conf:reg.burma, conf:soc.culture.bu (r)

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>     doctor and close aid of Aung San Suu Kyi who was
>     arrested in August 1993 and sentenced to twenty
>     years imprisonment for allegedly distributing anti-
>     government literature in Rangoon; and U Khin Zaw Win
>     (aka Kelvin), Daw San San Nwe, U Khin Maung Swe, U
>     Sein Hla Oo and Myat Moe Moe Htun who were all
>     arrested in August 1994 and given sentences of
>     between seven and fifteen years for having given
>     'false information' to embassies and journalists.
>     Khin Zaw Win was also alleged to have contacted the
>     U.N. Special Rapporteur on his visit to Burma in  1992.
>
>**************************
>
>BKK POST: BURMA PUTS CONVENTION DATE BACK BY ONE MONTH      
>October 6, 1995              AFP
>
>Burma announced yesterday it was putting off the next session of a national
constitutional convention for a month, to November 28, to avoid disrupting
rice-planting and the observance of Buddhist holidays.
>
>Analysts, however, linked the delay to the annual United Nations vote on a
resolution calling for an improved human rights situation in Burma.
>
>"By delaying well past the time when the resolution will be debated, the
junta can rest on the laurels it won in releasing Aung San Suu Kyi," one
Burma-watcher commented.
>
>If the convention resumed as scheduled, "It would be obvious that the State
Law and Order Restoration Council was not going to talk to Suu Kyi or
address her concerns," a diplomat reached by telephone in Rangoon commented.
>
>Analysts also pointed to the total solar eclipse which is to be visible
across parts of Burma on October 24, the day the convention was to have
resumed. Countries in the region generally consider an eclipse to be
inauspicious.
>
>State-run newspapers reported yesterday that the delay would help ensure
the attendance of the 700 delegates to the convention, and avoid disrupting
their livelihood and religious observances.
>
>October 24 falls in the midst of the planning season for a second rice
crop, and just after the three-month Buddhist Lent. "The religious holidays
and the planting season can hardly have taken the Slorc by surprise, so that
can't be the reason," one ana
>ly
>
>st said flatly.
>
>Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw, addressing the UN General Assembly on
Tuesday, said his government had made great strides in getting rid of
insurgents and implementing reforms.
>
>"I'm happy to be able to say that in Myanmar peace reigns like never before
and that the momentum for positive change continues," he said. He said the
country was in the process of drafting a new constitution and that a large
number of people have been 
>re
>
>leased.
>
>"Insurgency which was born with our independence is now coming to a close,"
he said. "The unprecedented return to the legal fold of 15 out of the 16
armed groups speaks volumes for our efforts at national reconsolidation. The
Government has adopted poli
>ci
>
>es to prevent disintegration of the union, ensure the non-disintegration of
national solidarity and ensure the perpetuity of our country's sovereignty,"
he said.
>
>He also said the Slorc has been working hard to combat drug trafficking.
"Our men have sacrificed life and limb so that the world may be rid of the
scourge of narcotic drugs," Ohn Gyaw said, giving a death toll of 727
government soldiers and 720 "enemie
>s"
>
> killed in drug-related combat since 1988.
>
>"The numbers speak for themselves," he said. Burma has been hoping to break
the international consensus on a strong anti-Rangoon resolution in the
General Assembly this year, partly in recognition of the release of Suu Kyi.
>
>But Burmese dissident Sein Win, speaking outside the assembly Wednesday,
urged the international community to continue to look criticially at Burma.
>"The very repressive laws are still there. Other political prisoners are
still there," said Sein Win, speaking on behalf of a Burmese
government-in-exile.
>
>On October 3, state-run Burmese radio and television reported the arrest of
a student, Ye Htut, on charges of spreading anti-government information to
contacts abroad.
>
>Human Rights Watch/Asia, protesting against the arrest, said it "should be
a signal to the international community about the need to maintain the
pressure for fundamental human rights improvements."
>
>The latest session of the constitutional convention was adjourned in March.
No time frame was announced for it to complete its work.
>
>Observers said it had done little more than set down so-called basic
principles 104 of them to be covered in the final document, while fleshing
out three of the 15 chapters in the envisaged constitution.
