The BurmaNet News: June 17, 1998

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: June 17, 1998
Issue #1028

HEADLINES:
==========
BKK POST: BURMA PREPARES ANTI-KNU PUSH
DVB: KNPP MEETING DECIDES NOT TO SIGN CEASE-FIRE
VOA: AUNG SAN SUU KYI APPEALS TO THE PHILIPPINES
U.S. PRESIDENT CLINTON: MEMO FOR THE SECT. OF STATE
BKK POST: MORE CHECKPOINTS SET UP
BKK POST (EDITORIAL): ABANDON THIS SHABBY POLICY
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The Bangkok Post: Burma Prepares Anti-KNU Push
16 June, 1998 

Kanchanaburi -- Burma has sent six reinforcement battalions to the border,
indicating a push against the Karen National Union.

A military source with the Kanchanaburi-based Surasee Force said the rapid
deployment battalions from the 22nd Division from Tavoy have been deployed
opposite Sai Yoke and Thong Pha Phum districts.

Fresh troops have also been sent to the 32nd Infantry Battalion at Phaya
Thongsu camp.

This is near Three Pagoda Pass, opposite Sangkhla Buri district.

The reinforcements include tanks, armoured cars, artillery and AK-47
assault rifles.

They are expected to go after an estimated 1,000 remaining KNU troops. 

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Democratic Voice of Burma: KNPP Meeting Decides Not to Sign Cease-Fire With
SPDC
12 June, 1998 by Maung Tu 

The Central Committee of the Karenni National Progressive Party, KNPP, held
an emergency meeting at their central headquarters [near the Thai-Myanmar
border] from 8 to 9 June.  When I went to the KNPP headquarters, a KNPP
spokesman told me that the KNPP had decided not to make a cease-fire
agreement with the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] and to
continue fighting.

The KNPP spokesman also said the meeting was held to decide on a cease-fire
agreement with SPDC after reviewing the outcome of the KNPP-SPDC meeting
held in Rangoon from 14 to 24 May which was attended by six KNPP
representatives.

The emergency KNPP Central Committee meeting was attended by 14 of 16
Central Committee members.  When I inquired about the agenda and the
resolutions, I learned that the meeting reviewed the situation and passed
these resolutions--although the name was changed from SLORC [State Law and
Order Restoration Council] to SPDC their actions remain the same; a
cease-fire was signed in 1995 but the SLORC military clique violated it;
and the SPDC, which is basically a name change of SLORC, should not be
trusted.

If the SPDC really want a cease-fire they should comply with the following:

SPDC forces should retreat to the west bank of the Salween river;
stop the arrest, killing, and rape of the Karenni people;
not to continue major offensives against the KNPP; and 
halt the destruction and forced relocation of Karenni villages.

But it has been learned that the SPDC has no plans to comply with the KNPP
demands.  That is why KNPP Armed Forces Chief General Aung Myat said a
cease-fire agreement between the KNPP and the SPDC remains out of reach.
The KNPP was formed on 29 July 1957 so the KNPP's revolutionary struggle
has already spanned for more than 40 years.  The KNPP armed forces consists
of two battalions with over 1,000 men and the main objective of the KNPP is
to build a separate, independent, and sovereign Karenni State. 

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Voice of America: Aung San Suu Kyi Appeals to the Philippines 
16 June, 1998 by Ruth Youngblood

Intro:  Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has appealed to
Philippine President-elect Joseph Estrada to take a lead in championing
democracy in her homeland.  As Ruth Youngblood reports from Manila, Aung
San Suu Kyi warns Southeast Asian regional stability is at risk.

Text:  Aung San Suu Kyi has asked President-elect Joseph Estrada to help
persuade Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to take an
active role in encouraging Burma's military dictatorship to make democratic
reforms.  Mr. Estrada will be inaugurated June 30th.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner urged Mr. Estrada to support the Burmese
opposition's struggle, in accordance with the Philippines' long record of
democracy and in the interest of regional stability.

Aung San Suu Kyi's message to Mr. Estrada was delivered by a Filipino who
attended a gathering in Burma for Asean women leaders.

Defying pressure from western governments and human rights groups, Asean
admitted Burma into the regional group last July.

Asean maintains it follows a constructive engagement policy, aiming to
improve conditions in Burma through quiet diplomacy and economic contact,
rather than trying to isolate the regime through sanctions.

/// Opt /// 
The nine-member group includes Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Burma. 
// End opt ///

Aung San Suu Kyi 's National League for Democracy won Burma's first free,
multi-party elections in 1990, but the results were rejected by the
military dictatorship.  In her message to President-elect Estrada, she
warned that unless there is a resolution of the democracy struggle in
Burma, social unrest is likely.  She adds, unrest in one country in the
region means unrest for the whole region.

/// Rest opt /// 
Last year Aung San Suu Kyi met behind closed doors with the Philippines'
Foreign Secretary, Domingo Siazon, whom Mr. Estrada is keeping in his
cabinet. 

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U.S. President Clinton: Memorandum for the Secretary of State 
15 June, 1998 

No. 98-30 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT: Report to Congress Regarding Conditions in Burma and U.S.

Policy Toward Burma 

Pursuant to the requirements set forth under the heading "Policy Toward
Burma" in section 570(d) of the FY 1997 Foreign Operations Appropriations
Act, as contained in the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public
Law 104-208), a report is required every 6 months following enactment
concerning: 

1) progress towards democratization in Burma; 

2) progress on improving the quality of life of the Burmese people,
including progress on market reforms, living standards, labor standards,
use of forced labor in the tourism industry, and environmental quality; and 

3) progress made in developing a comprehensive multilateral strategy to
bring democracy to and improve human rights practices and the quality of
life in Burma, including the development of a dialogue between the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and democratic opposition groups <
figures unavailable >

You are hereby authorized and directed to transmit the attached report
fulfilling this requirement to the appropriate committees of the Congress
and to arrange for publication of this memorandum in the Federal Register. 

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

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The Bangkok Post: More Checkpoints Set Up to Stop Illegal Immigrants 
16 June, 1998 by Anucha Charoenpho 

Employers warned to stick to labour law

Four more border checkpoints have been set up to prevent illegal immigrants
from entering the country.

Pol Lt-Gen Chidchai Wanhasathit, chief of the Immigration Police Bureau,
yesterday said his agency was recently ordered to set up four more border
checkpoints as part of measures to prevent alien workers from sneaking into
Thailand.

The four checkpoints -- Khao Klue in Chanthaburi province, Phra Phrorig in
Sa Kaew, Mae Tam in Phayao and Pathomporn in Chumphon -- are to be manned
round the clock by combined 23-strong teams of local police and Border
Patrol Police officers, according to Pol Lt-Gen Chidchai.

The officer added his agency has also liaised with the Border Patrol
Police, Tourist Police, the Foreign Ministry and the Police Cadet Academy
to jointly crack down on illegal immigrant workers countrywide.

According to him, a total of 230,000 illegal immigrants were repatriated
during the May 1-June 11 crackdown.

Some 160,000 immigrants went back voluntarily, while the rest -- about
70,000 -- were arrested from factories and living quarters and sent back to
their home countries.

Pol Lt-Gen Chidchai has also warned owners of factories and other
businesses against hiring illegal workers.

Those found guilty of sheltering illegal immigrants are liable to five year
imprisonment and/or a fine of 50,000 baht, while employers of illegal
labour face three years in jail and/or a fine of up to 30,000 baht.

Smugglers of illegal workers are liable to 10-year imprisonment and/or a
fine of 100,000 baht.

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The Bangkok Post: Abandon This Shabby Policy 
16 June, 1998 

Editorial

The policy of non-interference ignores the reality that events in one
nation may well affect another. Repression in Burma, for example, sends
thousands of refugees into Thailand and Bangladesh. The regional economic
turmoil, it is argued, could have been lessened had one country taken a
word of advice from another.

Asean's policy of non-interference has long afforded members of our little
community the opportunity to misbehave in the certain knowledge that if the
neighbours saw something, they would insist that they had not. The policy
enabled us to sit by as wrongs were committed but left us speechless with
rage and frustration when the consequences were visited upon us.

The brand of non-interference that prevails in the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations has been a handy one for the more politically backward
members of the club. It said blankly that what goes on within the borders
of a country is a matter for that country alone, and the neighbours had
better respect that. It followed that solidarity was a good thing because a
united Asean could tell Western critics of human rights abuses and the like
to keep their long noses out of affairs that do not even interest the locals.

All the while, however, Asean was being willfully ignorant of the reality
that the policy itself represented direct interference in the lives and
aspirations of a great number of people in the region. By turning a blind
eye to the misbehaviour of the State Law and Order Restoration Council, of
whatever it calls itself now, and the regime of Mr Suharto, Asean has done
a great disservice to the people of Burma, East Timor and Aceh.

Surin Pitsuwan, the Foreign Minister, has caught the mood of the moment by
challenging the policy in order to give Asean the ability to prevent
domestic problems from becoming regional problems. His remark is timely as
the region reels from the economic crisis that developed in Thailand.

It is worth noting, however, that Mr Surin is talking of an Asean that has
undergone something of a change since those heady days of economic growth
when leaders of member states wore fancy shirts, held hands and performed
chorus line routines. Indonesia and Malaysia are too busy dealing with
economic ills and domestic pressure for long overdue political
modernisation to set Asean's course.

Thailand and the Philippines also are facing serious problems but are
progressing politically. In this country we have a new constitution and the
prospect of cleaner politics, and the Philippines has a new president from
a general election that was a credit to the country as it celebrates a
century of independence.

Mr Surin's remark may well hold out the prospect of the more politically
advanced members of the Asean family playing a more important role in the
affairs of the grouping, which does much of its business with the
industrialised democracies. The minister is Clintonesque, however, on the
question of human rights, suggesting the concept could cause problems for
traders on the border.

Human rights is a difficult issue for Asean, particularly for its conferral
of membership on the junta in Rangoon, as opposed to Burma and its people.
That awfully backward step can be attributed to an Asean led by people who
preferred not to notice that the regime abuses its people and exports
problems, such as drugs. Such blindness is not universal: The international
community will not talk to the junta no matter how often Asean tries to
play matchmaker.

The international community is unlikely to look any more fondly upon the
junta until it changes its ways and ceases to be a regional embarrassment.
The dose of peer pressure that Mr Surin has mentioned in his remarks about
non-interference may not be out of place if Asean is to pull itself out of
a dark past and prepare for a brighter future.

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