Selected articles from New Frontier

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Subject: Selected articles from New Frontiers 

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New Frontiers
April 1996

E-mail:  TERRAPER@xxxxxxxxxx


SLORC WOOS THE TOURIST DOLLAR

[BP: 19.3.96] -  VISIT Myanmar Year 1996' has induced the
SLORC to make exceptions to a few rules. In the interests of
tourism promotion, for example, civil servants in the provinces
no longer have to sign a paper to the effect that they are not
interested in politics. Burma, which expects an increasing
tourist influx this year, retains a "few names" of foreigners and
Burmese nationals living abroad on its national security
blacklist. The Shangri- La Traders Hotel in central Rangoon
has been given the nod 
to build a 32 - storey premises although the official policy bans
high - rise construction to preserve the capital's architectural
integrity. Employees of state-owned Myanmar Tours and
Travels can now freelance as independent tour guides. 

With the promotion, the SLORC hopes to make US$80 million
this fiscal year, said Lt Gen Kyaw Ba, Minister of Hotels and
Tourism. The travel and tourism industry reportedly injected
US$34 million into the economy in fiscal 1994 - 5. 

Apart from bending those rules, the junta has implemented
beautification campaigns in Rangoon and other tourist
destinations, including Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State and
surrounding areas. Central Taunggyi has been particularly
affected by a policy to beautify the city through a command
requiring that houses facing streets to be of at least two storeys
high. Consequently, owners of such houses not meeting the
minimum height requirement have been forced to sell them to
those who can afford it. 

The same rule is enforced in compact Kalaw, formerly a British
hill resort on the tourist trail in Lake Inle region in Shan State.
Kalaw seems to have had it worse than Taunggyi because this
sleepy town with no motor - bikes and fewer than 10 motor
vehicles woke up 18 months ago to find itself hosting a Staff
College of the Military Academy, which has meant an invasion
of soldiers and members of their families. At present, troops
account for half of the 10,000 - 12,000 population in Kalaw
said one resident. "They're making people paint their houses
and expand the roads all at the expenses and suffering of the
people," he said. "They say the beautification of Kalaw is for
tourists. In fact, they don't want the tourists, they want their
dollars." 

Two years ago, the railway was extended from Shwenyaung,
near Taunggyi, to Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State, while a
Swenyaung - Namsang rail link is under construction. The road
between Kalaw and Taunggyi has also been enlarged, at a cost
extracted from the populace. Some people lost the compounds
of their houses without any compensation. Sprucing up these
places also requires labour, of course. According to locals, the
government has ordered each household to "contribute labour
for public works." 

Such issues as the forced relocations of people and conscript
labour have attracted strong protests by human rights activists
worldwide and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who
maintains that the time is not right for a lot of foreigners to pour
into Burma. 

Culture vultures drawn by Burma's rich history and culture are
growing remarkably in the country. As elsewhere, culture and
commercialism always go hand in hand as the tourism industry
develops, and Burma is heading the same path. For instance,
Padaung women, renowned for their necks stretched by metal
rings, were brought from their habitat in Loikaw to Yaungshwe
to become tourist attractions. "It is good to live here because
there is nothing to do at home," said 19 - year - old Ma Namu
of her new life at a tourist hotel. "But our old relatives in the
village do not like what we're doing. They said it looks like we
come here just to beg for money from tourists." 

Campaign!

BURMESE WOMEN FIGHTING FOR EQUALITY AND
FREEDOM

[BI: Feb. 19961 - THE Burmese Women's Union (BWU),
formed in January 1995 as a voice for Burmese women in the
international arena, recognizes that the pursuit of equality and
freedom for women in their country is inextricably intertwined
with the ongoing struggle for democracy and peace in Burma.
Women are at the forefront of this struggle as eminently
illustrated by the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose
courage and commitment to human rights and non - violence
are an inspiration to women throughout the world. 

Today, violence against women and girls is pervasive under the
command of the SLORC. Rape is systematically used during
military offensives against ethnic nationalities and democratic
forces. Women are also forced to serve as human mine sweepers
and to carry arms and ammunition for the army. The military
supports and propels the thriving trafficking routes by which
girls and women are sold into the brothels of Thailand. Women
also bear the brunt of SLORC's policies of forced relocation,
where families are expelled from their homes to satellite towns
which lack electricity, clean water and access to transportation.
Women face great difficulties in meeting the most basic needs
for the family. It is the women who have suffered the harshest
consequences of social and economic collapse. 

