[theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: Ma

[theburmanetnews-owner@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Reply-To: theburmanetnews-owner@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: May 26, 2000





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


May 26, 2000

Issue # 1538


NOTED IN PASSING:

``We don't want to damage our relationship with ASEAN as a result of 
Myanmar but we cannot accept Myanmar as Myanmar is now...The 
Singapore prime minister admitted quite frankly during our meeting 
that Myanmar issue had gone quite differently from how ASEAN had 
anticipated it."

Carlos Costa-Neves, head of a European Parliament delegation to the 
Association of South East Asian Nations.  (See REUTERS: INTERVIEW-
E.U., ASEAN SEEN UNWAVERING ON MYANMAR)

	
*Inside Burma

AFP: FIRST-EVER ILO MISSION MEETS AUNG SAN SUU KYI, MYANMAR MINISTERS 

AFP: AUNG SAN SUU KYI -- A DECADE OF SACRIFICE 

AP: DEADLINE SET BY MILITANT MYANMAR MONKS PASSES WITH NO UNREST 

NLM: AGITATIVE LEAFLET DISTRIBUTOR APPREHENDED IN THE ACT

DVB: RISING TENSION BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND MONKS REPORTED

DVB: OPPOSITION RADIO NAMES DETAINED MPS.

SHAN: RESISTANCE DAY ON THE MOUNTAIN

*International

REUTERS: INTERVIEW-E.U., ASEAN SEEN UNWAVERING ON MYANMAR

NATION:  WA REPORT DISMISSED

PEOPLE'S DAILY (China): CHINESE DEFENSE MINISTER MEETS BURMA GUESTS

AFP: MYANMAR SUPREMO'S DHAKA TRIP SEEN AS EFFORT AT "CONSTRUCTIVE 
ENGAGEMENT" 


*Economy/Business

HET FINANCIEELE DAGBLAD (NETHERLANDS): BURMESE JUNTA SETS 
STOCKHOLDERS AGAINST COMPANIES

			
*Opinion/Editorials

FTUB: JAPAN SHOULD REFRAIN FROM BECOMING AN ACCOMPLICE IN THE HUMAN 
RIGHTS AND LABOR RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN BURMA

BPF: REGARDING THE ILO MISSION IN MYANMAR (BURMA)


*Other

PD BURMA: BURMA EVENT IN THE NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENT




__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
	



AFP: FIRST-EVER ILO MISSION MEETS AUNG SAN SUU KYI, MYANMAR MINISTERS 

YANGON, May 26 (AFP) - A delegation of the International Labour 
Organisation (ILO) on a discreet first-ever visit to Yangon has met 
with Aung San Suu Kyi and high-ranking government officials, 
government and opposition sources said Friday.  Neither the ILO nor 
the Myanmar government have commented on the mission, but sources 
told AFP the ILO's three-man delegation met with opposition leader 
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar junta's labour minister and other 
ministerial level officials.  The ILO mission was expected to discuss 
with the junta and the opposition implementation of ILO 
recommendations against forced labour, alleged to be widely practiced 
in Myanmar. 

Diplomatic and business sources previously told AFP they expected 
representatives of the junta to take ILO officials to visit several 
jails and factories.  Though it has not made any official comment, 
Myanmar's ruling junta Wednesday had lashed out at the ILO as an 
undignified organization controlled by big powers.  The state-
controlled newspaper New Light of Myanmar dismissed the ILO mission, 
saying the organisation "had lost its dignity" because it has 
abandoned its "main function of setting down norms for workers' 
rights."  Instead, the New Light said, the ILO simply promotes the 
agendas of "new colonialists" such as Britain and the United States, 
who try to apply political pressure on Myanmar.  Diplomatic sources 
had said the Myanmar government's simultaneous slamming of the ILO 
while allowing the organization into Yangon 
seemed "counterproductive," but added that the junta becomes 
extremely defensive on labor issues.  An ILO commission of enquiry in 
a report in August 1999 found compulsory labour in Myanmar was 
practised in a "systematic manner with a total disregard for the 
human dignity, safety and health" of the people.  The ILO governing 
body ordered Myanmar's case to be raised at the organisation's 
assembly in June 2000, and in March invoked for the first time an ILO 
article allowing it to recommend measures to oblige the offending 
party to comply.  It recommended that the Myanmar government ensure 
that its legislation is brought into line with the terms of the 1930 
forced labour convention which Myanmar has ratified. 

It also urged the eradication of forced labour in the country and 
called for rigorous prosecution and punishment of those found guilty 
of exacting forced labour.  The Myanmar goverment had previously 
described ILO reports as partisan and biased. 

Yangon's junta stands accused of a catalogue of human rights abuses 
including rape, torture and holding political prisoners. The United 
States and the European Union enforce a range of punitive sanctions 
including trade and visa bans.  


____________________________________________________


AFP: AUNG SAN SUU KYI -- A DECADE OF SACRIFICE 

YANGON, May 26 (AFP) - Ten years on from her opposition party's 
aborted election victory, Aung San Suu Kyi appears more isolated than 
ever, thwarted by a junta which has systematically dismantled her 
power base. 

In the decade that followed the May 1990 polls, the Nobel laureate 
paid a heavy price for her resistance to the junta, from highly 
personal and abusive attacks in the state-controlled press to seeing 
scores of followers jailed.  She has missed the growth to maturity of 
her two sons, and was forced to choose between her political struggle 
over family obligations as her husband lay dying of cancer in Britain 
last year. 

