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The BurmaNet News January 11, 1998
- Subject: The BurmaNet News January 11, 1998
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 03:58:00
------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: January 11, 1998
Issue #909
HEADLINES:
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FEER: KHIN NYUNT TIGHTENS HIS GRIP
NCGUB: COMM CTR-DELHI: HYDROELECTRIC PLANT WAS
ABYMU: RESPONSE TO STATEMENT BY SPDC MILITARY CLIQUE
BKK POST: KNU 'HAS NO INTENTION' OF BLOWING UP
NEWSDAY: THE HEROIN PIPELINE / BURMA IS CHIEF SUPPLIER
THE VANCOUVER SUN: DEADLY HEROIN IS BIG BUSINESS FOR BURMA
NLM: MYANMAR EMBASSY HOSTS GOLDEN JUBILEE INDEPENDENCE
BKK POST AND NATION: YADANA PIPELINE NEWS BRIEFS
ANNOUNCEMENT: PORTRAITS OF BURMESE POLITICAL FIGURES
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FEER: KHIN NYUNT TIGHTENS HIS GRIP
January 15, 1998
At least four ministers who were ousted from Burma's military government in
November have been placed under house arrest and almost a hundred of their
underlings have been jailed, according to sources in Rangoon.
The four, all generals, are Tun Kyi (ex-trade minister), Kyaw Ba (ex-tourism
minister), Myint Aung (ex-agriculture minister) and Thein Win (ex-transport
minister). At least 50 of Tun Kyi's followers, mostly captains and majors,
are in the custody of the newly renamed junta, the State Peace and
Development Council, while arrested subordinates of the three other generals
number "in the dozens."
Meanwhile, Burma's increasingly powerful intelligence chief, Lt.-Gen. Khin
Nyunt, is consolidating his grip on power. Sources in Rangoon describe
events in Burma over the last few months as "amounting to a coup" by Khin
Nyunt and his close associates in the Office for Strategic Studies, a
military think-tank comprising high-ranking intelligence officers.
*******************************************************
NCGUB: COMM CTR-DELHI: HYDROELECTRIC PLANT WAS
EXPLODED IN CHIN HILLS
January 10, 1998
The Laiva hydroelectric plant was exploded on the night of 31-12-97. No
causality is reported. The electric plant is located between Hakha and Falam
of Chin State in Burma and provides power to those two cities. No
organization has claimed responsibility for the incident yet.
There is not only one Chin underground group on Chin Hills but the people
are against the military rule in a way of non-violent defiance. There are
hundreds of political prisoners from Kalay, Tahan, Falam, Hakha and Tidim
in Monywa and Mandalay jails and thousands of refugees are fleeing into
India. The experience showed the military formulated such a blast or
detonation whenever they wanted to turn aside the real tough situation. So
it can not be ruled out that SPDC was behind the explosion.
The annual Students sport festival has been scheduled to hold in Hakha
from 27-2-98 to 8-3-98. But it has been postponed. From the beginning, the
date and venue were not disclosed because of anticipated disturbances. If
not in Hakha, Falam is the second choice and Kalay might be the third option.
The new military council of Burma, SPDC dissolved the SLORC by pronouncing
that law and order has been restored and peace and development are the
next agenda. But neither Chin State now any part of the country is calm or
quiet. Soldiers, police and intelligence in plain cloth are everywhere.
That shows that martial law and army rule are not the answer to restore
peace and tranquillity. Nor the development of a nation.
Communication Center (CCN)
******************************************************
ABYMU: RESPONSE TO STATEMENT BY SPDC MILITARY CLIQUE
ON 8-1-98 , THE USURPER OF STATE POWER
January 10, 1998
1. The All-Burma Young Monks Union (ABYMU) was formed officially in 1988,
at a certain place in Burma, with 4 objectives. All true Sanghas (Samuti
Sanghas) and lay monks who had attained 17 years of age were allowed to
join the Union. This officially formed ABYMU may withdraw its official
existence only after a thorough negotiation with a legitimate government
elected by the people.
