BurmaNet News: AUgust 6, 1996

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"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: August 6, 1996
Issue #483

HEADLINES:
==========
NATION: INVESTORS WARNED OFF BY SUU KYI
NATION: INVESTMENT IN BURMA TO REACH $ 7 BN
BKK POST: SLUMP CRIPPLES THAI BUSINESSES
BKK POST: AMNUAY ARRIVES IN RANGOON
AP: BURMA BANS BEERS
INDEPENENT REPORT: ELECTED ACTIVIST DIED IN PRISON.
PRESS STATEMENT: DEMOCRATIC ACTION PARTY (MALAYSIA)
SLORC PRESS: ASSK UNWORTHY CITIZEN, NOT A PROPER WIFE 
THE NATION: DOG CELL DAYS: LIFE INSIDE INSEIN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NATION: INVESTORS WARNED OFF BY SUU KYI
August 5, 1996

HONG KONG - Democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi has warned 
off potential investors in Burma, saying the economy is "very clearly
in bad health", Hong Kong television station ATV reported in a
statement yesterday.

"It's not just inflation, it's the very uncertain state of the
value of the  kyat, it's rising unemployment and the construction
boom is beginning to fizzle out," Suu Kyi said in an interview to
be aired today. "The buildings under construction now are what
was started a couple of years ago and if you look at the hotels
you will probably see large empty buildings," she said.

Suu Kyi urged Burma's military rulers, the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, to listen to  international calls for
dialogue with the democratic opposition. "What we are doing is
putting off the time when we can do so much to improve the
situation of the country," she said. "Why is there a need to put
this off? There is a dire need to change the situation." She said
her National League for Democracy is confident it could make a
success of dialogue.

Agence Frence-Presse adds from Rangoon:      
Referring to a letter sent to her from a supporter in central
Burma, Suu Kyi said that people are forced to restore their houses
for the benefit of tourists. Those who could not afford to, might
have to vacate or sell their properties.     

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

NATION: INVESTMENT IN BURMA TO REACH $ 7 BN
August 5, 1996

RANGOON - Despite pressure for investors to steer clear of
military -run Burma, the regime is forecasting its approved
foreign investment will total $7 billion ( 176 billion) by the
end of this fiscal year.

Development in Burma is still constrained by a lack of foreign
aid and soft loans but the outlook for private investment is
rosy, according to Brig David Abel, minister of national planning
and economic development.

He predicted on Saturday that Burma will attract new private
sector investments worth an estimated $1.5 billion by the end of
the fiscal year, or March 31, 1997. Taking into account cost
adjustments for ongoing projects, the cumulative total of
investment since Burma opened its doors to foreign investors in
1989 should reach $7 billion, he said.

Speaking one week after the US Senate decided against
comprehensive economic sanctions against Burma, Abel said US
companies were among the leading investors in the country.
"Fifteen of the 176 projects are being undertaken by large
American companies with over $247 million already invested, Abel
added.

Some 20 countries have so far invested $4.13  billion in 176
projects, with two European nations among the top three
investors. Britain tops the list with $1 billion, followed by
Singapore ($896 million) and France ($465 million).

Abel said oil and gas attracted the most investment, with 25
projects worth $1.44 billion, adding "All the investment of $4.13
billion is [from] totally private investments ... not a single
penny from government organisations," he said.

Foreign donors and international financial institutions pulled
out of Burma en masse in 1988 in protest of the military
takeover by the State Law and Order Restoration Council following
the rise of a nationwide prodemocracy movement. 

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

BKK POST: SLUMP CRIPPLES THAI BUSINESSES
August 5, 1996
Supamat Kasem 

Businessmen suffer huge losses as investments fail due to
collapse of Thai-Burma ties.

THE economic slump is so serious along the Thai-Burmese border
that that many investors in Mae Sot District are trying to selling their 
businesses, particularly those in real estate.

The slump has economically crippled many real estate investors,
with over 300 units of houses and commercial buildings left
unsold giving parts of Mae Sot the haunting appearance of a ghost-town.

