The BurmaNet News: July 23, 1998 (P

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------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: July 23, 1998
Issue #1055 (Part 1 of 2)

HEADLINES:
==========
(Part 1)
NLD: INSTRUCTIONS TO MP'S NOT TO SIGN 
THE NATION: JUNTA KEEPS 6 KYAT TO A DOLLAR
AP: MYANMAR SCHOOL FINALLY GIVES EXAMS 
JDW: MYANMAR MAKING SMALL ARMS IN IMPORTED FACTORY 
SCMP: SINGAPORE WEAPONS FACTORY FOR JUNTA 
BKK POST: TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN ON THE RISE 
BKK POST: MORE WORKERS LIKELY TO EMIGRATE 
(Part 2)
XINXUA: MYANMAR FM LEAVES FOR ASEAN MEETING 
THE NATION: ASEAN TO TACKLE THAI PROPOSAL 
THE NATION: DAYS OF SWEET TALK OVER FOR ASEAN? 
BKK POST: SURIN STARTS TO MOVE THE MOUNTAIN
BKK POST: WE ARE RIGHT TO CRITICIZE NEIGHBORS 
THE NATION: US STANDS WITH BURMA, IRAQ, NIGERIA 
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NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY: INSTRUCTIONS TO MP'S NOT TO SIGN 
14 July, 1998 from <osolnick@xxxxxxxxxxxx > 

Translation is not by the NLD and any errors, mistakes and inappropriate
terminology of Law  are the responsibility of the translators: News &
Information Secretariat - FTUB.

National League for Democracy
No ( 97/B ) West Shwegondaing Road
Bahan Township,  Rangoon

To: State/ Division Organization Committees, Township Organization Committees.

Subject:  Actions taken, citing "Habitual Criminal Offenders Act 1961/
section 5(1)(hsalone) (hsalein) " .

1. The Act mentioned in this subject is for the vagrants and scoundrels who
are from the lowest level of human society. This act is to prevent the
habitual offenders of law from committing further crimes.

2. The act is for the following people.

(a) Habitual robber, burglar, pilferer.

(b) Habitual screener and abettor of thieves, robbers and bandits; a fence
and a helper to hide and to sell stolen properties.

(c) Habitual offender of such crimes as, abduction, seduction, kidnapping,
robbing by using threat, swindling and ruining others; who endeavors to
commit such crimes and who aids such offender.

(d) Habitual destroyer and exploder of railroads, roads and bridges and
helper to exploder.

(e) Habitual producer (manufacturer), collector and dealer in arms and
ammunition.

(f) Habitual offender of causing to disrupt peace and stability, who
endeavors to commit such crime and who gives aids to such offender.

(g) Person who is dangerous to members of a community; person who might
become  unruly on allowed to live freely without a bail bond or
restrictions of movement.

3.  So, if you should sign your name because of the forcible act of the
authority, it is an admission of guilt. Since the members of parliament are
not inclusive in the categories mentioned in number 2, they are not to sign
and if they have signed before, they are again instructed not to sign their
names anymore.

4. To inform without fail to NLD members concerned. (including members of
parliament)

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary, National League for Democracy
Aung Shwe, Chairman, National League for Democracy

copy to

Head Quarters
(a) All departments
(b) All Working Committees
(c) Office copy 

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THE NATION: JUNTA KEEPS 6 KYAT TO A DOLLAR FOR THEIR OWN BENEFIT
22 July, 1998 from Tin Maung Win, Bangkok 

Letter to the Editor

General Ne Win stepped down after 26 years of iron-fisted rule in Burma. He
knows that if he still continued to rule the country, his life would have
been endangered from within his own party (the Burmese Socialist Programme
Party) or from the younger generation in the military.

Some young officers from the Burmese Army twice tried to assassinate him.
They failed. Later, he dissolved his party and allowed the incumbent junta
to take over the country in 1988 while he slipped behind the curtains to
control the strings. During his time, the exchange rate was 6 kyat to a US
dollar as quoted by the MFTB bank (Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank -- a purely
government-controlled bank).

