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The BurmaNet News, June 25, 1997
- Subject: The BurmaNet News, June 25, 1997
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 03:26:00
------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------
The BurmaNet News: June 25, 1997
Issue #758
Noted in Passing:
``The food crisis is severe there. I could not buy even two kilograms of
rice with my whole day's wage.''
-- Yusuf Jalal, a Rohingya who fled the Burmese town of Maungdaw last week.
(see Reuter: Bangladesh Reports Fresh Influx of Burma Refugees)
HEADLINES:
==========
AP: BURMA MILITARY: SUU KYI'S PARTY WANTS TO REJOIN
PNF: SUHARTO'S POISONED 30TH BIRTHDAY PRESENT
REUTER: BANGLADESH REPORTS FRESH INFLUX OF REFUGEES
RANGOON RADIO MYANMAR: SLORC'S MAUNG AYE RECEIVES
MOSCOW ITAR-TASS: OFFICIAL MEETS WITH BURMESE DEPUTY
REUTER: BRITAIN SAYS COULD IMPOSE MORE SANCTIONS
TT: TAK INTRODUCES 24-HOUR CHECKPOINTS
TT: CONSTRUCTION MARKET IN BURMA TARGETED
THE NATION: PM SEES PEACE PREVAILING IN REGION
THE NATION: A TEST OF MANILA'S DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: CONCERN OVER NLD ARRESTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
AP: BURMA MILITARY SAYS SUU KYI'S PARTY WANTS TO REJOIN CONVENTION
June 24, 1997
RANGOON, Burma (AP) _ Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi's political party wants to rejoin the military-run constitutional
convention it walked out of in 1995, state-run newspapers said Tuesday.
Commentaries in all three Burmese papers said the National League for
Democracy's executive committee had passed a resolution at a party congress
last month ``to rejoin the national convention and to conclude the
convention honorably.''
It was unclear, however, whether Suu Kyi's party had made the request
directly to the military government, or whether the government would allow
it to return.
Suu Kyi and party leaders could not be reached for comment as their
phones lines have been cut by the government.
The NLD walked out of the convention in November 1995, saying it was
undemocratic. The convention's leaders then formally expelled the NLD, and
government officials have said there is no procedure to allow a party to rejoin.
The convention, which has been meeting intermittently since 1993, is
drawing up a new constitution. There have been no meetings for more than a
year however, leading to speculation by diplomats and analysts that several
groups participating in the convention are unhappy with the charter being
drafted.
Democracy activists have labeled the convention a sham because most
delegates were handpicked by the military, and the constitution they are
drafting enshrines military rule.
The NLD won 82 percent of the vote in a 1990 election the military
refused to honor, but has only about 15 percent of the seats at the convention.
Instead of celebrating the NLD resolution as a move toward
reconciliation, the commentaries in Tuesday's papers all derided Suu Kyi and
her party.
``Why and for what reasons do you want to rejoin the national convention
that the political stunt star wife of the Englishman (Suu Kyi) and her
masters had slandered and opposed,'' said the commentary, written by a
high-ranking intelligence officer under a pseudonym.
On Monday, the same author wrote that the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner
was a puppet and her master was the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
``The national convention is not a licenseless bootleg liquor shop where
you can go in and come out without discipline,'' he wrote.
Diplomats have said that relations between Suu Kyi and the military
government began spiraling downward after the NLD left the convention.
Suu Kyi said that when her party asked for compromise on some of the
clauses in the draft charter that gave power to the military, it was told to
stop opposing the will of the regime or it would be expelled from the
convention.
Since the NLD pulled out, the regime has stepped up arrests of its
members, prevented Suu Kyi from delivering her weekend addresses to the
public, paid a mob to attack her motorcade with sticks and pipes, and put
her under a state of near house arrest, allowing very few people to meet
with her.
Suu Kyi spent six years under house arrest for her political activities
from 1989-95.
Burma's military government came to power in 1988 after gunning down more
than 3,000 people demonstrating for democracy.
**********************************************
PHILIPPINES NEWS & FEATURES: SUHARTO'S POISONED 30TH BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR ASEAN
June 20, 1997 [abridged]
by George J. Aditjondro
The entry of Burma, Laos, and Cambodia into ASEAN will turn this
regional association increasingly into a club of repressive regimes.
