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The BurmaNet News: July 3, 1998



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: July 3, 1998
Issue #1040

HEADLINES:
==========
REUTERS: MYANMAR READIES JAIL FOR SUU KYI 
SCMP: UP TO 40 ELECTION WINNERS ARRESTED
AP: ASEAN ASKED TO PRESS MYANMAR ON CRACKDOWN
HRW: OPPOSITION ARRESTS REQUIRE ATTENTION
XINHUA: MYANMAR, UNICEF REVIEW PROGRAM
BKK POST: UNIVERSITY RULING IS A FIRST STEP
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Reuters: Myanmar Readies Jail for Suu Kyi, Says Opposition
2 July, 1998 by Sutin Wannabovorn 

Bangkok -- Myanmar's military is preparing a special cell in its notorious
Insein prison for opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San
Suu Kyi, days after threatening to take legal action against her,
opposition sources said on Thursday.

But Yangon-based diplomats said the threat of legal action may be mere
psychological warfare, with neither the junta nor the opposition really
intending to step over established battle lines.

``According to informed sources from Insein Prison in Rangoon (Yangon), a
special detached house located in the women's section of the prison was
being renovated last week, believed to be for Burma's pro-democracy leader
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,'' the exiled All Burma Students' Democratic Front
said in a statement.

Military spokesmen were not immediately available to comment.

Insein was the prison where scores of pro-democracy protesters were
tortured and killed by the military after it seized power in a bloody coup
in September 1988.

The renovation started immediately after Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD) party sent a letter to the ruling State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) demanding that the junta convene a parliament by
August 2 in accordance with the results of aborted 1990 elections.

The NLD swept the election, but its victory was never recognised by the
military.

The two sides have since been at political loggerheads, with the opposition
accusing the military of abusing human rights and curbing its activities.

For the first time since the May 1990 election, the military allowed the
NLD to hold a gathering on May 27 in Suu Kyi's Yangon home to mark the
eighth anniversary of the polls victory. Analysts believed then that this
pointed to a warming of ties between the two sides.

But at the gathering, Suu Kyi launched a fresh political offensive and
demanded that parliament be convened.

The military government bluntly rejected the NLD demand, saying that the
convening of parliament was impossible until the National Convention of
delegates, hand-picked by the military for the purpose, had drafted a new
constitution for the country.

It also accused Suu Kyi of obstructing the convention's work.

``The Myanmar government and its people can no longer tolerate the acts of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who ignores the interest of the nation and people,''
the government warned in commentaries run in all three state-run Myanmar
newspapers.

They said that those who obstructed the convention's functions faced five
to 20 years jail.

State media also ran similar warnings in 1989 shortly before Suu Kyi was
placed under six years of house arrest.

``The government made similar threats to her prior to her house arrest in
1989, but things have changed now. There are other factors now, especially
pressure from Japan, which has barred SPDC from taking action against
her,'' a Yangon-based diplomat said.
The Japanese government recently threatened to withdraw financial support
for the SPDC if it continued to delay completion of the new charter, the
diplomat added.

The military established the National Convention in early 1993 and claims
that two thirds of the new charter has been completed, but has set no time
frame for its completion. The convention has also not met for some time now.

``I think this fresh threat may be merely psychological warfare where both
parties pay lip service but no action is taken,'' the diplomat said.

Another diplomatic source also said some tension between the junta and the
NLD was building up in Yangon, but the chances of the SPDC taking action
against Suu Kyi may be slim. 

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

South China Morning Post: Up to 40 Election Winners Arrested
2 July, 1998 

ASSOCIATED PRESS in Bangkok -- Military authorities may have detained more
than 40 parliamentary election winners from the opposition National League
for Democracy in the past week, an exiled activist group said yesterday.

A spokesman for the All Burma Students' Democratic Front said details were
difficult to confirm, but the group had the names of three election winners
from Irrawaddy Division, near the capital, Rangoon, who had been arrested.