Although many countries have changed their exchange rate from time to time
accordingly to the economics and trade situation, he has never tried or
even thought about it because he and his privileged elites have been
benefiting.

For instance, he and the upper hierarchy can exchange 6 kyat to a dollar at
the MFTB bank. There is no limit for him and he can change no matter how
much he wants before he goes abroad.

This practice also applies to some of the cabinet members. Through this
mean[s], these people take advantage of the state revenue to purchase
luxury items including cars and household appliances at the expense of the
Burmese people. Therefore, the junta will never dream of changing the rate
of exchange officially.

For example: If a junta leader changes 100,000 kyat at the MFTB bank, he
will receive US$16666.66. However, if he changes on the local black market,
he will get US$285.71 only.

Since there is a vast difference of exchange rate between the government
bank and the local black market (which is realistic), the junta leaders
will never change the rate of exchange.

Therefore, it is timely to advise Asean to seriously consider during their
forthcoming ministerial meeting how they should deal with Burma's currency
crisis since all of the Asean countries are doing business with Burma. At
present, the Burmese currency cannot be officially exchanged in any Asean
country because it has no value outside Burma.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS: MYANMAR SCHOOL FINALLY GIVES EXAMS 
22 July, 1998 

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Almost two years after colleges and universities in
Myanmar's biggest cities were shut down because of student unrest, students
get to take their final exams - off campus.

Students in Yangon, the capital, and Mandalay, the country's second biggest
city, will take exams for the 1996-97 academic year on Aug. 18 in their
hometowns, according to official letters sent to them.

Classes were canceled indefinitely in December 1996, but in recent months
some have resumed.

The closing of colleges has become an embarrassment for the government,
already widely condemned for human rights abuses and for stifling a
pro-democracy movement in Myanmar, also known as Burma. 

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JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY: MYANMAR MAKING SMALL ARMS IN IMPORTED FACTORY 
22 July, 1998 by Bruce Hawke JDW Special Correspondent

Myanmar (formerly Burma) has begun manufacturing small arms, and possibly
ordnance, using a prefabricated factory designed and built by Chartered
Industries of Singapore (CIS) in conjunction with Israeli consultants.

The purpose-built factory, of modular design, was produced last year in
Singapore before being dismantled after testing. It is intended to produce
small arms and weapons up to 37mm in caliber, according to sources
contacted by Jane's Defence Weekly.

The plant is believed to be a first for CIS, its modular design allowing
for future expansion. Israeli consultants who worked on the project are
linked with Israeli Military Industries, although it is unclear whether
they are current or former employees. The factory's existence has yet to be
formally announced, but documents obtained by JDW indicate that it was
shipped from Singapore to Yangon (formerly Rangoon) in mid-February aboard
the Sin Ho, a vessel owned by the Singapore-registered company Lian Huat
Shipping Co Pte.

The cargo weighed 413,341kg and was packaged in 36 12m containers,
described in shipping documents as containing a "pre-engineered building
system". It is not known whether this represents the entire facility or
whether other elements were shipped separately.

Myanmar Hong Leong Ltd, the shipment's notifier, is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of a publicly-listed Singapore company. The consignee is listed
as the Directorate of Defence Industries, Ministry of Defence, which is
Myanmar's state-owned arms and ordnance manufacturer. The factory's design
means that it may have been assembled within weeks, perhaps at Magway,
around 400km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River. The
facility may have been erected within an existing structure, such as an
aircraft hangar or a warehouse.

The first item being produced is thought to be the EMERK-1, a local design
available as either an assault rifle or light machine gun (LMG). These have
recently begun to be issued to troops guarding sections of the Yadana
pipeline project, Yangon-based diplomatic sources have confirmed.

The EMERK-1, a bullpup configuration, was designed in 1995 by the army's
Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps along with 15 other prototypes.
There are some doubts whether this could have been achieved without foreign
assistance. The assault rifle and LMG versions are almost identical, with
stamped all-metal bodies and M16-type magazines - both are 832mm in length
and have the same effective range and firing rate, given as 400m and 650
rounds per minute respectively. However, the light machine gun is 500g
heavier at 4.5kg with an empty magazine.

Locally-based analysts previously believed that the gun was copied from the
Austrian Steyr AUG assault rifle but it may, instead, be based on a Chinese
shortened bullpup configuration assault rifle first unveiled during the
Hong Kong handover last July.

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SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: SINGAPORE WEAPONS FACTORY FOR JUNTA 
22 July, 1998 by William Barnes 

Singapore has supplied Burma's military regime with an arms factory that
was designed and prefabricated by the island state's own weapons maker.

The weapons made in the factory - thought to be EMERK-1 assault rifles with
a bull-pup configuration, which shortens their length, had already started
to be issued to soldiers guarding the controversial Yadana gas pipeline,
according to the latest issue of the authoritative magazine Jane's Defence
Weekly.

Singapore has previously supplied the regime with weapons at a critical
time and has also built a cyber-war centre in Rangoon capable of telephone,
fax and satellite communications.

The purpose-built arms factory was created by Chartered Industries of
Singapore, with the help of Israeli consultants.

Although no official announcement has been made, the plant is understood to
have arrived in Rangoon in 40 containers aboard the Singapore-registered
vessel Sin Ho in February.

A decade ago - near the height of nationwide pro-democracy protests led by
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi - Singapore shipped tonnes of
ammunition, mortars and other war material to Burma.

The shipments were marked as coming from a subsidiary of Chartered
Industries of Singapore - Allied Ordinance, Singapore.

Chartered Industries is the weapons arm of Singapore Technologies which
supplied the regime with its highly efficient cyber-war centre.

The supplies were sent only weeks after the junta emerged following the
retirement of the old dictator, Ne Win.

They included rockets manufactured under license in Singapore, but exported
without authorisation from Sweden.

Only China is more important to the dictatorial military regime than
Singapore, which has frequently defended not only its links to Rangoon, but
the junta itself.

Last November, Singapore tried to water down a United Nations General
Assembly resolution critical of the regime's refusal to recognise the
overwhelming victory of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
in 1990 elections and widespread human rights abuses.

"Our position is different. We have concrete and immediate stakes," argued
the Singapore representative, Bilahari Kausikan, in a letter to the Swedish
mission which drafted the resolution.

Singapore had used weapons sales, military training and intelligence
co-operation to "win a sympathetic hearing at the very heart of Burma's
official councils", said Jane's Intelligence Review in March.

At about the time the small arms factory was arriving in Rangoon, Burma's
intelligence chief, General Khin Nyunt, told a co-ordinating board for the
Myanmar-Singapore Joint Ministerial Working Committee that his officials
should "give priority to projects arranged by Singapore".

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THE BANGKOK POST: TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN ON THE RISE 
22 July, 1998 

Repatriation policy comes under fire

Children are increasingly being trafficked across Southeast Asia for
prostitution, with Thailand being the main destination, says the
International Labour Organisation.

Around 80,000 women and children have been sold into Thailand's sex trade
since 1990, it says, with most coming from Burma, China's Yunan province
and Laos respectively.

The, study was carried out by Mahidol University's Institute of Population
and Social Research. Researchers found that of 16,423 foreign prostitutes
in Thailand, 30 per cent were aged under 18.

It also found that at least 3,000 Vietnamese girls had been smuggled into
Cambodia for prostitution and that over 15 per cent of them were under 15.

The study said trafficking for begging was a new trend in Cambodia and
Thailand with some 500 Cambodian children known to be involved in begging
in Thailand.

Trafficked children were also found on construction sites and in
sweatshops. In 1996, almost 200,000 foreign children, mostly boys from
Burma, Laos and Cambodia, were thought to be working in Thailand.

The ILO criticised the government's policy to repatriate some 300,000
illegal workers, saying the measure would push illegal migrants, especially
children, "further underground".

The study blames trafficking in children on poverty, limited education
opportunities and family problems. It will be discussed during a July 22-24
seminar.

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THE BANGKOK POST: MORE WORKERS LIKELY TO EMIGRATE 
22 July, 1998 by Bhanravee Tansubhapol 

Analysis / In Search Of A Better Life

REDUCED LABOUR MARKETS AT HOME ARE FORCING MORE AND MORE SOUTHEAST ASIAN
WORKERS TO SEEK GREENER PASTURES IN NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES OR FURTHER AFIELD.