"It (the passage of time) seems to have gone very quickly, I think it 
depends how busy you are," Aung San Suu Kyi told AFP in a recent 
interview.  Although she is no longer under house arrest as she was 
between 1989 and 1995, Aung San Suu Kyi is confined to the capital 
Yangon.  Attempts to test these restrictions in 1998 resulted in a 
standoff with a military escort, which emphasised her political 
impotency and the stalemate into which Myanmar has sunk. 

The incidents, like most of Aung San Suu Kyi's activities, were kept 
from the eyes of the Myanmar public by the state-controlled media.  
But the powerful image of a slight, beautiful woman standing alone 
against the might of the military is the key to her popularity 
outside the country, where she is regarded as an icon of democracy. 

As daughter of Aung San, the man who led Burma to independence from 
Britain, Aung San Suu Kyi possesses a special magnetism to her 
compatriots.  She spent much of her youth outside Burma, as the 
country was known until it was renamed by the junta, but returned 
from her home in Britain in 1988 to nurse her ailing mother. 

It was the year anti-junta protests took the country by storm, and 
obligated by her family history, Aung San Suu Kyi helped to found the 
National League for Democracy, an alliance of parties opposed to the 
military.  Such was her appeal that the NLD, which she helped even 
though she was under house arrest, surged to victory in 1990 
elections which were later annulled by the military. 

In the years since, Aung San Suu Kyi has tried a wide range of 
tactics, desperate to keep the spirit of those polls alive. 

As well as her attempts to leave Yangon, she has issued calls for a 
meeting of the 1990 parliament, and regularly gives speeches and 
interviews on videoptapes smuggled out of the country by supporters. 

She also confers regularly with other party leaders in the ramshackle 
NLD headquarters near Myanmar's famous golden Shwedagon pagoda.  But 
she has had little contact with supporters across the country.  
Despite the universal admiration for Aung San Suu Kyi's personal 
integrity, Myanmar's bruising political stalemate has led some 
observers to criticise her as inflexible and unwilling to compromise 
with the junta. 

Last year, a group of renegade NLD MPs demanded that she talk with 
the generals. She responded immediately by denouncing them as lackeys 
of military intelligence.  Aung San Suu Kyi argues that despite the 
sacrifices of the political struggle, history will judge it kindly. 

"Ten years is not much in the life of a nation. Of course it is a lot 
in the life of a human being but then looking back ten years is not 
much."  Aung San Suu Kyi's most agonising personal challenge came 
when her British husband faced terminal cancer last year. The 
military said it would let her return to Britain, which she left in 
1988, to visit him. 

She decided not to go, fearing she would be barred from coming back 
and her husband, Michael Aris, died without ever seeing her again.  
The decision echoed the warning she had given Aris at the time of 
their marriage, that as the daughter of Aung San, she may one day be 
obliged to return to Burma.  Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed periodic 
visits before and since his death by her two sons who have grown into 
men since she was last in England.  Short of being forced out of 
Myanmar by the government, Aung San Suu Kyi is sure to remain locked 
in the stalemate with the junta, diplomats say.  Her presence is a 
daily irritant to the generals, whom she frequently patronises and 
refers to with disdain in interviews. 

She is also a favourite target of the official press -- daily 
cartoons and commentaries threaten her with expulsion and lampoon her 
as a tool of Burma's colonial ruler, Britain.  Official commentators 
often raise the prospect that she could face the death penalty for 
treason, although diplomats and observers view this threat with 
scepticism.  They point out that the junta is unlikely to risk 
inflaming public sentiment by mistreating her and had many 
opportunities to dispose of her since she returned from Britain. 



____________________________________________________



AP: DEADLINE SET BY MILITANT MYANMAR MONKS PASSES WITH NO UNREST 

May 26, 2000

YANGON, Myanmar (AP)  A deadline set by militant Buddhist monks for 
Myanmar's military government to open a dialogue with the democratic 
opposition passed Friday without any apparent incident. 

The All Burma Young Monks' Union, based in Thailand but claiming to 
represent monks inside Myanmar opposed to the country's military 
regime, had demanded the government start talks with the opposition 
National League for Democracy by May 25 or face mass protests.  The 
state-controlled media announced that one man had been detained 
Sunday for passing out anti-government leaflets in the city of Bago - 
also known as Pegu - but otherwise reported no trouble. 

Yangon, the capital city, was quiet Friday, with no evident signs of 
stepped up security, and no reports of unrest had been received from 
other cities.  The May 25 deadline cited in the dissident statement 
fell two days before the 10th anniversary of a general election won 
by the National League for Democracy. The military, which has ruled 
the country since 1962, refused to allow the parliament to convene 
and still retains power. 

Monks and students in Myanmar ?also called Burma -- have 
traditionally played a vanguard role in political dissent but have 
remained relatively passive after the military crushed anti-
government protests with heavy bloodshed in 1988.  At a news 
conference Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand, Ashin Khaymar Sarra, a 
founding member of the All Burma Young Monks' Union, estimated that 
80 percent of 300,000-400,000 monks inside Myanmar are supporters of 
the struggle for democracy and human rights, but said it was 
difficult to predict how many people would turn out for the 
threatened protests.  He claimed the monks' actions would include 
three separate processions to the capital from points in the 
provinces, and warned the authorities that if they used force against 
monks, it might goad people into retaliating. 

Government newspapers on Friday reported the arrest of a man for 
distributing leaflets promoting the protest. 

They said the man had been arrested Sunday in the city of Bago -- 
also called Pegu -- 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Yangon. 