The spokesman said the crackdown had taken place in apparent response to a
June 23 demand by the league that the country's military regime convene by
August 21 the pro-democracy parliament which was elected in 1990 but never
allowed to meet.

The demand marked the first time the party, headed by 1991 Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, had set a deadline for the military to convene
the parliament.

In Rangoon, the league sent a letter to the Government on Tuesday to
protest over reported restrictions against its elected candidates,
according to a copy of the letter circulated by the party.

Authorities had "verbally or in writing" asked elected candidates of the
party to sign pledges restricting their movements, and those who refused
were being imprisoned, it was claimed in the letter.

It was addressed to the Prime Minister and chairman of the ruling State
Peace and Development Council, General Than Shwe, Senior Chief Justice Aung
Toe and Attorney-General Tha Tun.

"Treating the elected candidates of the party as criminals amounts to
abusing the law as well as misusing power. Hence we strongly protest such
restrictions placed against the elected members of the party," said the
letter, signed by league chairman Aung Shwe.

The party also urged its would-be parliamentarians not to sign such
pledges, and advised those who had signed them not to honour them.

The letter did not make clear when such a restriction order had been
issued, or to how many people.

The military has staged several such roundups in the past in response to
plans by the league for some kind of political action. 

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

AP: Asean Asked to Press Myanmar on Crackdown 
2 July, 1998 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A U.S.-based human rights organization has urged
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to press Myanmar's military
regime to halt a crackdown on the country's leading opposition party. Human
Rights Watch said dozens of members of parliament from the National League
for Democracy, elected in 1990 but never allowed to serve, are believed to
have been arrested or threatened in recent days.

The league and other opposition sources say that ``verbally or in
writing,'' authorities have asked elected candidates of the party to sign
pledges restricting their movements, and that those who refused to do so
were being imprisoned.

The crackdown came in apparent response to a June 23 demand by the league
that the country's military regime convene by Aug. 21 the Parliament that
was never allowed to meet.

The demand marked the first time the party, headed by 1991 Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, had set a deadline for the military to convene
Parliament. Her party won a large majority of the seats in the poll. Many
Western nations have ostracized the military regime in Myanmar -- also
called Burma -- for its poor human right records. Japan and ASEAN, however,
have pursued a policy of ``constructive engagement,'' arguing that close
ties bring a better opportunity for influence.

``At the upcoming ASEAN ministerial meeting in Manila on July 24, we urge
them to intervene with the Burmese government to seek an immediate end to
this pattern of harassment,'' said the statement from Human Rights Watch
received in Bangkok.

Although ASEAN members ordinarily shy away from ``interference'' in each
others' affairs, Thailand's foreign minister recently suggested it was time
to change that policy.

An article in Myanmar's state-controlled press Monday suggested that Suu
Kyi could face a long prison term for her political activities. In what has
been widely interpreted as a threat against her life, it also warned that
she could become another ``Ngo Dinh Diem,'' the premier of what was then
South Vietnam, who was assassinated by military officers in 1963. The
allusion caused concern because of an incident June 25 in which
unidentified men assaulted members of the youth wing of Suu Kyi's party
outside her home in the Myanmar capital, Yangon, after police tried to
block them from holding a regularly scheduled meeting.

Suu Kyi reportedly fell or was pushed to the ground during the melee. In
November 1996, a pro-government mob attacked Suu Kyi's motorcade, smashing
car windows with sticks and crowbars and slightly injuring one of her top
aides. Some said later they had been paid by the government to attack the car.

Another Myanmar opposition group, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front,
said in a press release received in Bangkok that visitation privileges for
42 elected lawmakers from the league already in prison have been withdrawn.
It also claimed that a special detached house in the women's section of
Insein Prison was being renovated last week, and was ``believed to be ''
for Suu Kyi.

It said the house was built in December 1995 after the league walked out on
the military regime's constitutional convention, claiming it was rigged.
Information about the crackdown has been difficult to confirm. Human Rights
Watch said ``international calls to Rangoon are cut off as soon as mention
of these incidents is made.'' Several queries faxed this week by The
Associated Press in Bangkok to the government's main spokesman have gone
unanswered. 