2. In the Constitution of the ABYMU, it is explicitly provided that the
ABYMU shall, within the context of non-violence pursuant to the discipline
of the Holy Buddhist Order, steadfastly stand on the side of the people,
in the form of alliance (mentor-sponsor relationship) with other forces
struggling for democracy and human rights.
3. The ABYMU shall never engage in acts of manipulation of religion for the
purpose of politics as done by some organizations, in the State structure,
- building pagodas building monasteries and bearing the funeral hearse of
renowned Buddhist monks - conspicuously. It is merely standing on the side
of justice as required by the current situation in the country. To stand on
the side of justice is one of the instructions of the Holy Buddhist Order.
4. (a) On 21-3-97, in Kung Hein area of Shan State, troops from SLORC/SPDC
Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 524 took away and executed Buddhist monk
U Keikti, aged 50 years, with an ordained service of 30 years.
(b) On 21-3-97, in Kung Hein area of Shan State, troops from SLORC/SPDC
Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 524 took away and executed
Buddhist monk U Aindaka, aged 38 years, with an ordained service of 18 years.
(c) On 8-8-97, in Sittway area of Arakan State, troops from military
intelligence unit 10 arrested Buddhist monk U Zayyathami, aged 45 years,
with an ordained service of 25 years, and executed him on 10-8-97.
After receiving information of the executions, the ABYMU undertook lengthy
inquiries before making a confirmation on December 1997.
5. The ABYMU assume that a person with some reason could easily accept the
facts in its statement affirming that 2254 Buddhist monasteries had been
destroyed and 3630 Sanghas from the monasteries had been driven out by
force, in the Shan State, Karenni State, Karen State, Mon State and
Tanessarim Division. The statement was issued after the ABYMU had confirmed
the facts by making extensive inquiries in the field, interviewing the
victims, holding discussions with the ethnic organizations and receiving
the views of the refugee committees.
6. If this clarification is not adequate, the ABYMU is still willing to
make further clarifications, with details, as necessary.
Central Leading Body
All-Burma Young Monks Organization
January 9, 1998
***********************************************************
BKK POST: KNU 'HAS NO INTENTION' OF BLOWING UP
January 10, 1998
MAE SOT, DPA
BO MYA SAYS REBELS MAY REGAIN TERRITORY
The Karen National Union (KNU), which has been waging war with
the Burmese government for nearly 50 years, will not attempt to
blow up a controversial gas pipeline along the Thai-Burmese
border, KNU leader General Bo Mya said in an interview this week.
Construction on the Yadana gas pipeline, which will link a power
plant in western Thailand to Burma's offshore natural gas
reserves, was suspended by the Thai government yesterday due to
opposition from environmentalists .
Human rights activists and international environmentalists have
opposed the US$600 million project on several grounds, arguing
that it was built with slave labour, that it will finance
Rangoon's pariah military regime and that it will destroy virgin
forests that are home to endangered wildlife.
"Terrorism is not the way to win support from the international
community," said Bo Mya, speaking at a remote base along the
Thai-Burma border near Mae Sot, 400 kilometres southwest of
Bangkok.
He added that the KNU has the capability to destroy sections of
the 60 kilometres of the pipeline in Burma but would not do so.
Speaking through an interpreter, the 71-year-old Bo Mya said that
although the KNU is opposed to the laying of the pipeline, which
will earn more than $150 million annually for the military
government, it was aware that destroying it would cause more harm
than good.
Bo Mya added the KNU will struggle on in its 50-year-old fight
for more political autonomy from the regime in Rangoon even
though the movement has suffered several battlefield setbacks in
the past five years.
"Even though we are facing military difficulties our goal is to
fight until we win our freedom. We think we can carry on our
fighting until we gain our freedom," he said.
The KNU is the only one of 15 rebel groups in Burma to have
successfully resisted pressure to sign ceasefire agreements with
the military government in Rangoon. In the past five years the
KNU has lost a large amount of its territory to the Burmese army.
