BurmaNet News: April 28, 2001

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
         April 28, 2001   Issue # 1792
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________

NOTED IN PASSING: ?One of the lessons of the 1970s and 1980s, when 
foreign aid flowed too generously into Burma, was that changes were not 
fostered; the result was little economic and political progress.?

David Steinberg.  See International Herald Tribune: Burma Has Done 
Nothing to Deserve Japan's Aid Reward  


INSIDE BURMA _______
*Freedom News (Shan State Army): Burmese shells hit Thai Royal Project 
water tank storage
*DVB : Burmese domestic media silent on Bilin bank bomb blast
*Mizzima: Illegal gambling widespread in Burma

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Korea Times : Burmese Dissidents Visit Seoul 
*AFP: Thailand to urge Myanmar to appoint anti-drugs envoy
*Bangkok Post: Surakiart urged to take up coal protest with Burma
*The Hindu (New Delhi): Delhi wary of Musharraf's visit to Myanmar

ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Bangkok Post: Red Wa branch out into heroin supply

OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*International Herald Tribune: Burma Has Done Nothing to Deserve Japan's 
Aid Reward  
*NCGUB: Japanese 'Reward' for Generals Premature

OTHER______
*Project Maje: "Ashes and Tears: Interviews with Refugees from Burma on 
Guam" 

TECH_____
*New York Times: Punching Holes in Internet Walls
					
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________




Freedom News (Shan State Army): Burmese shells hit Thai Royal Project 
water tank storage

28 April 2001

w
This morning, the 28th of April 2001, the enemy attack on SSA held Loi 
Honok, a strategic hill lock over looking camp Par Khee,  came at 
05:30hr with more than 1,000 men in strength. These troops were support 
by at least 4, 120-mm heavy mortars as well as several smaller calibres. 
At the time of reporting (11:30 hr) about 15 rounds of their shells have 
landed on Thai soil, a water storage tank in the Royal Development 
Project at Doi Angkhang was damage, 2 rounds landed on the border 
highway causing slight damage. At the time of reporting the enemy are 
preparing for their next assault and for the day the battle is in 
progress. 

Related Battle News
Pang Kaw

On 24th April 2001, at 17:30 hr, men from Burmese junta's 382nd infantry 
battalion were engaged in a battle with SSA's 150th battalion, 758th 
brigade at Pang Kaw range, Naa Pwe tract, Lai Kha township. Due to the 
involvement of many recruits among them, SSA troops had to protect their 
rear in order to let them withdraw orderly. The battle lasted for 1:30 
hr, the casualty of the enemy was not known while 2 of SSA men 
sacrificed their lives for their nation. They were (1) Cpl: Kaw and (2) 
Pvt: Kya with 1 M16 rifle. 
Nar Kong Moo

On 27th April 2001, at 06:10 hr, some men from SSA's 453rd battalion, 
727th brigade, led by Captain Ba Htoon  ambushed an enemy convoy on the 
road between Naa Kong Moo and Mong Harng, Mong Ton township, where a 
side lane leads upward to Nam Look not far from Par Khee battle field. 
The casualty of the enemy was not yet known, while all of SSA men are 
safe. 

28 April 2001


The Battle of Par Khee Continues
40 Burmese troops put out of action

Since 22nd April 2001, the battle of Par Khee has been going on  with no 
end in sight. And today (28th April ), the first wave of attack came at 
05:30 hr, with 8 battalions strength consisting of more than 1,000 
Burmese troopers. They came in 4 prongs attack on both Par Khee and Loi 
Honok. Their 2 regiment commands at the rear gave fire support with 
120-mm heavy mortars. The enemy, which came in waves, were repulsed 
several times by well entrenched SSA troops. In these firefights, the 
enemy lost more than 40 dead, including 2 Captains from 225th and 519th 
infantry battalions. Many of them were also wounded. SSA casualties were 
2 wounded. The Burmese soldiers were ordered to re-occupied their former 
camp, at all cost. As of this final field report, at 20:00 hr., the 
battle is still going on fiercely, with SSA holding both the Par Khee 
and Loi Honok strategic positions. 





___________________________________________________



DVB : Burmese domestic media silent on Bilin bank bomb blast 


DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] has learned that a bomb exploded in 
Bilin, Mon State on 9 April morning. It is not known which group is 
responsible for the bombing. DVB correspondent Ma Sandar filed this 
report. 

[Ma Sandar] A time bomb exploded in Bilin, Mon State at 1000 [local 
time] on 9 April, Monday. The time bomb exploded in the Myanmar Economic 
Bank manager's office. Six employees were injured due to the bomb blast. 
So far the military government's news media has not issued any report. 
Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 20 Apr 01 



___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________






Mizzima: Illegal gambling widespread in Burma

Rangoon.  April 24, 2001

By Sein Win, Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com) 

Illegal gambling business has mushroomed throughout Burma and some 
observers say that the ruling regime, by neglecting the growing illegal 
business and in fact encouraging it in some ways, is diverting the 
peopleÆs interest from politics to day-to-day struggle.  
Gambling and betting are at present widely spread both in major cities 
such as Rangoon, Mandalay, Prome and the border areas. The authorities, 
receiving kickbacks and bribes, are pleased to stay as a mute spectator 
to this growing illegal business, which has been steadily destroying the 
spirit of the people.  

ôChai-htiö which is taken from the last three-digits of Thai legal 
lottery prize, ôHnna-lone-htiö which is from the last two-digits of 
BurmaÆs legal Fifty-lakh lottery prize, ôLay-kong-ginö which is a 
gambling game played with top at the four sides bearing pictures of four 
animals and ôSoccer bettingö are major illegal gambling widespread in 
Burma.  

ôWe get busy on those days when ôChai-htiö and ôHnna-lone htiö are 
declared. Gambling agents deposit or withdraw their huge amount of 
money, hundred or thousand lakhs on those days,ö said a staff from Asia 
Wealth Bank, which is the biggest private bank in Burma.  

The poor, vendors, government staffs, rich people, etc all are involved 
in this lottery gambling and betting. A staff from the Yangon City 
Development Council (YCDC) told this correspondent that everybody in her 
family does lottery gambling. ôMy whole family play lottery. We 
sometimes won and then spent it. When we lose, we are brokeö, she 
continued. ôAs the construction business which was a good business till 
a few years ago has fallen now, my income (through bribe) has fallen as 
well and we staffs in the Yangon City Development Council (YCDC) now a 
days are busy ourselves exchanging lottery numbersö, she said.  

In this gambling business, some Buddhist monks have surfaced to be able 
to give ôrightö lottery numbers and they are famous with many followers. 
ôSome won and some lost. They wonÆt have an interest like that in 
Dhamaö, said a monk from New Dagon township.  

In Rangoon alone, there are at least ten gambling umpires, which have 
several agents who work and in turn get the commission. The gambling 
dens get protection from police by bribing (call ôline-kyayö or Hafta 
money) the authorities.  
ôIt has been very good in recent months. I always give ôline-kyayö to 
the authorities such as division, district and township police and 
intelligence agencies. I never get arrested. At least they send me a 
massage before they come to raid. It cost me about twenty-five thousand 
kyats per month as ôline-kyayö, he continued. ôYou can see the sellers 
of Cha-hti and Hnna-lone-Hti everywhere even in the military compound 
and police stationö.  

There are many people who dislike the situation as the illegal gambling 
has become daily business for the people. ôI am really worried that 
people are everyday involved in this gambling. It is like in those days 
of King Thi-Baw age when the King himself encouraged the people to betö, 
said an elderly citizen who survives on a small shop in Rangoon.  

The cease-fire groups such as Wa and Kokant own the major part of the 
gambling business. They transform their black money (heroin money) into 
legal ôwhiteö money through these gambling businesses.  

Some say that the military regime is skillfully deceiving the people by 
throwing them into the gambling-whirlpool so that the people are not 
involved in politics.  
 




___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				



Korea Times : Burmese Dissidents Visit Seoul 

April 28, 2001
  
   Several Burmese dissidents will arrive in Seoul today to urge Korea 
to support the country's democracy movement. 

Five members of the Thai chapter of the National League for Democracy 
(NLD), will come to Korea for a week-long visit, Friends of Burma, a 
local civil organization advocating the rights of dissidents in that 
country, said yesterday. 

Lead by the renowned Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD was founded in 
1988 to fight for democracy against the dictatorship of the Myanmar 
military regime. 

During their stay, the dissidents will hold a press conference with 
local civic groups to urge the Korean government to stop supporting the 
Myanmar military regime and back Burma's democratization movement 
through various diplomatic channels. 

In addition, they will press the government to grant refugee status to 
the 20 members of the Korean chapter of NLD. 

The Korean chapter was formed in 1999 by Burmese dissidents residing in 
Korea. The dissidents applied for refugee status in May of last year, 
claiming they will be prosecuted by their country's military regime if 
they are forced to return home. But the Justice Ministry has yet to 
grant them asylum. 

The Korean branch has engaged in active movements to support Burma's 
fight for freedom, such as staging rallies in front of the Myanmar 
Embassy and working with local civic groups to publicize the dire human 
rights situation in their country. 




___________________________________________________




AFP: Thailand to urge Myanmar to appoint anti-drugs envoy

Saturday April 28, 3:52 PM 


BANGKOK, April 28 (AFP) - Thailand will urge Myanmar to appoint a 
special anti-drugs liaison envoy at a UN-sponsored meeting on regional 
efforts to stamp out the drug trade next month, a report said Saturday. 
Prime Minister's Office Minister Thamarak Isarangura said Thai delegates 
at the meeting would push for Myanmar to establish the position that 
would rank among international ambassadors. 
"A representative from the (Myanmar) side will be necessary and 
important in attempts to combat the widespread trade in drugs," Thamarak 
told the Nation daily. 
Thailand and other countries in the region such as China have already 
appointed anti-drug envoys to enhance international cooperation on 
drug-related issues.  
Thailand and China also signed a cooperation agreement last year in the 
fight against drugs, and Thailand will ask Myanmar to enter into a 
similar agreement. 
Thamarak will represent Thailand at the anti-drugs meeting in Yangon 
scheduled for May 8-11, which will bring together ministers from 
Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. 

The six nations signed an agreement in 1995 to work together to fight 
narcotics trafficking by reducing demand, boosting law enforcement and 
encouraging crop substitution. 

Their home affairs ministers meet every two years to discuss the 
progress of cross-border drug control projects and to approve new 
strategies devised by the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP). 

The region's narcotics crisis is a hot diplomatic topic, and the focus 
of a flurry of visits between Thailand, Myanmar and China which produced 
an agreement for closer tripartite collaboration on the issue. 

Massive drugs production within Myanmar's borders, which is feeding a 
serious addiction crisis in Thailand, caused a serious rift between the 
two neighbours earlier this year. 

A bloody skirmish between their national armies was sparked by rival 
ethnic armies operating along the border who are accused of involvement 
in the heroin and methamphetamines trade. 

The UNDCP said China was sending its vice minister of public security, 
Bai Jing Fu, to next month's meeting, which will be hosted by Lieutenant 
General Khin Nyunt, a senior member of Myanmar's ruling junta. 

Other confirmed delegates are Thailand's Thamarak and Cambodia's 
Secretary General of the National Authority for Combating Drugs Em Sam 
An.


___________________________________________________






Bangkok Post: Surakiart urged to take up coal protest with Burma

April 28, 2001

Bhanravee Tansubhapol

Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai should persuade Burma to move a 
planned coal-fired electricity plant, Chiang Mai residents say. An 
11-strong delegation which included members of the Rak Mae Sai group 
made the call in a letter to the minister, who leaves for talks in 
Rangoon tomorrow. 

The letter, which carried 5,000 signatures, said locals were concerned 
about the adverse environmental impact. 

They also want a say on any other plans that might affect their 
district. 
Gen Maung Aye, the Burmese army commander, laid a foundation stone for 
the plant in Tachilek last year. It was supposed to start running in 
March. 

The 60-rai plant will go on a site 5km from the Thai border. Offices and 
staff living quarters have been finished. Pang Polchai, a teacher at 
Bann Huay Krai school in Mae Sai, said local people did not want the air 
polluted with sulphur which was dangerous to life and the future of 
tourism in Chiang Rai. They thought the Burmese government would 
understand. 

A convoy of trucks carrying electricity generators from China was 
stopped at the Mae Sai checkpoint last weekend. 

Mr Pang said his group knew about the plant nine months ago and told the 
government but officials told Mae Sai people not to protest so as to 
preserve Thai-Burmese relations.

___________________________________________________



The Hindu (New Delhi): Delhi wary of Musharraf's visit to Myanmar

April 28, 2001 

By Atul Aneja 

NEW DELHI, APRIL 27. Concerned about the growing links between India and 
Myanmar, the Pakistan Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has 
decided to visit Yangon early next month. Gen. Musharraf is expected to 
reach the Myanmarese capital on May 5. This is a rescheduled visit as 
the General had earlier planned to visit Myanmar in early January, prior 
to the visit there by the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh.  


Government sources here say that there could be a strategic slant to the 
Musharraf visit as Islamabad is looking for a hold along India's eastern 
borders ever since it lost East Pakistan to Bangladesh. Not 
surprisingly, India will monitor this visit closely.  
Pakistan, according to sources, is keen on establishing a ``presence'' 
in Myanmar. That can come by negotiating ``commercial openings'', which 
would allow it to send Pakistani nationals in the country for long 
durations, analysts here say. China, suspected of viewing Myanmar as a 
gateway for acquiring influence in the Bay of Bengal area, has mastered 
the art of exploiting commercial opportunities for promoting security 
goals.  

For instance, China positioned its nationals in time- consuming 
infrastructure projects for construction of roads, railways, airfields 
and ports in Myanmar earlier. Beijing, among others, has developed 
Myanmar's Hainggyi base, constructed a rail link from Kalemyo to Pokakku 
and developed the airfields of Mandalay, Pegu and Yangon.  
Similar intent by Pakistan, though obviously on a qualitatively much 
smaller scale, is bound to concern India. India realises that the 
presence of any forces in Myanmar, which are inimical to its interests, 
can have a negative impact on India's national security. Several areas 
of Myanmar, such as the Hukwang valley and the areas west of the 
Chindwin river, have been used as bases by Naga insurgents. An assured 
Pakistani presence in Yangon, therefore, can result in contacts which 
can be used for promoting insurgency along India's northeastern 
frontiers further.  

Gen. Musharraf's visit is expected to lead to an expansion of military 
contacts between Islamabad and Yangon. Pakistan, is looking for an 
opening to sell its arms. In fact, Myanmar is not a new market for 
Islamabad as it has sold two consignments of weapons and ammunition 
worth $2.5 million in March-April 1999. Pakistan, which is familiar with 
Chinese weapons which it imports in large numbers, is also looking for 
tying up with Myanmar for the supply of spare parts. Like Pakistan, 
Myanmar also imports large quantities of Chinese military equipment.  

Sources point out that of late Pakistan has been taking greater recourse 
to arms sales as levers for drawing diplomatic benefits. For instance, 
its military sales to Sri Lanka during the heat of an LTTE offensive has 
been a factor in bringing it closer to Colombo.  

Given Pakistan's proximity to China, India will closely observe the 
extent to which the Myanmarese react to Islamabad's overtures during the 
Musharraf visit. As of now, the Myanmarese are keen to ``balance'' their 
close relations with China by forging strong ties with India.  

The visit of General Maung Aye to India and the trip by Mr. Jaswant 
Singh for the inauguration of the strategic Tamu- Kalewa road link was 
interpreted here as a manifestation of this policy. Any deviation from 
this stance, during the Musharraf visit, is expected to activate India's 
security concerns.    
  





___________________________________________________






Office of Congressman Underwood: HHS Refugee Aid for Myanmar Nationals 
in Guam


>From Guam Congressional Delegate Robert A. Underwood


2428 Rayburn HOB, Washington, D.C. 20515 Tel: 202-225-1188 Fax: 
202-226-0341 120 Fr. Duenas Ave., Ste 107 Hagatna, Guam 96910 Tel: 
671-477-4272 Fax: 671-477-2587
Email: guamtodc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Contact: In D.C.: Esther Kiaaina at 225-1188
In Guam: Cathy Gault at 477-4272

April 25, 2001 -- Congressman Robert A. Underwood today announced that 
officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office 
of Refugee Resettlement will soon arrive in Guam to assist the Chin 
Christians who fled Myanmar earlier this year. The team may also be 
providing assistance to those Chinese immigrants seeking political 
asylum. 

"Since March, we have been in discussion with HHS, primarily the people 
in the Office of Refugee Resettlement," Congressman Underwood said. "We 
asked that they send out a team to Guam t! o provide assistance and 
they've complied with that request." 
The team, which will include representatives from the Centers for 
Disease Control in Atlanta, GA, will arrive in a few days to begin 
refugee processing, to assist those immigrants who wish to travel on 
into the United States. The team will also conduct health screening and 
assist the local church and charity groups who are currently caring for 
the Myanmar Nationals who began entering Guam earlier this year under 
the Guam-only Visitor Visa Program. Myanmar has since been removed from 
the program. 
Congressman Underwood said the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
has the authority under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, to order 
such assistance. In response to Congressman Underwood's formal letter of 
request for assistance, Secretary Tommy G. Thompson invoked his 
authority on April 18, notifying all federal agencies that HHS would be 
making arrangements for the temporary care of the refugees in ! Guam. 

"This invocation of authority will allow the Department of Health and 
Human Services to provide, among other things, limited medical screening 
for communicable diseases for approximately 1,150 Burmese and Chinese 
asylum applicants on Guam awaiting adjudication of their asylum claims, 
to award emergency grants to provide food and shelter for those 
individuals, and to arrange transport to mainland U.S. destinations for 
those applicants who are granted asylum," Secretary Thompson wrote. 


____________________________________________________





_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
 


Bangkok Post: Red Wa branch out into heroin supply

April 28, 2001.


Wassana Nanuam

The Red Wa are producing and selling heroin in addition to their major 
product, methamphetamine, Third Army chief Lt-Gen Watthanachai 
Chaimuenwong said yesterday. 

Two consignments of speed seized recently, 7.6 million and 6.15 million 
pills, had each also included 4.5kg of heroin. 

This showed the United Wa State Army was selling methamphetamines and 
heroin in the same packages. 

He said the Red Wa had at least 55 methamphetamine plants along the 
northern border. 
Six new production bases had been set up just across the border from Tak 
and the pro-Rangoon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army had been hired to 
guard them. 
In the past four months, the military had seized 30 million speed pills, 
he said. 
But this was less than 10% of an estimated 700 million tablets expected 
to be smuggled into Thailand this year. 

Maj-Gen Tomorn Kittisophon, commander of the Naresuan Task Force, said 
the Red Wa had changed routes used to smuggle drugs into Thailand 
through Tak province. 
He also confirmed they had formed an alliance with the DKBA to guard six 
production plants. 

"It is widely known who the DKBA is controlled by," he said. 

The DKBA is allied with and supported by the Burmese government as an 
armed force to counter the anti-Rangoon Karen National Union rebels. 

A Third Army source said demand for heroin was still high. Opium 
plantations in the Golden Triangle area have the capacity to produce 
2,000 tonnes a year-enough for 200 tonnes of heroin


_________________________________________________





					
_______________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________




International Herald Tribune: Burma Has Done Nothing to Deserve Japan's 
Aid Reward  

David I. Steinberg 
International Herald Tribune  Saturday, April 28, 2001 

WASHINGTON Japan and Burma have had a special and close relationship 
since World War II. Among the young nationalistic, anti-colonial Burmese 
leaders whom the Japanese trained just before that war were U Aung San, 
leader of the independence struggle and father of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 
the current opposition leader, and U Ne Win, who led Burma's military 
and the country for about four decades. .

The emotional ties between the two countries remain strong today and 
good relations between these states have served the interests of both 
parties. Starting with war reparations in the 1950s, Burma received 
about $2.2 billion in assistance from Japan before the Burmese military 
coup of 1988, and hundreds of millions in debt relief and humanitarian 
assistance since then. Japan has been the closest industrialized power 
to the Burmese leadership since independence. .

The recent announcement that Japan would provide more than $28 million 
to rehabilitate the Lapida hydroelectric project in Kayah State that the 
Japanese had built in the late 1950s was not unexpected; Japanese 
sources had indicated some months ago that this was in the wind. The 
project is important, as the original power plant was probably the most 
effective foreign aid project in Burma sponsored by any country, and 
remains critical to that society, for it supplies a major portion of the 
electrical supply for Rangoon and other cities. .

The Japanese government has informally justified this measure as 
humanitarian assistance, because the people need electricity. Yet that 
is a rationalization implying more than is stated. .

Electricity is important, but Japan has been looking for excuses to 
restart its foreign assistance program in Burma for a variety of 
reasons, including the opportunities for business, contracts to Japanese 
companies for infrastructure construction, interest in the exploitation 
of Burmese natural resources, strong emotional attachments and the 
strategic concern to counter the growing Chinese presence in Burma. The 
informal ongoing dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the military 
junta and the easing, even if only temporarily, of tensions between the 
two groups provide a good excuse. .

Japanese officials in Tokyo were asked a couple of years ago what they 
would do about foreign aid to Burma if there were only cosmetic changes 
- if power still remained in the hands of the military and human rights 
abuses were still evident. The response was a studied silence. 
Evidently, this opportunity to resume a foreign assistance program 
loomed large. .

The United States has pressured Japan to withhold aid and present a 
united front toward the Burmese military by insisting that it honor the 
results of the 1990 election, which the opposition overwhelmingly won. 
The Japanese foreign ministry has tried to support the U.S. position 
because of the importance of the overall U.S. relationship, but has been 
opposed in this by the business community and other ministries. .

Tokyo has formally called for better respect for human rights and has 
advocated democratic change in Burma, but that position has been 
undermined internally by the liberal use of the euphemism of 
humanitarian aid. Japan has never followed the U.S. position, imposed 
unilaterally in 1997, on sanctions on new investments in Burma. .

Because of war sensitivities, Japan has been reluctant to levy 
conditionality on much of its past assistance. Funds flowed too easily, 
and although many of the projects and loans were important to the 
survival of the Burmese regime in its isolationistic period of the later 
1960s and early 1970s, much of the aid was less than fruitful, simply 
increasing Burmese debt that multiplied as the exchange rate hardened. .

All major powers concerned with the well-being of the Burmese people 
should consider how best to encourage liberalization of the military 
regime. As part of this process, it would be useful quietly to establish 
benchmarks of progress, each rewarded by foreign aid or other desired 
actions. .

It is also necessary to establish reasonable quid pro quos along the 
way. One of the lessons of the 1970s and 1980s, when foreign aid flowed 
too generously into Burma, was that changes were not fostered; the 
result was little economic and political progress. The Japanese may be 
sending too strong a signal, too early, to the Burmese authorities. .

The writer, head of Asian Studies at Georgetown University's School of 
Foreign Service, contributed this comment to the International Herald 
Tribune.


___________________________________________________






NCGUB: Japanese 'Reward' for Generals Premature

26 April 2001

 
Japan is once again showing too much enthusiasm in wanting to reward the 
generals in Burma.  The recently approved aid package of 3.5 billion yen 
for the reconstruction of turbines in the Lawpita hydropower dam in 
Kayah State was said to be "a gesture of support" for the secret talks 
between the generals in the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) 
and democracy movement leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.  
But Dr. Sein Win, prime minister of the National Coalition Government, 
said, "Any form of aid and relaxation of international pressure at this 
time can only do more harm than good to the fragile state of the talks 
in Burma."  
Japan assistance to the generals at this time is both premature and 
wrong.  "The SPDC has had ample opportunity to inform the people of 
Burma about the talks that have been underway since October last year.  
It has failed to date to do so," said Dr Thaung Htun, NCGUB 
representative to the United Nations. Aid at this time could reinforce 
the generals' belief that they can ease international pressure by 
pretending to talk without making a real commitment.  

"If the SPDC is committed to the dialogue process, Senior General Than 
Shwe could have mentioned the secret talks in his message to the nation 
on Union Day (12 February) and on Armed Forces Day (27 March).  But with 
the exception of some good words for democracy and harmonizing efforts, 
no mention of the talks was made to the Burmese public."  

The SPDC delegate to the recently concluded session of the UN Commission 
of Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva also cited a number of activities that 
the SPDC has undertaken to improve the human rights situation in Burma.  
But strangely, the talks with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were not mentioned.  

The SPDC is also playing down the role of UN Special Envoy Mr Razali, 
assigned by the UN Secretary General in accord with the mandate of the 
UN General Assembly to help facilitate the talks.  His visit to Burma 
has been postponed time and again since January.  This does not bode 
well for the future of the talks.  

Indications are that the generals are trying to avoid making any 
official commitment to the Burmese public about the talks. The United 
States, the European Union, the UNCHR, the International Labor 
Organization, the Amnesty International, and all other governments and 
international institutions have judged the situation correctly and have 
taken the right positions.  

Japan should not go it alone regardless of the so-called "consultations" 
with other nations it is supposed to have had.  The generals should make 
an official commitment to the Burmese people about the dialogue process 
before they are rewarded. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for 
Democracy should also be rewarded.  Both sides should benefit from the 
dialogue, not only one party in the dialogue.  
The NCGUB therefore calls on Japan and others to refrain from taking 
action that may cause the talks to break down.   

It also calls on the SPDC to make a public commitment to the dialogue 
process to the Burmese people and to allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to have 
free access to her supporters and colleagues. 



______________________OTHER______________________



Project Maje: "Ashes and Tears: Interviews with Refugees from Burma on 
Guam" 

A new report, "Ashes and Tears: Interviews with Refugees from Burma on 
Guam? is now available for reading and downloading on the Project's new 
website <www.projectmaje.org> The brand new website is not listed with 
search engines yet, so one must key in the url directly. 

Project Maje is an independent information project on Burma's human 
rights and environmental issues, founded by Edith T. Mirante in 1986. 
The website will in the future add an archive of all reports which have 
been published by the project in its 15 years of operation.

"Ashes and Tears," the new report, consists of interviews with 17 
refugees from Burma, representing a cross-section of the hundreds 
currently stranded on the Pacific island of Guam while seeking asylum 
from the United States. Most of the refugees on Guam are from northern 
Burma, particularly the Chin and Kachin States. "Ashes and Tears" 
contains fresh information about recent conditions in remote areas where 
pro-democracy ethnic and religious groups face horrendous repression at 
the hands of Burma's military regime. A wide range of topics are covered 
in the interviews, including the AIDS epidemic, deforestation, religious 
persecution, mineral mining conditions, recent forced labor, prison 
conditions, and underground resistance. Interviewees include an elected 
member of Parliament, a former high-ranking army/police officer, a 
health NGO worker, and a survivor of over 7 years in Burma's prisons. 
Rare information on post-ceasefire human rights conditions in the Kachin 
State also appears in the report.  



______________________TECH_______________________



New York Times: Punching Holes in Internet Walls

 By JENNIFER LEE


[BurmaNet adds...No Burma specific content in this article but readers 
inside Burma may find much of interest....Strider]
 

April 26, 2001
 
 
 IF you live in Saudi Arabia, you cannot get access to pornography on 
the  World Wide Web. But then, you can't get access to Web sites that 
the  government considers defamatory to the country's royal family or to 
Islam,  nor can you use Yahoo chat rooms or Internet telephone services. 
And even if  you are a medical student, you may not be able to see Web 
sites on human  anatomy. 
 
 "They have the right to protect against pornography and political 
things,"  said a 31-year-old engineer who lives in Dhahran, Saudi 
Arabia, "but other  things shouldn't be blocked."
 
 But last fall, some Saudi residents found a new crack in the government 
 blockade. By masking the online destination of the surfer, a small 
Oakland,  Calif., company called SafeWeb allowed people in Saudi Arabia 
and other  restrictive countries to view any Web site. Just a few weeks 
after Saudis  discovered that back door, the number of page-views 
through the SafeWeb site  by Saudi surfers had grown to tens of 
thousands per day.  

 But in mid-November, the Saudi government cut off access to SafeWeb 
from  within the country, and the number of page-views dropped from 
70,000 per day  to zero. So via e-mail, SafeWeb pointed Saudi users to a 
new technology that  could let them get around the blockades, and the 
number of Saudi users  climbed again. 
 
 Saudi Arabia, which began allowing public access to the Web only in 
1999, is  not alone in restricting the sites and information its 
residents can view.  Reporters Without Borders, a media rights advocacy 
group based in France,  estimates that at least 20 countries 
significantly  restrict Internet access  (it is not known how much they 
monitor e-mail traffic on the Internet). Many  of these countries are 
involved in the same kind of cat-and-mouse struggle  over Web access as 
Saudi Arabia. 
 
 "This is a battle at the level of the architecture," said Lawrence 
Lessig, a  Stanford University law professor. "It is the code of 
cyberspace that gives  privacy and takes it away."
 
 On one side are the governments that have restricted Web access. In 
some  countries, like Singapore, most of the banned sites are 
pornographic. Many  of these countries also block the sites of political 
dissidents, but the  censorship may be much broader than that.
 
 In the Middle East, for example, anti- Islamic sites and gay sites are 
often  off- limits. In China, the prohibition includes the sites of 
Western  publications, human rights organizations and Falun Gong, the 
banned  spiritual movement. And Saudi Arabia also blocks sites for 
financial  reasons: its ban on Internet telephony favors its own 
state-run telephone  monopoly. 
 
 Countering such government restrictions are services, some free, that 
are  provided by companies like SafeWeb (www.safeweb.com), Anonymizer  
(www.anonymizer.com), SilentSurf.com (www.silentsurf.com) and the Cloak  
(www.the-cloak.com). During the conflict in Kosovo in 1999, for example, 
 Anonymizer, based in San Diego, set up free services so that Kosovo  
residents could communicate with less fear. 
 
 "It's like a Berlin airlift," said Alan Brown, assistant director of 
the  Digital Freedom Network, which promotes the use of the Internet to 
support  human rights. The difference, he said, is that companies like 
SafeWeb  transport bits and bytes, instead of food and medicine.
 
 Every day, these companies get e- mail notes and mail from around the 
world.  The tone of the users' e-mail notes is sometimes calm, sometimes 
panicky  ("Help!!!! They've blocked access to SafeWeb!") and sometimes 
politically  charged ("I hate these wall set up by evil group between 
China and  freeworld"). 
 
 "We get envelopes with very exotic stamps containing 20 bucks wrapped 
in  tinfoil," said Lance Cottrell, president and founder of Anonymizer, 
which  provides an ad-free subscription service for $20. 
 
 In six months of operation, SafeWeb has become one of the most popular  
privacy-protection services (often called anonymizer services), with 
word  about it spreading mostly through e-mail or word of mouth. Its 
services have  become especially popular among Falun Gong adherents in 
China.   

 The company was started in April 2000 by Dr. Stephen Hsu, a theoretical 
 physics professor who is on leave from the University of Oregon, and 
two of  his former students: Dr. James Hormuzdiar, a physicist, and Jon 
Chun, a  veteran of several small Silicon Valley companies. 
 
 Dr. Hsu said SafeWeb had been set up to let people around the world 
explore  the Web freely. "Our main goal," Dr. Hsu said, "was to open up 
these closed  societies through the Internet."
 
 Almost all of the censoring governments exercise control through 
central  gateways. Saudi Arabia spent two years developing the hardware 
and software  necessary to filter almost all Web data entering the 
country through a  central server. Residents can circumvent government 
controls by connecting  to the Web through foreign-based servers and 
through satellite phones or by  using the file transfer protocol. But 
those methods require either money or  some computer expertise. 
 
 Singapore and the United Arab Emirates force all Internet traffic 
through a  single gateway. China, which has decentralized Internet 
access, requires all  Internet service providers to block sites.
 
 The restrictions usually work by blocking the Internet Protocol 
addresses of  specific Web sites, rather than by filtering site content. 
CNN's site is  blocked in China, for example. If a requested site is on 
the banned list,  access is denied and the user receives an error 
message. In theory, that  user could also be traced.
 
 Many privacy-protection Web sites work by inserting themselves as an  
intermediary and masking the Internet addresses of users' computers. If 
a  user in a country with Web censorship goes to a privacy-protection 
site,  that site becomes a shell that can be used to explore the Web. If 
the user  types in the address of a banned site, the government will see 
the user's  destination as the privacy- protection site that is the 
intermediary. So  while a user officially remains at the SafeWeb site, 
for example, the site  has an embedded frame that gives unfiltered Web 
access.
 
 But when governments are alerted, they can shut off access to the  
privacy-protection sites. In March, for example, the Chinese government  
banned a number of such sites, including SafeWeb.
 
 Anonymizer combats such controls by changing its I.P. addresses and 
cycling  through domain names every few months. (Its users get e- mail 
notices  telling them the new names and addresses.) 
 
 "The names are totally random and not suspicious," said Mr. Cottrell,  
Anonymizer's president. "One nice thing about governments is that they 
are  not very fast. When we make a change, it takes them a long time to 
block."   

 But the governments eventually catch up, so privacy-protection 
companies  must develop new strategies to keep ahead of the blocking 
technology. In  some ways, the struggle resembles what is sometimes 
called the Red Queen  principle, based on a passage in Lewis Carroll's 
"Through the Looking Glass"  in which the Red Queen tells Alice, "Now, 
here, you see, it takes all the  running you can do, to keep in the same 
place." To control Web access,  governments need to collect new 
information constantly. To counter the  governments, privacy-protection 
services must keep one step ahead.   

 In March, SafeWeb took a new tack by releasing Triangle Boy software. 
(The  program is named for a  character on an episode of "Seinfeld," an 
artist who painted triangles.) The  design came to Dr. Hsu one afternoon 
in fall 1999 as he was trying to figure  out how to make a 
privacy-protection service unblockable. He was inspired in  part by 
Napster, the music-sharing program that lets people set up their  
personal computers as servers that are available to other users.   

 With Triangle Boy, Dr. Hsu devised a system in which users around the 
world  can download software that allows their computers - and their 
I.P. addresses  - to be used as conduits for sites that would otherwise 
be blocked. Triangle  Boy presents a problem for blocking programs, 
which have to try to stamp out  moving targets because the information 
is no longer stored on central  servers. 
 
 When the Saudi government put the SafeWeb site on its banned list, the 
Saudi  engineer from Dhahran sent e-mail to the company and was told 
about Triangle  Boy, which was then being tested. He has been using it 
ever since. But, he  said, his computer expertise put him in the 
minority in Saudi Arabia.  

 Within five weeks of Triangle Boy's official release in March, the 
Saudi  government started to block access to some of Triangle Boy's 
intermediary  computers. Saudi Arabia blocks Triangle Boy computers as 
soon as it can  identify them. 
 
 One vulnerability of a peer-to-peer system like Triangle Boy is that  
volunteers may be uncomfortable not knowing whether the traffic passing  
through their PC's is human rights advocacy material or pornography. 
Also,  governments could set up fake peer servers and trace the computer 
addresses  of people attempting to use the service.
 
 "If they want to throw some guy in jail for connecting to a Triangle 
Boy,  they can," Dr. Hsu said. "That would be the ultimate in draconian 
measures."  
 
 Professor Lessig said, "We have to wait to watch the response to see 
how  governments try to regain the upper hand." 
 
 In January, China announced an effort to build its own private version 
of  the Internet. Although the Chinese government is calling that a 
business  investment, the project is seen by many as an effort by the 
Chinese  government to maintain control of the digital communications 
that move  across its borders. 
 
 Nonetheless, Dr. Hsu remains optimistic about the trajectory of 
individual  freedom. "We have a faith in technology's ability to effect 
political  change," he said. 
 
 His sentiments were echoed by a 33-year-old computer engineer in 
Jiaxing,  China, who uses privacy-protection sites to visit the Web site 
of the Voice  of America. "Historically, development always breaks 
through boundaries," he  wrote via e- mail. "For one, technology always 
develops. But more  importantly, information always spreads among 
people."


________________


The BurmaNet News is an Internet newspaper providing comprehensive 
coverage of news and opinion on Burma  (Myanmar) from around the world.  
If you see something on Burma, you can bring it to our attention by 
emailing it to strider@xxxxxxx

To automatically subscribe to Burma's only free daily newspaper in 
English, send an email to:
burmanet-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to The BurmaNet News in Burmese, send an email to:

burmanetburmese-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


You can also contact BurmaNet by fax:

(US) +1(413)604-9008

(Japan) +81 (3) 4512-8143


________________


Burma News Summaries available by email or the web

There are three Burma news digest services available via either email or 
the web.

Burma News Update
Frequency: Biweekly
Availability: By fax or the web.
Viewable online at http://www.soros.org/burma/burmanewsupdate/index.html
Cost: Free
Published by: Open Society Institute, Burma Project

The Burma Courier 
Frequency: Weekly 
Availability: E-mail, fax or post.  To subscribe or unsubscribe by email 
celsus@xxxxxxxxxxx
Viewable on line at: http://www.egroups.com/group/BurmaCourier
Cost: Free
Note: News sources are cited at the beginning of an article. 
Interpretive comments and background
details are often added.

Burma Today
Frequency: Weekly
Availability: E-mail
Viewable online at http://www.worldviewrights.org/pdburma/today.html
To subscribe, write to pdburma@xxxxxxxxx
Cost: Free
Published by: PD Burma (The International Network of Political Leaders 
Promoting Democracy in Burma)




________________

==^================================================================
EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://igc.topica.com/u/?b1dbSX.b1CGhI
Or send an email To: burmanet-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This email was sent to: reg.burma@xxxxxxxxxx

T O P I C A  -- Learn More. Surf Less.
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
==^================================================================