Especially since the two remaining relatively more democratic regimes --
the Philippines and Thailand -- have increasingly yielded to the pressure
of the more repressive ASEAN regimes, in particular Indonesia.
As an Indonesian dissident in exile, allow to focus on the relation
between the Suharto regime and Burma's military junta, the so-called State
Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Why is it that the Suharto
regime has so strongly supported an early admission of Burma into ASEAN?
The answer is twofold. Firstly, the admission of another and more
brutal military regime into this regional bloc, helps to cover up Suharto's
own reputation in violating the rights of East Timorese, West Papuan,
Dayak, Acehnese and other peoples ruled by his bureacratic-military
-industrial regime. In other words, Suharto can use ASEAN more effectively
as his 'shield' in international political forums.
Secondly, an early entry of Burma, Laos and Cambodia into ASEAN
provides Suharto-linked businesses with more time to prepare for the ASEAN
Free Trade Area (AFTA) in the year 2003.
Through all the interlocking businesses between the First Family
and their cronies, the Suharto regime has already reduced ASEAN into their
private "gold mine", which has catapulted the Suharto family into the
second richest Asian head of state, with an estimated wealth of US$ 6.3
billion.
Older ASEAN countries, such as the Philippines, have already become
a "playground" for the Soeharto-family businesses (see my articles in PNF
bulletins No. 17 and 18, Volume XIII, December 5 and 7, 1996).
Suharto-related businesses have also penetrated younger ASEAN
countries, such as Vietnam, and other soon to become ASEAN countries, such
as Cambodia. Titiek Prabowo, Suharto's second daughter, is involved in one
of the most environment-unfriendly businesses in that country, namely
logging, through a partnership with a young Sino-Indonesian businessman,
Jopie Widjaja. Titiek's siblings, Tutut and Bambang, also have close
business partnerships with another Sino-Indonesian businessman, Prajogo
Pangestu, whose Barito Pacific Group controls a one-million hectare timber
concession in Vietnam.
For the last seven years, Suharto-linked businesses have already
made substantial inroads into Burma. They now have covered a pretty wide
variety of sectors and commodities, ranging from consumer goods to
extractive industries.
Let me begin by exposing the First Family's trading activities with
Burma. In August 1991, an Indonesian-based company, PT Indomiwon Citra Inti
(ICI) first exported 70 tonnes of monosodium glutamate (MSG) to Burma,
Vietnam and Hong Kong. This company is a fifty-fifty joint venture between
PT Sambada Widyacita and Miwon from Korea. PT Sambada Widyacita itself is a
joint venture between Bambang Trihatmojo, President Suharto's second son,
and Anthony Salim, chief executive officer of the Salim Group, Indonesia's
largest business conglomerates in which two of Bambang's siblings -- Siti
Hariyanti Rukmana and Sigit Harjojudanto -- are shareholders.
Two years later, another Suharto-related company, PT Prima
Comexindo Trading (PCT), began bartering Indonesian-made medicines with
Burmese products. This company is owned by Hashim Djojohadikusumo, whose
elder brother, Mayor General Prabowo Subianto, is married to Suharto's
second daughter, Siti Hediyati Hariyadi, also known as Titiek Prabowo. In
fact, Titiek is a co-shareholder in several of Hashim's companies. Hasyim's
Tirtamas Group and Titiek Prabowo's Maharani Group control numerous
overlapping companies, including cement factories and a coal mine.
When Hashim began bartering with the SLORC, Suharto's youngest son,
Hutomo Mandalaputra Suharto, also known as Tommy Suharto, began to export
oil drilling explosives to Burma. This was carried out by PT Bina Reksa
Perdana, in which Tommy owns 55% shares. In 1994, this company received
orders amounting to more than US$ 4 million from Burma, India, Iraq, and
Australia.
Where do the explosives come from? No problem for the president's
most-beloved son, who could easily form a consortium with the state's
explosive factory, PT Dahana, controlled by Suharto's favorite Research and
Technology Minister, Dr B.J. Habibie. Another member of the consortium is
Chartered Oiltech Services Ltd. of Singapore.
In the good capitalist spirit of competition as well as the
notorious spirit of Suharto sibling rivalry, Tommy's elder brother Bambang
also began to expand his business activities in Burma -- via Bangkok. Four
years ago, one of Bambang's companies, PT Elektrindo Nusantara, became a
supplier for the Royal Thai Airforce and the Thai Department of Interior.