>
>Meanwhile, two Burmese ministers left Rangoon to lead delegations on
official visits to Africa and the United States, Radio Rangoon said. The
station said the two parties were headed by Immigration and Population
Minister Lt-Gen Maung Hla and Finance Mi
>ni
>
>ster Brig-Gen Win Tin.
>
>Maung Hla led a four-member team to study the activities of the United
Nations Human Rights Commission in Africa, it said, without giving specific
details of countries to be visited.
>
>Win Tin and his six-member delegation were heading for Washington to attend
the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund, the radio added. (BP)
>
>**********************
>
>NATION: WORLD IMPLODING ON SHAN STATE
>October 6, 1995
>
>The Burmese border state is being convulsed by change and
>possibly destroyed by a dangerous explosion of free trade, drugs
>and prostitution, Andrew Nette reports.
>
>Best known until recently for its location among the opium fields
>of the Golden Triangle, Burma's remote Shan State is becoming one
>of the epi-centres of the HlV/Aids epidemic sweeping across the country.
>
>The World Health Organization estimates 400,000 people _ almost
>one per cent of the total population _ could be infected with the
>virus in Burma, on a per capita basis far surpassing Thailand and
>India, the two Asian countries considered worst hit by the disease.
>
>Experts say that in addition to high rates of injecting drug use
>and poor access to health services, Shan State is especially
>vulnerable to the spread of Aids due to its position at thecentre 
>of the growing economic rivalry between Thailand and China.
>
>This has led to an explosion of cross border trade and movement,
>both legal and illegal, which experts say is accelerating the
>spread of Aids. Road building, linking Shan State to other parts
>of Burma and to Yunnan and Thailand, has also increased.
>
>"After years of relative isolation the world is imploding on
>them," commented Dr Doug Porter, a lecturer at the School of
>Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University,
>in reference to the transformation taking place in the Shan State.
>
>In particular, Beijing is keen to make Burma into a land bridge
>between China and the Indian Ocean. Visitors to northwest Burma
>report that Chinese road crews are already hard at work repairing
>the Old Burma Road under a bilateral cooperation scheme with the
>Burmese government. The 1,154 kilometre road connects Lashio in
>Shan State to Kunming.
>
>With the opening up has come foreign media, bringing about a
>shift in cultural mores. " The Shan State today has a roaring
>sixties feel to it," said Christian Kroll, who is involved in
>drug and HIV prevention efforts on the Burma/Yunnan , border for
>the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
>
>"Many communities are surviving at _level basic subsistence, yet
>at the same time they are receiving TV from Hong Kong and
>Thailand," said Kroll. "It just makes them more vulnerable as
>they can't help but compare their own lives to what they are watching."
>
>Although the exact HlV/Aids situation is difficult to judge due
>to limited surveillance, there are already reports of people
>starting to die from the disease in rural Shan villages. Testing
>in Tachilek in south eastern Shan State reveals that HIV
>prevalence rates have increased dramatically among injecting drug
>users, pregnant women attending ante-natal services and male
>patients with sexually transmitted  diseases.
>
>As well as epitomising the contemporary face of the HlV/Aids
>epidemic in  Asia, however, Porter believes the Shan State
>illustrates the failure of traditional responses to the disease.
>
>"The fact that population movement is commonly associated with
>the spread of  Aids is leading to initiatives to try and
>stabilize people in one place," he says. ''Whether these involve
>better policing of borders or schemes to generate small business
>to get people to stay at home, they seldom work.
>
>As he puts it, this is because anti-Aids campaign "tend to
>characterize these people only as victims, thus giving them no agency."
>
>"Why do young Shan women cross into Thailand as sex workers?
>Poverty is obviously a key reason. But they are not just escaping
>from things, but to things, to new places and identities.
>
>"There are a huge number of reasons why people cross borders, and
>along side these our responses to the disease are puny and don't
>take into account the diversity of people's experience," he said.
>
>Porter's views are the result of research carried out on behalf
>of the UN in the Shan State over 1993. Undertaken with a Burmese
>research team, the main objective was to identify the patterns of
>trade transport and population movement which would be relevant
>to attempts to prevent the spread of HIV in the area.
