The BurmaNet News: November 16, 199

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Subject: The BurmaNet News: November 16, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: November 16, 1999
Issue #1402

HEADLINES:
==========
IHT: BURMA'S DEBT PUSHING ECONOMY TO BRINK -- WB
AP: MYANMAR INVITES WORLD BANK FOR TALK
THE OBSERVER: COST OF "GET OUT OF JAIL FREE" CARD
THE NATION: BURMA TIES TO HEAL SOON - SURIN
THE NATION: LOST WAGES FORCED ILLEGALS' RETURN
BKK POST: HIV-POSITIVE BURMESE GO FIRST
BKK POST: FACTORIES LONG EXPLOITED CHEAP WORKERS
THE NATION: VIOLENCE IS ONE CHOICE LEFT FOR SHANS
BKK POST: FIGHTS BREW AMONG CAMP REFUGEES
***************************************************

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: BURMA'S DEBT IS PUSHING ECONOMY TO THE BRINK -
THE WORLD BANK WARNS
15 November, 1999 by Thomas Crampton

BANGKOK -- While much of East Asia has emerged from economic crisis, a
confidential World Bank study of Burma details an economy locked in a sharp
downward spiral.

The report, secretly given to Burmese leaders last month, is one of the most
comprehensive economic studies conducted on Burma since the military took
power there more than a decade ago.

Burma's currency, temporarily stabilized by a clampdown on transactions,
faces irresistible downward pressure and the economy is undergoing rapid
dollarization, said the report, a copy of which was obtained by the
International Herald Tribune.

More than 20 percent of bank deposits are now denominated in foreign
currency, twice the level of two years ago, the report said.

The report warns that a dangerous buildup of debt due to agriculture
subsidies could erupt into a systemic banking crisis, similar to those
experienced elsewhere in Asia.

Inflation now is running at its fastest pace in a decade, with the increase
of consumer prices peaking at 68 percent in mid-1998 while averaging 49.1
percent for the last fiscal year.

New foreign investment approvals plunged 95 percent in the last fiscal year,
and early indicators suggest a further sharp retraction this year. This
trend is particularly worrying, the report said, since less than half of
approved investments generally come to fruition.

Informal surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest that the rate of exit of
foreign firms and collapse of local companies may be higher than in previous
years. Sanctions imposed on Burma have played a role in damaging exports and
investment, the report said.

Net international reserves at Burma's central bank, normally a closely
guarded state secret, were $295.7 million at the end of the last fiscal
year. This compares with a foreign reserve level of $231.7 million a year
earlier and $400.5 million in the fiscal year that began in 1994.

Bad economic policies lie at the heart of environmental problems such as
increased deforestation and mangrove destruction, the report said. National
deforestation rates have doubled since the late 1980s, the report said.

Any recent economic growth has been beset by dangerous macroeconomic
imbalances, the report said.

''These factors do not bode well for Myanmar's economic future,'' the report
said, going on to describe what it called ''eminently doable'' reforms
needed to unlock Burma's economic potential. Central recommendations in the
report are a gradual flotation of the Burmese currency, budget and tax
reform and a liberalization of the rice trade.

Even as the government reduces much social spending, its participation in
economic activities has gone virtually unchanged over the past three years,
with the state dictating the business climate in almost all sectors.

''At present the government is all pervasive,'' the report said. ''This is a
hugely demanding role that few societies have been able to sustain.''

Burma's tax collection rates are among the world's worst because of tax
exemptions and lax enforcement, the report said.

The poor, as well as ethnic groups out of favor with the government, have
disproportionately been hurt by Rangoon's economic policies, the report
said.

Military spending accounted for 32 percent of last year's budget and, on a
per capita basis, was nine times that spent on health and two times that
spent on education.

There has been a sharp decline in spending on primary education, with funds
for children between the ages of 5 and 9 falling more than 90 percent over
the past decade.

The state's role in health care has diminished, with spending on public
health in almost constant decline since 1991, the report said. Cambodia,
which has a smaller income per capita than Burma, spends three times more on
public health as a share of gross domestic product.

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

ASSOCIATED PRESS: MYANMAR INVITES WORLD BANK FOR TALK
15 November, 1999

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military government said today that the
World Bank was being invited for talks after it produced a scathing report
accusing the regime of economic mismanagement. The report, one of the most
comprehensive conducted on Myanmar since the current regime took power in
1988, concludes that major political and human rights reforms are needed
along with economic measures to spur development, the International Herald
Tribune reported.

