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BurmaNet News: September 21, 2000
- Subject: BurmaNet News: September 21, 2000
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 23:53:00
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
_________September 21, 2000 Issue # 1625__________
NOTED IN PASSING:
1. ?We are in hell, save us.?
Message criticizing the regime on underground posters in Rangoon.
2. ?We don?t care.?
Foreign Minister U Win Aung on criticism of the regime. See Hindustan
Times: It?s the Burmese Gulag. An Orwellian State where democracy
witnesses a daily death
INSIDE BURMA _______
*BBC: No train ticket for Suu Kyi
*DVB : Shops fined for importing magazine articles on Suu Kyi,
opposition
*Hindustan Times: It?s the Burmese Gulag. An Orwellian State where
democracy witnesses a daily death
*AFP: Junta threatens to crush Aung San Suu Kyi over constitution plans
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*NCGUB: Update on United States Congress -- H. Con. Res. 328 on Burma
*Pretoria News Newspaper (S. Africa): Myanmar Protest in City
ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*DVB : Burmese government to restrict companies importing foreign goods
OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*Times of India: ?Scribes should focus on democracy in neighboring
countries?
OTHER _______
*PD Burma: Calendar of events with regard to Burma
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
BBC: No train ticket for Suu Kyi
BBC -Thursday, 21 September, 2000, 21:42 GMT 22:42 UK
Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been prevented from
leaving the capital, Rangoon, because railway officials said there were
no train tickets left. About 100 of her supporters were herded into
trucks by military police at the station and taken to an undisclosed
location, diplomats and witnesses said.
Miss Suu Kyi had been planning to travel to the northern city of
Mandalay to investigate reports of a crackdown against her supporters,
but was told that all trains were full.
The authorities refused to allow her to board the final train of the day
which left at 2100 (1330 GMT), eyewitnesses said.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) leader's latest challenge to
restrictions on her travel ended with her being escorted home by police
several hours later.
There was tight security around the station, with shops and businesses
closed. Police in riot gear kept journalists and diplomats away.
Defiant
The military authorities have maintained strict controls on Aung San Suu
Kyi's travel outside the capital since freeing her from six years of
house arrest in 1995.
Last month she was involved in a nine-day stand-off with police, after
leaving her home and attempting to drive to a party meeting outside the
capital.
She and her supporters remained camped by the roadside until the
authorities ended the protest and placed her under virtual house arrest.
Tensions
Deputy party chairman Tin Oo, who also intended to travel to Mandalay,
had earlier told party supporters he wanted to investigate reports that
party members had been prevented from taking party in political
activities, and that their offices has been shut down.
When Aung San Suu Kyi tried to visit Mandalay in 1996 to visit jailed
supporters, her carriage was disconnected from the rest of the train
just before it left. Officials blamed technical problems.
On Thursday the ruling State Peace and Development Council said the
latest events were heightening tensions between the two sides.
"The latest 'stand-off' between the SPDC and the NLD and its predictable
end, and the predictable media attention, does nothing for the country
except to heighten tensions and generate more anger on both sides," it
said in a statement.
The NLD won Burma's last democratic elections in 1990 by a landslide but
the military refused to hand over power.
Aung San Suu Kyi was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
DVB : Shops fined for importing magazine articles on Suu Kyi, opposition
Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 12th September
DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] has received the following additional
news. Five publishing houses that have import licenses for foreign
magazines were fined for importing international magazines carrying
articles relating to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's stand off at Dala. They were
also severely warned not to import such magazines in the future. DVB
correspondent Myint Maung Maung filed this report.
[Myint Maung Maung] Personnel from No. 7 Military Intelligence [MI] Unit
from Rangoon Division inspected the Foreign Goods Inspection Department
at Mingaladon International Airport on 4th September and examined some
magazines and journals sent from Bangkok, Thailand to five bookstores
that have import licenses for foreign magazines and journals. They
discovered that two magazines and one journal contained articles, news
reports and photos on the stand-off in Dala with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and NLD [National League for Democracy] leaders, and their forced return
to Rangoon. The magazines and journal were confiscated by the MI.
The bookstores that ordered the books were Aryonethit bookshop from
Pabedan Township, Pyinnya Alinpya and Parami bookstores from Latha
Township, Myo Myanmar bookstore from Kyauktada Township, and Nawat Book
and Stories bookstore on Merchant Street. The owners of these bookstores
were summoned by Maj. Thura Lwin, secretary of South Yangon [Rangoon]
District Peace and Development Council, on 5th September. Maj Thura Lwin
advised them not to import such magazines and journal in the future and
to scrutinize carefully whether the books contain articles relating to
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD party before importing.
The five bookstore owners were fined 30,000 kyat [Burmese currency unit]
each and they had to sign an undertaking not to import such books in
future.
Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1245 gmt 12 Sep 00
____________________________________________________
Hindustan Times: It?s the Burmese Gulag. An Orwellian State where
democracy witnesses a daily death
Behind the bamboo curtain
The Hindustan Times (New Delhi)
September 19, 2000
By D.R. Rajagopal
?We are in hell, save us.? This terse message in laconic style is found
scrawled in big black bold letters in both Burmese and English scripts
on scores of posters, stuck on lamp-posts, pillars and walls of many
buildings at street-corners, market-squares and near round-abouts of
main roads and national highways, which lead out of the
heavily-garrisoned, tropical national capital, Yangon (Rangoon), and
from Mandalay and elsewhere in the hermit state of Burma (Myanmar) ,
behind the ?bamboo curtain?.
The bloated ruling elite of the military junta denounces the
?inflammatory? slogan as [illegible] to Burmese national psyche, besides
being ?treacherous and anti-national?. Radio Yangon broadcasts, almost
ad nauseam, everyday, the one-dimensional discourse of the regime.
Mobile military patrol units on vigil rush around and pull down the
posters and hunt down the perpetrators of this ?political sacrilege?, as
radio, television and the other media maintain in their steady drum-beat
the monologue of the dictatorship.
Young volunteers - with obvious spunk and determination belonging to the
Opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) - led by Dr Aung San Suu
Kyi, are hounded and hunted down. Their freedom is always on the
threshold. If caught, they are spirited away, never to be seen or heard
again.
Peripatetic diplomats of urbanity, known for their professional
competence and unfailing observation of the sad and daily vignettes of
Burma?s polity and ?civil society?, speak in whispers at many an Asian
airport and sundry other æneutral zonesÆ about the pessimism all around;
they speak of the depressing political ritual of taut nerves and
explosive ambience on both sides of the political divide.
Visiting businessmen and fleeting travelers in obvious awe of the
magnificent hill-top Shwedagon Pagoda beside the Yangon river, speak of
these subversive posters, reappearing again and again in the heart of
the capital. They are torn down with asinine consistency, say all those
diplomats and political realists who are still able to retain their
sensitivity and conscientiousness and are still counted among the
Burmese patriots. There is no irony anymore in what they say, only
resignation. This, in a nutshell, is the Burmese Gulag in the first year
of the new millennium!
But Yangon isn?t rattled by this exposure of the state of tyranny,
political subterfuge, corruption and incompetence. ?We don?t care,?
snaps Foreign Minister U Win Aung, even while he waffled in his speech
at the recent United Nations millennium summit of more than 150
Presidents, Prime Ministers, monarchs and other top functionaries. This
is how he dismissed the legitimate criticism of the Burmese situation by
the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union.
U Win Aung told the UN summit that Myanmar is taking a constructive path
while opposing forces were (and are) ?embarking on a path to
destruction?. He asserted: ?There is no single formula that could be
applied to all countries.? He claimed: ?Myanmar is building a genuine
and durable democratic system in our own way and yet there are some who
like to stir up the tranquil waters.?
All these swirl of events have come in the wake of the house arrest and
detention behind padlocked doors at the residence of Aung San Suu Kyi on
University Avenue in Yangon, 10 days after the motorcade march (or
drive) beyond the outer perimeter of Yangon, led by her with 15 National
League of Democracy colleagues. She was not allowed to meet her
supporters. She was stopped. She and her friends have no freedom of
movement.
Admittedly, as analysts underscore the army cabal on its slippery perch
of authority, it is absolutely clueless on how it can politically stifle
and decimate the 54-year-old Oxford-educated iconic personality of Suu
Kyi, whose endurance is matched by her charm, compassion, charisma and
sustained grassroots appeal. The growing international concern about
this frail widow, who is forbidden to telephonically communicate with
her two young sons and scores of diplomats, friends and visitors, has
outraged the ruling mili8tary satraps.
In this Orwellian State, the junta has banned internet and modem. They
control all forms of communication. Freedom of expression is denied.
People simply disappear. There is no system of justice or legal
redressal. They use their propaganda machinery to block all authentic
information of the democratic struggle or day-to-day life. They spread
vicious rumours. San Suu Kyi is denounced as ? whiteman?s wife,? among
other unprintable things. (She was married to the eminent British
Tibetologist, Dr Michael Aries, who died of cancer over two years ago in
London. Despite multiple appeals from all over the world, the junta
refused him a visa).
Equally significantly, what is bothering the isolated and insular army
brass in addition to the honesty and intrepidity of the Nobel Peace
Prize winner is the serious and growing dissent, which has been
spreading within the highest echelons of the junta in the saddle. There
is no doubt that the army cabal?s internal fissures have acquired
ominous undertones.
The army brass, embarrassed and exposed, may be unwittingly finding
itself in a catch-22 situation. As understood by the frank public
comments of Brigadier General Zan Tun, who is the powerful and
articulate Deputy Minister for National Planning and Development, and
also, close to the ailing Prime Minister/Defence Minister, Gen Than
Shwe. He was summarily dismissed from the highest leadership councils of
Burma. His ouster has spurred the undercurrent of dissent.
Brig-Gen Zan Tun indulged in al bout of economic progress in Burma
today. He said: ?May be this is because we are a little shut-down from
the world. We still have a lot of restrictions compared with other
countries. But we are bringing the barriers down.?
Brig-Gen Zan Tun was extremely critical of the current investment
climate in the country. He underlined that the GDP growth was six and
not 10 per cent (as claimed by Yangon). He was acerbic in his comments
on Burma?s Investment Commission, once a conglomeration of holy cows,
though now in a state a monumental mess. Its chairman, deputy chairman
and secretary were all dismissed in 1999 for ineptitude, corruption and
endemic philandering, as reports point out.
Analysts suggest that what matters most to the army brass today is the
state of bilateral relations and growing trade with her two giant and
populous neighbours: India and China.
The cabal is almost impervious to what US, UK and EU declare in their
fulminations. Both Beijing and New Delhi have been discreet in their
relations with Yangon. India and China have skirted the unflagging
campaign by Suu Kyi. The Indian Government behaves as if she and the
pro-democracy movement dose no exist.
AFP: Junta threatens to crush Aung San Suu Kyi over constitution plans
YANGON, Sept 21 (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
"will be crushed without mercy" for trying to draft a new constitution,
state media quoted a leading junta official as saying Thursday as the
pro-democracy campaigner prepared to defy a ban on travel outside the
capital. "Anyone who tries to draft a new constitution in line with
the colonialists is the nation's common enemy and will be crushed
without mercy," said
Lieutenant General Tin Oo, second secretary of the State Peace and
Development Council, as the junta is officially known.
Tin Oo's comments, reported in the English-language New Light of
Myanmar, are the first official reaction to Aung San Suu Kyi's
declaration that her National League for Democracy (NLD) would draft a
new constitution along federal lines.
An NLD meeting Saturday passed a resolution that the party's
parliamentary representative committee of which Aung San Suu Kyi is
secretary general, would draft a new constitution. The NLD regards the
committee as a proxy parliament
following annulled 1990 elections in which the party won a landslide
victory. "It is an undeniable fact that all the dangers leading to
Union (of Myanmar) disintegration are the results of the 1947
constitution drawn in accord with the wishes of the colonialists," Tin
Oo said, adding that the military rulers were themselves drafting a
"firm constitution." The NLD Wednesday said Aung San Suu Kyi, the
daughter of independence hero General Aung San, would make a trip
outside Yangon Thursday in renewed defiance of the ruling military
junta's ban on her travelling outside the capital.
