Wired News on August 28 - September

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Wired News on August 28 - September 1, 1995

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on August 28 - September 1, 1995
-----------------------------------------------------

Subject: Man leads Burma delegation to women's conference

	 RANGOON, Burma (Reuter) - Burma's male-led delegation to the
Beijing women's conference has been asked to tell the meeting
that Burmese women are already equal to men and have no need to
demand equality, official media reported Wednesday.
	 Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt of the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) made the comments to the delegation,
led by Maj. Gen. Soe Myint, Minister of Social Welfare, Relief
and Resettlement, before it left to attend the United Nations
Fourth World Conference on Women.
	 Burma's most famous woman politician, Nobel Peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, has sent a videotaped speech to be played at
the non-governmental organization (NGO) forum on women.
	 The speech made by the recently freed opposition leader was
due to be played Aug. 31 at the NGO forum which runs parallel to
the U.N. conference.
	 Khin Nyunt told the Burmese delegation it does not need to
demand the rights and equality called for by other women at the
conference.
	 The Burmese representation at the Beijing conference is not
to make demands for Burmese women, but to present objective
conditions of the rights they enjoy, he said.
	 If any accusations are laid against Burma at the conference,
the delegates need to explain the rights Burmese women enjoy and
refute any accusations most firmly, the official media reported.
------------------------

Subject: Burma's Suu Kyi sends message to women's forum

	 HUAIROU, China, Aug 31 (Reuter) - Burma's most famous woman
politician, Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, opened the
plenary session of a women's forum in China with a videotaped
speech calling for tolerance and urging women to speak out.
	 ``Without tolerance the foundation for democracy and respect
for human rights cannot be strengthened and the achievement of
peace will remain elusive,'' she said in the recorded speech,
smuggled out of Burma and broadcast to a packed audience of
several thousand.
	 Women needed equality, she said in the speech to the plenary
session that kicked off the first working day of the decennial
Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) Forum on Women called
Looking at the World through Women's Eyes that has drawn well
over 20,000 women from all over the globe.
	 Suu Kyi called for women's voices to be heard.
	 ``There is an age-old prejudice the world over to the effect
that woman talk too much, but is it realy a defect?'' she said.
``Could it not in fact be an advantage?''
	 ``Women could make a valuable contribution in situations of
conflict thorugh dialogue,'' said Suu Kyi, who spent nearly six
years under house arrest by Burma's military government before
her release in June.
	 ``It is time we were given a true opportunity,'' she said in
her message to the women, massed in this sleepy Beijing suburb
to discuss issues ranging from equality and escaping poverty to
trafficking in women and domestic violence.
	 Officials declined to say how Suu Kyi's tape was brought of
Burma. ``It was difficult getting the message out,'' said forum
convenor Supatra Masdit.
	 Thousands more women converged outside the converted cinema
in the rural Beijing suburb of Huairou, eager to hear the speech
but prevented by lack of space.
	 ``They knew how many people were coming to this forum,''
said one angry woman. ``They should have organised a bigger
place.''
	 Some 15 to 20 activists from the London-based human rights
group Amnesty International held an unprecedented demonstration
outside th cinema, displaying pictures of 12 women, including
two Chinese, they say are victims of human rights abuses.
	 They held up posters and T-shirts bearing pictures and names
of the women.
	 Police did not try to intervene, but a Chinese woman
official with a megaphone said in English: ``No meeting here.
Please go to Middle School Number One or the Global Tent.''
	 Chinese authorities have designated a school parade ground
as the official site for demonstrations during the forum that
ends on September 8 and runs parallel with the U.N. Conference
on Women opening next week in Beijing.
	 A group of five Japanese women held a protest on the
designated parade ground, unfurling a banner that read: ``We are
against all nuclear testing.''
	 ``We want to take this opportunity of this forum to
publicise our opposition to France and China's current testing
of nuclear weapons,'' said Yoshiko Murata, 30, from the Women's
Democratic Club. She said they had been nervous of arrest if
they demonstrated elsewhere.
	 Many women signed their appeal to France and China to stop
nuclear testing. ``We are having a great reaction. Everyone is
signing,'' Murata said.
	 An elderly Japanese woman staged a lone protest on the steps
of the China National Olympic Stadium, where some 20,000 women
massed for the forum's gala opening ceremony.
	 Tokyo announced on Tuesday it was freezing most of its grant
aid to Beijing, which makes up the smallest portion of its
financial assistance to China, and was also considering a cut in
more important low-interest yen loans, to protest China's
nuclear testing.
----------------------------