Bo Mya vowed that this year the KNU will hold its ground and
perhaps retake some territory.
****************************************************************
NEWSDAY: THE HEROIN PIPELINE / BURMA IS CHIEF SUPPLIER
TO NEW ADDICTS IN U.S.
January 5, 1998 (Long Island, New York newspaper)
By Matthew McAllester. STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Kentung, Burma - At the side of the main street here in the heart
of the Golden Triangle, a young woman dressed in expensive western
clothes loaded a large plastic container into the back of a shiny new
Japanese four-wheel-drive truck. It was no secret who owned the truck
and what was going on.
"Look at the red T," said a Burmese man, who has long studied the
drug trade that makes this corner of Burma, the Shan State, the world's
most important supplier of opium and its refined form, heroin. On the
vehicle's license plate a red T stood out above the black Burmese script
of the plate. "That stands for MTA."
The MTA was the Mong Tai Army, a large rebel group of Shan people
who financed their fight for independence by cultivating about half of
the world's supply of heroin. After surrendering to the Burmese
government in early 1996, the MTA dissolved into smaller groups taking
advantage of the ceasefire terms - including the special license plates.
"With the red T or red MTA . . . they can drive from the refineries
on the Chinese border through Kengtung and over the Thai border at
Tachilek, no problem," the Burmese man said. "The soldiers, the police,
they just wave them through." The practice is well-known to U.S.
officials, said a State Department official who requested anonymity.
The license plates highlight the complicity of the Burmese military
government in the country's heroin trade, an industry that U.S.
government officials say is largely responsible for the rise of heroin
use in the United States, especially among the young and affluent. Those
license plates, issued by the Burmese government, enable the drugs to
begin the journey that often ends in the United States and on the
streets of New York and Long Island.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials in New York are conducting
three investigations into how Burma is feeding the demand for
high-quality heroin. In recent weeks, the agents gained an insight into
the size of the shipments making their way to New York.
"Our middleman asked for a sample," said the agent, who requested
anonymity. "Usually they give you a small amount." But this time, in a
highly unusual move, the supplier handed over tens of thousands of
dollars worth of heroin without expecting payment upfront. They're
telling us they have a load of it. The Asian heroin is out there. It
never went away."
Special Agent Robin Waugh, a spokeswoman for the DEA in New York,
said agents have in the past seized Southeast Asian heroin on Long
Island.
Heroin abuse and addiction in the United States are on the rise,
particularly among young people, according to the National Institute on
Drug Abuse. In a survey conducted in 1996, the institute found that
around 2.4 million people nationwide have used heroin. In 1995, the
survey concluded, an estimated 141,000 people became new heroin users.
The number of heroin-related incidents reported to hospital emergency
rooms has been rapidly rising in recent years, according to the DEA.
"The U.S. drug problem has been profoundly affected by the events of
the last eight years in Burma," said a State Department official who
spoke on condition of anonymity and was referring to alleged complicity
between the military regime that rules this poor Southeast Asian country
and the drug lords. "It's fair to say that Burma has been the engine
behind this new increase - some call it an epidemic - in heroin abuse
among America's younger and more affluent crowd because Burma provided
that cheap and very pure drug that simply is not available in other
parts of the world."
As evidence of the Burmese government's lack of seriousness in
combating the drug trade, American officials point to the junta's
lenient treatment of the MTA's former leader, Khun Sa. When the drug
lord surrendered, the Burmese government agreed to allow him to live
comfortably in Rangoon, the capital. Indicted in federal court in New
York, he has a reward of $2 million on his head for information leading
to his capture and conviction, courtesy of the State Department. The
United States has no extradition agreement with Burma.
"It's something akin to a plea bargain," said Thaung Tun, deputy
chief of mission at the Burmese Embassy in Washington. "We forced him to
give up trafficking in narcotics. So now we have to look after his
welfare. The important thing is that he and his men have given up
trafficking . . . The Myanmar [Burma] government is doing what it can
to suppress the trafficking of narcotics."
