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South China Morning Post
Friday, June 16, 2000 BURMA UN criticised over tourism
seminar
WILLIAM BARNES In Bangkok The United Nations cultural arm has shocked critics of Burma's military
regime by becoming involved in a seminar to promote tourism.
"This is wholly unacceptable. It's outrageous. What can they be thinking of," said Yvette Mahon of Burma Campaign UK. The furore erupted after the ruling junta announced on Tuesday that it
would host a seminar in Rangoon next week on "safeguarding" cultural heritage
and the tourism industry. The junta said it would be held "in co-operation" with
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
Western human rights organisations have mounted a vigorous campaign to
persuade tourists to shun Burma, citing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
warnings that the bulk of tourists' money goes "straight into the pockets of the
generals".
The anti-tourist campaign can claim some success since visitor arrivals
remain pitifully low, although poor facilities may also be a factor.
"Anyone who promotes tourism in Burma must do so in flagrant disregard of
the human rights abuses involved," said Lara Marsh of Tourism Concern, a
British-based holiday watchdog.
UN agencies are usually careful to only provide humanitarian assistance
inside Burma.
The regional adviser for culture in Asia and the Pacific, Richard
Engelhardt, said the news was a surprise to him: "I was not consulted," he said.
Other UN officials said privately that Burma's military regime was keen to rope
in international organisations to bolster its legitimacy.
Unesco has exposed itself to criticism at a time when the anti-tour crusade
has hotted up, with last month's call for the boycott of the Lonely Planet
guides until the Burma publication is withdrawn. South China Morning Post
Friday, June 16, 2000 BURMA Exiles hail ILO move against slave
labour
GRETCHEN PETERS in Bangkok Unions and human rights groups yesterday hailed a landmark resolution
adopted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that approved
unprecedented measures against Burma over its use of forced labour.
"We believe this will have an impact on the lives of people in Burma," said Maung Maung, who heads the Bangkok-based Free Trade Union of Burma. At a conference in Geneva on Wednesday, ILO members voted 257 to 41 to
invoke an article in the UN body's constitution reserved for states that fail to
comply with ILO recommendations over "grave and persistent violations" of labour
standards.
The session marked the first time in the ILO's history the article had been
invoked, although objections raised by Asian member states led to a compromise
giving Burma's military rulers five months to improve their record.
Burma expressed deep regret over the censure motion. A spokesman for the
military Government said the authorities had worked hard to co-operate with the
ILO's demands.
"It is regretful that Myanmar [Burma] has been singled out for a censure
and a punitive action as well by the ILO in connection with the problem which
arose from the arbitrary judgment based on misinformation," he said.
"It is most regretful that the positive steps and responses taken by the
Myanmar Government have been completely ignored," he said.
ILO spokesman Michael Barton said the resolution "goes considerably further
than anything the ILO has ever done before". While earlier efforts amounted to
little more than a slap on the wrist, labour experts say the new measures have
teeth.
"Now [the country's leaders] have to confess there are many forced
labourers in Burma and they will be forced to try and stop the practice," said
San Aung, shadow labour minister for the country's pro-democracy
government-in-exile. "So it's progress."
The resolution calls on member states, employers and workers to "review"
their relations with Burma and make sure those ties do not "perpetuate or extend
the system of forced or compulsory labour". Labour activists yesterday described
the wording as an unofficial way of asking member states to impose sanctions.
More important, perhaps, it also calls for a "sustained ILO presence" on
the ground, a step exiled Burmese union leaders have long demanded.
"This is where the action starts," Mr Maung Maung said.
Whether or not the junta will allow the ILO to operate in Burma is another
matter. ILO officials admit it may be difficult to monitor the situation under a
regime that prohibits foreigners access to vast tracts of its territory. "That
is entirely up to the authorities [there]," Mr Barton said.
The Free Trade Union of Burma has called on its nation's citizens to act.
"It is up to the people of Myanmar to participate and send any information on
forced labour to the ILO," Mr Maung Maung said. "We just can't leave it to the
ILO. The Burmese people will have to take part."
An estimated 800,000 Burmese have been conscripted by the junta - known as
the State Peace and Development Council - and forced to work in gruelling
conditions for little or no reward.