The report said the man, identified as Zaw Min Oo, had distributed 
leaflets printed in Thailand by the anti-government All Burma 
Students Democratic Front. He allegedly confessed to having 
distributed anti-government leaflets in Yangon and Bago since March.  
He reportedly said the leaflets were enclosed in envelopes and placed 
in the begging bowls of monks when they went on their usual early 
morning rounds for alms.  In a sign that the government is concerned 
about dissent among the Buddhist clergy, the newspapers also carried 
reports of Yangon's military commander holding a meeting with senior 
monks in the capital.  Maj. Gen. Khin Maung Than complained at the 
Thursday meeting that some junior monks were carrying out activities 
considered improper in the eyes of the public, the reports said.  It 
quoted him saying that as the government was helping support and 
promote the Buddhist religion, it was necessary for senior monks -- 
Sayadaws -- to make efforts ``for further purification of the Sasana 
(religion).'' 

He requested clergy members in supervisory positions to protect their 
colleagues from those who are not strictly observing what the 
government sees as their proper code of conduct, and warned that in 
Buddhist history, it is more important to be on guard against the 
insidious danger coming from within the clergy. 

The general said the authorities will continue to provide members of 
the monkhood with their necessities -- food, shelter, clothing and 
medicine -- and if necessary will apply their authority and power for 
the purification of the religion.  



____________________________________________________




NLM: AGITATIVE LEAFLET DISTRIBUTOR APPREHENDED IN THE ACT

New Light of Myanmar

May 26, 2000


    Zaw Min Oo (a) Pho Zaw, who sneaked into Myanmar after undergoing 
training at the armed terrorist camps north of Winka Village across 
the border in Thailand, was caught together with documentary evidence 
in Bago. Zaw Win Oo (a) Pho Zaw, 32, came into contact with one Aung 
Du from an unlawful armed terrorist group-All Burma Student 
Democratic Front (ABSDF) when he lived in Tawku Village, Mudon 
Township, Mon State. Falling for the persuasion of Aung Du, he went 
along with the former to Winka Village, Thailand, in October 1999. He 
got to the office of ABSDF at old Winka Village, and got contact with 
Kyaw Htet, Shwe Thway and Lu Maw from an armed group under the name 
of  People's Democratic Front (PDF). In January 2000, the office of 
ABSDF at Winka Village provided clothes and food for Zaw Min On to 
attend a course, and sent him to a jungle camp, north of Winka 
Village. About 16 persons who, together with him, would attend this 
political defiance course,  assembled at the camp. At the course, 
Shwe Thway from PDF and two Americans gave lectures, which focused on 
the clandestine carrying of agitative leaflets from place to place, 
the distribution of leaflets among the public, the sending of 
leaflets through messengers and the clandestine copying and 
distribution of  leaflets in the region. Shwe Thway rendered the 
lectures of the two Americans into Myanmar. In addition, the trainees 
were taught how to take the line of political defiance and urged to 
organize the opposition, to breed and train those who fall for their 
persuasion, to establish contact between those who are supposed to be 
trustworthy and them, to organize retired teachers, the poor and the 
needy by rendering assistance for their education and to approach and 
preachers of the religious associations and members of the Sangha 
(Religious Order).

    Anti-government organizations from abroad are also out to incite 
commotion and riots inside the country with the intention of 
disrupting the internal stability and peace and tranquillity Myanmar 
is enjoying. The present incident shows that ABSDF and PDF, who are 
operating from the base in Thailand, attempted to instigate riots by 
persuading some persons, giving them training abroad and sending them 
inside the country with agitative leaflets. Like Zaw Min Oo, other 
youths are also sent inside the country. It is learnt that the 
leaflets similar to those seized from Zaw Min Oo are to be 
distributed to members of the Sangha inside the country in person or 
through postal offices or through the youths from NLD, and that in 
case the leaflets cannot be distributed  in these ways, they are to 
be stuck on the walls of monasteries.



____________________________________________________


DVB: RISING TENSION BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND MONKS REPORTED

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 23 May 
00 Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 23rd May

As the 10th anniversary of the [1990] general elections approaches, 
tension is rising between the SPDC [State Peace and Development 
Council] authorities and Buddhist monks. The tension started because 
the SPDC ignored the appeal issued by the chief abbots of Amarapura 
Maha Gandhayon Monastery and Pegu Kyakhatwaing Monastery, calling on 
the SPDC and the National League for Democracy [NLD] to hold talks as 
soon as possible. Following the widespread circulation of a statement 
issued by the Young Buddhist Monks Union calling for a dialogue 
between the SPDC and NLD by 25th May, the SPDC's military 
intelligence is keeping a close watch on monasteries and monks 
believed to be the main players in the movement. Some monks have been 
arrested in Tenasserim Division, Mandalay Division and Pegu Division, 
and the SPDC has cut off the telephone lines of some well-known 
monasteries; all internal phone calls are being intercepted. Some 
patrons of well-known monasteries, who are suspected of involvement 
in politics, have been summoned and interrogated by military 
intelligence. Patrons and monks in monasteries where merit-making 
ceremonies are held by NLD members are distressed by the presence of 
military intelligence agents in civilian clothes. SPDC ministers and 
officials held a ceremony to re-ordain the chief abbot of Pegu 
Kyakhatwaing Monastery, and donated rice to the monastery on 6th and 
7th May. However, military intelligence continues to intercept and 
frequently cuts off the telephone lines of Kyakhatwaing Monastery. 
The SPDC re-ordination ceremony and rice donation are reported to be 
making the monks more angry.


