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The BurmaNet News: July 1, 1998 (r)



Re:The Bangkok Post: Secretary-General Lauds "Frankness" Among
============================================================== 
   Members 
   =======

"Frankness" may help but not enough in the case of "Burma" in her 
present situations.
 
I honestly hope that Asean Secretary-General Severino had discussed the 
"volatile situations in Burma" with Thai Foreign Minister while he was 
in Thailand. Here are the facts.

Not accounting for the present situations in Burma, the EU already had 
called off a meeting set to take place in Bangkok last November after 
Asean insisted on Burma taking part. 

Firstly, unless Asean swiftly decides to practise a "constructive 
intervention," on Burma, we can forget about bringing Burma into the 
framework of co-operation between Asean and the European Union.

Secondly,Asean would risk having a wait-and-see relations with EU if the 
present situations in Burma cannot be contained by the Asean. 

 Minn Kyaw Minn
 ==============







>From notes@xxxxxxx Tue Jun 30 21:58:49 1998
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>------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
> "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
>----------------------------------------------------------
>
>The BurmaNet News: July 1, 1998
>Issue #1038
>
>HEADLINES:
>==========
>SCMP: DEATH WARNING TO AUNG SAN SUU KYI
>NCGUB: CALL FOR PROTECTION 
>SCMP: BURMA VOWS TO STOP NARCOTICS "WITH OR WITHOUT HELP"
>BKK POST: YADANA TEST FLOWS DELAYED TWO WEEKS
>BKK POST: SECRETARY-GENERAL LAUDS "FRANKNESS"
>****************************************************************
>
>South China Morning Post: Death Warning to Aung San Suu Kyi 
>30 June, 1998 by William Barnes 
>
>The state-controlled media has warned opposition leader Aung San Suu 
Kyi
>that she could become another Ngo Dinh Diem -- the former US-backed
>president of South Vietnam who was murdered in a coup.
>
>The regime also threatened the Nobel Peace prize winner with legal 
action
>for taking her political party on a collision course with the 
Government.
>
>"The Myanmar [Burmese] Government and its people can no longer tolerate 
the
>acts of Aung San Suu Kyi who ignores the interest of the nation and the
>people," said warnings carried in all three state-controlled newspapers
>yesterday.
>
>Similar threats were made in 1989 shortly before Ms Aung San Suu Kyi 
was
>incarcerated for what turned out to be six years of house arrest.
>
>The Burmese media faithfully reflects the views of the ruling junta, 
which
>appears to have been provoked into using strong language by the 
National
>League for Democracy's (NLD) call for parliament to be convened this 
week
>along the lines of the 1990 general election which it won by a 
landslide.
>
>Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD colleagues used a rare party convention 
at
>her house last month to try to boost supporters' morale by reminding 
the
>world of its stunning election victory eight years ago.
>
>Yesterday's strong threats might have been directed at Ms Aung San Suu
>Kyi's supporters and sympathisers rather than the party leader, 
observers
>said.
>
>"I don't think they can possibly risk the international reaction by 
hurting
>her or even locking her up," said Aung Naing Oo, the foreign affairs
>spokesman for the All Burma Students' Democratic Front in Bangkok.
>
>The reports said Ms Aung San Suu Kyi should learn from Diem, who was 
used
>by Western powers but did not win public support. 
>
>****************************************************************
>
>NCGUB: Call for Protection of NLD Leader, Arrested MP's
>30 June, 1998 from < ncgub@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
>
>PRESS RELEASE
>
>National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma 
>815 Fifteenth Street, NW, Suite 910
>Washington DC 20005
>
>Dr. Sein Win, the Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government 
of
>the Union of  Burma  (N.C.G.U.B.) condemned the ruling junta for
>threatening to kill Aung San Suu Kyi and carrying out mass arrests of
>elected members of parliament.  
>
>"I am alarmed that the junta has threatened to assassinate our leader 
and
>is arresting elected representatives," said Dr. Sein Win, who is also 
Aung
>San Suu Kyi's cousin.  "Civilized governments do not behave this way 
and
>the international community must act quickly to safeguard Daw Suu and 
my
>fellow members of parliament or it could be too late."
>
>In an article printed in the state-controlled New Light of Myanmar
>newspaper, the regime warned that Aung San Suu Kyi could become another 
Ngo
>Dinh Diem, a former President of South Vietnam [who] was assassinated 
at
>the direction of generals in the South Vietnamese army during a coup in 
1963.
>
>In the last 48 hours, military intelligence agents have also been 
arresting
>MPs in Irrawaddy, Mandalay, Shan and Pegu Divisions and are gathering
>around party headquarters in Rangoon, where more arrests appear 
imminent.
>The N.C.G.U.B. has confirmed the names of three of those arrested and 
is
>trying to determine how many others have been taken.   Elected M.P.s
>arrested thus far include Mahn Johny, (N.L.D., KyongPyaw township), 
David
>Hla Myint, (N.L.D., Ngapudaw township and Dr. Tin Min Htut, (N.L.D.,
>Pantanaw township).
>
>Burma is seeking Overseas Development Assistance from Japan, which 
would be
>imperiled if Aung San Suu Kyi and the others are harmed.  The regime in
>Burma is increasingly becoming an embarrassment to the Association of
>Southeast Asian Nations,  leading some members to reconsider their
>long-held policy of not criticizing fellow members. 
>
>****************************************************************
>
>South China Morning Post: Burma Vows to Stop Narcotics "With or Without 
Help" 
>27 June, 1998 
>
>Burma, one of the world's biggest drug-producing countries, claims it 
can
>wipe out narcotics within 15 years if international aid is provided.
>
>But Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing, chairman of the Central Committee 
for
>Drug Abuse Control, said yesterday in a ceremony marking International 
Day
>Against Drug Abuse that Burma would eradicate narcotics "with or 
without
>external assistance".
>
>"In the past, Myanmar [Burma] has had problems with heroin and opium 
abuse.
>Now there is a gradual rise in the abuse of psychotropic tablets," 
Colonel
>Tin Hlaing said.
>
>In neighbouring Thailand, which shares the notorious Golden Triangle
>opium-producing region with Burma and Laos, authorities burned 632kg of
>drugs seized in the past year, mostly heroin, opium and amphetamines.
>
>Assistance to remote areas of Thailand has largely eliminated opium
>cultivation, though the country remains a key smuggling route for 
heroin.
>
>Western countries, particularly the United States, have limited similar
>assistance to Burma to protest against the military regime and its
>suppression of dissent, plus allegations that the leadership benefits 
from
>the drug trade.
>
>The Government denies the charges and says the American CIA encouraged 
the
>production of opium in the rugged borderlands to fund anti-communist
>Chinese refugees after Mao Zedong came to power in China in 1949.
>
>Burma is the source of 60 per cent of the heroin reaching the US. 
>
>****************************************************************
>
>The Bangkok Post: Yadana Test Flows Delayed Two Weeks 
>30 June, 1998 by Boonsong Kositchotethana
>
>Unit brought from Kamphaeng Phet needs modifications
>Test-run supplies of Burma's Yadana natural gas were originally due to 
flow
>into Thailand tomorrow.  But the country will be unable to take even 
the
>smallest trial quantity for at least two weeks, as it will take that 
long
>to install a 25-megawatt gas turbine at the Ratchaburi power plant as a
>temporary gas burner.
>
>The Electricity Generating of Thailand (Egat) moved the burner from
>Kamphaeng Phet to the Ratchaburi plant for the test run. It had to move
>quickly as the commissioning of the first pair of 200-megawatt gas 
turbines
>destined for Ratchaburi, the plant built largely to use Yadana gas, is
>likely to be delayed until the end of this year.
>
>Contractors for the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) were racing
>against time to modify pipes and other equipment for the temporary 
turbine
>to take the gas, officials said.
>
>Modifications are necessary because the very small volume which the
>Kamphaeng Phet gas turbine can currently handle is much below the 
minimum
>capacity of the PTT's original gas distribution system.