Subject: Rangoon betel-sellers go underground after ban

	 RANGOON, Burma (Reuter) - In most parts of South Asia
chewing betel leaf is easy.
	 In India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, a betel-leaf
seller can be found within a few paces on any city street.
	 That used to be true of Rangoon, the capital of Burma, until
recently. Now, Burmese betel-leaf sellers have gone underground
because a city ban on the sale of this local favorite is being
strictly enforced.
	 Prices of ``kunya'' or the dark green betel-leaf -- usually
folded with a host of condiments such as white lime, areca nut
parings, tobacco and a host of other aromatic Indian spices --
have risen sharply.
	 Betel-chewing has been a gentle and possibly addictive South
and Southeast Asian habit for centuries, but the trouble with
kunya is the blood-colored saliva it generates -- which is
promptly spat out.
	 As in many parts of neighboring Bangladesh and in India,
many betel-chewers have rampantly turned the city streets into
one big spittoon. Systematically, they continue to leave
pavements, drains and corners of buildings with red stains.
	 Irked by this, the Rangoon city municipality imposed a ban
on kunya sales in April in six central townships to save the
city's streets and buildings ahead of Visit Burma Year in 1996.
	 ``Some kunya which used to cost 75 pyas (three quarters of a
kyat) now sell for two kyats or more because sellers cannot sell
them openly and face fines if they are caught selling it,'' said
an ardent Burmese fan of the leaf.
	 (The official exchange rate of the kyat is six to the U.S.
dollar but it trades at 110 to the dollar on the black market.)
	 The fan says he used to chew up to 50 pieces of kunya a day
until the recent price hike.
	 ``I now chew about 10 at the most. It's getting expensive,
you know,'' he said with a smile which revealed his red-stained
teeth and lips.
	 Chewing kunya is one of the few luxuries left for the
ordinary, poverty-stricken Burmese, who generally earn anywhere
from $15 to $25 a month in the local currency.
	 Kunya is mainly sold in Rangoon by Bangladeshi migrants.
	 Conspicuously absent these days are the hundreds of little
kunya trays, with their sellers perched nearby, which used to
openly line Rangoon lanes at intervals of a few paces.
	 The kunya trays are now either hastily carried around by
energetic, roving sellers to avoid city enforcement officers or
are parked along alleyways or on secluded staircases leading up
to shophouses.
	 ``I was just photographed for selling kunya by the city
officer,'' said a seller sitting by his kunya tray near a drain
on a side street. ``I think they have got me this time.''
	  Kim Maung, 45, who has been in the business for many years
reported brisk sales since the ban was announced. ``People now
don't even look at the price. They need it, so they just pay for
it,'' he said squatting at his mini-store with kunya
strategically placed hidden below the counter.
	  He said he can easily sell up to 700 pieces of kunya a day.
	 A housewife said the ban had affected the quality of kunya
sold. ``The kunya is now pre-wrapped and can get stale. They are
not as fresh as before when they made it in front of you and the
quality of condiments is dropping,'' she said.
	 But one thing is clear. The Rangoon authorities have stepped
up their war on kunya and the days of relaxed betel-chewing may
be numbered.
---------------------------------------

Subject: Burma vows visa, money flexibility for tourists

	 RANGOON, Aug 28 (Reuter) - Burma has vowed to be more
flexible with its rules on the issuance of visas to tourists and
on foreign-exchange regulations in the run-up to and during its
heavily touted ``Visit Burma Year'' in 1996.
	 Hotel and Tourism Minister Lieutenant-General Kyaw Ba told
Reuters in an interview late last week these relaxations would
be part of government efforts to attract more tourists and earn
more dollars for one of the poorest countries in the world.
	 Burma was isolated by much of the Western world and cut off
from multilateral economic assistance in 1988 when the military
brutally suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
	 The military's ruling State and Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC) hopes to revive tourist interest in Burma, which
has a rich cultural and architectural heritage dating back
centuries, through the Visit Burma campaign.
	 ``Actually, October 1, 1996, is the official start date for
the Visit Burma Year and so we have time to prepare the country
to meet more tourist demands,'' Kyaw Ba said.
	 Getting a visa to visit Burma has in the past been a trying
experience for some due to excessive bureaucracy and security
concerns.
	 ``We have instructed all our embassies to issue tourist
visas within 24 hours to promote tourism,'' the minister said.
``However, on arrival visas for tourists may not be possible
because drug dealers or criminals may try to enter the country
that way.''
	 The official exchange rate is six kyats (pronounced chat) to
one U.S. dollar. But tourists can either exchange U.S. dollars
for foreign-exchange certificates (FEC) at a rate of 100 kyats
to one U.S. dollar or get up to 110 kyats on the blackmarket.
	 ``We are going to be more relaxed on the issue of exchanging
foreign money for kyats by tourists when they are here,'' Kyaw
Ba said, meaning that unofficial money exchanges would not be
severely policed and punished.
	 ``We hope to get a windfall from the campaign,'' he added.
	 Burma has drawn up elaborate plans to make Visit Burma Year
a success. It has targeted 500,000 tourist arrivals during the
campaign, begun the building of new hotels to beat a room
shortage and started work on a new airport in Mandalay.
	 Last year, 100,000 tourists visited Burma, according to
industry sources.
	 Kyaw Ba said up to $778 million in foreign investments for
the building of hotels had been signed, mainly with interests
from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.
	 In the capital of Rangoon there are 16 hotel projects under
way along with five in the outskirts of the city.
	 The minister said he expected the total number of hotel and
guest-house rooms in Rangoon to rise to 5,000 by the time the
projects were completed by early or mid-1996 from about 2,000
now.
	 Mandalay, Burma's second largest city, would have 2,000
rooms by next year, he added. The minister also agreed that room
rates in Rangoon and other Burmese towns were now relatively
high because of a shortage but would come down as the supply of
rooms increased by next year.
	 For example, a small hotel with very basic amenities and no
frills in Rangoon charges about $45 a night.
	 Japanese, Taiwan, Thai, Malaysian and Singaporean tourists
were expected to top the visitors' list, he added.
	 The minister expected an international-standard runway
capable of accomodating big airplanes to be ready for the
planned Mandalay airport by the end of next year. A make-shift
terminal would be set up to process tourists.
-----------------------------------

Subject: Japan's Mitsui to enter $700 mln Burma gas project

	 TOKYO, Aug 29 (Reuter) - Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co
Ltd has agreed with the Burmese government to undertake a
project to utilise natural gas from the fields off Burma's
southern coast, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.
	 The project, worth $700 million, involves construction of a
200 megawatt electric power plant and a fertiliser plant near
Rangoon with an annual production capacity of 570,000 tonnes.
Mitsui will direct the project, he said.
	 A 250 km (150 mile) pipeline will also be built under
Mitsui's guidance between the offshore Yadana gas fields and the
plant sites, he added.
	 Both plants are scheduled to start when natural gas
production from Yadana begins in 1998, he said.
	 The natural gas fields are currently being developed under a
production sharing contract between Burma, Total SA of France,
Unocal Corp of the United States and the Petroleum Authority of
Thailand.
	 Of the total 650 million cubic feet (18.4 million cu metres)
a day of natural gas produced, 125 million (3.5 million cu
metres) will be supplied to the two plants and the remaining 525
million cubic feet (14.9 million cu metres) will be sold to
Thailand, the spokesman said.
	 Mitsui said it hoped the project will enter the development
stage early next year and the details would be decided after the
feasibility study is completed at the end of this October.
---------------------------------