Whatever the government is doing, it's not enough, U.S. officials
say. Based on satellite photographs - "It's not hard to see poppies from
the air," the State Department official said - the State Department
estimates that Burma will produce 2,600 tons of opium this year. That
figure represents about 60 percent of the world's total opium
production. And it's enough to saturate the American market many times
over.
Officials in the war on drugs within the United States rely on the
DEA to provide statistics about the origins of the drugs on America's
streets. Those statistics indicate that South American heroin has
overtaken Southeast Asian heroin as the most popular type for sale. But
most drug officials privately say that the survey, which relies on
seizures and sample purchases, can be inaccurate. "Can a country
[Colombia] that produces less than 1 percent of the world's opium fuel
all the heroin addicts in the United States?" asked the U.S. official
knowledgeable about Burma.
"Burma remains the major producer of heroin for the U.S.," said a
spokesman for the White House drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey who
requested anonymity.
Few officials say they expect the Burmese government, which has
ruled the country of about 50 million people since a coup in 1962, to
threaten the power of the country's drug lords. The State Department
source noted that the United States gave more than 30 airplanes to Burma
in the 1970s for the purpose of fighting cultivation and trafficking.
These planes are frequently used to ferry around the country's ruling
generals and have not been used in counter-narcotics exercises for many
years.
Those ruling generals remain at the heart of the problem, according
to Burmese dissidents and Western government officials. "There's no
evidence that the government is directly involved in the drug trade but
where they are guilty is in allowing these traffickers to amass
legitimate empires using drug money," said the State Department
official. That money, the official said, is used to maintain Burma's
fragile economy. Without it, the generals who run the country would have
nowhere to turn to for investment capital, the official said.
One example of this relationship towers over the northern section of
downtown Rangoon. The new, multistory, five-star Traders Hotel is said
by Western diplomats to be one of the biggest investments of Lo
Hsing-han and his family. Lo is a drug lord who has gone from spending
several years in a Burmese jail to becoming a de facto business partner
of the regime, according to Western government sources in Rangoon and
the United States.
"The opening party for the Traders was like a display of who's who
in Burma," said a Western diplomat who is based in Rangoon and was at
the party. "There were the generals and foreign investors. And sitting
in the corner, there he was, Lo Hsing-han."
The State Department official confirmed the influence that Lo
Hsing-han, his family and other drug lords have in Burma. The country's
economy, cut off from much international trade and from loans offered by
organizations like the International Monetary Fund, is rapidly falling
apart. The increasing poverty, coupled with the regime's determination
to build up a tourist trade with a renewed infrastructure, has led the
government into developing a co-dependency with the drug lords, the only
people in the country with sizable capital resources.
"In a way, the [government] is being very pragmatic. They've looked
around for sources of heavy capital and that's all they've found," the
State Department official said. "I would say that Lo Hsing-han's family
has unrivaled access to the very highest levels of the government
because they have capital at their disposal that others simply can't
match. That capital translates into political clout."
Further consolidating the wealth and power of Burma's drug lords,
old and new, is the new revenue stream that comes from the recently
developed methamphetamine trade.
"Burma is not only the world's largest opium producer, but it also
appears to be potentially the world's largest producer of
methamphetamine," said another U.S. government official. Another Shan
state-based independence army, the United Wa State Army, now the
dominant drug producers in Burma, has developed and is exploiting this
new Southeast Asian market, officials say. This trade is "tearing apart
Thai youth, tearing apart Malaysian youth," the State Department
official said.
While the old routes to Thailand, which along with Burma and Laos
form the most productive poppy areas known as the Golden Triangle, are
now most often used for shipping methamphetamine, heroin has found its
own route.
Burmese heroin was traditionally carried over the border to Thailand
by mule train and then transported to Hong Kong, which acts as the main
Southeast Asian distribution center, said a DEA agent who specializes in
the Southeast Asian heroin trade. In the wake of recent arrests in
Thailand, increased cooperation between the Thai and American drug
agencies and the growing methamphetamine trade to Thailand, traffickers
have redirected many of the heroin shipments through the Yunnan province
in China, and then on to Hong Kong.