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

Human Rights Watch: Opposition Arrests Require International Attention
1 July, 1998 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 1, 1998
     
For more information contact:
Sidney Jones (New York)                 +1 212 216 1228
Mike Jendrzejczyk  (Washington DC)      +1 202 371 6592, ext.113
Sarah Cooke (London)                   +44 171 713 1995

BURMA: OPPOSITION ARRESTS REQUIRE INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

Human Rights Watch today called for an immediate end to government
harassment of Burmese opposition members arrested in the past few days.
Dozens of parliamentarians from the National League for Democracy (NLD) --
elected in 1990 but never allowed to serve -- are believed to have been
arrested or threatened, the organization said, but it has been impossible
to confirm exact numbers and names as international calls to Rangoon are
cut off as soon as mention of these incidents is made.

"These arrests provide another opportunity for Japan and the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to show that engagement can bring results"
said Sidney Jones, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch. "At the upcoming
ASEAN ministerial meeting in Manila on July 24, we urge them to intervene
with the Burmese government to seek an immediate end to this pattern of
harassment."

The arrests follow NLD demands on May 27, 1998 that Burma's ruling State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) convene the parliament elected in 1990
within three months. The SPDC has reportedly been calling in NLD
parliamentarians outside Rangoon and demanding that they sign a declaration
that they will not leave their home towns for the foreseeable future. Those
who refuse to sign the declaration have been arrested and detained,
including two parliamentarians in Lashio, northern Shan State, according to
the NLD.  Human Rights Watch has confirmed that three NLD parliamentarians
have been detained in Irrawaddy Division of Burma. The names are not yet
confirmed but are reported to be Mahn Johny, (Kyong Pyaw township
constituency), David Hla Myint (Ngapudaw-1 township constituency),
previously detained for one year in 1991 for flying the NLD flag at the
same height as the national flag, and Dr. Tin Min Htut (Pantanaw-1 township
constituency), previously arrested in 1996 for illegal possession of
foreign currency and who was sentenced to three years imprisonment.

The NLD's deadline for restoring parliament falls on August 21, just short
of the tenth anniversary of the bloody crackdown of pro-democracy
demonstrators by the military on August 8, 1988, in which at least 3,000
civilian protestors are thought to have been killed. With that deadline
fast approaching, the SPDC have launched an intensified personal attack on
the NLD's General Secretary,  Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The three state
controlled newspapers in Burma stated that the SPDC "could no longer
tolerate" her acts.

At least forty NLD parliamentarians are currently imprisoned in Burma for
exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and
association. It now seems certain that this number has increased and will
continue to do so dramatically over the coming days and weeks, leaving the
ranks of the opposition movement in Burma, and in particular the NLD, more
depleted than ever. Overall Burma has over 1300 political prisoners.

Since the SPDC took the place of the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), on November 15, 1997, leaving the same top four military
generals in place, the NLD has kept relatively quiet. It appeared to be
giving the SPDC a six month grace period, hoping that some progress towards
real negotiations and dialogue would take place. As none did, the NLD
launched a more direct strategy reflected in the resolutions issued from
the May 27 meeting. One of these resolutions set out the deadline of August
21 for the convening of parliament. Others also called for the reopening of
universities, which have been closed since student demonstrations in
December 1996, and for an end to government demands that farmers sell rice
at far below the market rate.

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

Xinhua: Myanmar, UNICEF Review Country Cooperation Program 
2 July, 1998 

Yangon -- A mid-term meeting of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its
Myanmar partner agencies is being held here to review their country program
of cooperation for 1996-2000.

The two-day meeting, which began Wednesday, reviewed the progress made in
health and nutrition, the official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar
reported Thursday.

The four-year Myanmar-UNICEF country cooperation program, which has been
under implementation since 1996 with 56 million U.S. dollars in assistance
from the UNICEF, covers health, development of nutrition, water and
sanitation, basic education, early childhood development and child rights.

