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VISIT MYANMAR YEAR 1996: "DEAD ON A



Subject: VISIT MYANMAR YEAR 1996: "DEAD ON ARRIVAL"  Debate on Joe  Cummings, revisited, from new frontiers

new frontiers

Monthly Briefing on Tourism, Development and Environment Issues
in the Mekong Subregion

Vol. 2, No.10
October 1996

new frontiers
Tourism Investigation & Monitoring Team
TERRA
Email:  TERRAPER@xxxxxxxxxx

VISIT MYANMAR YEAR 1996: "DEAD ON ARRIVAL" 
(TN: 29.4.96; 4.10.96; 9.10.96; 10.10.96) - DURING the latest crackdown of
the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) on the Burmese democracy
movement in September, riot police and military troops reportedly arrested
800 members and supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in the
country, and even detained tourists who tried to approach Aung San Suu Kyi's
home in Rangoon's University Avenue to listen to her weekend speech. Riot
police also held photographers and television journalists for international
media organizations at their hotels and confiscated film and tapes of police
barricades near Suu Kyi's house. Foreigners, who witnessed the events, were
horrified about the state authorities' actions. 

"They're terrible," said Fiona Barrows, an Australian tourist whose English
boyfriend Andrew Hewlett was rounded up with two other European tourists and
taken away in a truck. "We just came to hear (Suu Kyi) speak because we
wanted to understand her point of view," she said. "The soldiers told us to
leave and when Andy asked why, they pushed him and dragged him and the other
two away." 

"This shows they just want power," commented a tourist from Denmark, who was
not arrested but pushed away from University Avenue by police. "They treat
their own people like they're not humans, like they're animals." 

The SLORC's handling of the tourists also outraged tour agents. "It ruined
everything," said one local agent, adding the junta's 'Visit Myanmar Year',
set to begin on 18 November, is a fiasco. "They say they wanted tourists and
they arrested them. Some tourists at University Avenue were searched, and
films were seized at the Rangoon Airport before they left." 

The US government responded to the latest mass arrests with a travel ban for
SLORC generals and their families to the USA, and shortly after, SLORC
announced it will no longer issue visas for US officials to enter Burma. A
Burmese living in a America, commented in a letter to The Nation: "Visit
Myanmar Year 1996 ... is DOA (dead on arrival)... How can you successfully
ask American tourists to visit Burma when SLORC became the only country in
the world to publicly announce they will not issue a visa to an American
president as well as {other US officials)?" 

In spite of the increasingly tense situation, Bangkok-based Diethelm Travel,
the largest travel agency operating in Burma and Indochina, remains
optimistic that Burma tourism is going to boom. Maren Dannhorn, Diethelm's
managing director in charge of Burma tours, was adamant that promoting and
encouraging tourism was an essential ingredient to further openness in Burma
and the entire Mekong region. Clearly, business and politics played the
leading role in international relations, she said, but with the help of
tourist demand, almost all of Burma was now open to tourists. Forecasting
booking increases of 75 per cent for Burma this year, Diethelm's general
manager Luzi Matzig claimed that overseas tourism interest in Mekong region
destinations, including Burma, "is so great that political issues are
secondary. We believe that travellers from abroad should go there to see,
and judge, for themselves. Only then would they be qualified to comment..
(See also 'Debate', p.4). 


CASINOS NEAR BORDER SPARK FEARS

(BP: 11.9.9; 1.9.96;24.9.96) FEARING rise in moneylaundring, drug
trafficking and crime, Thai authorities are viewing with deep concern the
construction of two casinos on the Burmese side of the Golden Triangle, both
scheduled for opening next year. 

The Golden Triangle Paradise Resort company, an affiliate of the Thai P.P.
Group, recently resumed work on its mega-tourism project which includes a
150-room hotel with a casino, restaurants, a dutyfree market with a currency
exchange facility, a swimming pool and two golf courses. There will be also
a pier to accommodate boats and ferries taking gamblers from Thailand across
the Mekong River to the casino. Construction started in the middle of 198~8
after the SLORC regime gave investors a 30 year lease to build the
casino-plus-golf resort on Burmese territory. Work came to a halt in 1991,
however, when a military coup took place in Thailand which toppled the
government headed by Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan. 

The investors of the project include Prasit Phothasathon, the younger
brother of the Thai MP Praphat, and a number of other Thai and foreign
businessmen. The Thai Withavas Construction Co. is the contractor of the
resort project. The Thai Interior Ministry recently ordered the re-opening
of a border checkpoint to facilitate transportation of construction material
from Thailand to the project site in Burma. 

The scheme has been roundly condemned by local residents on the Thai side of
the border and Thai officials who fear the casino could threaten national
security. The casino business would pose a threat to border villagers, both
in Thailand and Burma, said Col. Choosak Anujomphan, deputy director of the
Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC)'s office in Chiang Rai province,
adding that the area would become prone to all forms of illegal activities
such as smuggling of war weapons and drug trafficking, while criminal gangs
could use the area as a hide-out. This part of the Thai-Burma border is also
notorious for trafficking women and girls from Burma and China to work as
prostitutes in Thai brothels. 

Sujit Detkul, a former politician, said the casino could become an outlet
for gamblers from northern Thailand to launder dirty money, and unemployed
locals would increasingly turn to gambling. 

The second casino project, owned by Zamsuen, the third son of drug warlord
Khun Sa, will be located on a 44-acre plot in Tachilek opposite Thailand's
Mae Sai district. The SLORC gave the land to Khun Sa after he capitulated to
the Rangoon regime earlier this year, and his son plans to invest US$20
million in developing the area into a tourist venue complete with a casino,
a 200-room hotel and other entertainment facilities. 


AUTHOR OF THE "LONELY PLANET" GUIDEBOOK ON BURMA UNDER FIRE
'Lonely Planet' guidebooks are the bibles for tens of millions of
globe-trotting tow budget tourists. However, an article by Joe Cummings,
author of the 'Lonely Planet' guide on Burma, published in The Nation under
the title 'Will tourism helps democracy in Burma' led to a storm of protests
by supporters of the Burmese democracy movement as well as Burmese citizens.
The following are quotes by those who contributed to the lively debate
around the boycott of 'Visit Myanmar Year' in The Nation.

Joe Cumming. (9.9.96): "From what I have seen and experienced, tourism
development in Burma benefits many ordinary Burmese - not just generals or
foreign investors as some reports would have us believe. In spite of high
inflation, the average Burmese today is politically and economically better
off than in 1985 ... Since the package-tour requirement was waived in 1998,
many Burmese citizens have been able to make a living from tourism, which
channels more money directly to ordinary people than any other form of
foreign activity in the country... (A friend of mine) voted for the NLD and
is an ardent supporter of Suu Kyi, but he was disappointed about 'The
Lady's' call for a boycott... I haven't met a single person inside Burma who
supported a tourism boycott, including the many people I have met in the
pro-democracy movement. 

"Does tourism boost the use of draft labour in Burma? None of the highway
and railways project cited by tourism critics can be said to be serving
tourists more than the general populace - in fact the opposite appears to be
true... The only draft labour project that can be attributed to tourist
promotion was the Mandalay Palace restoration, as much a symbol of Burman
nationalism as a tourist attraction, completed earlier this year... Urban
beautification projects - which have also used draft labour - have been
undertaken in areas that aren't visited by tourists as well as those that
are. The greatest human rights abuses currently take place away from foreign
public view, though they are becoming more difficult to hide with the
proliferation of independent travellers finding their way into decreasingly
remote corners of the country... 

'There isn't a single indication that government repression, which has
thrived on 34 years of political isolation and virtual non-visitation will
somehow slacken due to a relative lack of visitors." 

Faith Doherty, Southeast Asian Information Network, Chiang Mai (12.9.96):
"... The pro-democracy movement has always stated that to support this
(Visit Myanmar Year) campaign means supporting SLORC; staying away until
after this tourism campaign ends is a way of showing your support to the
movement for democracy and human rights in Burma. 

"To say that the average Burmese is politically better off now is
ridiculous... The army controls the country and in that position conducts
horrendous human rights abuses in rural arena, including SLORC-controlled
territory... To say that the greatest human rights abuses currently taking
place are shielded from the foreign public view is about the only correct
fact that Cummings has stated." 

Christina Fink, Burma Project, Chiang Mai (13.9.96): "... The average person
in Burma is not better off in 1996 than they were in 1985. It is true that
the military elite and their associates are doing better, but the vast
majority are in worse shape than before... Human rights abuses have not
decreased in the face of mounting tourism. If anything, the military
junta... has demanded more forced labour, ordered more forced relocations,
and extorted more taxes... (Cummings says), forced labour on roads is not
connected to tourism. In fact, many tourists (especially the ones reading
Lonely Planet guides) do travel by bus and train. Moreover, some airports in
Burma have also been built with forced labour... 

"... as Suu Kyi has pointed out, boycotting Visit Myanmar Year is not just
about denying dollars to the junta. It is also about denying international
legitimacy to a regime that has no legitimacy with its own people." 

Gil Carroll, Bangkok ( 14.9.96): "...It may be true that the average person
in Burma today is better off economically now, while it is also true that
significant numbers in Burma are worse off today. Many Burmese, such as the
500,000, who work illegally in Thailand, are economically better off today
because they have left Burma altogether... In 1985, there were less than
20,000 refugees who had left Burma. Today, there are several hundred
thousand refugees... Recent cease-fires between the SLORC and the ethnic
groups have not even brought peace, let alone political improvement, as
shown by the subsequent increase in numbers fleeing Burma. The recent
arrests of members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
are clear evidence that despite an increase in tourism, political life in
Burma is not improving... How ignoring the requests of Burma's
democratically-elected leadership will help democracy is unclear in
Cummings' article.

Joe Cummings responds (19.9.96): "I fully understand the symbolic value of a
Visit Myanmar Year (VMY) boycott campaign, but my position is that trying to
turn Burma into Cuba - strengthening the government while weakening the
people - is essentially an empty gesture... I cannot agree with the chosen
tactic given my own observation that this is not the will of the Burmese
people and given my belief that this is an unfruitful tactic... 

"(There is) the oft-repeated error of referring to Suu Kyi (who is opposed
to tourism as long as SLORC is in power) as an elected leader... Suu Kyi is
a courageous and extremely admirable person, but unless I missed something
in my research, elected she's not." 

Ethan Casey, a writer for the Canadian The Globe and Mail newspaper, was the
only contributor to the debate who defended Cummings' position ( 19.9.96):
"...As with other polarized topics, disputants on (as also in) Burma often
seem to be talking past each other. Cummings' view struck me as thoughtful
and intelligent. His adversaries, while no doubt well-meaning, seem to share
an unhelpfully self-righteous attitude common to many dissidents since the
dawn of politics... Political efficacy or specific morality aside, for my
own private reasons I find boycotts distasteful - whether it's a boycott
Visit Myanmar Year or a don't drink Pepsi campaign." 

Ye Thu Haing, All Burma' Students' League, Bangkok (21.9.96): "...
Unfortunately, we have a dictatorial regime. Worse, our rights to have
access to education, receive reasonable wages, eat the food we like, and to
so many other things, have been violated. We face imprisonment if we
criticize the SLORC policies... These people have committed innumerable
crimes. They have abused power beyond reason... We are against the Visit
Myanmar Year as long as SLORC is in power. The proceeds from this will be
used to buy more arms and ammunition to kill more people. We would like to
remind Cummings not to write articles that only benefit the SLORC since he
does not understand everything that is happening in Burma." 

Ken and Visakha Kawasaki, Burma Reliet Centre-Japan (BRC-J) (24.9 96):
"...BRC~J is a repository of Burma related materials, photographic evidence,
raw footage and finished videos, photocopied documents, first-hand
testimony, and finished reports - evidence of precisely the abuses (in
Burma) that Cummings wants to gloss over... Actually (John) Pilger and his
cameraman (in their TV-programme inside Burma: Land of Fear, eavesdropped on
some typical sightseers in their lackadaisical ignorance of the realities in
Burma. Those tourists could have spent four months there, ...and they could
have travelled from one end of the country to the other and remaining none
the wiser....Because of (Cummings) proselytizing for SLORC's Visit Myanmar
Year, we would like to propose a boycott of Lonely Planets travel guides as
well as a boycott of tourism in Burma until democracy comes." 

Kanbawsa Win, Nonthaburi (25.9.96): "As a Burmese, after reading articles
from Joe Cummings and Ethan Casey, I 'm quite depressed and confused... Joe
Cummings should be put in the same category as the US State Department's
Alison Kruprick arid Tom Wilson, who jointly wrote "The US Policy At the
Crossroads", which urged Washington to recognize the ruling junta (in
Burma). It is a known fact that SLORC, in cooperation with multi-national
corporations, have employed academics, and paid them handsomely, to write
favorably of their rule." 

Richard Schwartz, Ayuttaya (25.9.96): "Joe Cummings argues that a tourism
boycott of Burma would hurt, rather than help, the Burmese people. However,
every instance (Cumming's) produces as an example only explains how the
boycott would affect those in the Burmese tourism industry. Given that he is
himself a part of the said industry, I found the entire article to be very
self-serving and insensitive." 

Soe Pyne (26.9.96): "... l can safely assume that (Cummings) has very little
interest or cares much about the popular democracy movement in my country.
For Cummings' information, Suu Kyi is an elected leader... she is a leader
elected by MPs of the National League for Democracy (NLD) who were elected
in the May 1990 elections... The campaign to oppose SLORC's tourist
programmes is part of the overall strategy of the Burmese democracy
movement; that is, to create conditions conducive to a dialogue for national
reconciliation. A travel boycott, even if it makes a negative contribution
in the short run, is vitally important because of the positive impact in the
long run. We feel that we should place a higher priority on the future good
of the country.

Tim Wright, Thai Action Committee for Democracy In Burma, (25.9.96) invited
concerned and interested parties for a meeting to further stimulate an open
debate on the sensitive issues concerning "Visit Myanmar Year 1996".