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=========== THE BURMANET NEWS ===========
== An on-line newspaper covering Burma ==
=========== www.burmanet.org ============

To view the version of this issue with photographs, go to-

http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$134


NOTED IN PASSING:   '...he is aware that Rangoon is constantly testing Thailand's unity over its policy towards Burma, [but] it is in civilian hands. And he reiterated that Burma had to come to grips with the new reality.' 

Kavi Chongkittavorn, Editor of The Nation's assessment Chuan Leekpai after an editorial meeting with the Thai Prime Minister. (See THE NATION: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: CHUAN SHOWS TACT ON DIPLOMACY)



Friday, February 28, 2000
Issue # 1473


Inside Burma--

NLM: DEFENSE SERVICES COMMANDER IN CHIEFS TATMADAW TROPHY GOLF TOURNAMENT CONCLUDES


International--

THE NATION: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: CHUAN SHOWS TACT ON DIPLOMACY 

DPA: NEW KAREN NATION UNION LEADER SAYS ASEAN SHOULD PUSH YANGON TO PEACE 

JIJI: JAPAN TO BOOST GRANT AID FOR MYANMAR 


=========================================



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 INSIDE BURMA
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NLM: DEFENSE SERVICES COMMANDER IN CHIEFS TATMADAW TROPHY GOLF TOURNAMENT CONCLUDES

http://www.myanmar.com/nlm/enlm/Feb28.html


YANGON, 27 Feb - The Defence Services Commander- in-Chief's Trophy Tatmadaw (Army, Navy and Air) Golf Tournament for Year 2000 continued for second and final day today at Aye Tha Ya Golf Club in Taunggyi, Shan State at 6.30 am today. 

Deputy Commander-in- Chief of Defence Services Commander-in-Chief (Army) General Maung Aye took part in the tournament. 
The final day tournament was attended by Commander- in-Chief (Navy) Vice-Admiral Nyunt Thein, Commander-in- Chief (Air) Lt-Gen Kyaw Than, Adjutant-General Lt-Gen Win Myint, Quartermaster-General Lt-Gen Tin Hla, Commander of Eastern Command Maj-Gen Maung Bo, Commander of Central Command Maj-Gen Ye Myint, Commander of North-West Command Maj-Gen Soe win, Chief of Armed Forces Training Maj-Gen Win Myint, the ministers senior Tatmadaw officers and competing teams. General Maung Aye took part in the tournament and visited the shops at Aye Tha Ya Golf Club.



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 INTERNATIONAL
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THE NATION: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: CHUAN SHOWS TACT ON DIPLOMACY 
BY Kavi Chongkittavorn 
February 28, 2000

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai seldom discusses Thai diplomacy or our policies towards neighbouring countries. But when he does sit down and talk about Thai foreign policy, he reveals a deep understanding and sensitivity about the need to strengthen relations and promote the country's image overseas. 

During his administration he has allowed both Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan and Deputy Foreign Minister MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra to take total control of the direction of Thai diplomacy because he trusts them. Now, with less than 10 months to the next election, the prime minister wants to improve ties further with Thailand's closest neighbours, which are Asean's four newest members. 

He also wants to ensure that Thailand's contributions to the peace building in East Timor remain unabated. "We need bold decisions and support from our friends," he said. 

Last week the prime minister broke away from his mundane routine and sat down over an informal dinner with a group of editors and chatted about the whole gamut of Thai foreign policy and politics. It was his view of Thai diplomacy that impressed his hosts. 

Chuan, who has not visited Burma, expressed the wish that the situation inside the country were more conducive for him to go there. Burma remains the only Asean country he has not yet officially visited. 

Even though there have been confrontations and unpleasant skirmishes along the Thai-Burmese border and in the Andaman Sea, Chuan said, Thailand has been firm in its positions. "No hanky-panky," he said referring to Thai-Burmese relations. 

He predicts in the long run these bilateral ties will improve greatly because both sides are dealing with each other with respect, not basing it on personalities as in the past. Previously, Thai military leaders were the main contacts with the Burmese junta leaders. "We are democratic, and we have a process, not a personality," he said. 

It was easy in the past to resolve some of the conflicts emanating from cross-border activities between Thailand and Burma, "but the resolutions did not last," he pointed out. The Foreign Ministry, he said, handles Thai-Burmese relations, though he is aware that Rangoon is constantly testing Thailand's unity over its policy towards Burma, even now it is in civilian hands. And he reiterated that Burma had to come to grips with the new reality. 

In fact, the junta leaders in Burma lament the fact that Thai military leaders have not contacted them now for a year. 


One of his dreams is to see the development of the Salween River as a tourist attraction that will benefit the peoples living in the area. "I have flown over the river, and it is a most magnificent river, snaking through beautiful mountains." 

That will come when Thailand and Burma overcome their current bilateral problems, including demarcation of the 2,400-km border, he said, which he was confident they would, citing Thai-Vietnamese relations to back his optimism...


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DPA: NEW KAREN NATION UNION LEADER SAYS ASEAN SHOULD PUSH YANGON TO PEACE 

Deutsche Presse-Agentur 

February 27, 2000



By Mick Elmore 

Mae Sot, Thailand 

 
 The new Karen National Union chairman, Saw Ba Thin Sein, would like to see the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) press the military government in Yangon to talk peace with the ethnic group, he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa. 

 The new KNU leadership, elected during a congress in mid-January, sent messages to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) government in Yangon soon after taking office, stating they wanted to start a new dialogue, but they have received no response. 

 "We hope that the ASEAN countries can encourage the SPDC to come to the table and settle their political problems peacefully according to their constructive engagement policy," Ba Thin said in an interview this week.  

 Speaking on the Thai-Myanmar border near Mae Sot, 380 kilometres northwest of Bangkok, Ba Thin, 73, added, even though he is a civilian and has taken over as chairman from General Saw Bo Mya, who held the post from 1966 until January, the KNU still will not lay down their weapons before talking with Yangon. 

 But the SPDC still demands the KNU lay down their arms first before agreeing to talk about a political settlement. 

 So the same impasse still blocks talks between Yangon, and the KNU thinks ASEAN can help Yangon to talk peace. 

 "We would like to have a political settlement, but when your enemy is coming at you with machine guns and heavy guns you cannot talk with them like that. You have to defend yourself for your survival," he said. 

 Ba Sein added that the generals in Yangon have misrepresented what the KNU want, and they tell the people in Myanmar the KNU is trying to tear the nation apart, which is not true. 

 "Ever since 1953 we have laid down our policy very clearly, the best solution is the establishment of a federal union where all the ethnic nationalities can enjoy equal rights. We are not separatists, we are trying to live together in a country with equal rights," he said. 

 For now the KNU sees no change with the SPDC but have noted relations with Thailand have become strained due to recent actions by God's Army, a small band of ethnic Karen fighters led by young twin brothers who operate independently of the KNU. 

 The KNU leadership learned God's Army seized a hospital in Ratchaburi, Thailand, 80 kilometres west of Bangkok, in late January on the radio and were surprised, Ba Sein said. 

 The KNU was also not involved when God's Army took over the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok in early October last year and held everyone hostage for 26 hours before Thailand negotiated a peaceful solution. 

 "With these undesirable incidents maybe some Thai people misunderstand the attitude and the political object of the KNU. God's Army people are Karen so automatically people will say they belong to the KNU, but organisationally they don't belong, they are separate," Ba Thin said. 
 They fight a common enemy but not under KNU control. But Sa Thin said they have asked them not to cross into Thailand and hurt relations. 
 The God's Army started after one of the twins, Johnny Two, had a vision he would stand up and fight against recent advances by the SPDC Army, so he organised his friends to fight against them. 

 "We clearly stated that this group is organised mainly on religious belief and not connected with the KNU. We have no idea what they are going to do. We cannot stop them because they are volunteers and want to fight," he said. 



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JIJI: JAPAN TO BOOST GRANT AID FOR MYANMAR 

Jiji Press Ticker Service 


Tokyo, Feb. 26 

Japan will boost grant aid for Myanmar to promote democratization and economic reform in the military-led country, government sources said Saturday.

The Japanese government will inform the decision to Myanmar at their first government-level negotiations on Tokyo's support programs to be held in Yangon in early March, the sources told Jiji Press.  

As de facto sanctions against the 1988 coup in Myanmar, Japan has frozen new yen loans to the country and limited its grant aid to a handful of fields including public welfare.

In an effort to promote moves toward democracy in the Southeast Asian nation, however, Japan will boost the number of grant aid while maintaining the limit on the scope of aid, according to the sources.

Tokyo is even considering to triple or quadruple the annual aid amount of the current one billion yen, but it will continue the loan freeze until Myanmar shows clear resolve for a shift to civil regime, the sources said.

Experts from the two countries will meet at a conference in April to discuss specifics of Japan's cooperation.




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