[ ? ]

A government spokesman declined comment on the report's findings but said in
a faxed statement that representatives of the World Bank would be invited to
Myanmar for ``further discussions.''

The World Bank has stopped lending to Myanmar, which has failed to pay past
debts and suffers an embargo on most foreign aid, following the bloody
clampdown in 1988 when troops gunned down thousands for demanding an end to
rule by the military, which seized power in 1962.

Military spending accounted for 32 percent of last year's budget, nine times
the amount spent on health and twice the total for education.

[ ? ]

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

THE OBSERVER: THE REAL COST OF RACHEL'S "GET OUT OF JAIL FREE" CARD
14 November, 1999 by Nick Cohen

Even before she abandoned her comrades and decided to enter the big tent of
a uniquely repellent junta, no one waging the unequal struggle against
Burma's drug traffickers and slave masters wanted Rachel Goldwyn to play the
martyr.  Gesture politics may have replaced politics proper in Britain, but
our official culture's preference for sending 'signals' rather than
developing strategies is dangerous as well as trivial in those countries
where serious people are at work.

Goldwyn is full of conviction.  Her New Age style has the sole advantage of
embodying in miniature the futile frivolity of the Foreign Office's Burma
policy.  Both have placed feeling above thinking.  Each has preferred
posture to effective action.  In both cases, Burmese democrats have
concluded that - thank you all the same - it might well have been better if
neither had taken the trouble to promise support in the first place.

In 1996, Tony Blair assured us that his coming ethical government would
impose sanctions on a regime whose associates supply inner-city
entrepreneurs networking in the global smack market. 'For reasons everyone
here will understand Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be with us,' he told the Labour
Party conference in his moistest Thought for the Day  style.  'Let us invite
her to come next year, a free citizen and an example to democrats all over
the world!'.

Goldwyn appeared as genuine as Blair. She hung about the fringes of the
Burmese democratic movement in London and tried to host a conference to
bring its various factions together.  Only nine people turned up. Realising
that she lacked the skills to organise the release from house arrest of Aung
San Suu Kyi and prepare for the succession of her imprisoned elected
government, Goldwyn tried direct action.  She flew to the Thai/Burma border.
'If I'd known she was planning to go into Burma, I'd have staked out the
airport and grabbed her,' said Debbie Stothard, an ally of the British Burma
Campaign in Bangkok.

Goldwyn was to bring down the dictatorship singing a protest song in Rangoon
about never forgetting the thousands who died for democracy.  As the junta
claims the Burmese love their masters with the doggy devotion of New Labour
back-benchers, and blames the state's discontents on trouble-making
outsiders, the performing debut of a warbling English woman was a gift to
its propagandists.  'The foreigners don't empathise with our cultural
tradition' is a familiar cry from the military.  Earlier this year, United
Nations' investigators reported that Burma's narco-capitalism was sustained
by eight million forced labourers. The junta condemned the UN for failing to
understand that Burmese Buddhism held that the 'contribution of labour' to
gangsters 'is a noble deed'.

There was a more pressing menace.  Anyone who helped undesirable aliens
would be exposed if the foreigners cracked under interrogation.  In the past
few months 500 democrats have been arrested in Burma.  The Thais are
currently waging an unreported para-military campaign against refugees and
migrants.  Thousands are being forced back into Burma from where there are
plausible reports that women are being welcomed home with rape by the
security forces.  The threat of unwittingly exposing sympathisers to
persecution is, therefore, too real to be risked.

Goldwyn ignored the dangers to herself and others.  She chained herself to a
lamppost in Rangoon.  She sang.  She was arrested.  She was sentenced to
seven years hard labour.

So far, so predictable.  But the Burmese generals have lately tuned in to
modernity.  They have hired a Washington PR company to rebrand them. Premier
Oil, the only British firm with substantial interests in Burma, is
freshening up its act with the help of Third way Westminster lobbyists at
the GJW influence-peddling firm. The junta has taken advice and changed its
name from the State Law and Order Restoration Council (which produced the
marvellously resonant acronym of The Slorc) to the more touching State Peace
and Development Council. Rachel's parents, Edward and Charmian, both of whom
were strong supporters of a democratic Burma, flew to Rangoon and realised
the junta wasn't so bad after all. "We took a Get Out of Jail Free card from
a Monopoly box," said Charmian Goldwyn. 'They thought it quite humorous.'

Indeed the funsters were such a hoot they let Rachel out, though whether
there was no price to be paid is another matter. When the Goldwyn's returned
their attitude had changed. Rachel announced that henceforth she would
co-operate with the military regime and enter into a 'dialogue role rather
than a confrontational role'. She would be going back on a one-woman state
visit to examine the junta's anti-narcotics measures with an impartial
spirit. The Burma Campaign in Britain condemned her  'utterly shameful'
co-operation with one of the world's worst governments and her mother
resigned her membership. Although her family had found much that it deplored
in Burma, its eyes had been opened to 'a very spiritual and beautiful
country', she wrote in her resignation letter. There was 'freedom of
religion' and lots of 'quite liberal army officers.' She was disgusted, she
said, with an opposition in exile that 'sneered jealously at the actions of
sincere people such as my daughter'.

Now I've no doubt that the young Goldwyn is sincere. She strikes me as
faintly silly and I'd happily patronise the living daylights out of her
until Christmas, but I'm glad she's escaped from a hellish prison and
wouldn't dream of saying that she doesn't believe what she says. I can't
blame her parents for standing by their daughter just as I can't blame any
other frightened people for being fooled by the builders of Potemkin
villages. I've also no doubt Robin Cook is sincere when he says he loathes
the junta. His annual audit of human rights oozes fine feelings. It shows a
picture of Aung San Suu Kyi and claims that Britain is putting pressure on
the Burmese military.

But the confusion of sincerity with veracity bedevils our times. (Simply
because you believe with every sinew of your shuddering frame that X is
true, doesn't make it true however loudly the Richard and Judy audience
applaud you.) There is no religious freedom in Burma. The 'pressure' Britain
has put on its leaders has amounted to Labour forgetting its promise to
impose sanctions. No protestation of good intent can change the brute facts.

In office, Blair and Cook have helped attempts by the World Trade
Organisation to hollow out democratic politics. They supported a European
Union claim that US cities which refused to give orders to American and
European companies that dealt with Burma were guilty of restraining free
trade.

The Burma Campaign is now preparing for a judicial review of the
Government's position. New Labour says that is has discovered, conveniently,
that it would be as illegal for Britain to penalise Burma as it was to stop
arms sales to Indonesia. Democrats will ask the High Court to rule that this
is equivocation; that there is no legal compulsion on Blair to break his
word; and that, as with so much else, the Government is false because it
wants to betray, not because it has to. The Foreign Office has said that it
will seek to have the action thrown out of court as an abuse of the judicial
process. New Labour now sincerely believes that it is unlawful to ask it to
keep its promises.

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

THE NATION: BURMA TIES TO HEAL SOON - SURIN
15 November, 1999 by Marisa Chimprabha

CONFIDENT OF 'NEW APPROACH'

Krabi - Thailand is optimistic that conflicts with Burma will be resolved
before the Asean leaders' meeting in the Philippines later this month,
Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said yesterday.

However, in dealing with the problems Thailand will keep in mind the
national interest and will involve all relevant government agencies in a
concerted effort so that the solutions reached will be long-term, the
minister said.

"I am quite optimistic that present conflicts with Burma will be solved in
the near future. Hopefully they will be settled before the Asean summit
meeting in Manila later this month so that leaders of both countries can
discuss other issues," Surin said.

Leaders of 10 Asean countries are scheduled to hold an informal meeting in
Manila between Nov 24 and 28.

Burma sealed its borders following a siege of its embassy in Bangkok on Oct
1 by five Burmese students, whom Thailand flew to the border and released in
exchange for the freedom of about 40 hostages.

Rangoon, angered by the handling of the attack on its embassy, called for
the arrest and prosecution of the five in a Thai court.

As well as dislocating cross-border movement for provisions and work,
Rangoon has excluded Thai fishing boats from Burmese waters and ordered that
a group of gamblers who regularly crossed the border be fined for illegal
entry.

Thailand, in the meantime, stepped up mass deportations of Burmese workers
who have entered the country illegally to seek jobs. Thai authorities have
said the timing of the crackdown was a coincidence, but observers saw it as
a retaliatory measure.

Surin did not elaborate how the Foreign Ministry, authorised by a recent
Cabinet resolution to deal with the current problems with Burma, would go
about its task of ending the impasse. He said only that the ministry has
been talking with Burma.

Surin also had a chance to speak to Burmese counterpart U Win Aung, who made
a transit halt here on his way from New York early this month. U Win Aung
understood Thailand's position, Surin said.

The minister said that Thai diplomacy is changing from "personal diplomacy"
to "collective diplomacy" in which all government agencies would move in the
same direction towards the same goal, with awareness of all the parties'
interests.

"In the past, many authorities were involved in solving bilateral issues
using personal contacts, and not in accordance with diplomatic, legal
practice or any bilateral agreement," Surin said.

When conflict with a country took place in the past, a mission would be sent
to negotiate.

"Solutions to many problems that were settled by a personalised approach and
contact are likely to be fragile, and the problem could easily reoccur. Now,
we will deal with them using a new approach," he said.

A source close to the minister said that although the Cabinet assigned the
Foreign Ministry to send a team to Rangoon to negotiate with Burma on the
problems, the ministry would not do so in the near future.

PATCH-UP WITH BURMA

"The real intention of the Cabinet resolution is to give authorisation to
the Foreign Ministry to conduct the negotiations; to inform other agencies
that from now on only the Foreign Ministry would deal with the issue in
cooperation with other agencies," the source said.

The source added that Thailand is still firm that the current conflict with
Burma will be dealt with keeping in mind bilateral interests and dignity.

"Under border agreements, any closure of checkpoints would be notified in
advance. Burma closed all the borders without advance notice, violating all
agreements," the source pointed out.

Surin said he has plans to visit Rangoon, but on the condition that all
current problems are settled first.

He called the newly-introduced approach a "sea change in diplomacy" which
would be applied to any problem Thailand has with other countries, including
Burma.

This newly-introduced approach is endorsed by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai,
who is also Defence Minister, Surin said.

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

THE NATION: LOST WAGES FORCED ILLEGALS' RETURN
13 November, 1999

The hundred-plus Burmese who swam back to Thailand after being forced out of
the country at the beginning of the Nov 4 crackdown on illegal workers,
merely wanted to collect their unpaid salaries, a senior policeman said
yesterday.

Police Gen Sant Sarutanon, a deputy national police commissioner in his
capacity as a member of the sub-committee trying to find solutions to the
problem of illegal foreign labour, said their employers had not paid the
wages.

"Some employers were really helpful. On the day the crackdown began, they
transported their [illegal]  Burmese workers to us. I wonder if they
intended to ignore some unpaid wages," Sant said, tongue in cheek.

The policeman denied earlier reports that the Burmese swam across the border
river into Thailand after oppressive acts by Burmese soldiers. He said his
reliable informant in Burma, a Buddhist monk, did not witness such
incidents.

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said yesterday he had assigned permanent
secretary for labour Prasong Rananan to look into the issue of unpaid wages.

He said action should be taken against employers who intended to take
advantage of a government crackdown by refusing to pay the money they owed
to immigrant workers.

"It's both unfair and unethical," Chuan  said.

The prime minister, however, stressed that the crackdown would go on,
without exception, as the large number of illegal aliens was seen as a
threat to national security and a source of social problems.

The number of illegal Burmese immigrants is estimated at more than one
million.

Sant said yesterday the crackdown on illegal workers was necessary and that
the government should stick to its policy. He added that the illegals posed
three major problems for Thailand; they were a security threat; they created
a higher crime rate; and  they caused higher unemployment among Thais.

Deputy Labour Minister Jongchai Thiangtham said yesterday representatives
from businesses that still required foreign labour would meet with
government representatives next week to discuss the matter.

However, he advised the employers to improve the conditions of their
factories to make them more attractive to Thai workers.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan yesterday defended Thailand's
action in pushing illegal Burmese workers across the border, saying Thai
authorities were doing their best to facilitate the repatriation and
ensuring that it was conducted safely.

Surin said Thailand must tackle the chronic problem of illegal workers which
posed a wide range of threats including security, crime, health and
sanitation.

Speaking at a press conference, Surin said the relevant Thai authorities
were working closely to seek a viable solution to the problem of illegal
workers and to avoid any possible violence in their repatriation.

"The Burmese workers who entered the country illegally are actually subject
to legal actions," he said. "But they are not facing any charges of
illegally entering the country. What we are doing is trying to facilitate
their return."

Surin dismissed a rumour that Burma had stipulated that Nov 14 was the
deadline for the return of the workers after which they would be denied
entry.

"We have checked on the information, it is false and is aimed at creating
confusion," he said.

He said both Rangoon and the Burmese Embassy in Thailand had confirmed that
the Burmese government had made no such announcement.

Hundreds of Burmese workers rushed to cross the Thai border on Thursday
after rumours of the deadline spread.

