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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: March 28, 2000
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
________________ www.burmanet.org __________________
March 28, 2000
Issue # 1496
*Inside Burma
BBC: ANCIENT BUDDHIST TEXT FOUND IN BURMA
DPA: MYANMAR'S MILITARY JUNTA PROMOTES RESEARCH INTO
PREHISTORIC PRIMATES
STAR TRIBUNE (Minneapolis, MN) : POIGNANT QUESTION OF BURMA BRINGS
AWKWARD ANSWER
*International
ASIAWEEK: INSIDE 'SECRET' MEETINGS
FBC/NO PETRO DOLLARS: BAKER HUGHES WITHDRAWS FROM BURMA (MYANMAR)
BGT: CHINA WANTS TO REDIRECT WATER FROM THE IRRAWADDY FOR OWN
SUPPLY
FAZ: IF BURMA IS MENTIONED, MOST ENTREPRENEURS GO SILENT
*Opinion/Editorial
BANGKOK POST : COMMENTARY: IT'S BEEN ALL PAIN WITHOUT ANY GAIN
*Other
VOA: VOICE OF AMERICA BURMESE SERVICE PROGRAM CHANGES
___________________ INSIDE BURMA ______________________
BBC: ANCIENT BUDDHIST TEXT FOUND IN BURMA
BBC-Tuesday, 28 March, 2000,
An Australian researcher says he's discovered in a library in Burma a copy of a lost,
original Buddhist text.
The researcher, Dr Primoz Pecenko, says he found the copy, written in the nineteenth
century on a palm frond, during a visit to a university in Rangoon.
The original text was compiled more than a thousand years ago.
It offers people instruction on how to live according to the Buddhist doctrine and
according to Dr Pecenko finding a copy of it can be compared to biblical scholars
discovering a new commentary on one of the gospels.
_______________________________________________________
DPA: MYANMAR'S MILITARY JUNTA PROMOTES RESEARCH INTO
PREHISTORIC PRIMATES
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 27, 2000, Monday, BC Cycle
By Peter Janssen, dpa
Yangon
Myanmar's (Burma's) military junta, has been criticised by many but when it comes to
furthering the scientific study of prehistoric primates it is earning respect.
Since 1997 the junta has been encouraging both local and foreign research into the origin
of the human species in a remote "bad lands" area in north-central Myanmar called the
Pondaung Foundation.
A plethora of primate fossils found by Myanmar, American, French, Thai and Japanese
scientists over the past three years has done much to further the debate over whether the
our possible rat-like distant ancestors started out in the trees of Asia or Africa, or both.
"The occurrence of these primates in the Eocene of Asia seems to testify to a highly
diversified Eocene Asian radiation of anthropoid (manlike) and non-anthropoid primates
equivalent to that of the African Late Eocene anthropoids," concluded an article
published October 15, 1999 Science magazine by a joint team of French, Thai and
Myanmar scientists after their Pondaung field trip last year.
During the Eocene, a geological era in which primitive tree-shrew- like creatures
proliferated, Africa and Asia were still joined as one land mass.
The first discovery of primate fossils in Myanmar dates back to 1914, when geologist G.
de P. Cotter, working for the Geological Survey of India, discovered a jaw fragment in
the Pondaung foundation, near Mogaung.
The fossil, judged to be about 40 million years old based on the age of the sediments in
which it was discovered, was named "Pondaugia cotter."
Another primate jaw fossil was found in the same area in 1923 by American Barnum
Brown of the Museum of Natural History. It was classified as "Amphipitheus
mogaungensis," deemed a different species of primate but same genus at Pondaungi
cotter.
But both fossil fragments failed to convince the scientific world that "higher" primates
thrived in the Asian continent 40 million years ago, about 10 million years earlier than
the oldest primate fossils found in Africa.
All exploration ceased between 1923 and 1978 as Myanmar went through World War II,
independence, a brief spell of democracy and then the advent of military rule under
General Ne Win whose coup of 1962 ushered in his "Burmese Way to Socialism" and
xenophobic isolationism.
Research was briefly resumed in 1978 by Mandalay University geology lecturer Ba Maw
who visited the Pondaung foundation that summer and uncovered primate jaw fossils
similar to those found by Cotter and Brown.
The discovery attracted the attention of Russel Ciochon, a U.S. academic at Berkley
University's Institute of Human Origins, who travelled illicitly to Myanmar to study Ba
Maw's fossils.
The two men co-authored an article in Science magazine in August 1985, that concluded
the fossils showed a combination of "lower" and "higher" primate characters, "indicating
that by later Eocene times in southern Asian the anthropoid adaptive zone had been
entered, raising the possibility that the origin of the Anthropoidea could have been in
southern Asia."
After 1978 the lid came down again on Myanmar's primate studies, presumably in
response to the secret Ba Maw-Russel collaboration.
"In 1978 scientists at universities were not allowed to make contact or cooperate with any
foreigners," explained Aye Ko Aung, professor of paleontology at Dagon University.
Former military strongman Ne Win, who ruled Myanmar between 1962- 1988, closed the
country off to all forms of foreign contact including scientific exchanges.
Aye Ko Aung was one of five scientists recruited in 1997 to resume the study of primates
by the junta's First Secretary Lieutentant General Khin Nyunt, chief of military
intelligence and founder of the Office of Strategic Studies (OSS) - whose main task
appears to be improving the junta's reputation abroad.
Khin Nyunt in March, 1997 removed Ba Maw's primate fossils from "security storage"
and instructed a joint OSS-Myanmar scientists team to search for more fossils in the
Pondaung area "in order to advance the studies into man's origin."
One OSS document described the primate research as "of vital importance since it would
greatly enhance the stature of the country in the world."
While it remains unclear how proving that man's rat-like, primate ancestors may have
originated in Asia has "enhanced" modern Myanmar's stature there is no doubt the
world's scientific community owes the junta some thanks for allowing at least three joint
exploration trips to Pondaung since 1997.
"In previous times we could not have the opportunity to do this kind of joint research,"
Aye Ko Aung told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.
Since 1997 a complete primate lower jaw, upper jaw, forehead and femur fragments in
the Pondaung area, comprising one of the world's most complete collections and lending
support to the theory that simian-like primates flourished in Asia 40 million years ago.
And the Myanmar's military have guaranteed that the Pondaung area has been kept off
bounds to the local population to assure against pilfering of fossils, a common plague for
similar fossil sites elsewhere.
"There's no fossil stealing here," said Aye Ko Aung. "We have special security." dpa pj js
mb
_______________________________________________________
STAR TRIBUNE (Minneapolis, MN) : POIGNANT QUESTION OF BURMA BRINGS
AWKWARD ANSWER
March 26, 2000, Sunday, Metro Edition
Robert J. White; Staff Writer
Near the end of "Whispers at the Pagoda," a brief but eloquent book about an overlooked
part of Asia, the author relates a plea made all the more poignant by its naivete.
The hopeful question put to Julie Sell last spring by an elderly villager in Upper Burma
was much the same as one she heard a few days later, far to the south in Rangoon. The
Rangoon questioner was a teacher, an avid listener to BBC World Service. Though more
knowledgeable and sophisticated than the old man in the small village, he too asked
whether it was true that NATO, having dealt with Kosovo, would next rescue Burma.
Odd though that assumption seems in the West, is not devoid of logic in Burma _ or
Myanmar, the name decreed in 1989 by the country's military rulers over the silent
objections of most Burmese. Sell herself found no ready answers to Burmese friends
puzzled by the disparity. Why, they wondered, did the United States find it essential to
intervene against Serbia's repression of its Albanian Kosovar citizens yet offer no
comparable response to Burma's repression of many more millions?
The awkward answer is that Burma occupies less space in the crisis-management
corridors of Washington decision-making. Recent events affecting American concerns in
Asia illustrate the point.
Taiwan's presidential election, threats from Beijing officials against any Taiwanese
inclinations toward independence, the subsequent less-bellicose atmosphere at least for
now, congressional reluctance to accept China's admission to the World Trade
Organization: All this has absorbed the energy of the Clinton administration's Asia
policymakers.
What energy remained was devoted to President Clinton's trip last week to South Asia.
The endemic hostility between India and Pakistan, coupled alarmingly with nuclear
weapons in each, fully justifies the presidential visit. Despite the demurral by India's
president, Clinton was on firm ground when he called the subcontinent the most
dangerous place on Earth.
There is, however, an irony. So great is the attention paid by the United States to India
and China that Burma, the country wedged between those two Asian giants, tends to get
overlooked. And while Burma is unlikely to ignite World War III, it is not insignificant.
For example, with good reason Americans have long complained about China's human-
rights violations. The 1989 killing of pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square
remains a searing memory. The memory is vivid because the event was reported by the
international press corps in print and on television, and became the subject of books.
Yet few of us were aware of the greater toll suffered by demonstrators next door in
Burma at about the same time for the same reason. In Burma's 1988-89 prodemocracy
movement some 3,000 people, most of them university students, lost their lives.
International news coverage was scant. Local coverage was directed by the government,
whose powers of intimidation were evident then and are evident now: Photos in
"Whispers at the Pagoda" taken in the 1990s are mostly by Sell. The book also
reproduces photos taken in the 1980s of students and Buddhist monks. Those credit lines
read, "Anonymous."
Not until Aung San Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize did Burma's plight become
widely known in the West. She is brave, articulate, photogenic and tragic, not least
because the Burmese generals denied a visa to her British husband, stricken with cancer,
to visit her before he died.
George Orwell, who wrote about British colonial Burma, would find rich sources now for
stories about those whom Sell fittingly calls the "new colonialists": the corrupt, ruthless,
dictatorial military elite. Until 1997 the junta used the marvelous title State Law and
Order Restoration Council, better known as SLORC. An Orwellian chapter on that
subject would fall somewhere between "Animal Farm" and "1984."
News of Burma is still sparse, though sometimes a reminder appears. The New York
Times this month carried an editorial lament for "The Tragedy of Myanmar" and urged
international avoidance of normal trade and diplomatic relations with Burma's
totalitarians. Burma also was the subject of arguments last week before the U.S. Supreme
Court, which will decide this summer whether Massachusetts and other states have
authority to refuse to do business with companies operating there.
Beyond the politics and legalities, one wonders: What is Burma really like? That, above
all, is the question answered by Julie Sell in a lovely series of vignettes based on repeated
visits to that undiscovered country in the last several years, and conversations _ often
literally whispered, as the book's title suggests _ throughout the country.
Sell's journalistic talent is evident. Having worked at the International Herald Tribune in
Paris and the Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, she is aware that a blue-eyed,
curly-haired blond woman, tinged with Minnesota family connections, is not
inconspicuous when traveling in Burma. So she was cautious but uncowed.
Once, she writes, when she began reading an English-language newspaper in a Rangoon
teahouse, two plainclothesmen in dark glasses sat down at her table, said nothing, chain-
smoked and watched her. Chain-smoked? That means the episode lasted a while; a less
cool reporter would have folded my paper, pretended to be unflustered, muttered some
inanity and left.
But this is not a book about Julie Sell's adventures. It is a series of penetrating,
sympathetic portraits of Burma's people, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
There are former student dissidents, now turning to nonviolence; an atypical businessman
in Upper Burma critical of the government; a soldier retired after 45 years in the Burmese
army with whom this American stranger established remarkable rapport ("We love her in
our hearts," he said to Sell of Aung San Suu Kyi, "but we cannot say this to anyone"); and
teachers, physicians, villagers, urbanites, officials of minority ethnic groups.
Among them Sell found despair over growing poverty, apprehension bred by a police
state _ and courage, kindness and hope. Tell the great powers to keep pressuring Burma's
government to change, one person told her. "The world is moving toward democracy.
Please don't leave us behind."
.
_ Robert J. White, retired editorial page editor, writes on foreign affairs.
___________________ INTERNATIONAL _____________________
ASIAWEEK: INSIDE 'SECRET' MEETINGS
The Chilston conferences to engage Yangon
By ROGER MITTON Yangon
It all started at Chilston Park in southeast England in October 1998. Then, as now, a depressing
political stalemate existed in Myanmar, with the repressive military junta disinclined to deal with
the pro-democracy forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi, in turn in no mood to compromise with the
generals. Enter Britain's late Foreign Office minister of state, Derek Fatchett. He quietly
convened "Chilston-1." Deep in the Kent countryside, Fatchett and his ministerial counterparts
like Thailand's Sukhumbhand Paribatra - along with five Yangon-based foreign ambassadors
plus U.N. and World Bank officials - brainstormed what to do next. "The point I made at Chilston
Park was that the old policy of isolation and sanctions had not worked," recalls Sukhumbhand.
"Maybe it was time to try other options." He was backed by Japan and Australia. But the U.S.
and Britain, avid proponents of a strong sanctions policy against Myanmar, resisted. As a
compromise, they hit on the notion of a "carrot-and-stick" approach, whereby - using the good
offices of the U.N. and the World Bank - Yangon would be offered up to $1 billion in return for
political concessions. At the same time they would maintain face - and avoid riling powerful pro-
Suu Kyi lobbies at home - by keeping their own sanctions in force until real democratization
measures kicked in.
The strategy did not work. The generals did not budge and claimed to be offended at the notion
that they could be bought. Since then, those who favor engagement have been busy. Bangkok
plans to set up a task force with Yangon to combat AIDS. The Malaysians have agreed to accept
industrial trainees from Myanmar. Last week, the Red Cross began monitoring labor camps and
continues to laud its access to prisons. On May 1-2 Yangon will host an Asian economic summit,
with ministers from ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea. The Portuguese, who currently hold
the E.U. presidency, are pushing for Myanmar to be included in an upcoming ASEAN-E.U. senior
officials' meeting in Lisbon. France, which next takes over the E.U. presidency and is a robust
pro-engagement advocate, backs the Portuguese move. The most active of all are the Japanese,
who are helping out by developing infrastructure like health and education. "We don't support
the junta," says a senior Japanese official, "but carrot-and-stick is not working."
Tell that to the British and the Americans. Earlier this month they convened Chilston-2 to try to
breathe life into carrot-and-stick. It didn't work. The 14 countries who gathered at the Sheraton
Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul split into two groups, with those favoring engagement remaining
unswayed by the sanctioneers. But participants were united in appreciating a radical departure
from Chilston-1, namely keynote presentations by two American academics, David Steinberg and
Mary Callahan. The duo are both relatively balanced Myanmar experts, who rightly find the
military regime repellent, but are also unafraid to criticize the other side. Last year, Steinberg
chastised Suu Kyi for saying the World Bank was wrong to make a study of Myanmar's economic
situation (the democracy activist believes that even critical studies serve to legitimize the
regime). Likewise, Callahan has pointed out that the junta's crackdown on Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy has left the party with a charismatic leader - but no means to organize
beyond her compound in Yangon. Says one European delegate: "These experts' presentations
were very balanced, so we avoided political confrontations which nobody wanted."
Still, the split on how to proceed was pretty glaring. Of the hardliners, led by Britain, the U.S.,
Norway and Canada, one Asian delegate says: "They stick to the same line - that political
change is a precondition for aid." Whereas Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Germany and
Australia - supported by France, Malaysia and the Philippines - disagree. Says one of their
number: "We are happy if we see some development in the political arena, but that cannot be a
precondition for aid. We should not pressure the junta, but explore how we can persuade it to
change."
On March 16 most Yangon-based delegates got together again for a roundtable recap. Says a
European participant: "Now we know where we all stand. The worry that somebody is doing
something behind the backs of others has been excluded. In this respect Chilston-2 was very
good." Expect a Chilston-3.
Who's What
The second meeting on Myanmar was held at the Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul March 5-6.
Delegates from 14 countries, the U.N. and the World Bank attended, plus two academics. The
conclave split between pro-sanctioneers favoring isolating Yangon and pragmatists seeking to
engage the generals. A breakdown:
HARDLINERS
Britain: Leader of the tough-guy pack. Sent a trio of heavies: John Jenkins, ambassador in
Yangon, his predecessor and now the foreign ministry's Southeast Asia head Robert Gordon,
plus regional expert Rosalind Marsden.
U.S.: Champion of sanctions. Sent a high-powered delegation led by deputy assistant secretary
of state Ralph "Skip" Boyce, Yangon embassy boss Priscilla Clapp and presidential assistant
Eric Schwartz.
Supporting Cast: Canada, Norway (strongly), Portugal, Sweden (tepidly).
CONCILIATORS
Japan: Foremost engagement advocate. Sent Yangon ambassador Asaki Kazuo and the foreign
ministry's Southeast Asia pointman from Tokyo.
South Korea: The host. Keen to see movement. Represented by two top foreign ministry officials
and MP Kim Sang Woo.
Australia: Sent ambassador Lyndall McLean (the savviest diplomat in Yangon) and a Tokyo
embassy minister.
Thailand: Represented by Bangkok MP Noppadon Pattama (secretary to Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan), plus U.N. ambassador Asda Jayanama.
Supporters: France, Germany, Malaysia, Philippines (all steadfast).
NEUTRALISTS
The U.N.: Both current and past Yangon resident representatives, Patrice Coeur-Bizot and Siba
Das, attended.
The World Bank: Sent executive Bradley Babson.
Academics: A pragmatic American duo of Myanmar experts.
NO-SHOWS
China: Myanmar's staunchest ally and strategic partner.
Indonesia: Heeded the generals' call not to attend.
Singapore: Yangon's biggest business partner and friend-in-need.
Myanmar: The country they were all talking about.
_______________________________________________________
FBC/NO PETRO DOLLARS: BAKER HUGHES WITHDRAWS FROM BURMA (MYANMAR)
N O P E T R O - D O L L A R S F O R S L O R C C A M P A I G N
and the Free Burma Coalition www.freeburmacoalition.org
For Immediate Release:
BAKER HUGHES WITHDRAWS FROM BURMA (MYANMAR)
Houston, Texas, March 28, 2000 -- Oilfield services giant Baker Hughes
has informed shareholders that it has dropped its controversial
involvement in Burma.
In order to end shareholders' attempts to offer a resolution questioning
the company's four-year engagement in the Southeast Asian dictatorship,
the company stated, "Please be advised that Baker Hughes Singapore Pte.
assigned its interest in the Performance Compensation Contract with
Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise ("MOGE") to a third party, effective,
October 1, 1999. We are currently awaiting final approval of the
assignment by the government of Myanmar and Baker Hughes' only
involvement with MOGE is that necessary to secure approval of the
assignment."
The "third party" in the deal is U Mo Myint, Baker Hughes' local partner
in the venture. U Mo Myint is known to be closely tied to the Burmese
military junta.
U Mo Myint is reputed to have been making substantial profits from his
relationship with Baker Hughes, which was applying contemporary
technology to draw oil from the decades-old Mann oilfields in Northern
Burma.
Baker Hughes has declined to discuss its reasons for ending its Burma
activities. Speculation suggests several possibilities:
* Baker Hughes may have worried about a lawsuit similar to that brought
by Burmese citizens against US-based Unocal (see ABC's Nightline
program, today, Tuesday March 28th for more on this case). Human rights
violations are so widespread in Burma that it is difficult for any
company to avoid some association with them.
* The culture of corruption in Burma has led to a huge decline in
international investment. It is possible that unfavorable and arbitrary
decisions made by Burma's generals have put Baker Hughes at a
disadvantage.
* Shareholder activism has become increasingly influential, and
"socially responsible investment" has become an ever larger segment of
overall investment, suggesting that companies must pay greater attention
to issues of human rights and justice.
"Baker Hughes has heeded the concerns of its own shareholders by
withdrawing from Burma," said Simon Billenness of Trillium Asset
Management Corporation in Boston. For the past two years, Trillium moved
a shareholder resolution at the company's annual meeting questioning
Baker Hughes' partnership with the Burmese military junta.
"There is a growing concern and activism at the grassroots level
internationally, about egregious human right abuses, environmental
degradation, and persecution of select ethnic and religious minorities
by the Burmese military junta, which dominates all aspects of the
economy," says Zarni, founder of the Free Burma Coalition.
"We are pleased with Baker Hughes' action" says Pam Wellner of the No
Petro-Dollars for SLORC campaign. "Doing business in Burma under
current circumstances greatly benefits the military junta. Now only
Unocal remains in its partnership with the junta, and Baker Hughes joins
the long list of Amercian companies (including Texaco, Arco and PepsiCo)
who have done the right thing."
The Burmese junta has been held responsible for massive and systematic
use of forced labor, rape and torture in reports by the United Nations,
the International Labour Organization, the US Deprtment of State, US
Department of Labor, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and
others.
Contact: Pam Wellner, No Petro-Dollars for SLORC, 415-695-1956
Zarni, Free Burma Coalition, 312-621-9650, Ext. 3138
Simon Billenness, Trillium Asset Management, 617-423-6655,
x225
END
_______________________________________________________
BGT: CHINA WANTS TO REDIRECT WATER FROM THE IRRAWADDY FOR OWN
SUPPLY
Burma Group Tübingen
27.03.2000
China wants to redirect water from the Irrawaddy for own supply
Tuebingen (bgt) - After Thailand now China has plannings to redirect
water from the Irrawaddy river for their own supply, according to the
Swiss newspaper "Neue Zuercher Zeitung".
China wants to revive a giant project started in the sixties. This
project should redirect water from the south of China and additionally
from the Irrawaddy and the Mekong river. Rangoon claims not to be
consulted on this project.
[Original source:] NZZ Tagesausgabe
Neue Zürcher Zeitung AUSLAND Montag, 27.03.2000 Nr.73 5
_______________________________________________________
FAZ: IF BURMA IS MENTIONED, MOST ENTREPRENEURS GO SILENT
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)
Monday, 27th March 2000
[Original German, translated by the Burma Group Tuebingen, annotation:
The F.A.Z. is Germany's biggest and most credible national newspaper]
Only a few companies confess to their engagement / Investitions in the
military regime apparently continues to be a taboo / The highest amounts
origin from Great Britain and Singapore
che. YANGON 26. March. Business people who are engaging in the Union of
Myanmar hope for two things: first, that due to the low wages their
investitions are soon profitable; on the other side, that it doesn't
spread that he produces in the Asian military dictatorship. Because even
after 38 years of isolation Myanmar, formerly known under its original
name Burma, continues to be a red flag to the bull for many people in
the
West. Human rights violations, the frozen dialogue between the
opposition and the military junta and the enormous amount of refugees
lead to an far reaching ostracism of the country.
Despite of this, there was and is a range of entrepreneurs which try to
find their luck in Burma. Since three years the Ostasiatische Verein
(OAV) maintains a representation office in the capitol Yangon - but
admittetly most of its seven member companies prefer to stay
unmentioned. Only the Dresdner Bank and some medium large companies
confess to their engagement in the outpost of the German economy. A
legend in the country is up to today that at the opening of the Yangon
office of the Deutsche Bank the director of that time Ulrich Cartellieri
tried in the last moment to cancel the public reception. At the
beginning of this year, when a German delegation wished to see the
underwear factory of Triumph International in Mingaladon, they have been
showed a hospital. Even the dessous producer, whose production
conditions are considered as "orderly", behaved like up buttoned.
Starting with the Deutsche Bank up to underwear producers - the foreign
entrepreneurs in the country would like to be invisible.
This doesn't make the work easier for Frank Schmidt. The Myanmar
representative of the OAV tries to achieve a more rational consideration
of the country in the triangle between India, China and Thailand. The
geostrategic position in particular seems to be interesting. If India
one day wants to access the ASEAN countries, there is no way around
Myanmar. China is pumping money into the country because it hopes in
long term to get access to the Bengal Gulf and so to the eastern border
of India. Myanmar, with 42 million inhabitants a underpopulated country,
owns virtually every height and climate of Asia. It is rich in natural
resources - minerals which once got transported via the famous Jade road
to China, oil and gas and finally the fish resources which are so
important for Thailand. There are up to now structures which remember on
the British colonial period. And: "Compared with 1988, we can speak of a
market economy, many parts got liberalised", says Schmidt. This is valid
for the freedom of traveling, contacts with foreigners or even the
access to news from foreign. Beside the common problems in Asia, there
is a special burden for newcomers in Myanmar. For example the currency:
The exchange rates differ from 6 Kyat per US-Dollar (official rate) and
360 Kyat (market rate).
The comapanies, which are in place, are adjusted to the difficulties.
The Lufthansa Service Gesellschaft [Lufthansa service society], Siemens
and Volkswagen, as far as several trade and textile companies came from
Germany. The Allianz-Versicherung [insurance giant in Europe], Voith and
ThyssenKrupp [steel giant in Europe] searched for contacts. The former
weapon producer Fritz Werner GmbH produces now machines and
installations in Myanmar. And the German Jerzy Wilk maintains a
flourishing agency for ship personel.
The biggest difference between demand and reality have been the British.
While the government in London is considered as a "weapon loader"
against the military regime by western diplomats in Asia, the British
are the second largest foreign investor in the country. Up to the middle
of the past year, they pumped around 2.9 billion DM (1.4 billion USD)
into the country. Only Singapore lies with 3 billion DM (1.5 billion
USD) higher. The British are even delivering machines to the
government's military industry - the backbone of the regime. The British
Premier Oil exploits the vast natural resources. Even the Americans, who
at least stopped all new investitions, are haeavily trading.
Caterpillar, for example, is cosidered as the largest foreign machine
importer in Myanmar. While since 1990 around 800 million DM (400 million
USD) flown into the country, from Germany came just 15 million DM (7.5
million USD). "The interest is limited because there is no support for
foreign trade to Myanmar", says Schmidt
Many of those engaged, invest, because of the better image, via third
countries: so like a Netherland brewerie company (via Singapore), a
Swiss concrete conglomerate (via Panama) or an American tobacco giant
(via Singapore), they all want to earn money inside the country, but
they are afraid of the critical public in the West. The comapnies play
with all cheats of the hide and run game. Members of the installation
company ABB are told to have appeared with the business cards of a time
work company, reports a former employee. And - slang here or there - the
Swiss concrete manager joked: "I think you can hear, that we are coming
from Panama."
One of the image problems of the company results from the
closeness to the two economical units of the military: the Union of the
Economic Holdings and the Myanmar Economic Corporation are the economic
arm of the generals. Some companies, like the underwear producer Triumph
International, with 1200 employees at the place, leased the ground from
them and they regret it up to today. Because ground, so Schmidt, is
available also "on the free market" - and so is less suspicious.
Myanmar offers especially for the textile industry good conditions:
There are no quotas for export to Germany, the low wages of even under
20 Dollars per month are far below of that of Viet Nam, Laos or
Indonesia, and for official investition project machines can get
imported custom free. Used machines, which are especially in the textile
industry transferred from country to country, the Burmese refuse.
"But you can paint them new, pack well and than import them. Nobody
checks if you negotiate well," says a European entrepreneur. Difficult
it can get for the one, who want to mess with the military: company
members of a ready-to-wear clothes company reported that the military
intelligence closed their factory in which 20,000 shirts remained.
The foreign calls for boycott, so good the intention is, it can affect
the Burmese in a bad way. The example Pepsi shows this. According to the
pressure in America, Pepsi stopped the production in the country. Former
times a bottle of Pepsi costed around 10 Pfennig (5 US cents). Today it
is available as import at 1.20 DM (60 US cents) - but this only the
wealthy can afford, and they are loyal to the regime.
_______________________________________________________
BUSINESS DAY (THAILAND) : MYANMAR BUYS FISHING EQUIPMENT
March 27, 2000
Myanmar is buying up large quantities of fishing equipment in Ranong indicating that it
may be difficult for Thailand to fish in Myanmar waters in the future, Manager Daily
reported, quoting unnamed sources.
________________ OPINION/EDITORIALS __________________
BANGKOK POST : COMMENTARY: IT'S BEEN ALL PAIN WITHOUT ANY GAIN
March 27, 2000
As journalists we witness, report, analyse and comment, day in and day out, on a range of
issues which affect our society. The danger is that over the years you can become numb
and immune to the tragedies of life.
This newspaper has frequently reported on the scourge of narcotics and other drugs and
how they destroy the very fabric of our society. The instances are so frequent that we
tend not to blink unless the amount is huge or the seizure dramatic. Only when you come
face to face with personal agony and tragedy or know someone who is experiencing
anguish and pain because of drugs do you understand and appreciate the seriousness of
this problem.
Not long ago, my maid came into my living room with tears flowing down her cheeks.
Her face was puffed up; she could not speak coherently. I had known for some time that
she had been having problems with her husband who works, in between bouts of
alcoholic stupor, as a motorcycle taxi rider. He also had taken to ya ba, or
methamphetamines, and had started delivering the drugs for his sister. It had been a
source of bitter conflict for husband and wife.
But that was not the problem, she said. Lately, her nine-year-old son had been acting
funny. He couldn't sleep. He didn't want to go to school and the formerly conscientious
boy was falling behind in his studies. Then she blurted it out - the young boy has started
delivering drugs for her sister-in-law with the full knowledge of her husband. Worse, the
boy was "paid" in pills and had started taking them.
This is a real life example of how drugs corrupt and destroy. Multiply this several
thousand times over and you realise that we are fighting a losing battle, especially against
the inflow of methamphetamines.
Last weekend, we saw how unprepared we are as a society to tackle the aftermath of
drugs when youths at two detention centres rioted. Last week, this newspaper reported on
how military and national security officers felt about Burma and its reluctance to stem
the production of drugs, especially methamphetamines. There is even a strong suspicion
of collusion.
What do we do about Burma? Do we launch clandestine cross-border military strikes on
production centres? Do we return to the buffer border policy of supporting resistance
groups against Rangoon? There are those in the military who feel this should be the case.
At least when the buffer border policy was in place, Burmese refugees were on the other
side of the border and the extent of the drug problem was nowhere near its current
proportions.
The feeling within the military is not unanimous and there is, to their credit, a realisation
that there is no simple solution. Cross-border military strikes would not eradicate
production centres that are mobile and can be set up and dismantled almost at will - even
with the help of satellite photos. Times have also changed. Diplomacy, through the
Foreign Ministry, must have the final say in dealings with our neighbours. Burma is now
a member of Asean. We have made our bed and now we have to sleep in it. As I stated
earlier, there is no easy solution. But it must be stated again, and again if necessary: it is
high time that this government reviewed the problem in its totality and came up with a
determined plan of action. Not only on how to approach Burma but also on how to deal
with the major players inside this country: the politicians, police, military officers and
criminals involved in trafficking.
This task requires a thorough review and careful study of all implications. But in order to
do this, we require firm leadership and the use of all our diplomatic leverage and skills.
In a nutshell, it is up to you Khun Chuan and Khun Surin.
Pichai Chuensuksawadi is Editor, Bangkok Post. All comments and suggestions
welcomed at: pichai@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:pichai@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
______________________ OTHER _________________________
VOA: VOICE OF AMERICA BURMESE SERVICE PROGRAM CHANGES
For many years, VOA has broadcast in Burmese for 90 minutes each day - 30 minutes in
the morning and one hour in the evening Burma Standard Time.
Beginning April 2, our evening program will be broadcast in two parts.
You will be able to hear us as usual at 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Burma Standard Time
(1130-1200 UTC) with the latest world and regional news, including comprehensive
coverage of events in or involving Burma.
Now, here is the change - the second half of our evening program will be heard from 9:00
p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Burma Time -- that is, 1430-1500 UTC
Our morning transmission - from 6:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Burma time remains the same.
Both transmissions will be audible not only on shortwave but on mediumwave as well.
Our programs will continue to be heard on the internet. Simply go to the VOA home page
and into the link for Burmese. Our email address is: burmese-service@xxxxxxx
<http://www.deja.com/profile.xp?author=burmese-service@xxxxxxx&ST=>
We welcome your reaction to this program change. Please send your letters, as so many
of you are already doing, to our Hong Kong, Bangkok or Washington addresses (G.P.O.
Box 8331, Hong Kong, or G.P.O. Box 1139, Suan Plu, Bangkok, 10121 - Thailand). We
can be reached directly here at VOA Burmese Service, 330 Independence Ave, S.W
Washington, D.C. 20237.
________________
The BurmaNet News is an Internet newspaper providing
comprehensive coverage of news and opinion on Burma
(Myanmar).
For a subscription to Burma's only free daily newspaper,
write to: strider@xxxxxxx
You can also contact BurmaNet by phone or fax:
Voice mail +1 (435) 304-9274
________________
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