The BurmaNet News: July 20, 1998 (P (r)

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: July 20, 1998
Issue #1052

Noted in Passing: "This time the opposition forces are better prepared to
make the transition from a military to democratic government successful." -
Moe Thee Zun (see IPS: ANOTHER UPRISING IN THE OFFING?) 

HEADLINES:
==========
(Part 1)
ALTSEAN: INTERVIEW WITH AUNG SAN SUU KYI 
ABSDF: BURMA JUNTA ORGANISES RIOT POLICE
SCMP: RIOT SQUADS PREPARE FOR ANNIVERSARY 
BBC: BURMA RESTRICTS DEMOCRACY MP'S 
IPS: ANOTHER UPRISING IN THE OFFING? 
(Part 2)
BKK POST: "SURRENDER" OF REBELS REFUTED 
BKK POST: LOSSES FORCE PART CLOSURE OF HOTEL 
THE NATION: EXPERT WARNS OF AIDS EPIDEMIC 
AFP: SENIOR OFFICIAL MAKES STOPOVER IN SINGAPORE 
AWSJ: AN LDP IS LOBBYING FOR TOKYO TO AID MYANMAR  
BBC: JAPAN WELCOMES SOUTHEAST ASIAN OPENNESS
REUTERS: MALAYSIA OPPOSES CALL ON FLEXIBLE ENGAGEMENT 
FEER: DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: RESOLUTION ON BURMA
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THE BANGKOK POST: "SURRENDER" OF REBELS REFUTED 
17 July, 1998 

'Maybe they were refugees returning'

Burmese opposition group yesterday denied a Rangoon junta claim that some
of its members had surrendered.

The Thailand-based All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) said none of
its members had "deserted" bases along the Thai border for at least three
months.

"Maybe they are talking about former ABSDF members," ABSDF foreign affairs
secretary Aung Naing Oo told AFP.

"If they were ABSDF members, they must have left a long time ago.

"Maybe they were refugees returning to Burma," he added.

"When refugees have nothing to eat they come to border and we feed them.

"If someone goes back we know it."

State-run Burmese television late on Wednesday reported 19 anti-government
guerrillas had surrendered to the ruling junta.

The surrenders included militant pro-democracy students from the ABSDF and
ethnic Karen, Mon and Rakhine rebels, Television Burma said.

The guerrillas surrendered separately between June 1 and 30 at various army
bases and also gave up their arms, the report added.

The ABSDF was set up in the jungles along the Thai-Burmese border by
pro-democracy students who fled Rangoon and other major cities after the
current junta took power in a bloody crackdown in 1988. 

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THE BANGKOK POST: LOSSES FORCE PART CLOSURE OF CENTRAL'S RANGOON HOTEL 
17 July, 1998 

Sale envisaged in the long term

Central Plaza Hotel Plc has partly closed its floating hotel in Rangoon,
saying the venture recorded an operating loss of 12.7 million baht in the
first quarter of this year.

The move would assist the sale of the 133-room hotel in the long run, the
company told the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.

The hotel is operated and owned by Floating Hotel Co Ltd, which is 95%
owned by Central Hotel Management Co Ltd, which in turn is owned by Central
Plaza Hotel Plc. Only 30 rooms are now available.

The combined revenue of Central Floating Hotel (Yangon), the operator, and
Floating Hotel Co, made up 1% of the consolidated revenue of Central Plaza
Hotel and its subsidiaries for the quarter ended March 31, the SET was told.

The net profit of Central Floating Hotel (Yangon) and Floating Hotel Co
totaled 5.4 million baht, compared with the net consolidated profit of
162.1 million baht.

If foreign exchange gains were excluded, the net total loss of Central
Floating Hotel (Yangon) Ltd and Floating Hotel Co was 12.7 million baht,
compared with a net consolidated profit of 35.4 million baht. 

