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The BurmaNet News, November 20, 199



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------           
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"           
----------------------------------------------------------           
       
The BurmaNet News: November 20, 1997              
Issue #872
 
HEADLINES:              
==========       
ABSDF: MOULMEIN TOWNSHIP NLD CHAIRMAN JAILED 
BKK POST: KAREN ILLEGALS PUSHED BACK TO BURMA
AP: U.N. PROBES THAI SOLDIERS REPORT 
ABSDF: COUNTERFEIT NOTES CIRCULATED IN SHAN STATE
BUSINESS WIRE: DOMINION BRIDGE CORPORATION
THE NATION: BURMA MINISTER FIRES STAFF
BKK POST: DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS LEAD THE LIST
THE NATION: ADOPT OPEN ATTITUDE, SUKHUMBHAND TELLS 
BKK POST: THAI GARMENT FIRM SETS UP PLANT IN BURMA
THE NEW STRAITS TIMES: BOLTON'S MYANMAR COMPANY
THE HINDU: DRUG BARON BUILDS A ROAD TO MANDALAY
SCMP: NEW REGIME MUCH LESS PREDICTABLE
FBC PRESS RELEASE: SINGAPORE/DRUGLORD LINK LIQUIDATED
FBC PRESS RELEASE: ARCO SALE A PARTIAL VICTORY
BKK POST: BORDER MEETING ON NARCOTICS SCHEDULED
THE HINDU (NEW DELHI): EDITORIAL - ENGAGING MYANMAR
FBC ANNOUNCEMENT: OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE DEMONSTRATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------   

ABSDF: MOULMEIN TOWNSHIP NLD CHAIRMAN JAILED FOR 6 
YEARS
November 18, 1997

Press Release
Date: November 18, 1997

Moulmein Township NLD Chairman Jailed For 6 Years

U Kyi Lwin, the chairman of the Moulmein Township Organizing Committee 
for the National League for Democracy (NLD)  was sentenced to six years 
imprisonment with hard labour on October 17 for allegedly violating the 
Publishing and Printing Act.

An NLD member from Moulmein, U Myo Aung, who recently arrived on the 
border told the ABSDF that U Kyi Lwin, 52, had been detained since July this 
year without being charged.

"Military Intelligence officers came to his printing shop located on Main Lower 
Road in Moulmein in July and took him away", said U Myo Aung who 
witnessed the arrest.

The township court in Moulmein sentenced U Kyi Lwin to six years 
imprisonment with hard labour on October 17, 1997, after five court 
appearances. U Kyi Lwin joined the NLD after the 1988 uprising.

U Myo Aung said Military Intelligence have been constantly monitoring the 
movements of NLD members in Mon State, and arresting them whenever they 
can find fault with them. He also told the ABSDF that a number of NLD 
members have left for the Thai-Burma border due to increasing repression and 
harassment by the military authorities.  

In another case, U Win Shwe, an NLD member of the Bilin Township 
Organizing Committee, was recently detained and put under house arrest. 
Towards the end of October the SLORC was reportedly preparing to charge 
him under Section 5 (j) of the Emergency Provision Act.

All Burma Students' Democratic Front

For more information please call 01-923 1687 or 01-654 4984. 

***************************************

BKK POST: KAREN ILLEGALS PUSHED BACK TO BURMA
November 19, 1997
Supamart Kasem

UmPhang, Tak --More, than 2,000 Karens were sent back to Burma in an
operation said to have caused the deaths of a baby and a 45 year-old man
yesterday.

The Karen Refugee Committee has called on the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees to act against Thai officials over the deaths of
the two Karens.

Authorities treated 2,500 Karens in Ban Lae Tongku, Ban Kui Lortor and Ban
Tee Jorchee, Umphan, as illegal immigrants, not refugees, said the commander
of the Fourth Infantry Regiment Task Force.

As they had entered the country illegally and there was no fighting in
Burma, they must return, said Col Chatchaput Yaemngarmriab.

******************************************************

AP: U.N. PROBES THAI SOLDIERS REPORT 
November 19, 1997
By Robert Horn, Associated Press Writer 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- U.N. investigators are looking into reports that
Thai soldiers caused the deaths of two Burmese refugees, including an
infant, and wounded four. 

