The BurmaNet News: January 18, 1999

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------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: January 18, 1999
Issue #1187

HEADLINES:
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VOA: IMPACT OF NLD CRIMINAL COMPLAINT 
THE NATION: BURMA BLASTS NLD OVER LAWSUIT 
AP: US LAWMAKER URGES HUMANITARIAN AID TO MYANMAR 
AFP: MYANMAR OFFERS TO BE "GENTLE" WITH OPPOSITION 
XINHUA: MYANMAR BANS DUAL CITIZENSHIP 
AFP: MYANMAR TO LAUNCH PR CAMPAIGN TO SHOW DRUG GAINS 
REUTERS: THAI HEROIN CORRIDOR REOPENING 
THE STRAITS TIMES: THAILAND SEEKS MYANMAR HELP 
THE STAR (MALAYSIA): MYANMAR BOAT SET TO BOOST TRADE 
ANNC: SYMPOSIUM IN JAPAN ON SUPPORTING THE CRPP 
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VOA: Impact of NLD Criminal Complaint
14 January, 1999 by Ron Corben 

Intro: Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's
pro-democracy movement have filed a criminal complaint against Burma's
military intelligence chief, accusing him of attempting to destroy the
opposition political party.  Ron Corben reports from Bangkok some
diplomatic observers say the case will focus the international spotlight on
the issue of rule of law in Burma.

Text: Aung San Suu Kyi, fighting against efforts by the military government
to dismember the National League for Democracy party or N-L-D, has filed a
criminal complaint against military intelligence chief, General Khin Nyunt.

The complaint -- filed with Burma's chief justice -- accuses General Khin
Nyunt of being behind the government's crackdown against the N-L-D in
recent months.   One thousand N-L-D members have been arrested since
September last year and  forced to  resign from the party.

The crackdown began after the N-L-D's pledge to convene parliament and high
profile attempts by Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with party members.  That led
to several stand-offs between her and the military government, when she was
prevented from meeting with party members outside Rangoon.

The N-L-D's complaint was lodged on December 31st, but details only became
public on Thursday.  The N-L-D contends that units, under military
intelligence direction, have used threats, intimidation, and illegal
forceful pressure without legal justification.

The N-L-D, in a statement, says that by using such threats the military
intelligence authorities have committed criminal offenses.

The powerful military intelligence chief is viewed by some diplomatic
observers as Aung San Suu Kyi's nemesis. The units under General Khin
Nyunt's control oversee a nationwide network of spies and informers, who
monitor dissidents and root out opposition to the military government.

In the past, Khin Nyunt has accused Aung San Suu Kyi and party members of
being terrorists.

The chairman of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, Aung Naing Oo,
now living in exile in Thailand, says the N-L-D filed the suit to show the
international community the party acts within the law while the military
government abuses the due process of law.

Diplomatic sources were mixed over the criminal complaint's wider impact.
While some view the move as a gesture, others say it will highlight the
absence of the rule of law in Burma and that the governing military council
is able to act with impunity.

A recent U-S State Department report on human rights in Burma  accused
Burma's judiciary of failing to be independent.  The report said pervasive
bribe-taking and manipulation of the courts for political ends has
continued to deprive citizens of the right to a fair trial and rule of law. 

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THE NATION: BURMA BLASTS NLD OVER LAWSUIT
16 January, 1999 

AFP

RANGOON - Burma's government accused Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition
yesterday of resorting to "symbolic" gestures after the party said it was
suing a leading junta member for criminal intimidation.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) said on Thursday it had filed a
complaint against intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt.

It accused military intelligence of "destroying" the party and intimidating
its members into resigning.

In a statement headlined "A little less playing politics, please", the
government accused the NLD of mounting a political sideshow while the rest
of the country tried to combat the regional economic crisis.

"We fear that revolving around idealistic notions and resorting to
whimsical and symbolic gestures designed merely to attract attention will
not benefit the people of Burma," the statement said.

The government was trying to build a "stable, secure and prosperous" nation
and "looked forward to the participation of all NLD members in reaching
this goal", it added, but did not address the details of the complaint.

The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 and since then has waged a
long political campaign against the military government which has refused
to hand over power.

The opposition accused the government in a statement received in Bangkok of
criminal attempts to crush its operations.

"Despite the fact that the National League for Democracy is a legally
constituted political party ... engaged in legitimate political duties, the
rulers ... are illegally interfering, preventing, destroying and
extinguishing the party," said the NLD statement.

The complaint was filed late last month by NLD chairman Aung Shwe with
Burma's Chief Justice Aung Toe under the Criminal Procedure Code and the
Judiciary Law, said the statement smuggled out of the country. 

