INFORMATION SHEET No.A-0506(I) N0.A

[OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx]

                        INFORMATION SHEET No.A-0506(I)

               N0.A-0506(I)                              16th July 1998 

(1)		Industrial Delegation Leaves for PRC
		A five-member industrial delegation led by Minister for Industry-1 left
Yangon by air on 15 July for the People's Republic of China at the invitation
of Governor of Yunnan Province Mr Li Jiating.

(2)		Heroin, Opium Seized in Indaw
		A combined group including members of Katha Special Anti-Drug Squad and
regional battalion stopped van 1 Ka/8978 driven by Isamai near Meza suspension
bridge in Indaw Township on 15 June afternoon. The group searched the
passengers and seized 13.248 kilos of opium from the bags of Aye Win and Nyunt
Lwin. The action has been taking against them, under the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotrophic Substances Law by Indaw Police Station. The group searched Ma
Dwera who rode at passenger seat of the car. The authorities seized 0.104
kilos of heroin in four soap boxes hidden in her body. Action has taken
against Ma Dwera, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances Law.
Similarly, members of Katha Special Anti-Drug Squad and security members
seized 1.143 kilos of opium in two soft drink bottles from the bag of Gim Hon
Thang in Van Ba/5647 driven by Htein Linn near Meza suspension bridge in Indaw
township on 23 June evening.

                         OFFICE CALLS IN YANGON ON 15 JULY

(A)		Minister for National Planning and Economic Development received
Executive Director Mr Jannes Hutaglung and Senior Adviser Mr Bradley Babson of
World Bank at his office.
(B)		Minister for Livestock and Fisheries received South-East Asia
Representative Mr Victor Lee and party of Briggs & Stratton Company of the
United States of America at his office.
(C)		Minister for Commerce received Senior Vice-President Dato Hamzah Bakar
and party of Petronas of Malaysia at his office.
(D)		Minister at the Office of the Chairman of State Peace and Development
Council Brig-Gen Abel received Executive Director Mr Jannes Hutagalung and
Senior Adviser Mr Bradley Babson of world Bank at his office.
Special Feature
		This office is presenting the  "Myanmar News Release" from the Embassy of
the Union of Myanmar in Ottawa for your reading pleasure.
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Myanmar News Release

Vol.1.0				July 14, 1998				No.14

FABRICATIONS IN DESPERATION

		A recent article in the Globe and Mail (July 14, 1998) reconting so-called
?atrocities committed against tribespeople in the Shan State of Myanmar
illustrates how easy it has become to fabricate news stories by splinter
groups of a former drug trafficking insurgent force who not only continue
their menacing trade but using this money to buy influence and possibly even
?space? in a major newspaper in order to gain the sympathy of uninformed
people, half-way round the world.
		No one should forget that before the Myanmar Tatmadaw forced the surrender
of the Mong Tai Army (MTA) 2 years ago they were operating under the guise of
quasidemocratic-nationalistic movement tryng, with a measure of success, to
hoodwink and obtain the support of Western politicians and the media.  It took
the government of Myanmar, the UNDCP and some sincere U.S. D.E.A officials
several years to turn thisaround and embark on an effective anti-narcotic
campaign once again in the vicinity of the infamous ?Golden Triangle? in South
East Asia.
		Recent investigations concerning the Globe and Mail Article revealed that
the rebellious underlings of the former MTA with their million-dollar trading
partners have continued with the same sinister design of distortion and
fabrication of stories in remote border areas where they now operate in
smaller armed groups wreaking havoc on villagers who cannot pay them ?set-
kyay? (ransom money) by executing the village elders, kidnapping young women
and scorching whole villages to the ground.  The truth is that only the
arrival of the Government Armed Forces have saved the villages from further
annihilation and whole-scale massacres that have been the standard practice of
drug trafficking bands.  If the stories of such ?atrocities? by the gobernment
forces were true, how could all Shan insurgent armies (exept the drug
traffickers and their few allies) return to the legal fold and rendering the
Shan girl, a lone army captain or a sergeant quoted by the so-called ?ethnic?
leader, than in remote sparsely inhabited border areas where he himself, in
fact, is a former leader of an MTA splinter group desperately trying to
survive by politicizing their trade, especially when they are about to be
crushed by a cooperative campaign conducted by anti-drug forces China, Laos,
Thailand and Myanmar.
		Since patriotic Shans, the overwhelming majority of whom opted to remain
united with the Union since 1947, do not support secession, it will be
absolutely futile for any remnants of the outdated feudalistic Shan dynasty
abroad and their uniformed foreign allies to support any such movement that
relies on the armed drug trafficking groups as its military arm.  Conveniently
for them in the democratic Western countries it is not difficult to form self-
styled political organizations and giving itself fashionable names like the
?Burmese Women?s Union? , and ?Shan Human Rights Foundation? and soon but
whose sincerity, credibility and legitimacy have never been seriously
examined.
		Shans and Bamars (Burmese or Burmans or Burmahs) are all people of Myanmar
who together with five other nationalities have live through many centuries
together until last Myanmar dynasty of Mandalay fell to the British in 1882.
Even the name of that last King of Myanmar Naing-Ngan (Nation) was King ?Hsi-
paw? (also pronounced Thi-paw)-representing a Shan city  and it was the Shans
led by ?Sawbwa? of Hsi-paw that rebelled against the British for many years to
follow.  Together, the people proudly called themselves ?Myanmars?.  To them
that name never changed despite decades of colonial rule.  Shans, Bamars and
all nationalities are people of one nation as equals.  Allegations of
?Burmanization? are made only by those who cannot bear to see a united Union
of Myanmar which they had forsaken for their own selfish reasons.  All the are
there to solve any problem for their own people together.  Even one of their
main political parties the Shan National League for Democracy remains with the
National Convention in the interest of the Shans in the Union.
		Since there are always two sides to a story, it also high time that a
reputable newspaper like the Globe and Mail check out with Canadians who has
recently travelled into these States and even met with former insurgent
leaders who are now playing major roles in econstruction of their land before
publishing one-sided stories originating from renegades of the former drug-
trafficking Mong Tai Army.
************