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____THE BURMANET NEWS_____
An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
______________________________
 
March 30, 2000 

Issue # 1498
 

*Inside Burma 

REUTERS: BURMA WAGE HIKES FUEL INFLATION


*International


THE NATION: A PROBLEM THAT KNOWS NO 
BOUNDERIES

NATION: DISTRICT CHIEF FEARS FOR REFUGEES


MIZZIMA: BURMA EXILE GOVERNMENT TO FOCUS 
ON STRATEGIC 
PLANNING, POLICY

AFP: SINGAPORE, MYANMAR AGREE ON TAXES

PDI (Philippines) : BURMESE REBELS SEEK EDSA 
REVOLT 'VETERANS'


*Opinion/Editorials


BANGKOK POST:  INSIDE POLITICS--BURMESE DAZE

_________________ INSIDE BURMA  
____________________



REUTERS: BURMA WAGE HIKES FUEL INFLATION


YANGON, March 30 (Reuters) - An announcement by 
Myanmar's 
military government this week that it would hike the pay of 
civil servants five-fold has fuelled inflation and depressed the 
value of the local kyat currency, Yangon residents said on 
Thursday. 

People in the capital said the kyat tumbled to 350 to the 
dollar in the black market on Tuesday from 330 on Friday. 
The 
currency recovered slightly to 345 per dollar on Wednesday. 
The government said on Monday it would raise the pay of 
civil servants from April 1 in a bid to keep up with rampant 
inflation. 

The rise, the first since 1993, would bring the minimum 
monthly wage for government employees to 3,000 kyat 
($8.70) 


___________________ INTERNATIONAL 
_____________________ 


THE NATION: A PROBLEM THAT KNOWS NO 
BOUNDERIES

The Nation 
Focus Section, at C1 
March 29, 2000 





Following is a personal account by Naw Mu Si, a member of 
Earth Rights 

Traditionally, in our Karen community, if a hen crowed, we 
used to kill and 
eat her up because we believe that a hen that crows will bring 
bad luck to 
our country. Similarly, when a woman tries to speak out, she is 
often 
looked down on and ignored by others who believe that it is not 
a women's 
place to participate. 

Now, five years after making the Beijing Platform for Action, 
women still 
struggle for their rights and are still the victims of violence. 
Despite 
the obstacles, refugee women are doing many great things in 
order to provide 
hope for people and their families in the camps; things which 
lead to peace. 

While all people living in the camps still have to face violence, 
the 
situation is even worse for women and children. Women 
suffer doubly; 
firstly, the suffering caused by the Burmese military; and 
secondly, that 
caused by members of our own community. 

Let me tell you the story of a woman living in Huay K'Loke 
camp. She 
recently got married. One time, she and her husband were 
arguing when her 
husband beat her on the head with a big stick until she passed 
out. She 
needed 13 stitches. It was not the first time that he had beaten 
her. 

As this example shows, some women in the camp suffer 
violence from their own 
husbands, in their own households. Haven't we met with 
enough violence from 
the military? 

To help solve this problem, women in the camps organised 
training sessions 
on women's rights and violence against women. By attending 
these sessions, 
women come to know their own capabilities and realise that 
they can work as 
well as men. Women have become more interested in sharing 
this information 
with their families and neighbours. 

They have also begun to participate in camp affairs, as part of 
the camp 
leadership, in order to stop violence against women and help 
promote peace 
in their own communities. 

To break this cycle of violence, individual women have shown 
remarkable 
courage. One woman living in a refugee camp created peace 
in her life by 
leaving her alcoholic and abusive husband. "He hit me many 
times, and each 
time it would get worse," she said. "Other people didin't want 
to help me. 
They said they didn't want to interfere in our family affairs." 
So, in 
order to regain control of her life, she left her husband even 
though she 
knew that this would mean that her community would look 
down on her as a 
divorced woman. 

Staying in a refugee camp removed from your homland is 
uncomfortable for 
everyone but nobody wants to face fighting in addition to that. 
We all want 
to breathe the air of peace and enjoy the light of freedom. 
Even though we 
women in particular have met with a lot of difficulties in our 
daily lives, 
families and communities, we have not given up. 

Slowly, my Karen people are beginning to realise that a hen 
that crows can 
make the beautiful morning come in the same way as a cock's 
crow does. In 
unity, women's voices and ideas are bringing the light and 
peace of morning 
to us all. 



____________________________________________________
________


NATION: DISTRICT CHIEF FEARS FOR REFUGEES

 
MAE HONG SON - The Mae Sarieng district chief expressed 
concernyesterday about the 
presence of ethnic Burmese refugees living in the nearby Mae 
Kongka refugee camp. 
District chief Saowarat Yimrungreung said the refugees 
wouldserve as a target for 
Burmese government troops who are likely to step up their 
offensive in the coming weeks 
as the dry season approaches. 

He said that Mae Kongka, which houses more than 10,000 
refugees, mostlyfrom the 
Karen ethnic group, has a high chance of coming under attack 
by Burmese troops and 
their allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). 
Saowarat said he has told the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
about his concern. 

