The BurmaNet News: May 17, 1999

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: May 17, 1999
Issue #1272

HEADLINES:
==========
AFP: SUU KYI DEFIANT OVER GOVERNMENT STANCE 
SHRF: CHILDREN FORCED TO WORK IN KUN-HING 
AFP: ASEAN CAUTIOUS OVER CHILD LABOUR 
REUTERS: FORCED LABOUR CHARGES "GROUNDLESS" 
THE NATION: THE STRUGGLE OF BURMESE JOURNALISTS 
BANGKOK POST: EGCO TO INVEST IN BURMA
BURMA ACTION GROUP: UNOCAL SURVEY 
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AFP: SUU KYI DEFIANT OVER GOVERNMENT'S STANCE
15 May, 1999 

SHE INSISTS INTENSE PRESSURE WILL FINALLY STRENGTHEN HER PARTY

A defiant Aung San Suu Kyi insisted yesterday her democratic opposition was
stronger than ever but admitted that intense pressure from Burma's military
junta had exposed internal rifts in the party.

In an exclusive interview with AFP, the Nobel laureate said the government
crackdown was a kind of "test" which would ultimately strengthen her National
League for Democracy (NLD).

"We have stronger public support than ever," she told AFP in her rundown party
headquarters in Rangoon.

"Our official apparatus has been affected by the government, in the sense of
forcing our offices to close down. But in some ways this is, how shall I put
it, a kind of test."

Mrs Suu Kyi said her party had always had internal difficulties but
acknowledged that many members had found the going "too tough" following a
renewed crackdown in recent months.

Most recently a group of dissident MPs harshly criticised her hardline
approach
to the junta, criticism which she dismissed as the result of "collaboration
with the military intelligence".

Thousands of NLD members have been detained since the NLD issued a call last
year for a meeting of the parliament elected in 1990. The junta never
recognised the result.

Mrs Suu Kyi said the crackdown had taken a toll on the party's membership and
infrastructure but the NLD would emerge stronger.

"From this it emerges who are the really dedicated members, who are the really
strong ones," she said, launching an attack on a handful of her renegade party
members.

"I think one would have to admit there were a certain number of
opportunists in
the NLD," she said.

"This is not a bad way of weeding them out. The ones who are left are the
really dedicated ones, who are committed to the cause of democracy and not to
their own cause.

"I think one dedicated member is worth a thousand wishy-washy ones," she said.

For months the official press has printed regular lists of party workers
who it
says have left the NLD because of disillusionment with the leadership.

NLD top brass say the members, many of whom resigned after being detained by
the government, were forced to leave and some of those purportedly quitting
were never full members in the first place.

While admitting the government clampdown had affected the party, Mrs Suu Kyi
dismissed the notion that its falling membership rolls would consign it to the
political wilderness.

"When we were first formed in 1988 there was an inrush of members into the NLD
because everyone knew we were going to win the elections ... a lot of members
of political parties are sleeping members - they really don't do anything,"
she
said.

"They have a membership card and that's about all. The dedicated few are the
ones who keep the party going."

She also said no one would believe government claims that the poisoned
political climate was the result of an NLD conspiracy.

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SHAN HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION: 7-8 YEAR-OLD CHILDREN  FORCED TO WORK IN
KUN-HING
April, 1999 

SPDC troops in Kun-Hing township are forcing many children, some as young as
7-8 years old, to break stones for paving roads. Since 4.4.99, Kun Hing-based
IB246 and LIB524 have been forcing displaced people who have been forcibly
moved to the outskirts of the town from the areas such as Sai Khao, Kaeng Kham
and Kaeng Lom over the last 2-3 years to break rocks and stones to be used in
paving the Kung hing-Nam Zarng and Kung Hing-Kaeng Tung main roads. The SPDC
troops said that the children of the relocated people were useless and had
nothing to do, and as they could not go to school they must be made to work.
Almost 200 children, including 7-8 years old, are being forced to split
stones.

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AFP: ASEAN CAUTIONS OVER CHILD LABOUR
16 May, 1999 

RANGOON - Asean labour ministers yesterday avoided condemning child labour and
warned developed countries not to use such issues as leverage in trade
negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations said it did not condone child
labour
but emphasised that condemning such practices would be counter-productive.