``We've had various reports about this incident,'' said Amelia Bonifacio,
the Bangkok representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. 

The soldiers fired their weapons for five minutes around ethnic Karen
refugees in the Thay Pu Law Sue camp near the Burma border to intimidate
them into moving to another location, Karen ethnic group activists and aid
workers said. 

As the refugees fled in panic, a 3-day-old infant was trampled to death,
another refugee was fatally shot in the stomach and four were wounded, the
activists said on condition of anonymity. The condition of the wounded was
not known. 

Independent verification of the incident has not been possible because the
Ministry of the Interior has not allowed outsiders into the camp, west of
the Thai city of Umphang and 210 miles from Bangkok. 

Bonifacio said investigators were conducting a fact-finding mission and
would try to enter the camp today. 

The refugees angered Thai army officers because they refused to move to a
new location that the soldiers said was just a 10-minute walk from a
Burmese army post, the activists said. 

More than 100,000 Karen and other ethnic refugees from Burma are living in
camps in Thailand, having fled Burmese army offensives aimed at wiping out
the Karen National Union, a guerrilla group fighting for Karen autonomy in
Burma since 1948. 

The camps periodically have been attacked and burned down by a splinter
group of Karen under the control of the Burmese Army. Many refugees have
said Burmese soldiers participated in the attacks. 

Refugees living in camps in the northern section of the Thai-Burma border
generally have been treated with compassion by the Thai army and local
residents. 

There have been a number of clashes, however, in camps along the southern
section of the border where Thai businessmen are developing highways and
other investment projects linking the two countries. 

Those camps, along with the Thay Pu Law Sue camp, are under the control of
Thailand's Ninth Army Division. During the administration of former Prime
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the army rounded up refugees, including
women and children, and sent them back to Burma into the path of a Burmese
army offensive in February. 

Chavalit and his generals denied any refugees were sent back, but army
officers, district officials, local villagers and the refugees all said the
forced repatriations took place. 

Bonifacio said her investigators had met with local officials in Umphang
and she was scheduled to meet with Thai foreign ministry officials today. 

She said she hoped the new administration of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai
would take a more favorable attitude toward the refugees, but acknowledged
it was too soon to tell what its policy would be. 

[related excerpts]
---------------------------
THE NATION: UN PROBES ALLEGATION BY KAREN ON FATAL 
ATTACK
November 19, 1997

In a press conference held Monday in Tak, however, the army denied there had
been any fatalities. Two refugees were injured when Thai soldiers fired
shots in an attempt to prevent hundreds of Burmese from illegally entering
Thailand early Saturday morning, the army explained.

An official of the Karen Refugee Committee yesterday said he received a
different report that three refugees were killed by a group of unidentified
men and cremated on Saturday. He said the attackers wore hoods and witnesses
could not confirm who they were.

"I don't believe the assailants are Thai soldiers since they have never used
any violent means against the refugees," said the source.

Col Chatpat Yaem-ngamriab, commander of the Fourth Infantry Task Force,
yesterday denied that Thai soldiers fatally attacked the Karen refugees.

"I only received a report that two refugees were injured after they sneaked
out of a camp after the restricted time and encountered Thai patrol men on
their way," he said.

******************************************************

ABSDF: COUNTERFEIT NOTES CIRCULATED IN SHAN STATE
November 15, 1997

Thai-Burmese Border

In June 1997, there were reports that authorities confiscated 700,000 kyat
worth of counterfeit 500 kyat notes in Taunggyi. This followed the seizure
of 15 million kyats worth of counterfeit money on October 19, 1997, in Muse
on the Sino-Burma border, as well as many hundreds of thousands of 
counterfeit kyat in the golden triangle and along the Thai-Burma border. 
In Shan State there is widespread use of counterfeit 500 kyat notes by 
the local people.

On September 16, 1997, many shop keepers in Kunhein, eastern Shan State, 
found they had received wads of counterfeit 500 kyat notes with the Burmese
letters ka-la and ka-najee and they surrendered the money to the police, 
according to a trader from Kynhein. 