An official at the UNHCR said the decision to relocate the 
refugees wouldbe up to the 
Interior Ministry. The UNHCR, he added, was aware of the 
concern by the district chief, 
but it was not part of the agency?  '²s mandate to carryout the 
relocation. 
The DKBA, with the help of Burmese government troops, 
have crossed intoThai territory 
in the past to carry out attacks against refugee camps on 
theborder. 


____________________________________________________
________



MIZZIMA: BURMA EXILE GOVERNMENT TO FOCUS 
ON STRATEGIC 
PLANNING, POLICY

New Delhi, March 30, 2000 
Mizzima News Group 

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma 
(NCGUB), formed 
with exiled Members of Parliament, said that it is to reorient its 
focus 
from awareness creating campaigns to strategic planning and 
policy 
developments in support of restoration of democracy in 
Burma. Dr. Tint 
Swe, Minister of South Asian Affairs of the exiled 
Government, informed 
this change of NCGUB?  '²s strategy in a briefing to India-based 
Burma 
pro-democracy activists. The briefing was held yesterday 
afternoon at 
Burmese Community Resource Centre in New Delhi. Mr. 
Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe, 
a member of Technical Advisory Network (TAN) to the 
NCGUB was also 
present in the briefing. 

?  '³Since its inception in 1990, the NCGUB has been doing 
activities on 
ad-hoc basis. We have now decided to move to expand its 
capacities and 
activities to reflect National League for Democracy (NLD)?  '²s 
political 
actions inside the country. Through a systemic process of 
review, 
consultations, and confirmation, the NCGUB has planned to 
redirect its 
energy into creating an environment conducive for a political 
dialogue 
in Burma. At the same time, it has developed policies and 
strategies 
required for democratic transition,?  '´ said Dr. Tint Swe. The 
main 
strategic goal of NCGUB is to create an environment that is 
conducive 
for a tripartite dialogue between National League for 
Democracy (NLD), 
ethnic nationalities and military regime in Burma, added Dr. 
Tint Swe. 

According to him, NCGUB has set four programs as priority 
activities for 
the next few years. These are: to strengthen the capability of 
NCGUB to 
carry out political activities for sustaining international and 
domestic 
pressure against the military regime, to strengthen the 
capability of 
democracy movement (and ethnic nationalities?  '² struggle for 
self-determination) to engage in conflict resolution and 
political 
dialogue, to accelerate the consultation and coalition building 
process 
between pro-democracy activists and ethnic nationalities and 
to make 
essential preparations for a successful transition to democratic 
rule in 
Burma. 

The NCGUB was formed in December 1990 at Thai-Burma 
border with some 
Members of Parliament who fled to border areas of the 
country. There are 
currently ten Cabinet Ministers in the NCGUB and its 
headquarter is in 
Washington D.C. It has offices in Europe, North America, 
Australia, 
India and Thailand. Although Indian government does not 
recognize the 
Burmese exiled government, NCGUB (India Office) has 
been functioning 
from a suburb of New Delhi in low profile since 1995. 

Many dissidents among themselves often criticize the exiled 
government, 
particularly by student activists, as being inefficient and 
incompetent. 
?  '³We welcome these criticisms as constructive criticism. When 
we formed 
the NCGUB, we had only a few Members of Parliament who 
were able to flee 
from Burma and we did not have enough experience and 
manpower. With the 
lessons learned from the previous activities as well as the 
efforts 
undertaken within the whole range of democratic movement, 
we are now 
determined to improve the effectiveness of its leadership and 
performance in undertaking essential tasks to influence 
democratic 
change in Burma,?  '´ answered Dr. Tint Swe. 

The National League for Democracy (NLD) party led by 
Nobel Laureate Aung 
San Suu Kyi got the landslide victory in May 1990 general 
elections in 
Burma. However, the military regime refused to honour the 
election 
results and suppressed the popular support. 

____________________________________________________
________

AFP: SINGAPORE, MYANMAR AGREE ON TAXES

SINGAPORE, March 30 (AFP) - An agreement between 
Singapore and Myanmar to 
avoid doule taxation and prevent tax evasion came into force 
Thursday, th e 
Singapore government announced. 

"The main objtecive of the agreement is to provide a 
framework to 
fcilitate greater cross-flows of trade, investment, technical 
know-how and 
expertise between Singapore and Myanmar," said the 
Ministry of Finance. 
This in turn woudl strengthen bilateral economic links, it added. 
h Te agreement was signed in February 1999 but only came 
into effect 
Thursday following the completion of ratificatoin formalities, 
the government 
said. 

____________________________________________________
________


PDI (Philippines) : BURMESE REBELS SEEK EDSA 
REVOLT 'VETERANS'

Burmese rebels seek Edsa revolt 'veterans'

By Vincent Cabreza

PDI Northern Luzon Bureau 

BAGUIO CITY--Four female members of the exiled 
Burmese Karen guerrilla outfit 
slipped in and out of the country this month toseek out ''old 
veterans'' of the 1986 Edsa 
Revolution. 

The rebels met with the INQUIRER here last week to drum 
up Karen interest in the social 
progress made here following the Edsa uprising ''thatwas led 
by a woman (former 
President Corazon Aquino).'' 

