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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
_________ August 10, 2000, Issue # 1593__________
INSIDE BURMA
The Irrawaddy: University Student Shuffle
SHRF: Killing of Civilian Porters in Murng-kerng
Shan State Army News: Raid on a drug refinery
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
AP: Cambodian deputy premier in Myanmar for drug talks
CFC: 27 Chin Refugees Deported and Hundreds of Chin Refugees Arrested
Bangkok Post: Isn't it enough to give shelter?
Kommersant [Russia]: Ivanov Finds a Promising Partner
NET
Bangkok Post: Hackers Take Burma's Web Site Offline
ECONOMY/BUSINESS
Oil and Gas Journal: Petronas, PTT consider building Myanmar NGL plant
Nation: Skyline enters Cambodia [pulls out of Burma]
OPINION/EDITORIALS
Nation: Bush team flunks the Asean test
IOC: Letter from JA Samaranch on Burma at Olympics
OTHER
PD Burma: Calendar of events with regard to Burma
______
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
The Irrawaddy: University Student Shuffle
August 2000
Three and a half years after being effectively banished from their
campuses, university students in Rangoon can be forgiven for feeling
a bit disoriented as they attempt to resume their studies. But with
Burma's ruling military regime clearly intent on steering students
away from traditional hotbeds of political dissent, this has been
more than just a problem of re-adjusting to academic life.
Few students of Rangoon University, Burma's oldest and most
prestigious institute of higher learning, have returned to its main
campus or three centrally located regional colleges (RCs) since the
ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) began instructing
them to resume classes on June 27. Instead, they have been sent to
study at the remote and relatively new campuses of Dagon and Thanlyan
Universities, both of which are separated from central Rangoon by
major rivers and are difficult to access due to a shortage of buses
and ferries. Students of Rangoon University's Institute of Economics,
meanwhile, are now required to attend classes in Ywar Thargyi, a
village situated far from the capital.
As with other instances of forced relocation in Burma, the purpose of
the recent moves is seen as political, as the SPDC seeks to isolate
students from the general population and each other.
"This new measure, taken by the regime, of separation and isolation
of students, displacing (them) from their (former) universities to
newly built remote schools, proves the students are denied the chance
to communicate and to unite for political reasons. Instead, they are
put under absolute control," said one final-year philosophy student
who is a member of the Underground Student Union in Burma.
The gradual re-opening of universities was completed on July 24, with
students from Rangoon University's Hlaing Campus (RC 2) attending
classes at Dagon University, and others from the Botahtaung and
Kyimyintaing Campuses (RC 1 and RC 3) being sent to Thanlyan
University. To complicate matters further, Dagon University has
recently been incorporated into Rangoon University, resulting in
student confusion and numerous administrative delays.
Rangoon University's main campus, historically a focal point of anti-
government protests, remains closed to all but a handful of graduate
students. The Hlaing and Botahtaung campuses, meanwhile, have
reportedly been leased to businessmen close to the country's ruling
generals
____________________________________________________
SHRF: Killing of Civilian Porters in Murng-kerng
SHAN HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION
>From July 2000 Monthly Report
In early May 2000, a column of about 80 SPDC troops of
Company No.5 from LIB514 led by Capt. Hla Myint conscripted 24
civilian porters for 51 days during which they killed at least 4
porters and wounded or killed many others while on patrol in the
rural areas of Murng-Kerng township. Most of the civilian
porters were originally from Kung Yom village in Ham Ngaai tract,
Murng-Kerng township, who had been forcibly relocated to a relocation
site in the outskirts of Murng-Kerng town by the SLORC/SPDC troops a
few years ago.
After having to carry heavy loads for 37 days with inadequate rest
and food, 4 of the porters became so weak that they had to stop at
every 20-30 yards, but the troops thought they were just feigning and
angrily beat them until they all died.
A few days after that, 3-4 other porters who had became too
weak to go on were also beaten and left lying along the way, without
any care whether they were dead or not. Since they have not returned
until the time of this report, they are presumably dead. Many other
porters were also beaten along the way. On 23.6.00, the rest
of the porters were released after serving the military for 51 days
without pay or any other kind of compensation. At the time of this
report, out of 24 civilian ports that had been conscripted, only 13
have returned home.
____________________________________________________
Shan State Army News: Raid on a drug refinery
SSA News Vol.2, No. 5, July 2000
August 9, 2000
On 7th July 2000, a 30-men-strong SSA detachment from Khun Sarng Ton
Hoong column, led by Maj. Kham Leng, raided a newly built heroin and
Yaa Baa (amphetamine) refinery at Wan Tark Let, a village situated
near the Thai-Shan border, opposite of Mae Hong Son province. This
refinery was under the control of the local commander of the SPDC
troops and their drug producing partners. In this raid, SSA troops
captured:
1. Precursor of Yaa Baa 30 litres
2. Wu Sui (Chinese name, raw material for Yaa Baa) 1 container (6
gallons) 3. liquid opium 2 containers ( appx. 12 gals.)
4. Saw Sua (Chinese name, raw material for Yaa Baa) 2 containers (12
gallons)
5. Ether 2 bottles (1 gallon)
6. Yaa Baa 377 tablets.
Besides these chemicals, 3 of the operators were also captured red
handed. After the raid the instruments and the building were burned
to ground.
Drugs Captured
On 30 July 2000, at 08:00 hrs., 30 SSA troops from Khun Sarng Ton
Hoong Column led by Major Kham Leng clashed with a drug dealer group
which was escorted by SPDC troops at a place called Nong Leng, near
Ho Mong (former Khun Sa's MTA stronghold). 3 SPDC soldiers were
killed in the clash. SSA captured 130,000 tablets of amphetamine and
1 G3 assault rifle
___________________________ REGIONAL ___________________________
AP: Cambodian deputy premier in Myanmar for drug talks
August 10, 2000
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Cambodia's deputy prime minister held talks
with Myanmar's military intelligence chief at the start of a four-day
visit to share information on the fight against illegal drugs, a
state newspaper reported Thursday.
Sar Kheng, who is also Cambodia's interior minister, arrived in
military-run Myanmar on Tuesday at the head of a delegation of
Cambodian anti-narcotics officials.
Cambodia is a conduit for the traffic in illegal drugs _ opium,
heroin and methamphetamines _ produced in Southeast Asia's Golden
Triangle. The region is centered on Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Sar Kheng met Wednesday with Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the Myanmar
regime's powerful military intelligence chief, who is also Secretary
One of the ruling State Peace and Development Council.
The Cambodians then attended a briefing on Myanmar's anti-narcotic
efforts, the official New Light of Myanmar reported.
Narcotics experts fear Cambodia is emerging as a source of
methamphetamines _ a stimulant that has surpassed heroin as the
region's worst drug menace.
Most of the drugs in the region are produced by ethnic armies in
eastern Myanmar which have signed ceasefires with Yangon but operate
in areas only loosely under government control.
____________________________________________________
CFC: 27 Chin Refugees Deported and Hundreds of Chin Refugees Arrested
Washington, DC
August 8, 2000
The Chin Freedom Coalition (CFC) received the following information
today, August 8, 2000, from Aizawl. Today, at 3:30 PM Indian Time,
the Indian authorities deported 27 Chin refugees to Burma at the
border of Tio. The deportees included four children. The Mizo Arsi,
the daily local newspaper in Aizawl, reported today that three buses
returned to Aizawl from the border area after deporting 87 people to
Burma on August 3, 2000. Whereabouts of the 87 refugees deported on
August 3, 2000 are still unknown. The newspaper also reported heavy
arrests of Chin refugees in Champhai town, the border town on the
India Burma border in Falam township of Chin State.
The Mizoram State government of India has issued an order that all
Chin refugees and other Burmese refugees must leave India on or
before August 31, 2000. Since then, the Mizoram police have been
arresting refugees and jailing them in respective towns such as
Lawngtlai, Saiha, Champhai, and Lunglei.
As of last night, the Mizoram police in Saiha, which is the capital
town of the Chhimtuipui district, had arrested 79 people. All these
refugees will be handed over to the Burmese Army stationed in
Vuangtu village of Thantlang township in Chin State. Saiha town is
about 40 miles from the India Burma border and Vuangtu village is
only 15 miles from the border area.
____________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: Isn't it enough to give shelter?
August 10, 2000
No one can question Thailand's just treatment of the
hundreds of thousands who have sought refuge here, so
should there be any haste for it to join the UN refugee
agency? Will the refugees be better off?
Bhanravee Tansubhapol
Twenty-five years after allowing the United Nations refugee agency
to set up offices here, Thailand remains reluctant to accede to the
UN convention on refugees. And it finds good reason in the
lingering problem of the displaced Burmese. The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees began assisting Thailand in mid- 1975,
only a few months after the fall to communist rule of Cambodia and
Vietnam which triggered a massive refugee exodus. The fall of Laos
in December the same year was another reason why the Thai
government allowed the UNHCR to set up a permanent office here in
July 1977. The fall of the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh in 1979 and a
further 14 years of civil war in that country made the UNHCR's
presence compelling. But it has taken almost 25 years to resettle
or repatriate most of these Indochinese- 671,000 Cambodians,
360,000 Laos and 160,000 Vietnamese. The entrenched 100-odd
hilltribe Laos still at Ban Napho in Nakhon Phanom province attest to
the difficulty of solving this problem.
The lingering presence on Thailand's western border of more than
100,000 Burmese who fled the crackdown which followed Burma's pro-
democracy uprising in 1988 and sporadic armed conflicts ever since
have stoked Thailand's reluctance to accede to the 1951 Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees.
Of the many reservations cited by the legal experts at the Foreign
Ministry, the strongest relates to the convention's broad
definition of refugees as people who flee their country due to a
well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social
group. "The definition is very broad and we want to be clear about
the scope allowed for the term 'persecution' as we don't want to
have to take victims of every kind," one ministry expert said.
The government also wants a clarification of its obligations to the
refugees in terms of the economic, political and social rights it
would have to grant them. Their rights to work and education, to
own property, and to set up labour unions or other peaceful
assemblies also have to be spelled out, he said.
... Other reservations find backing in the current Burmese problem.
The problems Bangkok has had with Burmese dissidents have kept
alive the Thai wish to keep open the option of repatriation, rather
than be bound to the convention's principle of non-refoulement (or
a veto against forced repatriation).
Still faced with a huge caseload after 15 years, Thailand also
wants a commitment from the UNHCR to solve the refugee problem-
through repatriation or third country resettlement-within a set
time.
... Vitit Muntarbhorn, a lecturer in law at Chulalongkorn
University, said accession would ensure the more transparent
screening of refugees from non-refugees. Mr Manaspas said Thailand
had always contended that refugees were an international problem
requiring international assistance...
"So long as the conditions in Burma remain unchanged, the Burmese
problem will continue unabated."Central to the problem is Rangoon's
refusal to take back the refugees. In response to criticism that
the UNHCR has not done enough to secure a foothold in Burma in
order to advance this, Mr Assadi said the question was raised in
March during a visit to Rangoon by Jessen Petersen, the UNHCR
assistant commissioner. But Rangoon maintained that the timing was
not yet right.
Mr Vitit said the Thai government needed to inform the public who
are refugees and who are dissidents, as the storming of the Burmese
embassy in Bangkok last October and the occupation of the hospital
in Ratchaburi in January has increased public dislike for refugees.
Mr Manaspas said the government had to deal with other problems
beyond the mandate of the UNHCR, such as economic migrants and
illegal workers. It was not lacking in compassion, he said, but
tolerance does have its limit.
____________________________________________________
Kommersant [Russia]: Ivanov Finds a Promising Partner
-- It's the Military Regime in What Used to Be Burma.
By Boris Volkhonsky. Kommersant, July 5, 2000, p. 8. Condensed text:
[Excerpt from Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press, August 2000]
A high-level delegation from Myanmar (the former Burma), led by
Foreign Minister Win Aung, is concluding a visit to Moscow today. . .
When the foreign ministers completed their talks on Monday [July 3],
[Russian Foreign Minister] Igor Ivanov described Myanmar as
a "promising partner for Russia in the Asia-Pacific region" and said
he hoped they could work together in many areas.
But one can only guess what areas these will be, because the rest of
the visit, including a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Ilya
Klebanov, took place behind closed doors. Nevertheless, Kommersant
has learned that the guests were interested primarily in acquiring
arms.
The fact that the delegation included officials from the Defense
Ministry, the meeting with the Russian deputy prime minister in
charge of the defense industry, and the overall atmosphere of secrecy
surrounding the talks leave no doubt as to the two countries'
intention to initiate military-technical cooperation.
__________________INTERNET______________________
Bangkok Post: Hackers Take Burma's Web Site Offline
Wednesday, August 9, 2000.
SECURITY
'Unsavoury' types blamed for damage
Bangkok, AFP
The Burmese government confirmed last week that its Internet homepage
has been shut down by hackers, and said the site has been
under "constant threat" since it was launched.
The webmaster of ~http:/ /www.myanmar.com>, which promotes tourism
and investment to the military-run country, said files were altered
before the entire site was closed down last week.
"The Burma web site has been hacked," a senior government spokesman
said. "rl here has been a constant threat by unsavoury elements to
hack the web site since the day the Burma web site came into
existence."
The webmaster said in an email that hackers had changed the password
to the site and then shut it down completely after making the
alterations.
By last Thursday it was still unaccessible.
Activists campaigning against the junta in Rangoon, who oppose
investment and tourism in the country, were accused of launching the
attack.
"Burma activists have committed computer crime on the Internet," the
webmaster said.
Burma has been run by the military since 1962.
In 1988, a crackdown on prodemocracy groups caused Burmese citizens
to flee into Thailand.
In the past two years, verbal sparring between the Burmese exile
community and the junta has moved into cyberspace.
Activists campaigning against the regime share information about
Burma over the Internet and say they try to overload Burmese leaders'
private accounts by assailing them with a flood of email.
Intenet access in Rangoon is still restricted to certain approved
locations including luxury hotels, travellers' guesthouses and
businesses approved by the ruling junta.
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
Oil and Gas Journal: Petronas, PTT consider building Myanmar NGL
plant
Online Edition, July 17, 2000
BANGKOKThe Thai and Malaysian state oil firms have teamed up to study
the viability of building a $150 million NGL separation plant in
Myanmar. The proposed facility would extract propane and butane from
natural gas piped from Yetagun-Myanmar's second largest gas field,
located in the Gulf of Martaban-to make LPG.
Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and Malaysian state oil firm
Petronas are reviewing the feasibility of a plant capable of
processing 250-300 MMcfd of natural gas with an LPG output of 200,000-
300,000 tonnes/year. The complex would be located in southern
Myanmar, on the Daimensek coast in Mon state, where the 210-km
offshore pipeline from Yetagun field comes ashore, said Prasert
Bunsumpun, president of PTT Gas, a unit of PTT.
According to Prasert, part of the LPG from the proposed plant-the
first of its kind in Myanmar?would be sold domestically, where LPG is
a much sought-after form of household fuel for cooking. Some of the
LPG output would be exported to neighboring countries, but not to
Thailand, which is self-sufficient in LPG.
Prasert said further details of the project would be available in
September upon completion of the feasibility study.
PTT and Petronas hope to include Burmese state firms-including Myanma
Oil & Gas Enterprise-as partners in the project, although formal
discussions have yet to take place.
PTT and Petronas are looking at Yetagun gas for separation, rather
than gas from Yadana, the country's largest gas field, because the
qualities of Yetagun gas are more suitable. The proposed gas
separation plant would create added value for the Yetagun gas stream,
which has officially begun to flow to Thailand through an onshore
cross-country pipeline.
The full take-or-pay contract requires PTT to take 200 MMcfd of gas
from the pipeline, but PTT, the sole gas buyer, has not been able to
take all the contractual rate because of a delay in the construction
of Ratchaburi power plant and a domestic west-east gas pipeline.
Petronas is a partner in the $650 million Yetagun gas field
development, which is led by Britain's Premier Oil PLC. Partners
include Japan's Nippon Oil Co. and PTT Exploration & Production PLC
of Thailand. Proved reserves at Yetagun have risen from an estimate
of 1.1 tcf to 2.92 tcf. The 165% increase, determined by DeGolyer &
MacNaughton, came as a result of additional drilling last year.
The proposed NGL fractionator would be the second natural gas
infrastructure project revealed for Myanmar. The Burmese military
junta recently approved a project by a three-company consortium led
by Unocal Corp. involving a $200 million gas pipeline from Yadana to
an onshore location near Rangoon to fuel power plants (OGJ Online,
July 11, 2000).
____________________________________________________
Nation: Skyline enters Cambodia [pulls out of Burma]
August 1, 2000, Tuesday
Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn / The Nation
SKYLINE Unity, a local multi-channel direct-selling company and
owner of Giffarine products, is testing multi-level marketing in
Cambodia.
Besides Cambodia, the company is interested in developing a multi-
level marketing network in potential markets such as Burma and the
Middle East.
Nalinee said the company was suspending its investment in Burma until
the political situation improved, while it was working for Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) approval to export its products to the
Middle East.
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________
Nation: Bush team flunks the Asean test
August 1, 2000
[Excerpt]
Those are the only really clear stances coming out of the conference,
though. Asked about possible US policy towards Burma, Stephen J
Hadley, foreign policy adviser for the George W Bush campaign, had
little to say. It seems that he should know that politicians in the
Republican camp are lobbying very hard to trade with the Burmese
regime. All the big corporate names want to do business with Burma
because of its abundant natural resources and cheap labor. If Bush is
elected president on November 7, it is likely that Washington will
adopt a more lenient policy towards Burma, as opposed to the Clinton
administration - with the State Department under the assertive
Madeline Albright - which has maintained a hard-line, non-wavering
approach towards the military regime, much to the chagrin of the
Republican lobbyists.
____________________________________________________
IOC: Letter from JA Samaranch on Burma at Olympics
[BurmaNet adds: This letter, from the controversial chairman of the
International Olympics Committee is in response to a campaign by
activists to prevent the regime from fielding a delegation to the
Olympics.]
THE PRESIDENT
THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
The Hon. Vicki Bourne
Senator for New South Wales
Parliament of Australia, The Senate
Commonwealth Parliament Offices
70 Philip Street
Sydney, NSW
Australia
Lausanne, 6 July 2000
Ref. nr 10921/2000/hmy
Dear Senator,
Thank you for your letter dated 29 June 2000, to which I reply as
follows:
In accordance with the Olympic Charter, it is the IOC's policy to
recognize all National Olympic Committees from independent States
recognized by the international community. It is expected that all
National Olympic Committees be represented at the Olympic Games.
In the case to which you are referring, the country expressly
recognized by the international community, in particular by the
United Nations, is Myanmar. The IOC has recognized the Myanmar
Olympic Committee.
It is not up to the International Olympic Committee to envisage
political sanctions against any country. If the international
community, in particular the United Nations, were to decide such
sanctions towards a given country, the IOC might reconsider its
position towards the National Olympic Committee of that country,
whilst keeping in mind that one of the IOC's main tasks is to defend
and protect the interests of the athletes who are unfortunately too
often the first victims of political sanctions.
Yours sincerely,
Sd. Juan Antonio Samaranch.
_____________________ OTHER ______________________
PD Burma: Calendar of events with regard to Burma
As of August 8, 2000
August 8th : 12th Anniversary of the 8-8-88 uprising.
Commemoration in Washington. For more
information please contact: Ko Yin Aye 301-770-1499
September : UN General Assembly, New York
September : NCGUB Meetings
September 18th : Anniversary of SLORC Coup, 1988
September 24th : National League for Democracy formed 1988
September/October : Second EU "troika" mission to Burma
October : EU Foreign Ministers to review Burma Policy
October : Global Day of Action on Open Schools
October 16-21st : 104th Inter-Parliamentary Conference,
Jakarta
October 18-19th : 4th Annual Meeting for PD Burma, Jakarta
October 19- 20th : The Asem Summit, Seoul
October 26-28th : The 50th Congress of Liberal
International, Ottawa
November : ILO Review of Burma's practises
November 2-17th : 279th Session of the Governing Body and
its committees, Geneva
December 11-12th : EU and ASEAN Ministerial-level meeting, Laos
January 2001 : Sweden takes over EU Presidency
February : Meeting of Solidarity Groups, Brussels
March/April : Teachers/ Students Union Conferences
March/April : EU Common Position Review
March/April : UN Human Rights Commission, Geneva
May/June : Meeting of Solidarity Groups
July : Belgium takes over EU Presidency
____________________________________________________
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