[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

BurmaNet News: December 3, 2000



______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
________December 3, 2000   Issue # 1674_________

NOTED IN PASSING:

"In the past, governments and companies [hid] behind the absence of a 
global and binding decision on Burma to justify their inaction, now 
there is a global decision by a UN body which gives them legitimate 
grounds to take action.?

Bill Jordan, of the Intl Confed. of Free Trades Unions calling for 
sanctions on Burma for using forced labor.  See AFP: International trade 
unions threaten action against Myanmar investors 


INSIDE BURMA _______
*AFP: Prominent Myanmar writer flees to Thailand
*AP: Myanmar free some leaders of pro-democracy party, but not Suu Kyi 
*Ananova.com: Rebels 'kill three Myanmar soldiers'
*Shan Herald Agency for News: Local populace against expected Shan-Wa 
war
*Shan Herald Agency for News:  Wa deploying along border with Thailand

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Times Higher Educational Supplement: Scholar attacked for links to 
junta
*The Japan Times: Tokyo slates meeting with Burma
*AFP: International trade unions threaten action against Myanmar 
investors 
*The Bangkok Post: Drug arrests

ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*The Business Times (Singapore): Ong Beng Seng buys 49% of Myanmar 
Airways
*People's Daily (PRC): China, Myanmar Sign MOU on Tourism Cooperation

OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright: Remarks on Burma at the 2000 
U.S. Agency For International Development (USAID) Democracy and 
Governance Partners Conference
*Times Higher Educational Supplement: Why I believe academics should be 
wary of dealing with repressive regimes 

The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com


__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________


AFP: Prominent Myanmar writer flees to Thailand

Saturday, December 2 3:59 PM SGT 


YANGON, Dec 2 (APF) - Prominent Myanmar writer Tin Maung Than has fled 
to Thailand and may be seeking asylum in the West to escape increasing 
pressure from the country's military government, sources said Saturday. 

Tin Maung Than, a noted intellectual and social commentator, is believed 
to have left Myanmar with his family about two weeks ago. 

Friends of the Harvard-educated writer told AFP that the junta had 
refused him permission to travel to the United States to begin a PhD, 
and that he decided to skip the country so he could continue his 
studies. 

He initially travelled to the Thai capital Bangkok but it was not known 
whether he had already left for a third country. 

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok was not available for 
comment Saturday but the office has a blanket ban on commenting on 
individual applications for political asylum. 
Tin Maung Than, a medical doctor by training, has had several brushes 
with Myanmar's censors, particularly in his capacity as editor of a 
private magazine entitled "Thinbawa", or "Your Life". 
An article where he described the deterioration of Myanmar's education 
system since the days of British colonial rule was famously completely 
censored from the publication. 

But his latest run-in with the junta came several months ago when he 
became instrumental in releasing an explosive speech by a government 
minister who made a rare public criticism of the junta's economic 
policies. 

Deputy minister for national planning and economic development Zaw Htun 
was forced to stand down after he accused the government of gross 
economic mismanagement. 

Sources in Yangon said Tin Maung Than was one of a small group of people 
who disseminated the speech and finally managed to have it loaded onto 
the Internet. 

His writings also include several books including novels and educational 
works, but his output dropped off in recent months as he came under 
increasing pressure from the authorities. 




____________________________________________________


AP: Myanmar free some leaders of pro-democracy party, but not Suu Kyi 

Dec. 2, 2000

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's military government freed six top members of 
the opposition National League for Democracy from house arrest on 
Friday, but said party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her two top 
lieutenants would remain in confinement.

Party Chairman Aung Shwe, Vice Chairman Tin Oo and Suu Kyi, the 
secretary-general, are the most outspoken as well as most senior party 
executives.

The opposition members have been held virtually incommunicado and 
allowed visits only by close relatives since Sept. 21, after a dispute 
with the government in Myanmar, also known as Burma. It began Aug. 24, 
when Suu Kyi tried to drive out of Yangon. Stopped by authorities, she 
spent nine days camping on the roadside, then was forcibly brought back 
to the capital. Her ordeal brought worldwide sympathy and harsh Western 
criticism of the military junta.

The 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, she has been stopped several 
times in the past as well.