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THE NATION: EXPERT WARNS OF SPREADING AIDS EPIDEMIC 
17 July, 1998 

AIDS is rapidly spreading through Asia's poorest countries on the back of
ignorance, the burgeoning heroin trade and government inaction, a leading
expert on the epidemic has warned.

The disease was rampant m Burma and Cambodia and crossing into Chinese and
Indian border areas which had previously been largely spared, HIV-Aids
specialist Chris Beyrer said.

"It is really clear this epidemic is only just getting going," he added,
speaking late on Wednesday.

"Burma and Cambodia are just unable to cope with the Aids epidemic.

"These are poor countries, they are chaotic countries," he added, citing
civil unrest, poverty and the lack of established public health care
systems as obstacles to combating the epidemic.

Years of instability in Cambodia had left the country with a shortage of
doctors, journalists and other professionals whose work could help fight
the epidemic, while Burma was burdened with "a tremendous domestic heroin
use problem".

Recent forecasts have suggested the number of Cambodians infected with the
human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) which leads to the fatal acquired
immuno-deficiency syndrome (Aids) could reach one million in a population
of just 10 million by 2000.

Transmission there was largely via heterosexual contact, particularly
through the sex industry.

Beyrer, based at John Hopkins University in the US and who spent five years
on Aids projects in northern Thailand, said the UN estimated there were,
400,000 to 500,000 infections in Burma.

"But that again is fairly conservative," he said.

Although Thailand was "an isolated success story" in its handling of the
epidemic, the situation was set to further deteriorate in neighbouring
countries.

"The very important first thing is to clean up blood supply," he added.

Infections via blood transfusions occurred at a rate of perhaps one in
200,000 in Thailand, Beyrer said, while in Cambodia it was three to four
per cent and the situation was exacerbated by demand for blood to deal with
injuries from landmines and fighting.

A change in heroin trafficking routes from Burma was also spreading HIV
through the region, he added.

The drugs were being smuggled into India and China rather than Thailand and
the virus followed the new routes, established following a crackdown on
drug trafficking by Thai and US anti-narcotics authorities in Bangkok.

Indian villages on the Burmese border had infection rates 30 times as high
as Bombay, the second worst-hit area of the country. Tests by Chinese
authorities had identified an HIV sub-type which could be tracked down the
highways taking drugs to areas as distant as the Sichuan province capital
of Chengdu and the far northwestern city of Urumqi.

The situation did not appear to be dire in land-locked Laos but could
rapidly worsen, Beyrer warned.

"At this point, there isn't an epidemic anyone knows about," he added.

"There are infections, mostly sex workers returning from Thailand."
However, planned new roads linking Laos to its neighbours could prove
"devastating". 

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AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE (AFP): SENIOR MYANMAR MILITARY OFFICIAL MAKES STOPOVER
IN SINGAPORE
17 July, 1998 

SINGAPORE - Senior Myanmar military official Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt
met with Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on a brief trip here this week,
Singapore's foreign affairs ministry said Friday.

Khin Nyunt, Secretary-General of the State Peace and Development Council,
also paid a courtesy call on Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the
ministry said.

The council is the official name of Myanmar's ruling military junta.

Khin, accompanied by his wife Khin Win Shwe, Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin
Maung Win and senior officials, was in Singapore from Thursday up to
Friday, the ministry said in response to press queries.

The stopover of the Myanmar official followed his visit to Brunei for
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah's birthday celebrations Wednesday, it added.

Myanmar and Singapore are both members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, which also groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Singapore is one of the leading investors in Myanmar, with a commitment of
one billion dollars. 

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ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL: AN LDP IS LOBBYING FOR TOKYO TO AID MYANMAR 
16 July, 1998 

OFFICIAL development aid from Japan to Myanmar has been suspended in
principle since the late 1980s, except for humanitarian assistance.

But last month, some legislators from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic
Party, concerned about China's rising, influence in Myanmar, formed a group
to get Japan to offer more aid to the Southeast Asian country.

