The BurmaNet News: July 30, 1998

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The BurmaNet News: July 30, 1998
Issue #1060

HEADLINES:
==========
REUTERS: SUU KYI ENDS CAR PROTEST 
NCGUB: BURMA HAS WAITED LONG ENOUGH 
SPDC: MYANMAR NEWS RELEASE VOL. 10 NO. 17 
NYT: THE CRUEL LEADERS OF MYANMAR 
WASHINGTON POST: BURMA'S DESPERATE GENERALS 
WASHINGTON POST (LETTER): "A DISGRUNTLED HOUSEWIFE" 
GLOBE AND MAIL: DOG DAYS IN BURMA 
SCMP: GENERALS TIED IN KNOTS 
AFP: REFUGEE FLOW IS A FORM OF "INTERFERENCE:" SURIN 
THE NATION: BURMA VOWS TO BLOCK MEDDLING 
BKK POST: CANADA WILL LINK IN LAOS, NOT BURMA
BKK POST: EU HEARS SCHEME FOR ADMITTING RANGOON 
ANNOUNCEMENT: FREE BURMA 8-8-88, CHIANG MAI 
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REUTERS: SUU KYI ENDS CAR PROTESTS, RETURNS TO RANGOON 
29 July, 1998 

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has ended a
six-day sit-in protest in a car on the outskirts of the capital and
returned to her home, government sources said on Thursday.

A government source, when asked if reports that Suu Kyi had returned to her
Yangon home late on Wednesday, said: ``Yes, it is true. She arrived at
about 10.30 p.m. (1600 GMT)

The Nobel Peace laureate's decision to return home followed a visit on
Wednesday to her protest site at a bridge near the village of Anyarsu, 65
km (40 miles) west of Yangon, by three senior officials of her National
League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The officials were instrumental in persuading her to return home, a
government spokesman said.

Diplomats in Bangkok on Wednesday said Suu Kyi was running out of food in
her protest against travel curbs imposed by the military government.

Suu Kyi, daughter of independence leader Aung San, was stopped by security
forces on Friday on her way to western Pathein to visit NDL officials.

The government said she was stopped because she did not have her security
team with her and it was concerned she might be harmed by anti-government
elements.

Myanmar had come under pressure from the United States and Japan among
others to allow Suu Kyi to proceed on her journey.

A government spokesman denied the reports Suu Kyi had been running out of
food. But the junta said it was not ready to discuss growing demands from
her party and leading nations that she be allowed to travel freely.

The NLD on Wednesday condemned the restrictions on her travel, saying it
was an attempt to curb her political activity.

``It is illegal confinement to bar the general secretary and (her) party
from going from specially designated areas to other places,'' it said in a
statement.

The government has also accused Suu Kyi of trying to foment dissent ahead
of the planned reopening next month of universities and other institutions
closed in December 1996 after student unrest.

Tensions between the junta and the NLD escalated after Suu Kyi urged the
government to convene by August 21 a parliament comprising members elected
in May 1990.

The NLD swept that poll but the military ignored the result. 

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NCGUB: BURMA HAS WAITED LONG ENOUGH
30 July, 1998 

PM defends sit-in, call to convene parliament

For Immediate Release:  For More Information, Contact NCGUB Press Office:
+1 (202) 393 7343

The N.C.G.U.B. is constituted by Members of Parliament democratically
elected in 1990.

Prime Minister Sein Win today praised NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
courage in engaging in a six day sit-in protest and defended the NLD's
decision to push for the convening of Burma's elected parliament by August
21. Daw Suu's peaceful protest was apparently ended by military authorities
at about 9:30 Wednesday night in Burma. After she continued to refuse
demands to turn back, her NLD drivers were removed and security personnel
entered the vehicle who then drove her back to Rangoon.

Prime Minister Sein Win today said "It is too easy for those who have never
lived under the heel of dictator's boot to counsel those who have to sit on
their hands lest there be a "confrontation." Now is the time for a
dialogue. We have waited long enough. A dialogue is not a confrontation,
but neither is it capitulation." The full text of Dr. Sein Win's statement
appears on page two.

The regime maintained that she was not a captive and insisted that they
halted her because her government security team was "missing" and therefore
she could be harmed by anti-government elements. Despite a six day wait,
her government security team did not appear. The numerous soldiers who held
were also unwilling to escort her anywhere but back to Rangoon.