The projects are being undertaken by the five Myanmar ministries of health,
agriculture and irrigation, education, social welfare relief and
resettlement, and national planning and economic development in cooperation
with the UNICEF.

Attending the meeting are ministers of related Myanmar ministries, heads of
government departments, ambassadors, officials of the UNICEF and
representatives of other U.N. agencies.

The last annual Myanmar-UNICEF review meeting was held in November 1997.

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

The Bangkok Post: Universities Ruling is a First Step 
2 July, 1998 by Saritdet Marukatat 

Analysis/ Restoring Burma to health

Only the Burmese leaders can help their country prosper, but this means
relaxing their stranglehold on the nation's people and its economy so that
they can take advantage of the country's abundance.

The recent promise by the Burmese leadership to reopen universities is
welcome news for a country in dire need of professionals to spur the leap
forward needed to catch up with its neighbours in Southeast Asia.

Universities across the country have been closed since Dec 1996 in a bid by
the military regime to disperse the students who were seen as the main
allies of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy in their
domestic and international campaign for recognition of the NLD's election
victory in 1990.

The promise by the regime, now known as the State Peace and Development
Council, to reopen the university gates later this month shows it is
confident it now has the situation under control.

But many believe the disruption of 18 months in the making of professionals
and the cultivation of skills Burma badly needs for its development was too
high a price to pay.

"Human factors ... are ignored by the government," said Mya Maung, a
Burmese economist at Boston College, one of several participants in a
recent conference in Bangkok on the future of the Burmese economy.

Self-imposed isolation, the failure of the socialist experiment and
fighting with ethnic groups have turned Burma from one of the region's most
prosperous nations into one of the United Nations' least developed countries.

The regime's refusal to accept the 1990 election results is heaping odds
against its bid to attract foreign trade and investment, especially from
Western countries, whose human rights and democratic advocates keep up the
pressure against governments and companies engaging Rangoon.

The financial crisis in Asia is crippling the regime's main trade and
investment partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

That leaves the gas deal with Thailand as the only promising source of
foreign exchange and means for improving the economy.

Burma has seen imports increase faster than exports over the past few years
because of its failure to develop local industries. The current account
deficit reportedly leaped from $147 million (6.174 billion baht in today's
terms) in 1994 to an estimated $814 million (34.188 billion baht) last
year, while foreign reserves are depleting, with external debt last year
recorded at $7 billion (294 billion baht), according to the Economist
magazine. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
placed Burma's inflation last year at 30 percent.

The deficit might not be worrying for other countries, but it is huge for a
country with small assets like Burma, said Ronald Finlay, an expert on
Burma at Columbia University in the United States.

Hard currency, from selling gas and foreign trade cannot help Burma
eradicate economic hardship in the long run. Burma has to make a serious
effort at economic development to build its own strength, said Mr Finlay.

The stagnation of development is visible in what Burma offers on the world
market today, he said. Beans, prawns, rice, fish and other primary products
remain its key exports, while expensive capital goods are still its main
imports.

Burma has to learn from neighbours who are concentrating on adding value to
agricultural products and graduating to manufactured goods, said economists
at the forum. The export-led approach is unavoidable if Burma wants to rise
above poverty and avert further economic fall, they said.

With rich untapped resources, fertile land on the Irrawaddy delta and cheap
but capable labour, there is room for the country to develop.

Even the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations believes
Burma, because of its strong but undeveloped fundamentals, will pose, fewer
problems than Cambodia and Laos on the path to the Asean free trade scheme.

Burma and Laos were admitted to Asean last year, joining a club that
already counts Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam as members.

The biggest challenges for the Burmese regime are proper management of
resources, wise selection of foreign investment projects that suit the
country's development plans, and improving manpower and infrastructure.

The regime has to streamline state enterprises, start building competitive
private enterprises and pay serious attention to skills production through
education, said Khin Maung Kyi, an economist with the National University
of Singapore.

"We have to find a niche in the open arena," he said, expressing optimism
about Burma's future if the country was equipped with better technology,
efficiency and skills.

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