[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

The BurmaNet News: March 23, 1999



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: March 23, 1999
Issue #1233

HEADLINES:
==========
ABSDF: JUNTA FORCES FARMERS TO SELL PADDY 
MIZZIMA: REFUGES UNDERGO INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE 
S.H.A.N: SHANS HANDED OVER TO BURMESE AUTHORITIES  
BKK POST: A GIFT FOR DOING THE WRONG THING 
AWSJ: A BUDDING ECONOMY 
ANNC: CARDS FOR MICHAEL ARIS 
****************************************************************

ABSDF: JUNTA FORCES TENASSERIM FARMERS TO SELL PADDY
20 March, 1999 from <lurie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 

Media Release - 19/99

Officials of the Yephyu Township Peace and Development Council in Tenasserim
Division are forcing local farmers to sell rice they had been keeping for
consumption, according to sources in the town.

There are 280 areas of paddy field in The Chaung village tract in Yephyu
Township, although up to two-thirds of this land yields very little crop
output
because it is affected by seawater. Crop production has further dwindled after
last year's drought. Despite this, the authorities have maintained their
demands that each farmer sell 10 baskets of paddy to the state.

The selling of such paddy, known as 'dutiful' or 'quota' paddy, is required by
an agreement between the farmers and the state. Farmers are forced to take out
loans from the government at the beginning of the planting season.

These must be repaid after harvesting by selling paddy at a very low price.

In January this year, officers from Infantry Regiment 273, based in The
Chaung,
ordered that each household in 11 villages in the area sell two baskets of
rice
to the army. The army paid only 100 Kyat per basket. The requirement was
particularly difficult for non-farmers to meet, as they had to buy rice at
inflated prices to sell to the army.

Economic difficulties have forced the Burmese junta to cut all basic
rations to
its military units across the country since 1988. This has resulted in
widespread confiscation of farmland and forcible sales of rice and other
important crops to army units at very low prices.

All Burma Students' Democratic Front

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

MIZZIMA: BURMA REFUGEES UNDERGO INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE IN INDIA
22 March, 1999 

"We do not have any other option but to stage indefinite hunger strike
only. We
prefer to die in front of UNHCR office rather than going back to Burma", said
Cha Mau, a 24-year old student from Matupi township of Chin State in Burma.
Cha
Mau left Burma and crossed the Indo-Burma border in 1998 after the military
authorities forced him to participate in the "National Students' Festival,
which was held in Hakha, Chin State in the same year. When he arrived in
Mizoram State of India, his hopes and expectations were not realised. Instead,
regular harassment and threats of the local police and intelligence became
nightmares for him in the alien land. He decided to come to Delhi as he heard
that United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Delhi
extends humanitarian assistance to those Burmese refugees who cannot go
back to
Burma. Since that time, he has been in Delhi for almost one year. He
approached
the UNHCR office in June 1998 for the refugee status. He was interviewed for
two times. And, after nine months of long and exhausting struggle, he received
a "Letter of Reject" from the UNHCR saying that the office finds no ground to
recognize him as a refugee. And no further application or appeal will be
entertained, the letter further mentioned.

Cha Mau was desperate and disappointed. He had to live in the past one-year
with the support of fellow refugees who are already recognized by UNHCR as
refugees. But, after some months, it became a heavy burden for his friends.
Thus, he had to borrow money from whoever can lend him and he is now in
debt of
more than Rs. 2,500.00. He had hoped that he can return the money as and when
he receives the financial assistance from the UNHCR office. But, his hopes are
gone now.

He along with some fellow refugees who face the same fate decided to
undergo an
indefinite hunger strike in front of UNHCR office in New Delhi till they are
recognized as refugees and provided Rs. 1,200.00 per month per person.

Along with Cha Mau, total ten refugees are staging indefinite hunger strike
from March 22nd onwards. Most of the refugees have similar stories of why they
left their beloved country, home, dears and nears. It is due to increasing
political and economic turmoil in Burma. A 22 -year old Salai Zoram Thang
was a
high school student in a village of Thang Tlang township in Chin State. His
father was the head of the village. Chin National Army, which is one of the
armed groups fighting against the military junta in Burma, asked his father to
collect the "tax" from the villagers for the army. The government forces
nearby
the village came to know about it and beat him in front of Zoran Thang and the
family. When he could not bear any more of his father being beaten
mercilessly,
Zoran Thang hit back one of the soldiers and ran away from the spot. He never
got back to his home again as the government soldiers would definitely shoot
him to death. He sneaked into India for shelter.

About 500 Burma refugees are currently recognized by the UNHCR in India and
most of them are provided the monthly subsistence of Rs. 1,200.00 per person.
However, with the increasing price rise of basic commodities in the capital of
India, they are usually left without money even before the month ends. Dal
(pea) and arloo (potatoes) are their daily curry with rice. They can rarely
afford meat. Three to six persons or sometimes more than that put together
their money and stay in a one-set room (where they cook, sit, eat and sleep).
Comparing with those of refugees who are not recognized and do not get
financial assistance from UNHCR, their life is still much much better.

MIZZIMA News Group

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

SHAN HERALD AGENCY FOR NEWS: SHANS HANDED OVER TO BURMESE AUTHORITIES
21 March, 1999 from <shan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

An escaped inmate from Shan village immigrants, who were handed over to Burma,
reported to S.H.A.N. that they were in a terrible condition.

On 12 March, Thai police raided a textile factory opposite The Mall Department
Store in Bangkhae, Bangkok and arrested 64 workers there for illegal entry.
Among them were 48 Shans. The rest were Karens, Mons and Burmese, who were
deported to Burma through the Three Pagoda Pass in Kanjanaburi Province.

As for the Shans, they were transferred to the Burmese immigration at Maesai
Bridge which serves as the border between Tachilek (Shan States) and Maesai
(Chiangrai Province, Thailand) on 16 March.

The Burmese authorities, after taking them into custody, said they would be
released as soon as they could pay a certain amount of money. Otherwise, they
would have to join in the construction of the Kengtung - Tachilek road until
they had completed their prison term which is yet to be decided.

This report was sent to S.H.A.N. by Sai Myint, who escaped shorty afterwards.
And where is he now? Back in Thailand, of course.

"The Thai authorities should not, in any way, hand over the people to Burma,
knowing they would suffer a fate which is worse than dying", said Sai Myint.

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

BANGKOK POST: A GIFT FOR DOING THE WRONG THING
22 March, 1999 

Burma has refused to grant a visa to the cancer-stricken husband of democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The regime insists that Mrs. Suu Kyi should leave.
Then it will refuse to let her return. This cynicism is too typical of a
regime
which is dragging the name of Asean into the mud.

Burma suddenly announced late last week it was reviewing its ill-considered
and
cruel ban on Michael Aris, the husband of Aung San Suu Kyi. Rangoon
authorities
have kept him out of Burma for more than three years. He recently applied
again
to the military junta for a visitor's visa. He is seriously ill with cancer.

The refusal to lift Mr Aris's travel ban even on compassionate grounds before
last week's firestorm of publicity was predictable. It is part of their
psychological warfare against the immensely popular and elected political
leader of Burma. The healthy Mrs. Suu Kyi is free to leave Burma to visit the
ailing Mr Aris, smirked a government statement. But of course Mrs. Suu Kyi
will
not be allowed back into her own country if she leaves.

There are two points. The first is the junta's cynical declaration that it
will
use any weapon - including a grieving, cancer-stricken man against his wife.
The second is the chilling attitude that the government can, and should,
control when and how a man and wife can meet.

It is important to remember that the junta has denied a visa to the perfectly
peaceful Mr Aris for three years. It is an extremely cynical political ploy
aimed at forcing Mrs. Suu Kyi to choose between family and nation. It is
also a
heartless dictator's action, designed to let citizens know that government has
control even over such small items as when husbands and wives can meet.

At the same time, it is poised- eager - to deny Mrs. Suu Kyi permission to
live
in her own country. This is a violation of international law, to deny one's
own
citizens the right of abode. It is the sort of thing one expects from
dictators. Previous Thai dictatorships, as recently as the Suchinda regime,
refused to let citizens live in their own country. So in a way, it is exactly
what one would expect from the junta.