According to Burmese sources, methamphetamine also is becoming
popular among the local population. But the same opium that ends up as
heroin on the streets of New York is still the staple drug of many local
people. And as heroin destroys people's lives in the United States, so
it has captured many Burmese.
As the mountains of eastern Burma disappeared into the darkness one
recent evening, the daily ritual of a Wa village in Shan state began.
Sitting on the bamboo floor of his hut, one man pushed the black,
sticky opium paste into the opening at the end of his long pipe. He lay
down on the bamboo, his head resting on a rolled-up shirt, the end of
his pipe poised over a single flame. Shadows shimmied on the walls and
sweet blue smoke filled the air as the man, an opium addict, started the
first of many pipes he would smoke that night. In neighboring huts,
other villagers joined him in oblivion.
Unlike other villages in the region, this Wa village does not
concentrate its efforts on living off its land.
"They earn money during the day at the market, carrying people's
shopping," said a Burmese man who translated for the villagers. "Then
every two weeks they walk for three days and two nights into the
mountains to buy opium. They are all addicted."
*********************************************************
THE VANCOUVER SUN: DEADLY HEROIN IS BIG BUSINESS FOR BURMA
November 26, 1997
The country's decision to weave the drug into its permanent economy has
led to an increased flow of heroin to North America. While the narcotic
trade's damage is more than evident in Vancouver, it pales compared to
the effects on Burma's people and their neighbours.
by Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean
Special to the Sun
In a dark, windowless room hidden in the back of a dingy tea shop
in Mandalay, a junkie shoots heroin into the arms, thighs, and necks of
a string of clients using a single needle. The shooter stops
occasionally to wipe the needle with a rag or sharpen it on a stone.
Investigators report that up to 200 addicts will use one needle.
Near the Thai-Burmese border, a recent visitor reports there are
two to three funerals a day for people who have died from AIDS.
"You can hear firecrackers during the funerals and see clouds of
black smoke rising up from the villages. This is because they burn
rubber tires with the bodies. They believe that it kills the virus and
keeps it from spreading.''
Burma's military government has become a narco-dictatorship
heavily influenced by or directly involved in the burgeoning drug
trade.
"Drug traffickers who once spent their days leading mule trains
down jungle tracks are now leading lights in Burma's new market
economy," U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in July.
She also said that the US government is "increasingly concerned
that Burma's drug traffickers, with official encouragement, are
laundering their profits through Burmese banks and companies - some of
which are joint ventures with foreign businesses."
Burma's decision to weave the drug into its permanent economy has
led to an increased flow of heroin, which has resulted in cheaper, more
readily available heroin in North America.
Superintendent Vince Casey, who's in charge of the RCMP's drug
enforcement branch in B.C., says the vast majority of the heroin coming
to Vancouver comes from the Golden Triangle - the area where Burma,
Laos and Thailand meet.
And he says Vancouver is a key port for shipments going to the
U.S.
"There has been an unprecedented increase in the amount of heroin
seized here in the last three to five years," says Casey. "The residual
affect from that is an increase of heroin addiction in Vancouver."
Jane's Intelligence Review reports that the amount of Burmese
heroin sold in New York City - America's largest importation and
distribution center - has tripled since 1989. And Vancouver seems to
be following suit.
"Indicators are that the West Coast of Canada is in the forefront
of becoming a large importation/distribution center for heroin entering
North America," says Benny Mangor, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's
attache for Canada.
Narcotics officials estimate that opium production in Burma and
Thailand will increase by 20 percent this year. Burma's 1996 opium
harvest increased by 10 percent over the previous year.
On the streets of North America, a hit of heroin can be cheaper
than a six-pack of beer. And the heroin is purer than it used to be.