The trader said that the quality of the counterfeit money is almost as good
as the real thing and is much better quality than the counterfeit notes he had
seen before. Previous counterfeit money had slightly different colour
separation, no water mark and no security line. But the current counterfeit
money is almost the same as real notes and even has what looks like a
security line which on proper notes is made from a very thin piece of film.
Because of the quality of the counterfeit notes, many people are finding it
difficult to distinguish them from real notes. 

It is not known how many counterfeit notes have been circulated in the
central cities of Burma, but many have been found in Shan State, he added.
 In addition, many Burmese traders on the Thai-Burma border have been 
facing difficulties because Thai traders are refusing to accept 500 kyat
notes  with the Burmese letters Ka-Htawoonbei and Ka-Dayinkauk.

All Burma Students' Democratic Front

******************************************************

BUSINESS WIRE: DOMINION BRIDGE CORPORATION ANNOUNCES US$112 MILLION IN
CONTRACTS 
November 18, 1997 

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 1997--Dominion Bridge Corporation
(NASDAQ/NMS: DBCO; VSE: DMO.U) ("DBC") today announced that its Asia Pacific
subsidiary, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, has been awarded two
contracts totaling U.S. $90 million. The first is for a gas pipeline
construction contract in Myanmar, South East Asia, which was awarded by a
major United States energy company.

*****************************************

THE NATION: BURMA MINISTER FIRES STAFF
November 19, 1997
Associated Press

BURMA'S new minister of commerce has fired several members of the 
ministry's staff and urged their replacements to follow regulations, the
state-run 
New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported yesterday.

Gen Kyaw Than, who was appointed minister of commerce on Saturday in a
shake-up of the military government, sacked senior ministry staff on Monday.
The paper gave no reasons for the filings or details about how many people
were let go. Analysts have said one reason for the government shake-up was
to effectively retire many of the ministers who had become corrupt. 

******************************************************

BKK POST: DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS LEAD THE LIST
November 19, 1997 [abridged]
Nussara Sawatsawang

BURMA A PRIORITY FOR CHUAN GOVERNMENT

Democracy and human rights will be Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's key 
elements in guiding foreign policy for the Democrat-led coalition government, 
according to Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan. Mr Surin conveyed the 
government position to senior ministry officials for the first time since
taking 
office yesterday, an informed source said.

"He quoted Prime Minister Chuan as saying that he wants to emphasise those 
two aspects because they are part of Thai culture and the country's assets
which 
we should be proud of," the source said. 

Mr Surin also told officials of his desire to improve coordination between 
ministries and other government agencies in pursuing foreign policy. 
     
In 1993, Mr Chuan as prime minister allowed Nobel laureates to hold talks in 
Thailand on Burma over the military regime's anti-democratic drive and 
suppression of human rights.

********************************************

THE NATION: ADOPT OPEN ATTITUDE, SUKHUMBHAND TELLS 
BURMA
November 19, 1997

BURMA should adopt a more open attitude and allow more interaction between
its citizens and those of other countries, Deputy Foreign Minister
Sukhumbhand Paribatra urged yesterday.

Speaking after the first meeting of senior Foreign Ministry officials,
Sukhumbhand said that if Burma can become fully open, foreign trade and
investments will pour in.

The flow of trade to Burma has been hindered by human rights issues and
problems with the legitimacy of the ruling government, he said.

In the government's policy speech to Parliament tomorrow, the Chuan Leekpai
administration will announce it commitment to playing an assertive role in
promoting human rights and democracy.

Sukhumbhand said the Burmese junta's change of name from the State Law 
and Order Restoration Council to the State Peace and Development Council
represented the first step towards a positive change in the country, but
added that it was too early to conclude whether the change will mean a new
Burma.

He said changes in Burma would benefit the Burmese people as well as its
immediate neighbour Thailand.

"I think if there is a constructive change in Burma, everyone should applaud
and encourage the Burmese leaders."

While agreeing that "constructive engagement" was the right foreign policy
for Thailand, Sukhumbhand said he would like more stress on the word
'constructive' than on "engagement".