>
>Entitled Wheeling and Dealing: HIV/Aids and Development on the
>Shan State Borders , the study  concentrated on the section of
>the Old Burma Road from Mandalay to Muse on the border with
>Yunnan, about the same distance as that between Bangkok and
>Chiang Mai.
>
>Released early this year, the study documents how the growth in
>cross-border trade and the privatization of the trucking industry
>in Burma have led to an increase in the number of vehicles on the
>road, in turn prompting a proliferation of truck stops at which
>commercial sex services are often provided.
>
>"The conventional approach is to provide Aids education to truck
>drivers and the women working at these stops," said Porter. "Our
>research showed that most of these people were already very aware
>of what Aids is, and that the money would be more usefully spent
>on strategies to facilitate faster movement so that drivers would
>not have to stop so often, like improving customs facilities at
>the border."
>
>A key problem faced by anti-Aids efforts in the Shan State is the
>nature of much of the cross border movement, which Porter
>describes as "a twilight world".
>
>"Traders, truckers, and women who take part in the cross border
>sex industry prefer to remain anonymous and avoid contact with
>the formal health system, because with visibility comes
>surveillance and the possibility of being identified as a "risk
>group' by the government.
>
>The study also deals with the value of local knowledge.
>"Travellers have amazing networks of information and are
>responsive to changes in a way that the formal health system
>cannot be."
>
>One example is the impressive intelligence and research capacity
>of truckers themselves and the people who control the majority of
>trade between Yunnan and Burma, the commercial Chinese families
>in Mandalay. "We don't need special researchers we need to
>facilitate a way of working with these people," said Porter.
>
>Although he stressed that Burmese health officials are genuinely
>concerned about the Aids problem, Porter said the country's
>present political climate makes implementing new ideas difficult.
>
>The study caused an uproar among senior government officials in
>Rangoon, who quickly moved to halt the project. "Officially the
>government doesn't like to admit to such things as the Chinese
>control over cross border trade. We found out too much."
>
>These sensitivities are heightened by the border's militarized
>nature and what he called, the fact that the study addressed
>illegal activity such as prostitution and drug use, and
>conceptions of ethnicity and the part of the central authorities
>to those dwelling in the border areas.
>
>"The lowland Burmans who run Rangoon government fear the Shan
>State. They see it as an uncertain world of crooks, prostitutes
>and drug runners, and this gives them a prejudiced view of what
>is going on."
>
>************************************************************
>
>THE NATION: KHUN SA BEGINS TO FEEL THE HEAT
>October 6, 1995
>Phoney war or not, government troops are closing in on the Shan war lord,
Andrew Nette writes.
>
>For thirty years Khun Sa has been the most feared and powerful of Burma's
drug lords, responsible for nearly 60 per cent of the world's heroin,
produced in a string of laboratories throughout the Golden Triangle. If
Western law enforcement officials and
> t
>
>he Burmese government have their way, this will not be the case for much
longer.
>
>Normally, the rains that blankets the Golden Triangle from May to November
are so heavy that little movement is possible. But this year, the monsoon
has masked a flurry of activity as the Burmese military moves thousands of
troops into position around K
>hu
>
>n Sa's base of Ho Mong, opposite the Thai border.
>
>Reports indicate that Khun Sa has responded by evacuating civilians from
his base, and moving millions of dollars into Thai bank accounts, in
preparation for what Western law enforcement officials in Bangkok maintain
will be the Burmese government's mos
>t 
>
>serious drive to eliminate the drug baron yet come the dry season.
>
>Others see these machinations as part of the phoney war on drugs in the
Golden Triangle, which they claim has been carried out for decades.
>
>"It's a game. If they were serious they would just bomb Khun Sa and get it
over with, but the reality is that Khun Sa is the best public relations
device the Burmese have," maintained one seasoned observer in Chaing Mai.
>
>"They can point to their campaign against him as evidence of their efforts
to crackdown on drugs," he continued. "If they didn't have him, they would
have to invent him."
>
>Throughout his career he has combined ruthlessness with a flair for
publicity which once saw him try to hire Henry Kissinger to persuade the US
government to buy a year's opium crop so that it could not be processed into
heroin.