"The suffering I observed in Burma has followed me all the way to
Vancouver, right into the veins of the heroin addicts I see in East
Hastings every day, and in our homes through increasing property
crimes," says Vancouver writer Alan Clements, who has written three
books on Burma. "This city is linked to Burma in a very concrete and
frightening way."
George Festa of the US Drug Enforcement Agency says that most
users have no idea where the heroin comes from or the danger it poses.
"I don't think young people realize that they're dealing with
poison. I don't think they realize, going back to Burma, how this stuff
is manufactured, the chemicals that are used under unsanitary
conditions," he says.
"Many times what you're putting in your nose or into your veins
was smuggled into the country in somebody's internal cavities."
At least 60 per cent of U.S. heroin comes from Burma and the U.S.
State Department says that heroin exports have more than doubled since
the military government - the State Law and Order Restoration Council
or SLORC - has taken control.
In May, citing "severe repression," U.S. President Bill Clinton
prohibited any new investment in Burma by Americans and their
companies. But he also complained about the flow of illegal drugs
through Burma.
In early August, Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy followed
suit with Canadian sanctions. Like Clinton, among the reasons Axworthy
cited was "Burma's failure to curb the production and trafficking of
illegal drugs."
According to an independent investigation by the Paris-based
Geo-political Drugwatch, SLORC's oil and gas company - Myanmar Oil and
Gas Enterprises - has been the main channel for laundering heroin money
earned by the Burmese army. Myanmar Oil (Myanmar is the name the junta
uses for the country) is in partnership with U.S-owned Unocal, Total of
France, and a Thai company in building a $1.2 billion gas pipeline in
southern Burma.
"Drug money is so pervasive in the Burmese economy that it taints
legitimate investment,'' says a U.S. State Department official. ``Since
1988, some 15 percent of foreign investment in Burma and over half of
that from Singapore has been tied to the family of narco-trafficker Lo
Hsing Han.''
Han is the chair of Burma's biggest conglomerate, Asia World.
Last year, Asia World got the contract to build and collect tolls on a
new 164-kilometre road from Lashio, in the heart of Burma's opium poppy
fields, to China. At the same time, Han was awarded a 25-year contract
to own and operate a new port near Rangoon. The two contracts reinforce
Han's control over the country's drug exports and his partnership with
the military government.
Although many Vancouverites can measure the drug trade's damage
in their own terms, it pales beside the effects on Burma's neighbors
and its own population.
Since SLORC took control in 1988, the Beijing-based National
Institute on Drug Dependence reports a more than seven-fold increase in
addictions to an estimated 500,000 in 1994.
With increased injection drug use comes AIDS and the bulk of
China's AIDS cases are clustered along the Burmese border in three
districts in Yunnan Province, according to Dr. Chris Beyrer of Johns
Hopkins University.
Another neighbor, India, has also seen a sharp increase in drug
use and AIDS along its 1,650-kilometre border with Burma. Authorities
estimate that $1-billion US worth in drugs is shipped to India every
year along the highway connecting it with Central Burma.
Like China's Yunnan province, the northeastern Indian border
state of Manipur has the worst AIDS epidemic in the country. Manipur
had 600 addicts when SLORC came to power in 1988. In 1996, specialists
estimated there were 40,000 addicts.
Inside Burma itself, where the poppy explosion is most deeply
felt, the twin epidemics of heroin and AIDS are out of control.
``The government appears to be more interested in stamping out
political activity than drug addiction,'' Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel
laureate and pro-democracy activist, said recently from her home in
Rangoon. ``Very few university students on the campus could get away
with engaging in political activities, but they seem to be able to get
away with taking drugs.''
An exiled Burmese college student now studying at the University
of Wisconsin agrees. ``Our professors told us that the regime would
rather have us become heroin addicts than speak against the regime. The
heroin explosion is happening with the knowledge, the endorsement, even
active encouragement by the state officials.''
Government-owned jade mines in the north give employees the
option of being paid in hard drugs or cash, according to Benjamin Min,
a former Ministry of Mines employee.