He said the West's concept of constructive engagement has been to point
fingers- at Burma to try to force a change and failing to do so, drop trade
and military contacts.

"We should try to direct Burma to be open in all aspects and to have
interaction with the Thai people - people to-people contact and not only
contact with military personnel and top business people in trade and
investment and border trade,' he said.

He cited possible interchanges such as allowing Thais to participate in
Kathin ceremonies in Burma, private sector technology exchanges and
scholarly seminars held in both countries.

Such exchanges, he said, would widen Burma's world vision to realise that
standing alone with a few friends is no right in the long run.

Sukhumbhand said he would like to ask Rangoon if it would allow Burmese
students to accept scholarships to study in foreign countries like Thailand
an Singapore.

The minister also said the government wanted the Burmese ruling junta to
make it clear that it was willing solve the boundary conflicts in the Moei
River between the two countries After preliminary talks to resolve the
conflict earlier in the year, the dialogue has stalled.

Sukhumbhand will oversee boundary problems with neighbouring states.

******************************************************

BKK POST: THAI GARMENT FIRM SETS UP PLANT IN BURMA
November 19, 1997
Sukanya Jitpleecheep

Burmese workers paid only 20 baht per day

People's Garment Plc, a subsidiary of the Saha Group, recently became the
first Thai firm to set up garment factory in Burma when it formed a joint
venture with local businessmen in Rangoon.

The company holds a 75% stake in the new firm, MP Garment, which
manufactures and sells clothing for domestic and export markets. People's
Garment Plc plans to invest about 10 million baht in Burma.

The plant, under construction on a five-rai site in Rangoon, is scheduled to
open next year.

"Lower labour costs is one of the main considerations for choosing Burma as
the production base for our garments," People's Garment managing-director
Poa Pavarolarvidya said.

The cost of labour in Burma was about 20 baht per day, seven times lower
than in Thailand. And with the right know-how to support the Burmese
operation, People's Garment would improve its competitiveness on the world
market, Mr Poa said.

The company wanted to be using Burma as its production base for exports by
the time the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) agreement takes effect and the
import duty on finished garments is lifted.

Initially, MP Garment would produce men's shirts for export to Japan and
Europe at a rate of 240,000 pieces per annum. The firm would next produce
trousers. New brands would be created exclusively for the Burmese people.

Mr Poa said though MP Garment was the first Thai venture in Burma, firms
from Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong had invested in the country.

"Before manufacturing garments in Burma, our local partner will send staff
for training in Thailand and we will send our employees to consult Burmese
people, too," Mr Poa said. People's Garment had considered setting up
clothing factories in Laos and Vietnam, but decided to postpone its
investment plans. This was because the market in Laos was too small and
transport costs too high, while in Vietnam inflation was high and basic laws
changed every day.

Some US clothing brands, including Liz Claiborne and Levi Strauss, had shut
down their operations in Burma after US consumers protested against
companies that did business with the Rangoon junta.

But Mr Poa said this problem would not affect the company as most of its
products were for export to Japan.

People's Garment would inform its European clients which products had been
made in Burma.

"We are Thai, we are not American. So we don't worry about US sanctions on
Burmese products," he said.

Mr Poa said People's Garment's turnover this year was expected to reach 600
million baht.

Next year's turnover was projected to remain at 600 million baht, of which
the export ratio would double from 100 to 200 million baht while the local
market would account for 300-400 million baht.

People's Garment has four plants in Thailand - in Bangkok, Samut Prakan,
Chachoengsao and Lamphun. The company's total capacity is 30,000 pieces per
month.

******************************************************

THE NEW STRAITS TIMES: BOLTON'S MYANMAR COMPANY
November 18, 1997

BOLTON Bhd, through subsidiary Primtrax Sdn Bhd, has incorporated 
a wholly-owned subsidiary in Myanmar known as Pele Investment 
Holdings Bhd  with an issued and paid-up capital of US$41,985 (RM134,330).

**********************************

THE HINDU (NEW DELHI): DRUG BARON BUILDS A ROAD TO MANDALAY
November 19, 1997

LONDON, Nov. 18. Khun Sa, Asia's most notorious drugs criminal, has gone
into business with the military dictators of Myanmar his former foes.