Subject: Japan's Mitsui to enter $700 mln Burma gas project

	 TOKYO, Aug 29 (Reuter) - Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co
Ltd has agreed with the Burmese government to undertake a
project to utilise natural gas from the fields off Burma's
southern coast, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.
	 The project, worth $700 million, involves construction of a
200 megawatt electric power plant and a fertiliser plant near
Rangoon with an annual production capacity of 570,000 tonnes.
Mitsui will direct the project, he said.
	 A 250 km (150 mile) pipeline will also be built under
Mitsui's guidance between the offshore Yadana gas fields and the
plant sites, he added.
	 Both plants are scheduled to start when natural gas
production from Yadana begins in 1998, he said.
	 The natural gas fields are currently being developed under a
production sharing contract between Burma, Total SA of France,
Unocal Corp of the United States and the Petroleum Authority of
Thailand.
	 Of the total 650 million cubic feet (18.4 million cu metres)
a day of natural gas produced, 125 million (3.5 million cu
metres) will be supplied to the two plants and the remaining 525
million cubic feet (14.9 million cu metres) will be sold to
Thailand, the spokesman said.
	 Mitsui said it hoped the project will enter the development
stage early next year and the details would be decided after the
feasibility study is completed at the end of this October.
-----------------------------

Subject: Burma's rice exports boom amid bountiful harvests

	 RANGOON, Aug 30 (Reuter) - Burma's rice exports are
ballooning as harvests become more bountiful and a growing
global shortage of the staple sparks increased demand, official
and industry sources said this week.
	 Rice is a major revenue spinner for Burma, which is one of
the poorest countries in the world and hopes to regain its lost
status as a leading global exporter of rice.
	 In 1934, Burma posted a record high rice export of 3.4
million tonnes, but a decline set in rapidly as the country went
into a state of self-imposed isolation in the early 1960s.
	 Official data shows that in the last 1994/95 (April-March)
fiscal year, Burma's rice exports leapt to over one million
tonnes from 261,000 tonnes exported in 1993/94.
	 For the current fiscal year 1995/96, Burma's military rulers
or the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) have set
a rice export target of 1.5 million tonnes.
	 Private and independent cargo surveyor SGS (Myanmar) Ltd's
general manager U Kyaw Tin confirmed that Burmese rice exports
are likely to spiral in the months ahead.
	 ``Burma's rice production will rise and I think the
government can achieve 1.3 million tonnes of the 1.5 million
tonne export target this fiscal year,'' he told Reuters.
	 SGS data, which are computed on a calendar year basis,
showed that Burma's rice exports in all of 1994 totalled 618,787
tonnes and are likely to hit one million tonnes in this year.
	 In the first eight months of this year, the export figure
had already surpassed the 1994 total and stood at over 620,000
tonnes, the surveyor's figures show.
	 The biggest importer of Burma's 25 percent broken rice this
year is drought-affected Indonesia, which has bought about 75
percent of all exports, traders said.
	 Burmese rice export prices have surged to about $250 a tonne
from around $225 a tonne late last year, they added.
	 Official statements and traders said the secret behind
Burma's sharp growth in rice has been the introduction of
fast-growing, high-yielding strains of paddy, which has made
double cropping and even triple cropping in some areas possible.
	 Improved irrigation in the Irrawaddy Delta rice bowl has
also made a big difference, the Agriculture Ministry said.
	 About 16 million acres (6.4 million hectares) of paddy
fields are expected to be planted in fiscal 1995/96, up from
nearly 14.25 million acres (5.7 million ha) in 1994/95,
according to government statistics.
	 Production is targeted to hit 1.0 billion 46-pound (20.9 kg)
baskets of unmilled rice (paddy) during the 1995/96 fiscal year,
up from 881 million baskets in 1993/94 and 813 million baskets
in 1992/93, according to official data.
	 Burma, with its 45 million pepople, is now said to be
self-sufficient in rice. The government estimates about 700
million baskets of paddy are needed to feed Burmese annually.
	 But industry sources said wastage is rising in farmlands,
due to a lack of infrastructure, modern machinery and storage
facilities.
-------------------------------

