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BurmaNet News: 8 March 1995
**************************BurmaNet***************************
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
*************************************************************
The BurmaNet News: 8 March 1995
Issue #121
NOTED IN PASSING:
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi seems destined to be the
Mandela of Myanmar. Little that Yangon's ruling
State Law and Order Restoration Council does is
likely to change that. But Slorc can contribute
substantially to making the process as painless as
possible.
<From ASIAWEEK: WRITING ON THE WALL--THE
WORLD SHOULD GET READY FOR PRESIDENT AUNG
SAN SUU KYI>
"We will use various method to destroy the camps.
Those who refuse to obey will be regarded as KNU
elements and will be destroyed,"
From SLORC leaflets distributed by DKBO
soldiers in Karen refugee camps. <See BKK
POST: NGOs FEAR CROSS-BORDER RAIDS BY
BURMESE FORCES>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Contents:
***********************INSIDE BURMA***************************
ASIA WEEK: WRITING ON THE WALL
FEER: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
*******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI*********************
NATION: THE BATTLE FOR KAWMOORA
NATION: KAREN WELCOME BANGKOK OFFER OF MEDIATION
BKK POST: TOP OFFICIAL CONDEMNS KIDNAPPING AT BORDER
BKK POST: BURMA SAYS 9,000 KAREN REFUGEES RETURNED HOME
NATION: KAREN LEADER LAUDS CHUAN'S MEDIATION OFFER
BKK POST: KNU TO WORK OUT NEW MILITARY STRATEGY
BKK POST: NGOS FEAR CROSS-BORDER RAIDS BY BURMESE FORCES
************************SHAN STATE****************************
BKK POST: BURMESE ARMY 'TO MOVE AGAINST DRUG WARLORD KHUN SA'
***************"THE OTHER COUNTRY" [THAILAND]*****************
BKK POST: LOGGING COMPANIES DEALING WITH BURMA SUFFER HEAVY
LOSSES
BKK POST: KHMER INTRUSIONS TO BE RETALIATED
*********************INTERNATIONAL****************************
BKK POST: BURMESE JUNTA LEADER TO VISIT VN
SEASIA-L: BOB HAWKE & `ASIAN VALUES'
****************************MISC******************************
SCB: SEATTLE TALK--MEDICAL CARE IN BURMA
BF: BURMA FORUM TO MEET ON APRIL 29
CARAVAN:BEYOND RANGOON [REPOST]
SCB: TEXT OF SELECTIVE PURCHASING LEGISLATION
NLM/SLORC: MYANMAR ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN MULTI-SECTORAL
APPROACH TO DRUG PROBLEM
SCB: REPLY TO IDENTIFY YOURSELF
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*************THE BURMANET NEWS--MARCH 8, 1995***************
**************************************************************
***********************INSIDE BURMA***************************
ASIA WEEK: WRITING ON THE WALL
The World Should Get Ready for President Aung San Suu Kyi
Prison bars may stall destiny for years, or even decades. But
not forever. During the 27 years that it kept Mr Nelson
Mandela in jail, Africa's apartheid regime paid a steep price.
the country was wracked by racial violence and saw its economy
erode. It was an international pariah. Mr. Mandela, by
contrast, emerged from his ordeal politically stronger and
more mature. Less than four years after his release, he was
elected to head a government of national reconciliation - a
brief he is carrying out with remarkable aplomb and success.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi seems destined to be the Mandela of
Myanmar. Little that Yangon's ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council does is likely to change that. But Slorc
can contribute substantially to making the process as painless
as possible.
Recently, the junta seemed poised to take a big step in that
direction - by releasing Ms. Suu Kyi after more than five
years of house arrest. But Slorc squelched such rumours by
abruptly announcing that nothing would change until a new
constitution was adopted. The charter has been under
discussion since 1992 and its completion still looks distant.
As things stand, its provisions regarding the Nobel Peace
Prize-winner are well-known: they bar her from political
office because she is married to a foreigner and has lived
abroad within the past two decades.
Such effort is likely to be in vain. Ms . Suu Kyi has
demonstrated far more than a physical kinship with Aung San,
her late father and independence hero. After a visit last
month, her husband, the British academic Mr. Michael Aris,
conveyed a single message: she would never cut a secret deal
with Slorc. That precludes an agreement to leave the country,
which could win her release instantly. Her stance underscores
the resolve she shares with her father to play an instrumental
role in making their nation strong, modern and humane. Ms. Suu
Kyi also retains the support of the more than 80% of Burmese
who voted in a 1990 general election for her party, the
National League for Democracy. Her stature is underpined not
only by her integrity, patriotism and commitment to democracy,
but also by her acceptability to Myanmar's fractious ethnic
groups and her international prestige.
Ms. Suu Kyi will re-emerge on center stage whether or not
Slorc succeeds in its drive to make Myanmar prosperous. If
economic reforms do bear fruit, the experience of neighbors in
East Asia - such as South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand -
suggests that democracy will follow. Like Mr. Kim Young Sam in
Korea, Ms. Suu Kyi could go from being detained oppositionist
to president. On the other hand, if the generals make a mess
of the economy, internal pressures could intensify to the
point where Ms. Suu Kyi would be the only person with the
charisma and moral authority save the day. Most analysts agree
that economic reforms alone will sustain a modest level of
growth, but that a quantum leap won't come without a political
transformation. Another catalyst for change inn the years
ahead will be the death of Gen. Ne Win. Now 83, the shadowy
strongman ruled for 26 years and continues to exercise a
powerful influence from behind the scenes.
Myanmar's ASEAN neighbors can play a key role. Batter than
anyone, they know how to appeal to Burmese sensibilities and
help induce positive change. ASEAN avoids the confrontation -
and often counter-productive - rhetoric of Western human
rights groups, but members agree that the Slorc regime lacks
legitimacy. After Yangoon announced that Ms.Suu Kyi's
detention would be prolonged indefinitely, chairman Suthin
Nappaket of Thailand's House foreign affairs committee
proposed immediate mediation by Bangkok. By stepping up their
"constructive engagement" of Yangon. ASEAN countries can draw
on their own experience to help their neighbor make economic
and political progress. An increasingly stable, prosperous and
open Myanmar would enhance those same attributes throughout
the region.
would be huge question marks. The biggest challenge: how the
generals, who have minimal education and even less experience
in political compromise, can strike a deal with longtime
rivals and ease themselves from power without major upheaval.
The nation's restive minorities are another wild card. Yet one
thing seems certain: these tasks have to be faced one day. The
longer they are put off, the more difficult they are likely to
prove.
Such headway would quickly bring other benefits to Myanmar as
well. Democratic power would respond with aid and trade, and
international investors would being putting money into the
country in a big way. Once Ms. Suu Kyi becomes involved in
government, Yangon will be able to attract home the tens of
thousands of educated Burmese now in exile. Their expertise is
essential if the country is to modernize.
***********************INSIDE BURMA***************************
FEER: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
Is the opposition doomed to irrelevance?
By Bertil Lintner in Bangkok
Her supporters like to see her as Burma's Mandela, a prisoner
now but a premier or president some day. Certainly, Aung San
Suu Kyi is as popular among the Burmese as Nelson Mandela is
among South Africa's black majority. And like him, she's
viewed internationally as the standard-bearer of her people's
freedom.
That hopeful analogy is starting to look hollow, however, in
the light of recent events. Last year, Burma's ruling generals
held talks with Suu Kyi and showed signs of a more liberal
attitude towards the opposition. That led some Burma-watchers
to suggest she might be freed in January. But instead, she was
left under house arrest, and the junta resumed its hard-line
stance.
At the same time the Burmese army attacked the country's most
troublesome ethnic rebels, the Karen National Union. The cap-
ture of the Karen headquarters at Manerplaw, on the Thai bor-
der, was another heavy blow to the embattled and fragmented
opposition.
"Mandela had a massive, active movement-the ANC," says a Bang-
kok-based analyst, referring to the African National Congress.
"Suu Kyi remains popular among the population at large, there-
's no doubt about that. But she doesn't have any organization
to back her up."
Indeed, in light of the opposition's recent set backs,
analysts are questioning the future of Suu Kyi's democracy
movement. And as the ruling junta - known as the State Law and
Order Restoration Council - increasingly breaks out of its
international isolation, some observers are asking whether the
democracy movement has any future at all.
The death on February 14 of Burma's only democratically elect-
ed prime minister U Nu, provided a sobering reminder of the
staying power of the military. Overthrown in 1962, the 87-
year-old U Nu had slipped so deep into obscurity that the
state-controlled media didn't even feel it necessary to report
his death.
"The Slorc holds power by means of the barrel of the gun, and
for the people of Burma - as well as some abroad - this is a
very convincing argument to submit and to cooperate in daily
life," says a Burma-watcher in Bangkok. "The government may be
illegitimate and rejected by the people, but it is neverthe-
less there and running the country without seeming to be too
much disturbed by moral or ethical considerations."
Six years ago, massive street demonstrations rocked virtually
every major city and town across Burma. The popular wave swept
Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence hero Aung San, to the
fore.
That movement was crushed, and Suu Kyi was placed under house
arrest. But even so, her party, the National League for Democ-
racy, won a landslide victory in May 1990 elections run by the
junta.
The fact that the elected assembly was never convened caused
an outcry, and the international community was almost unani-
mous in its condemnation of Burma's ruling military. The Unit-
ed Nations passed resolutions demanding the released of Suu
Kyi and urging the military to respect the outcome of the
election.
Today, however, what remains of the Suu Kyi's party inside the
country has been cowed into submission. Almost the entire
original leadership was detained along with Suu Kyi in 1989,
and most local party offices have been closed. Like the
Chinese democracy movement, its Burmese equivalent is beset by
infighting and factionalism. It may be doomed to irrelevance.
The Democratic Alliance for Burma - formed after the military
crackdown by democracy activists and the ethnic rebel groups
who sheltered them in the jungle - fell apart as the ethnic
armies signed a string of ceasefire agreements with the junta.
The Karen National Union, which lost its headquarters in late
January, was one of the last rebel groups still fighting
Rangoon.
Burma's democracy movement now exists almost entirely in
exile. Some exiles are active: Harn Yawnghwe, the son of
Burma's first president, Sao Shwe Thaike, publishes a
surprisingly non-partisan newsletter in Canada called Burma
Alert.
A new magazine in New York, Burma Debate, sponsored by the
Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation, also contains
articles expressing a rich variety of viewpoints. And in far-
away Oslo, some pro-democracy enthusiasts continue to make
daily radio broadcasts in Burmese that are beamed across the
globe to Burma.