All those businesses are still peanuts compared to Indonesia's
automobiles export to Burma, handled by another Suharto-related company, PT
Astra International. This company is currently directed by a Suharto crony,
Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, on behalf of PT Nusamba, which is 80% owned by three
charities headed by Suharto himself. Other Suharto-related companies are
co-shareholders of Astra, the largest automotive producer and assembler in
Indonesia, which main products are Toyota cars.
After Astra's success in marketing Toyota Kijang cars abroad, the
company became the importer and sole distributor of BMW and Land Rover in
Burma. With 25% shares of Chine Motor of Burma and 5% shares of Marubeni
Auto China of Japan, Astra formed a Burma-based joint venture, named Myanmar
Astra Chinte Motor.
Any discussion about Suharto-related businesses in Burma, however,
is not complete without talking about the First Family's airlines. In this
case, Tommy's Sempati Air, which has since 1991 served direct flights from
Jakarta to Rangoon.
At the moment, Sempati Air has become an ASEAN airline, since a
Sabah-based company, ASEAN Aviation Inc. (AAI), has bought 40% of the shares
of Sempati, which was originally fully owned by an Indonesian Army company.
Six years ago, Tommy took over the company by buying 25% of the shares,
bringing in PT Nusamba as another (35%) shareholder. Tommy's shares will be
reduced even further from its current 15%, when Singapore Airlines's plans
to buy a stake in Sempati, will be materialized.
All these trading links quickly led to lucrative investment plans.
The first Suharto-linked company to invest in Burma was PT Rante Mario, one
of the many companies under Tommy's Humpuss Group. Through a joint venture
with a Burmese state company, Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTI), PT Rante
Mario plans to build a wood processing industry with an investment of US$ 75
million. Until 1999, however, this joint venture only has to produce logs
and lumber. After that, it plans to go into plywood.
Meanwhile, brother Bambang also began to invest in Burma. His
electronic company, PT Elektrindo Nusantara has built small telephone
central units for 256 subscribers in Rangoon, as a pilot project for a much
bigger deal with the SLORC.
This company is 51% owned by Bambang, and is one of the main money
makers of his Bimantara Group. Bambang's brothers-in-law, Indra Rukmana,
who is married to Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hariyanti Rukmana, also
known as Tutut, is a fellow Bimantara shareholder.
Simultaneous with the Elektrindo Nusantara deal, another Bimantara
company, PT Japfa Comfeed, planned to invest in an animal feed company in Burma.
The third member of Suharto's extended family to invest in Burma is
Hashim Djojohadikusumo. Although he already owns three cement factories in
Indonesia, last year he signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a
Burmese state-company, The Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Limited (UMEHL)
to build a one million ton per annum cement factory. The US$ 210 million
joint venture is expected to go into full steam in 2000, and will be 70%
owned by Hashim's Tirtamas Group.
As has happened with most juicy businesses of the Suharto family,
Hashim's businesses are also milking cows for the Indonesian Army. In
particular, milking cows for the most feared Special Forces, Kopassus, also
known as the Red Berets. These troops, which have been involved in quelling
major uprisings in East Timor and Indonesia, is commanded by Hashim's
brother, Mayor General Prabowo Subianto. Therefore it is not suprising that
the SLORC like to do business with Hashim, who knows how to please soldiers.
Hashim's cement factory may become a boon for other Suharto-related
projects in Burma, especially toll roads. During his recent two days visit
to Burma, President Suharto and the SLORC chairman, General Than Swee,
witnessed the signing of an MoU between a Burmese state company and an
Indonesian "private" company.
The Indonesian company concerned was PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada,
headed by Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana alias Tutut.
Travelling as part of her father's official entourage, Tutut signed an MoU
with Union of Myanmar Holding Ltd. Although the contents of the MoU was not
disclosed, journalists promptly guessed that it covers the construction of
toll roads, since that is Tutut's specialty in Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, and China.
Nevertheless, any discussion about Burma's economic potentials is
not complete without mentioning investments in oil mining, where two
Suharto-related companies have jumped on the bandwagon. Aside from its
Toyota, BMW, and Land Rover dealership, PT Astra International has began oil
exploration in Burma and Vietnam. Meanwhile, another Suharto-related
company, Meta Epsi Duta from the Medco Group, also plans to sign an oil
exploration in Burma in the near future. The latter company is partly owned
by Tutut's father-in-law, the late Eddy Kowara.