>
>Khun Sa achieved international notoriety in 1989 when he was indicted in a
New York court on drug trafficking charges. Although he does not deny that
opium is the main corp grown in the area under his control, he has
repeatedly stated that he only taxes
> t
>
>he trade to fund his activities as a Shan nationalist.
>
>"I don't grow poppies. It is my people who grow them... Because they need
to buy rice to eat, and clothes to wear for themselves and their families,"
he is quoted as saying in a recently published pamphlet, General Khun Sa:
His Life and His Speeches, on
>e 
>
>of several public relations tracts to have appeared in bookshops throughout
Thailand in recent months.
>
>He has claimed he is a scapegoat, blamed for Washington's failure to
control drugs, and has accused the Burma's ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council of involvement in opium smuggling.
>
>While few observers give any credibility to Khun Sa's nationalist
pretensions, most agree that given the Slorc's iron grip over the country it
is inconceivable that drugs could be moved out on such a scale without their
official connivance.
>
>"They are definitely involved in the drug trade," said one Australian
academic familiar with the situation in Burma.
>
>"This is one of the poorest nations in Asia, and it is difficult to see how
the government could have acquired the army they have without access to some
alternative from of finance."
>
>Also implicated have been businessmen and government officials across Asia,
who have reportedly used profits from the drug trade to fund the
construction of new hotels and shopping centres from Rangoon to Phnom Penh.
>
>Despite labelling him the "worst enemy the world has", the American
government bears much of the responsibility for Khun Sa's rise to power, a
saga deeply entwined with the shadowy world of civil war anti-communist
insurgency that has dominated Burma si
>nc
>
>e World War II.
>
>He received his first military experience fighting with the Kuomintang,
anti-communist Chinese forces who during the fifties and sixties waged a
guerrilla war against Beijing with the covert backing of the US Central
Intelligence Agency and money from t
>he
>
> opium trade.
>
>In the late sixties he was recruited by Rangoon's military government to
head a "home guard" unit against the once powerful Communist Party of Burma.
He used the arms and influence provided by Rangoon to establish himself as
an opium smuggler.
>
>Western observers say that eliminating Khun Sa is a vital part of the
Burmese military regime's effort to dispel foreign perceptions of official
complicity in the drug trade.
>
>In addition, the Burmese government is keen to access the abundant natural
resources available in the area under Khun Sa's control including
hydro-electricity and timber. Thai logging companies are said to have
already signed timber concessions in the a
>re
>
>a under his control in anticipation of Khun Sa's defeat.
>
>Rangoon appears to be using similar tactics against Khun Sa to those
employed successfully against the Karen headquarters of Manerplaw earlier
this year: encirclement and economic strangulation, while it prepares for a
major military offensive.
>
>Rangoon has sealed off the border with Thailand, cutting the drug lord's
trade routes and preventing vital supplies of food and medicine from
entering his territory.
>
>The Slorc has also succeeded in exploiting ethnic differences within the
Muang Tai Army between the mainly Chinese leadership and a group of younger
Shan leaders who view Khun Sa as a liability in the struggle for an
independent Shan state.
>
>Rangoon has lured over a key defector, Lt-Col Gunyod who now leads an
independent Shan militia of 500-1,000 men. He reportedly quit because of
Khun Sa's "discrimination" against native Shans and his preoccupation with
the opium business.
>
>Thai and US drug enforcement agencies have cooperated in an unprecedented
wave of attacks on Khun Sa's trafficking organization abroad. The biggest of
these to date, code-named "Operation Tiger Trap" in late 1994, saw a blitz
on Khun Sa's "safe houses" 
>in
>
> Thailand, which led to the arrest of ten of his top lieutenants and the
seizure of vital internal records and financial documents.
>
>Most seriously of all, the Slorc has enlisted the support of ethnic Wa hill
tribes, who have engaged in fierce fighting with Khun Sa's forces over the
last few months.
>
>United Nations and law enforcement officials in Bangkok claim that together
these activities have succeeded in cutting the drug lord's heroin processing
ability by two-thirds, and seriously damaging his other business activities
such as cattle rustling 
>an
>
>d gem trading.