###

Text of statement by Prime Minister Sein Win:

July 30, 1998

For perhaps the first time, a representative of Burma's junta has
acknowledged that words can falsify reality and that to do so is wrong. We
know this through painful experience and we also know that the generals
will not give us freedom if we do not demand it. Still, there are
those--both in Burma and without--who counsel the democracy movement to be
more "flexible" so as to avoid a "confrontation" with the junta. It is not
"confrontation" to demand what is one's right as a human being, nor is it
inflexible to insist that election result be honored. Neither is it
"confrontation" for a free person to go for a drive. As Aung San Suu Kyi
enters a sixth day trapped at a military blockade, it is clear that she,
like everyone in Burma, is only free to do what men with guns command.

When Daw Suu who was confronted by armed soldiers, she honored their
command to halt, even though it was contrary to the regime's own laws. It
is falsifying reality with words to say that she is "confronting" them,
when she is armed with nothing but patience, courage and a just cause. It
is too easy for those who have never lived under the heel of dictator's
boot to counsel those who have that we must sit on our hands lest there be
a "confrontation." Burma has for too long lived in a monologue where men
with guns tell you where you can and cannot go, what you can and cannot say
or do. Now is the time for a dialogue. A dialogue is not a confrontation,
but neither is it capitulation.

There comes a time when the reservoirs of endurance runs out, when a people
can no longer suffer injustice in silence. Time is ultimately on the side
of democracy in Burma, but it is not the side of the generation who must
live in Burma now. How long must parents raise families in a country where
the schools are closed because the generals fear the children? How many
more must die from the AIDS epidemic flowing into Burma because the junta
depends on the heroin flowing out of Burma? How many years is long enough
to wait for the election to be honored? How long must we wait for the
simple freedom to go for a drive? Burma has waited long enough. 

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SPDC: MYANMAR NEWS RELEASE: VOL. 10 NO. 17 
29 July, 1998 from OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx

EMBASSY OF THE UNION OF MYANMAR, OTTAWA

STOP PRESS

(4:00 PM  Eastern Time)

Political Demonstration Resolved Peacefully

The following is a summary of how the political demonstration by MRS. SUU
KYI ARIS ended peacefully on July 29, 1998 and safely returned home in
Yangon at 10:20 pm local time.

1. The Chairman of National League For Democracy U Aung Shwe and Central
Executive Committee (CEC) members met at their Yangon Division Party office
in the early afternoon to discuss whether they should go and advise  MRS.
ARIS and the group to come back to Yangon.

2. After a decision to do so was reached the Chairman, two CEC members and
a physician requested the authorities concerned to allow them in two
automobiles to visit Mrs. Aris at the site where she has been staging the
demonstration.

3. Between 5:50 and 7:45 pm on the same day a meeting took place between
the Chairman's party and Mrs. Aris during which officials supplied them
with drinks as requested.

4. After the meeting, responsible security officials made a final request
to Mrs. Aris to consider her own well-being and to return to Yangon which
she apparently declined.

5. By 9:35 pm U Hla Pe (her companion and fellow party official) and the
two chauffeurs were asked to board another car while Mrs. Aris' car, driven
by a security driver, an officer and with two women red-cross personnel
caring for her, began their journey home. After arriving home at 10:20 pm
two medical doctors who attended on her earlier and some CEC members also
arrived at her residence.

6. The officials apparently took this decision to return Mrs. Aris to her
home in Yangon in the interest of her own health and well-being since she,
in spite of her intransigence, still happens to be the daughter of the late
national leader General Aung San. 

****************************************************************

THE NEW YORK TIMES: THE CRUEL LEADERS OF MYANMAR 
29 July, 1998 

Editorial

The fate of democracy in Myanmar, formerly Burma, has been closely
associated with the fate of one courageous woman, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The
military junta ruling that country has now blocked her effort to travel to
a meeting with members of her political party. She has refused to turn back
and yesterday spent her fifth day in a stifling hot car, surrounded by
armed troops, on a road outside the capital city of Yangon.  

This treatment of the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate, which drew strong protests
yesterday from America, the European Union and other countries, is
despicable. Even if the junta backs off, the episode shows again that it is
unfit to govern Myanmar.  

The junta has made a considerable public relations effort in recent years
to create a more favorable image. Yet it has now destroyed whatever little
international standing it had gained. It is also failing in the most basic
responsibilities of government. Earlier this week Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright noted that conditions in Myanmar were worsening, with
political restrictions, economic and educational stagnation, a spreading
AIDS epidemic and rampant drug trafficking making what she called a "social
breakdown or explosion" increasingly likely.  