Local businessmen said their only hope is that Deputy Prime
Minister and Foreign Minister Amnuay Viravan's trip to Burma
today and tomorrow would improve Thai-Burmese relations paving
the way for expanded cross-border trade.

Kitti Achariyasakda, owner and manager of Wattana Village resort
located on 25-rai in Mae Sot, has offered to sell his businesses
for 160 million baht since late last month because he has not
been able to absorb the crippling operating losses caused by the
economic slump along the border.

His resort with 87 housing units, a 200-table restaurant and an
assembly hall for 500 people opened ten years ago.

"I advertised the sale on a local radio station two weeks ago.
With a drop in revenue of over 30 percent since late last year, I
have suffered a monthly loss of 100,000-150,000 baht," said Mr
Kitti, adding that his 50 percent discount to attract customers
proved fruitless.

Mr Kitti said his monthly expenses and wages for 60 staff is
nearly 200,000 baht.

The businessman also owns a petrol station, a construction
company and a major construction material factory in Mae Sot. He
said the economic slump has forced him to think about selling all
his businesses.

Four or five years ago investors dumped over 1,000 million baht
in the construction of commercial buildings near the site of the
Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot.

Their investments were a failure as the bridge is not yet
completed and cross-border trade is virtually nil.

A border official said the economic downturn began early last year.

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

BKK POST: AMNUAY ARRIVES IN RANGOON
August 5, 1996
Bhanravee Tansubhapol

Foreign Minister  Amnuay Viravan arrived in Rangoon yesterday for
a four-day official visit accompanied by officials as well as a
group of 30 Thai businessmen looking for opportunities in Burma.

Mr Amnuay today co-chairs with Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw
the third meeting of the Thai-Burmese Joint Commission, which has
been prepared by senior officials of both sides in meetings here
over the past few days.

Mr Amnuay, who is also deputy premier for economic affairs, is
expected to raise problems of border demarcation in talks with
his Burmese hosts during the four-day visit ending Wednesday.

Mr Amnuay is due to meet Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, first secretary-
general of the State Law and Order Restoration Council  (SLORC)
Prime Minister and SLORC chairman Senior General Than Shwe, and
Deputy Prime Minister Maung Maung Khin.

Mr Amnuay is also due to open an exhibition of Thai goods, and to
pre-side over the formal opening of the Thai embassy.

Meanwhile, Thailand and Burma  have agreed to issue two types of
border passes, a temporary pass for tourists from third
countries, and a two year pass, according to Foreign Ministry's
East Asia Department Director-General Suvidhya Simaskul.

The border passes, good for three checkpoints at Mae Sai-
Tachilek, Mae Sot-Myawaddy, and Ranong Kawthaung are provided 
for under an agreement drafted by a working group here early last
week. The agreement, yet to be endorsed by respective
governments, will be effective within 90 days thereafter. 

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

AP: BURMA BANS BEERS
August 5, 1996

RANGOON, Burma - The government banned the import and sale
of Carlsberg and Heineken beers Monday, after the brewers withdrew
from proposed joint ventures under pressure from critics of Burma's
military regime.
        
The government announced the ban Monday on state television,
telling beer drinkers it is their patriotic duty to avoid the Danish
Carlsberg and the Dutch Heineken.
        
Exiled Burmese activists and Western sympathizers have lobbied
companies to withdraw from Burma, saying business activities help
support an undemocratic regime.
        
The ban represents an unusually direct response by Burma's
military regime, which calls the country Myanmar. Officials have
dismissed the idea that a boycott could hurt Burma's economy.
        
In the United States a bill to ban trade and investment with
Burma won significant support in Congress last month, but the
Clinton administration prefers milder sanctions.

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

INDEPENENT REPORT: ELECTED ACTIVIST DIED IN PRISON.
August 5, 1996

Burma's opposition National League for Democracy yesterday confirmed 
the death of Hla Than, 49, an activist elected to parliament in 1990 and 
detained by the junta later that year.
 
Sources close to the NLD, reached by telephone in Rangoon, said that Hla 
Than's body was cremated on Sunday.

He was officially said to have died of tuberculosis, but the exiled opposition 
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma alleged he had died 
of internal injuries due to torture in prison.

Hla Than was sent to Rangoon General Hospital from prison about 
two weeks ago "in very bad shape", one source said. The source declined 
to speculate on the cause of death, saying: "It could be anything."

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

PRESS STATEMENT: DEMOCRATIC ACTION PARTY (MALAYSIA)
August 6, 1996

Press Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-
General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya. 

SLORC must  invite an ASEAN inquiry to establish that Hla Than, elected 
NLD, MP in 1990 elections, had not died in detention because of  torture.

The death of Hla Than, an elected MP of the main Burmese opposition
 National League for Democracy (NLD) on August 2  while in detention, 
is most deplorable for which the  Myanmese military junta, the State Law  
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), must be held responsible.

SLORC must invite an ASEAN inquiry to establish that Hla Than  had 
not died because of internal injuries due to torture  as alleged by the exiled
opposition National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB).

Hla Than, a lawyer, won a seat from the Coco Islands constituency in the 
1990 elections which the NLD swept but which the junta never acknowledged.  
Hla Than was arrested on 23rd October 1990 for his involvement in attempting 
to form a parallel government and was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment 
with hard labour. 

He was in poor health and did not receive any treatment inInsein Prison 
for a long time.  When his condition became very serious, he was sent to 
the Rangoon General Hospital on 9th July.

ASEAN and international opinion must make clear to SLORC that unless 
it satisfies the world that Hla Than had not died because of torture, the
Myanmese military junta must stand condemned for another example of
inhumanity - raising immediately the question whether Myanmar should 
have been admitted as an observer at the recent ASEAN Ministerial 
Meeting in Jakarta.

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

SLORC PRESS: ASSK UNWORTHY CITIZEN, NOT A PROPER WIFE 
August 1, 1996

Excerpts from Article by U Phyo: "Mend Before It's Late, Htet Htet Moe 
Pyu" in Burmese government daily, MYANMAR ALIN,  August 1, 1996 

[Translated Excerpt] As a Buddhist, I always show my gratitude to those 
who are grateful to me, and I will try my best to continue this act.  
Besides my parents and mentors, I need to show my gratitude to General 
Aung San, a national leader.  Gen. Aung San bravely and decisively fought 
the English imperialists.  He revolted against the English imperialists, 
who were the enemies of Myanmar nationals, and strived for the 
independence that was greatly desired by the people.
	
To express my gratitude to Gen.  Aung San, I would kindly like to 
criticize and correct his daughter's [Aung San Suu Kyi's] wrong attitudes 
and actions.  I believe the prestige of Gen.  Aung San, our savior, will 
be increased if she simply accepts my criticisms and correct her mistakes 
before it is too late.  If she accepts my criticisms and corrects her 
mistakes, she will become more compatible with her life and her 
surroundings, and it will bring great enjoyment.
	
There is a saying that a potter must pound on a pot while making it, 
with the intention of making it beautiful but not to break it.  
Similarly, I am going to make some criticisms, not to get her into 
trouble or to affect her interests but to encourage her to correct her 
mistakes so that it will bring benefits to her and the situation. 
[passage omitted on Burmese saying on the duties of children]
	
The first point to address is whether she expressed her aratitude to her 
parents.  Her father was a great patriotic man who assiduously worked for 
the country and the people.  Did she follow her father's policy and path? 
 Did she ever express her high patriotism.and anti-imperialist spirits 
like her grandfather, Bo Min Yaung, and her father, Bo Teza.  What a sad 
thing!  She was married to a race that decapitated her grandfather and 
provided weapons to her father's assassins.  How is she going to continue 
with foreign blood in her?  So, my first conclusion is that she is a 
contumelious daughter who has failed to fulfill a child's duty, which is 
maintaining the parental lineage. [passage omitted on Burmese saying on 
the duties of wife]
	
The second point is that when a woman becomes a wife she must perform 
the duties of wife and fulfill her husband's needs.  She is a wife who 
has not been performing her duties because she has not been discharging 
her duties and fulfilling her husband's needs as a wife for a long time.
	
The third point is that she is not discharging her duties as a mother. 
[passage omitted] She is a mother who lacks consideration and warmth.
	
The fourth point is that she is a dictatorial leader who lacks respect 
for others and who is weak in dealing with her party's respectable and 
elderly members.  It has also been learned that she often gets angry and 
rejects all the ideas and suggestions presented by her colleagues when 
she disagrees with them.
	
The fifth point is that she is an unworthy citizen because she has a 
negative outlook and no regard for the Defense Service government that is 
rebuilding the country, which is lagging behind in every aspect.  She 
tells the international community not to provide assistance to Myanmar, 
not to invest in Myanmar, to impose sanctions on Myanmar, and to take 
actions against  Myanmar.  She tells tourists not to visit Myanmar and 
tells the world Bank not to provide loans to Myanmar.  With her negative 
attitude, she is working to hurt the country in which she resides. 
[passage omitted]
	
To express gratitude to Gen.  Aung San, our savior and leader, can she 
not show even a little love for the Myanmar that was cherished by her 
father? [passage omitted on state government implementing development 
programs throughout the country]
	
There is a maxim: Even things that break down quite often can be fixed 
in a short time.  I hope that she discards her wrong ideas and attitudes, 
adopts a constructive and progressive view, and becomes a good mother, a 
good wife, a gentle comrade of the party, and a citizen with genuine 
goodwill, who does not disturb and disrupt the country and block the 
country's development. It is too late, however, for her to be a good 
daughter who maintains her lineage.  I cannot do anything but ignore this 
matter.
	
If she will simply follow my advice, then the title Academy Htet Htet 
Moe Pyu [derogatory reference to Aung San Suu Kyi meaning sharp-tongued 
woman], that was conferred by me, will be very suitable for her.  I would 
like to remind her that if she refuses my advice and continues to engage 
in destructive acts, then from Academy Htet Htet Moe Pyu she will 
automatically become Academy
Htet Htet Sone [Sorceress] Pyu.

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

THE NATION: DOG CELL DAYS: LIFE INSIDE INSEIN
August 2, 1996

Former student activist and prison inmate Win Naing Oo tells 
what it is like to serve time in Burma's notorious jail system.

During his time in prison under the British, U Nu, later to 
become Prime Minister, and fellow student activists hired a 
famous Burmese performance inside the prison. They were 
regarded as 'first class' political prisoners. Burma's well-
known writers such as Mya Than Tint and Bamaw Tin Aung spent 
half of their life time in jail and they had written many novels. 

Today, Burma's main prison, Insein, remains filled with 
hundreds of political prisoners. But any body who has been 
inside dreads the idea of going back. 

Win Naing Oo was a final year student at the Rangoon Institute 
of Technology. He had actively participated in the democarcy 
movement and joined the the All Burma Students' Democratic 
Front [ABSF]. But in 1990, he sneaked into Burma and was 
arrested. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment. This 
time was shared between Insein and Tha Yet prisons.

After he came out of Burma he wrote a priosn report, 'Cries 
from Prison,' which is now published by the ABSDF. 

"The prison system of a country often reflects the type of 
government ruling that country," Win Naing Oo wrote in the introduction 

"The situation in prisons gives an indication of the situation 
in the country as a whole."

Because of this, jails in Burma are places dominated by 
violations of the inmats' dignity, brutal harassment and any 
kind of ill-treatment that the authorities choose to dish out. 
There are a total of 36 prisons in Burma, of which Insein 
prison is the biggest, and the most infamous in terms of 
human-rights abuses. Other prominent prisons include Thayet 
prison and Thayawadi prison.

Following are extracts from Win Naing Oo's report.

Health situation
The hospital inside the Insein prison has some beds but they 
are always occupied by "pretend-patients" who pay money to the 
prison doctors so that they can sleep in the hospital beds. 

These pretend-patients are also allowed to stay in the better 
and cleaner cells of the prison hospital. Real patients who 
cannot pay the bribe do not have access to the hospital beds 
or good cells but rather have to stay in the corridor or in 
the toilet and storage areas which are very unhygienic and 
smell offensively.

If prisoners are ill, the hospital provides no medicine except 
some kinds of temporary analgesic and antipyretic, such as Paracetamol. 

There is only one doctor at the prison hospital. The doctor 
neither examines patients nor prescribes medicine for them; 
these tasks are carried out by other prisoners, who have only 
an extremely rudimentary knowledge of medical matters (taught 
to them by the prison doctor). 

Nearly all the medicines stocks from the prison hospital are 
smuggled out and sold in the markets outside. 

Worse, still, the hospital does not admit patients unless they 
first pay a bribe: otherwise they are admitted to the hospital 
only when they develop serious complications, but by this time 
it is usually too late and most die. 

Additionally, the hospital provides no sheets and no blankets 
for patients. If a prisoner has their own blanket they can use 
it, but otherwise none is provided. 

There are no appropriate medicines provided; no regular checks 
by doctors; no proper diagnosis; no proper treatment; no 
assistance or care of any kind for the patients. Therefore, 
most of the patients who are admitted to the prison hospital 
die there. Even if they survive, all end up suffering from 
malnutrition and become very thin.

This neglect in prisons has contributed to the high death 
tolls of prisoners. Recently, Leo Nichols died as a result of 
lack of medical care in prison. Since 1988 many prominent 
politicians, writers, students died in prison. The majority of 
deaths were due to dysentery. 

But Win Naing Oo said, the prison hospital takes a very good 
care of those who bribe them dearly. The hospital buys 
medicines from outside if required for those prisoners. 

If need be, they are often transferred to a good hospital outside.  

The most common diseases among the prisoners are: 
gastrointestinal diseases (amoebic dysentery, bacillary 
dysentery and diarrhoea), jaundice (viral and amoebic 
hepatitis)and skin diseases. The sources of transmission of 
the infection are poor sanitation, a lack of personal hygiene 
(particularly because of poor water supplies), unclean and 
semi-cooked food, dirty kitchens and polluted surroundings.

Owing to drug abuse, there is also a high prevalence of 
HIV/AIDS in prisons. When administering injections, the 
doctors give only half or less than half of the phial to one 
patient, giving the rest to another patient from the same 
needle and syringe, this almost guaranteeing that any blood-
carried infections will spread. This means that the doctors 
can get away with using less medicines per patients.

Food for Prisoners
The food provided by prison officials essentially consists of 
fish paste. A small piece of beef, pork or fish are provided 
once a week. This is half the amount stipulated in the prison manual. 

All prisoners receive two meals, one in the morning and 
another in the evening. In the morning, the  meal is rice, pea 
curry and fish paste. For the evening rice, talapaw (vegetable 
soup) and fish paste. 

The rice given to prisoners is the lowest quality available in 
Burma. The pea curry consists of a few yellow peas boiled in a 
large volume of water. Almost all the peas from this curry 
have already been removed by the prisoners in charge by the 
time meal-time arrives. This leaves only pea-water for the 
other prisoners. Talapaw curry: a small amount of various 
unwashed vegetables are put into a large urn, and then boiled 
with too much water. The soup always contains foreign matter 
such as small insets, leeches, sand and some very tiny pieces 
of stone. Prison official usually keep good parts of the meat 
in order to sell it to prisoners. For example, when given 
fried fish, prisoners are provided only with the heads and 
tails. Prison officers never use all the allowance money when 
they buy meat and fish, but keep some for themselves. 

But if a prisoner has some hidden money, he can buy pea-soup 
and meat or exchange it for his clothes. The majority of 
prisoners are underfed and have to go hungry all the time.

Bathing 
Bathing is allowed once a day, and clothes may be washed once 
a week. The size of the water-trough is about 25m by 6m and is 
divided into two parts. The small part, about 6m long, 
contains drinking water. 

However, the prisoners appointed to the authoritarian body can 
use as much of this water as they like for bathing. 

Ordinary prisoners are allowed to bathe at the large section 
of another trough. At bathing time, 50 prisoners line up on 
each side of the trough and fetch water for bathing. The order 
in which prisoners must line up is decided by the appointed 
authoritarian prisoners. If the prisoners do not wash in time 
with one another, the prisoners in charge beat them with hard 
bamboo sticks. (The prisoners must wash like a military 
parade; they are given an order to scoop out water, and must 
all do so in unison). The prisoners are allowed to use only 
shallow dinner plates to scoop water for bathing. They can use 
no more than ten plates of water each. Because of the small 
amount of water provided, most prisoners suffer scabies and 
other skin diseases associated with poor sanitation.

Visiting Rights
According to the prison manual, prisoners have the right to 
meet with their family members and to receive food and other 
items from them. But the rules between political and criminal 
prisoners are different.

Criminal prisoners are usually permitted to meet family 
members once a week, and more than two family members are 
allowed at a time, if they want. Unlike political prisoners 
the visitors are merely required to show their identities and 
they can meet prisoners immediately.

For political prisoners, the rules are strictly enforced, 
according to the prison manual. Visitors must be close family 
members of the prisoner, and need to show a family list 
recognized by the government. Visitors are only allowed to 
spend 10 minutes with a prisoner. 

Before the meeting, prison officials repeatedly search all 
items brought by the visitors. The political prisoners are 
also checked and searched at least five times before they meet relatives. 

Conversation is limited to family matters as prison warders 
remain beside the prisoners, watching and listening to 
everything they say. If they talk about politics or the 
miserable conditions inside the prison, the prisoner will be 
punished later and his visitation rights withdrawn. In the 
meeting room, political prisoners from different halls are not 
allowed to greet or speak with each other or with family 
members of other political prisoners.

Items for prisoners such as food, soap, toothpaste, cheroots, 
blankets, sandals etc must first be given to the warders, who 
traditionally confiscate any items that they want themselves. 
Furthermore, reading material are strictly censored by the 
prison officials. 

Punishment in prison   

There are different kind of punishment in prison. Prisoners 
are taken to solitary confinement, beaten, their visitation  
rights cancelled, or transferred to another cell-block. 
prisoners in solitary confinement are given no blankets, or 
mats and have to sleep on the bare concrete floor. They are 
locked in a tiny cell during this period and have no chance to wash. 

Additionally, a 45 to 60 cm-long iron rod is placed 
horizontally between the shackled legs of prisoners, forcing 
them to stand permanently with legs astride.  

Normally small chamber pots and urine pots are put in each 
tiny cell. These pots are not emptied, so the cell gets wet 
dirty and smells offensively within a short period. Food is 
slid in from outside the cell.

Every day, the prisoner is taken out of the cell, forced to 
stand in standard position and beaten. 

The period of solitary confinement usually lasts for at least 
one month, and may last up to three months.

However, there is a worse type of solitary confinement. 

A prisoner has to stand with both arms tied above the head. 
The prisoner has to defecate and urinate while standing. The 
authorities feed them no rice but give them only glue made from rice.

To administer beatings, the prison officials and wardens use 
leather-coated pipe, wooden stick, stick made from three 
interlaced pieces of cane, or a  solid bamboo stick about one 
metre in length and hard plastic water pipe. When the 
authorities beat the prisoners, they do not avoid any part of the body.

They routinely kick the chest, abdomen, face and back with 
military boots. They also jump on the backs of the prisoners 
who are crawling along the ground. Prisoners being beaten are 
often made to stand and embrace a post while both hands are 
held firmly by another person. They are also beaten lying 
prone on the ground; standing with both legs chained; while 
being forced to crawl along the ground; while shackled to a 
long iron bar so that their legs are splayed. There is also a 
method used to break the morale of a prisoner which involves 
the warden asking: "Are you afraid?" The prisoner must reply: 
"I am afraid of you shint." 

Shint is a Burmese suffix used for politeness by female 
speakers; it is never used by male speakers. 

"Some prisoners refuse to talk to the officers in this way, 
like a woman. In this case they are beaten continuously until 
they comply. Some prisoners are beaten unconscious because 
they refuse to answer with shint. Some are beaten again when 
they recover consciousness. Finally, some prisoners can no 
longer stand the suffering and knock themselves unconscious on 
the stone wall. When prisoners get fractured skulls or severe 
bleeding, they are finally sent to hospital." 

If they moan because of pain, they are beaten again and 
accused of being noisy.

Because of such abuses, some prisoners suffer gangrene and 
some have sustained total paralysis for example, Zarni (a 
member of NLD) and Kyaw Thu. 

Prisoners who do not want to be sent to hard labour camp have 
to bribe higher officials. Most prisoners who cannot afford to 
bribe were sent to Kyauk Gyi labour camp. In 1991 there was an 
outbreak of gastrointestinal disease in that camp, but no 
medication was provided and dozens of prisoners died. The dead 
bodies were buried in a mass grave on the spot.

Win Naing Oo also witnessed and experienced that prison 
officials encouraged criminals to provoke and threaten 
political prisoners. Senior criminal prisoners create 
misunderstanding, spread rumours, and give false reports about 
political prisoners to prison officials.

Whenever there was a fight or confrontation between criminals 
and political prisoners, the authorities and wardens reluctant 
to intervene. Win Naing Oo's term, seven attempts on the life 
of political prisoners were made by criminal prisoners.

There is abundance of lethal weapons, and lack of proper 
punishment, furthermore, the prison officials encourages the 
activities of the senior prisoners and gangsters," Win Naing Oo said.

Win Naing Oo, himself faced a serious danger as one criminal, 
Soe Myat tried to kill him. Soe Myat had been promised by the 
prison authorities he would be given protection if he killed 
the former student.

But the conspiracy was leaked out and political prisoners made 
it known they would riot if Win Naing Oo was killed, they 
would start prison riot. Finally, Win Naing Oo was transferred 
to Tha Yet prison.

Political prisoners are usually defenseless in prisons against 
all possible dangers. prison officials claim that political 
prisoners don't exist. Apart from personal security, there is 
also homosexual abuse. The younger prisoners are especially 
prone to sexual abuse. The prison authorities turn a blind eye 
to such cases and the victims also keep quiet because they are 
ashamed and afraid of being killed.

The report also mentioned about the possibility of getting or 
buying various kinds of drugs in the prison, for instance, raw 
opium, heroin, concentrated opium oil, marijuana and diazepam, 
etc. It claimed that the main source of drugs in the prison is 
the prison authorities themselves.  

Monk prisoners
Many monks have also been arrested for their participated in 
the pro-democracy movement since 1988. It is estimated that 
there are nearly 200 Buddhist monks in Insein prison alone. U 
Zawtika, a famous monk from Shwe Phone Pwint monastery, died 
in prison in December 1992. 

The monks in Insein prison participated in a Patta Nikujjana 
Kan against the government and were accused of being fake 
Buddhist monks and were arrested by the military regime. They 
had received heavy sentences.

The monks have asked to wear robes in prison, but the prison 
authorities disrobed the monks and forced them to wear prison 
uniforms. In addition, the monks are not referred to by their 
monk names, only ordinary names. 

When the prison authorities call them, they do not use the 
word U which is a respectful prefix to a name. 

The monk Meggin Sayadaw is over 70 years old, but the warden 
calls him, "Hey, Shwe Tha Aye" in a very disrespectful way.

The monks in prison have nevertheless attempted to live in 
accordance with the traditional principles of being a Buddhist 
monk and they do not eat dinner and early morning meals are 
not provided. This means that they can only eat one meal a day 

The monks are not allowed to preach the Buddhist Dharma and 
the prisoners are also not allowed to pay obeisance to monks.

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


>From snataraj  Mon Jul  8 14:04:57 1996
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Received: (from snataraj) by igc4.igc.apc.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id OAA21397 for strider@xxxxxxxxxxx; Mon, 8 Jul 1996 14:04:57 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 1996 14:04:57 -0700 (PDT)
Message-Id: <199607082104.OAA21397@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re:  "Uncle Leo's Memorial"
Status: RO
X-Status: 

Hi, Doug!

Yes, we have a DC office and you can contact Heather Foote, our Policy
Associate.  While she herself might not be able to make meetings regularly
she can put you in touch with local UUs maybe who could join in your efforts.
When I am next in DC I will let you know and we can talk.  DC office number
(202) 466-7400

Regards,

Shalini