The ILO and other rights groups have reported systemic use of forced labour
such as portering, construction, and food growing for the military, as well as
harsh infrastructural tasks on railroads and canals. Women have been forced into
sex slavery and there are widespread reports of torture, imprisonment and death.
The European Union and Burma, at loggerheads with each other for nearly
four years, will hold a "critical dialogue" in Lisbon on June 26, EU officials
yesterday said in Bangkok. Burmese junta wins diplomatic
victory over Europe critics
Thursday, 15 June 2000 6:56 (ET) BANGKOK, Thailand, June 15 (UPI) - Burma's ruling junta won a diplomatic
victory Thursday as E.U. officials agreed to allow the regime's representatives
to attend a meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 26.
The meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and
the European Union had been postponed several times due to European distaste for
the junta, which has been shunned by most Western countries because of
widespread human rights abuses. At a senior-level meeting between E.U. and ASEAN
diplomats in Bangkok, Portugal's ambassador to Thailand, Tadeo Soares, said no
preconditions had been set for Burmese participation in the Lisbon meeting.
Portugal currently chairs the European Union.
"There are no conditions whatsover on the dialogue," Soares said.
"The Burmese have been granted visas to go to Lisbon."
He described the agreement to allow the Burmese to take part in the
meeting as a "breakthrough" in the ongoing E.U.-ASEAN row. A ministerial meeting
aimed at promoting economic, cultural and political cooperation between the two
groups had been delayed for three years as several European leaders objected to
dealing with the Burmese junta. Those objections had been a stumbling block in
E.U.-ASEAN relations since Burma joined ASEAN in July 1997.
Soares said E.U. members' objections had been overcome by a
compromise, under which restrictions would be tightened to prevent about 200
Burmese military leaders, not including diplomats, from entering Europe.
"The decision was a double package," Soares said. "We agreed, let's
go on with the dialogue, and let's be more strict on the visa policy between the
E.U. and Burma."
But other analysts said the decision represented a clear diplomatic
victory to the Burmese junta, despite reports that it has recently stepped up
repression of its citizens, including forced labor and arbitrary arrests.
Friday, June 16 1:19 AM SGT
Myanmar foreign ministry rejects ILO resolution over forced labour YANGON, June 15 (AFP) - The ruling military junta Thursday said it "totally rejects" the resolution
of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) against the use of forced labour
in Myanmar, dubbing the decision a "politically motivated action by western
nations."
"The resolution is unfair and unjust and the process flawed and Myanmar
totally rejects the resolution," said a foreign ministry press release issued in
the aftermath of the resolution passed at the 88th session of the ILO in Geneva
on June 14.
In an unprecedented step, the ILO voted in a full plenary session Wednesday
to call for diplomatic sanctions against the junta if conditions had not
improved by November 30.
An ILO delegation visited Myanmar in May and warned the authorities about
the use of force labour. In its report published last week, the ILO called on
Myanmar to adopt measures to ensure state authorities, especially the military,
do not used forced labor.
"Myanmar wishes to reiterate that there are no practices of forced labor in
the country and the necessary administrative and legislative measures are being
implemented to prevent occurrences of forced labor," the press release said,
adding the country "would never bow to political pressure."
"It is most regrettable that the resolution was adopted despite the
goodwill and cooperation demonstrated by Myanmar," said the statement issued
late Thursday.
The press release also said the move could set a precedent that would delay
rather than hasten the emergence of democracy in developing nations.
"Today Myanmar is singled out for censure -- tomorrow it may be another
developing country," it said, adding that such actions "could only impede the
process of democratization."
"Myanmar would be resolutely implementing its chosen path of building a
modern, developed and democratic society where property, rights and benefits
will be extended to all strata of society," it said.
In a statement earlier Thursday a senior spokesman for the military
government also expressed deep regret over the ILO's censure motion against
Myanmar.
He said the military authorities had worked hard since then to cooperate
with the ILO's demands.
"It is regretful that Myanmar has been singled out for a censure and a
punitive action as well by the ILO in connection with the problem which arose
from the arbitrary judgement based on misinformation," he said.
The ILO's resolution was approved despite opposition from other Asian
nations, led by Malaysia, which wanted to rule out any measures to put pressure
on Yangon.