>
>But while this has led some to speculate that the drug lord's days as the
undisputed ruler of the Golden Triangle may be approaching their end, others
are more cautious, pointing out that this is not the first time Khun Sa has
been pronounced finished o
>nl
>
>y to bounce back.
>
>Despite internal divisions, his organization remains the most powerful
ethnic army in Burma. His private army is estimated to number 20,000
full-time fighters, armed with everything from US automatic weapons to
Russian made SAM 7 surface-to-air missiles
>.
>
>Although it has received considerable media attention, the Chaing Mai
source predicted that the break-away faction would not be successful due to
the fact that it "does not have an economic base and problems with its
supply lines."
>
>In March the Burmese regime announced a cease fire with the Karenni_ a move
considered vital to the regime's attempts to isolate Khun Sa, as Karenni
state is a buffer to his territory, though which Slorc troops hoped to
attack the war lord. (TN)
>
>*************************
>
>THE NATION: PRETENDERS TO DRUG BARON'S MANTLE MASS
>October 6, 1995      By Andrew Nette
>
>Whether the present assault against Khun Sa is successful or not, what is
certain is that the flow of drugs from the Golden Triangle will continue.
"Khun Sa is just one of many people involved in the narcotics trade in
Burma, and if he is removed there 
>ar
>
>e many others who will take his place," said an informed source in Chaing Mai.
>
>Indeed, if Khun Sa's dominance does come to an end, many believe it will
have less to do with the machinations of the Slorc and the US Drug
Enforcement Agency, than with the activities of a new breed of drug lords,
who are changing the decades-old ruler
>s 
>
>by which the narcotics business in the Golden Triangle has been conducted.
>
>In the past, hill tribe farmers grew the opium poppies, and merchants
connected to Khun Sa bought the opium and refined it into heroin in
laboratories on the Thai-Burma border. Various international criminal
syndicated then smuggled the drugs through Th
>ai
>
>land to South East Asia and the West.
>
>This situation changed following the collapse of Communist Party of Burma
in 1989. Throughout the seventies Beijing supplied the CPB with more aid
than any other insurgent movement outside Indochina.
>
>With the warming of relations between China and Burma in the early eighties
this declined, forcing the CPB into a reliance on the two cash corps
available in the area under their control: tea and opium.
>
>After the party's break-up the 15,000 strong force split along ethnic
lines. Within months, the Slorc had signed peace deals with them, under
which they were recognized as local militias, allowed to keep their weapons
and engage in any business activity
> t
>
>hey wished, including narcotics, in return for severing any links to those
forces still fighting Rangoon.
>
>This facilitated the rise of a new generation of drug lords who used the
freedom to increase opium production to a record 2,500 tonnes in 1994,
according to a US State Department Report released earlier this year.
>
>These include Lin Mingxian, a former Red Guard who joined the CPB in the
late sixties, and Lo Hsing-han, an ethnic Kokang, both of whom command
ex-CPB forces now recognized as a local militias by the authorities in Rangoon.
>
>While Khun Sa continues to command his forces from a remote base in the
Shan state, dealers like Lim Mingxian and Lo represent a different breed of
socially mobile dealers.
>
>They stay in first class luxury hotels in Rangoon, Yunnan and Singapore,
play golf with Slorc generals and own real estate in throughout Asia. Lim
has hosted visiting US delegations to northern Burma and participates as an
ethnic representative in the B
>ur
>
>mese government's Constitutional Convention.
>
>In addition to establishing a host of new heroin producing laboratories
within the Golden Triangle itself, they and other drug dealers have used
their connections left over from their CPB days to pioneer new trafficking
routes into southern China and In
>do
>
>china.
>
>Southern China is now the conduit for an estimated 50 per cent of the
heroin produced in the Golden Triangle. According to sources in Kunming, the
trade has flourished with the active cooperation of officials throughout
Yunnan, with the drugs often make
> t
>
>heir way from the Burmese border in military and police vehicles.
>
>Western law enforcement officials say new routes are superceding Khun Sa's
existing network, which remains largely based in Thailand and is under
increasing attack from Thai and US drug enforcement agencies.