The party said Aung San Suu Kyi would travel to the north of the
country to investigate reports the police had closed NLD offices and
prevented party members from carrying out legitimate political
activities. The junta last Thursday lifted the house arrest placed on
Aung San Suu Kyi following a nine-day roadside showdown but barred her
from leaving the capital.
Aung San Suu Kyi and the other members of the party's central
executive committee were placed under virtual house arrest on September
2, after she and other NLD leaders tried to attend a party meeting
outside the capital. This triggered a prolonged standoff with the
junta in which the NLD leaders remained camped by their cars for nine
days before being taken back to the
capital by security officials.
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
NCGUB: Update on United States Congress -- H. Con. Res. 328 on Burma
Sept 21, 2000
Today, the House International Relations Committee reinstated the
'sanction language', which was deleted after an amendment at the
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific on September 13, 2000. At Today's
mark up of the House International Relations Committee, Congressman
Christopher Smith (R-NJ) offered an amendment to reinsert the language
of sanctions in the H.Con. Res. 328, i.e., "United States policy should
sustain current economic and political sanctions against Burma as the
appropriate means". Committee Chairman Benjamin A. Gilman (R-NY),
Representatives Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)and Donald M. Payne
(D-NJ)supported the Smith's amendment. It is a great success and can be
attributed to your great efforts.
Again, thank you so much for your support and dedication to Burma's
struggle for democracy and freedom.
Thank you.
Dr. Thaung Htun
Representative for UN Affairs
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
____________________________________________________
Pretoria News Newspaper (S. Africa): Myanmar Protest in City
19th September,
Caiphus Kgosana, Staff Reporter
A handful of protesters yesterday gathered outside the Myanmar (formerly
Burma) embassy calling for an end to military rule in that country. The
protest forms part of a world-wide "Free Burma Campaign" and coincides
with the anniversary of the country's worst uprisings.
On August 8 1988 there was a spontaneous uprising in Burma led by a
pro-democracy group known as the 8-8-88 movement. The military, which
had changed the country's name to Myanmar, responded with a crackdown
that left more than 10,000 people dead, many of them students.
In 1990, elections were held with the pro-democracy movement contesting
under the banner National League for Democracy (NLD).
They won the elections with an overwhelming 82% majority under the
leadership of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, but the
military junta refused to allow the NLD to form a government and placed
the leader of the opposition under house arrest.
The embassy, which refused to accept the memorandum, later responded
with a statement by saying the demonstration was illegal according to
the South African Constitution.
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
DVB : Burmese government to restrict companies importing foreign goods
Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 14th September
The SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] Commerce Ministry is
making plans to increase the use of domestic products and reduce the
dependency on foreign imports. As foreign imports have been restricted
in accord with this programme, the prices of imported goods in Rangoon
have skyrocketed. DVB correspondent Myint Maung Maung filed this report.
[Myint Maung Maung] In accord with these new restrictions, a trader in
Rangoon who imports foreign goods will be allowed only 1m kyat [Burmese
currency unit] [one US dollar is approximately equals to 400 kyat in the
open market] worth of imports per month from 20th September onwards. Any
excess will accrue a fine. If the trader is unable to pay the fine, the
goods will then be confiscated. Rangoon Division Customs Department has
informed the Rangoon Division Chamber of Commerce and Industry and
traders who hold import licences on 8th September about the new
regulations. Due to this restriction, prices of imported goods in
Rangoon have skyrocketed instantly and traders have begun hoarding
previously imported goods.
As prices of foreign goods are escalating due to the decline in the
value of the Burmese kyat, the SPDC's regulation has also affected
border trade. At present, both traders and consumers are facing
difficulties. A merchant from Kawthaung said to comply with the SPDC's
wish of using domestic products, not every foreign product is produced
locally. Furthermore, if they are produced locally they are not
sufficient for local consumption. That is why foreign goods still need
to be imported. He said regardless of the price, the people have no
choice but to rely on imported basic commodities and medicines from
Thailand, India, and China...
Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1245 gmt 14 Sep 00
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________
Times of India: ?Scribes should focus on democracy in neighboring
countries?
Pune, Maharashtra State
September 19, 2000
?Impunctuality is the special preserve of politicians,? is how former
Union minister Ram Jethmalani began his address at the inauguration of
a three-day workshop on ?Media and democracy : the Asian experience?,
at the IUCAA auditorium, here on Monday.
Although of to a late start, the inaugural event set the pace for a
workshop that promised to be exciting and relevant in the modern global
context.
This seminar is an attempt by the Mizzima News Service, an organization
of Burmese journalists in exile, in association with the Symbiosis
Institute of Mass Communication (SIMC), to bring to light the
repression of democracy and free press in Burma and to encourage young
journalists of the region.
Jethmalani, in his address, dwelt on his first-hand experience during
the Emergency in India, saying, ?The test of democracy lies in imposing
it on those you do not like, not on those you love.? He pointed out
that, ?Apart from the death of the free press, the power to detain
people without trial leads to the demise of democracy.?
Mentioning his personal crusade against preventive detention, he said,
ôThe hallmark of democracy is an independent and vigilant judiciary.ö
Touching upon Burma, Jethmalani said, ôMy journalist friends will write
about anything, but will not write about Burma. It is high time the
press in India started talking about destruction of democracy in
neighboring countries as it is like an infectious disease that may
overtake us before we know it.ö
Also present as the keynote address speaker was noted journalist Kuldeep
Nayar, who expressed his strong views on the lack of objectivity in
journalism today.
ôIn newsrooms, certain news stories are killed because they do not suit
the establishment. We are the eyes and ears of the reader. If a
journalist falls to be objective, he has died as a journalists,ö he
said.
ôToday, news is tittle-tattle... nothing beyond half-clad actresses,
fashion or night clubs,ö he said, urging budding journalists to have a
commitment towards democracy and ideology.
Leading and filmmaker Prahlad Kakar also ventured an opinion speaking
from his personal experience in Burma. ôIf a country ceases to dream,
then the people there cease to live. All the people in Burma still have
the capacity to dream, and thus there is hopeö.
The editor of the Mizzima News Service also spoke on the occasion and
thanked journalists from all over India for participating in this unique
seminar.
Director of the SIMC Professor Ujjwal Choudhury also spoke on the
occasion.
_____________________ OTHER ______________________
PD Burma: Calendar of events with regard to Burma
Published by PD Burma, as of September 20.
September 24th : National League for Democracy formed 1988
September 24th : Burma Solidarity Concert. Organised by
Worldview Rights, the Norwegian Burma Council and the Norwegian Church
Aid, Oslo
September 26th : Open meeting: The cost of Army
Rule. Organised by the Norwegian Burma Council, Oslo
September 27th : Board meeting for the Burmese
Border Consortium, Oslo
September : UN General Assembly, New York
September : NCGUB Meetings
September/October : Second EU "troika" mission to Burma
October : EU Foreign Ministers to review Burma Policy
October 16-21st : 104th Inter-Parliamentary Conference,
Jakarta
October 17-18th : 4th Annual Meeting for PD Burma,
Jakarta
October 19- 20th : The Asem Summit, Seoul
October 26-28th : The 50th Congress of Liberal
International, Ottawa
November : ILO Review of Burma's practises
November 2-17th : 279th Session of the Governing Body and its
committees, Geneva
November 17th : Global Day of Action on Open Schools
November 10-11th :Meeting of the Council of the Socialist
International, Maputo
December 11-12th : EU and ASEAN Ministerial-level meeting, Laos
December : Japan-Burma panel on reform of
Burma's economic structure, Tokyo
January 2001 : Sweden takes over EU Presidency
February : Meeting of Solidarity Groups, Brussels
March/April : Teachers/ Students Union Conferences
March/April : EU Common Position Review
March/April : UN Human Rights Commission, Geneva
May/June : Meeting of Solidarity Groups
July : Belgium takes over EU Presidency ----
____________________________________________________
________________
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