Specialists are warning Asean-member governments that the cross-border
flows of illegal labour resulting from the financial crisis in Southeast
Asia could worsen to a flood when the grouping launches its free trade area
in the year 2003.

The impact of the financial crisis on regional economies is on the agenda
of the 31st Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) opening in Manila on Friday,
and the problem of illegal migrant labour is expected to come up as part of
that discussion.

But several Asean academics and government officials expressed regret
recently at what they call the grouping's lack of collective planning on
the problem of illegal migrants when the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) is
launched in five years' time.

Surin Pitsuwan, the foreign minister, has said he would raise the problem
of migrant labour during "pre-AMM discussions" due to take place in Manila
tomorrow. But his reference to talks with "at least concerned countries"
indicated that he was taking a bilateral rather than a regional approach.

Six member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- are due to
launch a free trade area by the year 2003. Vietnam follows in 2006, and
Burma and Laos two years later.

Ms Kritaya Archavanitkul, of Mahidol University's Institute for Population
and Social Research (IPSR), emphasised the gravity of the problem of
migrant labour, and expressed concern that the financial crisis was
diverting the attention of regional states.

Other Asean participants at a seminar organised recently by the IPSR said
illegal labour was just one potential setback accompanying the opening of a
free trade area that allows for a freer flow of goods and people. Afta will
also make life easier for traffickers in women, children and drugs, they said.

All Asean member states except Brunei attended the seminar co-sponsored by
the International Organisation for Migration. Prospective member Cambodia
also took part. With the exception of Ms Kritaya, none of the participants
would be quoted by name.

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are the biggest recipients of illegal
foreign workers. Each has responded differently to save jobs for local
workers.

Thailand, facing the biggest problem with a million illegal foreign workers
in the country, 80 percent of them from Burma, is trying to understand
changing patterns in labour movements in social, demographic and economic
terms, said one official.

Although the Labour Ministry recently relaxed the ban on foreign labour
working in rice mills after Thais were reluctant to take up such heavy
work, Thailand is trying to enter into arrangements with some neighbouring
countries to solve some other aspects of the problem.

Malaysia has deported an estimated 30,000 foreign workers and clamped down
on foreigners active in the service sector. It is no longer renewing work
permits once they expire, according to a Malaysian official.

Singapore is trying to limit the inflow of foreign labour by discouraging
Singaporeans from emigration, and by introducing automation, said another
official.

Burma, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia admit to
exporting workers in varying degrees.

The Burmese participant accepted the possibility of large-scale migration
to Thailand but rejected the figures which are widely cited, maintaining
that most are legal workers. He did admit however that the numbers "may
increase" now that Burma is a member of Asean.

The Philippines, with six million nationals working overseas, and Vietnam,
with a large, but unknown number, say remittances from their overseas
workforces are important to national coffers.

The Philippines said the economic meltdown would force more people to
emigrate in search of work and would stretch the government's ability to
protect the rights of migrants.

Vietnam, with migrant workers already in Japan, Korea, the Middle East and
Eastern Europe, is seeking help from international organisations to find
new markets in South America.

The Indonesian participant said the economic crisis had forced many of his
country's people to seek work in neighbouring Malaysia in particular.

A Laotian official said his government was trying to stem the outflow of
workers by stepping up cooperation with the Labour Ministry in Thailand to
ease underemployment. Laos is also trying to inform potential migrants
about the problems they stand to face in Thailand, such as HIV/Aids, he said.

A Cambodian government official admitted Cambodians are coming to Thailand
for work but said the country is also receiving Vietnamese who are either
poor or looking for better prospects. The Vietnamese participant said Hanoi
and Phnom Penh are discussing the problem.

The Indonesian official supported Thailand's call for more Asean-wide
cooperation on labour movements in order to minimise the negative impacts
and maximise the benefits.

An official of Mahidol's IPSR pointed out that the European Union to a
large extent had taken this step after 30 years. "We can expect a similar
transition will occur with the Asean region and we should start planning
for this," he said. 

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(End Part 1 of 2)