>
>New drug barons are also expanding their operations within Burma. Informed
observers believe that Lo has bought up much of the opium crop  northern
Shan state, an area which until recently was exclusively under the control
of Khun Sa.
>
>Citing the participation of elements of the Wa State Army, in Rangoon's
campaign against Khun Sa, the Chaing Mai source said: "The Wa are involved
only because they want economic control over trafficking routes through
Thailand."
>
>Law enforcement forces, meanwhile, remain at a loss as to how to combat the
new traffickers. "To get to the key people you have to have an international
investigation," commented a senior UN drug control official, "and these
countries don't have a histo
>ry
>
> of that." (TN)
>*********************
>
>NATION: LETTER - A BURMESE APPEAL
>October 6, 1995
>
>Just after the coup that took place in Burma on Sept 18, 1988,
>the Slorc (State Law & Order Restoration Council) vowed and made
>known worldwide that they wanted to establish democracy based on
>the true will of the people with participation of political
>parties in Burma. In addition, the then coup leader, General Saw
>Maung made a promise that soldiers would return to barracks after
>transferring power to the government by the people's
>representatives who were to be elected in general elections.
>
>Well, let's recall the political events that followed.
>
>General elections were held in May 1990 and the NLD (National
>League for Democracy) won most of the seats with overwhelming
>support from the people. Then, the Slorc declared that drawing up
>of a new constitution was a must before the transfer of power.
>
>Thus, the "National Convention" was organized with the Slorc
>hand-picked delegates and MPs elected by the people. Anyhow, the
>number of the former is much larger than than of the latter! At
>the sessions of the Convention, the Slorc has manipulated through
>the former to include such strange, sub-standard and undemocratic
>clauses as: Parliament must consist of not only people's
>representatives but also those chosen by Tatmadaw (armed forces);
>Tatmadaw must take a leading role in national politics; a coup
>can be staged by the commander-in-chief of Tatmadaw in times of
>national chaos disorder and danger- the head of state must be a
>typical citizen of Burma, not married to a foreigner. These are
>just a few to mention.
>
>The National Convention and a new constitution which would be
>adopted at the end of this year or in the following year, reflect
>the true colour of the Slorc: instead of transferring power back
>to its own people, it consolidates its present position with the
>aim of making Tatmadaw a sole and uncontested heir of politic
>power in Burma.
>
>Almost after six years of house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi has been
>released because of international pressure and confidence of the
>Slorc in itself. Since the release, Suu Kyi has persistently
>requested the regime to open a dialogue in order to cooperate and
>coordinate efforts for a timely national reconciliation and
>rebuilding of the country, one of the poorest nations in the
>world today despite its richness in natural resources.
>
>Leading nations like, the United States, United Kingdom, France,
>Norway, Sweden, Germany, India, Australia and Asean have
>repeatedly [asked] the Slorc bluntly or diplomatically to step up
>a democratic process that would fulfil the wishes of the Burmese
>people.
>
>General Ne Win who foolishly clung to power for 26 years by using
>Tatmadaw as a stooge, has virtually destroyed Burma and its
>people in almost every sphere of life: education, health,
>economy, national character and so on. We, the Burmese people,
>have already had very painful lessons at the expense of our
>identity in the world today. Enough is enough. Now, it's the
>national duty and responsibility of every citizen of Burma not to
>let history repeat itself.
>
>When my friends and I were at the Defence Services Academy in
>Burma from 1955 to 1959, we had to study a course called
>"Appreciation in Military Science" in order to draw up practical
>strategy and tactic that would in turn guarantee victory over a
>potential enemy. It might seem a bit too late now but I sincerely
>believe there are still some workable options left.
>
>For this reason, may I take this opportunity as a last earnest
>request to all professional soldiers of Tatmadaw and some of my
>friends who still hold high positions in the Slorc to properly
>understand the implications of their actions on the country.
>There is no threat in the country and all the Burmese people ask
>for is genuine democracy and true national reconciliation.
>
>Khin Maung Myunt 
>Batch 1 of the Defence
>Services Academy
>Rangoon
>*****************
>
>
>