The final wording, with the delayed action, was seen as a compromise.
The countries which voted against it were China, Japan, India and
Malaysia.
Myanmar Labour Minister General Ting Ngwe had promised to carry out the
necessary reforms in a letter written in May after the ILO delegation's
visit.
But a European Union statement said the general promises made in the letter
were not encouraging.
Myanmar was condemned for widespread use of forced and compulsory labour by
an ILO commission of inquiry in 1998 and the issue of what follow-up action to
take has proven one of the hottest subjects at the ILO conference.
Friday, June 16 5:42 PM SGT
Rights groups slam UNESCO over involvement in Myanmar tourism driveBANGKOK, June 16 (AFP) -Human rights groups Friday slammed UNESCO for helping the military regime in Myanmar to attract foreign tourists, despite the democracy movement's plea for visitors to stay away. "It's outrageous for a UN agency to be assisting Burma's military regime in promoting tourism to the country at this time," said Burma Campaign UK director Yvette Mahon. "Because of the scale of human rights abuse linked to tourism and the financial benefit to the regime, the high cost of tourism for the vast majority of ordinary Burmese dramatically outweighs any benefits," she said in an interview from London. The Myanmar government has said that it will host a seminar on "Safeguarding of cultural heritage and the role of the tourism industry in Myanmar," to be held in Yangon from June 19 to 23. It said the seminar was organised "in cooperation with UNESCO" and "was held for the progress of the Myanmar cultural and tourism sectors". Rights groups criticised the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's involvement, saying that it went against the strong stand taken by other UN organisations over the military regime's alleged abuses. "UNESCO should consult its colleagues in the ILO who have accused Burma of 'crimes against humanity' for its exploitation of forced labour," said Lara Marsh at Tourism Concern. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Wednesday gave Myanmar a deadline to put an end to forced labour, voting in a full plenary session to call for diplomatic sanctions if conditions had not improved by November 30. UNESCO's regional adviser for culture Richard Engelhardt appeared to back some of the rights groups' concerns, saying the organisation's Bangkok office had not been informed of the involvement in the seminar. "I was not consulted over the organisation of this seminar so I learned about it just as everyone else did from a press report," Englehardt told AFP. "It is a somewhat unusual situation." He said UNESCO's head office in Paris had dealt directly with the military regime, and it was not immediately clear what kind of assistance it was giving, although Myanmar said it would "coordinate" the event. Englehardt said he would have advised the organisation to tread very carefully before becoming involved with the Myanmar conference. "Given that the entire UN system has a policy that we must consult and look very carefully at all the different kinds of assistances in Myanmar I would have said that there should have been much more of a consultation." "I certainly understand the concerns on both sides. Burma Campaign's Mahon said well-documented mass human rights abuses had been directly linked to the development of tourist infrastructure and the tourism industry in Myanmar. "Income generated through tourism helps to sustain one of the most brutal military regimes in the world. On the other hand tourism under the control of the military benefits only a tiny percentage of Burma's 48 million people." She said that the regime had used foreign investment through the 1990s to double the size of its military and strengthen its grip on power. Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is staunchly opposed to the development of the tourism industry, although elements within her National League for Democracy disagree. Much of the diplomatic community in Yangon also argues that it is counter-productive to close off Myanmar to foreign vistors. But in an interview with AFP last year, Aung San Suu Kyi -- a strong advocate of economic sanctions against the regime -- said tourists did not help to open the country which has been under harsh military rule for decades. "Tourists don't bring new ideas. Most of the tourists who come (here) come to enjoy themselves," she said. "There are some tourists who take the trouble to talk to various people to find out what the situation in the country is like, but the great majority of tourists, especially the ones who come to a place like Burma, knowing Burma is a dictatorship, come here because they want to see something new." Friday, June 16 4:50 PM SGT Rights group denounces Thai deportation of Myanmar refugeesBANGKOK, June 16 (AFP) - The US-based activist group Human Rights Watch Friday accused the Thai government of forcibly repatriating ethnic minority refugees to Myanmar. "Human Rights Watch denounces the Thai government's forced repatriation of ethnic minority Karen refugees to Myanmar," it said. The group said that on June 12 Thai authorities expelled 116 refugees from Don Yang camp in the western province of Kanchanaburi to Myanmar, without holding a proper hearing on whether they should be repatriated. More than 100,000 displaced people from Myanmar live in camps in Thailand after fleeing political persecution or fighting between the ruling junta and Karen rebels. "You can't send people back with proper screening. This is a basic principle of international refugee protection," said Joe Saunders, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. "The people who had been forced back should be allowed to return and should be given a proper hearing ... These forced returns set a dangerous precedent," Saunders said in a statement. "To the extent that lack of resources" for holding hearings for every refugee "is the problem, the Thai government should discuss burden-sharing with ... other members of the international community." The National Security Council, which deals with refugee issues, was not available Friday to comment on the allegation. The Thai government usually refuses to comment on specific repatriation cases, but Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has told the UN High Commissioner for Refugees that Thailand hopes to repatriate all the reguees within three years. While the Thai government has for many years taken a benign approach to dealing with the displaced people, recent incidents have led to a change in its approach and a broad crackdown on Myanmar refugees. Earlier this year a group of Myanmar ethnic rebels crossed into Thailand and took over a provincial hospital before being shot dead by Thai special forces who stormed the complex. Last October, Myanmar student gunmen briefly took over Yangon's embassy in Bangkok. Human Rights Watch has said that although the embassy and hospital sieges were the work of small, radical organizations, the Thai government has used them to justify a wider crackdown. It says that as a result of the Thai government's heightened security concerns and a willingness to play a more direct role in refugee admission decisions the treatment of Burmese refugees in Thailand is now undergoing a "significant turn for the worse". Myanmar has denied it is guilty of persecuting ethnic minorities, which the refugees claim forced them over the border. Friday, June 16 4:59 PM SGT Myanmar: ILO's Criticism On Forced Labor Is ""Unjust""YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--Myanmar says a U.N. agency's condemnation of the country for using forced labor is unfair and could hinder moves toward democracy. "The resolution is unfair and unjust and the process flawed, and Myanmar totally rejects the resolution," said a Foreign Ministry press release dated June 15 and published in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Friday. "The action was politically motivated and spearheaded by a group of western nations who have a hidden agenda with regard to Myanmar," it said. The International Labor Organization approved unprecedented measures against Myanmar, also known as Burma, on Wednesday for the widespread use of forced labor, but gave the country four months to prove its willingness to change. The ILO delegates in Geneva agreed in a 257-41 vote, with 31 abstentions, to recommend that ILO members - governments, workers and employers - "review their links with Myanmar and take appropriate measures to ensure (Myanmar) cannot take advantage of such relations to perpetuate or extend the system of forced or compulsory labor." Asian nations generally opposed the resolution. Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Last year the ILO barred Myanmar from receiving assistance after a commission reported on the widespread use of forced labor for infrastructure projects. Myanmar said the work was offered freely for the development of the nation. The Nation June 16, 2000. Indonesia calls for an Asean human rights centre
ASEAN governments should set up a networking centre to expose member countries to the concept of human rights and share experiences in human development, the Indonesian Minister for Human Rights Dr Hasballah M Saad suggested yesterday. An international symposium on human rights would also encourage Asean countries like Brunei, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia to express their view on human rights, M Saad said. The minister yesterday attended the third Norway-China-Canada Symposium on Human Rights being held here in Bangkok. Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Mongolia, Nepal, Bangladesh and five Asean nations - Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore - participated in the meeting in the capacity of observers. The two-day symposium, hosted by Norway, also discussed various mechanisms to protect and promote human rights, including the setting up of human-rights courts, drawing from the experience of Europe. Indonesia is the only country in the region to have a human rights minister. The ministry was set up last October under the leadership of President Abdurrahman Wahid, who came to power through the country's first democratic election in more than three decades. "We had serious human rights abuses in the past, so we need a national policy on human rights and set up this ministry to handle the matter," Wahid