It might not be long before Bambang will invest his easy gained
fortune in Burma's oil and mineral wealth as well. Right now, he is already
involved, with Indonesian, Canadian and Malaysian partners, in gold mining
in Indonesia and Khazakstan. His Sydney-based Canadian partner, Robert
Friedland, is currently developing a copper mine near Monywa in Central
Burma and is exploring for gold and copper in six other areas in Burma.
Overseeing those mining activities is a fifty-fifty joint venture between
Friedland's company, Ivanhoe Myanmar Holdings and a mining enterprise owned
by the SLORC. So it is not unlikely that Bambang is a 'silent partner' in
Ivanhoe Myanmar Holdings as well.
With all these examples from the Suharto clan, more and more
Indonesian businesses are flocking to Burma. This trade is not limited to
civilian products, such as kretek (clove cigarettes) which are swamping
the Burmese market. In fact, through his Singapore-based Transmarco
company, Putera Sampurna, the Sampurna kretek tycoon, plans to develop
tobacco and other businesses in Burma, while overseeing Astra's Burma
operations as well, since he is also a co-shareholder in Astra with Bob Hasan.
There are strong reasons to believe that the Suharto regime is also
involved in supplying the needs of the Tatmadaw, the Burmese armed forces.
It could be that some of the aircraft used by the Tatmadaw's air forces,
such as CASA C-212 Aviocar transport planes, were not ordered directly from
Spain, but from Indonesia. Why? Because when General Than Swe visited
Jakarta in June 1995, he also signed an agreement to buy airplanes produced
by the Indonesian aircraft industry, Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara, or
IPTN.
Apart from those CASA C-212 Aviocar transport planes, it is not
impossible that more SLORC arms and ammunition have come or will come
indirectly via Indonesia. This suspicion is based on the following facts.
First of all, it is well known that IPTN is a licence holder for the
Spanish aircraft factory, CASA, the German aircraft industry, MBB, and the
French aircraft factory, Aerospatiale.
Other strategic industries under Habibie's control have their own
licence or contract arrangements with other European arm manufacturers. PT
Pindad, the former Army-controlled ammunition factory, produces rockets and
rockets launchers under licence from two Belgian arms factories, FN-Herstal
and Les Forges De Zeebrugge. PT PAL, the former Navy-controlled shipyard,
has contracts with two German shipyards -- Luerssen shipyard in Bremen and
HDW shipyard in Kiel -- to produce high-speed ships and submarines in PT
PAL's shipyard in Surabaya, East Java.
There are also precedents of Habibie's strategic industries
supplying military regimes in Asia and Pacific. In August 1987, right after
Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka's coup d'etat in Fiji, IPTN agreed to supply the
Fijian military junta with NB 109 helicopters, as well as to train Fijian
soldiers to become helicopter pilots.
Likewise, during the Iraq-Iran war (1980-1987), Indonesia has acted
as official destination for Spanish and German arms, which were actually
turned over to Saddam Hussain. IPTN -- which at that time was still called
Nurtanio -- channelled German BO-1058 helicopters to Saddam Hussein. While
Spanish arms industries channeled explosives to Iraq, via Indonesia, the
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
Looking at the evolution of Suharto-related businesses in Burma in
a broader regional context, three interesting features emerge. First,
Jakarta's trade with the SLORC began to flourish after the consolidation of
the Tatmadaw's power, that is, after the SLORC refused to honour the
sweeping victory of Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), in the May 1990 election. Secondly, Jakarta's increasing
trade with the SLORC is diametrically in opposition with Aung San Suu Ky's
call for a total boycott of foreign companies to trade with the SLORC.
Thirdly, Jakarta's cozy trade relations with Rangoon have coincided with the
forging of stronger political bonds -- and exchange of repressive tactics --
between the two repressive regimes.
What repressive tactics have been exchanged by the two regimes?
Firstly, learning from the overwhelming victory of the daughter of one of
Burma's founding fathers, Suharto moved swiftly to prevent any chance for
Megawati Sukarnoputri, also the daughter of one of Indonesia's founding
fathers, to challenge him in a fair and free election. On the other hand,
the SLORC has also learned from the Suharto regime, how to use thugs to
terrorize political dissidents, as they applied to Aung San Suu Kyi on
November 12 weekend, last year. Meanwhile, the SLORC is also preparing to
form a Golkar-like ruling party in Burma, to hand over political power to an
apparent civilian party, while still pulling the strings behind the
scenes.
Hence, there is no other option for Indonesian and other
pro-democracy activists in the region, than to support Aung Sang Suu Kyi's
NLD and the non-Burman ethno-nationalist movements, who are still waiting
for a more federalistic structure in Burma followed by self-determination
acts for all the ethnic minorities, promised by Suu Kyi's father, 50 years ago.
**********************************************
REUTER: BANGLADESH REPORTS FRESH INFLUX OF BURMA REFUGEES
June 23, 1997
By Nurul Islam
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, June 23 (Reuter) - Bangladesh officials have
reported a fresh influx of Burmese Moslems, known as Rohingyas, who
reported acute food shortages and rising unemployment in Burma's western
Arakan province.
``A fresh influx of Burmese has reached an alarming level in recent
weeks. Some 20 to 30 families sneak in each night,'' said a police
officer in Cox's Bazar district, which borders Arakan.
He told Reuters on Sunday that at least 5,000 Burmese Moslems entered
Bangladesh in the past month.
Nurul Afsar, chairman of Cox's Bazar municipality, said about 7,000
Burmese nationals were now living illegally in and around this resort town.
Refugees said they had fled because of unusual food price increases,
growing unemployment and persecution by Burmese security forces.
``The food crisis is severe there. I could not buy even two kilograms of
rice with my whole day's wage,'' said Yusuf Jalal, a Rohingya who fled the
Burmese town of Maungdaw last week.
``(Burmese) securitymen are imposing new restrictions on our movement.
There is rising pressure for forced labour,'' he said.
Refugees said they had bribed security forces on both sides of the
border to enter Bangladesh. ``We took the journey in the dark and
crossed the Naf border river,'' one refugee said.
The new influx began while some 21,500 Burmese Rohingyas were still
huddled in two large camps, awaiting to return home as a long-running
repatriation process was disrupted on May 1, officials said.
The officials blamed the suspension on delay by Burmese immigration
officials in giving clearance for home-bound Rohingyas, but they would
not say what prompted the new inflow.
More than 250,000 Moslems fled to southeast Bangladesh in early 1992
from Burma's Moslem-majority Arakan province, complaining of military
persecution.
Repatriation, supervised by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees,
began in September that year following an agreement between Dhaka and
Rangoon.
Lieutenant-Colonel Khaled Reza, a commander of Bangladesh's border
security force, said on Sunday troops were keeping a close eye on the
frontier areas in an attempt to stop the latest influx.
``If caught, we are pushing the infiltrators back or sending them to
jails,'' he said.
Police in Cox's Bazar said some 500 Rohingyas had been sent back in past
two weeks while trying to enter Bangladesh.
***********************************************
RANGOON RADIO MYANMAR: SLORC'S MAUNG AYE RECEIVES VISITING THAI NAVY CHIEF
June 18, 1997 [translated from Burmese]
At the invitation of Vice Admiral Tin Aye, Navy commander in chief, a
Thai goodwill delegation led by Admiral Wichit Chamnankan, commander in
chief of the Royal Thai Navy, arrived at Yangon [Rangoon] International
Airport by special aircraft at 0930 for a goodwill visit to the Union of
Myanmar [Burma].
Later, Gen. Maung Aye, vice chairman of the State Law and Order
Restoration Council [SLORC], deputy commander in chief of the Defense
Services and Army commander in chief, received the visiting Thai goodwill
delegation led by Adm. Wichit Chamnankan, commander in chief of the Royal
Thai Navy, at Zeyarthiri Military Hall in Konmyinttha in Yangon at 1400.
**************************************************
MOSCOW ITAR-TASS: OFFICIAL MEETS WITH BURMESE DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER
June 20, 1997
MOSCOW, June 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Security Council Deputy Secretary Yuriy
Deryabin met Deputy Foreign Minister of Myanmar U Nyunt Swe on Friday [20
June] to discuss the development of the situation and the multilateral
cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, the press service of the Russian
Security Council told Itar-Tass.
The parties also discussed bilateral cooperation between Russia and
Myanmar in the sphere of combating organised crime and the illegal
purchase-sale of drugs, the press service said.