In that remote region, which is off limits to Westerners, 90
percent of addicts are HIV positive. In the rest of the country, the
World Health Organization says the more than half a million addicts
suffer an HIV infection rate of 60 to 70 per cent.
Bernstein is an associate editor for the Pacific News Service. Kean is
co-author of the 1994 book "Burma's Revolution of the Spirit: The
Struggle for Democratic Freedom and Dignity."
****************************************************
NLM: MYANMAR EMBASSY HOSTS GOLDEN JUBILEE INDEPENDENCE
DAY RECEPTION IN BANGKOK
January 9, 1998
YANGON, 8 Jan - Myanmar Embassy in Thailand hosted the Golden Jubilee
Independence Day reception at Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok on 4 January from
6.30 pm to 8.30 pm local time.
Prime Minister of Thailand Mr Chuan Leekpai, Mr Siddhi Savetsila, Minister of
Foreign Affairs Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Sukhumbhand
Paribatra, Commander-inChief of the Royal Thai Army General Chetta Thanajaro,
General Boonsak Kamheangridhirong, MajGen Ronnachai Srisuworanan, Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr Saroj Shavanviraj, senior
military and civilian officers of Thailand, ambassadors of ASEAN nations,
diplomats of China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Israel, Hungary, Egypt,
Czech, Slovak, Russia, Romania, Vatican, Australia, Iraq, Iran, Poland,
United States, diplomats of foreign missions in Bangkok, Military Attache of
Myanmar to Thailand Lt-Col Kyaw Han and other officials and Myanmar families
totalling 750 were present.
Ambassador of Myanmar to Thailand U Hla Maung delivered an address, saying
friendly relations between Myanmar and Thailand will continue to thrive
forever.
He then wished for the health and happiness of Chairman of the State Peace
and Development Council Senior General Than Shwe and His Majesty King
Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Culture troupe led by Daw San San Aye of Ministry of Culture of Myanmar
entertained the guests with variety of dances.
U Hla Maung presented a souvenir to Mr Chuan.
Monhinga was then served.
The Thai Premier cordially greeted Myanmar families attending the reception.
*****************************************************
BKK POST AND NATION: YADANA PIPELINE NEWS BRIEFS
January 9-11, 1998
BKK POST: GOVT HALTS LAYING OF GAS PIPELINE
January 9, 1998 (abridged)
The Petroleum Authority of Thailand was ordered yesterday to
suspend construction of its gas pipeline in forest areas. The
government also asked legal experts from conservation groups and
the authority to review the Thai-Burma gas purchasing contracts.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai called an urgent meeting between
representatives of conservation groups, state agencies involved
in the' pipeline and authority executives to settle their differences.
The authority would halt work until Monday.
--------------------------------------------------------
BKK POST: GAS PIPELINE CAN BE SUSPENDED: EXPERTS
January 9, 1998 (abridged)
AGENCY URGED TO REVEAL ALL CONTRACTS IT HAS WITH SUPPLIER
The Petroleum Authority of Thailand can suspend its gas pipeline
project without incurring a daily fine of 40 million baht, law
experts confirmed yesterday.
The state agency could not claim its contract partner had the
right to decide if an event that befell the project was or was
not force majeure, they said.
Dej-Udom Krairit, an international law expert, said force
majeure, which covers natural disasters, sabotage. or civil
disputes, is a fact by itself.
If the laying of the pipeline or the supply of gas from Burma
were disrupted, an arbitration tribunal set up under the contract
would decide if force majeure had been at play.
Mr Dej-Udom, of the Law Society of Thailand, pointed out that
force' majeure indicated in the contract included acts of
government and civil protests. Therefore, any action by
conservation groups to block construction
or rerouting from the forests would not leave the PTT liable.
--------------------------------------------------
BKK POST: RIVAL GROUPS MEET TO SCRUTINISE CONTRACTS
January 10, 1998 (abridged)
Legal experts representing both sides of the Thai-Burmese gas
pipeline controversy met at Government House yesterday to try to
answer the question on whether the project may be delayed
without incurring a penalty.