Surin said that, according to international law, no country could refuse to
take back its own nationals.

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

THE BANGKOK POST: HIV-POSITIVE BURMESE GO FIRST
15 November, 1999 Aphaluck Bhatiasevi

OFFICIALS FEAR FOR THEIR HEALTH

Concerns have been raised over the consequences illegal Burmese immigrants
would suffer because of their health status after repatriation.

The first persons expected to be repatriated are those who failed to obtain
their work permits because of their health status, said Pinyo Veerasuksavat
of Care International in Smut Sakhon.

"This is because the government authorities know their whereabouts since
they have been refused work permits because they are probably HIV positive .

"They could also be infected with communicable diseases like tuberculosis or
elephantiasis," he said.

A random Aids test conducted on 2,800 Burmese immigrants who applied for
work permits in Mahachai district of Sarnut Sakhon between August to
November showed that 87 persons were HIV positive.

The latest health statistics obtained from the Smut Sakhon provincial health
office showed that 4.56 percent of foreign fishermen working in the province
have HIV.

He said seafarers are a mobile population and their vulnerability to HIV
infection is high.

The health examination also showed that 44 persons suffered from syphilis,
23 from elephantiasis and 10 from tuberculosis.

Another major problem observed in Burmese communities living in Mahachai is
the increasing rate of abortions among young women.

Daeng, a student who volunteers for Care International, said most of the
young girls are afraid of going to the hospitals.

They use thin sticks that come with "luk chin" or fish balls to abort their
babies, she said.

"They sharpen the edge of the stick to make it very thin and wash it with
detergent several times to make it clean.

"They then pierce it into their uterus," she said.

A number of cases had to be rushed to the hospital because of complications,
said Ms Daeng.

She added that in many cases, the sharpened edge of the sticks remained in
the women's body.

In some cases, when they know that they're pregnant, they press their
stomach hard hours to disrupt the blood circulation, to abort their
pregnancies, she said.

"Since they are not legally recognised, they do not get access to free
condoms and other birth control measures.

"At the same time, it is very difficult for them to have babies because of
uncertainty over their status," she said.

Another health problem frequently faced by the illegal immigrants is
diarrhea, said Ko Ko Win, a Burmese student who volunteers for Care
International.

Most of them live in a cluster of about five families sharing a small room.

This makes it very difficult for them to maintain good hygiene, he said.

Since most of the workers have difficulty getting access to medication, Care
International recently opened a clinic which mainly dealt with providing
initial medication, counselling and referring patients to the hospitals for
further treatment.

Over the past two months of its operation, the clinic has been able to serve
about 10 patients per day, said Mr Pinyo.

He said the government should provide more health assistance to the
immigrants by disregarding their nationality and status.

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

THE BANGKOK POST: FACTORIES HAVE LONG EXPLOITED CHEAP WORKERS
15 November, 1999 by Supamart Kasem

'ILLEGAL' MEANS NO BENEFITS, NO RIGHTS

TAK - Most factories along the Thai-Burmese border have over exploited
illegal, cheap labour from Burma to ensure optimum profits, according to
non-governmental organisations.

NGO sources said almost all Burmese workers hired by the factories, mostly
in textile-making, were paid 50-90 baht for an eight-hour working day,
depending on their skills.

If employers felt rushed to increase production to meet export targets, the
staff was required to work overtime from 6pm to 10 or 11 pm in return for an
hourly wage of three baht.

The minimum wage for Thais in the province is 130 baht a day.

In addition, the Burmese were not provided with any employment welfare.

"If they were sick, they had to take care of themselves. In other words,
they must make sure that they do not fall sick," said one source.

Many illegal workers were also subjected to other mistreatment, such as
extortion by Thai authorities or employers.

Women, in particular, were vulnerable to sexual harassment if caught by the
authorities.

Since illegal immigrants could not open bank accounts because they could not
produce ID cards, many Burmese sought the service of "money transferers",
who arranged for their hard-earned cash to be delivered to relatives in
Bangkok or at the border, in exchange for a fee of 3-10% of the amount
transferred.

Ms Sanda, 20, a Burmese from Kawkareik, said she was paid 60 baht a day for
working at a garment factory in Mae Sot district. Despite the low wage, she
was charged 100 baht a month for plain cooked rice provided by the employer.

For accommodation on the factory compound, the employer charged 70-100 baht
a month per head. She said many workers opted to stay together in a room
outside the compound, sharing the rent of 100-200 baht a month between them.

Ms Shu Maw, 24, from Moulmein said she worked in the same factory and was
arrested twice this month by Thai authorities. The second time she was sent
to the border to be repatriated, but she managed to sneak back by bribing a
car driver with a gold ring weighing 25 satang.

She said she returned to Thailand because she wanted to claim her unpaid
wages from her employer, not because she did not want to go home.

However, she was paid only 500 baht by the cashier, who told her to pick up
the rest of the 3,000 baht owed her the next day. She admitted she did not
know when she would be fully paid. Ms Shu Maw and Ms Sanda were among 300
illegal Burmese workers who recently refused to return home and protested
for payment of outstanding wages in front of a garment factory in Mae Sot.

Somsri Sirvorawat, managing director of King Body Concept, said she did not
intend to cheat her workers but ran out of cash to pay them.

She said Thais did not like working in factories and preferred working in
the fields, which gave them more free time.

During festivals such as Songkran or Loy Krathong, Thai workers often took
long leave, sometimes not returning for a month or so, she said.

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

THE NATION: VIOLENCE IS THE ONE CHOICE LEFT FOR SHANS
12 November, 1999

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

KHAM SERNG(SHAN STATE)

The indigenous people of the Union of  Myanmar (Burma) have suffered and
lost their basic human rights because of tyrannical Burmese dictators. And
as the economy of the state has declined, the life of the people has become
miserable and poverty stricken. They try their best to survive, with many
going to neighbouring countries, where they have become mere slaves, cheated
and bullied, but they accept it to be better than living in their native
land.

But now the Thai government's policy to repatriate illegal immigrants, which
is aimed at protecting the labour rights of their own people, is a big blow
to them. On landing on their native soil, they are detained, robbed, raped
and abused by Burmese soldiers. Of those who were deported through Tak, 15
were raped by the Burmese soldiers and two others drowned in an attempt to
swim back to Thai soil.

The condition of the returned ethnic is more serious than for the Burmese.
On Nov 7, 30 ethnic Shans were detained by Burmese authorities on entering
Ban Na Mon Long, opposite Mae Hong Son. Some were tortured and interrogated
after being accused of belonging to the anti-Rangoon Shan State Army. Some
were killed during the interrogation and the rest are still working like
animals for the Burmese soldiers. They face nine years in jail for illegal
migration.

There is nowhere to go, nothing to eat. Who will take care of us? Who will
protect us? We have been suffered for decades, should we have to suffer any
more? So we have to find a way out. But, which way? Nobody likes violence,
nobody likes to shed blood.

We are not the aggressors, but for us it means survival. We should
understand the feelings of the freedom fighters who take up arms upon
impulse. So, when we ask, "where do these freedom fighters come from?", the
answer will be "from the land where men have no pity and justice".

For us, what is our choice? There is only one left, that is "to take up arms
and drive the tyrants from our homeland".

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

THE BANGKOK POST: FIGHTS BREW AMONG CAMP REFUGEES
15 November, 1999

RESTRICTIONS HEIGHTEN TENSION, SAY RESIDENTS

The tightening of restrictions at Maneeloy holding camp by the government is
likely to increase racial tension between ethnic groups in the camp, refugee
sources said.

The Mon, Karen and Burmese groups do not normally mix with each other and
they have their own separate goals, they said.

"Mon students have support from Mon communities in Thailand. Burmese
students are well-known internationally so they can seek funds from
international activist organisations. Meanwhile, Karen students enjoy
backing from Christian organisations," said a former Mon student who lives
in the camp.

The sources said Burmese and Mon refugees occasionally clashed with each
other, with the latest incident taking place last month which started when a
Mon talked too loud on the phone and disturbed the Burmese.

At the end of the brawl, 23 Mons were injured, including one who sustained a
brain injury. A Mon school inside the camp was also torched.

The sources said that Thai officials supervising the camp were aware of the
tension but appeared to take advantage of the situation by urging one group
to spy on the other so they could get information from all the groups in the
camp.

Somchai Hom-laor, secretary general of Forum Asia, said he was concerned
that ethnic tension in the camp would worsen if more former students from
Burma, who are currently scattered in Bangkok, were to be confined in the
camp as demanded by the National Security Council.

The NSC has given an ultimatum for all exiled Burmese students, estimated at
about 1,900, to report to authorities at Maneeloy camp by November 21 or
face arrest. "Packing the 3,000 aliens within Maneeloy will stretch the camp
to breaking point," added Mr Somchai.

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






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