The multi-millionaire is pumping the vast profits from his illegal heroin
empire into the country's economy in one of the world's biggest money
laundering operations.

Flouting a 1.25 million pounds bounty put on his head by the U.S. President
Mr. Bill Clinton, and a U.S. demand for his extradition to face drug
trafficking charges brought in absentia, Khun Sa is living the good life in
Yangon with four young lovers.

For three decades, Khun Sa smuggled heroin around the world from his ethnic
Shan fiefdom in the jungles of the Golden Triangle before negotiating a
cease-fire last year with the country's ruling generals. The druglord with a
taste for vintage cognac and teenage consorts said he would retire and tend
chickens.

Now the 62-year-old, whose alias means "Prince Prosperous" has re-emerged as
the junta embraces capitalism.

The former British colony is rapidly being transformed into a so-called
"narco-economy" by drugs money.

Khun Sa is ploughing his fortune into a four-lane toll highway from Yangon
to Mandalay, running a bus company and property speculation in the Burmese
capital.  He also plans to invest 12 million pounds in a tourist
casino-hotel complex for tourists. In return the generals, who came to power
after massacring demonstrators in 1988, are taking their cut of his drug
proceeds.  Myanmar accounts for more than half the world's opium production.
Last year's estimated yield of nearly 2,600 tonnes would produce about 260
tonnes of heroin.

Although most Golden Triangle heroin ends on the streets of America's inner
cities, British agents fear Myanmarese drugs will increasingly find their
way to Western Europe as new smuggling routes open through China and the
former Soviet Union.

Yangon, a crumbling colonial relic unchanged for three decades while the
generals pursued disastrous socialism, is awash with money from rich drugs
smugglers, of whom Khun Sa is the most infamous.

Money laundering is out of control, and shady magnates flanked by bodyguards
with AK-47s dominate seedy, nightclubs funded by drugs money.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright, recently raised
concerns that foreign companies in Myanmar are collaborating with some of
the world's biggest narcotics smugglers.

The British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, accused Myanmar of conniving
with drugs smugglers during a speech on his summer Asian tour.

********************************************

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: NEW REGIME MUCH LESS PREDICTABLE
November 19, 1997
William Barnes in Bangkok 

The new streamlined military junta is more likely to spring political
surprises than its moribund predecessor, Rangoon-based diplomats said yesterday.

Yet the reshuffled Cabinet remains ill-equipped to deal with a modern world
and a spreading economic crisis, they added.

The military's four top generals surprised observers when, on Saturday, they
announced the creation of a renamed and trimmed-down junta and a
far-reaching Cabinet reshuffle.

Only the Prime Minister, General Than Shwe, now serves in both bodies -
which some observers said might be the start of moves to create a civilian
Cabinet.

But diplomats in the Burmese capital said there was no evidence of any
military withdrawal from the Government.

"The Army has been faced with a major economic disaster yet has appointed
only one new civilian to a Cabinet dominated by soldiers," said one envoy
from the region.

"It still doesn't trust outsiders - especially foreign-educated ones."

The revamp has broken up the junior rival factions within the junta to leave
just five top soldiers, the air force and navy chiefs and the 12 regional
commanders in the State Peace and Development Council. The old-style junta,
the old State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), contained a
mish-mash of cliques and rival business empires with most members of the
junta also serving as Cabinet ministers.

"The old arrangement wasn't working - it was in a state of atrophy. There
were so many voices being heard that nothing was being done," one Western
diplomat said.

"There were 16 lieutenant-generals in the [21-member] SLORC - now there are
only three. At least the potential is there for some new initiatives."

The regional commanders are all brigadier-generals - at least two ranks
junior to the top rung of the junta.

The regime's hidden back-room politics has so far prevented analysts from
deciding if either the reputed hardliners or the more devious intelligence
establishment have come out ahead in the revamp.

"The truth is we don't really know what personal links tie the establishment
together," said one veteran diplomat in Rangoon. "What does stand out is
that the most senior figures were able to put aside their differences to
agree to strengthen the military leadership."

