BurmaNet News: December 25, 1999

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

---------------- The BurmaNet News ----------------
 December 25, 1999 
 Issue # 1429
---------------------------------------------------- 

========== 
HEADLINES: 
==========

Inside Burma-
ASIAWEEK, INTELLIGENCE: IS THERE ANY PLAN AT ALL IN MYANMAR? 
MIC: PREPARATIONS FOR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER AT FINAL STAGE
AWSJ: DAILY STRUGGLE IN MYANMAR
AP: HEAVY FIGHTING ON MYANMAR-THAI BORDER 
SSA: BATTLE IN THE TRANS SALWEEN

International-
JAPAN TIMES: JAPAN HARPS ON DEMOCRATIZATION
THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN: WTO AND FORCED LABOR 
XINHUA: WIN AUNG TRIPS TO CHINA (I) 
XINHUA: WIN AUNG TRIPS TO CHINA (II) 
REUTERS: U.S. ADDS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TO OLD SANCTIONS
NATION: THAI ANGLER SHOT DEAD 
BANGKOK POST: FISHING BAN PRESERVED TO REPLENISH STOCKS

Editorial-
BURMANET: [OP/ED]: MYANMAFICATION - BURMA (CF. MYANMAR) AS A `BRITISH' 
INVENTION
NATION: BURMESE STUDENTS REJECT CHAVALIT'S ALLEGATIONS 

***********************************************
Asiaweek - Dec 23, 1999.
Is there any plan at all in Myanmar?

The generals in Yangon are among the few leaders in the world 
still dealing with Y1K issues like competition and the 
reality of modern communications. The regime had allowed
a private Internet service provider, Eagle IT, 
to set up business -- and it was doing just fine.
Earlier this year, Eagle's executive director John Chen
told Asiaweek: "We have about 500 clients already and our
customer base is growing." Perhaps that was simply too 
much for the telecoms ministry, which was Eagle's main
competitor. But who knows for sure in secretive Myanmar?
All that is certain is that Eagle's e-mail service was
abruptly shut down on Dec.13 and apparently some of its
staff were detained. Maybe the worldwide web spooks the
spooky generals. 

*********************************************** 
Information  Sheet No.B-1192 (I) 24th December,1999
MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE
YANGON

Preparations For Internet Service Provider At Final Stage

Under the existing rules and regulations Myanma Posts
and Telecommunications is the only entity allowed for
public postal and telecommunications services in
Myanmar. Preparations for Internet Service Provider
including Internet and E-mail are at the final stage
and these sevices will soon be provided to the general
public. MPT has been providing X-400 E-mail service since 1997.



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

AP: HEAVY FIGHTING ON MYANMAR-THAI BORDER 
December 22, 1999 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Heavy fighting has broken out close to 
Myanmar's 
border with Thailand. 

Reports say that several thousand troops from Myanmar are battling 
ethnic Shan guerrillas. The clashes may be linked to the area's 
endemic drug trade. 

Shan guerrillas have been defending a string of hilltop bases for 
several days. 

Reports say they've faced persistent attack from up to four thousand 
government soldiers, as well as shelling, and latest reports say the 
Shan are pulling back. 

The sound of battle has been heard across the border in northern 
Thailand. Casualty figures aren't known. The fighting started about a 
week ago, following an ambush by the Shan on a convoy of tribesmen who 
were carrying drugs through the area's isolated hills. 

Unconfirmed claims say the column was guarded by troops from Myanmar. 
Shan troops showed reporters the body of one man who was wearing
the uniform of the Myanmar army. Opponents of the military regime 
in Yangon have long alleged that it has a hand in the country's
booming drugs trade, a claim the government strongly 
denies. 

Following the ambush, one tribesman was captured and handed over 
to Thai authorities. Shan guerrillas have been defending a string of 
hilltop bases for several days.  More than four hundred thousand 
amphetamine tablets, almost certainly bound for dealers in Bangkok and 
other Thai cities, were in the captured man's possession. 

The Shan State Army (SSA) says it's carrying out an anti-drug sweep in 
its territory, codenamed "Operation White Tiger". 

It's part of an attempt by the army to convince the outside world 
that it's changed its ways. For many years it was the personal 
army of Khun Sa, one of the world's major producers of heroin. 

He struck a peace deal with Yangon in 1996 and now lives in the capital. 
 The SSA says it's fighting for independence from Yangon. 
It claims to have 12,000 men under arms, although that's almost 
certainly an exaggeration. 

Like other ethnic peoples in Myanmar, the Shan have suffered mass 
relocations as Yangon bids to deprive the rebels of support in the 
countryside. 


*********************************************** 
Friday, December 24 8:05 AM SGT 
AWSJ: Column: Daily Struggle In Myanmar
HONG KONG 

(Dow Jones)--In the Golden Monastery in Myanmar's Mon state, head monk 
Ku Thala greets visitors on the cool, concrete floor, flanked by 
Buddha images, some of them life-size, and tells of the slow, relentless 
decline in living conditions in his corner of the world. 
The evidence is on display in the dilapidated facade of the once 
magnificent wooden building, more than 100 
years old, which is maintained by local donations. 