____________________________________________________


DVB: OPPOSITION RADIO NAMES DETAINED MPS.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 23 May 
00 
Excerpt from report by Burmese opposition radio on 23rd May 

People's representatives of the National League for Democracy [NLD] 
of Rangoon Division - U Aung Zaw, Dagon Township constituency; U Hla 
Tun, Kemmendine Township constituency; and Dr Than Win, North 
Okkalapa constituency - were arrested by the SPDC's [State Peace and 
Development Council] military intelligence on 16th May. The SPDC has 
not given any reason for their arrest. The youngest of the detained, 
U Aung Zaw, was elected in Dagon constituency where the War Office is 
located and where most of the military circles live. U Hla Tun was 
arrested for the first time in October 1990 and was sentenced to 25 
years of imprisonment. He was in jail for eight years and was only 
recently released. It was also learned that the majority of the 69 
NLD representatives who have been detained, allegedly for exchanging 
views, have been barred from meeting their family members. The 
representatives had staged a hunger strike to demand the release of 
those members who were detained under the 1961 Restrictions Act, the 
release of all political prisoners detained since 1988, and freedom 
of movement for political parties in accordance with their democratic 
rights...


____________________________________________________


SHAN: RESISTANCE DAY ON THE MOUNTAIN

Shan Herald Agency for News
 
25 May 2000

It took us longer to get there than to get back.
 
By: Khunesai Jaiyen

Saengjuen and myself started out from Maehongson in a Suzuki-
Caribbean at  14:00, 20 May. Our destination: Yawdserk's Taileng Camp 
at the border about  70 kilometers away in the north.

The road was okay until we branched off from the Maehongson-Pang 
Mapha  highway. From then on, it was a hard and long drive along the 
uneven,  slippery and muddy road to the village of Pangkham through 
the rain that  had been, according to the local villagers, falling 
unceasingly for 3-4 days. 

It was only 6 kilometers from Pangkham to Yawdserk's headquarters. 
But it  was a steep climb and took us more than an hour in the dark 
to get there.  The passengers alternated their uncomfortable ride by 
getting off to push  the 4 wheeler and walking through the mud.

At last, at 22:00 we arrived there, our clothes wet and soiled. We 
were  welcomed and treated to dinner by Suwanna and Awngmong, old 
friends since  the late sixties. Music, both traditional and modern 
from a distance, kept  reminding us that we were indeed there.

We hit the sack at midnight. There was a chilly wind all night. And 
we  slept fitfully although we were tired. Fortunately, by morning, 
the weather  began to clear.

A newsman who was one day ahead of us took in the view, of the  
fortifications, barracks and winding mud roads around us, 
exclaiming:  "Yesterday, we could see no more than a few meters and I 
almost thought  there was nothing for us to see".

At 08:00, guests were given two plastic bags each, containing sticky 
rice  and cooked dish in each. We then strolled through the mud again 
towards the  parade ground where the ceremony was to be held.

It was exciting to meet old friends again, though my days as a 
fighter that  ended ignominiously in 1996 seemed ages ago. I felt I 
had already lived two  lives: a student and then a fighter, and now 
been living through another as  a newsman. Was there anything more in 
store?

The ceremony began at 09:30, that was participated by about 600 
fighters  and guests, roughly half of each. Among them were 34 monks, 
some of whom  were well known and widely respected.

Sao Lawnmawn, who took the chair, announced that the Shan State 
Army's War  Council had taken a decision to regard the Resistance Day 
as the Armed  Forces Day of the Shan State, explaining the 31-men 
band that gathered in  Mongton 42 years was the beginning of today's 
Shan State Army. Some  well-wishers pointed out to me later this 
single act, without consultation  with the people, many of whom 
regarded the resistance as popular uprising,  might subject the Shan 
State Army and its leaders as no better than the  enemy they were 
supposed to be fighting against. (The Burma Army had also  enraged 
many people by changing the Resistance Day, 27 March, that marks  the 
Burmese people's struggle against Japanese invader into as the Armed  
Forces Day).

Speeches by Sao Yawdserk, Commander -in-Chief of the SSA, Sao 
Aungmart,  Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the Restoration 
Council of Shan  State and Sao Khurhsaen followed. Messages by the 
Palaung State Liberation  Front and the Shan Democratic Union were 
also read out.

A short sermon given by a young monk was memorable. "Even Shan is 
capable  of something that is useful for the country. We must 
therefore not try to  ignore other Shans but try our best to co-
ordinate with them. As the old  Shan saying goes: A sparrow lifts a 
strand of thatch, while the elephant  lifts a log of wood." He was 
obviously trying to remind the Shans of the  importance to preserve 
unity.

By 14:00, Saengjuen and I were once again on the road. Thanks to the  
weather today, we got back to Maehongson at six and to bed at nine. 

( Khunesai Jaiyen is Chief Editor of S.H.A.N. )




					
__________________ INTERNATIONAL ___________________

		
REUTERS: INTERVIEW-E.U., ASEAN SEEN UNWAVERING ON MYANMAR

By K. Baranee Krishnaan 

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (Reuters) - The European Union will never accept 
military ruled Myanmar but it does not want its stand on the country 
to damage ties with the regional group of which it is a member, a 
senior Member of the European Parliament said on Thursday. 

``We don't want to damage our relationship with ASEAN as a result of 
Myanmar,'' Carlos Costa-Neves, head of a European Parliament 
delegation to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), 
said in an interview in the Malaysian capital.  ``But we cannot 
accept Myanmar as Myanmar is now.'' 