In preparation for the 1996  Visit Myanmar Year', many
women, some of whom are pregnant, are among hundreds of
thousands of people being forced to work as slave labourers in
beautification projects as well as in the construction of railways,
roads, bridges and airports. 

The BWU urges the international community: 

* To call upon SLORC to take immediate steps to comply with
the UN Commission on Human Rights' resolution of 8 March
1995 and the UN General Assembly's resolution of 2 December
1994, especially "to put an end to torture, abuse of women and
forced labour, to enforced displacements of the population and
to enforced disappearances and summary execution" and "to
allow all citizens to participate freely in the political process. 

* To refrain from improving relations with SLORC, to stop
foreign investment and boycott companies which are exploiting
this situation; 

* Under no circumstances should the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund or Burma's key donors resume
bilateral or multilateral economic assistance, including debt
relief. 

* To boycott the "Visit Myanmar Year 1996" campaign by the
SLORC to earn foreign exchange. 

Finally, the BWU calls upon women from all over the world to
join them in their struggle to end violence against Burmese girls
and women, and to promote social changes in Burma that value
human rights and women's rights. 


UK: DON'T VISIT MYANMAR YEAR CAMPAIGN
INTENSIFIES

[TN: 29.3.96; 5.4.96; BP: 30.3.96] - TRAVEL agencies, tour
operators and tourists in Britain are increasingly urged to
boycott Burma to show their disapproval of human rights
abuses committed by the Rangoon military regime. 

Labour MP Derek Fatchett said at a news briefing in
Parliament: "Burma stands condemned by the United Nations
for its human rights abuses. The development of the tourist
industry has been at a price to the local community which every
decent person would regard as unacceptable." 

Referring to information of the London based Burma Action
Group (BAG), Fatchett said around two million people,
including children, had been forced into slave labour alongside
prison chain gangs in a massive programme of development to
make the country ready for tourists. 

BAG has just launched an updated edition of the 'Alternative
Guide' which documents human rights violations in relation to
tourism promotion. BAG coordinator Yvette Mahon said
visiting Burma now means people are lending legitimacy to a
cruel and greedy military regime." 

Out of 38 UK - based tour operators offering Burma trips, 20
companies turned up to the lobbying session of travel agents on
this issue.  However, some of the bigger operators like British
Airways Holidays failed to show up. Kuoni Travel's London
representative, Toni Leyland, did not attend the forum and
rejected a boycott, but he admitted that Burma was a very
problematic tourist destination. Other travel agents just tried to
escape from responsibility altogether. Alan Flook from the UK
Federation of Tour Operators said, for example: "We do not get
involved in politics." 

NO GOLF DAY, 29 APRIL 1998

On 29 April 1996, the Global Anti-Golf Movement (GAG'M)
and people all over the world will celebrate the Fourth  World
No Golf Day' to further raise public awareness and educate
decision - makers on the destructive and exploitative nature of
golf course development. 

With no more new golf courses being built and constantly
falling prices for club memberships in Thailand, it has become
utterly clear that the golf boom can not be sustained in the long
run. Even golf - crazed Japan has experienced a fiasco: Course
construction has dramatically slowed down; many clubs are
facing bankruptcy; the membership market has slumped; the
number of golf players is declining, and fewer Japanese are
going on golfing holidays abroad. 

Yet, golf course developers are still expanding their
unsustainable and economically risky businesses l into the
poorest countries in this region - Indochina and Burma -, where
investment costs are low, natural resources are abundant, and
opposition by environmentalists is unlikely to occur in the near
future. 

Time is just right to enforce a worldwide moratorium on golf
courses and stop the promotion of golf. tourism!
 
For more information, contact the GAG'M Secretariat. c/o
APPEN, 27 Lorong Maktab, Penang 10250, Malaysia; Tel: (60
- 4) 2276. 930,  Fax: (60 - 4) 2275. 705. 

GOLF WITH THE SLORC! 

[TN: 19.3.96] - THAILAND'S Prime Minister Barharn Silpa -
archa claimed that his two-day official visit to Burma last
March was "a big success"  regarding the restoration of bilateral
relations and cooperation which have been strained for over a
year due to several border incidents. Speaking on his return to
Bangkok, the premier said he had been warmly received by
both the ruling SLORC and the Burmese people, thus
"reflecting the long existing close bond of friendship between
the two countries.

Thailand, he said, needed to reform its economic and
cooperative "strategy" with Burma which should now promote
additional visits to Thailand by Burmese leaders, and suggested
that half- day trips to Burma should be organized so that leaders
of the two countries could play golf.

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