Also notable is the selection process of the Burmese regime. It strongly seeks
to expel Aung San Suu Kyi, the most honoured living Burmese, and a citizen who
- although imprisoned for years - never charged with a crime in Burma or
anywhere else. On the other hand, the junta honours its two most-reviled
citizens, drug lords Khun Sa and Lo Hsing-han. The regime refuses to expel
them, although they face charges in foreign countries. It refuses to prosecute
them at home, but provides top-quality housing, state protection and more.

This sort of reverse thinking is a major reason that Burma has earned
disrespect in much of the world. It is why the European nations will not deal
with Asean on trade matters. It is why America would not attend last month's
Interpol conference on heroin trafficking. It is why non-government
organisations throughout Asean revile and demonise the Rangoon regime.

It is all very well for Thailand and the other eight Asean partners to claim
that Burma's cruel visa ploy is an internal affair of the country.

This ostrich-like attitude, however unfairly, merely identifies our own and
neighbouring countries with the sadism of the Aris visa affair.

Our foreign ministry quickly denied reports it had asked Burma to grant a visa
to Mr Aris. This is crucially correct diplomacy. It also is poor public
relations, both with Thais and with foreigners. Better we should encourage
Burma to do the right thing and bear criticism from Rangoon than side with the
junta and take criticism from Thais and the world. Australia, the European
Union and America at least are on the right side in urging Rangoon to grant Mr
Aris a visa.

We will see, probably this week, whether Burmese officials continue their
arrogance or reconsider. In a compassionate case such as this, it is never too
late for the military junta to make the correct decision. It is unfortunate
Burma didn't issue Mr Aris a visa in the first place. Rangoon will not recover
the further erosion of its image caused by this disastrous decision.

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

THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL: A BUDDING ECONOMY
20 March, 1999 

Letter to the Editor

As a close observer of the political scene of Myanmar, I would like to add
some
of my reflections to Barry Wain's Feb 26 op-ed column, "Myanmar's Voice of
Dissent Remains Firm." [Editor's Note: The article referred to here
appeared in
The BurmaNet News: March 2, 1999 Issue # 1218]

Three things are clear: the National League for Democracy [NLD] is proud of
staying on its chosen policy line, the economy of the country is in a
shambles,
and we are no closer to gaining any democratic rights. It is too simple a
calculation that eco-meltdown will "topple a dictatorship" when made without
considering the nature of the people.

The bottom-line wish of the people is that we achieve higher economic
standards
and political freedom without having to resort to revolution and bloodshed.
That is the faith we put in NLD with our votes, that they may work towards
these goals on our behalf. It is hoped that the key players will now focus on
realistic options rather than on one which has led nowhere. Not enough thought
has been given to pragmatic ways and diplomatic means to achieve the possible.

The view that the government has a finger in every tourism pie is, as we
say in
Burmese, "sweeping everything with a long bamboo." Airlines such as Silk Air,
Biman, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, to name a few, are clearly not
connected to the military. Five star hotels are part of hotel chains owned by
international companies. Ordinary people run hundreds of small hotels,
restaurants and inns. They, and the taxi drivers, tour guides and craftsmen
who
benefit from tourism, are hardly connected to the government. Ordinary people
do benefit from tourism.

And in reference to the statement [by Aung San Suu Kyi] that investment
"provides a bit of work, but not much," it is natural that in any country, the
early stages of open-market economy is not going to give jobs to 80% of the
population. But when, for example 200,000 girls are able to work in factories,
at least they feed their families, and it is a start. A budding economy may
not
at first benefit the whole population, but if nipped in the bud its future
growth is destroyed.

When the chance to build a solid economic base with the help of investment and
international aid is denied, there is no secure foundation from which the
people can move on to higher goals of freedom.

Political reforms of course must be considered but should not be demanded at
the expense of running the economy to the ground. Once, the Way to Socialism
had with impractical idealism managed to impoverish the country. Surely the
Road to Democracy should not even be partly responsible for doing the same.

MA THANEG, YANGON

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

ANNOUNCEMENT: CARDS FOR MICHAEL ARIS 
22 March, 1999  

Anyone who wants to send a card or note expressing concern regarding Michael
Aris' illness, can send them in care of his mother:

Mrs. Evelyn Aris
143 Rivermead Court
Ranelagh Gardens
London SW6 3SE
United Kingdom
****************************************************************