[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

US financier: Burma opposition unre



Subject: US financier: Burma opposition unrelated to currency trade


	Soros-Burma opposition unrelated to currency trade
	**************************************************

NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuter) - U.S. financier George Soros said Monday his 
currency trading positions had no relation to his calls for Burma to be 
excluded from the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN). 

A spokesman for Soros here said the Burma Project of the Soros-funded 
Open Society Institute was separate and distinct from Soros Fund 
Management, the financier's investment arm. 

``There is absolutely no connection with the Foundation's activities, in 
this case the Foundation's Burma Project, and the activities of Soros 
Fund Management, in this case its rumored trading in the
currencies of South East Asia,'' said spokesman Shawn Pattison. 

Soros Fund Management, a hedge fund, was alleged to have taken large 
speculative positions against South East Asia currencies and helped to 
force effective devaluations of the the Thai baht
and the Philippine peso earlier this month. 

On Saturday, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad cited Soros as 
being responsible for the recent pressure on the Malaysian ringgit and 
other South East Asian currencies. Last week, he blasted currency 
speculators as ``rogues'' and ``robbers,'' who were out  to destroy his 
country's economic progress. 

Mahathir also said Soros had tried to use his ``financial clout'' to 
block Burma's admission into ASEAN, and said he saw links between Soros' 
philanthropic and investment work. 

``It is very difficult to separate the right hand and the left hand and 
sometimes you don't even know what your right hand is doing. But in this 
case, it is quite obvious there is a convergence,'' Mahathir said. 

But in a statement, Soros noted that the two organizations operate 
independently of one another. 

``I can see how this misunderstanding may have arisen as I have publicly 
urged the governments of Thailand and Malaysia not to admit Burma into 
ASEAN and I consider the acceptance of a totalitarian and repressive 
regime a threat to the region's prosperity and stability,'' Soros said. 

``However, I do not believe the cause of freedom in Burma would be 
advanced by linking it to currency speculation,'' he added. 

(Reuter, 28 July 1997)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

        News and Information Dept.
        All Burma Students' Democratic Organisation (ABSDO) [Australia]
        Tel/Fax: 61+03+98132613

----------------------------------------------------------------------------