Myanmar's ruling military, which kept Suu Kyi under formal house arrest 
from 1989 to 1995, refused to hand over power after her party 
overwhelmingly won a general election in 1990. It has harassed and 
arrested hundreds of NLD members since the vote.

U.N. envoy Razali Ismail was able to meet with Suu Kyi twice at her 
house during his visit to Myanmar in October. The United Nations is 
trying to start a dialogue between the government and the opposition.

"The temporary restriction on six NLD central executive committee 
members has been lifted since 5:30 p.m. today and (they) are resuming 
their normal activities," the government said Friday. Aung Shwe, Tin Oo 
and Kyi "are requested to continue their stay in the present position 
for the time being." (AP)



____________________________________________________


Ananova.com: Rebels 'kill three Myanmar soldiers' 

Fighting has flared up along the Thai-Myanmar border, with Karen rebels 
claiming to have killed three Myanmar soldiers and wounded three others.

The Myanmar (Burmase) army has been stepping up attacks recently against 
the Karen National Union, the last major ethnic insurgency group still 
fighting the central government.

A KNU spokesman said rebel troops attacked a Myanmar light infantry 
column opposite the Thai province of Kanchanaburi, inflicting the 
casualties and capturing three rifles, ammunition and a compass.

One Karen soldier was seriously wounded in the clash, said the 
spokesman, who demanded anonymity.

The military activity stopped a group of foreign and Thai light airplane 
enthusiasts from entering Myanmar, also known as Burma, across the 
Friendship Bridge from Mae Sot.

The 26-member group, flying in 20 small private planes, were taking part 
in the Winter Tour Rally 2000. They included Thais, Malaysians, 
Singaporeans, British and Americans.





____________________________________________________



Shan Herald Agency for News: Local populace against expected Shan-Wa war

30 November 2000

Reporter: Saeng Khao Haeng

People in Mongton township of southern Shan State have expressed their  
opposition against the probable war between the Shan State Army and the  
United Wa State Army, said sources coming across the border recently. 

"I thought the war between Wa and Shans fighting for the benefits of  
Rangoon was over with Khun Sa's surrender (in 1996)", said a trader 
coming  from Mongton. "Now for whose good are they going to war against 
each other  again?"

Several agreed with the trader.

"We've been risking ourselves and our family's lives by supporting the 
SSA  all through these years," said another. "I hope Sao Yawdserk 
doesn't let us  down".

Many voiced a dialogue between the two "before things go out of 
control". 
Since mid-November, units of the UWSA had been pouring into Mongton  
township, stopping and spotchecking both travelers and vehicles along 
the  Mongton - BP1 road.

The SSA also reported 5 battalions of the UWSA's 171st Division of Wei  
Xiaokang moving in to set up bases in Nakawngmu, Mongtaw, Monghta, 
Khailong  and Namkad. The first three locations are opposite Chiangmai 
Province and  the remaining two opposite Maehongson Province.

Shan elder, Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, meanwhile commented: "In terms of  
strategy, it is totally disadvantageous for Sao Yawdserk and the Shan  
State... (but) I guess he has to do what he has to do, in order to 
survive,  if only for immediate survival... He is involved in a game 
where he has no  leverage"

____________________________________________________


Shan Herald Agency for News:  Wa deploying along border with Thailand


Reporter: Saeng Khao Haeng

Sources across the border told S.H.A.N. yesterday Wa troops were taking  
positions along the border opposite Chiangmai.

Units from the United Wa State Amy's 171st Division arrived in Monghta  
(west of Mongton) on Thursday (30 November) afternoon in 45 Tiger Toyota 
 offroaders. 17 of them reached Hueyyao (6-km north of Piangluang,  
Wianghaeng District, Chiangmai Province) yesterday at 15:00, carrying 
140  tough Wa fighters. "We saw soldiers of IB 225 (Mongton) piling up 
on the  vehicles after the Wa disembarked and took off to some unknown 
location",  said one source.

80 of the Wa fighters then marched off to Kiu Zangkup and Kawng Hermin, 
2  outposts along the border that connects with the strategic Loihtwe 
mountain  already occupied by them since mid June. The remaining troops 
with their  commander (yet to be identified) were billeted at Pang 
Surtao, a former  training camp during SURA-MTA days.

The border checkpoint between Thailand Piangluang and Pang Maisoong on 
the  opposite side was still guarded by soldiers from IB 43 (Mong 
piang). 
It is not immediately known where the rest of the convoy have gone, but  
some of them might sitll be in Monghta while some might continue their 
way  to Sankarng-Khailong, near the Shan State Army's Loi Taileng 
stronghold,  they said.

They also said it would be premature to foretell what to expect from the 
 event.

"But one thing is sure", one said. "We must be ready to bear 3 burdens 
from  now on, namely, the Burmese military, the SSA and now the UWSA". 
Another source expressed fear of ill-treatment by the newcomers. "People 
 from Nakawngmu (between Mongton and BP1) and even Wa from other units 
said  the 171st is quite unruly", she said.

A different view was also voiced by one trader who shuttled between  
Mongtaw-Monghta and Tachilek, opposite Chiangrai Province. "In the past, 
we  could only use the motor-road from Nakawngmu to Tachilek during the 
dry  season", he said. "But since over a year ago, we have been able to 
travel  by car even during the rainy season. At present, it takes only 5 
hours to  reach there".

He predicted that local people could now expect better road conditions 
in  the area.

Yet another source said he was worried from now on there would be 
divisions  among the local community. "In the past, it was generally us 
against the  Burmese. But now some of us who are more business and 
profit minded will  probably side with the Wa", he said.

Meanwhile, a Thai Burma-watcher told S.H.A.N., "It is a plot by Rangoon 
not  only to profit both materially and militarily from the expected 
Shan-Wa  conflict, but also to use the Thais to destroy the Wa".

Thai security officials are reportedly incensed by the Burmese move that 
 comes at the wrong time, when Thais are busy with preparations and 
security  for the General Elections to be held on 6 January, said 
another Thai source. 




____________________________________________________





___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				

Times Higher Educational Supplement: Scholar attacked for links to junta

 1 December 2000, No. 1, 464, page 3 www.thes.co.uk



Phil Baty
01 December 2000


Extensive cooperation between the military dictatorship of Burma and a 
senior London University academic has sparked international controversy 
over academic ethics.

Elizabeth Moore, head of the arts and archaeology department at the 
university's School of Oriental and African Studies, has close links 
with the Burmese government's Office of Strategic Studies. International 
academics have said her links with a regime notorious for some of the 
worst human rights abuses and the suppression of dissent or academic 
freedom raise important questions for scholars.

One London-based Burma specialist said Dr Moore's presence in the 
country, officially known as Myanmar since 1989, could be considered 
unethical, with her presence and her work capable of being exploited to 
"legitimise" and bolster the dictatorship.

The Myanmar regime is led by minister of defence and self-styled prime 
minister General Than Shwe, despite a 1990 popular vote for democracy. 
The regime is subject to US sanctions and the withdrawal of trade 
privileges by the European Union for human rights abuses, including the 
use of forced labour, which have been condemned by the United Nations as 
"crimes against humanity".

Dr Moore was formally "received" by the head of the OSS, General Nhin 
Nyunt, in 1998. Later that year she met the Burmese minister for 
education, to "discuss cooperation in education and research". She is on 
a year's sabbatical in Burma and has recently worked on OSS-funded 
archaeological projects.

"I am surprised Elizabeth Moore should wish to associate herself so 
closely with the regime," said Gustaaf Houtman, deputy director of the 
UK's Royal Anthropological Institute and an expert on Burma. "The regime 
has taken upon itself the right to take over and manage all ancient 
sites, whatever cultural or religious claims might be made on these by 
other ethnic groups in dispute with the regime," he said. Some 
archaeologists do not study in Burma because access to resources is so 
closely controlled. 
Controversy has focused on Dr Moore's work with the OSS on the famous 
Shwedagon pagoda, where the country's Nobel peace prize-winning 
democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was incarcerated for five 
years, launched her political career. In a 1999 paper on the pagoda, Dr 
Moore wrote: "The support of the Office of Strategic Studies has been 
invaluable in coordinating this research."

Dr Houtman said: "The regime's pagoda renovation projects serve to 
bolster its legitimacy and to root out dissent. I believe Dr Moore is 
involved in what is an unambiguously political project greatly disliked 
by the Burmese." 
An official OSS document proclaims archaeological work "to be of the 
highest national importance". Because of this the OSS "sponsored and 
organised scholars and experts of various institutes and departments to 
undertake research". The same document later describes an OSS team on an 
excavation that "met and held discussions with Dr Moore".

