Items from Daily Yomiuri, Japan Ti

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Subject: Items from  Daily Yomiuri, Japan Times and Asiaweek

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October 12, 1995

SUU KYI RESTORED TO FORMER PARTY POST

YANGON (AP)  Dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi was
Tuesday formally restored to her former
position as general secretary of the party she helped found,
the National League for Democracy, party
sources said.

Sun Kyi, who was released from six years of house arrest in
July, regained her position when a new 10 
- member party central executive committee was chosen.

The current party chairman Aung Shwe kept his post, while
Kyi Maung and Tin Oo, two prominent
party leaders who were released from prison in March,
became vice chairmen.

The new list of central executive committee members has
been submitted to the government's election
commission, said the sources, who insisted on anonymity.

Sun Kyi, who was detained but never tried on charges of
endangering national security, has been
focusing since her release on rebuilding the party.

The original central executive committee was forced to
change its membership after Tin Oo, then
chairman, and Aung San Suu Kyi were detained in July 1989. 
Many other senior party members,
including central executive committee member Kyi Maung,
were also later detained.

Aung Shwe replaced Tin Oo as chairman in 1990, while Sun
Kyi's general secretary post remained
vacant.

Under Aung Shwe's chairmanship, the party had to expel Tin
Oo, Kyi Maung and Sun Kyi in 1991, in
order to retain its status as a legal party since political parties
were not allowed to have members
charged with offenses by the government.

The National League for Democracy was formed as a vehicle
for pro-democratic forces to contest a
1990 general election.  The party won a landslide victory, but
was not allowed to take power when the
military government refused to convene parliament.  In the
post - election period many of the league's
leaders, and others opposed to the junta, were either
imprisoned or fled into exile.

The junta, which took power in 1988 after violently
suppressing pro - democracy demonstrations, has
not set a date for a return to civilian rule.

Meanwhile, an investigator for the United Nations Human
Rights Commission met Tuesday with Suu
Kyi and senior members of her National League for
Democracy.

It was the first time in five missions to Myanmar that Prof. 
Yozo Yokota was able to meet Suu Kyi. 
The country's military government had turned down his
previous requests to meet her.


In reports from his previous missions, Yokota has been very
critical of the government for abusing
human rights and failing to make democratic reforms.

The military took power in 1988 after violently suppressing
pro-democracy demonstrations.

It held a general election in 1990 but refused to let
parliament convene after the NLD won a landslide
victory.

Many of Suu Kyi's colleagues were imprisoned or went into
exile after the election.

At Tuesday's meeting, Sun Kyi introduced Yokota to former
party chairman Tin Oo, whom the U.N.
investigator first met at Insein Prison during his previous
fact-finding mission last November.

Tin Oo was imprisoned in 1989 and released in March this
year.

Yokota, who arrived Sunday, met Supreme Court Chief
Justice Aung Toe and Attorney General Tha
Tun Tuesday morning.  He also met political party leaders
who are delegates to the ongoing national
convention to draw up guidelines for a new constitution.  On
Monday he met Foreign Ministry
officials.

Yokota is scheduled to visit Insein Prison, 10 kilometers
north of Yangon, Thursday before visiting
Kachin State and Shan State, two ethnic minority areas.

He is also scheduled to meet Lt.  Gen.  Khin Nyunt,
considered the junta's most influential leader, on
Oct. 16.



Thursday, October 12, 1995

ASIANS HOLD LEAD IN DEFENSE SPENDING, IISS
STUDY SAYS

LONDON (Reuter) - Leading Asian countries are boosting
defense spending at a time when other
parts of the world are cutting theirs, with China spending
four times what it publicly admits to, an
international think-tank said Tuesday.

The London-based International Institute of Strategic
Studies made the observations in its annual
report, "The Military Balance," widely regarded as an
authoritative independent reference work on
defense.

While the IISS noted tension in Asia over North Korea and
China, it said the growing economic power
of the region, rather than a dangerous arms race fuelled by
mistrust, had led many countries to bolster
their defenses.

"It would be incorrect  ... to see in these  increasing levels of
defense expenditure an arms race
threatening regional stability," the report said. 

"In several cases, strong and sustained economic
performances have allowed for increased investment
in nonoffensive defense and security."

In the past year, Western allies proceeded with big post-Cold
War arms reductions while Russia
struggled with budget cuts and manpower problems, the
report said.

Even in the Middle East and Gulf region, traditionally fertile
ground for arms sales, the report said
defense spending dropped from $44.5 billion in 1993 to
$42.7 billion last year, with the figure
expected to fall to $41 billion this year.

The picture in Asia was very different.  India and Pakistan,
regional rivals at odds over the Kashmir
region, increased their defense budgets by between six and
seven percent this year compared with
1994.   Sri Lanka and Burma, fighting insurgents, planned
even bigger increases.

In East Asia, including China, Japan, the Philippines and the
Korean peninsula, the IISS said defense
spending increased by about nine percent in real terms
between 1992 and 1994.

This year, defense budgets denominated in national
currencies show a six percent nominal increase,
before taking inflation into account.  The same budgets show
a 10 percent increase when measured in
U.S. dollars, because of shifts in relative currency values on
foreign exchange markets.

Because of changes in the value of the yen, this shift was
particularly dramatic in the case of Japan, the
study said.

Although the 1995 budget in yen shows only a small increase
from 1994, its dollar value shows an
increase of about 20 percent-to about $56 billion.

"With the possible exception of Russia, Japan now spends
appreciably more on defense than any other
country apart from the U.S.," the IISS said.

The report cast doubt on official Chinese figures for defense
spending and said the country's huge
armed forces had been extensively modernized on the back
of a strengthening economy, with sharply
increased defense spending since 1989.

"The IISS estimates that Chinese military expenditure was
over $28 billion in 1994 - nearly four times
the official figure," the report said.


         From:  THE JAPAN TIMES 
October 12, 1995

l.625 BILLION YEN GRANTED
MYANMAR NURSE SCHOOL TO GET AID 

by Hisane Masaki 
Staff writer

Japan will provide 1.625 billion yen in grant aid to Myanmar
for the repair of a nurse training school
in Rangoon, government officials said Monday, in yet
another sign of the gradually warming
economic relations between the two countries.

The officials, who requested anonymity, said the decision on
the grant aid - the largest official
development assistance to be extended by Tokyo to
Rangoon since the military coup there in 1988 
will be formally approved at an Oct. 24 Cabinet meeting.

The aid will also be the first ODA granted to the Southeast
Asian country since the release in July of
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from nearly six years of
house arrest.

Following the 1988 military coup in Myanmar, Japan
effectively froze all types of ODA - yen loans,
grants and technical cooperation.

As a result, disbursement of low - interest official yen loans
committed earlier by Japan for several
infrastructure projects, including some 25 billion yen for
repair and extension of an international
airport in Rangoon, were suspended.

The junta, which calls itself the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, put Suu Kyi under house
arrest in 1989 and annulled a 1990 democratic election in
which her National League for Democracy
won a decisive victory.

In March, Japan took the first significant step toward
gradually unfreezing ODA for Myanmar,
providing 1 billion yen in grant aid to help the country
increase agricultural production in areas
inhabited by ethnic minorities.

Japan has stressed the need for a policy of "constructive
engagement" with Myanmar aimed at
encouraging changes toward democratization and
improvements on human rights records through
dialogue, rather than international isolation.

The government officials said, however, that grant aid for
agricultural production and repair of the
nursing school is for purely humanitarian purposes.

Such aid should not be taken as a signal Tokyo will turn the
aid tap on freely for Rangoon, given the
lack of further progress on democratization and human rights
protection, the officials added.

Following Suu Kyi's July 10 release from house arrest, Japan
began to prepare for a resumption of the
yen loans it had already committed before the military leaders
took power in the 1988 coup.

Japanese officials say, however, that the suspended loans will
not be resumed during the current fiscal
year for technical reasons, such as the need to re-evaluate the
projects to be financed by the money.

In addition, Japan seems in no hurry to resume the frozen
yen loans because the West, especially the
United States, insists that Suu Kyi's freedom alone is far
from sufficient and opposes any economic aid
to Myanmar.

Suu Kyi herself has made remarks in interviews with the
foreign media that are critical of Japanese
economic aid, especially large amounts of yen loans,
although she does not seem to oppose aid for
humanitarian purposes.



October 13, 1995

The Last Frontier
MYANMAR IS NOW OPEN FOR INVESTMENT

The release of oppositionist Aung San Suu Kyi three months
ago has sparked a burst of investment
activity in Myanmar --  touted as perhaps the last get - rich -
quick frontier in Southeast Asia.  Among
the pioneers is the Myanmar Fund launched by a subsidiary
of Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok's
Kerry Group.  Richard Neville, 34, is the manager of the
Hong Kong - based fund, which started with
$28 million in capital a year ago.  Neville studied for a
Bachelor of Arts (Commerce) degree at the
Royal Military College of Canada and got his M.B.A. from
the University of Western Ontario before
embarking on a career in corporate finance and investment
management.  Last week, he spoke with
Asiaweek's Senior Correspondent Assif Shameen.

Why invest in a place like Myanmar?

In the 1950s, Burma as it was then called, was the leading
economy in Southeast Asia and the biggest
rice exporter.  Myanmar is a reasonably large, resource-rich
country with 45 million people.  A higher
proportion of people there have a university degree than
Thailand.  It has a British legal system which
is a bit rusty but is still considered better than Vietnam's or
China's.  There are international
accounting rules in place.  Myanmar has all the same
attributes that Thailand had 15 or 20 years ago. 
If you had invested in Thailand then, you would be a very
rich person today.

How are fundamentals?

They have not been this good in decades.  The economy is
starting off from a very low base.  Between
1962 and 1989 the country was closed, with no private
investment and no foreign investment.  Even
the corner grocery store and laundry were nationalized. 
Reforms started in 1989 and have taken root
only in the last three years.  The private sector has gone from
2% of the economy in 1988 to 73% of
the economy this year and the government is continuing to
privatize its holdings.  Last year, GDP
growth was 7.7% and this year it will again exceed 7%.

What sectors are soaking up foreign investments?

Two big offshore natural gas projects have been announced
that will bring in investments worth $1.6
billion over the next two and half years.  The first consortium
has Unocal, Total and PTT of Thailand. 
There is a second, smaller project with Texaco.  But tourism
has taken the biggest chunk of
investment so far - not just in hotels and resorts but also in
transportation and other infrastructure. 
Last year 98,000 tourists came through Yangon airport; this
year 150,000 tourists will visit Myanmar
and next year the number should be close to 250,000.  Three
years ago there just 300 decent hotel
rooms in Myanmar.  By the end of 1997 there will be 5,000
rooms in Yangon alone, if all projects are
completed on time.  There are two joint venture airlines,
controlled by Singapore companies, now that
the government has opened up aviation services.  Another
area soaking up investment is the
agribusiness.  The government has freed the price of rice,
and better irrigation will make more land
available for the crop.  Myanmar has the potential to become
the bread basket of Southeast Asia.  It
has the same climate as Thailand, with similar soil and
one-tenth the labor costs.
Are investors worried about political risks in Myanmar?   

Lack of western-style democracy has not prevented foreign
investments from flowing into Asian
countries before or slowed down economic growth. 
Investors took at stability and returns.  They
worry whether their assets will be protected and whether
they will be able to take out their profits in an
efficient and timely manner.  The Myanmar government has
gone a long way in assuring investors that
their assets will not be nationalized, that stability will be
maintained and that they will be able to
repatriate profits.

Where are the best opportunities for investors?

Because Myanmar hasn't had a private sector for 28 years
you can go into industries where you are the
only provider of goods and services and where annual
growth is phenomenal. The manufacturing of
consumer goods as well as the processing of commodities
offer the best potential. Manufacturing is
just 9% of GDP now compared to 20% - to - 30% for most
Southeast Asian countries. The food - and
- beverage sector is one area for growth, particularly
seafood, prawns, shrimp and chicken processing. 
Investors are also looking at packaging, textiles and light
industries.

Where has the Myanmar Fund invested so far?

We are raising $28 million over the next few weeks, since
projects are increasing in size.  We have
invested in two four - star hotels, and have a stake in a
company that has a polypropylene bag
manufacturing plant, a small paper mill, timber processing
and a warehouse in Yangon.  We are
investors in a consortium that is developing a business
district on the outskirts of Yangon that will
have offices, a convention center, a hotel, shopping mail and
apartments spread over a 34 - acre site. 
We have assets that have appreciated 30% - to - 40% over
the past 12 months.  Yangon property has
appreciated 50% in the past year or so.  We are getting in on
level zero.  There is no stock market in
Myanmar, but there is some over - the - counter trading in
about 30 state companies.  I believe the
Yangon market will start trading in early 1997, well before
the Ho Chi Minh City stock market opens
that year.  


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