"The ministers reiterated their position that Asean does not condone child
labour," said a statement released at the end of a landmark ministerial
conference here.

Condemning child labour in any particular country or instituting sanctions
based measures would not solve the problem at its roots but would aggravate
the
situation instead."

The meeting is the first top-level Asean conference to be held in Burma since
the military state became a full member of the bloc in 1997 in the face of
strong international objections, especially from the United States and
Europe.

Burma has been repeatedly accused of using forced labour involving gross human
rights abuses such as rape. The United States and the European Union enforce
sanctions including trade and visa bans against the junta.

Asean secretary-general Rodolfo Severino said the broad issue of forced labour
had not been raised at Friday's meeting, while Burma Labour Minister
Major-General Tin Ngwe told a press conference that "voluntary" labour was a
tradition in Burma.

"Asean does not operate by methods of censure and preaching and standing on
pulpits to take members to task," Severino said.

"They (the ministers) expressed their opposition to child labour but also
recognised that because child labour is ingrained in some of the traditional
economic processes in many developing countries, then it is a matter of
education and poverty eradication."

Universities in Burma have been closed for more than two years in response to
student calls for democracy, but Severino said he saw no connection between
university education and job training, and Tin Ngwe said universities were
"another issue not within the confines of this press conference". Burma is a
member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) but has paid scant
attention to its declarations on workers' rights, some of which were discussed
at Friday's meeting.

The ILO last year released a report saying forced labour was rife throughout
Burma and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions earlier this
month called on Asean ministers to boycott the labour conference in Burma.

Severino said Asean had received assurances from the ILO that the United
Nations agency's declaration on the fundamental rights of workers was
voluntary
and would not place any obligations on members.

"There is a reason for emphasising this because often labour issues have been
used as leverage in trade negotiations," he said.

"The Asean countries oppose the use of labour conventions for the advancement
of the trading interests on the part of the ILO member states.

"Asean's position is that labour issues should be dealt with in the ILO and
not
in a primarily trade body like the World Trade Organisation."

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REUTERS: MYANMAR SAYS FORCED LABOUR CHARGES "GROUNDLESS"
May 14, 1999 by Aung Hla Tun

YANGON, May 14 (Reuters) - Myanmar's powerful intelligence chief
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt said on Friday charges that the military
government used forced labour were ``groundless.

Speaking at the start of a controversial meeting of labour ministers of the
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Yangon, he repeated the
government's insistence that citizens contributed labour to infrastructure
projects ``voluntarily.

But he said to dispel ``wrong impressions,'' instructions had been given that
only paid labour would be used for such projects in future.

Earlier this week, the human rights group Amnesty International said Myanmar's
claim that citizens contributed work ``voluntarily'' was contradicted by
hundreds of testimonies.

It also criticised the choice of Yangon as a venue for the labour meeting,
which it said should focus on the government's widespread use of forced labour
and jailing of trade unionists.

Last year, the U.N.'s International Labour Organisation (ILO) accused Myanmar
of systematic and widespread forced labour ``with total disregard for human
dignity.'' It said the army forced women, children and the elderly to work and
that soldiers raped and sexually abused women.

An ILO commission of inquiry said Myanmar was ``guilty of an international
crime that is also, if committed in a widespread or systematic manner, a crime
against humanity.

It said forced labourers included the sick or injured who were often beaten or
otherwise abused, causing injury or death.

``If one is to believe some of the allegations found in the Western media, the
picture would be rather sombre indeed,'' said Khin Nyunt, officially number
three in the military government but considered its most powerful figure.

``We feel very strongly that these allegations are largely a result of and
misunderstanding of the situation and the mentality of our people.

He said efforts were being made to improve infrastructure by building roads,
bridges, rail lines, dams and reservoirs.

``Realising the benefits to the communities from these projects, people have
voluntarily contributed labour so that they can be completed sooner.

``Without understanding these factors, some people have made all sorts of
allegations. To dispel these wrong impressions, the government has issued
instructions that only remunerated labour must be used in infrastructure
projects.

Khin Nyunt said most work on these projects was done by military personnel now
that peace has returned to Myanmar. ``Therefore, the allegations of forced
labour are groundless.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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THE NATION: THINK OF THE STRUGGLE OF BURMESE JOURNALISTS
12 May, 1999 by Naing Ko Ko

Mailbag

When I read in The Nation recently that over 500 journalists died during the
past decade, I recalled the life of journalists in Burma.

I am curious to know whether Thaw Ka, Sein Win and Tin Shwe, who were very
famous journalists as well as popular figures in the National League for
Democracy and who died in custody are included in the list?

According to the Documentation Unit of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Ba Ka
Tha, also known as the All Burma Federation of Student' Unions, three
journalists have died in prison, and another 10 are still detained by the
military regime.

Gen Ne Win, who seized power in 1962, never recognised the rights of
freedom of
the press and expression and arrested many journalists. The new leaders of the
present military regime are still committing the said deeds.

Among the detained journalists is Win Tin, another famous journalist and
one of
the founders of the NLD. He was arrested in 1989. He is seriously ill but is
not allowed any treatment.

The military dictatorship never gave permission for any privately-owned
newspaper to be published. All four daily newspapers are controlled by the
junta. Over 50 journals are published in Burma, of which 15 are put out by the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). If anybody wants to publish a
journal or a magazine, he needs to get permission from the Ministry of
Information. However, The Living Colour Magazine is never censored because it
is owned by Dr Naing Win, who is the son of Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, the head of the
Military Intelligence Service.

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BANGKOK POST: EGCO TO INVEST IN BURMA AND PHILIPPINES
13 May, 1999 

Projects are ventures with local partners

The Electricity Generating Plc (Egco), the largest listed power-generating
company, is poised to invest in power projects in Burma, the Philippines and
Vietnam.

Its first overseas ventures, scheduled to begin this year, involve
construction
of small diesel powerhouses in Burma and the Philippines with a generating
capacity of 10-20 megawatts each.

Egco plans to invest between one billion and 1.5 billion baht in the two
projects in partnership with local investors whose names are not disclosed.

Construction of the plants in the Burmese capital of Rangoon and Subic Bay in
the Philippines is due to start this year, according to Egco managing director
Worawit Khamkanit.

Egco is now finalising the investment proportions with its local counterparts,
he added.

Meanwhile, Egco is negotiating with Songthan Co and Urleiz, two of the private
power producers in Vietnam, to participate in their power generation and
transmission businesses in the country.

A feasibility study for power investments in the socialist state is being
conducted and the ideal locations for building power plants are being
determined. Mr Worawit indicated that Egco's investment in Vietnam could take
place next year.

Egco is joining international firms to enter the power sectors in Burma and
the
Philippines where the markets have recently been liberalised to alleviate
power
shortage problem.

Egco, of which 25% is held by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
(Egat) runs two large-scale gas-fired power stations in Thailand-the Rayong
and
Khanom plants-with a combined installed generating capacity of 2,056
megawatts.

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BURMA ACTION GROUP: UNOCAL SURVEY
14 May, 1999 from: burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
[Note: Responses to this survey are to be directed to burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
not to BurmaNet.] 

On May 24, 1999, the annual meeting of shareholders of the Unocal Corporation
will be held in Southern California.

We are seeking input from any interested parties around the world.  If you
would like, please take a moment to respond to the four questions below.

1) Do you have any questions that you feel ought to be asked of Unocal
executives, board members and shareholders?

2) Is there an aspect of Unocal's partnership with the military regime in
Burma
that you feel should be emphasized at the meeting?

3) Is there an aspect of Unocal's partnership with the military regime in
Burma
that you feel has not been adequately considered by the media, the company, or
by pro-democracy shareholders and stakeholders?

4) If you were to go the Unocal shareholders meeting on May 24, what would you
say to a Unocal ececutive, board member or shareholder about the Yadana
pipeline project in Southern Burma?


Thanks for your input.  All points of view are welcome.  Please send your
response to burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sincerely,

Burma Action Group 
University of Washington Seattle, WA  USA
e-mail: burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
website:
<http://weber.u.washington.edu/%7Eburma>http://weber.u.washington.edu/~burma
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