Georgetown University's David Steinberg, one of the world's leading 
experts on Burma, avoided direct comment on Dr Moore's activities, but 
said all academics should be cautious. "There is a legitimate role for 
appropriate academic interchange of ideas and relations," he said. But 
such relationships must help build Burmese universities for a future 
under new leadership. They should develop scholarship of international 
standing and provide more knowledge of Burma for the external world. "In 
undertaking such relationships," he said, "each foreign academic and 
foreign institution should consider whether their actions do this, or 
whether they support the propaganda mechanisms of the state. This is the 
critical test." 
Donald Seekins, professor of Southeast Asian politics and history at 
Meio University in Okinawa, Japan, said: "Elizabeth Moore and anyone 
else is free to publish what they want (most evidently not the case for 
scholars in Burma). But their audiences should at least be aware of the 
circumstances under which they obtain their information."

Dr Moore was on a dig in Burma and unobtainable as we went to press. A 
Soas spokesman said: "Your communication has been brought to the 
attention of the school secretary and the pro-director for taught 
courses IThe school is not able to make any comment on the points 
raised." 

____________________________________________________


The Japan Times: Tokyo slates meeting with Burma

By HISANE MASAKI , Staff writer 

Dec. 1, 2000

In defiance of mounting international pressure, Japan appears firmly 
determined to go ahead with technical assistance for Burma.  A fledgling 
joint panel of Japanese and Burmese military regime officials and 
private-sector experts will meet in Tokyo as early as next week to 
discuss ways to resolve structural problems that have hobbled the 
impoverished Southeast Asian country's economic development, informed 
sources said Thursday.  

It will be the second time for the joint economic panel to meet; the 
panel was inaugurated earlier this year and held its first meeting in 
Rangoon in June.  

Japan's decision to host a second meeting is expected to draw flak from 
the United States and other industrialized countries in Europe as well 
as from human-rights activists both at home and abroad.  

The meeting comes amid escalating international criticism of Burma's 
military regime for its violations of human rights and democratic 
principles.  

At its board meeting in Geneva on Nov. 16, the International Labor 
Organization, a key body of the United Nations, decided to impose 
sanctions on Burma over its widespread use of forced labor. The 
sanctions, applied under an article of the ILO constitution that had 
never been used, took effect Thursday.  

Burmese military regime has long denied the existence of forced labor, 
insisting that civilians work voluntarily to promote the development of 
the country, especially its poorer rural areas.  

Unlike U.N. Security Council sanctions, which spell out limits on trade 
and other punishments, the ILO is leaving it to the some 170 individual 
member governments to determine specific measures to take against Burma
 .  
A senior government official said there is no conflict between the ILO 
action and Japan's going forward with its policy of "constructive 
engagement."  

"Japan's technical assistance for Burma's economic reforms does not run 
counter to the ILO decision, because the ILO sanctions call on its 
member governments to stop any economic aid that may encourage the use 
of forced labor in Burma," the official said, requesting anonymity.  

The meeting also comes amid a continuing tug-of-war in Burma. The 
military regime has recently entered into a showdown with prodemocracy 
leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League 
for Democracy.  

The junta -- which now refers to itself as the State Peace and 
Development Council -- and Suu Kyi's NLD began knocking heads in early 
September. That's when the SPDC forced Suu Kyi to end a nine-day 
roadside protest just outside the Burma capital of Rangoon, forcibly 
returned her to her Rangoon home and confined her there.  

Although she was released from effective house arrest 13 days later, she 
was again placed under effective incarceration after she made another 
failed attempt to travel outside Rangoon.  
Foreign diplomats stationed in the Burma capital have not been allowed 
to visit Suu Kyi.  
The military has been in power since 1988, when it staged a coup. Two 
years later, it nullified the results of an election that handed Suu 
Kyi's NLD a landslide victory. The NLD leader was then placed under 
house arrest until the summer of 1995.  

The U.S. and other industrialized countries in Europe have toughened 
economic and other sanctions against Burma during the past decade, and 
since the coup Japan has frozen large-scale economic aid for new 
projects.  

