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The BurmaNet News: April 17, 1998 (r)



Re: THE LADY AND THE GENERALS: GLOVES OFF IN BURMA


If confirmed, this is a very disturbing news. The present level of 
repression towards the NLD is on the rise and if they arrest Daw Aung 
San Suu Kyi for whatever reasons, not only the hope for acheiving a 
peaceful national reconciliation with the democratic forces would come 
to an end but also whatever psychological bonds that still exist between 
the armed forces and the people of Burma will be broken forever. 

Nothing can be done to repair that. Gosh!! That's the last thing we 
should let it happen. 

Minn Kyaw Minn
==============






>Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 14:03:55 -0700 (PDT)
>Reply-To: Conference "reg.burma" <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: The BurmaNet News: April 17, 1998
>To: Recipients of burmanet-l <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------  
>"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"   
>----------------------------------------------------------
> 
>The BurmaNet News: April 17, 1998
>Issue #985
>
>HEADLINES:
>===========
>CSM: THE LADY AND THE GENERALS: GLOVES OFF IN BURMA
>BKK POST: TOURISM PLAN WITH BURMA ON THE CARDS
>REUTERS: MYANMAR SAYS AMNESTY REPORT FABRICATION
>NLM:  MYANMAR DELEGATION LEAVES FOR BANGLADESH
>MAINICHI DAILY NEWS: A FORGOTTEN WAR
>===========
>
>CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: THE LADY AND THE GENERALS: GLOVES OFF IN 
BURMA
>15 April, 1998
>By Warren Richey
>  	  				 
>Arrest of a senior opponent worries some that National League for 
Democracy
>leader Suu Kyi will be next.  This often-overlooked Southeast Asian 
nation,
>known as much for its teak and rubies as for its despots disposing of
>democracy, rarely plays out its political dramas in public.
>
>That's why little notice was taken recently when a leading member of
>Burma's pro-democracy movement, Oo Sooe Myint, was arrested and 
interrogated.
>
>Yet to those trying to protect the leading democracy fighter, Aung San 
Suu
>Kyi, and the remnants of her popular National League for Democracy 
(NLD),
>this action by Burma's military regime reveals a new tactic to turn up 
the
>heat on the pro-democracy movement's upper echelon.
>
>The move against such a senior NLD party leader has some observers
>concerned that the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate may herself soon be
>targeted for the same treatment that in the past decade has sent as 
many as
>2,000 pro-democracy activists to prison on trumped-up charges.
>
>That may explain why American journalists trying to reach Ms. Suu Kyi's
>home recently were blocked by a dozen government security agents (see 
story
>at right).
>
>``It is becoming much worse,'' says a senior NLD member. The NLD serves 
as
>a coalition of those opposed to the junta that has ruled the country 
(also
>known as Myanmar) since 1988 and continued the authoritarian rule of 
former
>Gen. Ne Win.
>
>The senior NLD member asked that he not be identified by name out of
>concern that the regime's secret police might retaliate and throw him 
in
>prison for talking to an American journalist. 
>
>Knock on the door
>
>``I have to keep my clothes and medicine ready [in a suitcase],'' he 
says,
>``because any night they may knock at the door.''
>
>Some analysts say they are hopeful that a shakeup among the ruling 
generals
>last November is fostering a more constructive approach to the
>pro-democracy movement in Burma.
>
>But others say there is no change in the military government's apparent
>strategy of attempting to marginalize the NLD.
>
>``As far as I can see there has been no improvement at all,'' says 
party
>leader Suu Kyi in a videotape recently smuggled out of Burma and 
presented
>to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. ``In fact I
>could say that I am inclined to think that things have even gotten 
worse.''
>
>The military government has been under international pressure to reach 
a
>peaceful accommodation with Ms. Suu Kyi and other democratic leaders.
>
>In a 1990 election, Suu Kyi's NLD won more than 80 percent of the seats 
in
>what would have been the newly created parliament. But the ruling 
generals
>declared the vote invalid and blocked the party from forming a 
government.
>
>``The government will do whatever it feels it needs to do to remain in
>power,'' says a Western diplomat in Rangoon.
>
>Suu Kyi not fit to rule? 
>
>Analysts say the military's actions are rooted in a fundamental fear 
within
>the military that Suu Kyi - who is often referred to simply as ``the 
lady''
>- is not a skilled and powerful enough leader to prevent the nation 
from
>sliding back into a state of widespread civil war.
>
>From the military's perspective, the Burmese people should be grateful 
for
>the sacrifice made by the country's soldiers in fighting ethnic 
militias.
>And they should recognize the military's significant achievement in
>negotiating cease-fire agreements with most of those militias.
>
>But the bottom line, the military says, is that Burma is not ready yet 
for
>democratic rule.
>
>``The lady needs to understand our mentality. She doesn't,'' says Lt. 
Col.
>U Hla Thann, an official at the Ministry of Defense and director of a
>company organized to attract foreign investment despite existing
>international economic sanctions.
>
>``[The ruling generals] believe they have saved this country from
>implosion,'' says Bernard Pe-Win, a Burmese-born British businessman 
with
>investments in the local economy. 
>
>But Mr. Pe-Win says government efforts to present its side of the story 
to
>the international media have failed badly. ``Government PR is inept,'' 
he
>says. ``They come from a military background and to them PR is a 
sham.''
>
>Regime seeks rifts in NLD
>
>Analysts say the only possibility of dialogue between the NLD and the
>ruling generals is if the junta calculates that such discussions might
>foster rifts within the pro-democracy movement. 
>
>They have attempted in the past to reach out to democratic leaders 
other
>than Suu Kyi in the hope that doing so might undermine her status.
>
>In addition to leading the democratic movement, Suu Kyi is the daughter 
of
>Gen. Aung San, the assassinated national hero who negotiated Burma's
>independence from Britain.
>
>There is, at present, no desire on the part of the ruling generals to
>achieve a national reconciliation with democratic activists. 
>
>Every day the regime publishes the same list of political, economic, 
and
>social objectives on the front page of the government-controlled 
newspaper,
>The New Light of Myanmar. The list includes a call for ``national
>reconsolidation'' rather than national reconciliation.
>
>Regime goes for higher echelon
>
>In the past, the military government has attempted to disrupt 
pro-democracy
>efforts by arresting and harassing activists at the lower and middle
>echelons of the NLD. Some received prison terms of seven to 10 years 
after
>being convicted in secret trials. 
>
>Today, analysts say, the government appears prepared to strike, if
>necessary, directly at the NLD's leadership. The arrest of Oo Sooe 
Myint, 1
>of 10 members of the NLD's central executive committee, is a leading
>example of that possible strategy.
>
>Analysts say the government now appears poised to take similar action
>against other party leaders, including Suu Kyi. ``They will be faced 
with a
>real tough decision: 'Do we arrest her too?' `` says another 
Rangoon-based
>Western diplomat who is closely monitoring political developments.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>BANGKOK POST: TOURISM PLAN WITH BURMA ON THE CARDS
>18 April, 1998
>By Supamart Kasem
>
>JURIN, SAW LWIN TO MEET IN CHIANG RAI
>
>A joint tourism development plan will be high on the agenda during next
>week's meeting between Thai and Burmese authorities.
>
>PM's Office Minister Jurin Laksanavisit is scheduled to meet Burma's
>Minister of Hotels and Tourism, Maj Gen Saw Lwin, in Chiang Rai's Mae 
Sai
>district on April 25-26.
>
>Mr Jurin, who oversees the Tourism Authority of Thailand, has planned 
to
>raise the joint tourism development plan at the two-day meeting, said a
>source, adding that the minister has recently instructed the provincial
>chamber of commerce and local tourism operators to give their views on
>tourism and economic links with Burma.
>
>Under the joint development proposal, Mae Sot district will be made a
>gateway to Burma and other border towns in Tak and Burma will be 
developed
>into tourism attractions.
>
>The TAT has set aside a 10-million baht budget for Tak provincial
>authorities to develop hot springs in Mae Sot, Nong Kran waterfall in 
Prop
>Phra and other tourism spots.
>
>During last week's inspection trip to Tak, Mr Jurin had surveyed new
>rafting routes along the Mae Lamao river. 
>     
>He also ordered local TAT officials to make guidebooks about historical
>sites in this northern province.