**************************************************
REUTER: BRITAIN SAYS COULD IMPOSE MORE SANCTIONS ON BURMA
June 23, 1997
LONDON, June 23 (Reuter) - Britain could impose more economic sanctions on
Burma in response to the south-east Asian nation's disregard for human
rights, a Foreign Office minister said on Monday.
Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) has been
criticised around the world for human rights abuses and suppressing the
democratic opposition led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
``The Government are considering the full range of measures at our
disposal in order to put further pressure on SLORC,'' junior Foreign
Office minister Baroness Symons told the House of Lords upper chamber of
parliament.
``As to the question of further economic sanctions, we have not ruled
out the possibility of further measures, including economic sanctions,''
she said.
Britain already observes a European Union embargo on arms sales and
non-humanitarian aid as well as a suspension of defence links and a ban
on visas for members of SLORC.
The new Labour government, which has vowed to put human rights at the
centre of its foreign policy, last week announced that the government
had ended sponsorship of British trade missions to Burma.
``We take every opportunity to make clear to the ruling SLORC our
abhorrence for their disregard for human rights,'' Symons said.
Last month Washington imposed economic sanctions on Burma over the
government's rights record and treatment of democracy activists.
Burma was annexed to British-ruled India in the 19th century and became
independent in January 1948.
In 1962, armed forces chief of staff General Ne Win staged a coup and
ruled the country with an iron hand. He resigned in 1988 after the rise
of Suu Kyi's democracy movement which was suppressed two months later.
************************************************************
TT: TAK INTRODUCES 24-HOUR CHECKPOINTS TO CURB ILLEGAL ALIENS
June 23, 1997
TAK: Nearly 50 illegal immigrants were netted yesterday at special
round-the-clock immigration checkpoints set up along the Thai-Burmese border
in Mae Sot district, a senior local police official said.
Pol Lt-Col Suthee Ariyakabutr, inspector of the Tak immigration office, said
he ordered officials to establish the checkpoints in order to crack down on
the increasing number of Burmese nationals who are slipping into the country
illegally.
He said Mae Sot is a favored entry route into Thailand because it provides
easy access to the interior of the country.
About 50 illegal immigrants were caught yesterday and charged with illegal
entry. Most of them were between 18 and 30 years old, and reportedly
intended to proceed to Bangkok and other large cities to seek employment.
Suthee said the police immigration headquarters recently commanded all
immigration offices throughout the country to operate 24-hour checkpoints to
stamp out illegal immigration.
The policy was the brainchild of the Interior -Ministry, which allocated
several million baht to the immigration offices for the crackdown
operations, he said.
Ministry officials have come under heavy fire from the Opposition for their
failure to stem the tide of illegal workers into Thai soil.
Thailand has nearly a million foreign workers, a large proportion of whom
are working without the required documentation. Tak, along with Chiang Rai,
Kanchanaburi and Ranong provinces, is one of the most popular routes of entry.
***********************************************
TT: CONSTRUCTION MARKET IN BURMA TARGETED FOR EXPORTS
June 23, 1997
BANGKOK: Thai businessmen have been advised by the Commerce
Ministry to invest in the construction materials business in Burma as
business there is growing fast and Thailand and Burma have a long trading
history with each other.
The Commerce Ministry said that Thailand has a policy to expand its export
markets to help increase its export figures and trade with neighboring
countries especially Burma, Laos, and Cambodia are targeted as part of this
policy.
As these countries are lagging behind Thailand and need their infrastructure
to be built up as part of their development.
The ministry said that trade should be expanded to be more international.
Burma is moving in this direction with its policy to open up its country by
promoting tourism.
Therefore, the construction of infrastructure and other important projects
including hotels by both private companies and government agencies offer
good opportunities to Thailand.
Many foreign investors have invested in Burma and more than ten house
projects are being built which require construction materials.
ASEAN and other countries in the region are interested in investing in
Burma, but Thailand is in a good position to penetrate the market before
other countries especially for construction materials.
A number of Thai businesses have already established projects in Burma and
several rooftile, cement including CPAC companies have relocated their
production bases to Burma.
Burma needs more experts especially contractors and designers for the gas
laying of a gas pipeline.
The expansion of the construction materials market into Burma is seen as
beneficial for the country and Burma is now opening up to encourage more
tourists to enter the country which will lead to more income for the people.
In 1996, Thailand's products exported to Burma amounted to 8.07 billion
baht. 6.7 percent down from the 8.6 billion baht in 1995.