But while joining the U.S. and Europe in calling for improvements in 
human rights and democratic principles, Japan has taken a much softer 
approach toward Burmese military regime.  

Tokyo has argued for "constructive engagement" with the junta instead of 
ostracizing it from the international community.  

But the U.S. is becoming increasingly critical of this policy. At a 
meeting with her Japanese counterpart, Yohei Kono, in New York in 
mid-September, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright implicitly urged 
Japan to abandon its policy toward Burma and fall into line with the 
U.S. and Europe.  

The U.S. has also objected to the joint economic panel, claiming that it 
will only spoil the SPDC by signaling that Japan condones its lack of 
progress on democratization and human-rights.  

____________________________________________________


AFP: International trade unions threaten action against Myanmar 
investors 

BANGKOK, Dec 1 (AFP) - Trade unions called Friday for governments, 
companies and international organisations to re-examine their relations 
with Myanmar's junta or face strong sanctions. 

 The warning followed a recommendation by the International Labour 
Organization (ILO) to its members -- which include employers and trade 
unions as well as countries -- to reconsider their relations with 
Myanmar because of its continued use of forced labour. 

 An unprecedented move which opens the way to sanctions, the 
recommendation, adopted on November 16 by the ILO in Geneva, came into 
affect on November 30. 

 In an official statement received in Bangkok, the International 
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), based in Brussels and which 
groups 221 national trade unions from 148 countries, confirmed it 
planned to obtain the "rapid withdrawal of foreign investors whose 
presence has the direct or indirect effect of aiding or abetting forced 
labour." 

 Companies involved in the oil and gas, timber, rice, textile, tobacco 
and tourism, about 300 companies from 30 countries, are among the first 
who will be targeted for trade union pressure. 

 According to ICFTU, nearly one million people are currently subjected 
to forced labour in Myanmar, particularly in building of roads, railways 
and military installations. 

 The army has been singled out as a main offender, due to its practice 
of using villagers as "porters".
 
 Bill Jordan, ICFTU general secretary, said in the statement: "In the 
past, governments and companies were hiding behind the absence of a 
global and binding decision on Burma (Myanmar) to justify their 
inaction, now there is a global decision by a UN body which gives them 
legitimate grounds to take action." 

 The ICTU had requested last month that travel agencies and Western 
multinationals in Myanmar adopt the ILO recommendation.
 
 Several western conglomerates invest in Myanmar but have always 
maintained that they are not involved in using forced labour. 

 The Myanmar ministry of foreign affairs lambasted the "completely 
unjust" decision by the ILO and announced that Yangon would not 
cooperate any more with it on the question of forced labour. 




____________________________________________________


The Bangkok Post: Drug arrests

[Abridged]

 Dec 02, 2000.



Four Burmese were charged with trafficking in 8,000 speed pills in Suan 
Luang district yesterday following the arrest of a gang member in the 
Ramkhamhaeng area. 

Ah Ming sae Chen, a suspected major dealer, and three aides were 
arrested in a raid on a room in Future hotel, in Ramkhamhaeng Soi 44. 
Earlier, Pi Kham, a Burmese gang member, was charged with trafficking in 
6,000 pills at The Mall, Ramkhamhaeng. 


_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
 

The Business Times (Singapore): Ong Beng Seng buys 49% of Myanmar 
Airways

 2 Dec 2000  

By Kalpana Rashiwala 

ONG Beng Seng's Region Air has clinched a 49 per cent stake in Myanmar 
Airways International (MAI) and will help with the management of the 
airline from Jan 1.  

Sources did not reveal the price the Singapore businessman paid. Under 
the deal, Region Air will not only take a stake in MAI but will also 
provide management, marketing, accounting, cost control, technical and 
operations management of the airline.  

Region Air Myanmar chairman George Yin Soon noted that MAI is a 
"lesser-known but good airline" which the tie-up aims to improve.  

The airline's fleet currently comprises only two 146-seater Boeing 
737-400s leased from 
Malaysian Airline System. It flies to regional destinations such as 
Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hongkong.  

Among other things, Region Air will help upgrade MAI's systems and 
procedures and introduce new technology to improve aircraft management, 
yields and load factors.  

In October, SIA Engineering Company bagged a five-year, $40 million 
aircraft maintenance contract from Region Air.  

