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The BurmaNet News: January 5, 1998



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: January 5, 1999
Issue #1178

HEADLINES:
==========
DVB: CASUALTIES REPORTED IN CLASHES 
BKK POST: JUNTA REPORTS MORE NLD RESIGNATIONS 
AFP: MYANMAR JUNTA ATTACKS ASSK ON INDEPENDENCE DAY 
THE NATION: OPPOSITION BADLY BLOODIED BUT DEFIANT 
ASIAWEEK: AFTER NE WIN, WHAT? 
ASIAWEEK: MYANMAR'S CHANCE 
TV MYANMAR: MINISTERS BRIEF DIPLOMATS ON ASEAN 
AP: MINISTER HOPES RELATIONS IMPROVE WITH US, EU 
BKK POST: GENERAL SEEKS TIES WITH JUNTA 
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DEMOCRATIC VOICE OF BURMA: CASUALTIES REPORTED IN BURMA CLASHES WITH ETHNIC
GROUPS 
4 January, 1999 by Maung Tu 

[Translated from Burmese, abridged]

The SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] defense services have begun
their dry season offensive against the ethnic armed groups. WNO [Wa National
Organization] President Maha San said clashes broke out between the SPDC and
WNO forces near drug kingpin Khun Sa's Ho Mong region on 25 December.

The clashes between the Wa forces and SPDC's LIR [Light Infantry Regiment]
No.332 based in Mong Hsat, Shan State, left two SPDC soldiers dead and six
wounded while there was no casualty on the Wa side. The Wa troops also seized
some weapons, ammunition, and six military knapsacks. WNO is the signatory of
the Thoo Mwe Klo Agreement signed at the Seminar on National Solidarity
held on
12-14 December 1998 and the Mae Tha Raw Hta Agreement held on 7-14 January
1997.

DVB correspondent Maung Tu reports from the Thai-Burma border that the SPDC
forces are launching an offensive against the SSA, Shan State Army, in the
Shan
State while the SPDC is amassing its troops to intensify its offensive against
the KNPP, Karenni National Progressive Party.
 
****************************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: JUNTA REPORTS MORE NLD RESIGNATIONS
3 January, 1999 

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: Sources inside Burma report that civil servants have
been directed to canvas townships, going door-to-door to NLD members and
asking
them if they still support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and are still members of the
party.  If residents answer affirmatively, the civil servants attempt to
intimidate them, warning that the NLD will be outlawed very soon, and
continued
affiliation with the party will not only be a waste of time, it will
jeopardize
one's economic/business opportunities as well as the educational opportunities
of one's children.  If residents respond (from overt coercion or not) that
they
are no longer members and do not support (mah htauk khan ba) Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, they are to indicate so on a sheet of paper.  In major cities, such as
Rangoon and Mandalay, leading members of the NLD at the ward level have been
targeted.  However, in Ayewaddy Division (one of the sites referred to in the
article below), the civil servants have attempted to reach every NLD member. 
In a parallel move, the Union Solidarity and Development Association is also
going door to door in Rangoon, asking residents to respond to a questionnaire
with three options: support and willingness to be a member of USDA, neutral,
and against the USDA.]

AGENCIES

Burma's military government continued its dismantling of the country's main
opposition political party as the state-run press reported yesterday that 256
more members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) had resigned. 

Although the government-run New Light of Myanmar reported that the
resignations
were voluntary NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi has insisted they were coerced. The
latest resignations, which came from members in Shan State and Ayewaddy
Division, or province, bring the number of resignations so far to nearly 700. 

Also yesterday, the Burmese said it had set a 6.2 percent growth target for
1999. No details were given, but the junta said it was paying special
attention
to avoiding the recent economic setbacks suffered by the rest of Asia.

[Also, from NLD Statement #128, 28 December, 1998:]

In the wards and villages, groups of civil servants led by the Military
Intelligence personnel, enter every house to question the inmates about their
attitude and relationship with the NLD. Individuals who favour the NLD and
members of the NLD are forced to sign prepared resignation forms to swell the
numbers of resignations. The Law prohibits civil servants from
participating in
politics. The authorities should not be a party to activities which amount to
infringement of the law. If civil servants flout the law, the country will be
doomed. 