****************************************************
THE NATION: PM SEES PEACE PREVAILING IN REGION
June 24, 1997 [abridged]
PRIME Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh yesterday told member of a
visiting conservative think-tank from the United States that peace and
stability will continue to prevail in Asia and the Pacific.
As for Burma, Chavalit, who is also defence minister, said that he strongly
believes the political situation there will improve in the very near future.
He urged Western countries, particularly the United States, to be patient
with Burma and give it more time to study and adapt itself to the changing
global situation.
Chavalit stressed that any international calls for political reforms in
Burma should take into account that the changes need time and a sound
understanding of the country's internal environment.
The Heritage Foundation trio was led by David Brown and included former
attorney general during the Reagan administration Edwin Messe III. They
leave for Burma tomorrow.
The team will visit and exchange views with leaders in the region and
submit its finding to Congress. The tour is also a part of the celebrations of
the foundation's 25th anniversary.(TN)
*******************************************************
THE NATION: A TEST OF MANILA'S DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
June 24, 1997
Maria Teresa Villanueva-Cerojano
As a self-declared bulwark of democracy in the region, Manila finds itself
in the difficult position of having to defend its decision to support the
entry of Burma into Asean.
When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) turns 30 in
August, the group will celebrate the realisation of its forefathers' dream of
uniting all 10 nations of Southeast Asia into one community.
For the Philippines, however, it will be an occasion to reflect on its
struggle to strike a balance between democratic ideals and diplomatic
imperatives.
As a bulwark of democracy in the region, the Philippines now finds itself
in the difficult position of defending its decision to go along with the six
other Asean members in allowing military-led Burma to join the group
along with Cambodia and Laos in July.
The decision made by Asean foreign ministers during a May 31 meeting in
Kuala Lumpur raised hackles from the United States and the European
Union, as well as from human rights advocates, who have called for
sanctions against Burma for its human rights record.
Domestic critics have pounced on the administration of President Fidel
Ramos over the decision, with Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo
Siazon and his aides called to a grilling at the Senate.
Siazon told the lawmakers the Philippines continues to take an active role
in promoting human rights and democracy in appropriate international
forums, but that it is "only one dimension of a complex policy based on the
national interest" when it comes to the question of admitting Burma into
Asean.
Diplomats and analysts invariably noted that the formation of an "Asean
10" united front is important to Manila at a time of escalating tensions
with Beijing over the South China Sea territorial dispute.
Burma's admission into the group is a strategic move to wean away
Rangoon from its close ally, Beijing, and to clip China's military
projections in the region, including into the Andaman Sea through Burma,
they added.
Burma is the only country in Southeast Asia sharing borders with both of
the two big powers in the region: China and India.
And if there is any one country in the region that particularly worries the
Philippines and other countries in Asean, it is China.
"Burma is close to China and we want to make sure that the closeness of
Burma to China will not affect the shift in the balance of power in the
region," a Philippine diplomat said.
"We can already feel China's increasing role in the region, both as an
economic and a military power, and while we do not know what China has
in mind, from what we have seen in recent months it can be a little scary,"
she added.
China and the Philippines have traded diplomatic protests in recent months
over the disputed territory in the South China Sea, which China claims as
a whole.
Beijing's muscle-flexing resumed in April when it sent armed ships and
built a new structure close to the Philippine-held Pag-asa island in the
Spratlys two years after signing a code-of-conduct agreement with the
Philippines calling for maintenance of the status quo in the disputed
territory.
Before the agreement, ties dipped to a low in February 1995 when the
Philippines accused China of building military structures on Mischief Reef,
which Manila claims.
On each occasion, Beijing maintained that its naval presence in the area
was peaceful in nature.
While Burma's admission into Asean is being criticised at home, in reality
an early admission may be a relief to the Ramos administration.
"Can you image the noise that local human rights groups will make if
Burma is admitted into Asean next year, when we play host?", another
Philippine diplomat said.
Defending his government's stand on the matter, Ramos said the expansion
of Asean fulfills the vision of a regional group free from the animosities,
divisions and barriers of the past. He said it also presents an opportunity
to ensure steady progress for the 440 million people in Southeast Asia.
"An Asean 10 is just clearly in line with the national interest of the
Philippines, which must be grounded firmly on regional peace, stability
and sustainable growth," Ramos said in a statement.