The 20-member group says a first step toward more such aid is for Myanmar's
military government to open the country to foreign media. The group's
leader, Kabun Muto, a former foreign minister of Japan and a doyen of the
ruling party, says the Myanmar government "isn't necessarily a despotic
regime."
But because of misunderstandings, he contends, various sanctions have been
imposed by Western countries. If the government opened the country to the
foreign press, he argues, misunderstandings would clear up.

"If Myanmar's reality were broadcast through international media, like the
Japan Broadcasting Corp., it would become possible for the peoples in the
world to make a little more precise judgment about Myanmar," says Mr. Muto.

Economic assistance from China to Myanmar may make the Yangon government an
ally of China, says Mr. Muto, who is chief of the LDP's headquarters in
charge of administrative reform. That may jeopardize stability in the
region by increasing pressure on India, he worries. "While Japan's
assistance is being suspended," Mr. Muto warns, "China is doing it at a
rapid pace."

Japan has boosted aid to Myanmar recently, including a disbursement of
about 2.5 billion yen ($17.9 million) for a Yangon airport-improvement
project -- part of 27.2 billion yen in credit the Japanese government
committed in the middle of the 1980s but had suspended. But Tokyo maintains
that it hasn't altered its basic policy not to extend economic aid. 

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BBC: JAPAN WELCOMES SOUTHEAST ASIAN OPENNESS 
17 July, 1998 

Japan says it welcomes a proposed policy change within the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations which would allow members to comment on the
domestic matters of their group partners.

A Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Sadaaki Numata told the BBC that if
implemented, the proposal could lead to more democracy and a better human
rights situation in Burma.

Thailand, which suggested the policy change earlier this week, has warned
that political instability in Burma could lead to unrest along their common
border.

Burma has said that such comments could damage relations between south-east
Asian countries. 

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REUTERS: MALAYSIA OPPOSES CALL ON ASEAN FLEXIBLE ENGAGEMENT 
17 July, 1998 

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's Foreign Minister on Friday opposed a call by his
Thai counterpart that members of ASEAN comment openly on the problems of
one another, instead of keeping to their policy of quiet diplomacy.

"If there are problems, we will overcome them our way, in a manner which
does not undermine the dignity of anyone and which shows that we are
sensitive over any incident which occurs," Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was quoted
as saying by the national Bernama news agency.

Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuan said on Monday that ASEAN had to change
its 31-year-old policy of "constructive engagement" to one of "flexible
engagement," where members talked openly and frankly about national
economic and political issues adversely affecting the region.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Its members seldom criticise each other
openly, choosing to solve problems and conflicts by private discussion.

An example of the group's solidarity was seen last year when it admitted
Myanmar into its fold without commenting on the domestic politics of the
country, which has been criticised fiercely by the United States for its
human rights record.

Abdullah said Surin's suggestion could not be adopted officially as it
would create uneasiness within ASEAN.

He said he would convey Malaysia's views on the matter at the forthcoming
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Manila.

"I believe that all the ASEAN members will be prepared to discuss and
exchange views over the issue," he said.

Ajit Singh, a prominent foreign policy commentator in Malaysia, said to
discuss ASEAN matters outside the group "would only lead to hurt feelings
and bitterness."

"I have seen some pretty spirited and heated discussions taking place at
meetings of ASEAN foreign and economic ministers and also among the
officials," Singh, a former secretary-general of ASEAN, said in a statement.

"All these discussions were conducted in good faith and have always ended
happily on the golf course." 

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FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW: DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY 
23 July, 1998 by Rodney Tasker in Bangkok and Murray Hiebert in Kuala Lumpur 

Thailand's Surin says Asean needs to grow up and talk

Like a gentleman's club, Asean has its unwritten rules: Don't criticize
fellow members in public, help each other out in the wider world. But in
the last year, the club has grown both larger and poorer-and suddenly the
old rules don't seem to be working. For Thai Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan, that means it's time to change the rules.

As the July 24-25 Asean foreign ministers' meeting in Manila approaches,
Surin is leading a push to revitalize Asean, primarily by diluting its
hallowed principle of not intervening in its members' domestic affairs. The
Philippines supports the Thai idea, but Singapore and Malaysia are cautious
and Laos is quietly opposing it, according to Asean officials. "We are
struggling for the soul of Asean," says a senior Thai Foreign Ministry
official.

Some soul-searching may be in order. Founded 31 years ago as a defence
against communism and later to promote economic cooperation, Asean has been
scarcely visible amid the year-old economic crisis. And historical
rivalries have resurfaced as the soothing waters of prosperity recede: The
last few weeks have seen serious bickering among Malaysia, Singapore and
Indonesia.

All this raises questions about Asean's ability to project the kind of
unified front that made it a leading player in Cambodian peace efforts
beginning in the 1980s, and helped check China's assertiveness in the South
China Sea in the early 1990s.

The strains can be traced to both the financial crisis and the decision to
admit Burma--along with Laos and, earlier, Vietnam. "We thought we could
'Aseanize' Burma and bring it more into the region," says the Thai
official. "But instead we find the military leaders there just as arrogant
and brittle."

The move for change started with two speeches Surin gave in Kuala Lumpur
and Bangkok in June, when he called for Asean's traditional
non-intervention to be converted to "constructive intervention." According
to officials close to him, he meant not just Burma but a range of
issues--such as divulging the real state of finances, illegal migration and
child prostitution--in member states that would be open to constructive
criticism from other affected members.

Eventually, Surin agreed to water down the words to a more diplomatic
"flexible engagement" after talks with senior officials in his ministry.
But it didn't stop his ministry from criticizing a new flare-up of
political instability in Burma in early July. That prompted an angry retort
from Rangoon--though it did not mention Thailand by name.

"Recent statements made by certain responsible ministers regarding their
concern on the presupposed situation in the Union of Myanmar are found to
be presumptuous," Rangoon said in a message delivered to the Philippine
ambassador to Burma. Such statements would not only affect bilateral
relations, but would go against the Asean spirit, the message said.

Asean could in the past rely on its economic prosperity to be taken
seriously on the world stage. But as Surin put it in a speech in Sydney on
July 13: "As we have suffered economic downturn and as some leaderships in
the region have been affected, Asean's influence, Asean's contribution to
regional affairs has been diminished." He added that "flexible engagement"
was a way for members to talk to each other frankly, and iron out domestic
problems in one country that affect others.

Singapore and Malaysia aren't so sure, and have asked the Thai Foreign
Ministry for clarification.

Indeed, the two neighbours have been adding to Asean's headache. Bilateral
relations are back in a tailspin after a period of cordiality. A slanging
match across the causeway linking the two countries has replaced the smiles
that followed a highly publicized summit between their prime ministers in
Kuala Lumpur in February.

"The current state of Malaysia-Singapore relations will add to the cracks
in Asean's shell," says Abdul Razak Baginda, head of the Malaysian
Strategic Research Centre. "It comes at a bad time for Asean." Razak notes
that "Asean has no consensus on the financial crisis. The majority of
countries are affected by the crisis, but they're all taking their own road."

Others disagree. Zakaria Ahmad, head of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's
Strategic Studies Unit, argues that Singapore and Kuala Lumpur will
continue to work together in Asean despite their bilateral differences.
Zakaria refers to the current quarrel as "previous baggage which the
leadership inherited" from their two-year attempt to merge the two
countries in the early-1960s.

Ties hit a low in March 1997 when Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew in
an affidavit in a lawsuit disparaged the southern Malaysian city of Johor
Baru as "notorious for shootings, muggings and car-jackings." Malaysia
protested, Lee apologized and relations gradually mended.

The calm began to fade in early July when Malaysia's tourism minister
accused Singapore of leaving Malaysia out of a conference on tourism in
Southeast Asia. A few days later, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad asked why
Singapore would not allow Malaysian workers who had stopped working in the
city-state to withdraw their forced retirement savings until they reached
the age of 55.

In themselves, these are minor problems, but the public bickering has
helped convey a sense of discord that weakens the image of unity that Asean
has so strenuously fostered. Still, Thailand and the Philippines continue
to push for a revamp in Asean. Backing Surin's new policy, Philippine
Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said: "Time has changed. After 31 years we
are now adults and we should be able to discuss our problems frankly." 

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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN BURMA 
16 July, 1998 from <bcn@xxxxxxxxx> 

Having regards to its previous resolutions on Burma,

A.  deeply concerned about the ongoing violations of human rights committed
by the dictatorial government and its military authorities, which are to be
considered as a crime against humanity,

B.  condemning the ongoing obstruction against the democratic opposition,
as well as the increasing harassment of its members including the reported
imprisonment of 50 elected representatives and the obligation on other
elected representatives to report to the nearest police station twice a day,

C.  whereas there are 300.000 internally displaced Karen people in Burma on
the run from the Burmese army,

D.  very concerned by the systematic destruction of Karen villages by the
Burmese armed forces and by the policy of repression practised by the
military against other minorities such as the Naga and the Shan,

E.  concerned by the attitude of the Burmese authorities who force their
people to work on construction projects, such as those for gas pipelines,
and to transport ammunition and food for the Burmese army which does not
hesitate to shoot those who are too exhausted to carry out these tasks,

F.  condemning the systematic rape of Karen women and women from other
minorities by Burmese soldiers,

G.  deeply concerned by the massacres and ethnic cleansing and the
destruction of food stores suffered by the Karen, Naga, Shan, Mon, Karenni
and Kachin peoples,

H. deeply concerned at the growing numbers of Karen and Shan refugees in 
Thailand as a result of the persecution by the military regime in Rangoon
and the attacks by the Burmese army against the refugee camps,

I.  noting that the EU/ASEAN Joint Committee has failed to meet because no
solution could be achieved regarding the participation of a Burmese
delegation,

1.  Reiterates its condemnation of the military dictatorship and the
atrocities it has committed;

2.  Calls on the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, to send
permanent observers to investigate the human rights situation in the areas
inhabited by the oppressed minorities in the region and the atrocities
committed by the Burmese authorities;

3.  Calls on the Burmese authorities to put an immediate end to practices
of ethnic cleaning and forced relocation of members of ethnic minorities
and to do everything possible to allow these people to return to live in
their villages and areas in total safety;

4.  Calls on the Burmese authorities to stop their cross-border raids on
refugee camps in Thailand;

5.  Calls for a further strengthening of support for the democratic
opposition in Burma by all means available to the EU, its Member States and
international institutions;

6.  Reiterates its request to the Burmese authorities to halt immediately
the practices of persecution and intimidation against the leaders of the
democratic opposition, and in particular against Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi, and
to release elected representatives immediately;

7.  Calls on the Commission and the Council to implement full economic
sanctions against Burma and to prohibit any investment until the Rangoon
regime has stopped the serious violations of human rights;

8.  Calls on the United Nations Security Council to implement global
economic sanctions against Burma;

9.  Calls on the Thai government to give better protection to refugee camps
along the Thai/Burmese border, to recognise refugees as such and to allow
them entry from Burma, and not to expatriate them forcibly;

10.  Calls on the Thai government to guarantee the UN Human Rights
Commissioner full access to the refugee camps along the Thai/Burmese border;

11.  Calls on the Burmese military regime to allow the UN Special
Rapporteur on Burma to visit the country freely and to carry out his
mandate, by guaranteeing him full access to the regions inhabited by the
Karen and other regions inhabited by oppressed minorities;

12.  Calls on foreign companies which have invested in Burma, such as Total
and Premier Oil, to freeze their investments forthwith;

13.  Calls for Burma to be excluded from EU/ASEAN Joint Committee meetings;

14.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the
Commission, the governments of the Member States, the UN Secretary-general
and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Burmese and Thai
authorities.

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