Two items from The Daily Yomiuri, e

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Subject: Two items from The Daily Yomiuri, each more objectionable than  the other.

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The Daily Yomiuri 
September 27, 1996

Capitalism Battles Against Moralism in Myanmar

By Tom Plate
Los Angeles Times

	Viewed solely from a public relations standpoint, Unocal's pipeline project
in repressive Myanmar is about as close to one gigantic image disaster as
any $1.2 billion investment can get for a U.S. oil company that cares about
what people think of it. On today's worldwide human rights radar screen, the
military junta in Myanmar has attained a special place in Western human
rights contempt. Thus Unocal, with headquarters in Los Angeles, is now
hearing it from liberal boo-birds and human-righters from all over. 
	It has even been sued in a U.S. court for various alleged transgressions
against international human rights treaties. If it were not for the enormous
stakes involved, Unocal President John Imle Jr. might be well tempted to
pull the plug on his company's investment in Myanmar, as have other
Pit-burned Western companies, including Heineken, Carlsberg and Levi
Strauss. Though Unocal shares the project with the French giant Total, the
local Myanmar Oil -  Gas Enterprise and PTT Exploration and Production of
Thailand, the quarrel right now is solely with Unocal. 
	And if all the charges against it --  bedding down with a murderous regime,
carelessness with the environment, labor abuses and forced relocations --
sound familiar, that is because they are strikingly similar to the charges
that were laid against Shell Oil's controversial project in Nigeria. But
Unocal appears to have learned many lessons from that ugly venture, which
culminated in the death of that African country's leading human rights
activist. 
	And any fair examination of the list of particulars against shell shocked
Unocal reveals too many of the facts to be in considerable dispute for
almost any of them to be taken for granted. Indeed, from Unocal's
perspective, an offer to finance an impartial fact-finding panel might take
the exercise of corporate due diligence to new and welcome heights, even if
this exceptionally nasty Myanmar regime, absurdly named the State Law and
Order Restoration Council, were to veto the whole idea. 
	Unocal has exercised a good - faith effort to see that workers are
compensated in fact as well as intent. Additionally, the very presence of
U.S. companies -- grounded in U.S. traditions, pressured by the human rights
expectations of the U.S. public and monitored by the Western media --
probably works as a speed bump to slow down SLORC. But we cannot hold U.S.
companies involved in countries with rough - cut governments responsible for
things they cannot control. Why blame Unocal for all that is wrong in
Myanmar? The oil giant, after all, did not put these brutes in power. 
	Americans' yearning for virtue in all things is matched only by our
penchant for inconsistency in many things. For instance, even though Vietnam
remains a repressive Communist state, U.S. policy now promotes diplomatic
exchanges and U.S. business investment there. China continues to fail one
Western human rights test after another but we emphasize the hoped - for
seductiveness of constructive engagement rather than the cold tonic of
diplomatic and economic isolation. 
	Moreover, isolation does not always do the trick. Eventually it dislodged
the white racists in South Africa, but Fidel Castro continues to puff along
in Cuba. Thus, however emotionally unsatisfying, hardheaded pragmatism is
necessary in a world that almost unanimously rejects the U.S. moralizing
that it views as a scarcely veiled exercise in cultural imperialism. Asian
countries want to do business with Myanmar and want the United States to
spurn any economic - boycott grandstanding. 
	But because Myanmar leads the evil - empire league at the moment Unocal
becomes the cause celebre of the year in the United States. Too bad. In
reality, the company's complicated project will bring natural gas to
Thailand from offshore Myanmar, thus providing a clean source of energy to a
region suffering, as is almost all of  Asia, from pervasive pollution. 
	Don't get me wrong. The last time I shed tears for an oil company, I rooted
for the Notre Dame football team. And if Unocal can ride out the current
storm of protest and complete the project as planned by 1998, it will make a
fortune for the company's coffers and shareholders. But note this, friends,
SLORC critics and human rights countrymen: That is neither illegal nor
immoral and in important respects is highly desirable. Third World
development will not happen unless outside capital finds the risk profitable. 
	For Americans, the overriding moral question is what the Unocal project
means for the oppressed people of Myanmar, who would appear to have no way
out of their giant national prison. It's hard to believe that, on the whole,
Western investment hurts the people there more than it helps. And it is
ridiculous to take the view that Western firms necessarily exploit
unemployed people simply by giving them jobs, and, in Unocal's case, by
providing medical care and other benefits. In Myanmar as in many other Asian
societies, people work or they die; there is no welfare net to support them. 
	Unocal so far has had more than 1,000 Myanmars on its pipeline payroll. If
human rights organizations get their wish and Western investment continues
to run away, the Myanmar people could wind up in far worse shape. 

-----

Warm Waterways

Myanmar's acrobatic fishermen

By Martin Robinson
Special to the Daily Yomiuri
September 28, 1996

Skimming over the mist - shrouded Inle Lake is an experience no visitor to
Myanmar should miss, particularly at dawn when the local fishermen are
already at work employing their unique paddling and fishing techniques. 

Each fisherman stands at the front or the rear of his own small wooden
canoe, balancing on his left leg and using the other to push the paddle that
propels the canoe. Fishing is traditionally done with a large bamboo
bell-shaped fish trap, but nowadays some use a net. In the early morning
light, their graceful movements look like a strange ethereal ballet. They
must be the world's most acrobatic fishermen. 

Inle Lake, 200 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide, is shallow and
weed-choked, and the fishermen have developed their methods to suit the
conditions. 

Wooden boats are the main form of transport for the villagers living on the
shores of the lake. Long, narrow boats with powerful motors take up to six
tourists seated in comfort in armchairs, or countless 

locals crowded together with straw baskets full of market produce. Smaller
canoes are propelled along by leg-rowers or by more conventional ways of
paddling. 

The villages around the lake have few shops. Markets are major events where
hundreds of people gather to buy and sell goods, chat in the makeshift tea
shops, and enjoy the hustle and bustle. They are also popular with tourists. 

The largest one is in Nampan on the south side of the lake. People are
hospitable and helpful -- one lady refused to charge anything for the
pancakes and tea we had at her stall. Besides fruit and vegetables, the
tourist can buy rice crackers larger than dinner plates and colorful
shoulder bags costing less than $2. Paho women, who dress in black and smoke
cheroots, can also be seen at the market. 

The villagers' one-roomed wooden houses are built on stilts, many of them
over the lake. The village streets are waterways so canoes are used to shop
and visit friends. 

Tourist boats visit a number of villages, including Thar Lay. Upon arrival
at this village, the boats become the target of women in small canoes who
sell souvenirs such as lacquer boxes, wooden carvings, metal opium weights,
books of tattoo designs. 

In the village, there is a pagoda where the Buddha images are inlaid with
gold leaf they have completely lost their shape. Wandering around on wooden
walkways and bridges, the tourist can watch weavers, metal workers and wood
carvers hard at work. It is about the only village with a restaurant so plan
to have a meal there. 

Around the lake villagers grow vegetables in floating gardens. The crops are
grown on soil that floats on the lake, and on earth banks built up in
shallow areas. Traveling along the narrow channels of this floating world,
farmers can be seen standing in their canoes tending their crops. 
Nearly every village has a monastery although only a handful of monks live
in each one. Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country and monks with
their shaved heads and orange or red gowns are a common sight everywhere.
The monks pray for the village and bring good luck and prosperity. Most
tourist boats visit the Jumping Cat monastery, so-called because cats have
been trained to jump through little hoops. One of the three monks living
there speaks good English and is happy to answer questions. 

When we arrived he was reading a 250 - year - old Buddhist tract written on
thin strips of palm leaf. He told us that he used to be a businessman in
Yangon with a wife, children and a car. But he gave it all up and became a
monk because he feared his reincarnation would be a bad one. 

A trip round the lake from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. costs about 800 kyats ($7), so
if a group of five hire a boat, it only costs $1.40 each for the whole day.
There is also a once-only $3 charge to go onto the lake. Boat trips leave
from Nyang Shwe, which is the only official place a visitor can stay. A
quiet, friendly town with plenty of small hotels and guest houses that cost
$4 upward, the town is joined to the lake by a canal. 

The few restaurants serve a Chinese - style cuisine. The best place is run
by four sisters and that is its name: Four Sisters. You sit on reed mats on
the floor of their wooden house. There is a set menu and food keeps coming
until you are full, and then you pay as much or as little as you want. It is
an unusual system, but that is the charm of Myanmar. 

Hiking treks to nearby mountain villages can be arranged and cost around 300
kyats ($3) a day. Bicycles, which can be hired for 100 kyats ($1) a day, can
be pedaled to Main Tauk village along a 10 - kilometer uneven dirt road.
When I made the trip, bullock carts and water buffaloes with children on
their backs were the only traffic going the other way. Try to visit the
village on market day. 

(Photo captions:  Clockwise from top right: Acrobatic, leg-paddling
fishermen; black-clad Paho (sic) ladies at a market; the village's
water-filled main street. )
In the village you can walk through fields of sugar cane, soya beans and
tobacco to some 

Buddhist stupas on the hillside. Nearby is a British cemetery, the only
reminder that in colonial times the village was called Fort Stedman and had
a British garrison. 

In the village monastery, U Tet Tun runs an orphanage that looks after 25
boys. He speaks some English, likes to talk to visitors and although he
doesn't ask for a donation, he won't refuse one. His salary is 800 kyats
($7) a month, a typical wage in Myanmar, and the military government only
pays 2 kyats a day per child for their upkeep. The children lined up and
showed off their English and their ambitions, which included becoming a
doctor, an engineer, a teacher, a bus driver and a farmer. 

Inle Lake is 1,500 meters above sea level so the climate is not too humid,
and sweaters are needed in the evening and early morning. The whole area is
rural and picturesque with the lake, the small villages, the floating
gardens, the water buffaloes, and the Shan mountains in the distance.
Everything is so relaxed and unspoiled and the local people always have a
smile on their faces. 

GETTING THERE: There are flights to Myanmar from Hong Kong, Singapore,
Bangkok, Dhaka, Calcutta and Osaka. 

Most people travel to Shwe Nyang by tourist bus and then take a local bus
the short distance to Nyang Shwe. The tourist bus from Yangon costs $10,
from Bagan $7 and from Mandalay $6. 
You can also take the train to Shwe  Nyang from Mandalay or Yangon. It is
slow but scenic and the ordinary class fare costs about same as the tourist
bus. 
Flights are also available from Yangon  ($75) or Mandalay ($35). 

 Myanmar Tourism Office in Tokyo: (03) 5323-6910.