***************************************

FBC PRESS RELEASE: SINGAPORE/DRUGLORD LINK LIQUIDATED
November 19, 1997

FREE BURMA COALITION
225 North Mills Street, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
Phone (608)-827-7734  Fax: (608)-263-9992

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT LINK TO BURMESE DRUG LORD "LIQUIDATED" SINGAPOREAN AND
MALAYSIAN INVESTORS URGED TO FOLLOW SUIT

Washington, DC -- November 19, 1997 -- The Singapore Embassy says that a
fund linking the Singapore Government Investment Corporation (GIC) to
Burmese narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han is being liquidated.  This follows
investigative reports on the link by Australian SBS television and The
Nation magazine.  Singapore's acknowledgment comes in a letter to The
Nation editor in the Nov. 24 edition. 

The GIC is a secretive multi-billion dollar institution with high-level
Singaporean politicians, including Senior Minister Lee Kwan Yew, acting as
officers and directors.  Lo Hsing Han has long been a key player in the
Burmese drug trade, which supplies 60% of the heroin on US streets,
according to the State Department. 

The GIC, through its holdings in The Myanmar Fund (the Fund now under
liquidation), co-invested with Lo in the Traders Hotel in Burma's capital,
Rangoon.  The fund also owned 25% of one of Lo's family companies.  This
was an embarrassment to Singapore, which purports to take a hard line on
drugs issues. Protesters followed Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chock Tong
during recent visits to Los Angeles and Chicago, calling for him to
respond to State Department criticisms of Singapore investors' ties to Lo. 

At a news conference in February, Robert Gelbard, then Assistant Secretary
of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
Affairs said "Drug traffickers have become the leading investors in
Burma's new market economy and leading lights in Burma's new political
order.  Since 1988, over half of (investment) from Singapore has been tied
to the family of narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han."  Singapore has never
responded to the US criticism. 

"As long as Singapore continues to play such a key role in supporting
Burma's drug trade through it's investments there, it seems unlikely that
any progress will be made in stemming the increasing flow of heroin from
Burma into Singapore and the rest of the world," says investigative
journalist Leslie Kean, co-author with Dennis Bernstein of "Singapore's
Blood Money" (The Nation, Oct. 20).  "Singapore has the potential to have
a huge influence in that regard, and they have taken the first small step
in that direction." 

"Perhaps now other Singapore and Malaysian investors will follow suit and
take the same responsibility for their investments, by cutting their ties
to Burma's heroin traffickers," adds Kean, noting that US-based Northwest
Airlines quickly stopped a mileage promotion with the Rangoon Traders
Hotel after learning of Lo's ownership and drug ties. 
									
Contact:  Larry Dohrs, Free Burma Coalition, 206-784-5742  

*****************************************

FBC PRESS RELEASE: ARCO SALE A PARTIAL VICTORY
November 18, 1997

 FREE BURMA COALITION
 225 North Mills Street, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
 Phone (608)-827-7734  Fax: (608)-263-9992

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 ARCO DUMPS 39% SHARE OF BURMA PROJECT
 DEMOCRACY ADVOCATES SEE A STEP TOWARD TOTAL WITHDRAWAL

 Los Angeles, Nov. 18, 1997 -- The decision on November 13 by oil giant ARCO
to sell a share of its investment in Burma is seen by pro-democracy
activists as a first step toward total withdrawal from activities in the
military-run pariah state.

"Every journey begins with a first step," says Ali Ahmed, a leader of the
Burmese exile community in Los Angeles. "This is the first step toward ARCO
cutting all ties with the Burmese narco-dictatorship."

 ARCO has been the object of a relentless campaign of demonstrations and
leafleting, which highlight President Clinton's ban on new investment in
Burma, a decision made in April for reasons of national security. Secretary
of State Albright has criticized Burmese military complicity in the heroin
trade, and said that drug money is even laundered through "joint ventures
with foreign firms."

 A coalition of Burmese exiles, labor, campus and community groups have held
weekly demonstrations outside ARCO's headquarters.  Demonstrators have also
attended ARCO-sponsored high school football games, with banners reading
"nArco in Burma = Heroin in the US."  The State Department reports that 60%
of the heroin on US streets comes from Burma.

