized power
on 18 September 1988, Suu Kyi joined in the founding o f the National
League for Democracy (NLD) and became its general secretary.

 Suu Kyi began to represent a real danger to the military junta-now in
the guise of State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)-soon her
very struggle of po litical mobilisation, her own lifestyle became a
living critic of the life of fear and the pervert western culture
promoted by the junta. The SLORC virtually declared war on Suu Kyi,
which she condemned day after day, and subjected to her every kind of
provocati on.In an interview to Asia Week on 1 July 1989, Suu blurted
out, "They have been tryi ng that all the time with false propaganda
about me - all sorts of nonsense. Things lik e I have four husbands,
three husbands, two husbands.That I am a communist-although in s ome
circles they say I am CIA. They have been trying to get prominent
monks to say I have been insulting Buddha. They can say I am married
to a foreigner-but I've always admitted that freely-I'm not trying to
hide that."

 On 20 July 1989, the SLORC put Suu Kyi under house arrest. People
visiting her, including her family members, have been stripped,
searched and intimidated . The junta even went to the perverted extent
of pasting obscene pictures of Suu Kyi all over the towns of Burma.
Normally a woman who had lived for so long in the west and had married
a foreigner is likely to prove most vulnerable following such
onslaught . But, she remained unscathed in the months to come. Rather
she received greater support f rom her followers whose anger got
intensified against SLORC for its vandalism and rumor mills.

 In July'89, soon after her house arrest, Suu demanded a transfer to
Rangoo n's Insein Prison and asked to be kept under the same
conditions as her supporters. SLORC of course ignored the request. She
immediately began a hunger strike that laste d 12 days and broke it
only after receiving solemn assurances that her supporters were no t
being subjected to inhuman interrogation and that their cases would be
dealt with by due process of law.

 Under extensive pressure and with confidence in their Machiavellian
plot, the SLORC held elections on 27 May 1990. Despite all attempts at
sabotage, manoeuve ring and manipulations by the SLORC, Suu Kyi's NLD
won a landslide victory capping 3 92 of the total 485 seats(81%) in
the National Assembly while the junta won only 1 0 seats. It was a
stunning and humiliating upset for the junta. By now, Suu has languish
ed under house arrest for about five years, without any trial. But she
has moved to grea ter heights not for her political manipulations and
skills but for her commitment to truth. On 10 December 1991, Suu Kyi
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The official statemen t read, "The
Norwegian Peace Committee wishes to honour this woman for her unflag
ging efforts and show its support for the many people in the world who
are striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation
by peaceful means.

 On December 1992, a mission of ten Nobel Laureates and
representatives of Laureate organizations, from Costa Rica to Tibet,
including Bishop Desmond Tutu , Dalai Lama, Else Wiesel and Oscar
Arian marched to Thailand to demand in one voice th e release of Suu
Kyi and the restoration of democracy, human rights and the true rule
of law in Burma. They also made a pilgrimage to the Thai-Burma Border
where they c alled for her release.

 SLORC's latest boldest move was a renewed attempt to force Suu Kyi
into ex ile. Early May 1992, the junta allowed her husband to visit
Suu for the first time i n over two years. As interesting event
occurred on 15 May 1992 when Suu's 19 years old son , Alexander
delivered a speech written by his mother. This was the first statemen
t the world has received from Suu Kyi since her detention. Among other
things she wro te, "The world is watching Burma to see whether the
will of the people as expressed through free and fair elections will
truly be respected; and whether there will be seri ous moves to
protect human rights by promoting the rule of law and by establishing
an ind ependent judiciary."

 As of today, it appear too exacting to reconstruct the many strands
that m ake the fabric of her life. Only history can and will do it. At
48, Suu has created his tory - and it is a five year magic. Both SLORC
and the international media have lionised h er and have secretly
remained in awe of her. She is the archetypal lioness without who m
the future history of Burma would be ahistoric. At two this great
woman saw the end of an era and the beginning of another. At 48 she
finds herself in the gridlock of ty ranny and freedom, fear and
courage, truth and falsehood and has consciously chosen to ri de
through the storm no matter what.

 The author is the Convener of Initiative for Democracy in Burma, New
Delhi . The original article was published in the August 1993 issue of
EVES.







------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:
------------------------------------------------------------
ABSDF-DNA: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT [DR. NAING
AUNG]
ABSDF-MTZ: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT [MOE THEE ZUN] 
AMNESTY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
AW: ASIAWEEK
Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt. EQUALS US$1 (APPROX),
BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
BF: BURMA FORUM
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
GOA: GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA
IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
KNU: KAREN NATIONAL UNION
Kt. BURMESE KYAT; UP TO 150 KYAT-US$1 BLACK MARKET
                   106 KYAT US$1-SEMI-OFFICIAL
                   6 KYAT-US$1 OFFICIAL
MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN
MNA: MYANMAR NEWS AGENCY (SLORC)
THE NATION: A DAILY NEWSPAPER IN BANGKOK
NCGUB: NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA
NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER,RANGOON)
NMSP: NEW MON STATE PARTY
RTA:REC.TRAVEL.ASIA NEWSGROUP
RTG: ROYAL THAI GOVERNMENT
SCB:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
SCT:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL
TAWSJ: THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
UPI: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
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