Ku Thala, age 52, who supervises the education of a dozen young novices
where he himself entered the monkhood as a teenager, speaks quietly, in 
keeping with the tranquility of the surrounding countryside, where 
security has improved since Karen rebels were forced to retreat toward 
the Thai border. The serenitycontrasts sharply with the daily struggle 
he describes. 

He says farming costs have outstripped the price of rice, while 
The vagaries of the weather have brought severe flooding and washed 
away the fertile topsoil. 

About 40% of the people living nearby own their own land and are OK, but 
for the rest who work as day laborers, life is difficult. "It has become 
worse" over the past 10 years, he says. 

This year, with government approval, I traveled thousands of kilometers 
around the land still widely known as Burma, by aircraft, helicopter, 
boat and four-wheel-drive vehicle, mostly unaccompanied by officials. 
The forays confirmed my earlier impression of a country strikingly 
beautiful in parts, with the vast majority of people desperately poor 
and merely trying to survive.  What they think about the standoff 
between the ruling State Peace and Development Council and Aung San Suu 
Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won an election in 1990 but 
wasn't allowed to take office, often remains unstated. But the impasse 
between the military and its democratic opponents 
distorts domestic policies, denies Myanmar most international assistance 
and prolongs the suffering. 

David Steinberg of Georgetown University observes that Myanmar 
celebrates Martyrs' Day, the anniversary of the assassination of 
national hero Aung San and his colleagues in 1947, and Ms. Aung San Suu 
Kyi, his daughter, has been  described as a martyr to the cause of 
democracy. "Yet it is the people who are the real martyrs," he says. 
"They have no say in their future while their  economic, social, 
educational and health standards have deteriorated, as 
spending and talent are focused on the military, rather than servicing 
the population." 

The landscape is littered with everyday martyrs, from village 
processions walking kilometers each day to get water, to young women 
standing patiently on the roads to collect temple contributions, to the 
legions of kids unable to afford the luxury of primary school. But it 
should be noted that the situation varies, with oases of relative 
prosperity in a desert of deprivation.  In Pwehla township in southern 
Shan state, a group of longyi-clad farmers explain through an 
interpreter why they welcome self-help livestock and
poultry projects organized by the United Nations Development Program. 
"For example, I'm retired," chimes in Saw Nyunt Aung, 70, grinning 
broadly at the chance to use his rusty English. "I have taken 100 
chickens and have a side income of 4,000 kyat a month." (The current 
free-market exchange rate is 324 kyat to the dollar.) 

He was a teacher and later a member of parliament in Yangon, as Rangoon 
is now called, during the socialist period that ended in 1988. It's 
impossible to live on his 600-kyat pension? "Very impossible," he 
retorts. "Not enough even for rice." As it is, by growing wheat, maize 
and cabbages, as well as taking care of the chickens, he and his wife 
have a combined income of 7,000 kyat a month. "I can save 1,000 kyat," 
he says. The elderly couple get by on the equivalent of $18 a month. 

Within sight of the unmarked Chinese border across picturesque paddy 
fields and bamboo patches, the 100,000 people of Namkhan would appear to 
have few  worries. Their district hospital is the hilltop stone complex 
built in the 1920s by Dr. Gordon Seagrave, an American who stayed for 
more than 40 years and passed into Western history as the "Burma 
surgeon." Although the roof leaks occasionally and some of the original 
steps are rotting, the 10 doctors and 60
nurses have adequate stocks of medicine and equipment. 

But it turns out that alcoholism is a problem, with about one in 100 
locals addicted to a home brew made from coconuts and consumed in 
copious quantities in cold weather. "It's one of the customs. They've 
been doing it for years," says Dr. Myint Oo. 

Another illness is hypertension. Surely not from stress? "Not here," he 
laughs. "It's the diet. Some of the food is fatty and salty." 
At a border post in eastern Shan state, half way down a long receiving
line, a sad-faced man is almost overlooked in the festive welcome for 
Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt, Secretary 1 of the SPDC and chief of military 
intelligence. Lo Hsing-han has been invited to the celebrations in Mong 
La because he helped persuade factions of the Burmese Communist Party to 
revolt against their leadership 10 years ago and end the insurgency. 

The presence of the former drug king from the early 1970s, who spent 
time in prison and now heads the diversified Asia World Group, is all 
the proof that  some foreign critics need to accuse the government of 
involvement in the  narcotics trade. They say Mr. Lo, 66, is still in 
heroin, behind a legitimate  business cover. As far as Yangon is 
concerned, Mr. Lo is a normal citizen  who has been going straight since 
his release. "I gave up drugs" when I was
arrested in the 1970s, he tells me. "I welcome anybody to come to 
Myanmar to look for themselves." Closer to the capital, the politics 
swirl and the rumors fly, aggravated by Yangon's tight control of 
information. 

The buzz is that a recently issued 1,000-kyat bill has been withdrawn,
after the authorities noticed that it contained a stylized khamauk, 
the straw hat worn by farmers that also happens to be the electoral 
symbol of the opposition National League for Democracy. 

Nonsense, says government spokesman Lt.-Col. Hla Min, explaining that 
the bill was issued in only limited numbers. He attributes gossip about 
the khamauk to rumormongers. "No one even thinks it resembles one," he 
says. 

A visit to the home of Tin Oo, vice chairman of the National League for 
Democracy, provides a depressing glimpse of the political stalemate. 
Teams of plain-clothed security personnel stake out his house around the 
clock, trailing him when he ventures out, openly following him into 
hotels and photographing his visitors. They have been at it so long that 
they are on polite terms. 


*********************************************** 
SSA: BATTLE IN THE TRANS SALWEEN
 
December 25, 1999
 
Battle in the trans SalweenOn 23rd December 1999, 
from 09:30 to 10:00 hr., SSA's 727th brigade, led by Maj. Tern Khur made 
an ambush on the way between the village of Nam Yoom and border post 1 
(BP 1) near the Thai-Burma border opposite of Amphoe Chiang Dao. They 
fought with the  combined forces of SPDC and their militia where 2 
trucks were destroyed. The  enemy suffered 5 dead (1Lt, 1 Second Lt, 1 
Sgt and 2 privates) and 3  wounded. SSA troops captured  1 pistol and 
84,000 tablets of amphetamine.

One of our men had sacrificed his life while trying to liberate his
motherland. Besides this casualty, there had been no wounded.On the 
following afternoon, at 14:30hr., 4 soldiers from SPDC's 359th IB ( who 
had been stationed at BP 1) were wounded by mines not far from the 
battle site. They were (1) Lt. Myint Maung, (2) Sgt. Tin Aung, (3) Cpl. 
Aye Kyaw, (4) Cpl. Soe Naing.


***********************************************
JAPAN HARPS ON DEMOCRATIZATION

Staying engaged with Myanmar

By HISANE MASAKI

Staff Writer

Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist, impoverished country that would be 
cheered by any outside aid. But if its military rulers had expected 
early Christmas presents from Japan ? the world`s largest aid donor 
-- they may now be feeling deeply disappointed.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met with Than Shwe, the top leader of 
the Myanmar military regime, in Manila on Nov. 28 on the fringes of 
the meetings between top leaders from the Association of Southeast 
Asian Nations and also from Japan, China and South Korea.

It was the first time since the military took power in Myanmar 
-- or Burma, as the country was once referred to -- in a 
1988 coup that a Japanese prime minister had held official 
bilateral talks with a top leader of the Myanmar military regime.

Three days later, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto visited 
Yangon on a mission organized by a nongovernmental Japanese 
organization and met with Than Shwe, chairman of the State 
Peace and Development Council(SPDC), as the military junta now 
calls itself. Hashimoto currently serves as Obuchi`s supreme 
foreign policy adviser.

But neither Obuchi nor Hashimoto offered any fresh economic aid ? 
except a minuscule amount of technical cooperation to help the 
Southeast Asian country promote its economic reforms. Separately, 
they instead pressed the SPDC chairman to move toward democratization.

In their 20-minute meeting, Obuchi told Than Shwe that Myanmar
needs to make progress on democratization "step by step"and "in 
a visible manner," although achieving a full democratization 
overnight may be impossible, according to Japanese officials.

While claiming that the SPDC is making democratization efforts,
Than Shwe apparently sought a Japanese understanding of and 
patience with the military regime`s policy, citing an old 
Myanmar proverb that a village will not be in sight until 
a traveler reaches the end of the road, according to
the officials.

Hashimoto`s blunt words

Hashimoto was more specific on the democratization issue. He was 
quoted as telling Than Shwe that the military regime should completely 
lift a decree shutting down universities in Myanmar -- a measure taken 
to pre-empt student prodemocracy activities - as soon as possible and 
that the role of ensuring security should be transferred from the 
military to police.

The military rulers rolled out the red carpet for Hashimoto. Than Shwe 
Himself hosted a dinner for the former Japanese premier, an honor 
usually reserved for foreign heads of state or government on official 
visits.

The last time the two had met was at the end of 1997 in a summit in 
Kuala Lumpur, when Hashimoto was still a prime minister. During his 
recent Yangon visit, no officials accompanied Hashimoto.

Although Than Shwe broached specific proposals for official 
economic cooperation between Myanmar and Japan, Hashimoto was 
quoted as reminding his host that he was there only in a
private capacity and not as Obuchi`s adviser. Bluntly, he said 
that those proposals should be discussed only between government 
officials of the two countries.

Minoru Kiryu, a professor of economics at Osaka Sangyo University, 
said that the SPDC had not expected Than Shwe`s recent talks with Obuchi 
 and Hashimoto alone to bring about a breakthrough in stalled 
official economic cooperation between the two countries.

"They(Myanmar officials) seem to be very happy with those contacts
because they expect high-level political contacts will pave the way
for a full-scale inflow of official Japanese aid sometime in the
future," said Kiryu, a leading Japanese expert on Myanmar affairs.

In recent years, the United States and other industrialized countries in 

Europe have toughened economic and other sanctions against Myanmar for 
its military regime`s alleged violations of democratic principles and
human rights, including the continued crackdown on the prodemocracy 
movement led by Suu Kyi. She was released from house arrest in 1995 and 
Japan was widely credited for having a key role in persuading the
regime to take that step.

In addition to the economic sanctions, the Asian economic crisis that 
erupted in 1997 dealt a serious blow to Myanmar economy, which saw a 
sharp decline in foreign investment, especially from its fellow ASEAN 
members.

The collapse in May 1998 of Presidents Suharto`s regime in Indonesia 
Apparently was another serious setback for the SPDC, which was widely 
believed to have seen the Suharto regime as a political model for
Myanmar. Despite all these, the council has shown no clear signs of 
budging on the democratization issue.

Amid these circumstances, the Obuchi-Than Shwe meeting in Manila 
And Hashimoto`s visit to Yangon raised some eyebrows in the U.S. 
But Tokyo insists that they never represented a change in its 
Myanmar policy.

"If we do not meet and talk (with Myanmar officials), we cannot 
encourage favorable changes in the country," a senior Foreign 
Ministry official said, requesting that he not be named.

While calling for improvements in the protection of democratic 
principles and human rights in Myanmar, Japan has pursued a 
policy of "constructive engagement" with the Southeast Asian 
country, instead of isolating it internationally.

Although Obuchi told Than Shwe in Manila that Japan was ready to 
Provide technical cooperation to help Myanmar develop its human 
resources, the offer itself did not mean any deviation from 
Tokyo`s official aid policy toward the postcoup Myanmar.

Since the 1988 coup, Japan has suspended fresh yen loans 
and grant-in-aid except for what it regards as humanitarian
purposes. But small amounts of technical cooperation, such 
as inviting economic trainees, have remained intact.

Nevertheless, the administration of President Bill Clinton, 
the most virulent in criticizing the Myanmar military
regime, is believed to be unhappy about the even small amounts 
of technical cooperation flowing from Tokyo into Yangon.

Country report blocked

The World Bank sent a fact-finding economic mission to Yangon in June 
and has drafted a country report on the Myanmar economy based on the 
mission`s findings. But the Clinton administration is putting 
political pressure on the bank to refrain from finalizing the draft 
country report, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the 
matter.

The Clinton administration fears that once the report gets ready, the 
World Bank may move to initiate some economic aid, including 
technical cooperation, for the Southeast Asian country, the 
sources said.

It is very unlikely that the World Bank will extend a large
amount of aid to Myanmar in the foreseeable future despite 
strong U.S. objections. The U.S. is the largest financial 
contributor to the bank and wields enormous political influence 
over its business.

But Japan believes that the time has come for the World Bank to 
initiate at least technical cooperation to help Myanmar reform 
its economic structure.

This question pitted Japan and the U.S. against each other in 
late October, when their representatives and those of other 
industrialized countries, including Britain and Australia, met 
secretly in New York together with United Nations officials, the 
sources said. The U.S. vehemently opposed the idea of technical 
cooperation.

Although Tokyo strongly denies any shift in its Myanmar policy, the 
Meetings with Than Shwe apparently reflect a government concern about 
a possible sudden change in the U.S. policy toward the Southeast Asian 
country, according to a person familiar with the Japanese 
government`s thinking.

This person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the 
government is "feeling pressed" to do something more to advance its 
relations with Yangon because it believes that the U.S. may 
change -- or at least ease -- its sanctions policy toward Myanmar 
after presidential elections in November next year.

"Even if a Democratic candidate wins the U.S. presidential election, 
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright(who is known to be a strong 
personal admirer of Suu Kyi) may leave the White House and the U.S. 
administration of a new president may pursue a Myanmar policy different 
from the one the Clinton administration take now," 
the person said.


>From Analysis: Asia section of THE JAPAN TIMES, published in DECEMBER 
17, 1999

***********************************************
THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN: WTO AND FORCED LABOR
Vol. 24, No. 12
Dec. 22-28, 1999

Worldview: Burma
WTO AND FORCED LABOR
by Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean


At the recent debacle in Seattle, WTO director-general Michael Moore 
used strong rhetoric to condemn slave labor and assuage labor leaders? 
concerns that the WTO would become a battering ram used against hard-won 
labor rights here and abroad.

In a Nov. 30th speech to the International Confederation of Free Trade 
Unions in Seattle, Moore suggested that the International Labour 
Organization , the U.N. agency in charge of monitoring worker rights 
around the world, would play a key role in determining countries? 
involvement in the WTO. "Who supports slave labour?" Moore asked. "Or 
prison labour? Who wants their children in factories rather than in 
school? ...None of us."

According to the WTO Wed site, Moore receives "documentation" from the 
ILO on labor issues. "The WTO will be guided by [ILO] Ministers on the 
issue of trade and core labour standards," it says. Since taking office 
in September 1999, Moore has met twice with ILO director-general Juan 
Somavia.

That Moore could make those statements at a WTO gathering that 
included the Burmese ambassador and welcomed Burma (Myanmar) as 
an equal partner in the WTO is extraordinary,  labor and Burma 
activists say. In an unprecedented action last June, the ILO 
virtually expelled Burma from its ranks, banning it from receiving 
aid or attending meetings until it halts the widespread use of 
forced labor. The United Nations labor organization chided the 
Burmese military government for imposing a "contemporary 
form of slavery" on its people. Activists assert that 
Burma?s inclusion as a member in good standing of the WTO 
calls everything Moore says into question.

One of those activists is Stephen Dun, a member of the Karen 
minority, which has been decimated by the military regime in 
Burma. He presented a statement at the AFL-CIO rally held in 
Seattle during the recent WTO meetings. 

"This is the strongest action ever undertaken by the ILO in
its 80-year history! Incredibly, Burma under the military junta 
is a member in good standing of the World Trade Organization," 
Dun said in his statement.

"Forced labor is used to build roads, to build airport runways 
for tourists, to build military camps and facilities, and to 
produce crops and products for international trade," he said. 
"Let me tell you about the conditions for forced laborers:  
Girls and women are harassed, molested and raped by soldiers. 
Men and women are chained at night like animals, so that they 
cannot run away. Those who work too slowly are beaten, and even 
killed."

A 1998 ILO report stated that government officials and the
military ?treat the civilian population as an unlimited 
pool of unpaid forced laborers and servants at their disposal?
and that life under the current regime is "a saga of untold
misery and suffering, oppression and exploitation of large 
sections of the population.?

According to a September 1998 Report on Labor Practices in
Burma by the U.S. Department of Labor, "forced labor has
reportedly been imposed upon many hundreds of thousands
 of people in Burma since the early 1990s."

Because of the extremity of these findings and the historic 
action by the ILO to expel Burma, the Burmese dictatorship has 
become the ultimate "poster child" for those working to improve 
labor standards in the context of free trade,  says Larry Dohrs, 
director of public education for the Free Burma Coalition. "How 
can the WTO rationalize having a member that has been kicked out 
of the ILO?" he told the Bay Guardian. 

Perks for dictators 
Along with the advantage of a huge pool of free labor, Burma?s rulers 
have benefited from WTO membership perks. The WTO was the first to 
challenge a 1996 Massachusetts law that prevents the state from doing 
business with companies that deal with Burma. The law is modeled after 
the successful anti-apartheid boycott laws that were adopted by 25 
states and 80 local governments.

For the time being, the WTO was let off the hook because a U.S. federal 
district court ruled against the Burma purchasing law, and last November 
the Supreme Court decided it would rule on the case. But the trade 
organization is ready to back Burma?s iron-fisted rulers if the court 
decides in favor of the people of Massachusetts. Ironically, a lawless, 
unelected military junta has the world?s most powerful trade 
organization attempting to override the laws of a democratic country.

The rulers of Burma have also benefited from other services provided to 
them by the WTO. Last July, the WTO sponsored a two-day course titled 
"Internet Technology" in Rangoon, Burma?s capital. "Manager Mr. Jean Guy 
Carrier of World Trade Organization spoke on the occasion," reported the 
New Light of Myanmar, the state-controlled newspaper. In contrast, the 
few citizens of Burma who can afford a computer are denied the right to 
have one.  Those caught with an unsanctioned computer face imprisonment 
for as much as 15 years.

Participating in the elite computer training course with some 30 junta 
members were officials from the Office of Strategic Studies, which is 
headed by Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, one of the junta?s most 
powerful and feared members. The OSS is a military think-tank comprising 
high-ranking intelligence officers who wield tremendous authority.  Khin 
Nyunt, who has also been head of the Directorate of Defense Services 
Intelligence for 15 years, is responsible for much of the brutality and 
terror that has been inflicted on the Burmese people, partly through his 
OSS.

Free trade in drugs 
Khin Nyunt has also had success in stimulating free trade in one of his 
country's most profitable business ventures: the export of heroin and 
other drugs. On Oct. 1, he paid a visit to the rural headquarters of Wei 
Hsueh-kang, an ethnic-Chinese drug lord who is wanted for trafficking by 
both U.S. and Thai authorities.

The U.S. State Department has called Wei's outfit "the world's biggest 
armed narcotics trafficking organization" and has a $2 million bounty 
out for his capture. His amphetamine factories are believed to be the 
key source for the explosive wave of Burma?s newest export, which is now 
devastating the youth in neighboring Thailand. But this has not stopped 
Khin Nyunt from comfortably visiting road and dam-building projects 
being undertaken with drug profits in Wei's area.

In fact, this particular free trade zone is expanding, thanks to Khin 
Nyunt and the rest of the Generals in charge. Wei has recently been 
allowed to spread his business south, infuriating Thai officials. The 
Bangkok Post argued that the regime's "tacit approval of Wei's drug 
activities can only add to the regime's foul reputation as a real danger 
to the well-being of the global community of nations."

As early as 1993, narcotics officials in Thailand had linked Khin Nyunt 
to Lo Hsing Han, who had been one of the largest heroin traffickers in 
the world. A memo from the Thai Government's Office of Narcotics Control 
Board names Khin Nyunt as key "supporter" of Lo, and says that in 
February 1993, Lo Hsing Han was granted the "privilege from Brig. Gen. 
Khin Nyunt to smuggle heroin from the Kokang group to Tachilek [on the 
Thai border] without interception."  Now Lo and his son, Steven Law, are 
two of the leading lights in Burma?s business community.

The drug-connection was definitely on the minds of the Burma 
pro-democracy activists in Seattle. Among their numbers was a retired 
army sergeant who had served in numerous U.S. special operations as well 
as several tours at the U.S. embassy in Burma. The sergeant, an 
intelligence specialist who worked directly with the State Department, 
helped carry a 20-foot, 40-pound mock hypodermic needle into 
demonstrations on the streets of Seattle.

"Our message with the needle," said the career soldier who requested 
anonymity, "is that heroin is Myanmar's number one money making export. 
>From a trade standpoint, heroin is definitely their thing." The Seattle 
police seized and crushed the giant syringe. 

Lending legitimacy
"It's ironic to think that peaceful demonstrators - truly peaceful - 
were gassed and shot with rubber bullets as they sat, in order to 
protect an institution that was meeting inside with the Burmese 
dictators treated as honored guests and normal members," Dohrs said.

While the attacks on pro-democracy demonstrators took place on the 
outside, Burma?s ambassador U Tin Win, attended President Clinton?s WTO 
luncheon on Dec. 1. At this event, he listened to a speech presented by 
Moore. 

"This is the chance to help build the new world. There are so many in 
this conference who also marched, protested, went to prison, fought, 
suffered. The idealists sit in this conference...These men and women 
were chosen by their people, they must ask their Parliaments and 
Congresses to ratify what they agree."

"Burma must have slipped Moore?s mind when he made this statement," 
Dohrs said. "Not only is democracy nonexistent in Burma, it is for all 
practical purposes illegal."   None of Burma?s current rulers were 
chosen by their people, and the duly elected Parliament has been 
prevented from taking office by those whom Win represents.

In a recent interview, the chief of the Myanmar (Burma) mission in 
Washington, Minister U Thaung Tun, who attended the Seattle summit with 
the ambassador, said he thinks issues such as labor and the environment 
have no place within the WTO.

"Every issue deserves concern in an appropriate forum. And for labor, it 
is the ILO," he said, surprisingly referring to the United Nations body 
that had expelled Burma for its practice of massive forced labor. He 
believes that the ILO "allegations" were made for "political reasons" 
and says he has invited an ILO delegation to ?come and look.? However, 
during the ILO investigation all requests from the ILO commission for 
access to the country were denied

"They're running the entire country as if it was the army,? said the 
veteran sergeant who carried the giant syringe. ?Membership in the WTO 
lends the regime legitimacy. Anything that gives the regime legitimacy 
is just not right."

photo caption
To the point: Pro-democracy activists carried a 20-foot mock hypodermic 
needle during last month?s WTO protests in Seattle to make the point 
that heroin is Burma?s leading export. 

Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean are coproducers of Flashpoints, a 
political analysis program broadcast on KPFA. 


*********************************************** 
REUTERS: U.S. ADDS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TO OLD SANCTIONS 
December 23, 1999 

By Jonathan Wright 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will impose no new sanctions on 
the 
five countries it says are particularly restrictive of religious 
activity, 
the State Department said on Thursday. 

The countries -- China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar and Sudan -- are already 
subject to layers of sanctions and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright 
has told Congress which of the existing measures meet the requirements 
of the International Religious Freedom Act, passed by Congress in 1998. 

The act requires that the U.S. administration annually designate 
governments which have ``engaged in or tolerated particularly severe 
violations of religious freedom''. 

It offers a menu of 15 policy responses -- eight diplomatic and seven 
prohibitions on U.S. aid or economic sanctions, but also gives the 
administration the option not to act. 

The State Department designated the five countries in October, to 
criticism from religious activists who thought it should have cast its 
net much wider. 

Representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who fought hard for 
the Religious Freedom Act, said the Administration should not have 
spared countries such as Vietnam, North Korea, Laos, Cuba and Saudi 
Arabia. 

In the case of China, Albright told Congress the operative sanctions 
under the act would be the existing restrictions on exports of crime 
control and detection instruments and equipment, a State Department 
statement said. 

The State Department will continue to pursue all means to change Chinese 
behavior toward religious freedom, it added. 

In the cases of Iran and Iraq, the sanctions will be the existing 
restrictions on U.S. security assistance. For Myanmar, it will be the 
prohibition on exports of defense articles and defense services, the 
statement said. 

In the case of Sudan, the United States will continue to oppose any 
loans to Sudan by international financial institutions, it added. 

The decisions have no immediate effect but State Department spokesman 
James Rubin said in October that in cases where the original reason for 
imposing sanctions no longer applied, the same sanctions could stay in 
force to meet the requirements of the Religious Freedom Act. 

In its annual report on religious freedom worldwide, the State 
Department cited China for persecuting Tibetan Buddhists, Muslim Uighurs 
and Protestant and Roman Catholics who do not belong to ``official'' 
churches. 

It said the Chinese constitution provides for freedom of religious 
belief but in practice the government ``seeks to restrict religious 
practice to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of 
worship and to control the growth and scope of religious groups.'' 

Iran was faulted for trying to ``eradicate'' the Bahai faith, while Iraq 
was criticized for conducting a campaign of murder, execution and 
arrests against the Shiite Muslim population. 

The Sudanese government has been repeatedly accused of trying to impose 
Islam on the animists and Christians of the south. Buddhists say the 
military government of Myanmar has executed some Buddhist monks and 
destroyed monasteries, charges the authorities have denied. 

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

XINHUA: WIN AUNG TRIPS TO CHINA (I) 
December 23, 1999 

Chinese, Myanmar Foreign Ministers Meet in Beijing Chinese Foreign 
Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Aung, in their 
meeting today, agreed that further promoting bilateral relations 
complies with the fundamental interests of the peoples in both 
countries. 

They reached a consensus that China and Myanmar should continue 
high-level exchanges and draw up a plan for further promoting and 
developing relations in the 21st century. 

Vice-Chairman of Tibet Meets Nepalese Consulate General Yang Chuantang, 
vice-chairman of the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, 
met today with Shanka Prasad Pandey, the new consulate general of Nepal, 
in Tibet. 

Sino-Portuguese JLG Holds Farewell Party The Chinese and Portuguese 
chief representatives of the Sino- Portuguese Joint Liaison Group (JLG) 
held a farewell party this afternoon with about 200 guests. 

Summing up the work of the Sino-Portuguese JLG over the past 12 years, 
both Chinese chief representative Han Zhaokang and his Portuguese 
counterpart Santana Carlos said that the group has witnessed fine 
Chinese and Portuguese cooperation to ensure the steady transition of 
Macao and smooth power transfer. 

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman on China's Diplomacy in 1999 Chinese 
foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue gave a review of China's 
diplomacy this year in response to a question raised at a press 
conference today. 

In the face of an ever changing world, she said, the Chinese government 
has carried out an independent foreign policy of peace, continued to 
maintain world peace and opposed hegemony and power politics while 
keeping in mind the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and 
people around the world for common development. 


*********************************************** 
XINHUA: WIN AUNG TRIPS TO CHINA (II) 

December 23, 1999 

BEIJING (Dec. 23) XINHUA - Following are the highlights of today's 
diplomatic news released by Xinhua: 

China Welcomes Outcome of Talks Between DPRK, Japan China welcomes the 
agreement reached between the Red Cross delegations from the Democratic 
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Japan, and wishes an early start 
of talks for normalizing relations between DPRK and Japan, Foreign 
Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said here today. 

Chinese Vice-President Meets Myanmar Foreign Minister Chinese 
Vice-President Hu Jintao, in a meeting here today with Foreign Minister 
of Myanmar U Win Aung, spoke highly of China- Myanmar relations, saying 
the two close neighbors have a long history of friendship. 

Chinese Vice-Premier Meets Myanmar Foreign Minister Chinese Vice-Premier 
Wu Bangguo today expressed hope to further promote trade and economic 
cooperation with Myanmar as the two countries have made considerable 
progress in this respect in recent years. Wu made the remark at a 
meeting here with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Win Aung. 


*********************************************** 
Nation: THAI ANGLER SHOT DEAD
Dec 25, 1999.
Local & Politics 

Thai Angler Shot Dead

RANONG -- A Burmese patrol boat shot dead a Thai angler in Thai 
territorial waters on Friday, police said yesterday. Bunlang Udomsak was 
fishing from his boat with younger brother, Assavadej Udomsak, and a 
friend, Somchai Sriyaem, near Noppaket Island in Muang district when he 
was shot dead. 

Assavadej said he and Bunlang had been fishing with rods when
the patrol boat came close and opened fire on them without 
asking any questions. 

Assavadej and Somchai said they were certain that they had
been fishing in Thai waters in the Andaman Sea and had not 
fled when they saw the patrol boat approaching. 
*********************************************** 

BANGKOK POST: Fishing ban preserved to replenish stocks
Dec 23, 1999

Post Reporters
Burma had made clear it will not re-open its waters to Thai trawlers, 
saying it needs time to replenish marine stocks.
The Foreign Ministry said Rangoon insisted the closure, now in its 11th 
week, was neither permanent nor discriminatory as Burmese fishermen were 
also affected.

Burmese authorities, including Maung Maung Thein, fisheries and 
livestock minister, discussed the issue with a delegation from the 
Agriculture Ministry who visited Rangoon between Dec 20-21. Burma closed 
its waters on Oct 2 following the 25-hour siege of its Bangkok embassy 
by dissidents.

An industry source said Burma said the matter would be raised on 
Saturday in Rangoon at a meeting of the Fishery Federation


*********************************************** 
BURMANET: [OP/ED]: MYANMAFICATION - BURMA (CF. MYANMAR) AS A `BRITISH' 
INVENTION 
[Guest opinion/editorials reflect the views of their authors and not 
necessarily 
those of BurmaNet]

By Gustaaf Houtman 
ghoutman@xxxxxxxxx 

The regime proclaims majority support for its 
May 1989 proclamation that Burma be renamed Myanmar. 
In its desire to have Myanmar accepted as the universal name for 
the country, the regime has come to argue that Burma is a mere 
British invention for which there is neither Burmese support nor 
Burmese evidence. 

The reality, as I have extensively argued in my 
book Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics, is far more 
complex than this one-sided and oversimplistic argument allows 
for. 

In its desire to Myanmify (unify the country under the designation 
Myanmar), the regime has at its peril ignored important historical and 
vernacular dimensions that continue to validate the country's 
designation as Burma. 

1. This so-called `British' designation to Burma was in fact adopted 
from early Italian, Portuguese and Dutch references. They, in turn, 
took up South Asian reference to the country as Brahma-desa. 

2. Brahma is by no means to be considered a mere 'foreign' 
reference to the country. The fact is that in Burmese /bama/ is a 
most commonly used as a colloquial reference to the country. 

3. The `foreign' and `indigenous' designations are sometimes difficult 
to separate out from oneanother. The brahma-desa reference, in turn, 
is derived from a long association between Burma and South Asia, 
which included the introduction of Buddhism and the introduction 
of writing systems into Burma from the Indian sub-continent. 

