MUCH OF THE REGION AROUND MANERPLAW

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Subject: MUCH OF THE REGION AROUND MANERPLAW REMAINS UNTOUCHED


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Bangkok Post
(Feb. 1994)

MUCH OF THE REGION AROUND MANERPLAW REMAINS UNTOUCHED. 
Western economic support worries Greens
By MICK ELMORE
Photo: MICK ELMORE.

DEVELOPMENT is often controversial. Sometimes it's deadly. So says
a spokesperson for a coalition against Burma's State Law and Order
Restoration Council (Slorc).

  Destruction comes in many forms, the spokesperson said. It
doesn't have to be bulldozers pushing through pristine forests, or
soldiers torching villages.

  The development they're concerned about is in the form of Western
economic support for Slorc. Mostly from multi-national companies.

  The money gives Slorc the means to buy more weapons, and to some
degree it legitimises the government, the spokesperson said. Money
given to Slorc by the multi-nationals is being used to strengthen
the regime's power.

  In November the spokesperson visited several areas along the
Thai-Burmese border investigating the situation.  Sunday
Perspective caught up with the spokesperson in Manerplaw.

  ``The Karen are not alone in their struggle,'' the visitor said,
``we will make sure the West knows.''

  Environmental and human rights movements have a lot of say in the
West, the visitor said. ``We'll make sure shareholders know what
the companies are up to.''

  There is an international movement aimed at addressing
trans-national investments in Burma, the spokesperson added.

  ``More than US$5 billion [125 billion baht] in investment is
being directed at gas pipeline and super-dam projects for Burma and
Thailand which will devastate indigenous communities and the
environment,'' the spokesperson said.

  The most pressing issue is gasfield developments, however,
because they are currently on the drawing board.

  Military offensives designed at occupying areas where the
projects are planned have been underway for more than two years and
there have been numerous reports of forced ``slave'' labour being
used for the construction of roads to assist infrastructure for the
projects.

  ``We are sending a message to Unocal, Texaco, Total, Premier, and
Nippon Oil that they will have to explain to their shareholders why
their investment is contributing to ... Burma today,'' the
spokesperson said.

  At a meeting in Manerplaw members representing many nationalities
determined to ensure that ``crimes committed by Slorc on behalf of
multi-national corporations will be exposed and they will be forced
to account for their actions.''

  The plans the groups are opposing include two gas field
developments. Gas pipelines from the offshore fields will cross to
Thailand through traditional land holdings of indigenous groups
that have been fighting against the Burmese military for more than
40 years.

  It's the multi-nationals that must be addressed, the spokesperson
said.

  Talking to people in Manerplaw about problems with Slorc is like
preaching to the committed. They don't need to be briefed on Slorc.
They know. But they were good listeners, and had their own say,
too.

  At the meeting one young Karen put the issue on basic terms
concerning building dams on the Salween and Moei rivers. ``It would
be the end of my people,'' he said. ``The dams would cut us in
half. We would have to decide between living on the Thai side or
being pushed back into Slorc.''

  He added that the reservoirs behind the dams would spread the
population so thin they would no longer be a unified people.

  But as the dams move from the idea stage to the proposal stage,
they could face strong environmental opposition. The Salween and
Moei rivers run through some of the region's most beautiful country
and many might protest the area forests being drowned.

  It's an international issue, the spokesperson said, because of
the multi-nationals' interest.

  But it's more pressing to locals. As one said: ``Burma's natural
resources belong to many communities living on lands that belong to
them. Not to Slorc. They have no right to sell our resources.''