>
>The Kamphaeng Phet unit requires only 8-10 million cubic feet per day
>(MMcfd) of gas while the PTT facilities were designed for at least 2 
MMcfd.
>
>A senior PTT spokesman confirmed yesterday that the 260-kilometr 
pipeline,
>running from the Thai-Burmese border at Thong Pha Phum to Ratchaburi 
power
>house, and related facilities had been completed.
>
>A senior Egat official said the Kamphaeng Phet unit would be ready 
tomorrow
>to generate electricity on diesel oil, the fuel used to test the 
generator.
>It might be able to switch to Yadana gas two weeks later.
>
>Officials of both state enterprises cautioned that tomorrow was only 
the
>commencement date for the whole system and should not be taken as the
>commercial start-up.
>
>But they acknowledged the magnitude of problems that had led to the 
long
>delay for the PTT and Egat in matching the agreed gas flow rates from 
the
>Yadana developers. This would affect the expected cashflow from the 
US$1
>billion project.
>
>The delay in taking gas has marked implications in terms of penalties 
for
>Thailand. The 30-year deal calls for the average delivery of 525 MMcfd 
of
>Yadana gas to the PTT, starting tomorrow. Because of the take-or-pay 
nature
>of the contract, the PTT is subject to paying $81.57, million to the 
Yadana
>consortium if it fails to take the Burmese natural gas supply five 
months
>after the contractual start-up date of gas purchases.
>
>Senior PTT officials were recently in Rangoon to discuss this issue 
with
>the Yadana group and Burmese officials.
>
>Egat earlier slowed down construction of the Ratchaburi plant in
>anticipation that the 16.5-billion-baht gas line would be delayed by
>conservationists protesting against the laying of pipes through forests 
in
>Kanchanaburi. The slowdown was complicated further by the need to 
repair
>faulty parts.
>
>On March 6, police led by Kanchanaburi governor Direk Uthaiphol 
arrested
>anti-pipeline campaigner Sulak Sivaraksa and about 56 demonstrators, 
mostly
>students who were blocking the pipeline construction by staging a 
sit-in in
>the forest.
>
>Mr Sulak began his protest shortly after Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, 
on
>February 29, decided that laying of the pipeline must continue. Other
>conservationists then moved from the protest site.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>The Bangkok Post: Secretary-General Lauds "Frankness" Among Members 
>30 June, 1998 by Achara Asayagachat 
>
>Asean Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino yesterday hailed a "higher 
degree
>of frankness" now being demonstrated among Asean ministers, and 
emphasised
>the "interconnection" between member states.
>
>Speaking to reporters after talks with Thai Foreign Minister Surin
>Pitsuwan, Mr Severino said "circumstances today do not permit us to 
live in
>isolation".
>
>Financial and environmental problems that affect the entire region
>underline "the nature of the interconnection among us," he said.
>
>"Asean ministers have discussed frankly, may [be] not as the non-Asean 
do,
>but there is a higher degree of frankness, and as Asean family we 
should
>talk frankly," he said.
>
>Mr Severino said his talks with Mr Surin covered the issue of Asean 
member
>states becoming more active in addressing their concerns. But Mr 
Severino
>stressed that there was no mention of them "constructive intervention,"
>earlier advocated by Mr Surin.
>
>Mr Surin did not comment on his talks with Mr Severino. But Mr Surin 
said
>Asean foreign ministers, during their meeting in Manila next month, 
would
>try to solve the problem of bringing Burma into the framework of
>co-operation between Asean and the European Union.
>
>The EU called off a meeting set to take place in Bangkok last November
>after Asean insisted on Burma taking part.
>
>Mr Severino is in Bangkok as part of a staggered tour of the member 
states
>of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
>
>He also met Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, Deputy Prime Minister 
Supachai
>Panitchpakdi, and Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanhaeminda yesterday. He 
is
>due to leave for Laos tomorrow.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>
>


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