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AP: US LAWMAKER URGES HUMANITARIAN AID FOR MYANMAR
17 January, 1999 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A U.S. congressman on Sunday appealed for
large-scale humanitarian aid to Myanmar, rejecting arguments that such
assistance would merely sustain that country's harsh military regime. 

"Humanitarian concerns are taking a back seat in Burma. But I've always
believed that human concerns and human rights go together," Rep. Tony P.
Hall, D-Ohio, told reporters in Bangkok. 

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whom Hall met last week,
opposes foreign aid to her country, saying some 50 percent of it is
siphoned off by the military. 

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has also criticized some foreign aid workers
for allegedly "collaborating" with the regime and promoting poorly
conceived projects. 

Hall quoted Suu Kyi as saying she would reverse her stance only if there
was a 100 percent guarantee that foreign aid would not go to supporting the
government. 

Hall said Myanmar, also known as Burma, was plagued by malnutrition,
diseases, poor education and the rapid spread of AIDS. Myanmar is ranked as
one of the world's poorest nations. 

"If humanitarian aid is not provided a whole generation will be lost. The
need is tremendous," Hall said, adding that waiting to provide foreign
assistance until democracy is restored might take years and merely prolong
poverty and suffering. 

Hall said he brought up the government's alleged human rights abuses in his
meeting with strongman Gen. Khin Nyunt. 

The regime is widely criticized for arresting political opponents, torture
and ruthlessness in dealing with ethnic minorities. It routinely denies
such charges.  

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AFP: MYANMAR OFFERS TO BE "GENTLE" WITH OPPOSITION 
17 January, 1999 

BANGKOK, Jan 17 (AFP) - Feared Myanmar military intelligence chief Khin
Nyunt has promised to be gentle and lenient with Aung San Suu Kyi's
opposition, a US congressman just back from Yangon said Sunday.

Representative Tony Hall said he met Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt last
week in Yangon to discuss the plight of the Myanmar people as the economy
labours under international sanctions and an investment drought.

Khin Nyunt "promised to be gentle and lenient to the opposition and try to
find areas of agreement despite recent rhetoric carried in government
newspapers," said Hall, who did not attempt to interpret the statement.

The Democrat congressman from Ohio said however that he had seen no sign
the government was prepared to make concessions in its bitter eight-year
political battle with the opposition.

US diplomats in Yangon said it was the first such statement by the military
government, Hall reported.

It remained far from clear however if it was intended as a genuine
expression of tolerance towards the opposition.

In recent months, thousands of National League for Democracy (NLD) members
have been held by the government, and many have resigned from the party on
their release.

Hall said he handed over a list of political prisoners compiled by the NLD
to the government which is accused by foreign nations and human rights
groups of serious and prolonged human rights abuses including torture,
forced labour and imprisonment without trial.

The NLD last week said it would sue Khin Nyunt for "destroying" the party
and intimidating its members into resigning. The party won a landslide
victory in 1990 elections, but the junta has refused to cede power.

Hall, who also held talks with Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi,
warned that as politicians squabbled in Yangon, people were suffering from
malnutrition, water borne diseases and one of the worst AIDS problems in
the world.

"There is an old saying in Burma (Myanmar) that 'when the water buffalo
fight the rice dies,' which means when the political people fight, the
people essentially get trampled and I think that's happening," he said.

He warned against political interference in aid work, saying that
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were deterred from Myanmar fearing
their independence could be compromised.

"Unfortunately many NGOs and government agencies see consultations with any
political party, even one as legitimate as the NLD, as the start of a
slippery slope and in a world of hurt there are so many other places NGOs
can go to work," he said.

Hall rejected the idea that Aung San Suu Kyi should be given a veto on any
disbursement of aid under a proposed UN-backed plan to reward political
change in Myanmar starting with humanitarian assistance.

"I would not say that she should have veto power at all, because once you
start to do that and you start to have a precedent then you are going to
have problems in other countries and that precedent should not be started
in Burma."

Some reports have suggested Aung San Suu Kyi would hold a veto in order to
prevent the junta backing out of concessions made to win aid. 

While praising Aung San Suu Kyi as holding the "heart of many people in the
country," Hall cautioned that foreign lobby groups should not forget
humanitarian issues as they campaign for human rights.

"Burma is a noble cause, but it is also a country of 48 million people who
need help, and I challenge the activists for human rights to work hard to
meet people's humanitarian needs," said Hall, who also visited Laos during
his trip.

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XINHUA: MYANMAR BANS DUAL CITIZENSHIP 
14 January, 1999 

YANGON (Jan. 14) XINHUA - Myanmar has ruled out dual citizenship and said a
stateless person has no right to live or travel in Myanmar and has to be
held in a place designated by the state. 

Quoting a section of the country's Citizenship Law, the official New Light
of Myanmar newspaper said Thursday that Myanmar cannot allow dual
citizenship because it takes seriously the value of citizenship. 

The paper also quoted another part of the Myanmar Citizenship Law
promulgated in 1982 as saying a person ceases to be a citizen from the day
he or she leaves the country permanently or acquires the citizenship of
another country or takes a passport of another country. 

A person, who ceases to be a Myanmar citizen, no longer has the right to
live in Myanmar as a citizen originally does but is to be sent to a country
which can accept him or her, the paper said. It added that if no country
accepts him or her, the person will become stateless and has no right to
live or travel in Myanmar as a citizen or a foreigner but has to be held in
a place designated by the state. 

Myanmar promulgated the new Citizenship Law in 1982, abolishing the 1948
Union Citizenship Act and the Union Citizenship (Election) Acts.

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AFP: MYANMAR TO LAUNCH PR CAMPAIGN TO SHOW DRUG GAINS 
17 January, 1999 

YANGON, Jan 17 (AFP) - Myanmar will launch a global public relations
campaign to publicise the results of its 15-year plan to stamp out drug
production, official reports said Sunday.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted Secretary One of the
ruling junta Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt as saying the 15-year plan
announced last November would begin this year and run through 2000.

Myanmar had achieved a "certain" amount of success in eliminating
cultivation and production of drugs, despite a lack of international help,
the general said.

"Efforts to acquaint the international community with these activities have
been weak," Khin Nyunt said, adding that records should be published
showing Myanmar's efforts and exposing "some western countries," involved
in narcotics production.

A recent US report accused Myanmar, which shares part of the infamous
Golden Triangle drug zone, of accounting for about 90 percent of Southeast
Asia's opium production and about half the world's total supply.

The junta says the country's opium factories produce far less than the US
estimates.

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REUTERS: THAI HEROIN CORRIDOR REOPENING DRUG OFFICIALS SAY 
14 January, 1999 

BANGKOK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Drugs cartels have started to send large
quantities of heroin from Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle through Thailand
again after a three-year lull, Thai officials said on Thursday.

Thailand's Narcotic Control Board (NCB) said it arrested three suspects for
heroin trafficking on Wednesday and Thursday and seized 45 kg (99 lbs) of
heroin in its biggest drugs haul in weeks.

A narcotics official said the haul indicated Thailand was again becoming
the preferred route for moving heroin onto the world market from the
so-called Golden Triangle, a mountainous region at the intersection of
Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.

"Three years ago the traffickers began to use China and Vietnam as the
major heroin routes to Europe, America and other markets. But since the
Chinese government began a crackdown on the trade, there are signs
traffickers have gone back to using Thailand as a route," Chatichai
Sithiklam, the head of the NCB's drug suppression division, told a news
conference.

Chatichai said 90 bars of heroin weighing 45 kg were seized in Pattalung
province in southern Thailand on Wednesday when police stopped a truck at a
rendezvous where two of the suspects were about to hand over the drugs to
buyers.

Chatichai said it was the second major drugs haul in a month and both
consignments had used a similar routes through Thailand. Informants had
told them the same gangs had formerly sent drugs through China.

NCB officials declined to estimate the value of the heroin seized.

Police said they had followed the suspects from Mae Sai, a town in northern
Thailand that is part of the Golden Triangle after they received a shipment
from an agent on the border.

They had arrested one suspect in Mae Sai who they said had acted as an
agent for the heroin. All the suspects were Thai but the NCB said the
seized heroin had come from Myanmar.

Police said the heroin had been moved into Thailand by an ethnic minority
community living in northeastern Myanmar but declined to identify which one.

Several ethnic minorities live in that part of Myanmar, including the Wa
and Shan, some of whom were formerly led by the opium warlord Khun Sa.

In the first eight months of last year, the NCB seized 410 kg (900 lbs) of
heroin from the Golden Triangle.

The U.S. Drugs Enforcement Administration estimates that some 70 percent of
heroin smuggled into the United States comes from the Golden Triangle.

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THE STRAITS TIMES: THAILAND SEEKS MYANMAR'S HELP TO SNARE DRUG LORD 
15 January, 1999 

AFP

BANGKOK -- Thailand's narcotics chiefs have asked officially for Myanmar's
help to track down a suspected drug lord thought to be hiding in the
jungles along the Myanmar border, officials say.

The request was made at a high-level meeting of the neighbouring countries'
anti-drug agencies in Myanmar's eastern Tachilek township, they said on
Wednesday.

Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board deputy secretary-general Sorasit
Sangprasert said Myanmar agreed to help in the hunt for Surachai
Ngernthongfu, who was wanted for questioning over a huge amphetamine racket
in Thailand.

"We asked for information leading to the arrest of Surachai, or Bang Ron as
he is otherwise known, and other drug traffickers whose names we cannot
disclose to the public," he told AFP.

Thai police in October offered a reward of some US$5,300 (S$8,480) for
information on the whereabouts of the fugitive.

He is believed to have fled to Myanmar after a four-hour gun-and-grenade
battle with anti-narcotics police in Bangkok last year.

He escaped from his house after the battle. One suspect died and four
police officers were injured.

The raid netted 758,000 amphetamine tablets, an M-16 assault rifle as well
as other arms and ammunition, and 1.3 billion baht (S$61 million) locked in
Surachai's safe.

Myanmar police Deputy Director Hla Tun, who represented Myanmar at the
Tachilek meeting in the notorious Golden Triangle drug zone, agreed to
supply Thailand with locally-produced amphetamines so different gangs of
producers could be identified.

Myanmar seized 16 million amphetamine tablets last year, up from five
million the year before.

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THE STAR (MALAYSIA): ARRIVAL OF MYANMAR BOAT SET TO BOOST TRADE TIES  
15 January, 1999 by Jonathan Kwok 

PENANG: The first boat from Myanmar finally arrived at Weld Quay
yesterday--marking a long-awaited revival of barter trade here after a
four-year hiatus.

More than 50 local traders and government officers welcomed the wooden
vessel carrying 60 tonnes of onions as it docked at the Church Street Pier
at 1.15pm after getting clearance from the Immigration Department.

Describing it as "a historic moment," local merchants expect the newly
re-established trading ties to bring much welcome relief to the state's
beleaguered economy.

"The revival of barter trading with Myanmar will directly and indirectly
benefit over 10,000 Penangites," said Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce
president Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping, who was present to greet the 100-tonne mv
Aung Pan and its 12 crewmen.

"The onions will be traded for local goods including old newspapers, old
clothing, biscuits and other provisions that are in high demand in
Myanmar," Tan said.

Also present were representatives from the relevant authorities and
agencies including the Penang Port Sdn Bhd, state Immigration Department,
Customs and the marine police.

The boat, which left Moulmein on Sunday, arrived at 6am yesterday.

The century-old trading activity which yields an estimated RM600mil
turnover annually, received the green light from the Federal Government
last month to resume operations.

Trading was halted in 1994 for security reasons, resulting in the Myanmar
traders shifting their operations to Singapore.

"We expect trading to pick up in weeks," said Tan, adding that another
vessel carrying 50 tonnes of onions and 30 tonnes of rubber would arrive
next week.

It is learnt that yesterday's shipment was actually a trial run to ensure
all procedures were in place before trading goes into full swing.

Tan urged the traders to work closely with the chamber to reorganise the
barter system.

"We expect a lot of Myanmar traders will shift their attention from
Singapore to Penang now as we are much nearer (to them) and we have a
proven trade record," said Tan Chin Guan, manager of a local trading company.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: SYMPOSIUM IN JAPAN ON SUPPORTING CRPP
18 January, 1999 from kyi@xxxxxxxxxxx

Co-organized by Joint Action Committee (Japan) and The People's Forum on Burma

Date: Jan 23rd (Saturday) 1999
Time:2pm~ 6pm
Moderators: Mr. Hiroshi Nagai (Chairman , People's Forum on Burma), Ma Soe
Soe Wai NLD-LA Japan Branch )

Program
Part 1: Supporting the Representative Committee of People's Parliament

1) Background information and explanation of CRPP (10 members committee): U
Kyaw Kyaw Soe (Burma Youth Volunteer Association, Japan)

2) Continuing human rights abuses in Burma; the problems of ethnic
minorities; How can we stop the conflicts?;  Historical and economic
relations between Japan and Burma: Professor Kei Nemoto ( Tokyo University
of Foreign Studies )

Part 2: Toward the democratization in Burma

3) Measures taken by the UN agencies to improve the human rights condition
in Burma: Professor Yozo Yokota (Tokyo University )

4) Messages from Japanese MPs who support democratization in Burma:


Part 3: Discussion

What can we do in Japan to support the Representative Committee of People's
Parliament?

What can we do to support democratization in Burma from Japan ?

 ...........................................

Time for questions will be provided at the end of each part.

Translations available : Burmese - Japanese

For more information ; call  03-3263-3881 (People's Forum on Burma);
03-5974-1981 (NLD-LA Japan ); 03-3916-4996 ( Burma Youth Volunteer
Association )

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