In short, the Burma-India relationship 
may well predate any references to `Myanmar' upon which the 
regime stakes its claims (much like in the Dutch national anthem 
`Diets' (not to be confused with `Deutsch') is a reference to the 
dutch that predates the invention of The Netherlands as a political 
entity - hence the British designation to people from the Netherlands 
as Dutch, though never recognised by the Dutch themselves in 
their own language, is in some respects more accurate within the long 
historical time-frame than even the Dutch themselves allow for). 

4. Burma has been associated with Brahma not only in India, but this 
has long been a popular derivation for Burma even within Burma. 
It is commonly recognised in Burmese literature and Burmese 
reference works. It is also commonly linked to the Buddhist genesis 
myth which derives human society and legal and political disorder 
from the expiry of the Brahma spiritual ways. 

5. In its desire to be seen to fly the Myanmar flag as part of its 
anti-colonialist impression management, the regime has overlooked that 
Burma was in fact the preferred designation of the leaders of the 
anti-colonial struggle. The Do-Bama movement designated the country 
as Bama. The regime has ignored at its peril the early and highly 
influential and popular nationalist Thahkin Kodawhmaing, 
who was not only the ideological leader of the anti-colonial struggle 
against the British, but who also explicitly argued for the derivation 
of Burma from Brahma, and (see Appendix 1.9). Indeed, he even 
wrote a history of the country in these terms. The regime 
could not possibly afford to clinch its arguments by designating this 
nationalist hero as a British colonial axe-handle. 

In enforcing the designation Myanmar at the exclusion of Burma, 
therefore, and in arguing that Burma is a `foreign' reference, 
the regime has adopted at best a partial interpretation of 
Burmese literary history that does not fit its arguments. 

The worst case, however, is that it has muddled up things in a way 
that could be constructed, given the emotive significance of 
Burma-as-Brahma to early anti-colonial nationalists, as having 
forced views upon the Burmese population that run counter to 
the anti-colonial struggle prevailing under the British. 

One of the chief arguments in Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis 
Politics is that the derivation of Burma from Brahma 
points to an important pattern in the politics of reconciliation. 
This reference evokes, in its richest mythical interpretations, 
a world in which mental culture rules and in which cultural and 
gender differences are transcended to make for an open space 
in which diverse civil and military interests can be reconciled. 
This world is quite unlike the rather unimaginative 
/loka/ the army is shaping Myanmar into, in which identity is 
so rigidly enforced. 

In enforcing its partial and short-termist view of history, the regime 
has shot its Burma foot - it now only has the Myanmar leg to 
walk its way into the future. I hope that one day soon the regime will 
see the folly of its Myanmafication initiatives and let up a little by 
working reconciling the `Myanmar' with the `Burma' views. Let's hope 
that 2000 is the year in which this country comes to terms with the 
deep rifts that plague it to day. 

Feel free to read these arguments, and others, in more detail in 
appendix 1.9 (pp 351-54) in 
http://homepages.tesco.net/~ghoutman/index.htm 
and on the Myanmafication argument in chapter 2 (pp 43-54). 

These arguments feed into the arguments about ideology of ethics 
and of politics as byama-so taya (chapter 19 and the ideology 
of development in chapter 5 pp 128-133). 

Useful comments and corrections gratefully acknowledged in the next 
edition.... 

Gustaaf Houtman 
ghoutman@xxxxxxxxx 

*********************************************** 
Letters to the Editor
NATION: Burmese students reject Chavalit's allegations
I would like to respond to the report about former Army chief Gen
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's accusations against the Thai government 
The Nation, Dec 20, ''NAP leader claims Surin helped fugitive''). 
After the ruthless suppression of the 1988 uprising in Burma -- 
known as the ''four eights movement'' -- the Burmese military 
regime was totally isolated from the Western World and Japan.
But New Aspiration Party leader Chavalit, at that time Thai 
military Chief of Staff, made a personal visit to Burma and 
lobbied the Burmese generals and won fishing and logging
concession rights which gave him a chance to became a
multi-millionaire. 

He praised Gen Saw Maung, the leader of the Burmese de facto 
regime, as ''my big brother''. He has a close personal link
with the Burmese regime. There are two reasons for his
accusation: 

1. Chuan is a rival politician and Chavalit wants to become
 prime minister. 

2. He wants to please the Burmese regime for his own business
 interests, not for the interests of the Thai people. 

I am fairly certain of that because when I was the chairman
 of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) in 1989,
 Chavalit sent back Burmese activist students from Tak airport 
by force. He did not care about the lives of the Burmese students
 who were the same age as his own child. He knew that their lives
 were in danger when he sent them back. He did it because he
 wanted a favour from the Burmese regime. 

Many activist students were captured after their arrival 
and some are missing. Now the fishing concession rights have
been revoked by the Burmese regime and he and his fishing
firms are losing millions of dollars per month. 

So he created the story and falsely accused the Chuan
government, who solved the seizure of the Burmese Embassy 
by peaceful means. If Chavalit had been the prime minister,
he surely would have ordered the Thai troops to kill all
the people in the embassy compound to please the Burmese 
generals. 

I want to ask Chavalit not to play dirty games with brave
young people. The students who seized the embassy have no
link with Osama bin Laden. Do not make up stories please. With pride and 
dignity, 
Htun Aung Gyaw 
Civil Society for Burma 
Ithaca, New York

The Nation (December 24, 1999)

***END***************************************** 


________________________________________________________________________
Start an Email List For Free at Topica.  http://www.topica.com/register