 "It can't get much clearer for ARCO," says Kevin Rudiger, a spokesman for
the LA Burma Forum. "Our government says new investment in Burma harms our
national interest.  Our government says Burma's junta tolerates and benefits
from heroin exports to the US.  Our government denounces Burmese repression,
but ARCO executives wine and dine the very generals responsible.  Whose side
are they on?"

 Many foreign investors have withdrawn from Burma, including Amoco, PepsiCo,
Heineken, Levi-Strauss, Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, Disney and others.  Most
recently, Texaco announced it would leave Burma by the end of the year.
ARCO and Unocal are the only well-known US companies remaining.

 The Burmese economy is reportedly on the verge of collapse.  Burma's
democracy movement has long called for investors to stay away until
democracy is achieved.  International and internal pressure is increasing on
the junta to open dialogue with Burma's overwhelmingly popular democrats,
headed by Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Contact:  Kevin Rudiger, Los Angeles Burma Forum, 310-399-0703
	 Ali Ahmed, Los Angeles Burma Forum, 562-602-4407

**************************************

BKK POST: BORDER MEETING ON NARCOTICS SCHEDULED
November 19, 1997

Precursor issue to be raised at meet

Thai and Burmese authorities will work out drug suppression measures when
they meet in Chiang Rai early next month.

Bunpot Plamdee, director of the Northern Narcotics Control Centre, said
yesterday Thai government representatives and their counterparts from the
Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) will meet to discuss the
problem of drugs and precursor smuggling for the second time this year in
Chiang Rai during December 1-2.

The meeting organisers are the United Nations Drug Control Programme 
(UNDCP) and Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).

"It is very possible Burma will join the programme to prevent and suppress
narcotics in this region because the SPDC leaders have turned to seriously
solving the drugs problems, especially those in Thai-Burmese border areas."
Mr Bunpot said.

According to him, measures to prevent drug smuggling across the Thai-
Burmese border via new routes and to provide officials concerned with updated
information about the drug trade will be stepped up.

Thailand was successful in suppressing drugs at a certain level with support
from UNDCP experts and cooperation from Burma and Laos, but the ONCB
conceded the more serious drug suppression measures were. the harder drug
dealers would seek new methods of smuggling, he said.

Meanwhile, a policeman and two Muser drug traffickers were killed in a
shootout at a checkpoint on a road between Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district and
Chiang Rai's Mae Chan yesterday.

Police said the gun battle erupted after a Border Patrol Police unit manning
the checkpoint tried to stop a pick-up truck for a routine check.

The two hilltribesmen in the truck opened fire.

******************************************************

THE HINDU (NEW DELHI): EDITORIAL - ENGAGING MYANMAR
November 18, 1997

THERE ARE STRONG trade-cum-strategic arguments in favour of engaging the
military regime in neighbouring Myanmar, but these should not be allowed
to cloud or sideline India's principled policy of supporting the democratic
forces in that country.  Engagement is not endorsement, apologists for the
trade-led policy, may say, quoting the President of the richest Democracy as
he feted the Chinese head of state and defended his policy from attacks by
his own countrymen. Let India engage the junta in Myanmar but let us also
simultaneously pile pressure on the regime to return the country to the
democratic path.  Let us reiterate at every possible forum that a ruthless
dictatorship in Myanmar is a major destabilising force in a region
strategically important for this country. Scope for the apprehension that
there may be a dilution of the long-held Indian policy is provided by the
latest act of grant of $10 millions in credit to that country. In the
absence of a clarification, the two-day visit to Yangon, the Myanmar
capital, by the second in command at the External Affairs Ministry is bound
to send the wrong signals, particularly to the pro-democracy forces waging
at grim battle in that country.

Hardly 24 hours before the Minister, Mr. Saleem Shervani, was to land in
Yangon, the military authorities clamped further restrictions on the
movement of the democracy activist, Ms. Aung San Sun Kyi, besides putting
out misleading reports that there had been a change of heart on her part and
that she had opted to receive supporters at her home rather than travel
outside the capital to meet them. Contradicting earlier suggestions of a
possible rapprochement between the military government and the Nobel
laureate whom it had jailed for six years, the authorities issued a strong
denunciation of the leader. A more inauspicious welcome could not have been
accorded to an Indian leader.  The red carpet was pulled from right under
his feet.  It was the junta's well thought offensive to counter any Indian
plan to signal support for the regime's potentially most serious opponent.
Mr. Shervani apparently evinced little interest in meeting Ms. Sun Kyi or
expressing India's concern for
her welfare.

The visit itself was the culmination of a three-year effort to engage the
country in trade and business. Border trade was regularised more than two
years ago and the first trade fair in February 1995 signaled that while
India continued to offer sympathy and support to the democracy activists in
Myanmar, it would pursue the trade track separately.  The announcement of a
large loan at the just-concluded second trade fair proclaims the successful
pursuit of that policy. Funds to prop up the regime, which has now put on a
new make-up. In a trade-driven global scenario, the fact remains that at a
time when Western companies have come under pressure to blacklist the
Myanmar regime, the Chinese, Japanese and South East Asian countries have
been investing in a major way not wanting to be left behind. An argument
that is trotted out in India, too.  Besides Myanmar's possible utility as a
gateway to the economies of the Asian Tigers, its strategic location gives
it considerable importance. The country has for long remained a haven for
the insurgents in the northeastern parts of India who appear to be slowly
getting isolated and, for lack of support, ready to rejoin
the mainstream. If engagement of Myanmar results in an end to external
assistance to these misguided elements, it can be an argument in favour of
the policy. But pressure must continue on the regime in Yangon, which has
apparently regained control of most of the remote regions of the country.
The men in khaki must realise that returning the country to democracy can
bring lasting peace, with substantial dividends in terms of stability and
progress.

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FBC ANNOUNCEMENT: OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE DEMONSTRATION AND HUNGER STRIKE FOR THE
LIBERATION OF BURMA
FRIDAY, NOV. 21, 1997
November 19, 1997

1:30 PM @ SYCAMORE GLENN (Occidental College)

WE, the student led Free Burma Coalition of Occidental College, in an effort
to increase pressure on our President, Dr. John Brooks Slaughter -- member
of the Board of Directors for <n>ARCO Corp., and to challenge any possible
college investment within <n>ARCO, will hold a demonstration / hunger strike
in the name of the Burmese people.

WE, the students, faculty, and staff of Occidental College do not wish for
our college to be associated with the murdering, enslavement, and oppression
of a people who are struggling for the establishment of a Democratic state.
WE have always understood Occidental College as being a resource for the
molding of individuals who will contribute toward the betterment of our
pluralistic society.  Knowing that Occidental College plays a significant
role in the oppression of the Burmese people is a hypocritical irony, and as
students, faculty, and staff, we denounce our involvement and the tainting
of our college's honor.

WE demand the following from our college:

1) That our President, Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, use his position within
the ARCO Board of Directors, to pressure ARCO into pulling from Burma.

2) That our college break any investment relationship, if such exists, with
ARCO until it pulls out of Burma (several of our trustees are involved with
ARCO).

The demonstration in the name of the Burmese people will begin at Sycamore
Glenn (Occidental College) at 1:30 PM, this Friday Nov. 21.  We will march
all through the campus, and stop in front of the President's Office, where
Pres. Slaughter will HAVE TO ADDRESS US.  A meeting has been scheduled with
him, but he's expecting three students.  Little does he know that they'll be
accompanied by a couple of hundred students, and TV cameras.

The hunger strike will begin after the meeting with Slaughter, and will
continue till Mon. Nov. 24, when ARCO will hold it's national Board of
Director's meeting.  Those that will participate in the hunger strike will
be Sara Hunt, from Students React, and Ismael Chavez, from the Four Winds
Student Movement.  WE hope that others will join them.

WE ASK THAT ALL OF YOU SUPPORT THE OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THEIR
EFFORTS!  IF YOU CAN ATTEND THE DEMONSTRATION, PLEASE DO!

With you in the struggle,

The Free Burma Coalition of Occidental College

Call (213) 590-1815 FOR MORE INFO.
OR E-MAIL chavezi@xxxxxxx

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