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Window on Burma #6




BINA  -- The Burma Independent News Agency  --  

Window on Burma  #6   
  
(From Mojo, Issue #4 (July 1999), and other sources)


SPDC BUILDS IRRIGATION CANALS

In order to build irrigation canals for their rice fields, the Myanmar State
Peace and Development Council?s military officers ordered the evacuation of 14
villages near Prome (Pyi).  

At one of the villages, Bwet Gyi, the residents objected to leaving their
homes.  When, by the end of May, the villagers still had not moved, the Army
simply burned the village to the ground.  

The military officers were then able to proceed with their irrigation canal
project undisturbed.


DAW SUU ATTENDS U TIN SHWE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

The second memorial service for U Tin Shwe (Mon Ywa) took place on June 8th. 
The famous and well-loved Burmese writer died in SPDC prison on June 8,
1997.  

After greeting all the people attending the ceremony, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was
able to have a few minutes private conversation with writers Saya Tin Moe and
Saya Swan.  

Daw Suu?s eldest son, Ko Myint San Aung (?Alexander?), who had been visiting
his mother in Rangoon since April, returned to England on the following day. 
His younger brother Ko Thein Lin (?Kim?) had already returned earlier to
continue his studies.


SECRET BOOK EXHIBITION AT UNIVERSITY

A book exhibition opened at Bo Aung Kyaw Square in the Rangoon University
compound on the first weekend of June.  Booksellers from overseas were invited
as well, and displayed their wares.  

The authorities, however, fearful of unrest should many students or Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi visit the site, refused to announce the event publicly.
Therefore,
attendance was poor.  Most people had no idea that the book exhibition had
taken place at all.


SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS THIS MONTH IN BURMA

Primary schools, middle schools, and high schools in Burma opened again this
year on June 1st.  

Books, however  readers, exercise books, etc.  were in short supply in many
districts.  Also, book prices had nearly doubled from the previous year. 
Annual admission fees are now set at from 4,000 to 10,000 kyat per student
(compare to the average teacher?s salary of 1,250 kyat a month).  As a result
of price rises and low wages, many parents now cannot afford to send their
children to school.  

Furthermore, in order to cut teaching costs, schools that now have less
than 40
students have been ordered to close.  Teachers at the closed schools must
therefore look for jobs at other schools.  This is causing an excess of
teachers looking for work.  

For example, a refresher course for primary school teachers was held at
Bassein
No. 6 High School during May.  There were 8,000 candidates for this course, 81
of whom were male teachers.


MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT BURGLES PDC CHAIRMAN

The teen-aged son of a local police officer in Gant Gaw Township (Sagaing
Division) is being held on charges of burglarizing the house of the Township
Peace and Development Council Chairman.  The 8th-grade student and his friends
broke into the PDC leader?s house and stole some items of value.  

When questioned about the incident, the boy said that he could no longer stand
the way the PDC Chairman was ?bullying? his father.  He said that had the
Chairman himself been in the house during the robbery, the gang would have
killed him outright.  


CHILD POLICE FORCE PLANNED

The SPDC sent notices this month to all Rangoon middle schools, that a special
military training program would be established for selected 8th grade
students. 


Every school must choose five students, the notice advised, each of whom will
then be trained by the Army to act as a school police agent to suppress any
?mischievous behavior? on the part of other students. 


SECURITY FORCES INCREASED IN RANGOON

There are noticeably more security forces in evidence in Rangoon these days,
with soldiers and MI agents seen regularly in all crowded public places, such
as markets and bus stations.  

?The smell of revolution is in the air,? said one former student.  ?Everyone
feels that something is about to happen.  It gives me goosebumps.?


***********

[WHAT IS ?MOJO??  ?Mojo? means ?Lightning? in Burmese.   ?Mojo? is an
independent newspaper from the Burmese community in Thailand.  Its primary
content is social, political, and economic news from all over Burma, and its
intended readers are the people inside Burma itself.  

BINA will regularly provide English-language excerpts from ?Mojo? to the
BurmaNet.  If you would like to receive a copy of the original
Burmese-language
?Mojo?, please e-mail your postal address to bina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

?Dialogue is inevitable. We will not just sit and wait. We will continue doing
what has to be done.?
  NLD General Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi]