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[theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: Ap
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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: April 26, 2000
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
April 26, 2000
Issue # 1518
This edition of The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$357
NOTED IN PASSING:
"The minister inspected the rubbish grinders. The
Minister gave instruction."
See THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR: MINISTER INSPECTS DEMONSTRATION OF
RUBBISH GRINDERS
*Inside Burma
AFP: TOP MYANMAR OPPOSITION LEADER ARRESTED
AVA: THE PRICE OF BASIC COMMODITIES RISE IN BURMA
AFP: MYANMAR PAY HIKES SEND PRICES SPIRALLING AS JUNTA INTERVENES
SHAN: SOURCE: PROBLEMS OF SUCCESSION DELAYING THAN SHWE'S RESIGNATION
THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR: MINISTER INSPECTS DEMONSTRATION OF
RUBBISH GRINDERS
DVB: CYCLISTS JAILED FOR DISPLAYING US FLAGS
AVA: MONGKO DEFENSE ARMY IN THE PROCESS OF BUILDING A HOTEL WITH A
CASINO
*International
THE INDEPENDENT BANGLADESH: SMUGGLING RAMPANT AT UKHIYA, TEKNAF
BORDERS
BANGKOK POST: SUPPRESSION OFFICERS ARE BEING 'MISLED'
NATION: FINLAND TO TAKE IN 100 BURMESE
*Other
IRC: POSITIONS OPEN
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
AFP: TOP MYANMAR OPPOSITION LEADER ARRESTED
April 26, 2000
YANGON, April 26 (AFP) - One of Myanmar's top opposition
politicians has been arrested and is being held by the military
government, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
said Wednesday.
Aye Tha Aung, a member of the party's 10-member
representative committee, was arrested by police who arrived at his
house late on Monday night, a party statement said.
The NLD said it did not know why he was arrested or where
he was being held. Military officials confirmed the arrest, but said
only that Aye Tha Aung had been placed under "temporary custody."
Aye Tha Aung is closely connected to three now defunct
ethnically-based branches of the NLD, the Arakan League for
Democracy, the Mon League for Democracy and the Zomi League for
Democracy.
The NLD said leaders of all three sections were already in
jail.
Aye Tha Aung's arrest marks the first time that a member
of the NLD's representative committee has been arrested.
Aung San Su uKyi, the party's leader and Nobel peace prize
winner, was contained under house arrest between 1989 and 1995 and
her movements are still
severely restricted.
The NLD is allowed to little more than hold regular
meetings in its headquarters in downtown Yangon, and is the target of
a constantly bitter political campaign by the government.
Ten years ago this month, the party won a sweeping general
election victory but the junta has always refused to hand over power.
The committee was set up in 1998 to try to onvene the 1990
parliament, a move which triggered a government crackdown which has
crushed the NLD's ability to organise.
Hundreds of opposition activists and part members were
arrested and government-sanctioned campaigns have multiplied calling
for the party to be banned.
The representative committee includes NLD luminaries like
Aung San Suu Kyi and party deputy leader Tin Oo.
Aye Tha Aung's arrest came a few weeks after Myanmar was
castigated by a UN report which found evidence of gross human rights
violations and mistreatment of ethnic minorities in the country.
In a message to the United Nations Human Rights Commission
this month, Aung San Suu Kyi claimed the military was guilty of major
social, economic and
educational abuses.
The military, which has been in control of Myanmar, the
former Burma, in various guises since 1962 brands Aung San Suu Kyi as
a traitor and an agent of foreign powers, especially Britain, the
former colonial power.
It has rejected all attempts to force itself into a
dialogue with the NLD, whether it be the campaign of foreign
sanctions by states with hawkish policies on Myanmar like the United
States and Britain, or the more persuasive approachof members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
____________________________________________________
AVA: THE PRICE OF BASIC COMMODITIES RISE IN BURMA
April 20, 2000
The price of the basic commodities has become very high inside Burma
since the month of April began. Mandalay's black market price for a
gallon of gasoline has risen up to 600 Kyats (previously during the
month of March it was at 350 Kyats). The price also rose at the
government run gasoline stations from 180 Kyats to 300 Kyats. The
price of basic commodities rose after the Government announced that
the payments for the civil servants willbe increased up to five
times, reports a merchant from Mandalay.
In the gold market of Mandalay, a part of gold reached to 60,000
Kyats where as in March it was below 50,000. It was reported that a
viss of rice cost up to 250 Kyats in Mandalay. Because of the rise in
prices, the divisional Peace and Development Council authorities
called on the gold shopkeepers in Mandalay and asked to maintain the
prices of gold without increasing it. Due to the rise in prices, the
SPDC has made it mandatory for single men in the army to invest half
of their salaries into the government banks and 35% for those with
families. By this investment, SPDC hopes it will prevent inflation,
an officer inside the army report on these changes.
Ava News Group April 20, 2000
For further information, contact +66 1 950 9533
____________________________________________________
AFP: MYANMAR PAY HIKES SEND PRICES SPIRALLING AS JUNTA INTERVENES
YANGON, April 25 (AFP) -
Myanmar's military government blamed "greedy manipulators" Tuesday
for spiralling inflation in the wake of a decision earlier this year
to grant massive wage hikes to civil servants.
The move in April to increase wages by up to 600 percent has sent
inflation skyward, forcing the country's generals to intervene to
keep prices down.
"The pay hike will ease to some extent the financial burden of state
employees but hardly increases their purchasing power," said an
official commentary in the state-run Burmese-language press.
"You won't see them rushing around to buy up gold, dollars or bags of
rice," it said.
The commentary blamed "greedy merchants and unscrupulous politicians
for for playing their nasty games" by trying to destabilise the
nation.
"The authorities will surely take necessary measures to protect the
public from such manipulations."
"Unscrupulous politicians" is a term often applied by the military to
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for
Democracy party, which won 1990 elections but were denied power.
In an effort to combat spiralling commodity prices, the government
has recently set up four "tax-free markets" in Yangon where farmers,
mainly from military-run farms, can sell their produce directly to
consumers, mainly government workers.
Rice and oil merchant associations have begun selling rice and oil at
below market prices and state enterprises are making available
essentials such as soap, textiles and other goods to their workers.
The heavy handedness of the wage hikes dismayed many observers who at
the time were relieved inflation had slowed from a punishing 49
percent in 1998-99 to 23.8 percent by last October.
The wage hike means that an advisor to the government paid 2,000
kyats a month, now gets around get 12,000 kyats. An army captain
earning 1,200 kyats gets 6,000 or 7,000 kyats.
A common complaint about the generals who rule Myanmar is that they
have little or no idea how to run an economy.
The result is a primitive and informal system propped up by barter
and a pervasive black market in everything from currency to gasoline.
A World Bank report which last year warned the junta that political
reform was the only route to a functioning economy was dismissed
as "exaggerated and inaccurate" by Myanmar's economic minister.
Physical signs of the decaying economy are obvious.
Power cuts are a daily headache for residents of Yangon and other
cities and prices rise and fall dramatically throughout the year.
Foreign investment has all but dried up owing to the Asian financial
crisis and the stigma attached to investing in a country blamed by
the West for serious human rights abuses.
__________________________________________________
SHAN: SOURCE: PROBLEMS OF SUCCESSION DELAYING THAN SHWE'S RESIGNATION
26 April 2000
No: 4 - 12
An informed source from Rangoon told S.H.A.N. recently that several
unsettled questions of succession has been delaying Rangoon's
announcement of a new lineup without the outgoing Senior General
Than Shwe.
After a series of brainstorming sessions between U Ne Win, still
believed to be the junta's main arbiter, and his daughter, Daw Sanda
Win, a satisfactory formula for the next lineup is still illusive
following the projected resignation of Senior General Than Shwe, the
current Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, said the
source.
According to the proposed arrangement, she said, General Than Shwe,
on his retirement, should be taking over the Union Solidarity and
Development Association, the junta's mass organization and party,
while General Maung
Aye would succeed as Chairman, SPDC, and Supreme Commander-in-Chief
of the Armed Services. The premiership, however, would be falling on
Gen. Khin Nyunt's lap. "This is a major departure from the previous
formula, when the
chairman, by virtue of his position, also became defense chief as
well as head of the government," she said.
She added that advisers had been pushing to adopt the "Chinese" way,
where military commanders are taking back seats to "politicians".
"However, problems have also arisen. For instance, Gen. Than Shwe has
been sort of an acceptable pivot between Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt.
So, with Than Shwe gone, who is going to be the new axis?"
"Right now, regional commanders have immense power and money, much
more so than the government ministers. So the question is: Is there
any way to make sure that the army shall follow orders from the
government, and not vice
versa? Or is there at least any form in which both can work together
to offset each other and not upset each other? Is there any guarantee
that Maung Aye and his clique will toe the line?"
The source said so far the father-and-daughter team had yet to find
satisfactory solutions.
Another source added: "Many are expecting the announcement of the new
line-up before the year 2000 is over."
As for funds, the junta does not seem to be unduly concerned. "They
somehow take it for granted that whatever they do, they'll be bailed
out by the Chinese and the Japanese."
Shan Herald Agency for News.
____________________________________________________
THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR: MINISTER INSPECTS DEMONSTRATION OF
RUBBISH GRINDERS
(Wednesday, April 26, 2000)
YANGON, 25 April-Minister for Progress of Border Areas
and National Races Development Affairs Col Thein Nyunt
accompanied by Deputy Minister U Kyaw Tin and Officials
inspected the demonstration of rubbish grinders
invented by States, Divisions and Townships Development
Committees on the campus of Central Training School at
No 51 Ward Dagon Myothit ( North ) at 8 am today.
The minister inspected the rubbish grinders. The
Minister gave instruction. Township Development
Committees are trying to produce natural fertilizers
using grinded rubbish, make them use in greening works
and growing kitchen crops and sell them to agricultural
works at reasonable prices.
____________________________________________________
DVB: CYCLISTS JAILED FOR DISPLAYING US FLAGS
Translation by BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
April 18, 2000, Tuesday
Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 14 Apr
00
Excerpt from dispatch from Democratic Voice of Burma correspondent
Kyaw Zwa, broadcast by Burmese opposition radio on 14th April
The SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] has issued a decree
banning the display of foreign flags on festival pavilions and cars
and prohibiting the wearing of flags as headbands during the Thingyan
[Water] Festival. The ban is believed to have been prompted by an
incident in which a group of motorcyclists led by 10th standard
students rode around Mergui, Tenasserim Division, with US flags tied
to their motorcycles on 13th March.
The authorities took the incident as an act of political defiance
aimed at disparaging the image of the military government through
nonviolent means. Nine 10th standard students who led the cyclist
group were arrested on 24th March and were sentenced to three months
in jail.
The SPDC has put its Union Solidarity and Development Association
members and military intelligence units on alert to watch foreign
revellers participating in the Water Festival...
____________________________________________________
AVA: MONGKO DEFENSE ARMY IN THE PROCESS OF BUILDING A HOTEL WITH A
CASINO
April 22, 2000
It is reported that the Mongko Defense Army (MDA) is in the process
of building a four-storey hotel with a casino, in Northern Shan State
along the Sino-Burma Border. The construction commenced as of March,
2000.
The hotel is being located outside the town of Mongko, facing the
Sino-Burma Border. MDA is one of the ethnic armed groups which has
cease-fire with the SPDC. The MDA fractured from the Communist Party
of Burma during 1989. SPDC has allowed them to collect taxes from the
region as well as permission to logging and according to witnesses in
the region the MDA in involved with growing of Opium. MDA has also
been in the drug business.
The new hotel will become one of the many casinos located along the
Sino-Burma Border. These casinos are usually owned by the groups whom
have cease-fire with the SPDC such as Kokant, Wa and Shan groups. It
has been known that these casinos not only serve as a place to gamble
but also to trade drugs.
Ava News Group April 22, 2000
For further contact: + 66 1 950 9533
__________________ INTERNATIONAL ___________________
THE INDEPENDENT BANGLADESH: SMUGGLING RAMPANT AT UKHIYA, TEKNAF
BORDERS
from Our Correspondent
COX'S BAZAR, Apr 24: Smuggling of different kinds of goods is going
on unabated in the bordering upazilas of the district. It is gathered
that a large number of people, including women, teenage boys and
girls, are allegedly engaged in smuggling in the border areas mainly
Ukhiya and
Teknaf upazilas of the district to support their families as
opportunity for employment is meagre for them in the district. Many
housewives belonging to poor families in the district town and rural
areas are also engaged in selling smuggled goods in villages. A
section of influential people are investing a huge amount of money in
running the illegal smuggling in different border areas.
The goods being smuggled into the country include cosmetics, towel,
bed-sheets, bed-covers, pillow-covers, Burmese sandals, school bags,
toys, cloths, thamis, lungies, Burmese salt, drugs, liquor, onion,
chilli, Chinese Crockery, torch light battery, gas lighter, vanity
bags, Burmese arhar, current net, medicines and arms.
While the items smuggled out of the country include aluminium
articles, melamine articles, contraceptive pills, fuel, fertilisers
and construction materials.
Sources said, very recently some dishonest traders have been engaged
in smuggling in the name of border trade. They are importing some
goods\ without valid documents issued by the Customs authority. The
smugglers are using Balokhali to Badarmokam points for smuggling.
Cox's Bazar
district anti-smuggling task force and BDR seized smuggled goods
worth about Taka one crore 50 thousand during February to March in
separate raids. All the markets of Cox's Bazar town have been flooded
with smuggled goods. Local people have urged the government to stop
smuggling immediately.
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: SUPPRESSION OFFICERS ARE BEING 'MISLED'
April 26, 2000
Sao Hser Harn, a leader of the Shan State Army, operating opposite
Mae Hong Son, said Burmese ethnic groups were not the sole producers
of methamphetamine sold in Thailand. Domestic producers, among them
influential figures and politicians, were playing a major role, he
said.
Furthermore, Thais were also supplying chemicals being used in their
production in Burma, he said.
"Burmese production bases along the border amount to a handful," he
said. "In fact, production bases exist in Thailand. The Thai
authorities are getting lost in the suppression by deploying many
forces in border areas," Sao Hser Harn said.
Surachai "Bang Ron" Ngernthongfu had a production base near Bangkok
and was able to flee abroad with help from military officers, he
added.
NATION: FINLAND TO TAKE IN 100 BURMESE
April 26, 2000
FINLAND will take 100 Burmese student exiles from the Maneeloy
Holding Centre this year as part of an ongoing international effort
to relieve Thailand of its refugee burden, a spokesman of the Finnish
Embassy in Bangkok said yesterday.
"At this moment we consider it opportune to accept 100 [exiles] for
the year. It's a goodwill gesture from the Finnish government," the
spokesman said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees yesterday welcomed
the decision. "This announcement is especially laudable as it
represents some 15 per cent of Finland's worldwide quota for this
year," UNHCR regional representative Jahanshah Assadi said.
Some 275 refugees from the Maneeloy Centre in Ratchaburi have been
resettled in other countries since October last year. The most recent
group, of 13 people, left for Australia early this month.
As of last month, a total of 1,704 Burmese exiles were living at the
Maneeloy Centre.
The Thai government has sought assistance from developed countries to
help relieve its refugee burden. Most of the refugees are former
students who fled after the bloody crackdown by the military
government in Rangoon.
_____________________ OTHER _____________________
IRC: POSITIONS OPEN
International Rescue Committee
IRC Thailand has a national staff position opening for a nurse in the
Maneeloy Burmese Student Center starting in May. Please find to
follow the job description. Contact our Bangkok office for more
information.
NURSE / MIDWIFE
MANEELOY BURMESE STUDENTS CENTER (MBSC)
Context Summary:
The Maneeloy Burmese Students Center (MBSC) is located in Ratchaburi
Province, 125 kilometers west of Bangkok. The camp is administered by
the Ministry of the Interior. IRC is the NGO agency which has been
implementing Medical, Water and Sanitation Program in the MBSC camp
since late 1994.
There are eight IRC staff working in the MBSC and approximately 2,000
refugees from Burma residing in the camp.
Job Summary:
The OPD Nurse/Midwife will be responsible for overseeing the OPD
clinic at the health center provided by IRC. The position is based in
Ratchaburi Province and is a full time position supervised directly
by the Field Coordinator.
Responsibilities:
This position is one of three nurse positions in the MBSC - all are
responsible, on a rotational basis, for the following.
Position A:
 Assess the prevalence of tuberculosis in the MBSC in coordination
with the Thai Public Health Office and UNHCR
 Plan, set up and organize the TB patients medicine distribution
program by using the DOT system
 Establish a TB monitoring program and report cases for follow up
and treatment;
 Management of the daily OPD clinic.
Position B:
 Refer patients to 2nd and 3rd health care as needed
 Provide and organize Mother and Child health care services,
Immunization and Health Education Program in the MBSC camp in
coordination with the Thai
Public Health Office and UNHCR.
 Together with the HIV Counselor, plan, set up and organize the
referral program as well as monitor and report on cases for follow up
treatment.
Position C:
 Plan, implement, monitor and asses the supplementary feeding of
pregnancy and malnourished cases with the assistance of the F.C.
 Monitor the inventory of medicines, medical supplies and equipment
All Positions
 Provide daily Out Patient Department services such as the
examination and treatment of patients to the 1st level of health care
(average of 60 patients/day in the OPD);
 Follow up patients for referral to Rachiburi and Paktor hospiitals.
 Give health education to both individuals and groups of patients
including TB and HIV/AIDS health education materials.
 Supply monthly health and epidemic diseases statistics reports to
the
Field Coordinator.
 Perform other administrative and technical duties as assigned by the
Field Coordinator.
Qualifications:
 Registered Nurse
 Spoken & written skills in English
 Knowledge of Burmese/Karen language helpful
 At least two years experience working with refugees
 Basic knowledge of computers
Salary and Benefits: This position is posted as a Grade F
- starting salary will depend on experience. IRC offers competitive
benefits. This position is a national recruitment and housing and
home leave benefits may be available.
Contact:
Persons interested in this position should contact:
International Rescue Committee
19 Sukhumvit 33
Phrakhanong
Bangkok 10110
Tel: 02 260 2870-1 ircbkk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fax: 02 258 5653
Posted: April 26, 2000
Position Starting Date: as soon as possible
________________
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