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BurmaNet News: September 2




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"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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BurmaNet News: Friday, September 2, 1994

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Contents:

BKK POST MON REFUGEES CLAIM RICE SEIZED BY BPP
REUTERS: BURMESE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION SET TO RESUME
BKK POST: TWO BURMESE SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS FOR FRAUD
NATION: SPY MASTER'S RISE TO POWER

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BKK POST MON REFUGEES CLAIM RICE SEIZED BY BPP
SEPTEMBER 2 1994

Border Patrol Police manning the new Halockhani campsite have sized rice in
what Mon refugees claimed was an effort to push them back to Burma.  A Mon
representative said BPP, by the order from the 9th Infantry Division, sized
rice from a barn where several hundred sacks of rice were kept.

He said rice will be distributed to those who return to their old
Halockhani, but not to those who stay. Several thousand sacks of rice were
taken to the refugees by foreign relief organizations several month ago.
Thai authorities have assured ethnic Mon refugees that the route, which is
sealed off since Aug 10, will be opened for them and food supply will be
allowed to pass to their camp if they go back.

Thai authorities told refugees they had spoken with Burmese military
representatives responsible for this area, who said they would not launch and
attack against ethnic Mon civilians again. Mon refugees, however, submitted
five demands to the Thai authorities and say they have been ignored.
Thai authorities should get reassurance from the Burmese said to assure
Burmese soldier will not attack Mon refugees again when they go back, they
said .

And when they go back, the route must be opened so that food supplies can be
brought to them. They said international organization such as the UNHCR
should
allowed to have an office at their new camp to oversee problems. A new camp
inside Burma, not the old Halockhani camp, should be provide for them as the
old Halockhani camp is not safe, they said. It was the route where Burmese
soldiers always travel.

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REUTERS: BURMESE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION SET TO RESUME
September 2

A Constitutional convention central to the Burmese junta's long-
term political strategy but dismissed by opponents as a sham is
said to resume in Rangoon Friday after a five month recess.
The junta has ordered the convention, which first met in january
last year, to draw up guidelines for a new constitution to pave
the way for a military-dominated yet legitimate government to
take over running the country.

The constitution that eventually emerge will establish a multi-
party democracy, freedom of warship and expression and free and
open economic system the ruling general say.

Although there are pro-democracy politicians among the 600
delegates, the majority of those attending have been hand-picked
by the junta and are clearly expected to followed the military's
line, diplomats in Rangoon say.

They have invested so much in this and it's going the way they
want it to", one Rangoon based diplomat said on Thursday.
Exiled Burmese dissidents have widely condemned the convention
as a sham and a thinly-veiled bid by the junta to keep power
indefinitely.

Some foreign governments have also criticized the convention for
failing to introduce genuine democratic change.  Diplomats say that although
the proceedings lack credibility, the process now under way will eventually
produce a government which the regime can claim is legitimate.

"There an enormous problem with credibility--it doesn't have any-
but the process can be said to be legitimate," the diplomat in
Rangoon said.

Among the fundamental principles already settled is a guarantee
that the military retains a "leading role" in feature politics
Other section of the charter already agreed role out the widely
popular detained dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi ever having
a chance to lead the country because she has lived abroad during
the past 20 years and is married to a foreigner.

Suu Kyi among those who has dismissed the proceeding as a non-
representative rubber stamp. "It's and absolute farce," she told visiting US
congressman Bill Richardson in Feb during the first and only visit she has
been allowed from a non-family member since she was detained in July
1989.--

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BKK POST: TWO BURMESE SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS FOR FRAUD
September 2

Two Burmese businessman have been sentenced to 14 years in jail
for fraud, falsifying officials documents are creating a misunderstanding
between senior government leaders and foreign business firms, state-run radio
Rangoon said Wednesday.

Hla Htay and Thant Zin were sentenced by a district court in
Rangoon on Aug 18, the radio said in a broadcast monitored here.
The two were convicted of using false documents to take the
equivalent of two million dollars in kyats, the Burmese currency,
and US$ 100,000 from the bank account of the Sumatra Co, a Thai
firm.

When Sumatra officials inquired about the accounts, the two faked more
documents that purported to be responses from various Burmese ministries, it
said. The radio gave no other details of the case.

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NATION: SPY MASTER'S RISE TO POWER
September 2

Khin Nyunt's rise to prominence as head of Burma's feared
military intelligence service began when he was appointed in 1994
by them president Ne Win. His predecessor, Tin Oo, was train by
the CIA and was considered to be Slorc chairman Ne Win's most
trusted lieutenant and Burma's second in command. He was chief
of military intelligence services, chief military assistant to
the then president Ne Win, a member of the Council of State joint
secretary-general of BSPP.

However, surprisingly, Tin Oo and another minister, Bo Ni,
were"permitted to resign" in May 1983 and later jailed. Many
observers at the time believed that Tin Oo had been purged
because he and his cronies had become too powerful.
Ne Win who had built up one of Asia's most efficient secret
police forces, did not hesitate in finding a substitute for the
depose Tin Oo. He appointed Col khin Nyunt, who was considered
to be his adopted son, as intelligence chief in 1984.
Khin Nyunt now is considered Burma's most powerful man. He is
military intelligence chief and Secretary One of the Slorc.

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ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:

 AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
 AFP: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
 AWSJ: ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
 BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
 BI: BURMA ISSUES
 BIG: BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
 BKK POST: THE BANGKOK POST
 CPPSM: COMMITTEE FOR THE PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND
 DA:  DEPTHNEWS ASIA
 FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW
 NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)

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