He noted that integration will not only mean more opportunities, greater
economic interaction and better standards of living for people in the
region, but that "as economic conditions improve, societies will evolve as
they ingest the new ideas that always accompany growth and
development."
Another Philippine diplomat added that through the continuation of
Asean's policy of "constructive engagement" the Philippines, for example,
can share with the Burma people its knowledge of small and medium-scale
enterprises and expose them in the process to such ideas as choice, free will
and individualism.
National Security Council head Jose Almonte told a roundtable conference
in Malaysia that "membership [in Asean] and the liberalising influences it
will have on [Burma's] economy and society will 'socialise' the [Rangoon]
regime into the international community, while its continued isolation will
only keep it xenophobic and repressive of its own people."
But Blas Ople, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
believes the Philippines has a unique role to play in Asean with regards to
the question of Burma.
"The Philippines has the right to disagree and its voice as an exponent of
freedom and democracy in Asia should be heard clearly and distinctly even
in the councils of Asean, not muffled or suppressed in deference to the
sensibilities of others," Ople wrote in his column in the daily Manila
Bulletion. (TN)
Maria Teresa Villanueva-Cerojano is a correspondent for Kyodo in Manila.
*********************************************
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: CONCERN OVER NLD ARRESTS
June 24, 1997 [slightly abridged]
Please read the monthly Urgent Action Network Newsletter posted on the web
at: http://www.amnesty-USA.org/urgact/
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: sharriso@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.amnesty-usa.org/urgact/
Phone: 303 440 0913
Fax:303 258 7881
---------------------------------------------------
UA 187/97 Fear for safety/Fear of ill-treatment 24 June 1997
MYANMAR
Khin Maung Win alias Ko Sunny (male)
Cho Aung Than (male)
Daw Khin Ma Than (female)
U Shwe Myint Aung (male)
U Ohn Myint (male)
Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of five National League
for Democracy (NLD, Myanmar's primary legal opposition party) supporters
arrested since 13 June whose current whereabouts are unknown. Khin Maung
Win alias Ko Sunny, is the official video- photographer for the NLD; Cho
Aung Than is a cousin of and former assistant to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
leader of the NLD; Daw Khin Ma Than is the sister of Cho Aung Than and U
Shwe Myint Aung is her husband; U Ohn Myint, an advisor to the NLD, is
believed to be in his 80s.
The official reason for the arrest of the five detainees is not known, but
unofficial sources have stated that they were arrested for allegedly
smuggling abroad video-taped speeches by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Political prisoners in Myanmar often face ill-treatment during
interrogation, which may include beatings and deprivation of sleep and
food.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In 1997 the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) has
continued its policy of effectively silencing any opposition in Myanmar.
In May, the authorities again temporarily detained or otherwise prevented
more than 300 NLD members of parliament-elect and organizers from
attending a meeting in Yangon to celebrate the seventh anniversary of
their 1990 election victory. This follows the mass arrests of more than
2000 political activists during 1996 in order to prevent them from
attending meetings or for taking part in demonstrations. Although most of
those arrested were released, dozens have been sentenced to long prison
terms.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send
telegrams/telexes/express/airmail letters:
- calling on the authorities to immediately make known the whereabouts of
the five detainees and the charges against them;
- calling on the authorities to release all five immediately and
unconditionally if they are held solely for their peaceful political activities;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that all five are allowed access to
their lawyers, doctors and family members;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that while detained all five are not
ill-treated and are held in accordance with international minimum standards.
APPEALS TO:
Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman
State Law and Order Restoration Council
c/o Director of Defence Services Intelligence (DDSI)
Ministry of Defence, Signal Pagoda Road
Dagon Post Office
Yangon, Union of Myanmar
Dear General:
[Telegrams: General Than Shwe, Yangon, Myanmar]
[Telexes: 713 21316]
Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, Secretary 1
State Law and Order Restoration Council
c/o Director of Defence Services Intelligence (DDSI)
Ministry of Defence, Signal Pagoda Road
Dagon Post Office
Yangon
Union of Myanmar
Dear Lieutenant General:
[Telegrams: Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, Yangon, Myanmar]
[Telexes: 713 21316]
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Tin Winn
Embassy of Myanmar
2300 S St. NW
Washington DC 20008
Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office
between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays only, if
sending appeals after August 5, 1997.
************************************************