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The BurmaNet News: April 14, 1998



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------   
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"   
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The BurmaNet News: April 14, 1998
Issue # 982

HEADLINES:
===========

THE NATION: BURMA CELEBRATES NEW YEAR
BKK POST: MILITARY RULE LIMITED, SAYS TOP GENERAL
BORDERLINE NEWS: COMMODITY PRICES IN RANGOON, PA'AN
BORDERLINE NEWS:  OBSERVATIONS IN PA'AN, MARCH 1998
BKK POST: US PROBE LEADS TO ARREST
BKK POST: ACADEMICS, ACTIVISTS URGE REFUGEE TALKS
ASIAN AGE:  ASIAN VALUES JUSTIFICATION FOR REPRESSION?
AP: STATES DICTATE OWN FOREIGN POLICY

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THE NATION: BURMA CELEBRATES NEW YEAR
14 April, 1998

RANGOON - Burma began its four-day water festival celebrating the Buddhist
new year yesterday amid strict government restrictions and dire warnings
from soothsayers predicting a "year full of woe."          

Thousands of people took to the streets of Rangoon to let their hair down
and cool off with a citywide water fight despite threats from the ruling
military junta that unruly behaviour would be severely punished.

The State Peace and Development Council  (SPDC) set up 248 official
water-throwing stalls and others devoted to emphasising "Burmese traditions
and culture" - with discipline as a central theme, the state owned press
reported.

Revellers found with prohibited items such as water balloons would be
jailed for one year while throwing such water-bombs was punishable with a
three year jail term, official reports  said.

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BANGKOK POST: MILITARY RULE LIMITED, SAYS TOP GENERAL
14 April, 1998

Premier Acknowledges SPDC Will Not Last

Burma's top general said the military government will not rule the country
forever, state-run media reported yesterday.

"Our Tatmadaw [armed forces] will not take up the responsibilities of the
state forever ... It would be improper to do so," Senior General Than Shwe,
chairman of the ruling military body and Burma's prime minister, was
reported as saying on Saturday to a group of military officers and cadets.

But the leader of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) did not
say how or when the military planned to relinquish state power.

The State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc)- the previous ruling
body also headed by Than Shwe - seized power in 1988 after quashing bloody
pro-democracy uprisings across the country.

The Slorc and the SPDC have said repeatedly their goal was to build a
modern and peaceful nation and also to build strong armed forces.

"The duty of the Tatmadaw is to safeguard the state and we must build our
Tatmadaw to become strong, modern and qualified to safeguard the
territorial integrity of the state and perpetuation of sovereignty," Than
Shwe said.

He said it was important to have strong armed forces because of the
"geopolitical condition" of Burma and changing balance among global powers.

"Our independence can be lost and we can fall into servitude if things are
not considered seriously," Than Shwe said, adding that only a strong
military would be able to hold the country together.

The Slorc refused to accept the results of a 1990 election which was won
overwhelmingly by the National League for Democracy. Its leader and Nobel
Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has urged the Slorc and the SPDC to
recognise the results of the poll.

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BORDERLINE NEWS:  INDEX OF BASIC COMMODITY PRICES IN RANGOON AND PA'AN (THE
CAPITAL CITY OF KAREN STATE).
Second week of March 1998

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: :  Borderline News comes to us from a source on
the Thai-Burma border.]

(All prices are in Kyat).

Item   /   Quantity   /   Rangoon   /   Pa'an

rice - low-quality, unbroken   /   8 condensed milk tins   /   80   /   72
cooking oil - standard quality   /   1.0 kg   /   100   /   140
cooking oil - "Meizan" brand   /   1.0 kg   /   310   /   360
onions   /   1.6 kg   /   150   /   120
garlic   /   1.6 kg    /   200   /   160
fish paste   /   1.6 kg   /   180   /   200
catfish   /   1.0 kg   /   100   /    n/a
chillies - dry   /   1.6 kg   /   300   /   250
diesel petroleum (official)   /   1.0 gallon   /   180   /   180
diesel petroleum (black market)   /   1.0 gallon   /   250   /   380

Notes:
* Petrol is severely rationed at present. The daily allowance is 3 gallons,
which is not enough for many people, especially those who operate transport
and generators, etc. Accordingly there is a thriving black market with much
higher prices.

The exchange rate at the time was:
US$ 1.00 = 270 Kyat
FEC 1.00 = 250 Kyat

FEC is the Foreign Exchange Certificate equivalent to US$ 1.00. They
provide a source of income to the Burmese regime when cashed into banks by
ocal businesses as 10% of their value is exchanged into Kyat at the
official exchange rate of US$ 1.00 = 6 Kyat. Tourists have to exchange US$
300.00 for FECs upon arrival at Rangoon Airport. Tourists leaving Burma can
only cash in their remaining FECs if they amount to over US$ 200.00.

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BORDERLINE NEWS:  OBSERVATIONS IN PA'AN, THE CAPIAL CITY OF KAREN STATE, BURMA
March, 1998

[BurmaNet Editor's Note:  Borderline News comes to us from a source on the
Thai-Burma border.  The information contained in this posting has been
condensed from a longer report.]

* Pa'an is a busy town, which is expanding rapidly. It plays an important
role as a trading point and transport centre for the surrounding areas and
further afield, especially as the ever-popular Tha Ma Nya Buddhist
community lies only about an hour's drive away to the east. There is a
constant flow of special Tha Ma Nya buses plying the road between Pa'an and
the religious site every day, and many Burmese visitors arriving in Pa'an
are only in transit on their way to the Buddhist village. Nonetheless it
provides a lot of business and creates an atmosphere of constant movement
in the town. The bus fare is 70 Kyat.

* There are significant Burman and Muslim sections within Pa'an's
population. Burmese seems to be the main language used in town, with some
Pwo Karen and a little Sgaw Karen being spoken. The 'motorcycle and
Marlboro' culture is starting to make its presence felt amongst the young
people, but further from the centre, especially in the outskirts to the
northeast, life still retains a village atmosphere with bumpy earthen
tracks, communal water wells, and houses and their contents generally made
from local natural materials. Karen languages are spoken more in these
areas. Farmers coming into town on horse and cart to sell their wares is a
common sight.

* Life in the town seems to be busy but surprisingly relaxed. This however
does not necessarily reflect the deeper feelings of the residents, which
are no doubt kept hidden. The Police Station is quite foreboding, with
small sniper positions cut into the upper storey's otherwise windowless,
wooden panelling.  Light Infantry Division 22 has a large base near to the
town centre. But despite this, there was little sign of an overt military
presence at the time. Locals said "the troops have gone on duty into the
surrounding area."

* Apart from the Police Station, one of the largest buildings in the town
centre is the Mosque, which has a well-attended Muslim school across the
road. The two churches in Pa'an were not prominent - the Baptist church
being located on the outskirts, near the lake to the south. A number of
monasteries were located around the town.

* Occasionally, groups of armed DKBA soldiers riding on large transport
trucks and pick-ups would speed through the town, with flags and bandanas
flying, heading east. Locals gave the impression of them being a lawless,
yet accepted, element of life in the area. There are a number of Mon
residents in Pa'an, and a New Mon State Party vehicle travelled around town
with the initials "NMSP" blazoned in large letters on its side.

* There is currently road work taking place on the main street near to the
clock tower in the town centre. The road is being resurfaced by a gang of
10-15 young girls, all aged between 12 and 16 years old. They are paid 100
kyat for their daily 10 hour shift (8:00 am to 6:00 pm), and their work
consists of boiling tar in large oil drums, laying and smoothing it onto
the road, and then overlaying it with grit.

* Also near the clock tower is a local Council billboard, announcing
certain 'facts' about Karen State in the English language, for example:
Area - 11,730 square miles
Population - 1,318,162 (1997)
Kayin State Day - November 7th (since 1956)
National New Year - 1st waxing moon of Pyatho
National Song - 'Hplone So Po Tar Khu'

* There is a great amount of house building taking place on the outskirts
of Pa'an, along both sides of the road that approaches Pa'an from the south
(which is the route taken when coming from Rangoon/Thaton). All the new
houses along this 2-3 km stretch of road are being built in similar design
from brick and cement. The plots of land lie side by side, and are also
similar both in shape and size. Most of the building is at the same stage
of development. It's a strange sight considering that the few existing
houses along the road are almost all exclusively bamboo and wood, and lie
in a more random, village-like fashion. Whether this a part of a local
Council beautification policy, a project to house a large group of people
being resettled, or some other programme, it certainly appears to be a
coordinated housing plan.

* About 15 kms east along the road towards Tha Ma Nya, a new pagoda is
being built. Each vehicle is persuaded to stop by young boys and girls
standing in the road shaking ornate aluminium alms bowls. Travellers seem
quite willing to comply with the request for donations for the pagoda. On
the other side of the road, there is a small shaded area with a table and
chairs. Here, a framed photograph of U Thuzana (the DKBA leading monk)
stands prominently in the middle of the table surrounded by Buddhist
paraphernalia, while one elder broadcasts Buddhist chants through a
loudspeaker and amasses the money from the collectors.

* The Pa'an bridge that spans the Salween River to the south west of the
town is currently open from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm daily. Checkpoints on either
side of the bridge are operated by the Burmese Military. All baggage on
public buses going to Rangoon are searched thoroughly. There is a DKBA
checkpoint at a major intersection 5 kms further west on the road to
Thaton, where identification cards are randomly checked.

* There are currently at least four guest houses in town, generally
charging 300 Kyat for a single room and 400 Kyat for a double. Tourists are
restricted from travelling more than 25 kms from town.

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BANGKOK POST:  US PROBE LEADS TO ARREST OF 20 IN LINK TO DRUG SMUGGLERS
12 April, 1998

Two-Year Inquiry Nets Trafficking Ring

A two-year probe by US officials has led to the indictments of 20 people in
connection with a Thai marijuana smuggling ring that operated in at least
six countries, San Diego authorities say.

Phillip Edward Hastings and Bruce Craig Fitzgerald have been accused of
leading the operation that brought 8,000 kilos of the potent and high
priced marijuana into the United States starting in 1995.

Hastings, who had used the aliases Henry David Addison and Henry Davidson
when living in Solana Beach, California, and Maui, Hawaii, is a 46 year-old
Australian citizen with resident alien status in the US, authorities said.

Fitzgerald, also known as Stephen Hutchinson and Cowboy, is a 48-year old
US citizen who last lived in Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Both are fugitives, federal prosecutor Shane Harrigan said on Thursday. The
two were among the 20 people named in a sealed indictment returned last
month by a San Diego federal grand jury.

Eight defendants were arraigned on Thursday in San Diego on a variety of
drug charges. Authorities were still searching for the 12 others.

The complicated scheme used six different boats to bring the drugs from
Southeast Asia to the US.

The price of Thai marijuana ranges from about $1,000-$3,000 a pound, Mr
Harrigan said, compared to Mexican marijuana, typically valued between $350
to $600 a pound.

Meanwhile, Burma's narcotics problem could be solved within seven years
with cooperation from Thailand and the United Nations, a Burmese
representative said at a Thai-Burmese narcotics suppression meeting in
Chiang Mai on Friday.

Deputy Burmese police chief Pol Brig-Gen Hla Tun who headed Burma's Central
Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) at the two day meeting said he
believes narcotics could be eliminated altogether from Burma within seven
years with the continued help of Thailand and the United Nations Drugs
Control Programme (UNDCP).

According to him, the Burmese government is now conducting a survey to get
a precise figure of drug addicts in the country in order to facilitate
narcotics suppression operations.

Without foreign help it would take Burma 15 years or more to overcome the
problem, he said.

He also urged Thailand and Burma, which had agreed to take turns in hosting
a meeting on narcotics suppression every six months, to invite Laos to
observe the next meeting.

Chief of the CCDAC's foreign affairs division Pol Col Hkam Aung said
Rangoon was determined to suppress the production of narcotic drugs,
especially amphetamines, in Burma.

According to Burmese representatives, 7,883 kilogrammes of opium, 1,400
kilogrammes of heroin, 24,224 gallons of drug precursors and more than five
million tablets of amphetamines were seized in Burma last year.

Meanwhile, two men were arrested on Friday after police found 300,000
amphetamine tablets hidden in their pick-up truck in Sop Prap district of
Lampang province. 

The seized tablets' street value is estimated at 15 million baht.

Sources said Sop Prab police have arrested 38 drug suspects and seized some
1.5 million amphetamine tablets from 20 vehicles since the beginning of
this year.

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BANGKOK POST:  ACADEMICS, ACTIVISTS URGE REFUGEE TALKS
12 April 1998

Groups Suggest Public Hearing For Solution

A human rights group and Chulalongkorn University have proposed a public
hearing on ways to resolve the problem of Burmese refugees sheltering on
the border.

Somchai Homlaor, secretary of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
(Forum-Asia), in a letter to the National Security Council chief, pointed
out that the hearing could cultivate ideas, information and cooperation
among all organs involved to formulate a proper and comprehensive solution.

It was important because the issue was "sensitive due to its involvement
with relations with other countries and directly affected people and image'
of the country," he said, and cited the new constitution, which clears the
way for a hearing on issues having impacts on people and local communities. 
     
The issue grabbed attention after the  government's decision to  allow the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to play a part in the problem.

The UNHCR's role is not clear but the NSC agreed in a meeting on Thursday
to give the UN agency an access to the camps in June to facilitate a plan
to relocate them inside the territory.

More than 100,000 refugees from Burma live on the border camps, most of
them Karens.

Forum-Asia and the Asian Research Centre for Migration of the university
were ready to step in to help the NSC organise the forum, Mr Somchai said
in the letter, a copy of which was sent to Interior Minister Sanan
Kachornprasart and Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan.

NSC Secretary-General Boonsak Kamhaengrithirong was not available for comment.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul neither supported nor
objected the proposal, saying that non-governmental organisations and other
agencies had the right under the constitution to call for public  hearings.

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THE ASIAN AGE:  ARE ASIAN VALUES A JUSTIFICATION FOR REPRESSION?
13 April, 1998
By Jonathan Mirsky
 
London: When I worked in Hong Kong, the chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa,
frequently urged Westerners not to meddle with Hong Kong, whose
administration and society as a whole he said were underpinned by "Chinese
values." 
 
Sometimes he transmuted these into "Asian values." This was Mr. Tung's
list: "Trust, love and respect for our family and our elders; integrity,
honesty and loyalty to all; commitment to education; a belief in order and
stability; a preference for consultation rather than confrontation."
Sometimes Mr. Tung added "a preference for obligation rather than
individual rights."
 
When he was specially referring to Asian values, Mr Tung listed "hard work,
respect for learning, honesty, openness to new ideas, accountability,
self-discipline and self-reliance." "North American" values, said Mr Tung,
who spent a number of years in the US, are "freedom of expression, personal
freedom, self-reliance, individual rights, hard work, personal achievement,
thinking for one's self." 
 
Once during an interview with Mr Tung suggested that all these values
sounded Jewish to me. He beamed in reply.
 
Of course it's all garbage. I once wrote to Mr Tung recommending that he
stop telling foreign reporters, as he sometimes did when questioned at news
conferences: "You don't understand this. You are not Chinese." I noted that
in covering four governors, from Lord Mac-Lehose to Chris Patten, I had
never heard them or their officials say to a Chinese reporter: "You don't
understand. You are not British." It would have been condemned as racism.
 
Mr Tung was not alone, however, in his interchangeable invocation of Asian
or Chinese values.
 
In democracies such as India, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, these concepts
are rarely invoked. When I interviewed President Lee Teng-Hui of Taiwan
last year, he said that the concept of Asian values was nonsense and was
used only to divide people.
 
The Asian valuers fears what they usually call "instability." They say that
their citizens value order and consensus. Like Mr Tung they disparage the
West's "immorality," and they gloomily point to the chaos of those
countries that emerged from the breakup of the Soviet Union as an example
of what happens when stability collapses.
 
This worship of stability justifies much. Mr Tung says that the worship of
"stability" justifies much while he values the free press, the media should
present government policies "positively," and that he was considering
whether criticism of the government on the radio might constitute
subversion. He notes without enthusiasm that demonstrations are part of
Chinese culture, but he wishes that everyone would pull together for "the
good of Hong Kong."
 
Mr Tung's fear of instability extends far beyond Hong Kong. "As a Chinese
man," he has said, he finds "intolerable" the nation of Tibetan, Muslim or
Taiwanese independence. He will introduce laws for Hong Kong that will
forbid advocating or- as Michael Suen, one of his officials, clarified soon
after the handover to China last July- even doing research on such
independence. This is to protect China's "national security."
 
Some Westerners, usually foreign investors keen to keep friendly relations
in the East, also claim that Asians are not interested in or fit for
democracy. Foreigners who confront Asian leaders on human rights make
things worse, in their view.
 
Members of American and other Western chambers of commerce in Hong Kong and
Beijing rarely say a public word about human rights, and the handful who do
are derided as wimps.
 
Apart from justifying repression, "Asian values" is a paltry concept. How
can you weave together Indian caste, Japanese Shintoism, animism in Borneo
and New Guinea or the multifarious cultures in the Indonesian and
Philippine archipelagos? How to compare marriages, funerals and eating
habits- forks, chopsticks, spoons and hands?
 
Champions of Asian values bang on about consensus rather than
confrontation. (Indeed, this is the bogus notion that Robin Cook and
Madeleine Albright have bought from Beijing to justify no longer passing
resolutions against China at the Geneva human rights meetings.)
 
Buddhist sects have fought it out in Japan and Tibet. State torturers
throughout Asia are no more interested in consensus than are their
counterparts in Israel and Yugoslavia. In 1965, thousands of people were
slaughtered in Indonesia, charged with being Communists; the real reason
for killing many of them was because they were Chinese. 
 
Cambodians died by the hundreds of thousands at the hand of their fellow
Cambodians in the Plo Pot years, and in China, where the old and
intellectuals are highly prized, the party has executed who knows how many.
During the cultural revolution, Red Guards ate "class enemies." We
westerners are sometimes told not to apply our values to other societies.
China especially refers to this as, first, arrogance and, second,
intervention in its sovereignty.
 
Beijing makes life very hard for "criminals" like Wei Jingsheng. He called
for human rights and democracy in 1977. What kind of "values" are these? He
is unquestionably an Asian who understands his own society very well.
"China's new Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji, admitted recently that his own 20
years in Maoist disgrace were so ghastly that he can not discuss them. What
world leaders will ask Mr Zhu about the circumstances, much less the
values, of the political prisoners in China's gulag and in Drapchi prison
in Lhasa?
 
The writer, a former East Asia editor of the Times of London, contributed
this comment to the International Herald Tribune. 
 
(This article also appeared in the International Herald Tribune of 10
April 1998.)

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AP:  STATES DICTATE OWN FOREIGN POLICY
By Harry Dunphy
13 April 1998

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Showing that some Americans care deeply about what
happens in far-off lands, cities and counties in eight states are slapping
sanctions on foreign governments. But their ventures into free-lance
foreign policy are raising concerns at the State Department and abroad.

At least 26 communities and the state of Massachusetts have imposed
sanctions on companies that deal with repressive governments in Nigeria,
China, Cuba or Myanmar.

Other cities and states are considering similar action, including several
targeting Switzerland because of its dealings with Nazi gold.

``Resort to unilateral sanctions has become almost a fad,'' said Clayton
Yeutter, who was U.S. trade representative in the Reagan administration.

The State Department says such state and local actions can do more harm
than good, however well intentioned they are.

``Sanctions may impair the president's ability to send a clear and unified
message to the rest of the world,'' Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
David Marchick told Maryland legislators. ``They can impede ... conduct of
foreign policy. They can create conflicts with our allies with whom we need
to work to achieve common goals.''

Marchick is one of several U.S. diplomats who have had to embark recently
on unusual domestic missions to lobby against such laws. European
representatives also have found themselves dealing directly with state
legislators and city council members.

U.S. companies such as Apple Computer, Eastman Kodak and Hewlett Packard
pulled out of Myanmar, also known as Burma, when Massachusetts enacted a
law in 1996 imposing penalties on bidders for state contracts if the
company also does business with the Asian country.

State Rep. Byron Rushing, who wrote the Massachusetts bill, said it helped
pave the way for President Clinton to impose federal sanctions against
Myanmar last year.

``We showed there was support at the grass-roots level for action against
Burma to influence our own government as well as Burma to advance the cause
of human rights,'' Rushing said.

Europeans and Canadians already are angry over U.S. government sanctions
against companies doing business in Cuba and Iran. Now they face the
prospect of diplomatic confrontations with individual states and cities.

While trying not to tell state and local governments to ignore human rights
and other emotional issues relating to other countries, the State
Department wants them to word any measures in ways that will not cause
trade problems with allies.

Congress also is looking into the impact of federal sanctions on U.S.
businesses and jobs. The State Department has established a sanctions team
that is expected to report soon to Capitol Hill.

The National Trade Council, which represents about 550 corporations, says
it plans to file a lawsuit later this month contending that state and local
sanctions violate the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution gives the federal government the power to regulate
commerce with foreign nations and prohibits states from entering into
agreements or engaging in war with foreign powers.

``Only the federal government has responsibility over foreign relations and
foreign commerce,'' said Dan O'Flaherty, a trade council vice president.
``State legislators and city councilmen may be pleased, but these laws are
a threat to the national interest.''

Corporations are concerned that free-lance foreign policy pronouncements by
state and local governments could limit opportunities for exports and
investment abroad.

Business groups also argue that local and federal sanctions are
ineffective, damage relationships with allies and make U.S. companies less
competitive.

Todd Malan, executive director of the Organization for International
Investment, which represents 60 U.S. subsidiaries of companies based
abroad, said such sanctions ``threaten investment by foreign-owned
companies that create jobs for Americans.''

City councils in Oakland and Berkeley, Calif., and Amherst, Mass., have
targeted Nigeria.

New York City is one of more than 40 municipalities that have passed
resolutions against religious discrimination in Northern Ireland. The
actions do not impose sanctions but require contractors to sign pledges to
hire both Catholics and Protestants if they do business in Northern Ireland.

Last month, city and state officials in New York decided to delay planned
sanctions against Swiss banks after they announced they would negotiate a
global settlement with Holocaust victims over gold stolen by the Nazis.

It is not the first time local governments have ventured into foreign
policy. Most of the state and local sanctions put on the books since 1995
are modeled on economic measures taken by various local governments against
South Africa's racist policies in the mid-1980s.

Alan Larson, assistant secretary of state for economic affairs, said the
South African measures may have had an important effect in speeding the
downfall of apartheid.

But, he said, they ``were swimming with the tide of public opinion, not
cutting across trading rights or political rights of our major partners. We
do know it's possible for sanctions to be introduced in a way that hits the
intended target rather than distracting attention with trading disputes.''

Since the 1980s, the United States has signed treaties that bar sanction
laws and give other nations the right to demand compensation if their
companies are affected.

The 15-nation European Union warned last month that failure to resolve a
dispute over Massachusetts' sanction law will result in bringing a case
before the World Trade Organization, which handles international trading
disputes.

The State Department would have to defend Massachusetts before the WTO
panel because individual U.S. states have no standing before the world body.

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