BurmaNet News: October 31, 1994

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

************************** BurmaNet ************************** 
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
************************************************************** 
BurmaNet News: Monday, October 31, 1994
Issue #48

Happy Halloween!

************************************************************** 
Contents:

NATION: LATEST TALKS WITH SUU KYI SIGNAL HOPE FOR OPPOSITION 
BKK POST: CHUAN WELCOMES MEETING
NATION: EMPLOYERS RISK DEATH,ROBBERY FROM ILLEGAL BURMESE
BURMANET: REQUEST TO READERS IN DC, NYC & BOSTON

************************************************************** 

The BurmaNet News is an      *********************************
electronic daily newspaper   *                               *
covering Burma. Articles     *                  Iti          *   
from newspapers, magazines,  *                 snotpo        *
wire services, newsletters   *             werthatcor        *
and the Internet are         *            ruptsbutfea        *
published as well as         *           r.Fearoflos         *
original material.           *          ingpowercor          *
                             *       ruptsthosewhoare        *
The BurmaNet News is         *     subjecttoit...Theef       *
e-mailed directly to         *     fortnecessarytoremain     *
subscribers and is           *   uncorruptedinanenvironm     *
also distributed via         *  entwherefearisanintegralpar  *
the soc.culture.burma,       *   tofeverydayexistenceisnot   *
soc.culture.thai             *      immediatelyapparent      *
newsgroups and the           *       tothosefortun           *
seasia-l mailing             *       ateenoughtol            *
list.  For a free            *       iveinstatesgo           *
subscription to the          *        vernedbytheru          *
BurmaNet News, send an       *        leoflaw...Iam         *
e-mail message to:           *        n ota     frai         *
                             *                  d..          *
strider@xxxxxxxxxxx          *                   .D          *
                             *                   aw          *
Subscriptions are            *                   Au          *
handled manually so          *                   ng          *
allow for a delay            *                  San          *
before requests are          *                  Su           *
fielded.  Letters to         *                  uK           *
the editor, comments or      *                   yi          *
contributions of             *                   .           *
articles should be sent      *********************************
to the strider address as 
well.  For those without e-mail, BurmaNet can be contacted by fax
or snailmail.

     By fax: (in Thailand) (66)2 234-6674              
     Attention to BurmaNet, care of Burma Issues       
                              
     By snailmail: (in the United States)         
     BurmaNet, care of Coban Tun   
     1267 11th Avenue #3           
     San Francisco, CA 94122 USA


************************************************************** 
NATION: LATEST TALKS WITH SUU KYI SIGNAL HOPE FOR OPPOSITION 
October 31, 1994

BURMA'S military junta has confirmed its desire to open a dialogue
with the opposition thriugh a well-publicized s econd meeting with
detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu kyi, observers say.  

For three hours on Friday, junta strongman Lt Gen khin Nyunt had a
"frank and cordial" meeting on political and economic metters with
the celebrated political prisoner, according to state-run
television. Footage of the meeting was broadcast on friday, and
Burma's three state-run newspapers were snapped up on Saturaday by
people eager to learn about the talks. Reports were terse but each
newspaper carried front-page pictures of the four participants in
the meeting, including the junta's two legal experts. Details of
their discussions were not available. Suu kyi is barred from
meeting foreign journalists, and the local media are tightly
controlled. 

Observers said that the junta, by holding two meetings with Suu kyi
since Sept 20, has put her in the role of interlocutor for the
opposition with the military regime that seized " power in 1988
after troops crushed massive pro-democracy protests. The junta,
known as the SLORC, has been under constant international pressure
to free Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since july 1989,
and to open a dialogue with the opposition. For several months now,
Slorc has gradually opened up the burmese economy, devastated by
the former dictator Ne Win's polices to make the country
eonomically self-reliant with no need for imports. 

Ne Win, 84, withdrew from public life after the pro-democracy
upheaval. Most observers believe that any discussions beyween the
junta and the opposition would produce a "Chilean solution" for
Burma, based on a gradual withdrawal of the military from the
political arena and protection of its economic and other interests.
A Western diplomat in Rangoon reached by telephone from Bangkok
noted that Friday's meeting with Suu kyi was longer than the first
and had "less of yhe protocol aspects." Lt gen Khinn Nyunt, the
country's feared military intelligence chief and niminal "first
secretary" of the Slorc, was accompanied at Friday's meeting by
army advoccate general Than Oo and armed forces inpector general
Tin Aye.


************************************************************** 
BKK POST: CHUAN WELCOMES MEETING
October 31, 1994

Trang (Thailand)

PRIME Minister Chuan Leekpai welcomed last Friday's meeting between
Burmese intelligence chief Khin Nyunt and detained dissident leader
Aung San Suu Kyi for talks on Burma's political and economic
situation. 

The meeting, the second of its kind in just over a month, was
expected to help improve the political atmosphere in Burma, which
would benefit the country's development, he said. Mr Chuan
attributed "positive developments" in Burma to the diplomatic
policy of Thailand and other ASEAN members toward Rangoon. He was
apparently referring to the so-called "constructive
engagement"policy of ASEAN, despite pressure from many Western
countries for the group to isolate Rangoon's military regime. Mr
Chuan said although the meeting was Burma's own internal affair,
"positive developments are always welcome."  

He said he had asked the Burmese foreign ministry to release Aung
San Suu Kyi quickly.