Subject: Man leads Burma delegation to women's conference

	 RANGOON, Burma (Reuter) - Burma's male-led delegation to the
Beijing women's conference has been asked to tell the meeting
that Burmese women are already equal to men and have no need to
demand equality, official media reported Wednesday.
	 Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt of the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) made the comments to the delegation,
led by Maj. Gen. Soe Myint, Minister of Social Welfare, Relief
and Resettlement, before it left to attend the United Nations
Fourth World Conference on Women.
	 Burma's most famous woman politician, Nobel Peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, has sent a videotaped speech to be played at
the non-governmental organization (NGO) forum on women.
	 The speech made by the recently freed opposition leader was
due to be played Aug. 31 at the NGO forum which runs parallel to
the U.N. conference.
	 Khin Nyunt told the Burmese delegation it does not need to
demand the rights and equality called for by other women at the
conference.
	 The Burmese representation at the Beijing conference is not
to make demands for Burmese women, but to present objective
conditions of the rights they enjoy, he said.
	 If any accusations are laid against Burma at the conference,
the delegates need to explain the rights Burmese women enjoy and
refute any accusations most firmly, the official media reported.
--------------------------

Subject:  Thai minister to offer Burma help on opium rebel

	 BANGKOK, Sept 1 (Reuter) - Thai Defence Minister Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh said on Friday he will offer Burma full cooperation
in its military campaign against opium rebel Khun Sa.
	 ``Khun Sa is a narcotics trafficker so Thailand is ready to
offer full cooperation in crushing him if the Burmese government
asks for it,'' Chavalit told reporters before leaving for a
two-day trip to Rangoon.
	 Chavalit declined to eleborate in what particular areas
Thailand could help Burma in its campaign against the warlord,
who controls zones in northeastern Shan state near the border
with Thailand.
	 Last week a senior official from Burma's military government
told Reuters Thailand must stop supplies being smuggled across
its border to Khun Sa if he is ever to be defeated.
	 Thailand officially sealed its northern border with areas
controlled by Khun Sa last year. But smugglers are known to
still operate along some remote sections of the frontier.
	 Chavalit, who is also a Deputy Prime Minister, is visiting
after a period of strained bilateral relations since the
beginning of the year, when Burmese forces launched an offensive
against autonomy-seeking guerrillas in southeast Burma, forcing
thousands of refugees into Thailand.
	 In the most recent incident to strain ties, Thai operators
of two fishing boats last month attacked 18 Burmese crewmen,
leaving six dead and five missing.
	 Chavalit said he would not seek a meeting with Burma's
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on his visit to Rangoon.
	 ``Aung San Suu Kyi is an ordinary politician. There's
nothing significant in her so why do I have to see her,'' he
said.
	 While army chief in December, 1988, Chavalit became the
first foreign dignitary to visit Burma in the aftermath of the
bloody crushing of a pro-democracy uprising that year.
	 Shortly after his visit Thailand repatriated scores of
Burmese dissidents who had fled the crackdown in Burma to the
Thai side of the frontier, many of them by force.
	 At the same time Burma granted extensive logging concessions
to Thai companies in southeastern and eastern Burmese frontier
areas.

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