However, changes inside Burma especially a fledgling economic
boom with substantial foreign investment-are affecting Asian
as well as Western preceptions of the country. "The pro-
democracy movement has been marginalized. It's been overtaken
by events inside the country," says a Western diplomat in
Rangoon.For Foreign businesses, the most important of those
events is the opening of the resource-rich economy to the
outside world. But Asian officials and analysts offer
political explanations for the policy of "constructive
engagement" adopted by Asean over the past year.
Though officially meant to "encourage democratic development"
in Burma, Asean's policy of "engaging" the Rangoon generals is
motivated more by fears about a growing Chinese influence,
Asean officials say privately. China has taken advantage of
Burma's isolation to expand its commercial, political and
military influence into Southeast Asia, and "Asean wants to
counter that," one official says. According to this reasoning,
this can be done only by increasing Asean investment in Burma
- and making friends with the ruling junta.
A Rangoon-based diplomat suggests that Chinese Premier Li
Peng's visit to Rangoon in December convinced the government
that it has enough backing to stay in power without
compromising with its opponents. "Since the visit, the Slorc
has resumed the old hard-line rhetoric. There is no more talk
of Suu Kyi being 'our dear sister.' Now she is once again 'a
foreigner who should go back to Britain'."
Asian analysts say the troubles in nearby Cambodia have also
hurt the chances of Burma's democracy movement. A UN-run
election there didn't deliver the kind of stability needed for
economic development. "Obviously, an election is not enough to
solve a country's ills. and after the Cambodian experience, no
one wants another country to go the same way," says an analyst
in Bangkok.
Whatever the reasons, Rangoon is starting to appear
increasingly confident about ignoring Suu Kyi, just as it
ignored U Nu. Despite his stature as an international figure
in the 1950s, when he was a founder of the Non-Aligned
Movement, U Nu's death went unreported by the state -
controlled media.
"The military can afford to ignore the death of U Nu. To them,
he was just an irritant, a reminder of an old system which
they don't want to have back," says a Rangoon-based diplomat.
When the military overthrew U Nu in 1962, it inherited a
country with one of the highest standards of living in Asia, a
high literacy rate and a thriving middle class. It
nationalized everything in sight - meaning that the economy
was taken over by military-run corporations - and closed off
Burma to the outside world.
U Nu, who had remained in Burma, resurfaced during the 1988
democracy demonstrations, claiming to still be the
legitimately elected premier. But he attracted little notice
from the majority of the populace, who rallied around Suu Kyi.
The disastrous effects of three decades of central economic
planning have pushed the military to return Burma to market
economics. But in a sign of their growing confidence, the
generals seem to see no need to make simultaneous political
concessions.Most Western governments continue to condemn
Rangoon for human-rights abuses, but their protests carry less
and less weight as neighbouring countries mend fences with the
generals. Time, which seemed to be running out for the
switching sides. Unless the economic opening of the country
truly does force reform, Suu Kyi and the democracy movement
might find themselves watching Burma's development from the
sidelines.
*******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI*********************
NATION: THE BATTLE FOR KAWMOORA
5 MARCH 1995
Battered and beaten after an extraordinary turn of events this
year, Burma's ethnic insurgents say they may have lost their
strongholds, but they'll fight on to win the war.
Yindee Lertcharoenchok reports.
After year of fierce defence in the face of a brutal Burmese
military offensive, the KAren guerrillas stronghold of
KAwmoora eventually fell to the army of the ruing junta, which
in December shocked the world by renewiing its use of force to
crush the ethnic insurgency.
Since its establishment in 1977. Kawmoora, the 101st special
military base of the KNU , had witnessed the ebb and flow of
war around its strategic location just 14km north of the
border town of Myawaddy.
Once a flourishing black market market and one of the most
convenient gateways for Thai goods from the northern Mae Sot
district of Tak, the bustling trading post was turned into a
purely military base after there Burmese Army launched a
massive effort to capture it in 1989.
All civilian residents were evacuated and traders rerouted
their commercial activities through either Myawaddy or other
KNU outposts. For the Past 6 years, Kawmoora, located at an
oxbow bend in the Moei River, has completely abandoned its
original commercial identity.
The camp was gradually transformed. Strong bunkers and
trenches were constructed throughout the square km territory
and homes fortified to withstand heavy artillery shells. Its
200-meter front entrance, the only access for Burmese troops
to attack, was heavily layered with landmines, barbed wire and
booby traps.
As a precaution against assault from the rear by troops who
relentlessly crossed the Moei illegally to reach the Thai
village of Wang Kaew, the KAren planted booby traps and laced
barbed wire along the river bank. At night the wiring was
electrified.
Before its fall early on Feb21, Kawmoora had become a symbol
of resistance against the ruling junta. The KNU had proudly
withstook number of offensive, making the town a thorn in the
side of successive Burmese rulers in Rangoon. Kawmoora was
often the base from which guerrilla hit-and-run strikes were
launched against Burmese military outposts in Myawaddy and
other towns as well as disruptive attacks on Army movements in
the area.
The KNU in late 1976 conducted a ground survey for a suitable
locatiom that could serve as a new black market and checkpoint
for cross border trade - the major source of income for the
guerrillas group. The Burmese Army was threatening an imminent
attack on Wangkha, a Karen stronghold and chechpoint four km
to the south of Kawmoora.
In late 1988 and early 1989, several Thai timber companies
holding logging concessions in border areas controlled by the
KNU, Karenni and Mon, constructed or improved roads in and out
of their contractual sites to assist in the extraction of
logs. The roads quickly became preferred logistic supply and
reinforcement routes for the Burmese Army.
In 1989, the Army opened an aggressive battle to crush armed
ethnic groups as well as urban pro-democracy students and
dissidents who had taken refuge in the strongholds after
fleeing Slorc's brutal suppression. From then on, KNU camps
began to fall one after another, but Kawmoora managed to
resist the military pressure and emerged unscathed.
The small Thai village of Wang Kaew, facing Kawmoora from the
other side of the Moei, wasn't as fortunate. A number of
heavily armed Burmese soldiers gutted the hamlet completly on
MAy 20, 1989, in the hopes of attacking the Karen stronghold
from the Thai side.
Since then, Wang Kaew's residents, who'd evacuated the village
before the fighting broke out, have been unable to return. The
Burmese forces, managing to capture two small hills
overlooking Kawmoora, established and fortified bases there
and rein forced their manpower in anticipation of sudden
attack orders from Rangoon.
In early 1992, as Slorc's jets launched bombing and air
strikes against the KNU headquarters at Manerplaw, 200 km to
the north, the army made another strike at Kawmoora, but again
with little success.
The Slorc forces suffered significantly high causalities and
losses of material in the Manerplaw operation, and in April
announced they were suspending their armed offensive against
the KNU "in view of national unity and goodwill".
One year later, the junta provide another surprise, declaring
a unilateral cease fire against active armed ethnic groups,
again for the sake of "national reconciliation", and calling
for the remaining insurgents - the Karen, Karenni and Mon - to
enter into a peace dialogue.
The ceasefire pledge, however, didn't last long. Early this
past December, Slorc exploited the KNU's internal religious
conflict to strike military against Manerplaw. To the south,
Kawmoora too was under heavy pressure.
Unexpectedly, KNU leaders, caught off guard by the lighting
assaults, ordered a sudden evacuation of Manerplaw when they
realized KNU Buddhist defectors were guiding Burmese troops to
capture the headquarters.
After the fall of Manerplaw on Jan 27, the Army's resolve to
crush Kawmoora hardened.
Although Kawmoora's commander, Brig Gen Taw Hla, and his
deputy, major Than Maung, had vowed to fight to the death to
defend the stronghold, they were eventually forced to withdraw
their 800 war-ravaged but die-hard forces from Kawmoora as the
Burmese bombarded it with thousands of heavy artillary shells,
destroying their protective bunkers and shelters.
While KNU forces accused the Burmese of firing "some sort of
verve agents" against them, Thai border officers said the the
weapons were "more like tear-gas rocket" that disabled their
victims and caused eyesore and nausea.
Despite the fall of Manerplaw and Kawmoora, KNU leaders
claimed they were not disheartened, but rather stronger in
their determination to fight on for ethnic rights, self-
determination and democracy. (TN)
*******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI*********************
NATION: KAREN WELCOME BANGKOK OFFER OF MEDIATION
5 March 1995
THE Karen National Union (KNU), ousted from bases along the
Thai-Burma border, yesterday welcome Thai Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai's offer to mediate between the Burmese ethnic groups
and the Rangoon junta.
The rebel also hailed a statement by a Thai general that the
army would see force to reply any Burmese troops who cross the
border to attack the refugees who fled to Thailand.
In a statement, the KNU said it welcomes Chuan's statement
last week that "Tyhailand was willing to act as a mediator to
help end the civil war in BUrma."
It reiterated KNU's readiness for talks with the BUrmese jun-
ta, know as Slorc so as to acheieve peace that the regime dem-
onstrate its willingness fopr dialouge.
The rebel said Chuan's offer had reportedly been well received
by the Slorc, which was studying the proposal.
"The KNU is a always willing ...to study any setrious proposal
for bringing genuine peace, democracy and respect for human
rights in BUrma," it said.
NOting reports that armed men beleived to be BUrmese soldiers
or breakaway Buddhist Karen fighters had crossed into Thailand
and attacked Burmese refugees, the KNU said it "warmly
welcomes regent announcement" that the Thai military would use
force against the intruders.
Burmese troops took advantage of a split in the KNU to launch
an offensive againdt the rebels last December. Soldoers
overren the the KNU heasdqyarters of Manerplaw in mid-Feb and
its Kawmoora stronghld later in the MOnth, driving the remain-
ing KAren fighters into the coiuntry side.(TN)
*******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI*********************
BKK POST: TOP OFFICIAL CONDEMNS KIDNAPPING AT BORDER
5 MARCH 1995
THE abduction of another KNU official from a Thai refugee camp
on Thursday by an armed force from Burma was condemned
yesterday by National Security Council deputy security General
Kachaadpai Buruspattana.
Mr Kachadpai earlier inspected the border area opposite
Kawmoora camp from which KNU forces recently withdrew. The
camp has been occupied by BUrmese troops.
"THe kidnapping might have stemmed from personal conflicts or
might be political.
"The kidnappers came to Thailand and returned after the
operation, so the Thai authorities could not do anything. It
is not yet clear which gruop was responsible. Thailand has
lodged a protect with Burma," he said.
Suspected members of a rebel splinter faction, the DKBA,
allegedly raided a refugees camp at the MAe Tha Waw on
Thursday and seized at gunpoint KAren guerrillas official Saw
Kyaw Lay.
Mr Kachadpai said the Third Army had told all border units to
provide security for refugees and Thais in the area.
The siezure of former KNU camps along the border by Rangoon
troops would bring about peace and order along the border, he
said.