had explained. Thailand said yesterday that human rights and human security should serve as "twin pillars" to ensure the achievement of sustainable human development. In a keynote address to the meeting, Apinan Pavanarit, deputy permanent secretary to the Foreign Ministry, said the creation of a conducive environment was imperative for human rights to be widely promoted and fully protected. "Advancing human security, therefore, could provide an enabling environment not only for human rights to flourish, but also for human development to be sustained," he said. Apinan said that cooperation among governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and grassroots communities is necessary along the road to sustainable human development. He said the networking of NGOs is wider and stronger and they have become a constructive force for sustainable development. Therefore, foreign strategic partnership among all actors is key to promotion of human rights, human security and human development. Wang Min, a counsellor to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said all countries should open up to the exchange of experience and cooperation on human rights issues, on the basis of equality and mutual respect, in order to promote healthier international human rights initiatives. China hosted the symposium in the eastern resort city of Qingdao last July while Canada promoted and hosted the first symposium in 1998. Jill Sinclair, director-general of global and human issues in Canada's Foreign Ministry, yesterday urged countries to build up a partnership and transparent attitude towards protection of human rights. BY SA-NGUAN KHUMRUNGROJ The Nation BBC-Thursday, 15
June, 2000, 16:40 GMT 17:40 UK
Aids explodes on
trafficking routes
By Mangai Balasegaram
About a year ago, researcher Chris Beyrer predicted a new outbreak of the Aids epidemic in a relatively remote and unlikely area - Almaty, Kazakhstan. He did it simply by looking at a map. Dr Beyrer led a study looking at the link between drug trafficking routes in Asia and outbreaks of infection of HIV, the virus that leads to Aids. "[On] the map, the most logical place where [one] route would continue was Almaty," explained the director of the John Hopkins Fogarty International Aids training and research programme in the United States. "Six months later, I got an e-mail from a colleague in the UN saying there
was an explosive outbreak there."
Dr Beyrer's study found "about a 100%" likelihood that an uptake of heroin
use, followed by explosive outbreaks of HIV infection, would occur in
communities living along drug smuggling routes.
Many of the communities were poor and unprepared to cope with an epidemic.
"The sad news is that it looks like when heroin is widely available and
cheap, people start using it," he said.
"People would like to say it's a social problem, that it's personal, but
we've found no community immune."
Rapid infection
Dr Beyrer said the new epidemics spread rapidly, with HIV infection rates
among drug injectors leaping from 1% to 40% in just one year.
Two remote towns on drug trafficking routes recently hit by HIV outbreaks
include Irkutsk, in southern Siberia, and Urumchi, the capital of China's
Xinjiang province.
Irkutsk also has the second highest prevalence rate in Russia.
Drug use lies behind the majority of HIV infections in China, Vietnam and
Malaysia, accounting for well over 60 per cent of infections, official figures
report.
And in many areas in Asia, including Thailand which has over 800,000 people
with HIV, the epidemics began among drug injectors before spreading to the
general population.
Fingerprinting the virus
The researchers tracked different strains of HIV in infected people living on
four drug trafficking routes out of Burma.
"We looked at genetic sequencing, which is rather like fingerprinting.
"In Urumchi, everyone studied had a virus extremely closely-related. We
identified it from the outbreak in Yunnan."
Trafficking routes lead from Burma into Yunnan - the neighbouring province of
China - then go either east to Nanning or Hong Kong, or north to Urumchi.
The US State Department says Burma produces about 80% of south-east Asia's
heroin.
Potential disaster
Dr Beyrer warned of a "potential public health disaster" as HIV infection
spreads from drug injectors to the wider community through sexual contact.
He said most countries affected "didn't care about drug users" and simply
incarcerated them.
"So much so that methadone - the bedrock of heroin treatment, detox and
management in the West - is illegal in China, Vietnam and Burma," he said.
Vietnam is the only Asian country with a needle exchange programme, which has
been shown to prevent HIV infection.
"There are very few effective interventions in Asia," said Ton Smits, of the
Asian Harm Reduction Network, which works on HIV prevention among drug
injectors.
"We're facing a major challenge here. There's real cause for concern."
Dr Nick Crofts, deputy director of Mcfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical
Research in Melbourne, said effective HIV prevention programmes in Australia had
resulted in very low infection rates among drug users.
"People haven't learnt they can stop this epidemic," he said.
"The evidence is that if you give drug users the means and opportunity to
change their behaviour, they will. Getting people to change their sexual
behaviour is much harder." Far Eastern Economic Review-
June 22, 2000. Burmese Leader Wants to
Quit Burmese leader Gen. Than Shwe, who is 67, is said to be tired of being junta
chief and head of state. So there may be more to the cancellation of his planned
visit to Bangladesh in late May than the officially stated reason that his
physician had recommended him not to travel. On May 11, Than Shwe wrote a letter
to the junta, the State Peace and Development Council, intimating his intention
to retire from his post as its chairman. The issue was discussed at an SPDC
meeting on May 16, and the delegates urged him not to resign. Without Than Shwe
as chairman, observers believe that the rivalry between army commander Gen.
Maung Aye and intelligence chief Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt could turn into an open
power struggle. Than Shwe's request to quit comes at a time when the SPDC is
under pressure from the influential Buddhist clergy to initiate a dialogue with
the country's main pro-democracy party, the National League for Democracy. Rulers who deny the mandate of the people do not derive legitimacy by virtue
of the passage of time. Imposing a "statute of limitations," as it were, on the
NLD's duty to represent the people who elected the party would indicate
otherwise. To put the winners aside in the name of expediency rewards the
military for its ruthlessness and punishes the NLD for its steadfastness.
Led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD has called on the international community to
support the implementation of the United Nations resolutions on Burma, passed
annually since 1992; it supports the use of sanctions to facilitate a tripartite
dialogue between the military junta, the NLD and ethnic nationalities. Its
message is clear. Yet some observers, including academics, advocacy groups and
government officials, have begun to question if diplomatic pressure and support
for the opposition will succeed. Implicit in this, and explicit in the regime's
own determination to undermine the United States, the European Union and the
UN's resolve on Burma, is that the international community should no longer look
to Suu Kyi and the NLD as the legitimate leaders of Burma. In short, they are
now asking, given the inability of the two parties to reach any compromise and
the length of time that has passed since the elections, if it wouldn't be
reasonable to begin to cease to dwell on the past.
But this is exactly what the SPDC has hoped for. As long as the international
community continues to look to the NLD as the legitimate winners of the 1990
elections, the SPDC will never gain the international legitimacy it so
desperately wants. Visible international support for the NLD and the
pro-democracy movement, which the NLD has requested, also bolsters the party's
efforts to retain support at home. In addition to the more tangible results of
international pressure, it provides critical moral support to the people of
Burma. The SPDC has therefore gone to great lengths to convince the
international community and the people of Burma that the NLD is no longer
viable. They have even gone so far as to claim that the election was not a
parliamentary election at all but an election to select some of the participants
to a constitutional convention. The election is an albatross around the junta's
neck.
Another aspect of the SPDC's propaganda is to suggest that the NLD is setting
up roadblocks to any serious dialogue. A handful of policymakers and Burma
scholars now argue that the NLD is an impediment to change; that its core
position is hardline and uncompromising. According to Robert Taylor,
vice-chancellor of Buckingham University in Britain, "a number of people" feel
that Suu Kyi's stand on principle "makes it very difficult to have a stand on
politics." But as the NLD has stated repeatedly, its only precondition to
dialogue is that there be no preconditions. They have been accused of being
uncompromising for not accepting terms no one would. They have continued to
state that they, for example, and not the SPDC, will choose who will represent
the NLD in talks. This is neither hardline nor uncompromising.
Efforts to promote democracy in Burma should be based on the 1990 election.
To assume that the NLD no longer speaks for the people of Burma is a false
assumption. It is the NLD, and not the SPDC, that is the voice of the people. In
no other authoritarian country is it so clear who speaks for the democratic
opposition. To support a reduction in international pressure on the military
junta goes against the express wishes of the NLD. It is neither right nor
appropriate to work against their wishes in the name of democracy.
For those who believe that support for the NLD and Suu Kyi is noble but
naive, look around. We have stood with many great world leaders who fought long
for justice--Nelson Mandela, Kim Dae Jung, Vaclav Havel. It is not time to turn
our backs on Burma. There is no shortage of democrats in Burma. What's missing
is democracy. The writer is the programme officer for Asia at the National Endowment for
Democracy in Washington. He oversees its Burma
project Far Eastern Economic
Review
INTELLIGENCE
Issue cover-dated June 22, 2000 Burmese Leader Wants to
Quit |