Mr Ong, who controls Singapore-listed Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL) with 
his in-laws, was hit badly during the regional financial crisis between 
1997 and 1998.  

He had to sell off a string of assets, including stakes in the Four 
Seasons hotels in Milan and London, Hotel Pennsylvania in New York, a 
prime site at Surfers Paradise on Australia's Gold Coast -- and even his 
personal jet.  

Market watchers note that he appears to be coming under siege at HPL by 
the dynamic cousin-duo of Quek Leng Chan and Kwek Leng Beng, who have 
been raising their stake in the company gradually.  

However, Mr Ong seems to be expanding again. Last month, an associate 
company of HPL snapped up a Bangkok youth hostel, YMCA Collins 
International House, for 340 million baht (S$13.6 million). It plans to 
convert it into an upmarket hotel.  

His wife, Christina, has also begun to spread her wings in the fashion 
world after having seen them clipped during the crisis years. 


____________________________________________________


People's Daily (PRC): China, Myanmar Sign MOU on Tourism Cooperation

Dec. 2, 2000


China and Myanmar reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Saturday, 
December 2, on the implementation plan for outbound travel by Chinese 
citizens to Myanmar. 

The MOU between the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the 
Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism was signed by visiting Vice 
Chairman of CNTA Sun Gang and Myanmar Deputy Minister of Hotels and 
Tourism Brigadier General Aye Myint Kyu. 

Attending the MOU signing ceremony were Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar 
Liang Dong and Myanmar Minister of Hotels and Tourism Major General Saw 
Lwin. 

According to the MOU, both sides agreed that the approval of Myanmar as 
an official outbound destination country for Chinese citizens travelling 
abroad at their own expense by the Chinese Government is the result of 
the joint concern and encouragement from the state leaders of both 
countries. 

The relevant departments of both countries must conduct this business in 
a meticulous way to ensure that the business will develop in a healthy 
and orderly direction from the very beginning, the MOU said. 

On the Chinese side, the business of outbound travel by Chinese citizens 
to Myanmar will be handled by the 66 designated travel agencies, which 
have been authorized by CNTA to conduct outbound travel by Chinese 
citizens, and the Myanmar side will recommend to the Chinese side an 
appropriate number of law abiding, creditable and competent travel 
agencies as land operators for handling Chinese tour groups to Myanmar, 
the MOU stated. 

The tourism administrative departments of both countries will be 
responsible for the management and supervision of their respective 
travel agencies, and for protecting the legal rights of tourists, and 
severe punishment should be applied to travel agencies violating tourist 
interests, the MOU stressed. 

The cross-border travel by Chinese citizens to Myanmar will be managed 
according to this MOU as of the date when the outbound travel by Chinese 
citizens to Myanmar at their own expense is officially started, it 
added. 

Sun Gang, who led a five-member China National Tourism Administration 
delegation, arrived here Friday evening for a four-day visit to Myanmar. 


According to official statistics, there are 492 hotels, motels and inns 
with nearly 14,000 rooms in Myanmar, earning over 30 million U.S. 
dollars annually. 

A total of 151,970 foreign tourists visited Myanmar in the first eight 
months of this year, of which 1,938 were from China. 


________________OPINION/EDITORIAL___________________


Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright: Remarks on Burma at the 2000 
U.S. Agency For International Development (USAID) Democracy and 
Governance Partners Conference

[Abridged]

November 30, 2000

Arlington, Virginia


 ..... We must also support efforts by the democratic opposition in Burma 
to initiate a meaningful dialogue with the authorities there and to 
improve respect for basic civil and human and political rights. The 
world knows that Burma had elections in 1990 and that the National 
League for Democracy lead by Aung San Suu Kyi won an overwhelming 
victory. We know as well that the military responded by arresting the 
winners and crushing dissent. 

As a result, Burma today is an economic basket case. It has become 
notorious as a source of opium, it is being overrun by HIV/AIDS and its 
government has been sanctioned by the ILO for encouraging forced labor 
and slavery. As the rest of Asia strides boldly into the 21st century, 
the people of Burma may be sent to jail for owning a computer modem or 
sending e-mail. 

Our friends in Burma may be impeded from communicating directly with us, 
but the message sent by their ballots a decade ago will never be deleted 
from our minds. Every nation that loves liberty should press the leaders 
in Rangoon, peacefully and relentlessly, to open their country and free 
their people.

____________________________________________________


Times Higher Educational Supplement: Why I believe academics should be 
wary of dealing with repressive regimes 

 1 December 2000, No. 1, 464, page 18 

Gustaaf Houtman
01 December 2000



On its website, the Burmese regime describes Burma as "historical", with 
a civilisation dating back many centuries, and stresses its own role in 
uncovering Burmese history. Over the past decade it has rebuilt all the 
Burmese palaces (but not, of course, those of the Shan and other ethnic 
groups), restored all major pagodas that symbolise the wealth of the 
kings and built about two dozen new museums.

It also draws attention to primate fossils found in the Pondaung region 
of central Burma, suggesting that these "may qualify Myanmar as the 
region where mankind originated" and that they "indicate the existence 
of Myanmar culture and traditions since time immemorial".

This urge to historicise Burma by reducing its civilisation and culture 
to a series of historical objects is a result of the generals' difficult 
relationship with the peoples of Burma (there are more than 135 ethnic 
groups). Historical figures, including Aung San, the father of Burmese 
independence and of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, are much harder 
to control than inanimate objects.

In 1962, Burma came under the yoke of military socialism. This lasted 
until the 1990 elections, which were won decisively by Suu Kyi's 
National League for Democracy, but the military refused to cede power.

Today, having ditched socialism, it is still desperately seeking some 
sort of legitimacy to retain power. The answer, since 1997, has been not 
only to rebuild pagodas and palaces, but to delve into Burma's past. 
Imagine the delight of General Khin Nyunt, de facto chief of government, 
at learning of the discovery of some extremely useful fossils in 1997. 
An archaeology department was set up and several international teams 
were attracted to validate the discovery. However, the 40 
million-year-old primate fossils, older than the most ancient Egyptian 
fossils, have been taken well beyond the realms of science by the regime 
and are routinely used to support its ideology and achievements.

Some national scientific bodies have said they "lend support to the idea 
that the ancestor of all monkeys and apes lived in Asia instead of 
Africa", which could mean that "anthropoids migrated from Asia to Africa 
at some point". These bodies say the fossils could also "mean that the 
anthropoid group has its roots stretching far back into time, possibly 
even into the late Paleocene period (58-55 million years ago)". They 
conclude that the whole story of mankind's origins may need to be 
reviewed as a result. 
However, much more work is needed to back this up and the generals might 
be better off paying attention to the enormous economic and social 
difficulties faced by living Burmese people rather than to dead fossils. 

Archaeology seems to have given the military a new lease of life. Some 
scholars, delighted at the invitation to do research in a country that 
has been closed for 30 years, are clambering on the bandwagon and giving 
the regime the credibility it craves.

Unfortunately, it tends to be those who have most to gain who pander to 
the regime. But even if the more responsible foreign palaeontologists 
exercise some caution when writing about the origin of anthropoids in 
Asia, their work can still be manipulated by the regime.

Of course, this balancing of access to material and political 
manipulation happens elsewhere - for example, in China. However, 
scholars from all disciplines should be aware of the ludicrous use to 
which their discoveries may be put. Academics who fall for the 
temptations of being showered with privileges by repressive heads of 
state should be forced to hang their heads in shame.

Gustaaf Houtman
Editor of Anthropology Today and deputy director of
the Royal Anthropological Institute

SOAPBOX DEBATE
To comment on any issue raised, email us at soapbox@xxxxxxxxxx or join 
the debate at www.thes.co.uk/forums

________________




The BurmaNet News is an Internet newspaper providing comprehensive 
coverage of news and opinion on Burma  (Myanmar) from around the world.  
If you see something on Burma, you can bring it to our attention by 
emailing it to strider@xxxxxxx

For a subscription to Burma's only free daily newspaper, write to: 
strider@xxxxxxx

You can also contact BurmaNet by phone or fax:

Voice mail or fax (US) +1(202) 318-1261
You will be prompted to press 1 for a voice message or 2 to send a fax.  
If you do neither, a fax tone will begin automatically.

Fax (Japan) +81 (3) 4512-8143



________________

___________________________________________________________
T O P I C A  http://www.topica.com/t/17
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics