The BurmaNet News: July 22, 1999

[strider@xxxxxxx]

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

The BurmaNet News: July 22, 1999
Issue #1320

HEADLINES:
==========
AP: SUU KYI'S PARTY REJECTS REGIME'S CONDITIONS 
REUTERS: MYANMAR DECRIES SUU KYI'S PARTY
AFP: MYANMAR AT "FOREFRONT OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS" 
MIC: EFFORTS MADE FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH, WOMEN 
BINA: A STUDENT SPEAKS OUT 
SCMP: BKK COY WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE OVER REGIME 
THAI RAT: EMERGENCE OF WA KINGDOM 
REUTERS: THAIS TO RULE ON WORKER DEPORTATION SOON 
*****************************************************

ASSOCIATED PRESS: SUU KYI'S PARTY REJECTS MYANMAR REGIME'S CONDITIONS FOR
TALKS 
21 July, 1999 

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition today spurned
conditions the military regime had set for holding talks aimed at breaking
the nation's political impasse. 

The government last week urged the National League for Democracy headed by
Aung San Suu Kyi to be "pragmatic" and dissolve a committee set up last
year representing a parliament elected in 1990 that the military never
allowed to convene.

Tin Oo, vice chairman of the NLD, ruled out abolishing the committee, as
expected, since the party's legitimacy is closely identified with the
election victory. He said the party had already made a significant
concession by agreeing that Suu Kyi, 54, did not have to take part in
initial talks.

"Asking us to abolish the 10-member committee is tantamount to setting a
precondition," Tin Oo said. "The door to open a dialogue is always open,
but we will not dissolve the committee."

Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has called for a dialogue
since she was freed from six years of house arrest in 1995. 

The military, which has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962,
refuses to speak to her. Last year, two meetings were held with party
chairman Aung Shwe. The NLD described the meeting as being given orders to
stop causing trouble. 

Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San, vaulted to the head of
Myanmar's opposition in 1988 during anti-government riots. She marked the
52nd anniversary Monday of her father's murder by a political rival. It was
one of the few appearances she has been allowed to make. 

Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest 10 years ago Tuesday. Even so, her
charisma and general dissatisfaction with military rule gave her party a
landslide victory in the 1990 elections.

The military views Suu Kyi as a tool of Western attempts to dominate the
country, and expresses outrage that she has supported foreign economic
sanctions to push for change. 

The sanctions have crippled the biggest achievement of the current
generation of generals, transforming a quarter-century of socialist
isolation into a more market-oriented system. 

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

REUTERS: MYANMAR DECRIES SUU KYI'S PARTY, TALKS HOPES FADING
21 July, 1999 

YANGON, July 21 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military lashed out at Aung San Suu
Kyi's opposition party on Wednesday and took the unprecedented step of
naming her party in official media. 


The move is likely to scuttle hopes the two sides might be moving closer
to holding rare talks. 

``National traitors and destructionists of the NLD are spreading
low-standard fabrications saying that children and women in Myanmar are
losing their rights and Myanmar women are losing moral character and
engaging in dirty jobs,'' the ruling military's powerful intelligence chief
was quoted as saying in state-controlled newspapers. 

Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, referring to Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy party, was speaking at a meeting of government officials, the
papers said. 

Leaders of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) rarely
criticise the NLD by name. They usually refer to the NLD as
``destructionists,'' ``traitors'' or ``lackeys of the neo-colonialists.'' 

Khin Nyunt also urged the people to continue implementing nation-building
tasks and not to listen to the ``disturbances of national traitors and
destructive elements of the NLD.'' 

The NLD won 1990 elections by a landslide but the military has never
recognised the result. 

The military has long refused to meet the NLD for talks to promote greater
democracy and human rights in Myanmar so long as Suu Kyi represents the
party at any discussions with the government. 

Last month, her party said it was willing to start lower level talks with
the military possibly leading up to a summit at which Suu Kyi would have to
be present. 

But some analysts said Khin Nyunt's naming of the NLD in his criticism
could be a signal that the latest moves towards dialogue may have failed or
was failing. 

Myanmar watchers had been encouraged by the visit of a European Union
delegation to Yangon on July 6-7 to meet the SPDC and Suu Kyi. 

The mission's main aim was to assess Myanmar's humanitarian needs and try
to alleviate human suffering in the impoverished country. 

The EU has maintained a confrontational tone with Myanmar, but its sudden
change of tack in dealing with Myanmar, with blessings from the United
States, had raised some hopes of rapprochement between the SPDC and the NLD.  

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

AFP: MYANMAR AT "FOREFRONT OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS" 
21 July, 1999 

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: See the next article for Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt's
statement.]

BANGKOK, July 21 (AFP) - Myanmar is at the forefront of protecting the
rights of women and children, the junta's powerful First Secretary
Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt said in a statement released Wednesday. He
said the junta, which is accused around the world of exploiting slave
labour, was ensuring that the country's strong sectors were used to "render
assistance to the weak." 

"Myanmar is keeping in the forefront of child rights, women's affairs and
social development matters," the reclusive Khin Nyunt was quoted as saying
in a daily propaganda sheet. 

"The government is implementing programmes which will enable the strong
sectors to render assistance to the weak ones to ensure proportionate
progress in all spheres." 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) last month voted to de facto
expel Myanmar from its ranks for its pervasive use of forced labour. 


Workers' and employers' groups were the most enthusiastic backers of the
resolution, the first of its kind in the ILO's history. 

But Khin Nyunt said the junta's "social objectives" were evident by the
levels of assistance provided to the country's 670 day care centers for
children, 131 "youth rehabilitation centers" and 127 orphanages. 

He said the country of more than 48 million people, including many diverse
ethnic minorities, had eight state-run training schools for girls, four
vocational schools for women and 30 homes for the aged. 

The junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council, is repeatedly
accused of gross human rights abuses including the use of forced labour,
child labour and the rape of ethnic minority women by soldiers. 

Amnesty International said in a report released last month that Myanmar's
military is slaughtering scores of ethnic minority farmers and forcing
hundreds of thousands off their land. 

"Many have been killed, others tortured, and thousands have fled to
neighbouring countries," it said. 

An ILO commission of enquiry in a report issued last August found that
compulsory labour in Myanmar was practiced in a "systematic manner with a
total disregard for the human dignity, safety and health" of the people. 

An ILO resolution said it was "appalled" by the situation in Myanmar, where
citizens were forced to slave on infrastructure projects and to serve as
porters for the army. 

The commission of enquiry report, compiled with the help of 250 witness
accounts, stated there was "abundant evidence" showing the "pervasive" use
of forced labour, particularly women, children, the elderly and those unfit
for work, which was almost never compensated. 

The junta denies all the allegations, saying labour is often contributed
voluntarily. 

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

MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE: EFFORTS MADE FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH, WOMEN TO
ENJOY RIGHTS FULLY
21 July, 1999 

[Information Sheets issued under the email addresses MYANPERSP@xxxxxxx and
OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx match those issued by the Directorate of Defence
Services Intelligence (DDSI) in Rangoon, and can be assumed to reflect
official SPDC opinion.]

MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE, YANGON
Information Sheet 
N0. A-0994 (I) 

(1) Efforts Made for Children, Youth, Women to Enjoy Rights Fully, To
Become Active Forces Benefiting Nation 

Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt
met with officials of Social Welfare Department (SWD) and Relief and
Resettlement Department on 20 July at No 4 Preprimary School of SWD.

Sectetary-1 said; "The government is rendering encouragement in uplifting
the qualifications of the national forces in their respective sectors and
the emergence of firm organizations serving the national well-being.
Placing the Social Welfare Department as the hub, efforts are being made
for the children, youths and women of the human resources development
programmes to enjoy their rights fully and to become active forces
benefiting the nation. 

Myanmar is keeping in the forefront the child rights, woman's affairs and
social development matters. The government is implementing programmes which
enable the strong sectors to render assistance to the weak ones to ensure
proportionate progress in all spheres. The SWD is systematically
implementing programmes on care and rehabilitation works concerning
children, youths and women's affairs. The Relief and Resettlement
Department with firm objective is making efforts to prevent outbreaks of
fires and occurring of natural disasters which can weaken the national
forces; and if a fire or a natural disaster might have occurred the
department will take relief, rehabilitation and resettlement measures to
repair damages and to help the national forces to become strong again. 


The RRD is conducting its tasks to develop the human resources of the
nation, to help persons who are facing social defects, to take preventive
measures in deterring undesirable social problems and to carry out social
development tasks to benefit the State's social objectives. The departments
are conducting six child care centres, 41 day care centres and 20
pre-primary schools; provision of all-round assistance to 670 day care
centres and pre-primary schools in all the States and Divisions; opening of
131 youth rehabilitation centres and 81 evening schools in the entire
nation; and operating of eight girls' training schools, 127 parahita gehas
(Orphanage), 2 schools for development of women, 4 women's vocational
training schools, 30 homes for the aged and other centres such as
rehabilitation centres for the disabled, training centres for the disabled,
schools for the blind and deaf and other vocational training schools.
Education campaigns, setting up of producers cooperative syndicates and
youths rehabilitation centres are being opened to stop the practice of
begging due to economic problems or cult which is a social problem that can
have bad defects on the nations' dignity and weaken the nation-building
forces. Eight drug rehabilitation centres were opened in states and
divisions. Relief and resettlement tasks are being conducted with the help
of friendly nations and international organizations; and the nation is also
rendering assistance to victims of natural disasters of other nations."

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

BURMA INDEPENDENT NEWS AGENCY: A STUDENT SPEAKS OUT 
22 July, 1999 

Window on Burma #9 

(From Mojo, Issue #4, July 1999.  WHAT IS 'MOJO'? 'Mojo' means 'Lightning'
in Burmese. 'Mojo' is an independent newspaper from the Burmese community
in Thailand. Its primary content is social, political, and economic news
from all over Burma, and its intended readers are the people inside Burma
itself.  BINA will regularly provide English-language excerpts from 'Mojo'
to BurmaNet. If you would like to receive a copy of the original
Burmese-language 'Mojo', please e-mail your postal address to
bina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)

A STUDENT SPEAKS OUT

Mojo recently interviewed Ko Kyaw Thein Aung (second year Mathematics,
Rangoon University, Hlaing Campus), who reached the Thai-Burma border in
April this year. 

Kyaw Thein Aung: I took part in the 1996 and 1998 student demonstrations in
Rangoon. The MIS were looking to arrest me, so this year in April I escaped
to the border.

MOJO: What happened in 1996 and 1998? 

KTA: At every demonstration in history, the students have always stood on
the side of truth. In December 1996, we urged the government to allow
freedom of education and student rights, especially to form a student
union. But the SLORC/SPDC didn't agree, and they arrested the students.
They closed down all the universities, so there were no classes. But they
told us to take the final exams anyway. 

The reason for the August 1998 demonstrations was because the students
wanted the government to call the People's Parliament. We believe that it
is everyone's duty to ask the government for this People's Parliament. That
is why we demonstrated against the SPDC's disregard for the result of the
1990 elections. 


MOJO: What happened in August '98? 

KTA: The NLD had asked the SPDC to convene the People's Parliament, with a
deadline of August 21. But SPDC ignored the call and continued to arrest
students. On August 24, at 12:15 pm, the students started demonstrating at
the Hledan Intersection, near Rangoon University. 

MOJO: What were you asking of the government? 

KTA: We asked them for three things: to resign the dictatorship, to call
the Parliament, and to release the political prisoners. Why? We don't have
educational freedom under the military dictatorship. Moreover, the workers,
farmers, even monks, are very oppressed by this junta. If the elected
members get power and form a government, then the people will be safe and
happy. We want not only freedom of education, but also improvement for all
the people of the country. 

MOJO: Who was involved in the August 24th demonstrations? 

KTA: Students of the Rangoon University's Hlaing Campus, Rangoon Institute
of Technology students, Government Technical Institute students, and some
high school students. 

MOJO: We heard that the demonstration happened again on September 22, one
month later. 

KTA: Yes. AT 4:45 pm, between 30th and 31st streets, students demonstrated
again. 

MOJO: What was the attitude of the general public toward the demonstrations? 

KTA: They supported us as much as they could. They gave us food and water,
and they tried to block SPDC troops from attacking the students. 

MOJO: What do you think about the current situation? 

KTA: The universities have been closed since 1996, and so now the Burmese
higher education system has already been destroyed. As for the general
situation: economic, education, and health conditions are very bad. The
SPDC cannot solve the problem, because SPDC is responsible for the current
situation. They must hand power over to the elected members of parliament,
and open the tripartite dialog with the NLD and ethnic minorities. 

MOJO: Do you think another demonstration will happen soon? 

KTA: As long as oppressive and unlawful activities exist, there will always
be demonstrations.

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

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: BANGKOK COY WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE OVER RANGOON
REGIME 
21 July, 199 by William Barnes

CURRENTS

Urbane academic turned Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra
has gently reprimanded the Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. 

He has also deflated the hopes of anyone else who believe Thailand would
lean on the Rangoon junta just a bit.

The blue-blooded minister complained that Thailand did not have the "luxury
of distance" to make spirited denunciations of even a widely reviled regime. 

He argued firmly in an open letter to the press that if Bangkok cannot hope
to turn its back on its military-ruled neighbour, it must engage with it. 

"There is an old Chinese saying: 'Let us light a candle instead of cursing
the darkness'," he said. 

Ms Aung San Suu Kyi had earlier urged the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations to "nudge Burma towards democracy".


"If Asean can persuade or put pressure on the present regime to convene
the parliament that was elected by the people [in 1990] this could be the
first step towards democratisation," she said. 

Mr Sukhumbhand said in his letter: "Unfortunately this is a mistaken notion." 

He claimed that a fellow member of Asean - even one that flies as proud a
democratic flag as Thailand - would only damage the organisation by trying
to force a change in [another member's] domestic politics. 

Yet when does "constructive engagement" - to use the jargon - become a
substitute for tough negotiations or even rigorous thinking? 

The Deputy Foreign Minister is scornful of observers who do not understand
the subtle ways of diplomats. 

"Good intentions do not always lead to wise judgments," he said. 

But warm, fuzzy talking shops are no end in themselves. Diplomacy
ultimately is all about furthering the interests of your own country. 

One might not agree with former Chinese leader Zhou Enlai that "all
diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means" to get the point. 

The minister talks of Burma's Asean membership as a "fact of life",
forgetting that Thailand helped foist it into the group two years ago. 

A candle was lit in Burma quite a while ago: we all know what the problems
are and they are wearing jungle-green uniforms.

Mr Sukhumbhand would certainly agree and comes close to saying that some
kind of democratic Burma would be a better neighbour - and not an ugly
source of drugs and refugees. 

So where is the great diplomatic error in trying to give the country a
shove in that direction?

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

THAI RAT: EMERGENCE OF WA KINGDOM 
17 July, 1999 by Mangkon Halep

[Translated from Thai; excerpted.]

I think you readers know full well who Khun Sa of the Shan State is. Shan
State is a state of a minority group in Burma. But I think it will be even
better if you do not have any trade contact with this drug kingpin.

However, Khun Sa has now become a tame tiger with no more power. A rising
star who is now living in Burma near the Thai border is Wei Hsueh-kang,
[leader of the Red Wa minority group in Burma]. This new drug baron is
younger, more courageous, and more intelligent than Khun Sa. Besides, he
has two more brothers to help him --Wei Hsueh-long and Wei Hsueh-yin.
Superficially, the Wei brothers do not appear to be engaged in any
extensive network of commercial trading but they seem to possess large sums
of money to spend in developing the territory where the Wa are residing
into a civilized region.

Where does Wei Hsueh-kang get his money from? Of course, from the poor Thai
people who have become victims of the amphetamine produced by the Red Wa.

The Red Wa kingdom is becoming a trading and industrial center in Northern
Thailand. Wei Hsueh-kang is vigorously producing millions of pills of
amphetamine for marketing. He does not have to sell these narcotic pills to
customers anywhere else but Thailand. I imagine that he is happy with his
operations so far.

Retired Police Maj. Gen. Wut Sukoson, newly-appointed minister of labor and
social welfare, should set target for sending Thai workers to work in the
Red Wa kingdom where a lot of projects are being carried out to build
facilities such as schools, a shopping mall, and a television station. Do
you readers know how long it will take to eradicate amphetamine from
Thailand? Five, 10, or 100 years?


Talking about sending Thai workers to work in the Red Wa kingdom reminds
me of an announcement made two days ago by the National Security Council
[NSC], which says that there are some one million overseas migrant workers
working illegally in Thailand at the moment.

I would like to ask: Can the security in life of the second-class citizens
like us be guaranteed in the presence of these one million foreign workers
in our country? That is very scary, isn't it?

Just figure out what we will do if the following takes place: Suppose one
day a Thai man happens to rape and kill a Burmese migrant female worker or
a Burmese migrant worker. Of course, relatives of the murdered Burmese girl
or man would not be able to report the crime to the police for fear that
they might be deported as they are in Thailand illegally.  So, they would
only think about taking revenge on the Thai people. More and more of them
would become even more determined to avenge for the misdeeds committed by
certain Thai miscreants against their own Burmese kin. Just imagine if
these one million migrant Burmese workers, each with one match in their
hands, set fire to Bangkok. Our city would become a sea of fire within
seconds! Damage to the city would be even far worse than the one done to
the ancient Thai capital of Ayuthaya by the Burmese in 1767. Is the method
of repartriating illegal Burmese workers still the same, that is allowing
them to get off one bus at the border and boarding another to head back
into Thai territory to work in Thai factories again?

How serious are we in implementing measures to prevent the influx of
amphetamine pills into our country, to the extent that the Red Wa are still
able to earn more and more from the Thai people and continuing to build the
Red Wa territory into a prosperous region?

How serious are we in implementing measures to deal with the influx of
Burmese migrant workers, whose numbers have increased from 70,000 to
1,000,000 now?

Well, we, the Thai people seem to be very strange. We know what the
problems are but we still refuse to solve them to the end.

[Thai Rat is a Thai-language daily newspaper.  It has the highest
circulation of daily newspapers in Thailand.]

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

REUTERS:  THAIS TO RULE ON WORKER DEPORTATION SOON
21 July, 1999 by  Monthira Wirotanan

BANGKOK, July 21 (Reuters) - Thailand said on Wednesday it would decide
next week whether to deport some 91,000 illegal foreign workers mainly from
Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. 

Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Wut Sukosol, told Reuters the country
still needed foreign workers to fill certain jobs but said national
security precluded large numbers. 

A government panel will decide on the fate of the illegal workers on July
26 ahead of an August deadline. 

``We have to permit some as there are some kinds of jobs which Thais don't
want to do. So it may be necessary for us to lessen the numbers,'' he said
in an interview. 

The unskilled workers due for deportation work mainly in the agriculture
sector and some in construction. 


The alien workers were identified last year and were to be deported by the
government, when their Thai employers intervened and lodged appeals for
them to be allowed to remain. 

Authorities allowed the aliens to stay on for another year, with temporary
work permits until August 4 this year, provided they registered with the
government. 

As the deportation deadline neared, Thai employers again appealed for
another extension for the workers, saying they had found it hard to employ
Thais willing to do their jobs. 

In addition to the registered foreign workers due for repatriation,
Thailand also has another 540,000 illegal foreign workers. 

Wut said a survey by Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University estimated that
Thailand needed around 190,000 foreign workers to work in fishing, milling,
mining, construction and agriculture. 

Thai employers had asked the ministry to allow a total of 350,000 foreign
workers. 

``Personally, I think the 190,000 figure is too big and it might be too
much for us to allow that,'' Wut said. 

``I will propose to the committee that we should allow some workers to
continue working for only a short-term or three months and then try to
promote Thais to take their jobs,'' he added. 

Most foreign workers are paid less than Thais and they are prepared to do
unpopular and menial jobs. Some also have specialist skills needed by Thai
industries. 

But higher unemployment has put pressure on the Thai government to send
more foreign workers home. 

The number of unemployed jumped to 1.31 million or about 4.0 percent of the
nation's 32.7 million-strong workforce at end-1998 from about 495,000 or
1.5 percent at end-1997, the National Economic and Social Development Board
had said. 

Wut said that even if economic recovery helped ease unemployment, there
would be no let up in Thailand's policy of deporting illegal foreign workers. 

``We have very long borders with our neighbouring countries and they
(workers) can't find jobs there,'' he said. 

``What we can do at this moment is to find them and send them back as many
as we can,'' he added.

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