Provisions of law should not be flouted by the people in power. There are
ample
examples of country's destruction because of transgressions and violations of
the law by civil servants of the country. 

In the townships right now, branches of the NLD are being destroyed and
extinguished, and forced resignations of members are being carried out by
Military Intelligence units unaccompanied by members of the of multi party
elections commission branch offices, and other civil servants. Examples of
such
activities have been released by us in previous statements. 

These activities are most degrading and should never be indulged in. It is a
conspiracy with the most evil intention of preventing Burma attain democracy.

In the entire country, (States, Divisions, Townships, Wards and Villages)
members of the NLD are being summoned to attend at various offices and
department, or are being visited in their homes and being made to resign their
membership. This is entirely illegal and with criminal intimidation. There is
absolutely no meaning to pronouncing that the rule of law will be achieved
through the Registration of Political Parties. Those responsible for these
activities have brought about shame and disgrace upon themselves.

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

AFP: MYANMAR JUNTA ATTACKS AUNG SAN SUU KYI ON INDEPENDENCE DAY 
4 January, 1999 

YANGON, Jan 4 (AFP) - Myanmar's junta chairman Than Shwe lambasted opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an independence day message Monday and accused
critical foreign powers of neo-colonialism.

"The people of the country have strongly pledged to safeguard the nation
against destructive threats of negative-viewed axe-handles in the country, and
the neo-colonialists," he said as Myanmar (Burma) marked its 51st anniversary
of formal independence.

Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD)
is often pilloried in the official press as an "axe-handle" -- a term used by
the junta against people it considers agents of foreign governments.

But it is rare for a top junta member to publicly attack the Nobel peace
laureate, although she is often accused of conspiring with foreigners.

"We have always fought and vanquished all attempts by treasonous internal
elements and self-seeking malevolent external threats to break up the union."
Than Shwe said in a speech read out at a flag raising ceremony in Yangon.

The NLD won elections in 1990 in Myanmar but has been locked in a struggle
ever
since with the military government, which refuses to relinquish power.

According to official media reports, hundreds of NLD members have left the
party in recent months.

The resignations follow the detention of NLD members in government "guest
houses," where the party and some diplomats say they were forced to resign by
military intelligence as the junta tries to crush the party's infrastructure.

Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of independence leader General Aung San, marked the
independence anniversary with a private ceremony at party headquarters and met
veterans of the independence struggle against the British, sources here said.

She also handed out rice to Yangon residents, a regular weekly event, which
one
diplomat said was intended to show the world that the NLD is still functioning
despite junta pressure.

Mindful of the generals' desire to gag the party, Aung San Suu Kyi has been
seen at NLD headquarters every day recently, sources say.

The NLD leader, who is a powerful figurehead of the pro-democracy struggle,
lived under house arrest between 1989 and 1995 and even now has only limited
freedom of movement.

Rumours have circulated recently that the government would try to deport her
around independence day, a move diplomats say is unlikely as no foreign
government has anything to gain by accepting her.

Exiled opposition politicians meanwhile issued a fierce attack on the
government, accusing it of oppression and moral, economic and political
bankruptcy.

"It is time for us to gain victory by working without hesitation and fear,"
the
National Coalition Government for the Union of Burma (NCGUB), said in a
statement received in Bangkok.

The group, a government in exile formed after the 1990 elections called for
the
establishment of "democracy, ethnic equality and (a) peaceful and prosperous
new nation."

"We are in a situation where we may be subjected to live in fear, for life.

"Therefore it is time for us to shed our fear and face the SPDC with courage,"
the statement read.

Myanmar's government, a committee of generals, calls itself the State Peace
and
Development Council (SPDC).

"Currently, for the perpetuation of its military dictatorship, the SPDC is
blatantly subjecting to arbitrary arrest and detention, members of
parliament-elect from the NLD and other political parties," the statement
added.

Human rights groups and many foreign governments accuse the junta of human
rights abuses including torture, arbitrary arrest, detentions without trial
and
forced labour.

The country labours under a strict regime of sanctions and other punitive
measures introduced by Western governments pushing it to recognise the NLD
election triumph and cease human rights violations.

