select1 : AB 99-5

[publisher@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

If any of you on this list have had similar experiences, would you please
send a letter to "publisher@xxxxxxxxxxxxx". Joseph  B. Coggins, publisher.

Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe wrote:

> No.99-5                                         ANALYTICA BIRMANIE
> TRAVEL ADVISORY: BURMA TOURISTS ARE ROUTINELY SPIED UPON
>
> For those who insist on visiting Burma, they are warned that they are
> routinely spied upon by the very people who serve them: hotel managers,
> reception clerks, tour guides, hired chauffers, taxi drivers, and so on.
>     Below, is a letter by a Burmese national to a newspaper in Thailand
> which explains the process.
>     Burma is not a normal country. Its government (defacto) -- the State
> Peace and Development Council/SPDC is not a government, but an illegal
> imposition on the country which usurped power in a bloody massacre in
> 1988 and has since then ruled at gunpoint. The SPDC's main concern is not
> with peace and development, but with holding on to power at all cost,
> even if it means the destruction of the country and the dire
> impoverishment of the people.
>     "Tourism" in Burma is a racket run by the junta to earn hard foreign
> currency in order to, One, maintain its instruments of repression, mainly
> arming and paying it soldiers and networks of intelligence personnel;
> and Two, to personally enrich senior officers who impose themselves on
> all private enterprises as "partners" or "shareholders". The feudal
> system of paying personal tribute to the nearest overlord is fully
> operative in Burma today.
>
> Analytica Birmania
> March 1999.
>
> ----------------------
> ITEM: Letter to the Editor
>
> THE NATION (Bangkok) - March 17, 1999
> Mailbag
>
> Burma military gives itself rooms for profit
>
> IT is compulsory for top military officers in Burma to have a share in
> all businesses. Each share by them is only in name for they do not need
> to put in any cash.
>
> After the completion of a project, the military officers ask for their
> share of the profits not knowing whether that project gain benefits or
> not.
>
> Two different kinds of hotels have to be registered. One kind is for
> foreigners and the other for locals. Hotels that cater to foreigners have
> to pay tax in American dollars or FEC.
>
> When a foreigner registers at a hotel, he or she is first asked the
> following four questions. 1: State your occupation. 2: Which places do
> you intend to visit. 3: How long will you stay. 4: Do you intend to go to
> University Avenue.
>
> The hotel proprietor has to watch and gather information and then pass on
> the facts to the MIS (military intelligence service) until the foreigner
> departs.
>
> The military officers always ask for their shares of profits from such
> hotels in which they are shareholders in name only. In reality, all the
> hotels are almost empty of visitors.
>
> The taxis have to make two licences and they, too, have to give details
> about the visitors to the MIS.

>
> The military government, instead of promoting the hotel and tourism
> business, is urging the hotel proprietors and taxi drivers to act as
> unpaid informers for them.
>
> Thet Oo
> Washington D C
> ---------------------------------------------------------