It was the first time the project developer, Petroleum Authority
of Thailand (PTT), made the contracts it signed with its
contractor, the gas exploration consortium and the Burmese
government accessible to project opponents in an official setting.
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NATION: (EDITORIAL) MOMENT OF TRUTH ARRIVES
January 10, 1998 (abridged)
Only now, with the construction of the controversial Yadana gas
pipeline nearly complete, is the public getting access to details
of the contracts that govern the deal.
And few people like what they are seeing. What has been revealed
so far points to a campaign of duplicity by the Petroleum
Authority of Thailand (PTT) and contractual terms that run
contrary to the national interest.
The public cannot be faulted if its suspects there is more the
PTT is hiding in its deal with Burma and the local arms of large
international corporations, Total Myanmar Exploration and
Production and Unocal Myanmar Offshore Co.
Among the questions that need to be answered:
Why is PTTEP International Limited, PTT's private investment arm,
listed as part of the gas-selling group? This makes the PTT and
its sister organisation buyer and seller at the same time.
International law experts also suspect the contracts put Thailand
at a disadvantage in the gas deal. They observed that the point
of delivery at Baan I-thong on the border in Kanchanaburi's Thong
Pha Phum district was insisted upon by Burma. This forced the PTT
to fix a pipeline route that is unnecessarily destructive to the
environment and the rights of local communities. It is obvious
that Burma is not looking only for profits from the pipeline, but
also to enjoy the political benefits of being able to rid the
border area of armed ethnic groups fighting for autonomy from
Rangoon.
The question now is what were the motives of the Thai side in
becoming Burma's tool in its battle against the ethnic groups?
Also, what made the PTT so eager to buy gas from a problematic
country like Burma when there are other nearby sources of gas in
Malaysia and Indonesia?
The mounting controversy surrounding the deal prompted Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai to on Thursday order the suspension of
work on the pipeline until Monday and appoint a team of 10
respected lawyers to study the contracts.
The public awaits the results of the investigation, and this time
will not be satisfied with anything but the truth.
The government must be bold enough to take the correct course of
action if Thailand is to ultimately gain more than it loses.
If the project is ultimately cancelled and the PTT, and that
means the taxpayers, ends up losing billions of baht as a result,
that could well be because a true accounting was withheld until
too late.
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NATION: IRATE FARMER TRAPS DISPLACED ELEPHANT
January 10, 1998 (abridged)
THE fate of a trapped wild elephant has deepened the conflict
between conservationists and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand
(PTT) over the Yadana gas pipeline, as a villager yesterday
threatened to shoot the animal if nothing was done to prevent
others from the herd from further damaging his crops.
The elephant belonged to a herd living in the Huay Kayeng
National Forest Reserve where PTT has been constructing a section
of the Yadana pipeline, according to the Wildlife Fund Thailand
(WFT). The herd was forced to feed on villagers' farms because
its salt-lick and feeding grounds in the forest had been
disturbed by the construction work, a WFT official said.
A WFT rescue team and a veterinarian yesterday rushed to the site
and found that the elephant, about five years old, was suffering
from severe stress and dehydration after it had become trapped in
a pit on Wednesday.
Vinit Buranasombat, a villager from Huay Kayeng who dug the trap,
told WFT officials that he would not release the elephant until
he received a guarantee that the animals would be prevented from
encroaching on his farm. He said it was not the first time his
crops were damaged by wild elephants since PTT began constructing
the pipeline in the forest area.
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ANNOUNCEMENT: PORTRAITS OF BURMESE POLITICAL FIGURES
January 10, 1998
Friends,
This is to mention that the Britain Burma Society web site
<http://www.britainburma.demon.co.uk> has just started a new
portrait gallery (called Profiles for short), showing some SPDC
and opposition leaders.
Their names are familiar, but do we always know what they look
like? When you need to know, do feel free to check here.
Derek Brooke-Wavell - hon sec, Britain Burma Society
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