The Karen guerrillas, who identified themselves only as Ten, 
Naw, Nan and Paw, entered 
the country under assumed names. They left Thursday after 
meeting with some Filipino 
supporters. 

''There are many Karen refugees still hiding in the southern 
Philippines,'' said Ten, 31, a 
health worker stationed at the Mae Sot areanear Thailand. 

Over 7 million ethnic Burmese had been exiled to Mae La 
Camp in Thailand since the 
1948 independence movement cast out ethnic Burmese to the 
Thai borders. 
Aggressive Karen rebels, calling themselves members of 
''God's Army,'' had been staging 
guerrilla attacks against the military junta thatrules Burma, 
now called Myanmar. 

Ten said the guerrilla activities worsened ties with the Thai 
border authorities, which have 
started hunting down Karen rebels and attackingrefugee 
camps. 

''We want to learn from (Edsa veterans) to find a way out of 
this predicament. We want to 
find out how your women helped you (survive) the crisis,'' she 
said in halting English. 
''Karen believes it is the only rebel movement left in Asia 
which has not achieved 
independence like the Philippines.'' 

Ten said Karen had been more impressed by the Edsa Revolt 
than the recent social 
changes in East Timor. 

This is despite a similar ethnic campaign for Karen 
independence marked by nearly 50 
years of clashes after British colonial rule ended inBurma in 
1948. 
Karen is the largest of 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar, Ten 
said. 

Christine Harmston, an Australian activist who accompanied 
the rebels here, said the 
controlled media in Myanmar had not been feeding 
Burmeseenough information about the 
United Nations-backed independence movement inEast 
Timor. 

''But an alternative Burmese government fighting the junta 
had already stationed a special 
mediation office in East Timor. Many other Asian rebel 
movements have taken the same 
tack as a successful independence movementeven as it 
undergoes social and physical 
restructuring by UN forces,''Harmston told the INQUIRER. 
''As it is, their only real memories of independence had been 
the Edsa Revolution in 1986,'' 
she said. 

The Philippines now leads a UN security and rehabilitation 
team stationed in East Timor. 
It is headed by former Philippine Military Academy 
superintendent, Maj. Gen. Jaime de los 
Santos. 
 





_________________ OPINION/EDITORIALS 
___________________ 



BANGKOK POST:  INSIDE POLITICS--BURMESE DAZE

30 Mar, 2000.

Burmese daze 

It has come as a shock to our nation's defenders, but their 
brethren in uniform across our 
western border just don't appear tobe playing the game by the 
established rules. u Gen 
Mongkol's dance card is fast filling up, but our serving 
supreme commander is not too 
sure he can affordall this attention from the political suitors. 


The chaps in uniform all the way up to the supreme 
commander Gen Mongkol 
Ampornpisit have finally realised that things are not asthey 
should be when it comes to 
relations with out neighbour to the west, boorish Burma. They 
are upset that the generals 
across the way have been "insincere" and "two-faced" in their 
dealings with poor Thailand. 

The lads want a review of the security policy in the hope that 
this will shift things more 
our way along the border. 

The upper ranks are a mite put out with the junta's less than co-
operative spirit in handling 
border problems, especially the deluge of drugs flowingfrom 
west to east, and have asked 
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, informally, for a review of 
the ways things are done. 

"The premier so far has not responded positively to the idea," 
said one member of the 
uniformed classes, who also thought Foreign Minister Surin 
Pitsuwan was not at all 
supportive of the idea. 

The general drift is that our civilian leadership do not see eye 
to eyewith the armed forces 
on this matter. 

A recent seminar attended by senior security people and the 
top brassechoed with a 
general frustration with Rangoon's hypocrisy and its 
unwillingness to work with our 
people in preventing the flood into Thailand of Made-in 
Burma methamphetamines 
produced in areas controlled by the United Wa State Army, 
internationally detested as 
now the largest drug trafficker in the Golden Triangle. 

Burma has been asked time and again to help stem the flow of 
drugs butsimply insists that 
it has no control over the Wa people and their private 
army,whose sole income comes 
from drug trafficking. 

Thailand adopted a policy in the early 1990s which brought an 
end to its support for 
minority groups at war with Burma. The areas occupied by 
these groups had been used as 
a buffer zone along the border. It went further laterby pushing 
for Burma's membership of 
Asean, which it joined in 1997. 

"What we have now is just more border problems and an 
inflow of hundreds ofmillions of 
methamphetamines to poison our youth and undermine our 
society," said one senior 
armed forces officer. The officer was also critical 
ofRangoon's lack of interest in settling 
the question of the thousands of refugees from inside its 
borders who now are housed in 
camps up and down the border. 
One general said it would almost be impossible to stem the 
flow of drugs in border areas 
without the co-operation of Burma since all the production 
houses were deep inside 
Burmese territory. 

"We still hope Burma will one day co-operate to help us tackle 
the drug trafficking," said 
another general. 

He then went on to muse, saying either Burma would have to 
fall into lineand act the good 
neighbour or bilateral ties would be hurt. And this would 
benefit no one.


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