Myanmar's junta should respond to international demands and let Mrs. Aung
San Suu Kyi travel in peace. But that is not enough. She, and all the
people of Myanmar, must be allowed to express themselves freely, and be
governed by the representatives they freely choose.  

****************************************************************

THE WASHINGTON POST: BURMA'S DESPERATE GENERALS 
29 July, 1998 

Editorial

SINCE LAST Friday a seemingly frail but spiritually indomitable woman has
been blockaded inside her car on a rural highway in Burma. Aung San Suu
Kyi, 53, rightful leader of her Southeast Asian nation, had set out from
her home in the capital to meet with a political supporter in the
provinces. But the general-thugs who have hijacked the leadership of Burma,
fearing her popularity and the serene certainty with which she battles for
democracy, have blocked the road. They refuse to let her move forward, and
Aung San Suu Kyi -- insisting on her right to travel and meet with
colleagues -- refuses to go back.  

She would no doubt be surprised to learn, then, if the message could reach
her isolated vehicle, that she "is not a captive." This is one of the
contentions of the junta's representative to Washington in a letter to the
editor published on this page today. It is no surprise that the letter is
full of half-truths about the extent of her freedom, the ability of foreign
diplomats and journalists to visit her and so forth (yes, she could leave
the country, but the thugs would undoubtedly prevent her return). Nor is it
new that the generals vilify her in personal terms; back home, in the
domestic press they totally control, they have called this devout Buddhist
mother "deranged," a "modern-day ogress" and a sexual predator.  

What is interesting is the desperation reflected in their decision to bring
their slanderous campaign overseas. Interesting, but again not surprising,
for the generals have driven their country (which they call Myanmar)
virtually into the ground. What was once one of Asia's most promising
nations, rich in natural resources and blessed with an educated and
hard-working population, is a disaster, with an average annual income of
maybe $200 to $300 per person. Universities are shuttered because the
rulers fear their own students. The junta can buy the services of public
relations firms in Washington and the loyalty of U.S. oil and timber
companies eager for contracts, but it knows that it has no legitimacy at
home.  

This is true above all because Burma conducted an election in 1990, and
Aung San Suu Kyi won. Although she was already under house arrest at the
time, her National League for Democracy won four out of every five
parliamentary seats. Most people in Burma, in other words, apparently did
not deem her a "disgruntled housewife," nor was her marriage to an
Englishman considered a stain on her character. It is the generals,
refusing to honor the election results, who can be accused of "coveting
power at all costs."  

Remarkably, though, despite nearly a decade of confinement and harassment,
of seeing her colleagues imprisoned and tortured, sometimes to death, Aung
San Suu Kyi has never returned the insults. Consistently, she calls for
dialogue and compromise; contrary to the ambassador's letter, she insists
only on the rule of law. Now, in keeping with that principle, she is
calling for the true parliament to be convened by Aug. 21. Alone in her
sun-baked vehicle on that country road, she is in the right, and she
deserves support for her campaign.  

****************************************************************

THE WASHINGTON POST: "A DISGRUNTLED HOUSEWIFE" 
29 July, 1998 from Tin Winn, Myanmar Ambassador to the United States 

The Post's July 13 editorial "Courage in Burma" blindly supports dissident
Aung San Suu Kyi.  

Aung San Suu Kyi is no Nelson Mandela. The two do not bear comparison. One
is a disgruntled housewife turned politician who covets power at all costs.
The other is a self-effacing nationalist who has devoted his life to free
his people from the shackles of apartheid.  

Whereas Aung San Suu Kyi lived most of her adult life with her English
husband in the West, oblivious to the tribulations of her countrymen,
Nelson Mandela endured decades of imprisonment and only by dint of
conviction, dedication and hard work was able to marshal support and lead
his nation to a new era of freedom.  

True, both Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi are Nobel laureates, but the
similarity ends there. Mr. Mandela displayed unparalleled courage and
leadership to ensure the peaceful transfer of power in South Africa. Aung
San Suu Kyi was an unknown housewife who had been willy-nilly co-opted to
lead a disparate group of political activists solely on her credential as
the daughter of Gen. Aung San, the hero of Myanmar's independence from
Britain. She had no inkling of the complexities of the situation in the
country, and her exhortation to the masses was, "Defy all laws." She did
nothing to contribute to world peace. Yet the Nobel Committee deemed it
proper to award her the prize.  

Aung San Suu Kyi, emboldened by the Nobel Prize, has been acting like a
prima donna and has been challenging the government at every turn. She
ignores the nine other political parties in the country and that it is the
duty of the authorities to ensure evenhandedness. Now that peace and
stability have been restored in the country, the government considers it
important to consolidate the gains and to establish a modern disciplined
nation. The welfare of the nation must be given precedence over the welfare
of individuals or groups.  

In recent weeks, Aung San Suu Kyi upped the ante by adopting a
confrontational stance. On July 7, accompanied by the National League for
Democracy Chairman, U Aung Shwe, and other colleagues, she headed north of
the capital ostensibly to meet with a party official. When her vehicle was
stopped at a security checkpoint, she made an issue out of it, and the
Western media, including The Post, jumped at the opportunity to berate the
government. The authorities exercised restraint and in the final analysis
allowed her to meet the party official.  

The government always has taken care to ensure the personal safety of all
politicians. The government provides Aung San Suu Kyi security in
accordance with her own request made in 1995 at the time restrictions
placed on her were lifted.  

Aung San Suu Kyi is not a captive. She lives in a large lakeside compound
with relatives and party members and visits other party leaders in their
homes in various parts of Yangon. She has received foreign journalists and
dignitaries in her home. They include The U.S. secretary of state,
Madeleine Albright, the Philippines secretary of state, Domingo Saizon, and
the Malaysian foreign minister, Abdullah Badawi. If she so desires, she can
leave the country.  

Courage? If intrigue can be called courage, fanaticism called fearlessness,
personal security called captivity, then a word becomes a means of
falsifying reality.  

TIN WINN  
Ambassador, Embassy of the Union of Myanmar  
Washington

****************************************************************

THE GLOBE AND MAIL (CANADA): DOG DAYS IN BURMA 
28 July, 1998 

Editorial

WHILE the hot humid days of summer stretch into the monsoon season in
Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Laureate and the democratically elected
leader of Burma, sits patiently in her car in a standoff with the ruling
military junta. On Friday morning, she was stopped for the third time this
month as she tried to travel outside the capital to visit her supporters.
The military police insisted she return home. She refused. She is unable to
move forward and unwilling to retreat and so she sits in the sweltering
heat, refusing food and water. We wouldn't allow a dog to be treated this
way in Canada. But this is not Canada.

[ ... ]

While she sits, the Association of South East Asian Nations is holding a
regional meeting in Manila with its Pacific Rim partners. ASEAN is the
organization that gave Burma observer status in 1996 and full membership a
year ago based on the notion that "constructive engagement" would help move
the country toward democracy. The limitations of the policy of promoting
reform through trade and foreign investment are plain to see.

Civil and human rights are virtually non-existent, torture and "ethnic
cleansing" are commonplace, the economy is a shambles, heroin and
amphetamines flow unabated and finance huge arms shipments, child labour
and prostitution are endemic and the country is fast becoming the epicentre
of the regional AIDS crisis. The United States, the European Union and
Canada have all imposed limited trade sanctions. And yet nothing changes.
If anything, the situation becomes worse.

That is why Aung San Suu Kyi's peaceful intransigence during the ASEAN
meetings may be a brilliant tactical move. August marks the 10th
anniversary of Burma's version of Tienanmen Square, an infamous and bloody
reprisal by the junta, in which hundreds or protesters were shot in the
streets. Aung San Suu Kyi is using the anniversary to rally the opposition
by demanding that the junta convene parliament by Aug. 21. Parliament or
prison seems to be the choice she is offering the junta.

As U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said at the meetings: "This
is a moment of truth and urgency for Burma and all of us concerned about
its fate." France has spoken out; so has Japan. Canada remains mute. Why?

****************************************************************

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: GENERALS TIED IN KNOTS 
30 July, 1998 by William Barnes in Bangkok 

Analysis

Champion of democracy Aung San Suu Kyi has generals tied in knots

How the Burmese junta must long for a good old-fashioned conspiracy with
secret calls, axe handles of imperialism and clandestine meetings.

Instead, its propagandists are going red-faced with exertion trying to
defend themselves against a delicate, knife-thin lady who is currently
throwing them all around the judoka of international politics.

Aung San Suu Kyi, an open admirer of Gandhi and Mandela, has never
mentioned Sun Tzu's The Art of War. But she seems to have learned some
feints worthy of that 2,400-year-old Chinese manual for warriors.

Since Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's "release" from six years of house arrest in
1995, the State Peace and Development Council - the junta - appears to have
developed a policy of giving her just enough rope to be able to claim that
she is a free woman. She is not, of course. Only with difficulty can she
meet the braver members of her perfectly legal National League for
Democracy which trounced the army's puppet party in a 1990 election.

The last time she attempted to travel to the northern capital Mandalay the
authorities uncoupled her railway carriage.

Her friends and colleagues are regularly thrown into jail on trumped up
charges.

The secret police are everywhere: in the tea shops, in the few colleges
that are open, in hotels, even in her own compound on University Avenue.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is generally painted as some kind of a saint
in Western press portraits, yet during the past three years there have been
rumblings of criticism of her "naivety" or her "obstinacy" as the political
stalemate has ground on.

She has complained that while some of her supporters want her to be more
aggressive, others have urged compromise with the regime.

The vivid mental picture of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's long nights in her white
sedan has brought angry denunciation from the West - something the regime
has long learned to tolerate.

But the criticism from even "friends" in Asean will have rattled the generals.

This might be a dictatorship on steroids - the military has doubled the
number of men under arms in a decade - but by adopting a position of fixed
menace the generals have made themselves vulnerable to a determined,
light-footed opponent.

****************************************************************

AFP: REFUGEE FLOW FROM MYANMAR IS A FORM OF "INTERFERENCE:" SURIN 
28 July, 1998 

The huge flow of Myanmarese refugees and migrants into Thailand amounts to
"interference" and Bangkok reserves the right to protect its national
stability, Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said Tuesday.  

Surin, speaking at ministerial meetings between the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its main trading partners, defended his
government's vocal criticism of fellow ASEAN member Myanmar.  

Proposals by Thailand and the Philippines to end ASEAN's policy of
non-intervention in each other's affairs have been rejected by other
members.  

"We do not seek to interfere in the internal affairs of any country but we
will voice our opinion on any issues that impact our country's ability and
our people's well-being," the Thai minister said.  

He said that was "because the impact of those issues can also be considered
a form of interference."  

Surin cited the presence in Thailand of 100,000 Myanmarese fleeing the
fighting west of the border, as well as up to 800,000 economic migrants.  

"We want to see their safe return. The best way is to have conditions of
stability in Myanmar," he said.  

"We are convinced that only through national reconciliation will there be a
national consolidation that will bring about a stable and prosperous
Myanmar," Surin said.  

He urged that "dialogues without preconditions among all parties in Myanmar
be held with a view to arriving at a mutually acceptable political
consensus that will lay a foundation for a new political order in Myanmar
that is accepted by all Myanmar people."  

At the conference Surin also urged his colleagues to consider the Asian
financial crisis as a moral equivalent of war.  

He said Asia's "reversal of fortune" could lead to "possible violence,
rebellions, instability and insecurity. The entire region could be engulfed
in turmoil of another entirely new security dimension." 

****************************************************************

THE NATION: BURMA VOWS TO BLOCK MEDDLING 
29 July, 1998 

RANGOON -- Burma's military junta yesterday vowed to fight recent, moves by
fellow Asean members to allow open discussion of internal affairs of the
regional grouping's members.

Commentaries carried in all three official newspapers, which are
mouthpieces for government policy, said: "Myanmar [Burma] is a sovereign
nation. Myanmar will not allow interference in her internal affairs."

They said the Philippines had supported a Thai proposal to Asean to change
the group's policy of "constructive engagement", or non-interference in the
internal affairs of members, to "flexible engagement", in which members
could freely discuss each other's problems.

The proposal, made at an Asean foreign ministers' meeting in Manila, was
rejected by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

On Monday Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said the people of
Burma should stage a bloodless uprising like the one in the Philippines
which led to the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Burma, which has been accused by the West and rights groups of abusing
human rights and curbing the political freedom of the opposition, led by
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, became a member of the,
nine-nation Asean last year.

Asean also groups Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines,
Singapore, Laos and Vietnam.

"These days I hear unnatural and unrealistic remarks of some ministers of
some nations advocating interference in the internal affairs of Myanmar,"
said the author of the commentary, entitled "Myanmar will not on any
account allow interference".

"The aims, basic principles and concepts of the association have
categorically resolved already that it will not for any reason interfere in
the internal affairs of member nations."

"The West bloc or neo-colonialists for long have been insisting that the
resolve should be amended and interference in internal affairs of member
nations allowed," the commentary said.

"Surprisingly, some ministers have echoed the words of the West bloc to
interfere in Myanmar's internal affairs."

"Are the nations of those ministers who made such remarks free from
problems with no hitches?" the commentary asked, adding that the Western
bloc would like to destroy united, regional groupings.

"It wants them divided and to fight among themselves. Only then will it be
able to dominate them.

"Accordingly, the West bloc and its lackeys are engaged in propaganda war
interfering in others' internal affairs.

"It will be useless for the internal and external subversives to talk ill
of Myanmar. Myanmar, on her part, will not allow interference in any way,"
the commentary said.

[ ... ]

****************************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: CANADA WILL LINK IN LAOS, NOT BURMA 
29 July, 1998 by Bhanravee Tansubhapol in Manila 

Canada has agreed to Laos joining an Asean-Canada cooperative framework,
but rejected Burma's participation, an Asean diplomatic source said yesterday.

Laos' accession to the dialogue was marked by an agreement signed in Manila
on Sunday by Laotian Foreign Minister Somsavad Lengsavat and his Canadian
counterpart, Lloyd Axworthy.

Philippines Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon recently also tried to get
Burma on board, but Canada invited only Laos, the source added.

Laos and Burma joined Asean last year and Canada is one of three dialogue
partners which require newcomers to sign formal agreements before admitting
them into cooperative frameworks. The European Union and Australia are the
other two.

Laos' agreement with Canada was its first, as Asean foreign ministers have
asked Vientiane, to stall its application to join the Asean-EU framework
due to the EU's refusal to accept Burma.

Under the agreement signed on Sunday, Laos and Canada also agreed to
enhance bilateral cooperation.

****************************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: EU HEARS SCHEME FOR ADMITTING RANGOON 
29 July, 1998 by Bhanravee Tansubhapol in Manila 

Asean yesterday put forward a new proposal for the European Union to
consider admitting Burma into the two grouping's cooperative framework,
according to Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Saroj Chavanaviraj.

Mr Saroj refused to elaborate on what he called a new "package" but he
quoted the EU as saying that it marked progress. The EU however would need
more time for consultation among member states in Brussels, he added.

Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, who submitted the proposal to Austrian
Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel, representing the EU presidency,
described the proposal as a "flexible" formula.

The EU called off the 13th Joint Cooperation Committee that was to have
taken place in Bangkok last November after Asean insisted on Burma's active
participation in it. The EU, whose Nordic member states are among the
fiercest critics of Burma, would only allow the country's "passive"
participation in the talks.

As chairman of the Asean-EU dialogue yesterday, Mr Surin expressed
"disappointment" in that event, and noted some "basic differences" between
the two countries.

"If we are to advance our relations, we should exercise our full efforts to
break the impasse and find a practical and acceptable solution to the
problem," he said.

Mr Schuessel said the EU attached great importance to the consolidation of
Asean mechanisms that foster regional stability and the promotion of
democratic institutions.

"We hope, in particular, that Burma will profit from its Asean membership
and will undertake the necessary internal reforms," said Mr Schuessel. 

****************************************************************

ANNOUNCEMENT: FREE BURMA 8-8-88, CHIANG MAI 
30 July, 1998 

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the August 8, 1988 democracy
uprising in Burma, the Students' Union of Chiang Mai University will be
holding a 3-day event entitled "FREE BURMA 8.8.88" from August 6-8, 1998 at
the Students' Union Building.

>From August 6-8 there will be an exhibition depicting the events of 1988,
as well as stalls selling books and handicrafts from Burma. On August 7,
from 2-5 pm there will be an open forum on the topic "How far is Burma
along the road to democracy, 10 years on?"; speakers will include Thai
journalists and academics, and representatives from Burma. On the evening
of August 7, at 7 pm there will be cultural performances, poetry readings
and music. On August 8, at 8.08 am there will be a religious ceremony in
honour of those that gave their lives to the struggle for democracy.

Black ribbons are also being distributed around Chiang Mai for people to
wear in support of the democracy movement in Burma.

For further details contact Ruch or Kwan at (053) 943053 or  (053) 811202.

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