************************************************************** 
NATION: THAILAND EMPLOYERS RISK DEATH,ROBBERY AT HANDS OF ILLEGAL
BURMESE IMMIGRANTS
October 31, 1994

TAK, Mae Sot - Recent brutal crimes allegedly committed by illegal
Burmese immigrants hired as cheap labour by thais have caused alarm
among their employers. The employers see themselves as being caught
in a dilemma - to hire more expensive legal workers, and there are
not enough of them, or to go on using cheaper illegal workers and
risk being robbed or killed. The influx of these immigrants, either
fleeing Burma's civil war or seeking their fortunes in Thailand's
has brought about 200,000 Burmese to work and stay in the kingdom.
More than 5,000 work in Bangkok through the "helpful" efforts of
police or military officers who earn Bt1,500-3,000 for each Burmese
workers supplied to city employers. Illegal Burmese labourers are
routinely paid much less than Thai workers, but still more than
they would earn in Burma. As illegal they also have nowhere to go
to complain - a fact widely exploited by employers.     

Officals in Tak said burmese immigrants first started moving into
the province in 1977, laterspreading to other cities, some with
"work permits" granted by Thai officials. however the incidence of
theft and other crimes in the district has increased during reent
years acording to police and Mae Sot, most reportedly committed b
illegal Burmeses's immigrants. Then came a horrific tragedy on Sept
29 when a famly of three, including a two year-old girl, were
murdered in cold blood. Their throats were slit and the bodies
piled in a toilet. The dead were indentified as SermsriWichaha, 33,
his wife Nisa, 25 and their daughter Piyaporn. Police alleged that
three Burmese working for the family's garage business had
collaborate to murder them and rob them of bt60,000 in cash "to get
rich fast". Two of the illegal migrants, identified as Mong, 26 and
win, 21, were arrested about a week after the murder. Another
suspect, Por, 22 fled across the border, police said. 

Police give a vivid but horrendous picture of how the crime had
been planned and executed from accounts of the two arrested men,
which could serve to remind those still hiring illegants immigrants
as cheap labour of the risks. Like other illegals, the three
sneaked across the bordeer in Tak's Mae Sot district. They later
found work at Sermsri's garage and house in Saraburi's Nong Khae
district. Having worked three for a while, the three decided that
they needed to get rich first and they planned the robbery and the
gruesome murder. Police said the three intended to leave no
witnesses to testify against them later. 

Their chance came when Sermsri was working late into the night of
Sept29. His four- month-pregnant wife and his daughter had gone to
bed upstairs. Sermsri was busy repairing a vehicle's brakes
downstairs, which was used as the garage, when Por allegedly
knocked him unconscious with a metal pipe. The three Burmese then
dragged Sermsri into the toilet. Mong allegedly slit his throat
while he was still unconscious. Win then went upstairs to wake
Sermsri's wife, luring Nisa downstairs and into the toilet with a
tale that Sermsri had been accidently shocked by a short circuit
inside the toilet. sermsri was lying face down on the floor and
when Nias bent down to examine him, Por hit her with a hammer. 
Mong then slit her throat and her body was left alongside heer
husband's. With the two adults dead, the three no longer needed to
be careful. Por rushed upstairs and grabbed the young girl,
ccarrying her down to the killing room below and ignoring her
struggles and cries of terror. 

Police said her throat was slit while she was still awake,
according to the two arrested suspects. The three dead bodies were
piled together in the toilet, withSermsri's corpse at the bottom
and the daughter on top. It was two days later that police learned
of the triple murder. One of  Sermsri's customers arrived at the
garage and found the doors left open. He noticed a bad smell and
ccalled police. Police arrived at the scence and found the house
had been looted.

The three Burmese were apparently not professional robbers they
carelessly left behind many traces which poineted to them as the
murderers. police found a pair of jeans which cleatrly bore the
victims's blood, a notebook with massages in Burmese, and a
cassette of Burmese aongs left in the workers' room. They also foun
d a photo of the threesome, which had been torn in pieces. Police
reconstructed the picture and established their identities. 

On Oct 4, Nong Khae investigators rushed to Mae Sot district,
sertain that the three would try to flee across the border to their
own country. Mae Sot police cooperated fully, checking possible
hideouts and stepping up checks along the border. The police got
lucky on Ocy 7 when they located Mong in a rented room in a village
in Mae Sot. Police also found three gold necklaces belonging to
Sermsri, Nisa and their daughter in his possession. The following
day, Win was arrested in another village in the same district .
Police found burmese bank notes on him. Win addmitted that he had
traded some of the stolen money into Burmese currency in
preparation to return to his home.

************************************************************** 
BURMANET: REQUEST TO READERS IN DC, NYC & BOSTON
October 31, 1994

I am trying to contact Burma-related student, information or
activist groups in DC the DC, NYC and Boston areas.  If you are in
one of these cities, please drop me a note.

  Thanks,

     --Strider

************************************************************** 

NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:

 AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
 AFP: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
 AW: ASIAWEEK
 AWSJ: ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
 Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt.=US$1 (APPROX), 
 BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, 
 BI: BURMA ISSUES
 BIG: BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
 BKK POST: THE BANGKOK POST
 BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI
 BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN
 CPPSM: C'TEE FOR PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND 
 FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW
 JIR: JANE'S INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
 KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
 Kt. BURMESE KYAT; 110-120 KYAT =US$1 BLACKMARKET
                   6 KYAT=US$1 OFFICIAL
 NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
 NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR
 S.C.B.:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP 
 S.C.T.:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
 SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
 USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
 XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY 
**************************************************************