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The BurmaNet News: August 24, 1999



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: August 24, 1999
Issue #1343

Noted in Passing: "The junta's claim that it must continue its oppressive
dictatorship to prevent a revolution is wearing extremely thin." - Bangkok
Post Editorial (see BURMA MUST SIT AT DEMOCRACY TABLE) 

HEADLINES:
==========
REUTERS: MYANMAR STUDENTS PROTEST IN YANGON - DISSIDENT GROUP 
THE BANGKOK POST: BURMA MUST SIT AT DEMOCRACY TABLE 
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: TRAFFICKERS ON MICROLIGHTS BRANDED TALL TALE 
THE BANGKOK POST: FIVE BURMESE SOLDIERS SHOT IN REBEL CLASH 
XINHUA: ASEAN TOURISM ORGANISATIONS TO MEET IN MYANMAR 
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REUTERS: MYANMAR STUDENTS PROTEST IN YANGON - DISSIDENT GROUP 
21 August, 1999 

BANGKOK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - High school students in the Myanmar capital
Yangon staged a protest over inadequate educational facilities and seven
were briefly detained, a dissident Myanmar group said on Saturday. 

The All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) said students at the Basic
Education High School in Yangon's suburban Tamwe township held the protest
on August 19 in the presence of visiting Khin Win Shwe, wife of Myanmar's
powerful intelligence chief Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt. 

The ABSDF statement, received in Bangkok, said the students also called for
support of anti-government protests scheduled for September 9. 

A Myanmar military spokesman on Saturday denied that students had staged
protests. He described the ABSDF statement as a fabrication to attract
media attention. 

"It is amazing to learn the extent of the information campaign they are
doing. Of course there are no such demonstrations by students in Yangon or
elsewhere in the country," the spokesman said in a statement faxed to
Reuters. 

The ABSDF and other dissidents in exile have called a general strike on
September 9, 1999 -- so-called "four nines" day. 

The military spokesman said: "It can be presumed ABSDF... (is) becoming
frustrated to learn that nothing they want to see can happen on their
9-9-99 and obviously becoming desperate and creating all sorts of
fabrication in a hurry to at least attract attention with sensational news." 

But on Thursday the Myanmar military said it had arrested 36 people in
connection with earlier attempts to instigate an uprising next month. 

"Tightening control has been increasing in school areas of Rangoon
(Yangon)," the ABSDF statement said. 

The numerically significant date was chosen after four eights day -- August
8, 1988 -- which saw the start of a nationwide uprising for democracy that
the military crushed, killing thousands. 

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THE BANGKOK POST: BURMA MUST SIT AT DEMOCRACY TABLE
23 August, 1999 

EDITORIAL

Burma first denied, then admitted a new security crackdown and the arrest
of dozens of democracy advocates. The regime remains in direct opposition
to many of its citizens. Rangoon fears an uprising on Sept 9, but refuses
to take the obvious, easy steps which would prevent any violence.

It was a week-long exercise which fully illustrated the massive credibility
gap the Burmese military junta has created. The regime began by accusing
the democratic opposition of planning a national uprising on Sept 9-the
so-called "four nines" day often written in Burma as 9/9/99. But it flatly
denied reports from opponents of a wave of arrests.

The All Burma Students' Democratic Front said that up to 120 people had
been arrested. The opposition group said some of those arrested were young
students who demonstrated in the southern town of Mergui. Nonsense, said a
statement from the regime. It said four people were helping authorities
with their enquiries. Anyone suggesting anything else, such as up-country
demonstrations, was wrong and deliberately attempting to harm Burma.

Three days later, Rangoon announced the arrest of 32 people. An official
spokesman for the ruling State Peace and Development Council, San Pwint,
said an undisclosed number of other Burmese were assisting authorities at
various police stations around the country. This is Burma-speak for
detention without visitors, charges or legal help. People held in such a
manner are not released until they "volunteer" the information that
authorities want -- whether it is true or not. Amnesty International last
month caught the authorities holding a child and attempting to have her
denounce her father.

The regime claims, and may even believe, that members of the National
League for Democracy and other more intemperate groups are aligned in a
vast conspiracy. Its aim is violent revolution and the overthrow of the
military regime. This continual claim by the regime is repeated despite
enthusiastic participation in a democratic election, despite constant
denials and transparent meetings by the NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The
junta's claim that it must continue its oppressive dictatorship to prevent
a revolution is wearing extremely thin.

The Burmese junta has become a worldwide symbol of corruption and
brutality. The regime is recognized as friendly to drug dealers and a
violator of the most basic human rights. Rangoon's rulers are famous for
the violence they apply against their own people. In recent weeks, Burma
has come under ever increasing criticism from Thais for its drug connections.

It is all so unnecessary. Burma's rulers can prevent political violence on
Sept 9 and all other days. They can win respect at home and abroad. They
can move their country forward and improve the lives of their citizens. The
junta members, who are despised in much of the world and barred from
travelling to many countries, could reverse that treatment and the opinions
that many hold of them.

The leaders of Burma should open a true dialogue with the democratic forces
who wish to bring peaceful change to their country. This certainly includes
Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has won the votes of her
fellow Burmese, and won an election which should have put her party into
power.  [sic Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was barred from running for office in the
1990 elections. The NLD won 82% of the Parliamentary seats.  - BurmaNet
Editor]

General Maung Aye, second in the junta's hierarchy, bragged at the weekend
that the army is able to kill more demonstrators today than in 1988. He
said his forces would annihilate any opposition. How sad. It is unnecessary
to "annihilate" anyone or any group. The regime, as it knows, is not
threatened by violent revolution. It is threatened by a repressed
population, who desire only what their neighbours have: freedom, a voice in
their own future and a reasonable opportunity to better their lives.

The junta is responsible to its own people to move towards political
agreement, national reconciliation and a future of democracy and freedom.
It also is responsible to its neighbours for this. An unstable Burma, with
a discredited government, is a major drag on Asean. The fact is that
Burma's junta is holding back Burma and the region. 

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

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: TRAFFICKERS ON MICROLIGHTS BRANDED TALL TALE 
21 August, 1999 by William Barnes 

Golden Triangle drug traffickers have reportedly taken their trade to new
heights. 

Thai Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasert said yesterday traffickers were
using one-man microlight aircraft to cross the Burmese border into Thailand. 

He said entrepreneurs of the underground economy had been forced to adopt a
high profile because of the Thai authorities' unprecedented border crackdown. 

"The machines are similar to the ones used by tourists in Pattaya and by
some police units," Mr Sanan said. 

Soldiers and armed border police have engaged in a high number of
gunbattles with suspect traffickers in recent weeks in an attempt to stop
amphetamines flooding the country. 

Previously porous smuggling trails have become ambush traps for the mostly
ethnic minority traders who have found ya ba - [literally] crazy-drug -
even more profitable than heroin in Thailand. 

So desperate have the Thais become about the drug's destructive effects on
society that some senior security officials have demanded a shoot-on-sight
policy when police confront known traffickers. 

Mr Sanan said the drug lords' latest technique had been revealed when
villagers reported seeing navigation lights being towed into remote fields. 

Near-silent intruders could fly microlights - essentially motorised
hang-gliders - off Burmese hills and evade patrols and ambushes, one of Mr
Sanan's advisers said yesterday. 

He said the reduced risk of capture was compensation enough for the small
loads the aircraft were capable of carrying. 

Slight pilots were used to allow more drugs to be carried, he said. 

Experienced border watchers in Thailand's northern capital, Chiang Mai,
were skeptical about the reports, pointing out that despite the latest
crackdown, traffickers were still bringing large amounts of amphetamines
into Thailand. 

"It's still a porous border," one observer said. 

"I don't think anyone needs to indulge in James Bond games when some
well-placed notes will still do the trick. 

"Who would want to become a flying target over a border manned by thousands
of heavily armed and trigger-happy men?" the observer asked. 

"Drug traffickers are very conservative people. Their whole existence
revolves around trying to cut risks out of their lives. 

"Too many things could go wrong with a caper like this - there is no way
they would go for it."  

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

THE BANGKOK POST: FIVE BURMESE SOLDIERS SHOT IN REBEL CLASH 
22 August, 1999 by Cheewin Sattha 

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: The original version of this article refers to
Karen rebels and refugees.  The ethnicity of the groups is actually
Karenni.  The change has been made, indicated by brackets. - BurmaNet Editor]

Five Burmese soldiers were killed in a clash with [Karenni] rebels opposite
Ban Mae Surin, while on their way to attack a [Karenni] refugee camp inside
Thailand, military sources said yesterday. 

Burmese forces and Karenni National Democratic Army jointly attacked a
[Karenni] rebel outpost at around 10pm on Friday. The clash lasted for
nearly 20 minutes. 

Col Surachet Chaiwong, deputy commander of the 3rd army's 7th regiment,
ordered reinforcements of security patrols in the area following a report
that KNDA planned to attack [Karenni] refugee camps. Around 20,000
[Karenni] refugees are taking shelter at [three] refugee camps along the
border. Meanwhile, assistant chief Adul Nuipakdi of Pang Mapha, who was
reported missing following a clash with drug traffickers has walked back
across the border, near Ban Huay Pueng.

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

XINHUA: ASEAN TOURISM ORGANISATIONS TO MEET IN MYANMAR 
21 August, 1999 

BANGKOK (Aug. 21) XINHUA - Senior Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)
executives are to be in Yangon, Myanmar, between August 23-27 for the 10th
meeting of the heads of ASEAN National Tourism Organizations (NTO), a press
release said Saturday. 

The meeting, to be chaired by TAT deputy governor for planning and
development Pradech Phayakvichien, will be laying out a series of projects
for executing Visit ASEAN millennium Year 2002 (VAY 2002) as well as
planning the preparations for the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2000 to be held in
Bangkok in January 2000. 

"The ASEAN tourism industry is on a threshold of a new era," Pradech said.
"The entrance of Cambodia as our full 10th member now allows us to go ahead
in full strength. Many plans and projects that had been deferred because of
the recent economic crisis can also be proceeded with," he added. 

The agenda of the ASEAN NTOs meeting will cover issues related to improving
facilitation, investment promotion, manpower training, the development of
an ASEAN tourism website and improving airline linkages, the press release
said.

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