The KNU's vow to conduct guerrillas warfare was an internal
affair for Burma. Thailnd would not interfere.
No foreign forces would be allowed to use Thailand as a
spring board for attack on the other side, he said.
The KNU issued a statement welcoming the announcement by Task
Force 34 commander Adirek Yaemnganriab that the Third Army
Region has authorised the used of force against BUrmese troops
violation Thai territority, and that the Thai militayr would
try to protect refugrr camps in Tak and Mae Hong Son
provinces.
It also welcomed Premier Chuan Leekpai's statement that
Thailand was willing to act as a mediator to end the civil war
in Burma. (BP)
*******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI*********************
BKK POST: BURMA SAYS 9,000 KAREN REFUGEES RETURNED HOME
4 March 1995
More than 9,000 ethnic minority Karen refugees have returned
to Burma from camps in Thailand in recent months, Burma's
state-run Radio Rangoon reported.
The radio in a broadcast monitored by the British Broadcasting
Corporation in Bangkok late on Thursday, said 2,500 Karen
people returned to an area near the former Karen guerrilla
headquarters at Manerplaw that day.
"Furthermore, after learning about the genuine good-will of
the government....Karen national families have been trickling
back to Myaing gyingu village," the radio said, referring to
the headquarters of a Karen splinter faction which mutinied
against the Karen guerrilla leadership in December.
The radio said the 2,500 who went back on Thursday took the
total who have returned so far to more than 9,000.
Relief workers in refugee camps on the Thai side of the border
say several thousand refugees, most of them the family of
members of the splinter faction, have gone back to Burma since
December.
Up to 10,000 Karen refugees crossed the other way to escape a
Burmese government offensive against the guerrillas which
began in December.
Meanwhile, another senior Karen guerrilla official was seized
at gunpoint from a Thai refugee camp and taken back into
Burma, Karen refugee officials said yesterday.
The official was seized on Thursday by suspected members of
the rebel splinter faction_ the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army
(DKBA).
The official, identified as Kyaw Rei, was the former leader of
a karen guerrilla camp on the Burmese side of the border who
took refuge at a Thai camp at Mae Thaw Wa after the Burmese
army launched its offensive.
It was the third time in a month that members of the DKBA, who
joined forces with Burmese government troops after their
December mutiny, have seized a senior guerrilla official.
Karen refugee officials said the Burmese government wanted to
pressure the seized officials to join them and then appeal to
the refugees in Thailand to go back to Burma to undermine the
support of the main-force rebel group. (BP)
************************SHAN STATE****************************
BKK POST: BURMESE ARMY 'TO MOVE AGAINST DRUG WARLORD KHUN SA'
4 March 1995
A Burmese miliatry spokesman said yesterday that drug warlord
Khun Sa would be the next target of the government's drive
against rebel elements along its border.
"I cannot tell you when the offensives will began, but they
will be directed against his headquarters at Ho Mong,"
Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw Thein told AFP.
Khun Sa maintins he is a Shan nationalist leader, but Burma's
military government insists his followers are drug-trafficking
bandits and has vowed to wipe them out.
Kyaw Thein, a senior intelligence officer, said Khun Sa had
been excluded from the truce offers made to other ethnic
leaders because he is a criminal. Thirteen ethnic minorities
have accepted the offers in exchange for regional development
aid.
In a massive offensive over the past three months, the Burmese
army has inflicted a devastating blow to the Karen National
Union (KNU), the most powerful ethnic insurgents and one of
the three remaining groups which have not signed a ceasefire
with the junta.
Kyaw Thein said the military was already gearing up for an
offensive against Khun Sa. But Khun Sa's headquarters,
opposite Thailand's Mae Hong Son province, is heavily defended
and many factors_including cooperation from the Thai
military_must be considered.
"We are hoping that when the offensive starts, Thai military
forces will cooperate with us by blocking the border and
helping to prevent arms and other logistics from reaching Khun
Sa," he said.
In 1993, Burmese troops moved against Khun Sa and there were
heavy losses on both sides.
The rugged area in eastern Burma where Khun Sa operates is
part of the so-called Golden Triangle along with northern
Thailand and western Laos. Much of the world's herion comes
from the Burmese side, and Thailand is a major transit route
to the West.
Khun Sa, considered one of the world's leading drug runners,
has been indicted on drug charges in the United States.
Meanwhile, more than 143 kg of herion and 1,455 kg of opium
were put to the torch here yesterday in the ninth such
destruction of seized illicit drugs. (BP & TN)
***************"THE OTHER COUNTRY" [THAILAND]*****************
BKK POST: LOGGING COMPANIES DEALING WITH BURMA SUFFER HEAVY
LOSSES
4 March 1995
Four Thai logging firms lost a total of more than 100 million
baht in log deals with Burma in the past year, a sawmail
source said yesterday.
The Burmese also lodged a complaint with the Third Army Region
accusing the four companies of forging certificates of origin
issued by the Rangoon government.
The companies were granted logging concessions for areas
opposite Mae Hong Son and were to bring out logs through Pang
Mapa and Ban Nai Soy checkpoints in Muang district and Ban Mae
Sapey checkpoint in Khun Yuam district.
The four companies each paid Rangoon 18 million baht to sign
the contracts and several million baht to Burmese minority
groups, the source said.
The companies claimed Burmese officials later breached the
contract and accused them of falsifying the documents.
The Burmese note said only two companies _ B&F and Thai
Industry Vinyl (1992)_ have official contracts with the
Burmese government.
According to their contract, B&F would bring out logs through
Ban Arunothai in Chiang Mai and Thai Vinyl would use the Ban
Sao Hin route in Mae Sarieng district of Mae Hong Son.
Last October, Thai Industry Vinyl Co told Burmese officials
the company would send 43 workers, logging tools, 13 pickup
trucks and saws and machinery to be installed at the sawmill
at Ban Mae Ja in Doi Kor town inside Burma.
However, the company failed to export timber from Burma since
the signing of the contract because Rangoon had asked the
company to change the transport route to the Andaman Sea or to
bring out timber through Ban Huay Ton Noon in Khun Yuam
district.
So far, the company has not decided which route would be more
suitable and safe for its operations. The company has also
taken its workers back to Thailand because of changes in
Burmese officials it has to work with.
Mae Hong Son Governor Somjet Viriyadamrong said several
agencies wanted Thai Industry Vinyl to transport timber
through Ban Huay Ton Noon checkpoint after it was opened just
over two months ago.
He hoped the checkpoint would become an important route for
logs from Burma because mae Hong Son authorities had spent
more than 20 million baht to improve the road, he said.
A border source said Burmese authorities wanted Thai logging
firms to change their timber route. (BP)
***************"THE OTHER COUNTRY" [THAILAND]*****************
BKK POST: KHMER INTRUSIONS TO BE RETALIATED
4 March 1995
Thai troops will retaliate against intrusions by Cambodian
forces, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai warned yesterday, as
protests were lodged against Burma and Cambodia over repeated
border incursions.
"We will not let Thais be killed without responding," he said.
He said the intrusions stemmed from the inability of Cambodian
commanders to control their soldiers. But there was no problem
at national level between the two governments.
The Foreign Ministry yesterday summoned the ambassadors of
Cambodia and Burma to receive protest letters. Burmese
ambassador U Tin Winn met deputy permanent secretary Saroj
Chavanaviraj. His Cambodian counterpart, Roland Eng, met
another deputy, Birath Isarasena.
The Foreign Ministry has now lodged three official protests
through the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok over alleged abductions
and repeated intrusions into Thailand by Democratic Kayin
Buddhist Organisation and Burmese forces.
Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said every country had
a duty to protect its sovereignty. "This sort of thing should
need to be said only once, because it is serious. It shouldn't
have to be repeated.
"No sovereign country can accept intrusions into territory,"
he said. About 30 Burmese soldiers and Karen turncoats, led by
a former officer of Battalion 104 of the karen National Union,
Lt Maung Soe, crossed the border into Thailand's Tha Song Yang
district in Tak on Wednesday and kidnapped a Karen judge, San
Htone Kaing, from the Ban Huay Ma Noke refugee camp.
Mr Surin said the incidents in the past two weeks were all
committed by Lt Maung Soe's forces. The Burmese government
should "manage" him. "Last Thursday night, the Burmese
intruders were spotted one kilometre inside Thai territory. We
have to monitor the situation and protect the refugees," he
said.
The Burmese government should increase its efforts to control
its soldiers, he said. Some Cambodian government soldiers
intruded into Thailand at Kun Han district, Si Sa Ket
province, last Tuesday.
Two Thai soldiers were killed and three others wounded in the
incident.
According to a ministry press release, Mr Birath lodged an
aide memoire protesting the incident and artillery shells
which landed in Thailand during recent fighting.
The Thai Government wants Phnom Penh to investigate the
problem and ensure it does not recur.
Mr Surin said his ministry was working with the Thai military
to ensure a repeat of the incident was avoided. "If these
events take place again, we will implement another measure
which is more decisive," he said, without elaborating.
Mr Chuan said he had told Defence Minister Vijit Sookmark to
take military action against foreign intruders.
The government would seek compensation from Phonom Penh for
the killing of two army-trained rangers in Si Sa Ket province.
Army Commander Gen Wimol Wongwanich said the army would take
military action over any violation of the country's
sovereignty in furture.
"Soldiers have guns and we will shoot anyone who crosses into
our territory," he said. It was hoped the pending appointment
of a Thai Army attache in Cambodia would solve the problem, he
said.
Army assistant commander Gen Chetha Thanajaro said after a
one-day trip to Burma that leading Burmese military officers
had apologised to Thailand for the violation of Thailand's
sovereignty during the suppression of Karen rebels in recent
weeks.(BP)
*******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI*********************
NATION: KAREN LEADER LAUDS CHUAN'S MEDIATION OFFER
6 March, 1995
Dyuplaya, Burma - Karen guerrilla leader Gen Bo Mya has wel-
comed Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's initiative to medi-
ate in peace talks between his armed ethnic movement and the
ruling Burmese junta.
He also urged the primer to provide security for the 70,000
fugitive karen refugees in Thailand, who have been killed ha-
rassed and abducted by armed karen and Burmese forces, that
surreptitiously cross the border and enter they camps.
In his first interview since the Karen National Union (KNU)
lost two of its strategic strongholds, including its Manerplaw
headquarters, to the Burmese army, Bo Mya said had last week
sent a letter to Chuan welcoming and thanking him for his
peace initiative.
The KNU, he said, "has never rejected peace talks which would
bring genuine and lasting peace" to the country, but it is the
Burmese junta, officially known as Slorc, who have insisted on
a "temporary ceasefire".
The Karen general said his movement agreed with Chaun's offer
and is still waiting for a reply from him. "We have sent a
letter to him. "We have agree with everything he said, and it
would be our pleasure to talk with Slorc."Chuan stated late
last month that Thailand wanted to see the warning parties
hold talks in order to restore peace in Burma and he was pre-
pared to help bring the two parties - KNU and Slorc - to the
negotiating table.
The premier's offer is seen as a direct response to the exiled
Burmese Buddhist monk Sayadaw Rewata Dhamma, who strongly
urged, after a one month visit to Burma, that Chuan mediates
between the two parties, saying this was the best solution for
the two countries.
While Bo Mya agrees that the decision to have Thailand mediate
rests with Slorc, which has repeatedly rejected a third
party's involvement in peace negotiations arguing that the
matter was Burma's internal affair, he said he believes that
"if Thailand put pressure on the Slorc, it could make peace
talks possible. Slorc has no respect for Thailand or the Thai
authorities. They entered refugees camps and shot at refugees
and Thais."
"If Thailand wants to do business with Slorc, they should
assist the KNU in such talks. If there is peace here, there
will be no problem doing business."
The Karen general has urged Chuan to also provide security for
karen refugees in border camps, saying that the KNU "can't
really take care or be responsible" for them as they are on
Thai soil. "If we were giving the authority to look after the
refugees, we could stop it [the harassment].'
Slorc, he said, is directly involved in the frequent and
violent harassment of the refugees, as well as Thais, but has
tried to blame the raids on the rival break way Karen group,
the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Organization (DKBO).
"Slorc has sent troops into refugee camps, looting and taking
refugees" possessions ... They have tried to make people
believe that it was the work of the DKBO, but in fact it was
their own soldiers."
The camps, he said, are close to the border and the frontier
is only separated by the narrow Moei River, making it easy for
Burmese troops to cross anywhere and anytime they pleased. The
government and Thai border authorities have, in the past
month, filed several unheeded protests over the repeated and
ongoing territorial violations, intrusions into refugee camps,
the shooting, killing and kidnapping of several refugees, KNU
leaders and Thai people.
Bo Mya said he realized that the world community and the UN
have not only failed to stop the Burmese military offensive
against the KNU, but also supported the Burmese junta by
continuing their arms sales and economic deals with Slorc.
"The international community only cares about their own
prosperity and business ties [with Slorc]. Slorc has received
weapons and ammunition from China so they can launch these
huge offensives against us. If Slorc was not supported by the
international community that Slorc is not a legitimate
government, and it is not for the people. I want them [the
world community] to apply pressure on Slorc, to stop doing
business or selling arms to them," he appealed.
The KNU, said Bo Mya, would have proceeded with its peace
efforts since last year as it had agreed to enter into first
round peace talks in Rangoon, but the Slorc unexpectedly
changed the meeting venue to the Mon state capital of
Moulmein.
Despite the fall of the KNU bases at Manerplaw and Kawmoora,
the 68-year-old general has vowed to carry on the struggle for
democracy and "Karen national rights" through guerrilla war-
fare.
"I don't feel discouraged at all, and neither do other KNU
leaders. If you really love your people and your country, you
will never give up. People who feel discouraged or
disappointed are just fake freedom fighters."
The KNU will in the next few days hold an emergency meeting to
work out its plans for the future, including military and
political strategies and a reshuffle of its 45-member central
committee. Bo Mya did not disclose anything about the new KNU
leadership, but said "we will increase the number of younger
people on the committee." (TN)
*******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI*********************
BKK POST: KNU TO WORK OUT NEW MILITARY STRATEGY
6 MARCH 1995
The KNU has scheduled a high level meeting near the Thai-
BUrmese border next week to decide the organIzation's new
militAry strategy, following the capture of its key bases at
Manerplaw and Kamoora.
Top KAren rebel said yeSterday they will also discuss the
natural gas pipeline project of US-based Unocal and Total of
France which will pass through their territory in TavOy and
Mergui.
The meeting will be first since the KNU lost its headquarters
at Manerplaw in January and Kawmoora late last month to
BUrmese Government forces.
KNU president over the meeting which, said the sources, may
decide whether the rebel group should opposite the pipeline
project or open talks with the two foreign oil giants.
The 400 km long pipeline will bring natural gas from offshore
field in the Mataban Sea, Yadana and Ye Ta Gon, overland
through Tavoy and Mergui into Thailand via Ban I Taung,
opposite Thong Pha Phum District of Kanchanaburi Province. A
Burmese helicopter made an aerial survey of the planned
pipeline route during April 4-18 last year And a ground survey
will soon be completed, the sources said.
Both the KNU and the New Mon State Party which also controls a
small chunk of territory near Kanchanaburi said earlier they
opposed the pipeline project on the grounds that foreign oil
companies would be used to prop up the military regime in
Rangoon.
He would like the two firms top pay some sort of tax on an
annual basis or every three years in exchange for the use of
Karen controlled territories to build the pipeline, he said.
KNU reports show that the Burmese government has moved heavy
machinery to Yebu township in the hope that construction will
start soon.
A Mon rebel leader also said his men are closely monitoring
the progress of the pipeline project. (BP)
*******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI*********************
BKK POST: NGOs FEAR CROSS-BORDER RAIDS BY BURMESE FORCES
6 MARCH 1995
NON-government organizations working in Karen refugee camps
along the border with Burma are worried about possible cross-
border attacks by armed dissident Buddhist Karen who have
joined Rangoon forces in suppressing KNU guerrillas.
NGO officials and camp residents, who refuse to be named, said
they were not confident in Thai security measures after the
Buddhist Karen managed to kidnap two senior KNU officials from
refugee camp in two seperate incidents.
They claimed members of the DKBO have been unusually active in
crossing the border recently.
Armed members of the DKBO who crossed into Ban Huay Haeng camp
in Tha Song Yang district to kidnap a senior KNU refugees to
report to the Burmese military authorities at Myawaddy by
yesterday.
The DKBO stated in a leaflet distributed among the refugees
that the camps a the border prolonged the existance of the kNU
which hindered religious freedom and peace.
"We will use various method to destroy the camps. Those who
refuse to obey will be regarded as KNU elements and will be
destroyed," the leaflet said.
NGOs sources said many of their officials, who reared for
their lives, would leave the camps to spend the night in Mae
Sot town.
Thai Task Force 34 has provide more troops and armoured
personal carries to beef up security for refugees at camps.
Task Force 343 Commander Direk Yaem-ngamriab said the Thai
military would provide full protection for the camp and would
not allow the DKBO force to cross into Thailand again.
Thai soldiers would ensure the safety of all Karen refugees as
long as they stayed inside the camps, although they would not
stop any person wishing to cross back into Burma to report to
the authorities there.
So far, no Karen refugees have express a wish to go home, he
said.
Col Direk said he had been told by the Burmese authorities
that the sudden closure order from Rangoon was to ensure they
safety of a senior official from the Burmese capital who
visited the border town at the weekend.
Border sources said, however, the closure was more likely to
be retaliation for Thailand's announcement that it would take
tough action against Burmese soldiers because of a series of
border violations in the past two week. (BP)
***************"THE OTHER COUNTRY" [THAILAND]*****************
BKK POST: THAI FISHERMEN WILL RETURN
5 MARCH 1995
Meanwhile, the Burmese military junta told the head of a
visiting Thai military delegation it would set free 120 Thai
fishermern jailed in BUrma for llegally entering its waters,
Agence France-press quoted a report on Thai TV Channel 7
yeaterday.
The 120 fishermen, most of whom have spent two years in
BUrmese jails or are chronically ill or old aged, are expected
to return to Thailand by the end of March, Channel 7 said.
BUrma deputy Aremed Forces Chief General Maung Aye Commander
GEneral Chettha Thanajaro in Rangoon on Friday that BUrma was
ready to extrend cooperztion in this case.
Maung Aye told GEn Chettha that the Slorc would comply with
the Thai Army's request because the junta's suppression of
ethnic minority groups in BUrma hads somewhat affected the
Thai border, it said. (BP)
*********************INTERNATIONAL****************************
BKK POST: BURMESE JUNTA LEADER TO VISIT VN
6 MARCH 1995
SENIOR, General Than Shwe, chairman of Burma's ruling body,
will make an official visiting Vietnam soon, official media
reported yesterday.
Than Shwe, who is chairman of the Slorc has been invited to
Hanoi by Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.
The Burmese embassy in Hanoi said last month the visit was
expected to talk peace in the second week of March.
Burmese State-run Newspaper ave no further details, expect
that Than Shwe will be accompanied by his wife. (BP)
*********************INTERNATIONAL****************************
SEASIA-L: BOB HAWKE & `ASIAN VALUES'
rroche bit.listserv.seasia-l 8:27 AM Mar 3, 1995
(at CSUVAX1.CSU.MURDOCH.EDU.AU) (From News system)
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Cultural relativism lives on. Former Australian Prime
Minister, Bob Hawke, who has recently received considerable
coverage in the Australian press for being seen to be
supportive of the military regime in Burma (which he refers to
as Myanmar), has spoken out against Western human rights
criticisms of particular governments in Asia. Mr Hawke is
reported to have stressed the need `to understand that pain
must usually precede gain'. He is also reported to have
stated, in a speech in Tokyo:
`I have the feeling that `Asian values' or the `Confucian
ethic' ... the stress on learning and inter-generational
responsibility as well as social collectivism and the more
ready acceptance of authority - has provided the environment
in which the hard decisions can be made, and be made to stick'
(The Australian, 3 Mar. 1995, p3).
Interesting that someone who once headed the largest
union in Australia should talk of the importance of accepting
authority.
If anyone comes across items from regional newspapers
referring to this particular speech of Mr Hawke please post
them. The speech was at the 21st Century and the Asian Era,
organised by the Postal Savings Promotion Council.
Robert Roche
Perth, Australia
****************************MISC******************************
SCB: SEATTLE TALK--MEDICAL CARE ON BURMA
tinaholt soc.culture.burma 8:53 PM Mar 4, 1995
(at u.washington.edu) (From News system)
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Wednesday, March 8, the Seattle Area Community Medicine
Resident's Interest Group will meet, with speakers discussing
health care on the Burma Thai border, specifically working
with Dr. Cynthia's Clinic.
This will take place at 7:30pm on Wednesday, at Cary
Steinberg's place in Capitol Hill. If interested, Call me for
directions: leave your name and number on voice mail: 998-8739
and I will call you back.
Tina Holt
****************************MISC******************************
BF: BURMA FORUM TO MEET ON APRIL 29
>From U=Win%Counseling%OCC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mon Mar 6 12:53:26
1995 From: U=Win%Counseling%OCC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 12:33:07 PST
Subject: The Burma Forum
To: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
The Burma Forum will be held at Orange Coast College, Costa
Mesa, California, USA on Saturday, 29 April 1995 from 8AM to
4PM. The registration fee is $20 per person ($10 per
full-time student), lunch included. Because we are strapped
for cash to pay for speakers transportation, we ask that those
who can, to donate an additional amount. We have deliberately
kept our fees low because Burma is not exactly a hot topic in
California and the higher the fees, the smaller the number of
interested people.
Speakers include: Josef Silverstein (Rutgers Univ), U Oung
Myint Tun (BBC), Carol Richards (Anthropologist), U Mya Maung
(Economist, Boston College). Others invited but not yet
confirmed are: Bishop Desmond Tutu, Yozo Yokota, Edith
Mirante.
The symposium will deal with heroin, human rights and the
current political situation in Burma.
Interested persons may simply send their name, address, phone
number, and fees/donations payable to Orange Coast College
(Burma Forum) and mailed to Professor Carol Burke, Orange
Coast College, PO Box 5005, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, USA. OR
write for a brochure.
I would like to establish contact with all Burma-hands on the
Internet. If anyone anywhere can get hold of a copy the
English-language magazine CARAVAN, published in Bangkok,
September 1994 issue, I shall be most grateful. There is an
article about the motion picture BEYOND RANGOON in it. I was
special advisor to Director John Boorman shooting that movie
on location in Malaysia from Dec 93 to May 94. It will be
entered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and released
world-wide in August 1995. Watch for it.
Professor U Kyaw Win
Orange Coast College
Costa Mesa, Calfornia, USA
Phone: (714) 432-5860
**************************************************************
CARAVAN: BEYOND RANGOON [REPOST]
September 1994; p.78+
[Caravan is an English-language magazine published in Bangkok]
"The situation was already tense when writer Nick Palevsky
slipped onto the Malaysian set of John Boorman's political
thriller Beyond Rangoon. Under threat of censorship, the
producers themselves had trimmed the film's title. After a few
days observing the action, Palevsky was politely, but firmly
removed from the set..."
Bill Rubenstein met me in the lobby of Ipoh's Casuarina Hotel.
About one evening a week, director John Boorman viewed the
rushes which had arrived back from processing in London. Bill,
who co-wrote the script, had been reluctant to invite me down
to Malaysia. Now that I had been there a few days, he relented
and took me to the screening in the temporary offices of
"Burmat Productions", on the hotel mezzanine.
John Boorman entered the screening room soon after we did, his
weather-beaten face fitting his outfit: a Burmese longyi and
sandals. He looked me over, frowning. "I don't believe I know
you," he said, displeased to have a stranger there, but by
then last week's rushes were appearing on the
screen...
Secrecy fits with Boorman's distant style. He kicked off his
career with the ultra-cool, hyper-stylized Point Blank,
rendered in a sixties version of film noir and starring Lee
Marvin as the tough ex-gangster out for revenge, and Angie
Dickinson as the sister of his wayward ex-wife. A writer
employed with Metro at the time told me that "...the movie was
a mess. Boorman came from the BBC-he had been making
documentaries- and completely reorganized the script. But the
film was successful and made the studio a ton of money..."
Now Boorman shoots a different kind of motion picture, made up
of long, complicated sequences shot on location. Best known
are Deliverance, based on the James Dickey novel, and Emerald
Forest, about the plight of Amazonian Indians in Brazil.
Coordinating a crew on location is difficult; Boorman controls
people with aloofness. During my time in Ipoh he never
fraternised. Early mornings, while the rest of the crew
commingled at various tables in the hotel coffee shop, Boorman
sat alone, magisterially reading his copy of the
International Herald Tribune. On location, cinematographer
John Seale would set up the shot, the AD (Assistant Director)
would block out the
actors, and the rest of the crew would carry out their
preparation alone: the energy changed when Boorman-the
project's eminence grise-made his appearance, right before
filming began.
Location Diary, Morning, April 11th:
We are driving up the length of Perak State on Malaysia's
spanking new expressway, racing past limestone cliffs and lush
tropical scenery. I can see Malaysia's attraction for
film-makers: it is beautiful and empty, a logistical heaven
for moving all the equipment and personnel needed to shoot
movies on location. Does this compensate for the perils of
censorship?
We pay the toll at Perak's royal capital, Kuala Kangsar, and
follow the old highway down river, past the golden Walt Disney
domes of the sultan's Ubadiah mosque and on to a jungly bend
in the Perak River. We slip in the back entrance of a large
bamboo hut by the water's edge.
A jeep pulls up to the front. One of several soldiers crowded
into the jeep jumps out and shouts into the hut. A middle-aged
Burmese man in a longyi walks to the door; this is Aung Ko,
who plays a dissident professor fleeing government persecution
.
Aung Ko says something in Burmese to the soldier. "He's
saying, there's nobody in here... ," a girl on the crew
giggles. Gerry, the mixer, who sits at a large console in the
center of the hut, whispers for quiet. The soldier barks out
an order in Malay and pushes past Aung Ko into the hut (and
out of the camera's view), pointing his rifle at Bill's head
for our benefit. More giggles, tension eases, the scene is
over. Bill says: "In the script I had named the professor Ko
Aung. We auditioned Aung Ko in Paris, where he was
teaching-that was his real name- so we just reversed the
name in the script."
Dr U Kyaw Win, who has been sitting next to me and explaining
the action, asks plaintively, "Why is the professor wearing
farmer's pants?" Then he shifts his attention to the actor
playing the soldier: "I can't stand them speaking Malay.
Sophisticated audiences will laugh. There are people out there
other than Burmese who can understand our language,
you know. And Aung Ko is wearing sandals. He would never be
wearing them inside a house!" Dr Win is editor of the Burma
Bulletin and consultant on the film.
In fact, the camera is much too far away to see whether he's
wearing sandals or not. Gerry, who has left his console,
assures Dr Win that the shot is one long pan, from the time
the jeep starts driving along the river until the exchange
between soldier and professor at the doorway of the
hut: there are no close-ups. And Burmese dialogue will be
looped into the soundtrack later on.
It requires many more takes before the scene is right in its
entirety. Then Boorman asks the camera man to "Check the
gates!" and the crew starts preparing for the next location.
Rushes that week consisted of many takes of a single scene: At
the beginning, the actors are waist-deep in a pool below a
beautiful waterfall. At the end, Burmese soldiers shoot a girl
student in the stomach, and she collapses into the pool. Blood
billows through the water as she lies face-down, inert. "Cut!"
and she resurrects herself, gulping for air, the casualness
with which she ignores her artificial wounds making them all
the more ghoulish.
The scene repeated: Laura, an American who has come as a
tourist to Burma, right at the start of the 1988 uprising,
hides in a pool with Aung Ko and a young monk. They are
accompanied by several students. After a few beats, soldiers
pour in from the jungle, but the trio have managed to
hide in a cranny under a boulder and some undergrowth. The
less fortunate students scatter, the girl gets shot in the
stomach again. And so on...
Morning, April 12th:
The location has moved to a patch of jungle not far from the
Sultan's palace in Kuala Kangsar. Patricia Arquette, who plays
Laura, is getting her face covered with rouge, and her body
sprayed down with water to make her look wet and tired from
her long jungle trek.
Patricia's entire family is in movies and television. Her
sister, Roseanna, starred with Madonna in Desperately Seeking
Susan. Her father played J.D. Pickett in The Waltons. Her
grandfather ended his career as "Charlie Weaver" on To Tell
the Truth. Even her young son Enzo (whose father is
musician Paul Rossi) has acted with Patricia in her previous
movies, playing her son in True Romance and The Infant Runner.
"But this is Patricia's first mature role. . . " producer
Barry Spikings tells me, and then corrects himself: "That is
to say, she has always been a mature actress..." In Beyond
Rangoon, Enzo will play Laura's dead son: "Which is really
scary, but he really wants to do it," Patricia says.
Laura has lost her husband and son in an accident. She and her
sister escape on a tour of Burma led by an American Buddhist
professor, played by Spaulding Gray of Swimming to Cambodia
fame. Later, in New York, Gray told me that he had modelled
his character on Bob Thurman, the mad Columbia professor who
is the foremost expert on Buddhism in America and happens to
be Uma Thurman's father). In Burma, Laura meets Aung
Ko, who agrees to take her upcountry on a tour. When
protesters and government troops clash, he decides Laura
should leave Burma and puts her on a train.
But, as the train groans out of the tiny rural station, she
sees Aung Ko, who has been blacklisted, being beaten up by
government soldiers. A student who rushes to Aung Ko's aid is
shot dead. Laura jumps off the slow-moving train and-taking
advantage of the soldiers' confusion when confronted with an
American-packs Aung Ko into his car and drives off,
the soldiers in pursuit.
"Think of it as Deliverance." Peter Benoit, the film's
publicist compares Beyond Rangoon to Boorman's best-known
film. "People go down a river, and during the course of the
story, each sees what the others are made of. Here, Laura is
escaping with Aung Ko from government soldiers, but she
drives his car into the river. Then they have to find a boat
and get down to Rangoon. Aung Ko is hurt. Laura, a nurse, has
to get medicine for him."
"In the river, she has lost her things, her passport, her
identity." Peter says. "And this is a prelude to her emotional
release, an escape from her depression." Later, hiding out in
a villa outside Rangoon with Burmese students, Laura discovers
Aung Ko has lost a wife, murdered at the time he was taken as
a political prisoner. Others have suffered more than she.
Trying to obtain another passport at the American Embassy,
Laura barely manages to elude SLORC agents waiting to abduct
her at its entrance. She tries to join her sister in Bangkok
by going overland to the Thai border.
Filming starts again. Aung Ko, Laura and a young monk run
through the jungle, then collapse in a clearing. Aung Ko and
the monk have a brief argument, which Laura seems to mediate,
whispering words of encouragement into Aung Ko's ear. Soldiers
appear. Laura stands up and says, "As an American citizen, I
demand that you let me pass." The monk tells her not to worry,
that these are Karen soldiers who will escort them to
their headquarters near the Thai border.
Between takes, Hani Motisin, the young Malaysian actor who
plays the monk, explains his role: "In fact, I was a soldier.
When they started ordering us to shoot children, I ran away
and joined the escaping students, disguising myself as a
monk."
I asked producer Barry Spikings if Ted Turner, who was
financing the
picture, had any misgivings about Beyond Rangoon's content.
"No, not at
all. He had the presence of mind to ask if they had CNN in
Burma, though." And during the shoot, the film's working title
was simply Beyond... Nevertheless Spikings and Boorman, afraid
that Malaysia might close them down, had approached Thai
director Prince Chatri Yukol about shooting the film in
Thailand .
I had heard that the Malaysian government was unhappy about
having Hani Motisin, a Muslim, playing a Buddhist monk. The
irony is that Motisin's role isn't really that of a monk, but
of a soldier. In Dr Win's Burma Bulletin, I read about the
real-life equivalent of this character: "a Burma Army
commander was so outraged at what he saw on September
18, 1988, that he left Burma, gave up his pension and his
standing, went to
the hills and today is advisor to the student army fighting
alongside the Karen and others as they resist the Burmese
military."
Afternoon, April 14th:
I follow a series of golden arrows across Ipoh town, through
an industrial complex, and finally into a warehouse, which
serves as a sound stage. Dozens of "Karen women" in red
headdresses and hand-woven outfits culled from museum
collections in Thailand, mill around the outside.
Inside, Bill and I examine a simulated sandbank, on a stage
lit by klieg lights. "It's tough to shoot a night scene on
location. In here you can control the lighting exactly, much
better than if you shoot day for night."
Behind the beach is a blue sheet of plastic-the river-and the
backdrop beyond consists of tiny replicas of bamboo huts,
depicting the "Karen camp", a huge outdoor set I visited a few
days before. By now, the crew has probably torn it down. Bill
points at the blank cardboard behind the tiny huts: "They were
going to put a night sky up there, but they decided
they'll just paint it digitally in post-production."
The "Karen women"-being in fact Ipoh locals-have several
children with them, the babies bobbing in an ingenious
invention consisting of a basket hanging from a shock-absorber
coil. Playing among the children is a blond kid of about four
years who turns out to be Enzo, Patricia's child.
Bill holds a picture of Enzo in his hand as he fishes around
for a locket to put it in-an important prop in Laura's dream
sequence:
The day Laura and Aung Ko spend in the Karen camp culminates
with a panoramic view of the Karen resistance. A voice-over of
a Burmese government announcement describes the resistance as
the work of a few motley rebels, but the picture, which
includes a cast of thousands-women, children, Karen soldiers
toting guns, students-belies these words. When Aung Ko and
Laura lie down on the river bank that night, she gazes at the
locket before drifting to sleep. In her dream she sees her
dead son laughing, then he slowly vanishes. She is
ready to give up her old life and start a new one...
It started politely, but by the end of the night, everyone was
soaked. After the screening, the Burmese community of Penang,
along with members of the crew, put on a show for us in the
hotel banquet hall. Dr Win did duty as announcer, explaining
that today was Thingyan (the Burmese name for Songkran) . Even
Aung Ko danced for us, accompanied by Burmese musicians. A
pretty girl performed the last dance, dipping a sprig into a
tin cup and daintily spraying the audience. Soon large squirt
guns appeared, supplied by Eddie Fowlie, the prop man.
I had first met Eddie, whose wild shock of white hair and
bushy eyebrows make him look a bit fierce, buying hundreds of
knives from a bewildered shopkeeper in Kuala Kangsar ("Don't
bother wrapping them-just lay them in the truck!"). I ran into
him a second time on location, talking to an assistant who had
located a government bureau specializing in transporting
unwanted buffalo. "Good," Eddie gestured with a broad
sweep towards a miniature pagoda, some buffalo quietly grazing
next to it, a few huts, and a wharf weighed down with baskets:
"All of this will be gone by tonight I need it for the Karen
Camp."
Bill told me a bit of Eddie's history as we escaped the
increasingly unruly Water Festival. Working for David Lean on
Bridge Over the River Kwai, he had started the train toward
the ill-fated bridge. "Of course, he jumped out before the
bridge exploded."
Morning, April 17th:
"Freedom is for those who dare to fight. To die fighting is
better than to live as a slave," says the sign we pass as
Eddie drives me into the "Karen Camp". Manerplaw, the real
Karen headquarters, is a narrow, dusty place. Hollywood places
it in a gorgeous setting, at the foot of dramatic Karst
cliffs. Odd props are left over from the filming of Indochine.
This locale served as the fishing village where the lead
couple seeks refuge-the cliffs resemble the hills around
Halong Bay north of Hanoi.
Some of the Sri Lankan crew are busy hauling away a large
Burmese-style Buddha-the leadership of Kawthoolei is by and
large Christian. Since they first worked with Fowlie on River
Kwai in their native country, the Sri ankans have worked all
over Asia, on many other movies. Production
crews come and go in the region, but they stay.
Foraging among Eddie's props, I see many signs which seem to
flesh out the background of the film: Rangoon Orthopedic
Clinic, Burma Railways, and Gen. Ne Win, Murderer. At the
camp, a big sign over a little hut warns Explosives! in large
red lettering. Posted at the camp exit gate, a sign
warns that Narcotic Drug Hoarding, Trafficking and Marketing
are strictly Prohibited. Whoever Trespasses the Law shall be
Punished. Is this to let us know that the Karens don't trade
in heroin? Or is the sign for the benefit of Malaysian
officials?
"Megad Junid said it was wrong for the Hollywood firm... to
ask Muslims to play the role of monks during recent filming
for a movie called Beyond," AFP reported at the end of April.
Two weeks before, I had applied to interview John Boorman.
When he finally realised I was there to do a story, he threw
me off the set. Later, in Bangkok, as I read the AFP release,
Boorman's misgivings about publicity started to seem justified
"We clearly outlined that they cannot touch on sensitive
issues like the people's religion and culture, " the Deputy
Home Minister was quoted as saying. Six weeks earlier, the
crew had created a full size replica of the Shwedagon pagoda
on a Penang wharf (for a scene where Aung San Suu
Kyi addresses the people of Rangoon). Would this, in the
Deputy Home Minister's words, "hurt people's feelings?"
Driving through the countryside near Kota Gajah, I had come
upon a "Burmese temple," an old teak house on the roof of
which the crew had placed a spire, and behind
the front door, a Buddha image. Had this been an offense
against local people's "religion and culture?"
I thought about the old man who played a Burmese headman in
Beyond Rangoon, magical Hindu-Buddhist "tattoos" inked onto
his skin. "During World War II, the Japanese would have shot
me for having these," he laughed. Was he thinking of the (much
milder!) censure he would receive from his own government?
Muslims "should have known what role they were playing and
should not have placed monetary gains above religion."
Does it matter that Hani Motisin was really playing an ex-army
commander, not a monk?
Beyond Rangoon is the only feature film (to my knowledge) set
in Burma, except for Harp of Burma, about a Japanese soldier
who disguises himself as- you guessed it!-a monk. Neither film
has a Burmese protagonist, and each romanticises Burma from
its own viewpoint. In Beyond Rangoon, the camera follows
Laura, not Aung Ko: the picture is shot from an American-read
Hollywood-point of view. But being a Hollywood movie is
precisely what makes Beyond Rangoon important. "Not so much
impact, as awareness," Dr Win phrased it to me. Beyond Rangoon
is the only movie about political repression in Burma likely
to get a worldwide release.
Fortunately, the filming of Beyond Rangoon is now finished. It
would have been ironic if the film had been stopped, not
because of repression in Burma, but because of the censorship
of a neighbouring country. In the Burma Bulletin,
ex-Ambassador Burton Levin describes Burma's pre-1962
government as " not the best in the world, but looking toward
development of a political system that reflected human
decency, that offered human rights, that was based on trying
to raise the living standard of the people by a broad national
education..."
In the 1990's the rules and the rhetoric have changed.
Although in education and standard of living the achievements
of Burma and Malaysia have diverged wildly, the two
governments seem to concur that freedom of speech is no longer
a fundamental human right, or that human rights in
general are secondary. Do the citizens of these two countries
agree?
--Beyond Rangoon will be screening in Bangkok later this year.
****************************MISC******************************
SCB: TEXT OF SELECTIVE PURCHASING LEGISLATION
brischmidt soc.culture.burma 5:15 AM Mar 4, 1995
(at aol.com) (From News system)
The following is an example of selective purchasing
legislation, a set of rules any institutional body
(governmental or non-governmental) can choose for itself to
refuse to do business with those who conduct business in
Burma. Prohibitions refer to the institution ONLY, and should
not be construed as an attempt to use coercive power against
persons living under local governments that may choose to
adopt this legislation. The example is drawn from
legislation being considered by the Massachusetts legislature
(the Byron Rushing Bill). That legislation is based on wording
from previous legislation used regarding South Africa and has
therefore already been tested in practice.
For more information on the Massachusetts legislation,
contact CPPAX at (617) 426-3040 or Simon Billeness of Franklin
Research at (617) 423-6655. Either of the above contacts or
the Pepsi Burma Boycott Committee at (503) 235-8576 can give
information on attempts to apply this legislation to other
places.
-------------------------------------
An Act Regulating State Contracts With Companies Doing
Business With or in Burma (Myanmar)
SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of sections
ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE, inclusive, unless a contrary
intention clearly appears, the following words shall have the
following meanings:
"comparable low bid or offer" means a responsive and
responsible bid or offer that is no more than 10% greater than
the lowest bid or offer submitted for goods or a service;
"distribution agreement", an agreement to guarantee a
contract for the supply of goods or a service;
"doing business with Burma (Myanmar)" means:
(a) having any operations, leases, franchises,
majority-owned subsidiaries, distribution agreements, or any
other similar agreements in Burma (Myanmar), or being the
majority-owned subsidiary, licensee or franchise of such a
person;
(b) providing financial services to the government of
Burma (Myanmar), including providing direct loans,
underwriting government securities, providing any consulting
advice or assistance, providing brokerage services, acting as
a trustee or escrow agent
, or otherwise acting as an agent pursuant to a contractual
agreement; (c) promoting the importation or sale of
gems, timber, oil, gas or other related products, commerce in
which is largely controlled by the government of Burma
(Myanmar), from Burma (Myanmar);
(d) providing any goods or services to the government
of Burma (Myanmar)
"essential", necessary in order that an agency or
authority may perform its mission, there being no substitute,
to avoid irreparable harm to agency or authority programs.
"franchise", authorization by a person to sell his or
her products.
"government of Burma (Myanmar)", any public or
quasi-public entity operating within Burma (Myanmar),
including, but not limited to, municipal, provincial, national
or other governmental and military bodies, including all
departments and agencies of such 73
bodies, public utilities, public facilities, or any national
corporation in which Burma (Myanmar) has a financial interest
or operational responsibilities;
"license", permission granted by a person to another,
or to the government of Burma (Myanmar), to exercise a certain
privilege or to carry on a particular business;
"majority-owned subsidiary", a company that is at
least 51% owned by another company;
"person", any individual and any partnership, firm,
association, corporation, or other entity, or their
subsidiaries;
"secretary", the secretary of administration and
finance; "state, local, or institutional agency", all
awarding authorities of the state, local or institutional
government, including, but not limited to, all executive
offices, agencies, departments, commissions, and public
institutions of higher education, and any office, department
or division of the judiciary;
"state, local, or institutional authority" shall
include, but not be limited to the: state, local, or
institutional skills corporation, centers of excellence,
community economic development assistance corporation,
government land bank, state, local, or institutional,
transportation authority, state, local, or institutional
business development corporation, state, local, or
institutional capital resource company, state, local, or
institutional convention center authority, state, local, or
institutional corporation for educational telecommunications,
state, local, or institutional health and educational
facilities authority, state, local, or institutional higher
education assistance corporation, state, local, or
institutional housing finance agency, state, local, or
institutional horse racing authority, state, local, or
institutional industrial finance agency, state, local, or
institutional industrial service program, state, local, or
institutional legal assistance corporation, state, local, or
institutional port authority, state, local, or institutional
product development corporation, state, local, or
institutional technology development corporation, state,
local, or institutional turnpike authority, state, local, or
institutional water resources authority, pension reserves
investment management board, state, local, or institutional
college building authority, local, or institutional university
building authority, thrift institutions fund for economic
development, victim and witness board.
Topic 50 Part 2 of selective purchase legisl
SECTION 2. General Laws are hereby amended by
inserting after ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE the following
sections:
ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE. (a) Except as otherwise
provided in this section, a state, local, or institutional
agency, state, local, or institutional authority, or the house
of representatives or the state, local, or institutional
senate shall not procure goods or services from: (1) a
person having its principal place of business, its place of
incorporation, or its corporate headquarters in Burma
(Myanmar), or (2) a person functioning as an
operation, licensee, franchise, or majority owned subsidiary
of any person described in clause (1), or functioning as an
agent of the government of Burma (Myanmar). (b) A
state, local, or institutional agency or state, local, or
institutional authority or the house of representatives or the
state, local, or institutional senate may procure goods or
services from a person described in paragraph (a) if the
agency certifies in writing to the secretary, or in the case
of an authority, to the chief operating officer thereof, that
the procurement is essential and that there is no other known
capable supplier, occasioned by the unique nature of the
requirement, supplier or market conditions. Any person from
whom a procurement would be restricted under this section
shall not supply goods or services to any state, local, or
institutional agency, state, local, or institutional authority
or the house of representatives or state, local, or
institutional senate under any other provision of this
chapter, or of any other general or special law.
ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE. (a) Except as otherwise
provided in this section and in ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE a
state, local, or institutional agency, a state, local, or
institutional authority, the house of representatives or the
state, local, or institutional senate may not procure goods or
services from any person listed on the restricted purchase
list maintained by the secretary, or who is determined through
affidavit or through other reliable methods to meet the
criteria for so being listed.
(b) A state, local, or institutional agency, a state,
local, or institutional authority, or the house of
representatives or the state, local, or institutional senate
may procure goods or services from a person who is on or who
is so determined to meet the criteria of the restricted
purchase list only after certifying in writing to the
secretary or, in the case of a state, local, or institutional
authority, to the chief operating officer that:
1) the procurement is essential; and
2) compliance with paragraph (a) of this section would
eliminate the only bid or offer, or would result in inadequate
competition. (c) In any solicitation, a state, local,
or institutional agency, a state, local, or institutional
authority, the house of representatives or the state, local,
or institutional senate shall provide ample notice of the
requirements of this section. Prior to reviewing responses to
bid documents for any procurements, or, if there are none,
prior to entering into any contractual arrangement, the
awarding authority shall obtain from such person seeking a
contract a statement under pains and penalties of perjury from
an authorized representative, on a form to be provided by the
awa
rding authority, declaring the nature and extent to which said
person is engaging in activities that would subject said
person to inclusion on the restricted purchase list.
(d) In any procurement that includes bidders or
offerors who are on or meet the criteria of the restricted
purchase list, the awarding authority may award the contract
to a person who is on or who meets the criteria of the
restricted purchase list only
if there is no comparable low bid or offer by a person who is
not on the restricted purchase list.
(e) A person with operations in Burma (Myanmar) for
the sole purpose of reporting the news, or solely for the
purpose of providing goods and services for the provision of
international E3
telecommunications, shall not be subject to the provisions of
sections ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE.
ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE. (a) The secretary shall
establish and maintain a restricted purchase list. The
restricted purchase list shall contain the names of all
persons currently doing business with Burma (Myanmar).
(b) In establishing the restricted purchase list, the
secretary shall consult United Nations reports, resources of
the Investor Responsibility Research Center and the Associates
to Develop Democratic Burma, and other reliable sources. The
secretary shall also place the name of any person who, in the
statement described in ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE declares
that he meets the criteria for being so listed. (c)
The restricted purchase list shall be updated at least once
every three months.
(d) The secretary shall provide the list to all state,
local, or institutional agencies and state, local, or
institutional authorities and to the house of representatives
and the state, local, or institutional senate.
ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE. The secretary is hereby
authorized and directed to promulgate regulations to assure
the timely and effective implementation of ADD RELEVANT
SECTION # HERE, inclusive, of this chapter. ADD
RELEVANT SECTION # HERE. Any contract entered into in
violation of ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE, inclusive, shall be
void. ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE. Annually on or
before January first, the secretary shall file a report with
clerks of the senate and the house of representatives
detailing compliance with ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE,
inclusive.
SECTION 3. The provisions of this act shall apply to
contracts entered into after the effective date of this act.
Any existing contract shall remain in full force and effect
and not be subject to the provisions of this act until such
time as the renewal of the contractual agreement.
SECTION 4. General Laws are hereby amended by
inserting at the end of subdivision (a) the following
paragraph:
It shall be the policy of the commonwealth that the
deputy commissioner shall not sell, rent, or dispose of any
real property, including but not limited to granting the right
to lay, construct, maintain, or operate pipelines through,
over, across, or un der land, water, park, reservation or
highway of the commonwealth, its agencies or its political
subdivisions, to any person doing business in or with Burma
(Myanmar), as defined in ADD RELEVANT SECTION # HERE.
****************************MISC******************************
SCB: REPLY TO IDENTIFY YOURSELF
Absdf102 soc.culture.burma 2:35 PM Mar 5, 1995
(at aol.com)
Hello Mr,
I was very suprised to read your message on the net. Your
message is very offensive to students like us. I am not sure
how much you know about ABSDF, but let me share my own
experience about ABSDF with you. I was a medical student in
Burma and spent three years in ABSDF, over one year in the
front line. I have been injured (there are two pieces of
shrapnel still inside my body) in the front line. I am saying
these things not to brag to you but to show how much I care
about my country. I am an educated student and not an MTZ
worshipper. However, my camp supported the MTZ group during
the crisis and so you may say that I am from the MTZ group.
ABSDF split not because of a personal fight between MTZ and
Dr. Naing Aung. The problems are complex and so even students
apart from ABSDF cannot fully understand. However, we all
believe that students in both groups are genuinely interested
in reunification, and students from both groups, fighting on
the front line, deserve to be appreciated equally despite of
the groups they belong to. If you ask any exile Burmese
students organization anywhere in the world, I am sure that
they will give you the same answer. Now, I am in the United
States and not a ABSDF member anymore, but I am simply
helping, as much as I can, my friends who are still fighting
in the jungle.
We all are not happy about the split and are trying our best
to help them to reunify. Pointing fingers at each other or
degrading one group is not the right way to solve this
problem. We have to recognize the existance of two factions
and find the best way of cooperation and reunification between
these groups. If you still want me to identify who I am or
have any other questions, I will be happy to be of assistance.
My e-mail address is absdf102@xxxxxxxx
P.S. For clarification to the readers, MTZ used the name
"Central Leading Committee", ABSDF.
****************************MISC******************************
NLM/SLORC: MYANMAR ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN MULTI-SECTORAL
APPROACH TO DRUG PROBLEM
The New Light of Myanmar Newspaper
04 March 1995
1,455.02 kilos opium, 143.94 kilos heroin,
312.22 kilos marijuana, 3,433.68 litres
Phensedyl destroyed at ninth exhibition
The ninth exhibition to destroy the seized narcotic
drugs was held under the aegis of the Central
Committee for Drug Abuse Control at Ye Yeiktha on
Kyaikwaing Pagoda, Mayangon Township, this
morning.
It was attended by Secretary-1 of the State Law and
Order Restoration Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt,
members of the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, Chairman of the CCDAC Minister for Home
Affairs Lt-Gen Mya Thin, Ministers, Attorney General,
Auditor General, Yangon Mayor, deputy ministers,
senior officers of the Ministry of Defence,
directors-general and managing directors, members of
the State Law and Order Restoration Council
Information Committee, local and foreign journalists,
crew of Associated Press TV News, Secretary of
CCDAC Director-General of People's Police Force Col
Soe Win and members, officials of PPF, diplomats,
representatives of the UNDCP and the UN agencies in
Myanmar and specially invited guests.
Joint Secretary of CCDAC PPF Director (Narcotic
Division) Police Col Ngwe Soe Tun clarified narcotic
drug control activities in Myanmar.
He explained that narcotic drugs seized in the
country were destroyed for the ninth time, adding that,
the ninth exhibition was held in Yangon as a gesture
hailing the Golden Jubilee Armed Forces Day.
Since its taking up of State duties, the State Law and
Order Restoration Council has undertaken drug
eradication measures according to the two-point
National Strategy for Narcotic Drugs Control, he said,
stating that the first strategic aim is to designate drug
eradication and prevention activities as a national duty
and to perform this duty with added momentum and the
second aim is to gradually eliminate poppy cultivation
by promoting living standard of the national races of
border areas.
The institution mainly responsible for realization of
these two strategic aims is the Central Committee for
Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC), which came into
existence in 1975 in accord with the 1974 Drug Law, he
said.
There were nine sectors under the CCDAC and in
1989, the State Law and Order Restoration Council
reorganized the committee keeping abreast of the times.
The number of sectors under the CCDAC had
increased to 10 as it was reorganized with one more
sector by the name of the International Relations Sector
in 1993 in accord with the
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law
(1/93), he said.
State/Division, District, Township and Ward
supervisory groups were formed extensively and
membership of the CCDAC had increased to 24
inclusive of the two vice-chairmen, he said.
To achieve the first aim of the National Strategy, he
said, the CCDAC is discharging duties in cooperation
with the ten working sectors and local groups in
demand reduction, supply reduction and international
and regional cooperation.
The Tatmadaw, the PPF and the Customs
Department are assigned duties of the Law Enforcement
Sector, he said.
Seizures
He said various narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances seized between 18 September 1988 and 15
February 1995 are --- 12,598.40 kilos of opium,
1,525.947 kilos of heroin, 126.19 kilos of morphine,
49.86 kilos of opium oil, 86.53 kilos of liquid opium,
5,445.17 kilos of marijuana, 27,523.79 litres of
Phensedyl, 3,534.74 gallons of acetic anhydride and
1,721.8 kilos of precursor chemicals.
In a total of 23,888 drug offences, altogether 50.670
were convicted, he said, noting that during the tenure of
the State Law and Order Restoration Council
23,701.97 acres of opium poppy fields, including
23,158.61 acres in Shan State, and a total of 20 opium
refineries were destroyed.
He stated that narcotic drugs destroyed by
duty-conscious national races of border areas are
---397.55 kilos of heroin, 181 kilos of morphine, 327.28
kilos of opium, 65 kilos of acetic anhydride and 7,336
acres of opium poppy plantation, together with
precursor chemicals and 20 opium refineries.
The narcotic drugs seized during the tenure of the
State Law and Order Restoration Council are --- 437.30
kilos of heroin, 4,870.35 kilos of opium, 81.50 kilos of
opium oil/liquid opium, 589.9 litres of Phensedyl,
319.99 kilos of marijuana, 244 kilos of acetic anhydride
and 4,233.6 litres of acid --- besides destroying
19,536.57 acres of opium poppy plantation and six
opium refineries.
Continuing, he said that during 823 engagements
with drug traffickers, 16 officers and 567 other ranks of
the Tatmadaw sacrificed their lives, 55 officers and
1,744 of other ranks were wounded and 153 weapons
were lost, adding that enemy casualties amounted to
720 killed in action (by body count), 118 captured, 221
surrendered and 708 assorted weapons were seized.
Work committees
To achieve the second strategic aim, he said, the
Central Committee for Development of Border Areas
and National Races and work committees were formed
in 1989 and the committee was upgraded to ministry
level in 1992 and a relevant law has been enacted.
Within the five years from 1989 to 28 February
1995, he said, a total of K 2.5 billion has been spent for
development of border areas and 18 subcommittees are
implementing the target plans which are being
supervised by deputy ministers.
The Central Committee, he said, had alloted over K
5.8 million to Myanmar/Thai/UNDCP joint programme
in Tachilek area and over K 37.9 million to
Myanmar/China/UNDCP joint programme in
Mongyang, Silu and Pangkai areas, in addition to
spending K 2.06 million for development of Wa and
Kokang regions.
He stated that the master plan for a long term
11-year programme for systematic progress of border
areas was sanctioned by the Central Committee for
Development of Border Areas and National Races on
23 June 1994 and various work groups are now
discharging duties.
Int'l, regional cooperation
Regarding international and regional cooperation, he
said that on 13 and 14 March 1992 a ministerial
conference was held in Bangkok, attended by Myanmar,
Thailand and Laos and a joint declaration was issued:
the second ministerial conference was held in Yangon
from 9 through 11 February 1994 and a similar joint
declaration was released: and the third plan is scheduled
to be held in China.
Myanmar, China, Laos and Thailand, together with
representatives of the UNDCP, signed a MoU to
control illicit trafficking and abuse of narcotic drugs at the
UN Headquarters, he said, adding high level officials
from the four countries met in Vientiane on 31 June and
1 July 1994 and discussed follow up actions on the
MoU and the draft plan drawn up by the UNDCP is
being forwarded to the signatory countries.
He stated that Myanmar is a signatory to the 1988
UN Convention on 11 June 1991 and became a member
nation on 9 September 1991, adding that the 1971
Convention was carefully scrutinized, and Myanmar has
deposited the instrument of accession to become a
member nation on 7 June 1994.
In connection with regional cooperation, he said
Myanmar has signed agreement to participate in
Myanmar/Thai/UNDCP and Myanmar/China/UNDCP
drug control programmes in Yangon on 12 June 1992.
Speaking of regional cooperation, he said Joint
Executing Committee meetings were held for five times,
during which specific plans were drawn up and
implemented; two anti-drug units were formed, one
each in Muse and Tachilek; and a demand reduction
programme is underway in Muse Namhkam along the
Myanmar-China border.
As regards Myanmar-India cooperation, he stated
that an agreement for cooperation in narcotic drug
enforcement between Myanmar and India was signed in
Yangon on 30 March 1993; the first high level meeting
was held in New Delhi on 13 October 1993 and the
scond in Yangon on 19 December 1994: the first level
officers' meeting in Tamu on 28 February 1994 and the
second in Imphal on 30 and 31 July 1994.
He said Myanmar and Bangladesh have cooperated
in narcotic drug enforcement after exchanging high-level
delegation and holding ministerial meeting where an
agreement for mutual cooperation was signed between
the ministries of the two countries.
He continued to say that there are arrangements
between Myanmar and Vietnam to exchange
drug-related information and intelligence and a joint
programme is expected to materialise in the near future.
Myanmar, he said, also has plans to exchange
drug-related intelligence with the Russian Federation for
mutual cooperation.
Regarding Myanmar-USA opium yield survey, he
said officials of the Minstry of Defence, CCDAC,
Myanma Agriculture Service and the United States
carried out opium yield survey in Shan State on two
missions, the first from 14 through 19 February 1993
and the second from 19 through 25 February 1995.
He said from 18 September 1988 to 21 February
1995, altogether 201 delegates of Myanmar attended 62
conferences and meetings on drug control; CCDAC also
conducted altogether 150 meetings with various
responsible institutions --- 46 meetings with diplomats
in Myanmar, 48 with officials of UN agencies, nine with
foreign media and 47 with individuals from abroad.
Destruction of drugs
In connection with destruction of narcotic drugs in
Myanmar, Director of Criminal Investigation
Department Member of the Law Enforcement Sector
under CCDAC Police Col Maung Maung Than
explained that the narcotic drugs destroyed for the ninth
time were seized by the Tatmadaw, the People's Police
Force and the Customs Department and other law
enforcement agencies.
He said the narcotic drugs to be destroyed were
1,4455.021 kilos of opium, 143.94 kilos of heroin, 1.66
kilos of opium oil, 0.86 kilo of liquid opium, 312.22
kilos of marijuana, 3,433.68 litres of Phensedyl, 383.67
litres of cough mixtures containing Codeine
manufactured in neighbouring countries, 2.06 litres of
Codeine, 593 ampoules of 1-ml Pathedine injection and
210 ampoules of 1-ml Morphine injection.
He said the narcotic drugs destroyed at the ninth
exhibitions were 9,675.37 kilos of opium, 1,454.59 kilos
of heroin, 63.43 kilos of morphine base, 69.9 kilos of
opium oil, 117.01 kilos of liquid opium, 3,884.77 kilos
of marijuana, 23,252.35 litres of Phensedyl, 572.48
litres of cough mixtures containing Codeine
manufactured in neighbouring countries, 593 ampoules
of 1-ml Pathedine injection and 210 ampoules of 1-ml
Morphine injection. A video documentary feature on
narcotic drug control measures in Myanmar was
presented.
Ambassador of Italy Mr Giorgio Bosco suggested
some drugs to be destroyed could be used effectively in
treatment and drugs like morphine used legally for
alleviation of pain and suffering and that 210 ampoules
of morphine (injection) should be presented to hospitals
instead of being destroyed.
Regarding this suggestion, Vice-Chairman of the
CCDAC Minister for Foreign Affairs U Ohn Gyaw
replied that the drugs mentioned in the documents were
seized from law-breaker drug traffickers and they served
as evidences in passing judgement in the drug cases.
These drugs, he said, were many kilos and litres in
volume must be destroyed any way. He pointed out that
if these drugs were set aside for hospital use, criticisms
that the government is using illegal drugs would arise.
If such drugs are needed they are bought at the shops
which are opened legally.
Regarding NTV News correspondent U Aung Shwe
OO's suggestion that arrangements be made to use the
seized drugs for mankind, Police Col Ngwe Soe Tun
replied that what is carrried out is in accord with the
existing law and that these drugs were destroyed in
accordance with the decisions of the courts and the Law
Enforcement Supervisory Committee.
Chief Editor U Kyaw Min of the New Light of
Myanmar said a joint US-Myanmar poppy yield survey
was conducted in Myanmar recently and that there were
disparities in the figures carried by foreign news reports and
those released by respective countries.
Member of the CCDAC Lt-Col Kyaw Thein replied
that differences in the data on the yield of opium was
due to different calculations of respective agencies and
that it was found that according to the map on opium
poppy cultivation in Myamnar issued by the certain
agencies, it might be asssumed that opium poppy is
cultivated in vast areas of the country. He said poppy is
not cultivated at all in the 10-mile radius round
Taunggyi of Shan State which is marked by a dark area
on that map produced by some agencies through
random satellite imaging.
He said it is heard that the respective department
calculated the data on opium poppy cultivation by
means the satellite photos, and on this data they
assessed the yield at 2,000 to 2,500 tons per year. He
stated that according to the Report of the International
Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the opium yield in
Myanmar is estimated at only over 1,000 metric tons
per year.
To foreign correspondent U Hla Htwe's question,
Lt-Col Kyaw Thein replied that it is heard that drug
warlord Khun Sa's drug trafficking group is moving
around in southern Shan State's Homong area on
Thai-Myanmar border. He said there is no plan to talk
to Khun Sa and the Tatmadaw will attack Khun Sa's
drug trafficking groups when opportune.
The Secretary-1 and guests then studied the exhibits
on narcotic drug control activities in Myanmar.
Altogether 29,244 bottles --- 3,433.68 litres of
Phensedyl, 383.67 litres of cough syrup, 2.06 litres of
Codeine --- were crushed by the road roller, witnessed
by members of the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, ministers, deputy ministers, diplomats,
representatives of the UN agencies and local and foreign
journalists.
The diplomats, officials of the UN agencies and local and
foreign journalists chemically tested the drugs to be set
ablaze. Ambassador of Russian Federation Mr Valeri
V Nazarov, Ambassador of Italy Mr Giorgio Bosco,
Ambassador of Malaysia Mr Datuk John Tenewi Nuck
and Ambassador of India Mr Gopala Swami
Parthasarathy pressed buttons to start a bonfire of
1,455.021 kilos of opium, 143.94 kilos of heroin, 1.66
kilos of opium oil, 0.86 kilo of liquid opium, 312.22
kilos of marijuana.
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NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:
ABSDF: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT
AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
AW: ASIAWEEK
Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt. EQUALS US$1 (APPROX),
BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
BKK POST: BANGKOK POST (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
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
IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
KNU: KAREN NATIONAL UNION
Kt. BURMESE KYAT; UP TO 150 KYAT-US$1 BLACK MARKET
106 KYAT US$1-SEMI-OFFICIAL
6 KYAT-US$1 OFFICIAL
MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN
MNA: MYANMAR NEWS AGENCY (SLORC)
NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
NCGUB: NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA
NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER,RANGOON)
NMSP: NEW MON STATE PARTY
RTA:REC.TRAVEL.ASIA NEWSGROUP
SCB:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
SCT:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL
TAWSJ: THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
UPI: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
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