The BurmaNet News: November 30, 199

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Subject: The BurmaNet News: November 30, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: November 30, 1999
Issue #1412

HEADLINES:
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REUTERS: US SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW MYANMAR TRADE LAW 
AP: MYANMAR SEEKS JAPANESE AID, BUT NO REFORMS 
NATION: ARMY WARNS KEEP REBEL WAR OFF THAI TERRITORY 
KYODO: 4 ASEAN MEMBERS TO PROMOTE TOURISM JOINTLY 
AFP: US WILLING TO ACCEPT MORE EXILED DISSIDENTS 
FBC: BURMA'S FORCED LABOR A "POSTER BOY" CAMPAIGN
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REUTERS: US SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW MYANMAR TRADE LAW 
29 November, 1999 by James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to review a
Massachusetts law that restricts state purchases from companies that do
business with Myanmar in a case about trade limits to protest human rights
conditions in foreign nations.

The high court said it would rule on the constitutionality of the
Massachusetts Burma Law, which was adopted in 1996 in response to
widespread human rights abuses by the military regime in the southeast
Asian country.

The case has far-reaching implications as a number of other states or
cities adopted similar measures in the 1980s and 1990s involving Myanmar
and other foreign nations.

The ``selective purchasing law'' directs state officials to publish a list
of companies doing business with Myanmar, which formerly was called Burma,
and restricts the ability of those firms to sell goods and services to
Massachusetts agencies.

The justices will review a U.S. appeals court ruling that struck down the
law as unconstitutional because it interferes with the federal government's
exclusive power to set foreign policy and regulate foreign commerce.

A federal law providing for economic sanctions against Myanmar -- adopted
three months after the Massachusetts law -- preempts the state law, the
appeals court ruled.

The law effectively barred firms that do business with Myanmar from doing
any business with Massachusetts and its state agencies by adding 10 percent
to any bids received from such companies.

The state adopted the law because Myanmar's military dictatorship has been
accused of drug trafficking, torture and using slave labor.

Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly defended the law in his appeal
to the Supreme Court.

Reilly said the law closely resembled the private boycotts and scores of
divestment and selective purchasing laws adopted by state and local
governments nationwide in the 1980s to protest against apartheid in South
Africa.

He said the appeals court ruling cast doubt on similar laws adopted by
about 20 cities involving Myanmar as well as a number of state and local
laws concerning Cuba, China, Northern Ireland, Nigeria and other countries.

Reilly said the recent rise in global commerce and international trade
agreements heightened the need for review of whether the state laws
unconstitutionally interfere with foreign commerce and foreign affairs.

He said the issue involved national importance and should be settled by the
Supreme Court.

Supporting Massachusetts were 14 other states, a number of cities with
similar laws and a bipartisan group from Congress consisting of one senator
and 54 members of the House of Representatives.

The lawmakers said Congress has consistently refused to preempt state and
local selective purchasing laws, including the Massachusetts law.

A lawsuit challenging the law had been filed by the National Foreign Trade
Council, a group that represents U.S. businesses.

Lawyers for the group said the appeals court ruling was correct. Still, the
lawyers said the Supreme Court justices should hear the case if they
believed it raised unsettled issues.

The justices will hear arguments in the case in the spring, with a decision
due by the end of June. 

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ASSOCIATED PRESS: MYANMAR SEEKS JAPANESE AID, BUT NO DEMOCRATIC REFORMS
PLEDGED
28 November, 1999 by Mari Yamaguchi 

AP, Manila, 28 November 1999. The leader of Myanmar's military government
offered no steps to move toward democracy in a meeting Sunday with Japanese
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, the first dialogue between the head of a major
democracy and Myanmar since 1988.

Senior Gen. Than Shwe asked for aid, but Obuchi said little would be
forthcoming without visible vidence that democratic reforms were being
implemented. A Japanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
there were no ''forward-looking'' proposals from the Myanmar side.

Since troops crushed anti-government protests in Myanmar, also known as
Burma, in 1988, the country has since turned from one of Asia's richest
countries into one of the poorest.

Than Shwe met Obuchi on the sidelines of a summit of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea.

The meeting has raised eyebrows as a break in Western solidarity against
the military regime, which has refused to open a dialogue with opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party won elections in 1990, but the military
never allowed the parliament to meet. 

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

THE NATION: ARMY WARNS JUNTA TO KEEP REBEL WAR OFF THAI TERRITORY 
29 November, 1999 

MAE HONG SON -- The Army yesterday warned its Burmese counterpart not to
encroach on Thai territory during a dry-season suppression of dissidents, a
senior border official said yesterday. 

The Army will counter by all means any violation of its territory by
Burmese soldiers, who routinely resort to hot pursuit of the dissidents,
said Col Charnchai Nakprapa, commander of the Seventh Infantry Division
which oversees Mae Hong Son province. 

''Cracking down on Burmese dissidents is their internal affair. But we will
not tolerate it if the Burmese soldiers cross the border on to Thai soil
during the operation. It is nonsense to claim that the boundary is not
clear,'' Charnchai said. 

The Army has already installed anti-aircraft artillery as a preventive
measure in case the fighting between Burmese government troops and the
dissidents spills over the border, he said. ''We are ready to protect the
sovereignty of Thailand and provide protection to our people.'' 

The colonel was responding to a report that Gen Maung Aye, Burma's deputy
secretary-general of the State Peace and Development Council, had ordered a
meeting of regional commanders, instructing them to shoot down any Thai
aircraft found in Burmese airspace. 

A border intelligence source said that Rangoon, too, had installed
anti-aircraft artillery along the border. 

''Gen Maung Aye has given orders that Burmese soldiers can shoot at Thai
aircraft without any warning,'' the source said. 

The Burmese general has also ordered his soldiers not to have any contact
with Thai border officials. 

Meanwhile, the chief of a holding centre for Burmese students in Ratchaburi
is expected to be replaced as he could not control the residents. 

The Interior Ministry is selecting a new chief for the centre to replace
Chaitawat Niemsiri, although he took office just three months back. 

''Chaitawat's replacement is likely because he could not keep the camp in
order and he failed to control the Burmese students in the camp,'' the
source said. 

Since Chaitawat took the office in October, Burmese students in the holding
centre have conducted a series of protests and acts of violence against
Thai and UN High Commissioner for Refugees officials. A Burmese student was
recently convicted of assaulting two Thai security guards. 

Relations between Thai authorities and the Burmese students living there
became tense after five students laid siege to the Burmese Embassy in
Bangkok in early October. 

After that incident, Thai agencies called for the students to go on to a
third country to further their studies, instead of living here. 

Chaitawat said that 21 students from the centre left yesterday for the
United States. 

About 2,000 students have moved on to third countries since the centre was
set up in 1992. There are currently about 1,200 Burmese granted student
status living in the centre. 

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

KYODO: 4 ASEAN MEMBERS TO PROMOTE TOURISM JOINTLY
28 November, 1999 

Kyodo, Manila, 28 November 1999. Foreign ministers of Thailand, Cambodia,
Laos and Myanmar agreed Saturday to create a joint tour package called
'Suwannabhumi' in a united bid to showcase their countries' tourist spots
and further develop air and road transport links among them, a Thai
official said Sunday.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Don Pramudwinai told reporters the foreign
ministers of the four Southeast Asian countries met Saturday on the
sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Don said the new joint tourism campaign includes Cambodia's Angkor Wat,
which is one of the seven wonders of the world, Laos' Luang Prabang,
Myanmar's Mandalay area and Thailand's Grand Palace in Bangkok.

'It would not only bring us foreign revenues, promotion of air and road
transport links...but every participating country agreed the project would
also highlight the distinctive value of Suwannabhumi, which is a Buddhist
region,' Don said.

Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan also invited the three other
cooperating countries to send officials to Bangkok to discuss specifics of
the tourism project, Don said.

Don also said Myanmar and Laos finalized a bilateral agreement on Mekong
River water transport during a meeting of their officials in Manila.

Thailand and China also reached an agreement to celebrate next year the
25th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between
their countries with a theme focusing on tourism cooperation highlighting
the Mekong River, Don said.

The Mekong River runs through China, Tibet, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand,
Cambodia and Vietnam.

Don said the China-Thailand tourism agreement was reached during a
bilateral meeting between Surin and Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan on
Saturday.

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

AFP: US WILLING TO ACCEPT MORE EXILED MYANMAR DISSIDENTS
29 November, 1999 

BANGKOK, Nov 29 (AFP) - The United States is willing to resettle more
Myanmar dissidents exiled in Thailand, after having found homes for more
than 30 this month alone, US embassy officials said Monday.

"We are willing to process more Burmese refugees, were more to apply. We
don't have a quota, we have never had a quota. If more were to apply, we
are willing to consider it and settle more," said a US embassy spokeswoman.

"Capacity-wise we could do it," she said.

Earlier in the day, Thailand's National Security Council said a first group
of about 20 dissident students flew to the United States on Sunday, and
that a further 100 would leave in December.

However, the US embassy spokewoman said no students left that day and that
the 100 figure was inaccurate.

"In November there were three different dates people went out. On November
4th four people went out, on the 11th 13 people, and on the 18th 16 people
went out," she said.

A further 22 students would leave on December 2, she said, but added that
the program was scheduled to be put on hold over the Christmas period.

She denied Washington was under pressure to accept more students as a
result of the storming of Yangon's Bangkok embassy by gunmen claiming to be
pro-democracy students.

"These are people who were in the pipeline well before the Burmese embassy
thing even happened," she said, adding resettlement applications typically
took three-to-four months to process.

The NSC recently set strict restrictions on the estimated 2,000 exiled
Myanmar students in Thailand, after five gunmen took 38 people hostage at
Myanmar's embassy here on October 1.

It set November 21 as a deadline for all exiled dissidents to register with
the United Nations High Commisisoner for Refugees for settlement in third
countries.

Most of the exiles fled here after a bloody 1988 military crackdown on
Myanmar pro-democracy demonstrators.

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FREE BURMA COALITION: BURMA'S FORCED LABOR A "POSTER BOY" CAMPAIGN FOR WTO
OPPONENTS
29 November, 1999 from dohrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Seattle -- November 29, 1999 -- The inclusion of Burma's military
dictorship in the World Trade Organization (WTO) is increasingly seen as a
blow to the credibility of the rules-based trade body, already under attack
by grass-roots opponents around the world.

The Burmese junta has been found to practice forced labor on a massive
scale by the International Labor Organization (ILO), as well as by the US
Department of Labor.  Conditions of forced labor in Burma are appalling,
with female workers molested by soldiers, frequent beatings, and workers
chained at night to prevent escape.

But the junta is a member in good standing of the WTO.  "To have a forced
labor economy in a 'free trade' system is absurd," says Steven Dunn, an
ethnic Karen activist from Burma.  "Either the WTO moves rapidly to suspend
the Burmese junta, or its credibility will be lost entirely." Dunn will
share the podium at Tuesday's major labor rally in Seattle, organized by
the AFL-CIO.

US public opinion overwhelmingly supports the inclusion of basic labor
standards in WTO agreements.  The Program on International Policy
Attitudes, in a survey released this month, reported that 93% of Americans
polled said that "countries that are part of international trade agreements
should be required to maintain minimum standards for working conditions."
(see www.pipa.org)

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has warned that if the World Trade
Organization fails to punish nations that abuse workers, unions will step
up their campaign to block U.S. imports from the most flagrant violators.
Burma heads that list.  "Because of the ILO's findings, and its suspension
of the junta, the Burmese dictatorship is the ultimate 'poster boy' for
those working to improve labor standards around the world," says Larry
Dohrs of the Free Burma Coalition.

Even US investment in Burma has been tied to forced labor.  The Unocal
partnership with the French oil company Total/Fina and the military junta,
was investigated by the US Department of Labor and by a committee of French
Parliamentarians (see www.dol.gov).  Both concluded that forced labor was
likely to have been used during phases of the pipeline construction
project.  Unocal's former President John Imle has confirmed his knowledge
of forced labor connected to the project, in a sworn deposition in a
federal lawsuit brought by alleged victims of rights violations in Burma.
That suit is due to go to trial in 2000.

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