The BurmaNet News: July 8, 1998 (r)

[sally@xxxxxxxxxx]

At 1:54 PM +0700 07-08-1998, BurmaNet Editor wrote:
>------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
> "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
>----------------------------------------------------------
>
>The BurmaNet News: July 8, 1998
>Issue #1043
>
>HEADLINES:
>==========
>VOA: POLICE PREVENT ASSK FROM TRAVELING
>SCMP: WARNING TO JUNTA OF "TOTAL DISASTER"
>BKK POST: TIME FORM ASEAN TO ACT ON BURMA
>ASIAWEEK: IT'S ABOUT TIME TO AIR DIFFERENCES
>FBC: THOUGHTS OF A SURVIVOR
>****************************************************************
>
>Voice of America: Police Prevent Aung San Suu Kyi From Traveling Outside
>Rangoon
>7 July, 1998 by David Dyar
>
>Intro:   Burmese authorities say police have prevented opposition leader
>Aung San Suu Kyi from continuing on a trip she is making outside of the
>Burmese capital.  VOA's correspondent David Dyar says U.S. officials have
>reacted to the incident by criticizing Burma for restricting her movements.
>
>Intro:   The incident began late Tuesday when the Nobel laureate and one of
>her colleagues (Chairman Aung Shwe of the National League for Democracy)
>apparently eluded her normal government security escort.
>
>An official statement said she was stopped about 80 kilometers north of
>Rangoon (at the town of Shwe Mya Yar) and was asked to return to the capital.
>
>But according to the U.S. State Department spokesman in Washington, the
>opposition leader insisted on continuing her journey. She was planning to
>visit one of her political party officials who was elected to parliament in
>1990.  She was reported to have remained in the town overnight.
>
>State department spokesman James Rubin criticized the Burmese authorities
>for their actions.
>
>///Rubin act///
>Based on this information, we condemn the apparent abridgement of Aung San
>Suu Kyi's right to freedom of movement and her right to visit whomever she
>chooses. All Burmese should enjoy these fundamental rights.  The
>restrictions imposed are illegal under Burmese law and, in our view, are in
>any case, clearly an infringement of the basic right of freedom of movement.
>///End cut///
>
>The spokesman says U.S. embassy officials in Rangoon have sought
>clarification of the incident from the government.
>
>Burmese authorities issued a statement late Tuesday saying Aung San Suu Kyi
>was stopped for her own security and to prevent her from creating political
>unrest.
>
>The incident comes as tensions have increased between the opposition and
>the government over the past few weeks.
>
>It came on the same day as an important anniversary of a crackdown on
>student protesters in 1962.  The government statement accused Aung Sang Suu
>Kyi of trying to use the anniversary to create an unwanted confrontation.
>
>In the past few days officials have restricted the movement of members of
>Aung San Suu Kyi's political party.  There was also an incident in front of
>her house late last month in which members of the youth wing of her
>political group were blocked by police from holding a meeting.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>South China Morning Post: Warning to Junta of "Total Disaster"
>7 July, 1998 by William Barnes
>
>The Burmese military regime has been warned by the chairman of an
>opposition alliance that the country will "explode soon" if it continues
>"sliding into a serious shortage of food and general calamity".
>
>The alert was issued yesterday in an open letter to the chairman of the
>State Peace and Development Committee, General Than Shwe, by the leader of
>the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB), Saw Bo Mya.
>
>Political tension in Burma has risen sharply since last month's call by
>opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy for
>parliament to be reconvened by August 21.
>
>The ruling military junta responded last week by accusing the opposition of
>planning a "head-on collision" with the authorities and restricted the
>movements of her supporters.
>
>Mr Saw Bo Mya, veteran leader of an ethnic Karen rebellion, claimed the
>country's food stocks would be exhausted in three months. His letter said
>the regime's own soldiers were deserting in droves "to make ends meet" and
>that soon there would be no money to pay them.
>
>"The country is edging towards total disaster. You and your colleagues will
>be held responsible if that happens," he warned.
>
>The NCUB chairman called on the regime to start talks with Ms Aung San Suu
>Kyi, reconvene parliament, release all political prisoners and "cease its
>brutal war against ethnic minorities".
>
>Few observers doubt that the authorities' incompetence combined with the
>Asia-wide crisis has allowed the economy to deteriorate, though it is
>difficult to know whether, as Mr Saw Bo Mya suggests, the population and
>even the rank-and-file military are really at the end of their tether.
>
>The US State Department said last month: "The Burmese economic situation is
>grim and appears to be worsening. The Government is reported to be
>virtually bankrupt."
>
>Sanctions and the global loss of confidence in Asia have seen what was
>already thin investment virtually disappear.
>
>The currency, the kyat, has also slipped alarmingly over the past
>fortnight, from about 250 to 350 to the US dollar.
>
>"Certainly the economy has deteriorated, but the Burmese have lived on the
>poverty line for years," said a diplomat in Rangoon yesterday.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>The Bangkok Post: Time for Asean to Act on Burma
>7 July, 1998
>
>Editorial
>
>There are ominous rumblings of further oppression in our neighbour to the
>west. They testify to the signal failure of Asean's, obsession with its
>policy of constructive engagement. The grouping must decide if it is to
>progress or to be led backwards by one of its newest members.
>
>Asean will be unhappy if tension between Burma's dictators and its legally
>elected democratic government escalates into violence, says Domingo Siazon,
>the foreign minister of the Philippines.
>
>The region, he points out, is going through a spot of brother and the last
>thing it needs is political instability, which, like economic turmoil, has
>a knack of spreading.
>
>If Asean were to have a word with itself about its performance with Burma,
>it may find embarrassment, even shame, a more appropriate emotion than
>unhappiness. It was Asean that afforded an illegitimate regime a
>respectability it does not deserve in a strategy that did not work. If
>violence erupts in Burma, the people of that impoverished nation will find
>a good deal more to be unhappy about.
>
>Mr Siazon is correct to appeal for restraint as the self-styled, State
>Peace and Development Council mutters darkly about the National League for
>Democracy, which will not go away no matter how badly it is treated. It is
>odd that the council, with its total control over state apparatus, not to
>mention guns, should be so rattle about the league, which has nothing more
>threatening than the support of 85 percent of the population. But there
>again, the bully is motivated by insecurities, among them fear.
>
>In its latest manifestation of paranoia, the dictatorship has warned that
>it and the league are on a collision course, which is, alarming when it is
>considered which side is in the driving seat of the state juggernaut. The
>warning comes as the junta hints that it just may cease to impede the
>education of the young so long as the league refrains from reminding it who
>won the 1990 election.
>
>It is more than a year since Asean admitted the junta to its little club
>and little, if anything, has been done to induce it to behave itself. The
>approach has been one of all carrot and, no stick, which has been taken by
>the junta to mean it can carry on in the way it knows best. By allowing
>this to happen, the supporters of Burma's admission have overlooked the
>founding principles of Asean -- to accelerate economic growth, social
>progress and cultural development.
>
>Burma may have been more attentive to its critics in Asean when everyone
>was rolling in money and a reward was in sight, but its admission coincided
>unhappily with our own well-documented economic travails. All that has
>happened is that we have a new member which will not change its ways and is
>viewed in the international community as something of a diplomatic skunk.
>
>Since the junta's admission, much has changed, not least in the economies
>of its new friends. Gone are the backers of large-scale investment projects
>who proclaimed development would nurtures democracy, gone is the generosity
>of regional countries that have to tend to problems closer to home.
>Regional partners, such as Indonesia, are taking steps, albeit faltering,
>towards political reform, and its military is being restrained; the
>Philippines has pulled off a fair election; we have our new constitution.
>Even in time of economic no trouble, progress is being made, but not in
>Burma, which is no stranger to the bankruptcy brought upon the country by
>the people that Asean has chosen to embrace.
>
>The more forward-thinking members of Asean, not least Thailand, are anxious
>now to engage Burma in a way that does not give the junta carte blanche to
>engage in further thuggery and oppression. The realisation is a little late
>but it is welcome, and it is significant that the movement originates in a
>country, which borders Burma and is familiar with the ways of its rulers.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>Asiaweek: It's About Time for Asean Members to Air Their Differences
>10 July, 1998
>
>Editorial
>
>Last year Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stirred controversy
>with a novel idea. In an essay in Newsweek magazine, he argued that the
>Association of Southeast Asian Nations should pursue "constructive
>intervention" in certain neighborhood issues -- challenging the sacrosanct
>doctrine of "non-interference" which had anchored ASEAN since its
>inception. Downplaying differences like the Philippines' claim to Sabah and
>Indonesia's Konfrontasi policy against Malaysia was crucial to bringing and
>keeping together the founding members.
>
>A corollary to this, fundamental principle:  meddling in a fellow member's
>internal affairs, through public criticisms or otherwise, was absolutely
>taboo.
>
>When he questioned ASEAN non-interference, however, Anwar was not seen to
>be suggesting something fatal to regional unity. Three decades on, the
>association had forged enough solidarity to withstand some airing of
>differences. Moreover, many ASEAN citizens are eager to see its collective
>clout used to address regional issues. When Anwar wrote his essay, the big
>problem was restoring democracy in Cambodia after Second PM Hun Sen's coup.
>Now, Thai leaders seem to be taking up where Anwar left off. Prime Minister
>Chuan Leekpai recently told Asiaweek that while non-interference is
>important, "it does not imply we have to agree with the government or
>policies in each country."
>
>Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said at a seminar in Bangkok last month:
>"Perhaps it is time for ASEAN's cherished non-intervention principle to be
>modified. When a matter of domestic concern poses a threat to regional
>stability, peer pressure or friendly advice can help."
>
>Indeed, the time seems ripe to move from "non-interference" to a more
>pro-active policy. ASEAN members all seek peace and prosperity in the
>region, but it would be idle to think they share the same values, approach
>and outlook. Where achieving the region's long-term political and economic
>well-being is concerned, it would be far more effective and efficient to
>allow members to express a diversity of opinions and work from there,
>rather than gloss over the differences and pretend that ASEAN is composed
>of friends who think exactly alike.
>
>In today's interdependent world, a lot of "internal affairs" have external
>effects, so the neighbors cannot but have a say in them. Take the haze. How
>Indonesia disposes of its forests is clearly a domestic matter -- but not
>the annual smoke monster inflicted on Asia by Jakarta's chronic failure to
>stop the razing of woodland the size of small countries. Thailand,
>Indonesia, Korea and Japan were left alone to run their own economies, but
>their mistakes dragged all of East Asia into the Crisis.
>
>And what of the army-backed regime in Myanmar? ASEAN has seen fit to take
>it into the fold, in the interest of building regional harmony (along with
>other autocratic nations like Vietnam). But if actions by Yangon create
>problems for the grouping in its dealings with the West, it would be
>justified in pressing for more internationally acceptable behavior from the
>ruling junta.
>
>ASEAN Secretary General Rodolfo Severino said recently that a "suggestion"
>to the regime to meet with the opposition should not be considered
>interference. Even Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad, ever the opponent of
>foreign domination, backed off his initial suggestion that Myanmar ought to
>be allowed to attend Asia-Europe meetings, probably due in part to ASEAN's
>need for Western support in the Crisis.
>
>Very well, one might say, but what is exactly meant by constructive
>intervention? Public criticism? Economic sanctions? Military action? And
>when should such measures be taken? The objectives, timing and intensity of
>intervention are some of the complex, delicate issues that practitioners of
>the new tack will have to address. In crafting any form of international
>pressure, officials will have to consider the chances of success, the
>likelihood of provoking a major conflict, and the susceptibility of an
>erring government to blandishments by an outside power keen to exploit
>friction in ASEAN. Will overt criticism lead a government to simply
>stonewall in a bid to save face? There is also a question of fairness. Are
>standards of behavior being applied to all members? Or are some members
>like Myanmar being put to the democracy test, while others like Brunei are
>not? And the biggest question of all: How does ASEAN decide which issues
>and countries to apply collective pressure on? The answers won't come by
>consensus.
>
>ASEAN will need to grapple with such complexities in fashioning various
>modes of constructive intervention. Things will not always go smoothly.
>However, these predictable difficulties do not invalidate the thesis that
>the grouping is not only ready for more openness about differences among
>members, but needs it. Democratization will expose more and more
>governments to public and media pressure on international issues;
>ventilating a problem early could serve both as a release for negative
>sentiment as well as a prod to corrective action. Then one can avoid
>blow-ups like the Flor Contemplacion uproar between Manila and Singapore.
>In Cambodia, ASEAN action helped lay the groundwork for polls this month
>and hopefully membership in the group soon after.
>
>So here's to more openness in ASEAN. After 30 years, it should rise to a
>new maturity able to accommodate differences without diminishing
>solidarity. Indeed, frank exchanges could well open a new door to a
>regional meeting of minds.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>Free Burma Coalition: Thoughts of a Survivor
>7 July, 1998 by Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe < tzang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Vancouver, Canada
>
>That July day -- the 7th day of July, 1962 -- marks the beginning of the
>long fight by the "good" against the "bad and the ugly". July 7th is not
>only a historic watershed, but it is also a day of much significance for my
>generation: those born in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
>
>Ours was a generation that was promised by history, a bright future. Unlike
>those that came after us, we had no reason to doubt this promise. We had
>good schools, colleges, and universities, staffed by teachers who worked
>hard and cared for the young. They were as idealistic and hopeful as we were.
>
>There were then comparatively very little corruption or callousness that
>characterizes Burma, particularly after the military's usurpation of power.
>To be sure, there were then armed rebels -- the communists, the Karen, and
>a few armed bands with indeterminate aims. But we were not worried for we
>believed that all these conflict would eventually be resolved through
>rational, reasonable democratic dialogue.
>
>The military's usurpation of power shocked the whole country, and more
>dismaying for many, was its cold-blooded killing, on the morning of the
>coup, of a young son of Sao Shwe Thaike, the first Union President, the
>Prince (Sawbwagyi) of Yawnghwe (Nyaungshwe, in Burmese), who himself died
>in prison.
>
>The death of 17 years old Sao Mee Mee was soon overshadowed by the death of
>at least two hundred young men and women on the campus of Rangoon
>University on July 7th. Most died in front of the historic Students Union
>building -- the home away from home of Bogyoke Aung San. They were shot
>down in cold blood, ironically, by men of the tatmadaw founded by Aung San.
>Many died the next early morning when the Students Union building, where
>the wounded and the dying were unceremoniously dumped, was demolished by
>powerful explosive charges.
>
>The killing of students that July evening was deliberate. I was there in
>front of the Students Union building. The shooting stopped when we hit the
>ground in stark terror. It resumed when we started to run, and stopped when
>we hit the ground again. So, it went, for a life time, it seemed. We could
>not believe that those who were firing could be so callously, deliberately
>murderous.
>
>The 7th July massacre outraged the whole nation. For members of that
>generation, it was our moment of truth. Included in that generation are
>hundreds, if not thousands, who joined the struggle against military
>despotic rule, and the many who died in the jungles all over Burma.
>
>And among those shocked and outraged by the massacre are those who have now
>become military kingpins -- General Khin Nyunt, MIS top brasses, and many
>Zone commanders. Many in fact joined the army with the thought of fighting
>tyranny from the inside, to restore to the tatmadaw the honor and esteem it
>lost that fateful, shameful evening.
>
>July 7, 1962, stands out in Burma's history as a beacon of freedom and
>courage, and it has drawn thousands into the forefront of the struggle for
>democratic freedom. We, the generation which began the struggle, inspired
>others of the younger generation, so that the history of Burma is, in
>essence, the struggle of the brave, the idealist, and the powerless against
>unjust power and for independence, a second independence, this time from
>domestic oppressors.
>
>Those who did not die in the struggle have been uprooted. Many of our
>generation, and their sons, daughter, nieces, and nephews are now abroad --
>forced to leave our homes, towns, villages, and fields.
>
>Our generation loved the country passionately, and were earnestly fired up
>about serving the country. Unlike later generations, we never gave the
>glamorous "American dream" which we were abundantly exposed to in
>technicolor, via the silver screen, even a [perfunctory] thought. We were
>sure we could make a big difference, and were determined to do so as
>teachers, lawyers, public servants, academics, writers, journalists,
>bankers, businessmen/women, and so forth.
>
>But where are we now? We have been compelled by the military dictatorship
>to leave the land of our birth, to use the education given us by our
>country, and our talent, for the benefit of countries, societies, and
>communities, others than ours.
>
>Indeed, the promises at independence have all turned sour, dreams have
>turned to ashes. Freedom and independence is still out of reach or, for
>those eternally optimistic, just around the corner.
>
>Nonetheless, our day is not yet done. We, the first victims of Ne Win's
>military dictatorship, are now fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles -- even the
>grandpas and grandmas -- of those now in the forefront of the struggle for
>a better Burma. It is our duty now to see to it that they and their
>children have a future that they can be happy in and proud of.
>
>I therefore appeal to the veterans of 7th July everywhere, and in the
>tatmadaw, to re-visit the years of our youth, to taste again the outrage we
>all shared, and to forget the compromises some of us have had to make with
>evil, the evil and the corruption in our environment and within ourselves.
>
>Some of us are deeply compromised, especially those in the tatmadaw. They
>went in, into the den of thieves, to change the system. But they were not
>able to. They lived in fear, and selfish greed and narrow, personal
>ambitions finally got to them, blinding them to what they were changing
>into and have now become. Some turned their backs from the people and even
>turned against them.
>
>Nonetheless they must be forgiven, for they are also victims -- victims of
>a military dictatorship that can survive only by turning them into
>something which they are not, and which they must surely detest, with equal
>fervor.
>
>In the past, those in the tatmadaw had no choice.  They had to go with the
>flow, no matter how evil and corrupt everything was. But now, things have
>changed. The world is changing very rapidly, and we are rapidly being left
>further and further behind.
>
>Our enemy now is less tangible and much more powerful than any in the past.
>At the dawn of a new century, we are confronted with a force that possesses
>power without responsibility, a global force that only recognizes the color
>of money. It does not recognize borders and countries, much less respect
>human beings or their cultures and values. This force cannot be controlled,
>nor utilized for the good of a country and its people, unless the
>government of that country is at one with the people.
>
>With the world changing, our tasks have also changed. The task at hand is
>not to merely to keep Burma together, but to re-make Burma, to make it a
>country where the people and their government work together in harmony, for
>the benefit of every citizen. Then, and only then, will there emerge a
>country that we all want, or say we want -- a prosperous, secure,
>harmonious land of the free, the happy, and the brave.
>
>As the 36th anniversary of the 7th July massacre approaches, I pray that
>all of us who were shocked and outraged will recapture that moment of
>searing pain, and that the outrage we all felt at that moment of pain will
>awaken us all to what we can do for the country and for the up-and- coming
>generation -- our sons, daughters, nieces and nephews. If we unite now, as
>we once were on July 7, more than three decades ago, we -- the scarred
>veterans of 7th July -- can give the younger generation the kind of future
>which we had been promised.
>
>For too long, we who shared the promises of independence and shared as well
>the shocked outrage of 7th July, have allowed the corrupt evil that we all
>detest, to divide us. It is time, at this historic juncture, for us to once
>more unite, to tear down the wall of fear, suspicion, greed, hatred that
>have kept us apart.

Please let me know how to unsubscribe to this, it was something my kids had
on and they are no longer here.
>
>****************************************************************