Burma, as it was known until it was renamed by the military government, won
formal independence from Britain in 1948.

****************************************************************
 
THE NATION: OPPOSITION PARTY BADLY BLOODIED BUT STILL DEFIANT 
4 January, 1999

AFP

RANGOON - Burma's generals have effectively crushed the infrastructure of Aung
San Suu Kyi's opposition but will find it harder to stifle a grassroots
yearning for democracy, activists and diplomats said. 

As Burma marks its 51st anniversary of independence today, the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD) is reeling from a government campaign to
close its offices and operations around the country. 

Burma's official press has in recent months featured accounts of hundreds of
NLD members resigning and mass rallies denouncing Aung San Suu Kyi, which
diplomats say are staged. 

[ ... ]

Now, with their offices closed, Aung San Suu Kyi and senior leaders appear, as
the government may have intended, isolated in Rangoon and cut off from the
public. 

But despite their confinement, the NLD retains a strong support base
throughout
the country, diplomats and exiled opposition activists said. 

"The people resent the government so much, they yearn for their freedom and
the
army will never wipe that out," said a spokesman for the All Burma Student
Democratic Front (ABSDF) in Bangkok. 

And one diplomat in Rangoon, pointing to simmering resentment against the
government, said "one has the sense this cannot go on much longer." 

The NLD may have prompted the government campaign with its calls for the
convening of a parliament elected in 1990 when it won a landslide victory the
military has refused to accept. 

The crackdown has prompted some to wonder if the government will soon announce
a formal ban on the party. 

"It is something that always comes out as a possibility and I am sure it is in
the government's mind but I don't think it is an natural progression," another
diplomat in Rangoon said. 

"But I think something else will have to happen. The NLD will have to make
another 'wrong' step," the diplomat said. 

Some analysts say it is unlikely the government will risk creating a catalyst
for more opposition by banning a party it has effectively put out of action at
a grassroots level. 

There have even been rumours that the junta is about to deport Aung San Suu
Kyi
although some analysts feel its is unlikely any other nation will cooperate
with Burma and accept her. 

Some opponents of the government would not be averse to a deportation, saying
it could shake the country and provoke outrage and disturb the
government-imposed stability. 

Mindful of the generals' desire to gag the party, Aung San Suu Kyi has been
seen at NLD headquarters in Rangoon every day recently, sources say. 

She has also recently joined other party members distributing rice at party
headquarters. 

"I think it is to show the outside world and the government that they are
still
there," said a diplomat. 

"And it also underlines that there are people here who are very hungry," said
the source, referring to the Burmese economy which has been reduced to crisis
by Western sanctions and an investment drought in Asia's crisis. 

With the media strictly controlled and little freedom of expression it is
impossible to make an independent assessment of the popularity of Aung San Suu
Kyi, known universally as "the lady." 

But one diplomat said: "If another election was held today it looks very
likely
that she [Aung San Suu Kyi] would win". 

The government denies it has forced NLD members to resign, saying the
desertions show public discontent at the NLD leadership. 

"Everybody is interested in basic human rights, which are food and shelter -
the majority of the country is not interested in politics," the government's
leading spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Hla Min said. 

However, opposition figures say support for reform among students,
traditionally the engine of revolt in the country, is unshakable. 

Tension is so high that unrest could erupt given any spark, they claim. 

Aware of the potential for trouble, the authorities have kept universities
shut
since student unrest erupted in December 1996. Some sources say medical
schools
may reopen on Tuesday, a sign perhaps that the government is confident it has
security in hand.

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

ASIAWEEK: AFTER NE WIN, WHAT?
8 December, 1998 

Letters to the Editor 

Myint Thein's revealing piece ["Dealing With Gen Ne Win," VIWEPOINT, Dec 11]
finally convinces me that Myanmar's current sorry state boils down to a
personal test of wills between two fiercely proud, uncompromising individuals:
Ne Win and Aung San Sun Kyi. The logical big question: What comes after Ne
Win's inevitable passing? Will there be hoped-for reconciliation or will Ne
Win's successor be even more intransigent? 

Whatever it may be, outsiders -- be they the well-meaning "human rights" types
backing Suu Kyi or the "constructive engagement" group backing Myanmar's
current government -- are shown to be nothing more than mere pawns in this
losers-only game of brinkmanship. It may be enough to make the unfortunate
people of Myanmar want to revert back to another few decades of isolationist
slumber. 

John Teo 
Kuching, Malaysia 

-----------------------------------------------

The only thing I agree with Saw Ba Tun on [LETTERS & COMMENT, Dec. 21 is his
statement that Gen. Ne Win - unlike the generals of the so-called State
Peace &
Development Council - "is a man of his word." Gen. Ne Win honored the 1960
elections. The SPDC generals refused to honor the 1990 elections and
refused to
return to the barracks, using as rationale the rubbish rhetoric that only they
love Myanmar. 

Regarding the status of Rangoon's Kyandaw Cemetery, many of the Thirty
Comrades, Burma's Independence heroes, are buried there. Also buried there is
former prime minister U Nu and Ne Win's wife (Sandar Win's mother) Daw Khin
May
Than. One of our covert operatives was visiting Rangoon and he saw
thousands of
people digging up the remains of their relatives at Kyandaw because the ruling
council had posted a sign at the gate giving them two weeks to do so. The
generals could not have done this if we had a free press in Burma.

Myint Thein 
Dallas, Texas
 
****************************************************************

ASIAWEEK: MYANMAR'S CHANCE
8 January, 1999 

The junta and opposition must compromise to save the nation

The country's deadlock stems from a refusal by the junta to honor the results
of the 1990 election, decisively won by Aung San Sun Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD). The generals do not even consider Sun Kyi, who has spent much
of her life abroad and is married to a British academic, to be a Myanmar
citizen. They will not allow the Nobel laureate a position in any government,
and they will not talk with the NLD if she participates in the discussions.
But
the party insists that Suu Kyi must take part. Neither side will back down -
and the people of Myanmar continue to suffer from the intransigence. If Yassir
Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin could sign a peace agreement in West Asia, if Nelson
Mandela and F.W. de Klerk could come to terms in South Africa, then the NLD
and
the junta ought to be capable of compromise too. 

The aid-diplomacy proposed by Asian and European officials could provide the
way out for Myanmar's recalcitrant government and opposition. To obtain
some of
the money dangled before them, the generals would first need to grant the
NLD -
and other parties - significant political freedom. This would include
releasing
NLD members who are still being detained and allowing Sun Kyi to move about
the
country. The party would need - at least in the short term - to recognize the
legitimacy of the military regime. It would also have to rescind its calls to
convene Parliament (based on the 1990 election results). 

The initiative has a chance. When U.N. special envoy Alvaro de Soto presented
the plan to Yangon in October, at least no one rejected it. The NLD and the
government offered predictably cautious comments, and onlookers made the usual
pessimistic predictions. But the junta has also appointed a new, more
sophisticated foreign minister, Win Aung. He is capable of leading talks with
someone from the NLD more flexible than Suu Kyi. Ideally, an observer from a
nation with an even-handed approach to Myanmar, such as Australia or Japan,
should mediate. And the junta should allow one of the more cogent and educated
exiles, like Bangkok-based student leader Aung Naing Oo, to attend
negotiations. 

There is no reason to suppose that top junta strategist Gen. Khin Nyunt and
Sun
Kyi do not possess the kind of courage and concern for their people as did the
peacemakers in West Asia and South Africa. The pair can help put Yangon
back at
the crossroads of Asia. Now is their chance.

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

TV MYANMAR: MINISTERS BRIEF DIPLOMATS ON ASEAN SUMMIT MEETINGS
25 December, 1998 

[Translated from Burmese, abridged.]

Brig. Gen. Abel, Minister of State Peace and Development Council [SPDC]
Chairman's Office, and Foreign Minister U Win Aung briefed the ambassadors and
heads of diplomatic missions in Yangon [Rangoon] on the 6th ASEAN Summit held
on 15 and 16 December in Hanoi and ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, ASEAN
Economic Ministers Meeting, and ASEAN Foreign Ministers and Economic Ministers
Joint Meeting which took place prior to the Summit, at the new building of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 1300 today. [passage omitted]

At the news briefing, Foreign Minister U Win Aung delivered a statement on the
6th ASEAN Summit, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, and on the Hanoi
Declaration. Minister Brig. Gen. Abel briefed on the ASEAN Economic Ministers
Meeting and the statement on measures to be taken by ASEAN. [passage omitted]

U Win Aung said, Sr. Gen. Than Shwe also announced at the summit that Myanmar
[Burma] is willing to hold the second ministerial meeting on transnational
crimes in Yangon [Rangoon] in 1999. He also assured that with the growing
agricultural production and increasing availability of energy resources,
Myanmar, in the not too distant future, can become a reliable resource for the
region's food and energy security. [passage omitted]

U Win Aung also said the Summit decided to admit Cambodia as the 10th
member of
ASEAN. It was a general agreement that Cambodia will be admitted at a ceremony
held in Hanoi in the near future. After the ASEAN Summit, summit meetings were
held with the leaders of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, and they
agreed to maintain the mechanisms of high-level contacts.

Next, Brig. Gen. Abel, Minister of SPDC Chairman's Office, explained that the
economic ministers' meeting agreed to sign three agreements and to lay down
and
implement programs for promoting trade and investment and the matters were
submitted to the Summit at which the leaders signed the three agreements.
[passage omitted]

Later, the ministers replied to queries of the ambassadors and heads of
diplomatic missions. In his closing address at the meeting with the
ambassadors
and heads of diplomatic missions, Minister for Foreign Affairs U Win Aung
lauded the government and people of Vietnam for the successful completion of
the Summit and thanked them for their warm hospitality. The briefing ended at
1415.

Brig. Gen. Abel, Minister of SPDC Chairman's Office, and Foreign Minister U
Win
Aung held a press conference on the 6th ASEAN Summit held on 15 and 16
December
in Hanoi and ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, ASEAN Economic Ministers
Meeting,
and ASEAN Foreign Ministers and Economic Ministers Joint Meeting which took
place prior to the Summit, at the new building of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs at 1500 today. [passage omitted]

At the press conference Foreign Minister U Win Aung explained the 6th ASEAN
Summit, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, and the Hanoi Declaration while
Brig. Gen. Abel briefed on the ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting and the
declaration of measures to be taken by ASEAN. Later U Win Aung and Brig. Gen.
Abel replied to questions raised by local and foreign journalists.

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

ASSOCIATED PRESS: MYANMAR MINISTER HOPES RELATIONS IMPROVE WITH US, EU
3 January, 1999 

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's foreign minister hopes his country's frosty
relations with the United States and the European Union will warm in 1999, a
state-run newspaper reported Sunday. 

The United States imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar in April 1997 because
of the military government's suppression of a democracy movement led by Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime's alleged failure to fight
drug trafficking. 

The European Union has imposed more limited trade sanctions on the country for
similar reasons. 

The embargoes have hampered Myanmar's ability to attract the foreign
investment
it needs to modernize its impoverished economy. 

"I hope that friendship and cooperation with the E.U. and its members and the
U.S. could be regained as in previous years," Foreign Minister Win Aung told
diplomats at a briefing, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. 

Win Aung also said that Myanmar, also known as Burma, hoped to increase its
role in international affairs. 

In recent months, the military government has stepped up its campaign against
Suu Kyi's political party, detaining nearly a thousand of its members and
refusing to let them return home until they sign "voluntary resignation"
letters from the party.

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

THE BANGKOK POST: GENERAL SEEKS TIES WITH JUNTA 
3 January, 1999

General Surayud Chulanont says it is still necessary to build up personal
relationships with the Burmese military junta. 

The army commander-in-chief, who is due to visit Rangoon in February, said he
knew Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, the intelligence chief and secretary-general of State
Peace and Development Council, personally. 

He added he had once met Gen Than Shwe, chairman of the council during the
latter's visit to the Lop Buri special force centre which he commanded. 

While stressing the importance of maintaining good personal relationships, he
said the Foreign Ministry would take the lead in negotiations to resolve any
problems with Burma. 

The military, he added, would play a supporting role.

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