>
>"Tak has the potential to be developed into a tourism hub in this 
northern
>region and Mae Sot will be made a gateway to Burma. I will bring the
>tourism development plan into discussion with my Burmese counterpart,
>Maj-Gen Saw Lwin," said Mr Jurin.
>
>He has called on local people in Mae Lamao village to help conserve the 
Mae
>Lamao forest watershed by stopping slash-and-burn cultivation in the 
forest
>area.
>
>Julapong Saranak, president of the Tak Chamber of Commerce, said his 
agency
>and the TAT have encouraged local people to take part in the tourism
>development plan which includes the promotion of eco-tourism.
>
>If Burma agrees with the joint tourism development plan, the number of
>tourists visiting the two countries would rise sharply and more income 
will
>be generated for local people, added Mr Julapong.
>
>Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Thai tourists hoping to visit Burma were 
stuck
>in Mae Sot when Rangoon closed the Myawaddy border post on Tuesday.
>
>Authorities in Myawaddy closed all crossing points with Mae Sot from 6 
a.m.
>without notice and erected barricades on the Thai-Burmese Friendship 
Bridge.
>
>Burmese officials later said they were trying to stop citizens leaving 
the
>country but did not say when the ban would be lifted.
>
>A Thai official said the local border agreement required either side to
>give three months' notice of the closure of a permanent crossing point.
>
>Thawatchai Fak-angkul, the district chief, suspected Burma was stepping 
up
>security after Karen National Union guerrillas torched Myawaddy and
>Tinganyinaung last Sunday.
>
>During the attack, Thai soldiers fired three warning shots after two
>artillery rounds fired from Myawaddy landed in Mae Sot.
>
>Lt-Col Saing Phone, Burma's representative on the local joint border 
panel,
>later sent a letter accusing Thailand of allowing KNU troops to launch
>attacks on Rangoon forces.
>     
>Col Chatchapat Yamngarmriab his Thai counterpart, denied the 
accusation,
>saying troops had found no trace of Karen  guerrillas in Thailand.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>REUTERS: MYANMAR SAYS AMNESTY REPORT ON ABUSES FABRICATION
>16 April, 1998
>
>BANGKOK - Myanmar's military rulers on Thursday dismissed as 
fabrication an
>Amnesty International report detailing human rights abuses against 
ethnic
>Shan civilians. 
>
>``Unfortunately, Amnesty International has become a platform for the
>Myanmar dissident groups and left-over insurgents to churn out 
fabrications
>and exaggerations to discredit the Myanmar government,'' the ruling 
State
>Peace and Development Council (SPDC) said in a statement. 
>
>``Some of the allegations may be partially true but definitely not in 
the
>way Amnesty International is portraying. Especially the killings and
>torturing of ethnic races are totally nonsense,'' it added. 
>
>On Wednesday, the London-based human rights watchdog issued a report 
saying
>Myanmar government troops had tortured and killed hundreds of ethnic 
Shan
>civilians as well as forcing at least 300,000 to flee their homes over 
the
>past two years. 
>
>Amnesty said its researchers traveled to Thailand early this year to
>interview Shan refugees who had fled widespread human rights violations 
in
>Myanmar. 
>
>``They (Amnesty) are deliberately trying to tarnish the image of the
>government which has put its heart and soul in the process of 
establishing
>national unity and being able to do so for the first time in her modern
>history,'' the SPDC said in its statement. 
>
>Amnesty said Myanmar troops had killed at least 300 people in a series 
of
>massacres in June and July last year. The report also described 
evidence of
>beatings and rape of Shan civilians as well as forcible relocations. 
>
>Amnesty said the relocations and resulting human rights abuses forced 
about
>80,000 Shan to flee across the border and seek refuge in neighbouring
>Thailand. 
>
>The Shan have been fighting Yangon -- first the SLORC and then the 
State
>Peace and Development Council (SPDC) -- for more autonomy for decades. 
>
>``During counter-insurgency activities against (the Shan), Burmese 
troops
>have subjected Shan villagers to a variety of human rights violations,
>including forcible relocation and extrajudicial executions,'' the 
report
>said. 
>
>``The long-standing practice of forced labour and portering by the 
Burmese
>forces in many parts of the country is also prevalent in the Shan 
State,''
>it said. 
>
>Amnesty called on the United Nations to press the SPDC to give better
>access to the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar and to pressure the Myanmar
>government to improve its human rights record.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR:  MYANMAR DELEGATION LEAVES FOR BANGLADESH
>16 April, 1998
> 
>YANGON - At the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs of the 
People's
>Republic  of Bangladesh Mr Abdus Samad Azad, a Myanmar goodwill 
delegation
>led by Minister for Foreign  Affairs U Ohn Gyaw left here by air for 
the
>People's Republic of Bangladesh this morning.
>
> The delegation was seen off at Yangon International Airport by 
Minister
>for Home Affairs Col Tin  Hlaing, Minister for Social Welfare, Relief 
and
>Resettlement Brig-Gen Pyi Sone, Deputy Minister  for Foreign Affairs U
>Nyunt Swe Ambassador of the peoples Republic of Bangladesh Mr Jahangir
>Saadat, Director-General Thura U Aung Htet of Protocol Department and
>officials.
>
>****************************************************************
>
>MAINICHI DAILY NEWS: A FORGOTTEN WAR
>16 April, 1998
>By Richard Humphries
>
>Attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand have recently focused a rare
>spotlight on the Karen's rebellion against the Burmese government.
>
>In the early post-World War II years, Burma's Karen leaders were 
alarmed.
>Burmese nationalism was about to lead that country toward independence. 
The
>British colonial rulers, having used a convenient divide-and-rule 
strategy,
>had played off the country's ethnic groups against each other. 
Political
>ideologies about nationalism and the nation-state, many of them Western
>imports, increasingly gained favor with the myriad competing factions 
and
>ethnic groups in the country and seemed to cancel out any previous good
>relationships between them.
>
>The Karen minority, for instance, had been loyal to the Crown. Armed by 
the
>British, they had fought the Imperial Japanese Occupation Forces and 
its-
>until 1945-Burmese allies, the Burmese Independence Army. Now the 
Karen,
>fearing marginalization and perhaps a settling of scores in an 
independent
>Burma, wanted a homeland of their own. Their people had also suffered
>greatly during the war. If their demands for an autonomous region 
couldn't
>be met, they were more than willing to fight. The Karen National Union
>(KNU) was formed in February 1947 to press Karen demands.
>
>The man who would lead Burma to independence, Aung San, had promoted a
>political program of "Unity and Diversity" and was sympathetic towards
>minority concerns. Attempts were made to devise a national structure 
that
>would allay minority fears of domination. Some ethnic groups showed an
>interest. The Karen were not satisfied though and, citing their past
>loyalty, petitioned the British Colonial Office to act on their behalf.
>They were ignored. Then, Aung San's assassination on July 14, 1947,
>hardened the political dialogue and set the stage for the tragedy that 
was
>to follow-the world's longest-running civil war.
>
>The British left on Jan. 4, 1948, washing their hands of a situation 
they
>had certainly helped create. Tensions mounted between the newly 
independent
>Burmese government, led by U Nu, and the KNU, then led by Saw Ba U Gyi,
>which by then had an armed wing under its control. In January 1949 war
>broke out. It continues today.
>
>In 1949, Karen military units were at Insein, in the Irrawaddy River 
delta
>and 14.5 kilometers from Rangoon. They seemed poised to make their 
demands
>a reality. "Kawthoolei" (Flowerland) was the name the KNU had decided 
to
>call its putative state. Rangoon, however, wasn't captured. It was to 
be
>the high-water mark of the Karen's military struggle. Factionalism 
among
>the Karen and difficulties in organized a unified approach by all 
groups
>opposed to Rangoon hurt, but the key element was the fierce Burmese 
Army
>offensives that gradually whittled away Karen territory.
>
>The late 1960s saw a Burmese counterinsurgency strategy known as the 
Four
>Cuts (targeting the rebels' sources of food, funds, intelligence, and
>recruits) Program being implemented. Most Karen insist that the fourth 
cut
>was to be their heads.
>
>The war now entered deep into the Karen State. Human rights abuses by 
the
>Burmese military against Karen villagers were, and certainly still are,
>pervasive. Over 100,000 Karen have now fled to Thailand. This is the 
real
>tragedy and many Karen in their hearts wish that the fighting would 
just stop.
>
>In January l995, the Karen rebel movement faced a severe reversal when 
its
>permanent headquarters at Manerplaw, along the Moei River, fell to the
>Burmese army. Thought impregnable, it fell because of a split in Karen
>ranks that may have been engineered, and was certainly encouraged, by 
the
>Burmese military. It was based on a perceived favoritism towards 
Christians
>within the KNU leadership. Other Karen bases were soon overrun and the 
few
>that remain are referred to as "mobile bases" in news reports. A 
dissident
>Karen faction allied with the Burmese Army, the Democratic Karen 
Buddhist
>Army (DKBA) now operates in the same region, attacking Karen refugee 
camps
>located within Thailand. On March 11, 1998, one such camp, Huay Kalok, 
with
>9,000 inhabitants, was attacked and burned to the ground.
>
>The Karen future seems bleak. The Burmese government, now known as the
>State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) refuses to negotiate with 
the
>minorities collectively, but only on a one-by-one basis and from a 
position
>of overwhelming military strength. It now has over 400,000 armed 
soldiers.
>The KNU, with at the very most a few thousand soldiers, is among the 
last
>opposition groups still fighting. It is a war it cannot win militarily. 
The
>KNU forces were referred to as the "world's most pleasant and civilized
>guerrilla army" in the Far Eastern Economic Review of March 2, 1979.
>Blowing up passenger planes and seizing foreign hostages are not on the
>menu. Opium is not grown and there is a strict anti-drugs policy. 
Still, as
>the war has continued unabated, the KNU has come under very strong
>criticism recently with regard to organization, tactics, and policy. 
Their
>voice, however, is not often heard in the media.
>
>The idea that true democracy will come to Burma and that a way will be
>found to integrate the country's ethnic groups into a sincere political
>dialogue capable of achieving lasting results is as far away as it was 
in
>the 1940s. Over the years, meetings have been held between the KNU and
>Burmese authorities about possible settlements but with no results and 
no
>lasting cease-fire. A recent attempt at an unofficial cease-fire in 
1994
>ended when the Burmese resumed large-scale fighting in order to seize
>Manerplaw. The KNU fights on while the Karen population in Burma 
suffers
>and refugees in Thailand continue to live in fear of attack and of
>occasional threats by the Thais to forcibly repatriate them. An entire
>culture is facing the threat of disappearance and what distresses the 
Karen
>most is their perception than the world simply doesn't seem to care.
>
>All the armed groups in this conflict bear a responsibility for the 
endless
>violence. Surely the greatest blame must lie with the Burmese Army and 
the
>junta that controls it. They are ultimately responsible for Burma's 
failure
>to deal equitably with minority concerns and to establish a civil 
society
>guaranteeing freedom of expression for all of Burma's peoples. Forced 
labor
>is employed throughout the country, even in areas like Pagan where 
tourists
>visit. Village burnings, rapes, murders, and extortion by the powerful
>military are frequent and go unpunished. Real political dialogue is a
>dialogue of the deaf. The junta isn't listening. The country's most
>respected political figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Aung San, is
>denied any real role in effecting change. The jails are full of 
political
>dissidents and health care is deteriorating.
>
>Watching Myanmar (Burma) Television broadcasts in Thailand, I reflected
>that even the most numb observer couldn't help but take notice of the
>totalitarian face of the regime. What you see on the screen are 
uniformed
>soldiers everywhere in charge, and a lot of Burmese people who rarely
>smile. This is how the regime wants to be seen, as well.
>
>Something will have to change. General Bo Mya, the KNU leader,
>acknowledged as much when he said that, "The civil war which is 
basically a
>political problem, cannot be solved by military means."
>
>It is imperative that all those with guns put them down and that real
>political dialogue begins and needed change occurs. For the Karen, time 
is
>running out.
>
>(Richard Humphries is a free-lance journalist and frequent traveler in 
Asia.
>He is also a regular Asia Focus contributor. All photos by Richard 
Humphries.)
>
>****************************************************************
>
>
>
>


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