INFORMATION SHEET N0.A-0583(I)

[OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx]

                        MYANMAR  INFORMATION COMMITTEE 
                                           YANGON
                                  INFORMATION SHEET 

N0.A-0583(I)                                        28th August 1998
 
(1)	Minister for Foreign Affairs Leaves to Attend 12th Summit of 
Non-Aligned Movement

		Minister for Foreign Affairs U Ohn Gyaw left Yangon by air on 27 August to
attend the 12th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Durban, South Africa.
Non-aligned Movement, with 133 member countries at present, holds Summit
Meetings every three years.  The previous Summit was held in Cartargena de
Indias in the Republic of Colombia. Colombia has assumed the Chairmanship of
the Movement during the previous three years. South Africa will assume the
Chairmanship at the coming Summit.

(2)		Bhamo (Lwejei) Border Trade Point Inaugurated
		The Border Trade Department inaugurated Bhamo (Lwejei) 
Border Trade Point on 23 August.  Present on the occasion were Director-
General Col Min Hla Aung of BTD, Chairman of Bhamo District Peace and
Development Council, departmental officers and over 1,000 local people and
departmental officials of the People?s Republic of China and about 400 local
residents of districts in China.  
Col Min Hla Aung and Mr. Li Chi Min, vice-governor of Tehon Prefecture, PRC,
spoke on the occasion and exchanged gifts.  They then formally opened the new
border trade point.

(3)		Agreement to Repair Furnace of Thayet Cement Factory Signed

		Myanma Ceramic Industries, Yunnan Machinery and Equipment Import and Export
Corporation and Yadana Theingi Co Ltd signed an agreement for repairing
furnace of Thayet Cement Factory in Magway Division at the Ministry of
Industry-1 on 27 August.  Managing Director of MCI, Chairman of YMEIEC,
General Manager of China Perfect Machinery Industry Corp. Ltd, Managing
Director of Three Elephant Cement Plant and Managing Director of Yadana
Theingi signed the agreement.

(4)		Myanmar Agricultural Delegation Leaves for China

		The Myanmar agricultural delegation led by Deputy General Manager of
Ayeyawady Division Myanma Agriculture Service, Ministry of Agriculture and
Irrigation left Yangon by air on 27 August for Kunming, the People?s Republic
of China, to study development of agriculture and hybrid paddy strains there.
The delegation includes Secretary of Myanmar Rice Dealers Association,
Coordinator of Cema Missionary Company Ltd, farmers of Pathein Township,
Danubyu Township and  Kyaiklat Township.

(5)		More Archery Teams Arrive

		The archery teams of respective countries arrived Yangon by air this evening
to take part in 1998 World Ranking Asian Archery Circuit First Round
Competition in Yangon.  Vice-Chairman of International Archery Federation Mr.
Donald M Lovo and archery teams of Thailand, Indonesia and Chinese Taipei
arrived Yangon by air on 27 August.  

OFFICE CALLS IN YANGON ON 27 AUGUST

(A)		Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt
received Member of the House of Representatives of Japan Mr. Shingo Nishimura
and party and  Chairman Mr. David John and party of Premier Oil PLC (London)
at Dagon Yeiktha of the Ministry of Defence.

(B)		Minister for Communications, Posts and Telegraphs received Executive
Vice-President Mr. Pierre Fitzzibbon and party of Nostrad Telecommunications
TIW of Canada at his office.

(C)		Secretary of Myanmar Investment Commission received President 

Mr. Jang Soo Kim of Doopung International Co Ltd of Republic of Korea at his
office.  They discussed progress of their company and other investment
opportunities. Similarly, he received Director and Secretary Mr. Eng Pado
Marone and party of International Marble Institute of Italy at his office.
They discussed investment in mining.

(D)		Minister for Energy received Chairman Mr. David John and Chief Executive
Officer Mr. Charles Jamieson of Premier Oil PLC (London) at his office.  They
discussed offshore Yedagon Project being jointly undertaken.

Special Feature 
This office is presenting Myanmar  News Letter of Myanmar Embassy, Ottawa,
Dated 31 August for you information 

MYANMAR EMBASSY
OTTAWA
MYANMAR NEWS LETTER
1 AUGUST 31, 1998
VOL
NO.2 EDITORIAL

THE VIEW FROM THE EMBASSY OF MYANMAR IN OTTAWA 

THE REAL FLASH-POINTS ARE ELSEWHERE

It has been a month since the Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM ) took place and
ten days since the ?dead line? set by a local politician against the
government passed But It was at the AMM in Manila that Mrs.M.K.Albright
repeated her usual prediction that Myanmar was on the verge of a social
?explosion? because of political instability, rapid economic deterioration,
being epicentre of an AIDS epidemic etc. This editorial then threw a sport-
light onto her dismal record with the crystal-ball -and stressed that whenever
Crises were being  predicted in Myanmar; the "flash point" have always been
elsewhere in the world.

During the month long period since the AMM, much to one?s regret, the fighting
in the Balkans, crises in the middle-east, bomb-blasts near US Embassies in
East Africa, resumption of civil wars in Central, West and North Africa,
retaliatory rocket attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan etc. have captured much
media attention and that of the U. S. and Western governments, with the United
Nations and it?s agencies helplessly looking on and trying to cope with these
crises.

Now it remains to be acknowledged once again, that the Union of Myanmar,
despite western instigation of local politicians by even sending in 18 foreign
activists posing as tourists, has maintained its peace and stability and has
proven the western prophesies wrong like it has done so many times in the past
5 years.

It Is also regrettable but getting increasingly obvious that the developed
western countries have little or no capability of predicting correctly where
the world?s next ?real flash points? are going to be, leave alone institute
preventive measures against possible catastrophic events.

It is, indeed, high time for them to realise that the Union of Myanmar harbors
no hostility towards any one including those governments that have been doing
their worst not only to destabilise her but also discredit her in the eyes of
the people in their own countries. They have, infact, used every possible
means at their disposal either? directly through their media or indirectly
through organizations and institutions that they control or influence such as
the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and even the United Nations.

But over the past five years, inspite of all such pressures,  Myanmar have
been proving its critics and adversaries wrong by maintaining it?s stability
and even bringing about the 50 years old armed insurgencies to an end by
extending the olive branch to every ethnic nationality involved in the
fighting. These former insurgent armies, who were not involved in the
electoral process of 1990, have now been incorporated into the National
Convention without whose participation in drawing up the new constitution, (
under which a new government must be installed), the result will be hollow.
The country could then possibly descend once again into the kind of civil war
that the world has been witnessing in many countries at this time. There are
at present two critically important points that must be acknowledged.

Firstly it needs to be emphasized that neither the National League For
Democracy nor its General Secretary Mrs. Suu Kyi Aris were involved in this
crucial peace process. Since last year, almost all leaders of these former
insurgents (the Kachin Independence Organization, Shan State Army, New Mon
State Party, Kayinni Organizations of Kayah State, etc) who now have political
control over their respective ?States?, called on Mrs. Aris to stop her
foreign campaign against the Union and severely criticized her for endangering
the sovereignty of the nation by relying too much on foreign powers (?the
Gorbachev Syndrome? ) for her own political ascension to power. If this
situation is properly understood, it should be easy to understand why all the
efforts to discredit the government and bring about civil unrest and social
?explosions? have failed so miserably so far.

Secondly, the superficial and short-sighted assessment of the Myanmar
mentality- that people are afraid, "cowed" by the power of the SPDC government
is severely flawed. It offends the pride and basic decency of the Myanmar
peoples and at the end of the day will be counter productive. It also insults
them to their core and ignores their historical courage and resilience that
kept their nation independent, except for once, in their long and proud
existence over a thousand years.

However, we are aware that scarcity of objective information always tends to
make disinformation campaigns easy. The Embassy of the Union of Myanrnar
therefore is providing it?s periodic "short perspective of the country?s
political development? once again as follows:

1 The Union of Myanrnar is NOT yet a democracy. It is move towards a
multiparty democratic system from the massive destructive anarchism it
sufferred 10 years ago.

2.	It should be noted that there are still countries in the neighbourhood of
Myanmar (China, Laos & Vietnam) who have not yet allowed democratic parties to
be formed and yet making good economic progress. Therefore Myanmar should also
be accorded the right to develop itself with its own pace and geo-political
determinants in mind. The country is not rich at present but has already come
a long way from that of 1988.

3 The Government of Myanmar allowed democratic political parties to be formed
and even held an election to form an assembly that was intended to oversee the
development of a national constitution. This was possibly misconstrued by the
western democracies who joined the winning political party in demanding for an
immediate transfer of power. When this was denied many elected delegates went
underground, took up arms against the government and forced the Election
Commission to declare their elections null and void.

4. The remaining ?legal? delegates then joined the national convention -which
is actually a forum for ?dialogue? where representatives from all walks of
lives and from all the former warring factions of the ethnic national races,
except one, participated. However, the ?wait? for the last ethnic insurgents
to return to the legal fold and some remaining work on intricate details
caused a ?recess? of the plenary sessions to be called. Up to the present, 17
out of 18 groups have returned with only a fraction of the Karen National
Union (but mainly the christian leadership) still procrastinating for some
unfortunate reasons. But the work of the convention goes on at committee
levels.

5. Since the formation of the democratic parties were allowed, the government
spelled out certain disciplinary rules that still restrict them from frill-
blown ?politicking? that are already standard practices in fully democratized
countries. But one of the parties whose General Secretary Mrs Suu Kyi Aris was
disqualified by law (since 1947 constitution drawn up under her father?s
patronage) to stand election (because of her marriage to a foreigner), became
the tool of the western powers to campaign and agitate, first for immediate
transfer of power and later slightly toning down to convening of the elected
but outdated National Assembly which has been already in disarray for past
eight years. Two years ago she also ordered her party delegates attending the
National Convention to walk out of the DIALOGUE and automatically
disqualifying them according to the disciplinary rules as delegates to the
National Convention But them "eight years" is far beyond any legitimate tenure
of any elected assembly. The time has come to think a new.

6. Although the government is not able to give Mrs. Aris any special political
previleges still denied to other political parties it has tolerated her
defiance and political antics up to a certain limit simply because she happens
to he the daughter of Gen. Aung San , the nationalist leader. But it has been
made clear that anything beyond that limit will have to be dealt with firmly
although ?exercising utmost restraint? ensuring that nobody, including
herself, gets hurt.

7. Up to this point, the people of Myanmar with their usual low level of
interest in party politics, have given little attention to the so-called
?incidents? in contrast to the way they have been blown out of proportion in
Western Countries, where a negative media campaign has been simultaneously
waged.

The Union of Myanmar, always concious of attempts from abroad to destabilise
her, will cautiously continue to reject any infringement on her sovereignty
and interference in her internal political affairs with a firm resolve like it
has successfully done so in the past. Myanmar will, however, steadily continue
it?s transition toward a multiparty democratic system which must be in keeping
with her tradition and culture-not something that has been ?cloned like molly
the sheep? in the western developed countries.

At one month after the US Secretary of State expounded at the AMM, her
interpretation of the situation in Myanmar, the country remains peaceful and
calm. Crime rates (including those drug-related) for cities remain among the
world?s lowest, natural gas from her off-shore fields are about to flow into
the national pipelines to augment the energy resources, new bridges span major
rivers and new dams irrigate arid but fertile lands. University exams have
been fully conducted and even the leaders of "Burmese" dissidents in Japan
relinquish their refugee status to return home. Also noteworthy is the fact
that UNDP?s Human Development Index for Myanmar (rising from position 131 in
1994 to 111 by 1997) remains higher than all it?s immediate Western neighbours
and data evolved from the WHO and Anti-AIDs Organizations in Asia will easily
reject the defamatory statement that Myanmar is the epicentre of AIDs in South
and South East Asia.

It is time for big powers to stop barking up the wrong tree! 

The real flash-points are elsewhere!


                                                    ***********