ASEAN is made of up Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, 
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  Myanmar 
joined the grouping in 1997 amid protests from the European Union, 
the United States and human rights activists who assailed its 
military rulers for ignoring democratic elections in 1990 and 
cracking down on dissident.  Costa-Neves said Myanmar had not yielded 
to pressure from Western nations to improve its human rights record, 
while ASEAN believed it was right to shield and nurture the country 
as it took its own course towards democratisation.  ``The position of 
the ASEAN countries is they think it's better to manage the situation 
by keeping Myanmar within ASEAN,'' said Costa-Neves. ``But for us in 
the European Parliament, human rights is not something which we can 
make up as we like.''  ``The truth is after all these years, neither 
our hard approach or ASEAN's soft approach has produced any 
results,'' said the vice-chairman of the European Parliament, who was 
in Singapore before Malaysia as part of a two-nation tour.  Myanmar's 
military has ruled with an iron fist since a 1962 coup. The generals 
called an election in 1990 following a bloody pro-democracy uprising 
but ignored the result when democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won by 
a landslide.  The United States marked the 10th anniversary of the 
election last week by endorsing the Myanmar democracy movement. 
Myanmar then accused the United States of misunderstanding its 
process of democratisation. 

Costa-Neves, from Portugal, was leading a five-member delegation 
comprising two European Parliament members from the United Kingdom, 
one from Austria and one from Denmark.
 
In Kuala Lumpur, the group met Malaysia's Acting Foreign Minister 
Azmi Khalid, opposition leaders and the head of a newly-formed human 
rights commission.  Costa-Neves said Malaysia's position on Myanmar 
echoed the rest of ASEAN, although Singapore was more forthcoming. 

``The Singapore prime minister admitted quite frankly during our 
meeting that Myanmar issue had gone quite differently from how ASEAN 
had anticipated it,'' he said.  Despite the differences, he said, the 
E.U. was unlikely to push its point to the extent of hurting ties 
with ASEAN. 

``We don't want to put too much conditions into this thing, but we 
have to find a solution for our relationship to move forward as the 
E.U does not want to meet an ASEAN with Myanmar in it.'' 





____________________________________________________


NATION:  WA REPORT DISMISSED 

May 26, 2000

  THE Foreign Ministry yesterday dismissed an article in the Far 
Eastern Economic   Review weekly news magazine in which Deputy 
Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand   Paribatra was reported as saying that 
Thailand was clandestinely supporting   sabotage operations in Wa-
controlled territory inside Burma.    Ministry spokesman Don 
Pramudwinai dismissed the news report after consulting   with 
Sukhumbhand, who is currently on an official trip to Europe.    Don 
said the ministry would send a letter to the Hong Kong-based magazine 
to   clarify the allegation made in its latest edition, which hit 
news-stands yesterday.    The Review, on the other hand, stands by 
the story. 

  The article talked about the frustration of a number of Thai 
authorities over illegal   drugs coming out of Burma. 

  It also said that the Thai army, which coordinates the anti-
narcotics efforts along   the northern border, is experimenting with 
a more aggressive policy to tackle the   problem of drug trafficking 
from the area controlled by the United Wa State Army   (UWSA). The 
ethnic army has been referred to by the US government as the   
world's largest armed narcotic trafficking group. 

  The UWSA entered into a cease-fire agreement with the military 
government in   Rangoon in 1989. In recent years it took up met 
amphetamine production.   Millions of these tablets, made cheaply in 
clandestine labs along the Thai-   Burmese border, have flooded 
Thailand, affecting mainly young people.   
____________________________________________________


PEOPLE'S DAILY (China): CHINESE DEFENSE MINISTER MEETS BURMA GUESTS

People's Daily China, May 25, 2000.

Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian met in Beijing Wednesday with a 
military delegation from Myanmar headed by Tin Oo, chief of staff of 
the Myanmar army.  
Chi, who is also a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission 
and a state councilor, said that China and Myanmar have supported 
each other since they forged diplomatic ties 50 years ago, and Sino-
Myanmar relations of cooperation between the armed forces of the two 
countries are firmly rooted.  

Chi noted that "we not only should keep the old friends, but also 
make new friends, so that the Sino-Myanmar friendship will be passed 
on from generation to generation."  
On the Taiwan issue, Chi said that "peaceful reunification, and 'one 
country, two systems'" is the Chinese government's guideline in 
resolving the Taiwan issue. However, he noted, the new leader in the 
Taiwan region recently adopted an evasive and vague attitude towards 
the one-China principle.  

He said that the Chinese People's Liberation Army will not allow the 
realization of any attempt to split state sovereignty and territorial 
integrity.  

Chi briefed the guests on China's domestic situation, and expressed 
his gratitude for the support of Myanmar to China on the issues of 
Taiwan, Tibet and human rights.  
Tin Oo said that Myanmar and China have enjoyed a brotherly 
friendship, and he hoped that his current visit would further the 
cooperation and exchanges between the armies of the two countries.  



____________________________________________________


AFP: MYANMAR SUPREMO'S DHAKA TRIP SEEN AS EFFORT AT "CONSTRUCTIVE 
ENGAGEMENT" 

DHAKA, May 26 (AFP) - Myanmar junta chief Senior General Than Shwe's 
visit to Bangladesh beginning Monday underscores a policy 
of "constructive engagement" being pursued in the region, diplomats 
and analysts here say. 

They argue that Dhaka sees no contradiction between its ties with 
Yangon and its support for a pro-democracy campaign in the 
neighbouring country. Myanmar is the only country apart from India to 
border Bangladesh. 

Than Shwe, 68, military commander in chief, prime minister and 
defence minister and the junta's final arbiter, will be the first top 
leader from Myanmar to visit since Bangladesh wrested its 
independence from Pakistan in 1971. Myanmar was among the first 
countries to recognise the new state. 

Relations were strained in the early 1990s with an influx of some 
250,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar into Bangladesh, claiming 
atrocities committed by the Yangon junta against them. 

Most of the refugees have been repatriated under a United Nations 
agreement, but more than 20,000 are still living in Bangladeshi 
camps.  "Bangladesh has always maintained ties with Myanmar based on 
its policy of constructive engagement, although it (the policy) has 
not paid off so far," said Chowdhury Abrar of Dhaka University's 
International Relations faculty.  "I hope the visit will shift the 
stand of Myanmar on the Rohingya refugees and other issues or else 
Dhaka should shift its position and take a tough stand," he said.  
The other issues include demarcation of a maritime boundary, opening 
a direct road link and coastal shipping links and the expansion of 
bilateral trade between the two neighbours. 

"By inviting the Myanmar prime minister, Bangladesh has given the 
maximum its foreign policy permits and thus the returns should be 
substantial," Chowdhury said.  Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdus 
Samad Azad said: "This visit is very important from different sides." 

Both are also members of new regional grouping BIMSTEC --Economic 
Cooperation among Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and 
Thailand.  Than Shwe will hold talks with Prime Minister Sheikh 
Hasina Wajed and meet President Shahabuddin Ahmed, officials said. 

Abdur Rob Khan of official think tank, the Bangladesh Institute of 
International Strategic Studies, said: "this visit will provide 
Bangladesh an opportunity to talk directly at the highest level to 
resolve problems between the two neighbours."  He said one important 
step the two sides could take during this "rare visit at such an high 
level" was to create a "special economic active zone" along the 
border to ease the pressure on people who now seek to cross illegally 
into Bangladesh.  "Joint-venture industries or other businesses could 
be set up in the area," Khan said. 

The two sides should also address the problem of armed groups who are 
reportedly operating from the dense jungles on the border, he said.  
Defending Bangladesh's support for pro-democracy groups in Myanmar, 
Azad pointed out that Sheikh Hasina fought for democracy at home and 
also lent support to such campaigns elsewhere in the world. 
"We have sympathy for the democratic movement there and feel such 
contacts help democratic movements. Besides, for national interest we 
cannot wait to resolve bilateral problems," Azad said. 

Asked if the human rights situation and the democratic campaign in 
Myanmar would be on the agenda of talks with Than Shwe, he 
said "there is no agenda, but our focus will be the repatriation of 
20,900 Rohingya refugees and trade."  Khan said Bangladesh should 
extend a high-profile welcome to impress the guest and convince him 
that Dhaka valued Yangon's friendship. This might be helpful in 
resolving bilateral issues and fostering economic cooperation, he 
said.  


______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS ___________________
 

HET FINANCIEELE DAGBLAD (NETHERLANDS): BURMESE JUNTA SETS 
STOCKHOLDERS AGAINST COMPANIES

May 26, 2000

Investing in Burma is definitely not in style.  Western companies who 
refuse to follow this trend are under fire. That's why IHC Caland, 
the Dutch ship and offshore building company, can count on heavy 
criticism at their shareholders' meeting today.

Usually, foreign investment in poor countries is considered an 
important stimulus for growth in the private sector. In Burma, it is 
quite different.  The leader of the National League for Democracy 
(NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi, has clearly stated that foreign investors 
should stay out of Burma as long as the military junta is in 
control.  Investing is said to keep the regime in power.  Suu Kyi, 
winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, knows what she is talking 
about.  Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary her party's overwhelming 
victory of  the democratic elections in Burma.  The military, 
however, has refused to hand over power.

Producers of consumer  goods have understood the message.  Heineken, 
Carlsberg and Interbrew, for example, stopped investing in Burma a 
few years ago.  But companies which only do business with governments 
or other companies are less sensitive to public opinion.  In Burma, 
this is clear. Companies still active there are mostly oil 
exploration companies and their suppliers.

Shareholders' meetings  have become a platform to shed light on more 
socially responsible investing. More and more shareholders-activists 
as well as institutional investors-are demanding ethical 
responsibility from the heads of companies.

Today it is IHC Caland's  turn. Commissioned by the British oil 
company Premier Oil, IHC Caland is building a floating oil storage 
tank off the coast of Burma.  On top of that, it signed a contract 
with the junta for a dredging ship.  Both the ABP, the Netherlands' 
largest pension fund and a large shareholder, and the VBDO, the 
Association of Ethical Investors, are prepared to raise questions 
about these matters at the shareholders' meeting this afternoon.  ABN 
Amro didn't wait to hear the answers; it pulled out of IHC Caland in 
the end of April.

Even the government has been giving IHC Caland a hard time. The 
secretary of foreign business, Gerrit Ybema, has already mentioned 
several times the possibility of cancelling export subsidies for IHC 
Caland  because of its activities in Burma.  The Ministry of Economic 
Affairs will set up criteria for ethical investing as a prerequisite 
for government support. 

IHC Caland is not alone.  A few weeks ago, the British  government 
called on Premier Oil to pull out of Burma.

The company refused to comply. Along with the Malaysian company 
Petronas and the Japanese company Nippon Oil, it is exploiting the 
Burmese Yetagun oil field, and is laying a pipeline from Burma to 
Thailand.  The British company bought their 27% of the project from 
the American company Texaco, who had to get rid of it in 1997 when 
Washington forbade any new investments in Burma.

The American oil company Unocal was also criticized for their 
activities in Burma at their shareholders' meeting on May 22. Along 
with the French company Total, it has  built an oil pipeline that 
runs through Burma to Thailand.  It was taken to court by EarthRights 
International, a human rights and environmental rights organization, 
for complicity with forced labor on this project.  Unocal has 
dismissed this suggestion, but according to EarthRights, it knew 
about the human  rights abuses that went with the project. The 
military regime is said to have used forced labor for laying the 
pipeline and building helicopter platforms. Also, the increase of 
military presence is said to have led to violations including  forced 
relocation, rape, and unexplained disappearances.

The oil companies will have a difficult time playing dumb.   A 
feasibility study commissioned by Texaco in 1996 directly links 
foreign investment and human rights violations. This report was also 
passed on to the companies taking over Texaco's investment in 1997. 
The World Bank has also taken this information into consideration; in 
1998, it decided against financing a Thai electric company because it 
would only be using natural gas from Burma. 



_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________


FTUB: JAPAN SHOULD REFRAIN FROM BECOMING AN ACCOMPLICE IN THE HUMAN 
RIGHTS AND LABOR RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN BURMA

[Abridged]

Federation of  Trade Unions   Burma
                                
25 May 2000

Has the Japanese Foreign Minister,  H.E Yohei Kono forgotten the 
people of Burma are Asians?  It is Asians who had been forced to 
provide unpaid labor and had their basic trade union and human rights 
violated by successive military regimes over the last three 
decades.   We also want to inform the Foreign Minister that it is us, 
the Asians who went to the ILO, the UNGA, the UNHRC and EU to file 
the documentation of forced labor, forced relocations, human rights 
violations and workers rights violations. 

And do you want to know why we had to go to Europe and the US to get 
this done?  And why we are working through the international forums 
like the UNGA, UNHRC, the EU and the ILO?  

Because, in spite of the fact that the people of Burma?Asians-- voted 
overwhelming in 1990 for a new government, all the Asian governments, 
including the Government of Japan have refused to listen to the 
democratic forces of Burma and instead offered support to and gave 
excuses for the military regime for the last decade. 

And now, when we have succeeded to raise the awareness on the 
tremendous abuses of human rights and workers rights to the 
international community and concrete action is being taken by these 
agencies, the Japanese Foreign Minister is trying to stop the 
international community because he does not want to admit that the 
strategy of  "Constructive Engagement" has failed. 

It is hypocritical for some governments in Asia to say  there are 
special "Asian"  versions of basic social,  human rights, and workers 
rights and yet maintain that Asia's position is not different when 
companies and investors want to make profits or governments want to 
have protective zones for their influence and trade.

Kono had also mentioned in the  "The Japan Times [24 May 2000 ] " 
that "ILO should not move to take drastic measures at a time when it 
lacks information".   The ILO Commission of Inquiry on Forced labor 
in Burma took shape out of consistent workings at the ILO by the 
Workers Group. Just like the UN Human Rights Commission chose 
Professor Yozo Yokota in 1997, the following members of the 
Commission were selected for their values of impartiality, integrity 
and standing:


Sir William Douglas, PC, KCMG (Barbados) former Ambassador and Former 
Chief Justice of Barbados, Mr. Prafullachandra Bhagwati (India) 
Former Chief Justice of India and Ms. Robyn  Layton, QC (Australia), 
Barrister at law, Director National Railway Corporation.

At the ILO's Commission of Enquiry on Forced Labor in Burma, which 
was devoted to the hearing of witnesses, the military regime replied 
through the embassy in Geneva that they did not intend to be 
represented.  When the Commission requested visa to visit, the 
regime's Director General of the Department of Labor denied the 
Commission entry quoting " such a visit would not contribute towards 
resolving the case" and " would interfere in the internal affairs of 
the country".   The Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Forced 
Labor has issued a detailed finding of the regime's massive use of 
forced labor in every state and division of Burma.  The military 
regime has refused to work with the ILO and refused to comply with 
its recommendations.  It is the regime's refusal that has brought the 
Burma Forced Labor issue up to this level.  

Just before the ILO was to convene in June to vote on this issue, the 
military regime issued an order on 14 of May 1999, that purported to 
forbid forced labor except for emergency issues. We have 
documentation of forced labor that has occurred in the year 2000 and 
evidence that the regime's order of  14 May 1999 is a sham for the 
benefit of the international community.  Issuing sound bites is not 
the same as actually complying with the ILO's  recommendations.

Once again this year, after having eleven months of the whole year to 
work with the ILO, the regime has come out saying they will accept 
the ILO delegation ---  a move timed for the annual congress and with 
just enough time so that it's advocates can use this and stop the ILO 
from taking concrete action.

In light of the regime's attempt to manipulate the international 
community, we would hope the Government of Japan would refrain from 
advocating on behalf of the  military regime in Burma and become an 
unwitting accomplice in the human rights, trade union  rights 
violations in Burma. 



____________________________________________________


BPF: REGARDING THE ILO MISSION IN MYANMAR (BURMA)

Burma Peace Foundation

[Abridged]

May 25, 2000

According to an International Labour Organisation (ILO) press release 
of 23 May 2000, a technical cooperation mission from the ILO has gone 
to Burma to hold discussions on the implementation of the 
recommendations of a 1998 commission of inquiry which found the use 
of forced and compulsory labour in that country to be widespread. The 
ILO Director-General, Juan Somavia, is quoted as saying that "The 
sole purpose of the visit of the team is to establish with the 
government a credible plan of action to ensure the full 
implementation of the commission's recommendations."   

The mission's mandate is thus not to inquire whether or not forced 
labour exists in Burma --  the ILO considers that this has been 
proved (see the report of its Commission of Inquiry into forced 
labour in Burma) --  but to help bring the practice to an end. 

The Director-General could perhaps have been more specific regarding 
the time frame, seeing  that at its 87th session (June 1999) the ILO 
Conference decided that " ... the Government of Myanmar should cease 
to benefit from any technical cooperation or assistance from the ILO, 
except for the purpose of DIRECT assistance to implement IMMEDIATELY 
the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry..." [emphasis added] 

Given these restrictions, the invitation to the ILO mission implies 
that the Burmese military has accepted the Commission's report and is 
eager to implement the recommendations. This understanding is 
reinforced by the statement in the press release that  "the 
Government of Myanmar (Burma) has provided assurances that the 
mission will be given full cooperation to effectively carry out its 
responsibilities" i.e. assistance in the immediate implementation of 
the recommendations. No-one, of course, would believe that the 
honourable generals would stoop to inviting the mission merely in 
order to soften the treatment they are likely to receive at the ILO 
Conference (30 May-15 June). 

The major ILO recommendations are that:

1)   The legislation (Village and Towns Acts) which allows civilian 
authorities to requisition compulsory labour should be amended to 
bring it into line with the relevant ILO standards; 

2)   "In actual practice, no more forced or compulsory labour be 
imposed by the authorities, IN PARTICULAR THE MILITARY" [emphasis 
added]; 

3)    Penalties should be imposed on people who exact forced labour; 

The key recommendation is No. 2 since, according to most reports and 
the Commission's findings, it is the Burmese MILITARY  which is 
largely responsible for requisitioning forced labour.  However, the 
Burmese military, for instance in the remarkable 
document, "Memorandum of the Government of Myanmar on the Report of 
the Director-General to the members of the Governing Body" dated 21 
May 1999ö, accessible on the ILO website at: 
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb276/gb-6-
a2.htm 
is curiously reluctant to acknowledge this particular recommendation. 
It prefers rather to emphasise recommendation No. 1, to amend the 
Village and Towns Acts, which permit village headmen and other 
CIVILIAN  authorities to requisition labour.  

Referring to this recommendation, military spokesmen frequently cite 
Order 1/99 of 14 May 1999, "Order Directing Not To Exercise Powers 
Under Certain Provisions of The Towns Act, 1907 and the Village Act, 
1907" as demonstrating the SPDC's commitment to carrying out the 
ILO's recommendations. However, this Order also refers only to 
civilian authorities, and the distribution list notably omits the 
army.  Since little or no forced labour is at the initiative of 
civilian authorities and since, as the Commission mentioned, these 
Acts are not cited by the officers who requisition forced labour, an 
emphasis on the amendment of the Village and Towns Acts must be seen 
as a relative red herring. 

In the SPDC Memorandum, recommendation No. 2, in an astonishing 
display of semantic legerdemain, is subsumed under the first 
recommendation, and made to say merely that the Order (presumably 
1/99, which was not even issued when the Commission's report was 
published in July 1998) should be made public (see following paras 
and the Memorandum).  

According to the SPDC's Memorandum:

"The recommendations made by the Commission were: firstly, that the 
Village Act and Towns Act be brought in line with Convention No. 29." 

"The second recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry stipulates 
that the Order be made public. ..."

"The third recommendation says that penalties should be imposed for 
persons under section 374 of the Penal Code for transgression. " 

Nothing is said about military requisition of forced labour. 
 

David Arnott, Geneva, 24 May 2000


_____________________ OTHER  ______________________


PD BURMA: BURMA EVENT IN THE NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENT

May 26, 2000

In co-operation between PD Burma and the Norwegian Burma Council, the 
Norwegian MP's Kjell Magne Bondevik (former Prime Minister and member 
of PD Burma) and Haakon Blankenborg (former chairman of the Norwegian 
Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs) will organise a 
remembrance meeting on the 10th anniversary of the election in Burma. 
The meeting will take place in the Norwegian Parliament on May 26th 
at 12.00. 
The meeting will gather friends of Burma in the Parliament, Burma 
experts and representatives from relevant organisations and media. 
The meeting will launch a declaration of solidarity for the legally 
elected representatives in Burma from parliamentarians all over the 
world. The parliamentarians in Norway will also be asked to sign the 
declaration.

The Norwegian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Raymond 
Johansen, will greet the participants on behalf of the Government. 
Aye Chan Naing, the Editor of Democratic Voice of Burma, will decribe 
the current situation in Burma, while Mr. Leif Lausund of the Labour 
Organisation will inform about the International Labour 
Organisation's recent initiatives against forced labour in Burma.

Please contact Project Manager in PD Burma Trine Johansen (+ 47 22 98 
90 04 or pdburma@xxxxxxxxx) or Christian Moe in the Norwegian Burma 
Council (+ 47 22 20 56 17 or chr_moe1@xxxxxxxxx) for more information.


_______________


Acronyms and abbreviations regularly used by BurmaNet.


AVA: Ava Newsgroup.  A small, independent newsgroup covering Kachin 
State and northern Burma.

KHRG: Karen Human Rights Group.  A non-governmental organization 
that  conducts interviews and collects information primarily in 
Burma's  Karen State but also covering other border areas.

KNU: Karen National Union.  Ethnic Karen organization that has been 
fighting Burma's central government since 1948.

NLM: New Light of Myanmar, Burma's state newspaper.  The New Light of 
Myanmar is also published in Burmese as Myanmar Alin.

SCMP: South China Morning Post.  A Hong Kong newspaper.

SHAN: Shan Herald Agency for News.  An independent news service  
covering Burma's Shan State.

SHRF: Shan Human Rights Foundation

SPDC: State Peace and Development Council.  The current name the  
military junta has given itself.  Previously, it called itself the  
State Law and Order Restoration Council.


________________


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 

Fax + (202) 318-1261

________________





------------------------------------------------------------------------
$60 in FREE Long Distance!  Click Here to join beMANY! today.
http://click.egroups.com/1/4126/6/_/713843/_/959342333/
------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
theburmanetnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx