The BurmaNet News: February 2, 1999

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------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: February 2, 1999
Issue #1198

Noted in Passing: 

HEADLINES:
==========
AWSJ: MISPERCEIVING MYANMAR
ABSDF: NEW POLICE REGIMENTS FORMED TO ASSIST MI
BKK POST: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES, SAYS BO MYA
THE NATION: YETAGUN GAS PIPELINE READY BY END OF YEAR
WASH POST: MASSACHUSETTS TAKES ON BURMA
BOSTON GLOBE: ENOUGH OF ETHICAL SQUEAMISHNESS
THE NATION: BURMESE PM TO MEET CHUAN
ANNC: SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON GENOCIDE
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ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL: MISPERCEIVING MYANMAR
30-31 January, 1999 by Barry Winn

YANGON - Call it Myanmar or Burma, it is almost a pariah state outside Asia.
Yet in the office of Brig.-Gen. Maung Maung, monumental political and economic
problems fade like the early-morning mist on the Irrawaddy River.

A former air force pilot, he currently shares the controls with other
ministers
of the ruling State Peace and Development Council in trying to keep the
economy
aloft. His thesis is that Myanmar is going to develop regardless of Western
bans and boycotts, even if they slow the process.

True, Yangon isn't getting any support from international financial
institutions, so it has to use its own limited funds to build and repair
infrastructure. But it is standing on its own feet.

Yes, some investors have pulled out or abandoned plans to manufacture,
including a couple of European brewers. But nobody minds losing those kinds of
projects, since they involve no technology transfer and the products aren't
good for health and social life.

Brig.-Gen. Maung Maung puts the whole thing in terms of a trip from the
capital
to Mandalay, 700 kilometers to the north. "Now we are walking," he says. "If
you let me ride in your car, we'll get there faster."

Vilified by the West for its shortcomings in human rights and democracy,
Myanmar is a land of contradictions under a cloak of Buddhist serenity.
Mentally, it is still closed, despite going through the motions of opening the
door 10 years ago.

Spokesmen available to meet a foreign journalist tend to be like Brig. Gen.
Maung Maung, who is Secretary of the Myanmar Investment Commission and a
minister in the office of the chairman of the SPDC -- friendly, considerate
and
perennially upbeat. After three hours of conversation, he presents a visitor
with a booklet on meditation.

Or, Brig.-Gen. David Abel, a Catholic and graduate of Britain's Sandhurst
military academy, who gives up his regular Sunday-morning church service to
conduct a briefing at the colonial-era Old Secretariat. Also a minister in the
chairman's office, he ends the session by showing me the room next door. This
is where national hero Aung San -- father of Suu Kyi, democracy leader and the
junta's deadly foe -- was assassinated in 1947. It's now a shrine.

But the conviviality only points up the glaring gaps in perception. Not only
are the government and political opposition talking past each other, but there
is also an enormous difference between the way Myanmar's leaders see the
country and the outside view of it. One small example: An internal document
lists among the nation's strengths a "relatively educated, intelligent and
hard-working workforce." By contrast, a U.S. embassy report warns that the
"greatest long-term impediment to growth is the deterioration of public
education since the onset of military rule in the 1.960s."

It is hard to imagine how further isolation of Myanmar, whether
self-imposed as
it was from 1962 to 1988, or the result of current sanctions, can help. On the
contrary, Myanmar's military brass -- and opposition -- would benefit from
increased contact with the international community.

As things stand, they often fail to connect. For instance, any conventional
economic assessment must conclude that Myanmar is in big trouble. Growth has
slowed, the kyat has collapsed and foreign investment has plummeted under the
impact of the Asian economic crisis. Yangon is just about broke.

If any of this disturbs Brig.-Gen. Maung Maung, he hides it behind an easy
manner and smile. While acknowledging some difficulties, he pronounces the
country basically "in good shape."

"Rome wasn't built in a day," he says. "Slowly and steadily, we'll get there."

No doubt part of his optimism is an attempt to put the best possible spin on
dismal facts, but there is more to it than that. The military is "isolated
from
reality," according to David I. Steinberg, a Myanmar specialist at Georgetown
University.

One reason is the disinclination of officials, after many years of central
planning, to relay bad news to their superiors, even when invited to be frank.

"You don't say what you believe is true, or what you know will be good for the
country," says a local economist and retired United Nations official.
"Instead,
you try to ensure that your presentation and analysis don't deviate too much
from the official line."

The situation is aggravated, he says, by some people "in high places" who
believe their life's mission is to see that what is said about the economy is
what they think the country's leaders want to hear.

"Under these circumstances, self-censored and self-serving economic reports
that have been produced in considerable abundance contain a wealth of
information on the objectives of the government," the economist says. "But
they
don't shed much light on what is happening to the people of Myanmar --
ordinary
citizens, such as farmers, laborers, students and office clerks." Beyond that
is another calculation, best reflected in an observation often repeated by
senior members of the administration.  Throw a mango seed on the ground in
Myanmar and it will grow, soon providing fruit to eat. ("Our fish still die of
old age," says Lt-Col. Hla Min, a government spokesman.)

The implication is that almost nobody starves to death, or dies from exposure
for that matter. In other words, the military feels no pressure to rush
economic or political development at the expense of its higher priorities.

Unlikely as it seems to outsiders, the paramount priority is preventing the
country from breaking up. That prospect appears to be so remote that the
tendency is to dismiss it as propaganda, no more than an excuse to keep the
military in power and the democracy movement at bay.

But Mr. Steinberg, noting the insularity of the leadership and the
"hierarchical structure that often retards unpleasantness from reaching the
apex of the power pyramid," suspects otherwise. It is more likely, he says,
"that the senior levels actually believe themselves under siege and that the
state is in danger of disintegrating."

A visit to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy finds the
government's opponents heading down their own deadend. The NLD aims to
strangle
the SPDC economically.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi opposes all forms of foreign economic and commercial
engagement with Myanmar, including humanitarian assistance and tourism. She
says the NLD would be in favor of productive investments that closed the gap
between rich and poor, but she continues to denounce foreign investment on the
ground that it benefits only the SPDC and its backers.

"Although the opposition has continuously claimed both that the state was on
the brink of economic collapse and that the fruits of whatever changes in the
economy that took place were highly skewed toward the elite and in urban
areas," says Mr. Steinberg, "it is only the latter that is accurate, and then
only in part."

Distressed as the economy is, it has grown in the past decade, and the
military
isn't about to crumble. Both sides need to get in touch with the rest of the
world.

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ABSDF: NEW POLICE REGIMENTS FORMED TO ASSIST MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
1 February, 1999 from caroline@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Media Release - 10/99 February 1, 1999

The Burmese military junta expanded Burma's police force late last year to
increase its ability to control opposition members. Five new police regiments
were formed, two of which are elite response units, while the others will
maintain security in designated areas, according to a former police officer.

It is believed that the new regiments have been formed to fill a gap in the
capacity of the army's 28 Military Intelligence units to adequately monitor
opposition activities throughout the country.  The formation of the new police
regiments brings the number of police regiments in Burma to 14.

Since the 1988 popular uprising, priority in policing has been given to
gathering information on the movements of opposition members. In addition to
ordinary police work, the police are required to cooperate with military
intelligence officers in suppressing the political movement.

Several years ago the junta, in an attempt to present a more acceptable front,
renamed the feared Lon Htein, or "riot police" forces, as "police regiments".
These forces gained notoriety for their role in suppressing unarmed
pro-democracy demonstrators during and after the 1988 uprising. Since the
renaming they have retained their focus on political activities.

Within a few years of the 1988 uprising, many top police officers had been
replaced by colonels from the Burmese army in what was considered to be an
attempt to bring the police forces under complete military control.

Under the latest police expansion plan, the police forces are now considered
reserve defense forces. The two elite regiments are based in Mandalay and
Meikhtila, while the three security regiments are based in Pyin Oo Lwin
(Maymyo), Myingyan, and Yamaethin.

Meanwhile, the military regime has ordered Burma's police forces to recruit up
to 1,800 new police cadets from January to April this year. Officers have been
warned that promotions will not be considered unless the required quotas are
filled.

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THE BANGKOK POST: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES, SAYS BO MYA
1 February, 1999 by Supamart Kasem


KARENS VOW TO KEEP ON FIGHTING RANGOON

Karen National Union leader Bo Mya has vowed to continue the armed struggle
against Burma's military junta.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of war for autonomy from Rangoon at Tadoh
Thutan, opposite Mae Sot, Gen Bo Mya said the Karen people would not stop
fighting until democracy returned to their homeland.

"Our hope is for all the Burmese and minorities to have freedom and democracy.
We have yet to achieve that goal," he said.

He claimed the fight against the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
had
come close to success on several occasions.

He said Burma's membership in Asean was one obstacle that would prolong the
battle for independence.

The general said the SPDC had demanded the KNU lay down arms as a condition to
end the war, something the Karen fighters could not accept.

At a ceremony yesterday, Gen Bo Mya praised the KNU soldiers who had died
fighting and presented 59 fighters with citations for their service.

Meanwhile, Burma's military has seized half a million speed pills and 53 kilos
of heroin in a town near the border with Thailand, the Rangoon government said
yesterday, according to the Associated Press.

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THE NATION: YETAGUN GAS PIPELINE READY BY END OF YEAR
1 February, 1999

AFP

RANGOON - The Yetagun pipeline which will complete a network pumping natural
gas from off the Burmese coast to Thailand will be finished by the end of this
year, official reports said.

Work on the Yetagun project started late last year and so far 67 kilometres of
pipeline have been laid on land and 178 kilometres of 208 kilometres have been
laid offshore, the weekend reports said.

The Yetagun field, in the Andaman Sea west of Burma, lies south of the massive
Yadana gas field and is estimated to hold around 33 billion cubic metres of
gas
reserves.

"The work of pipeline laying, erection of a production drilling rig and
arrangements to produce and sell condensate of Yetagun Gas project will be
ready at the end of 1999", reports in official newspapers said at the weekend.

Burma's Minister of Energy Brig-Gen Lun Thi last week toured the construction
work being carried out by the main contractor, Britain-based Premier oil
company, the reports said.

Japan's Nippon Oil and Malaysia's Petronas also have a share in the project.

The Yetagun pipeline connects with the Yadana pipeline, which was completed
last year by French oil giant Total and US heavyweight Unocal, and is already
supplying gas to Thailand.

The Yadana project was mired in controversy as human rights groups claimed
forced labour was used in its construction.

Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party opposed the pipeline, saying revenues
could
help prop up the military government.

Gas flows down the Yadana pipeline across the Gulf of Martaban and Burma
through western Thailand's Kanchanaburi province to a powerplant outside
Bangkok.

Doubts have been expressed over the project's initial profitability as gas
demand has slumped in Thailand, which is in the grip of an economic crisis.

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THE WASHINGTON POST: MASSACHUSETTS TAKES ON BURMA
31 January, 1999 by Fred Hiatt

In the 1980s, local governments and state pension funds helped lead the fight
against South African apartheid. Now two dozen governments, from the city of
Los Angeles to the state of Massachusetts, are waging similar campaigns
against
Burma's repressive regime.

But this time around the selective-purchasing laws have come under attack from
the European Union, Japan, big American businesses and possibly -- this is
still under debate -- the Clinton administration. Massachusetts, targeted as a
test case, has become a battleground in one of the great conflicts of the age:
local sovereignty vs. an international rule of law. To get a sense of how
complex this clash can be, you only have to realize that Massachusetts has run
afoul of one set of international rules (governing trade) by seeking to impose
on Burma another (on human rights).

The quandary plays out inside the administration. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, an ardent critic of Burma's dictators, last year said that she and
President Clinton recognized state and local officials' authority "to
determine
their own investment and procurement policies, and the right -- indeed their
responsibility -- to take moral considerations into account as they do so."

Yet the administration may now ask a federal appeals court to strike down the
Massachusetts law; an internal debate is unresolved.

There is no debate about the evils of Burma's regime. Forced labor, torture,
corruption, drug peddling -- against stiff worldwide competition, Burma's
dictators are about the worst in every category. Moreover, Burma is blessed
with a legitimate, nonviolent, democratic opposition that in 1990 won four out
of five parliamentary seats. The junta has yet to allow that parliament to
meet; instead, it has imprisoned hundreds of should-be congressmen and
supporters.

In 1996 Massachusetts enacted a law barring state agencies from doing business
with companies that do business in Burma. State officials argued that
Massachusetts taxpayers had the right to work against an odious regime if they
so chose.

The European Union felt differently. It filed suit in the World Trade
Organization, arguing that the Massachusetts law violated U.S. treaty promises
to base government procurement solely on performance.

The National Foreign Trade Council, an alliance of major U.S. exporters, felt
differently, too. As part of its wider campaign against unilateral economic
sanctions in U.S. foreign policy, it persuaded a federal judge to invalidate
the Massachusetts law last November on the grounds that it impinges on
foreign-policy making, a federal prerogative. The state is appealing; the
administration may weigh in on the side of the multinational corporations.

The National Foreign Trade Council argues in part that the Massachusetts law,
like most economic sanctions, isn't effective. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nelson
Mandela of Burma, disagrees. In a 1997 interview, she strongly welcomed the
Massachusetts law.

"We would like to see more of this," she said. "It's consumer power. . . . I
think in some ways it's better to have the people of the world on your side
than the governments."

U.S. officials also complain that state and local sanctions complicate their
dealings with allies, but that cuts both ways. New York's threat of sanctions
against Swiss banks, while opposed by Undersecretary of State Stuart
Eizenstat,
undoubtedly helped him negotiate a better deal for Holocaust victims.

But there's a stronger argument against the Massachusetts law. The United
States has campaigned hard for fair rules for international trade, to ensure
that American companies aren't discriminated against and that ability -- not
cronyism, corruption or protectionism -- determines who wins contracts. If
Americans start demanding exceptions, for however noble a purpose, then every
other country will, too.

To this, the law's supporters argue that they are not acting on whim. Burma
has
been judged, by the United Nations first and foremost, to be in violation of
internationally accepted norms of behavior.

Perhaps more to the point, the push for international rules of trade has to
leave some room for local initiative, local choice, local democracy. This will
always call for balance and political judgment -- the good sense not to push
uniformity too far -- will have to come into play.

In that vein, Eizenstat, though a skeptic on the value of unilateral
sanctions,
nonetheless says he believes that Europe's decision to challenge the
Massachusetts law was "very, very ill-considered and unhelpful."

The same might be said if the administration sides against Massachusetts. This
year Clinton plans an uphill battle for fast-track trade authority. He will be
fighting not only against the skepticism that defeated his trade bill in the
last Congress but against a rising mood of protectionism. The battle surely
won't be any easier if the administration sides against states' rights to, as
Albright said, "take moral considerations into account."

The writer is a member of the editorial page staff.

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THE BOSTON GLOBE: ENOUGH OF ETHICAL SQUEAMISHNESS
26 January, 1999 by Steven Levingston

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: This article has been slightly edited.  Changes
appear
in brackets.]

To do business overseas, especially in cudgel-wielding dictatorships, the
savvy
executive adopts a three-point strategy: 1) See No Evil, 2) Hear No Evil, 3)
Speak No Evil. In the spirit of this philosophy, I present today in my
capacity
as chairman of the billion-dollar multinational Make a Buck at Any Cost Corp.,
my special report on American Business Sentiment Toward Burma.

Let's begin with the government's own view of life in this Southeast Asian
paradise of more than 47 million people. In the words of the ruling junta,
Burma is one of the most pleasant places created by Mother Nature. I couldn't
agree more.

Of course, anti-business fanatics delight in squawking about the occasional
tiffs between the people of Burma and their military rulers. Yes, Rangoon
cracked down on protests in 1988, killing thousands to restore order. Yes, the
government ignored results of an election in 1990 clearly indicating that 90
percent of the people rejected its rule and wanted democracy. And, yes, it
placed the [leader of the victorious party, the NLD], Nobel Peace Prize winner
Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest. Yes, many of Suu Kyi's party members
have
been killed, jailed, or forced into exile. Yes, the rulers practice torture,
turn a blind eye to slavery, and traffic in drugs.

Is this any concern of ours? As long as imprisonments, torture, slavery, and
political repression don't hinder business, let's not get in a huff about it.
These spats will work themselves out.

I will say just one thing to those who whine about human rights: We will
battle
all attempts to impose on us a social conscience. Are we in business to save
the world or make a profit? Lately, I'm pleased to report, we've seen some
progress in silencing the wild-eyed whiners.

Right here in Massachusetts, we finally crushed a radical law late last year
that bans state contracts with companies doing business with Burma. We applaud
the clever logic of the National Foreign Trade Council, which took the battle
into the courts on behalf of its 580 corporate members. The judge, in his
wisdom, agreed with the council that the state law was unconstitutional. Of
course! What right does Massachusetts, or any state, have to make its own
foreign policy?

But no sooner did we lop off the head of this human rights demon than another
beast sprung up in its place. A month after the Massachusetts law was struck
down, the Los Angeles city council voted unanimously to enact a similar ban on
the municipal level.

If only these were the few isolated attacks on us. But more than two dozen
other states and cities are discussing or have already passed laws that target
trade with not only Burma but other promising markets like Nigeria, Indonesia,
and Cuba.

Already some companies have retreated from Burma on moral grounds. It
breaks my
heart. If a company must withdraw, it is far better to do it proudly for manly
businesslike reasons -- not from any moral squeamishness.

Let us all hail Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications giant. It ended
operations in Burma last year because of threats of a worldwide consumer
boycott. The company stated in unequivocal terms that its decision was not
based on ethics -- it was, as it should be, purely a commercial move.

Steven Levingston is director of the Business and Economics Journalism Program
at Boston University. He can be reached at leving@xxxxxx

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THE NATION: BURMESE MP TO MEET CHUAN
30 January, 1999

THE suppression of drugs will top the agenda when Burmese Prime Minister and
Minister of Defence Gen Than Shwe meets with his counterpart Chuan Leekpai in
Chiang Mai next month, a senior foreign ministry official said yesterday.

Deputy spokesman Kitti Wasinondh said the tentative dates set for the meeting
are Feb 20 and 21.

He said Burmese Foreign Minister U Win Aung will visit Thailand separately
around the same time to discuss efforts to reduce the tension between the two
nations at sea, how border demarcation can be expedited and drug suppression
with his counterpart Surin Pitsuwan.

Thai and Burmese officials will also seek a better understanding when they
meet
at the Regional Border Committee forum in Phuket in March.

Kitti said Burma will host a Joint Committee meeting in April, a forum at the
ministerial level to discuss a wide range of issues covering economics,
politics and security.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON GENOCIDE
30 January, 1999 from darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx

As we approach the next millennium, nationalism, ethnic conflict, and genocide
are very much part of the contemporary social landscape. In this Second
International Conference on Genocide, we are seeking papers on genocide in the
20th century, with special focus on: the social bases of genocide; the
political and economic forces behind genocide; colonialism, imperialism, and
genocide; ultra-nationalism, racism, and genocide; gender and genocide;
religion and genocide; cultural genocide; early intervention and post-genocide
strategies; case studies of genocide; and other related topics in genocide
studies.

Please send a copy of your abstract (150-300 words) and a brief CV to:
Viktoria
Hertling, Center for Holocaust, Genocide & Peace Studies (402), University of
Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, E-mail: hertling@xxxxxxxxxxx, and Berch Berberoglu,
Department of Sociology (300), University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, E-mail:
berchb@xxxxxxxxxxx by May 15, 1999.

Upon acceptance of proposals, completed papers are due September 1, 1999. We
anticipate the publication of selected Conference papers in an edited book.
Additional information about the Conference will be posted shortly on our Web
site: <http://www.unr.edu/chgps/blank.htm>http://www.unr.edu/chgps/blank.htm

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