------------------------- BurmaNet --------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News:20 APRIL 1995 Issue #152 -------------------------------------------------------------- NOTED IN PASSING: Contents: --------------------INSIDE BURMA------------------------------ THE NATION:10 ARRESTED IN BURMA ON FAKE CURRENCY CHARGE BPP POST: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN --------------------------THAILAND---------------------------- BKK POST:SUNDAY ENERGY TALKS ON THE BORDER BKK POST:MAE SAI BORDER PASSES NOT OF MUCH HELP TO TRADERS BKK POST:ENVOY HANDED PROTEST OVER KILLING OF THAI IN BURMA -------------------------------------------------------------- o-------------------------------o The BurmaNet News is an | | electronic newspaper | Iti | covering Burma. 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Burma Issues is a Bangkok-based non-governmental organization that documents human rights conditions in Burma and maintains an archive of Burma-related documents. Views expressed in The BurmaNet News do not necessarily reflect those of either NCGUB or Burma Issues. -------------------------------------------------------------- (at titan.oit.umass.edu) (From News system) Are there any MON people out there? I am very interested in knowing my fellow Mon-Khmer people. ============================================================== 10 ARRESTED IN BURMA ON FAKE CURRENCY CHARGE 20 April 1995 The government arrested 10 people on charges of possessing fake US dollar notes and seized 147 counterfeit 100 dollar bills. The News Light of Myanmar newspaper said the fake banknotes had entered the country from Thailand, the state-owned newspaper reported yesterday. The newspaper reported that the government received a tip that the bills were circulating at a bus depot just north of the capital. Authorities arrested seven men dealing in the counterfeit notes there on April 9, the report said. The confessions of the men led to the arrest of three other people, from whom 140 fake notes were seized. The newspaper said the notes were smuggled into the country overland from Thailand. It also reported that airport authorities had seized 26 gold bars, weighing more than 26 kilogrammes. The gold, the report said, was hidden in the false pockets of Chow Chin Kow, the director of a locally-based trading company. The man was returning from Hong Kong via Bangkok when he was seized at the Rangoon airport on April 13. Chow Chin Kow said his brother, Anthony Chow, a US citizen working in Hong Kong, had given him the bars and he smuggled them in for investment in Burma. (TN) SUNDAY ENERGY TALKS ON THE BORDER 20 April 1995 Prime Minister's Office Minister Korn Dabbaransi and Burmese Energy Minister Khin Maung Thein have an unusual venue for their meeting on Sunday at the border opposite Thong Pha Phum district of Kanchanaburi. The exact location and time said to be around noon for the meeting has not been disclosed. The ministers will discuss issues related to cooperation on energy matters. Mr Korn said yesterday that those issues would include the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand's future investment plans for power generation, and Burma's natural gas supplies to Thailand. EGAT general manager Somboon Manenava will join the talks. Thailand, through the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, has concluded a long-term agreement with Burma for natural gas supplies from the Yadana gas field in the Gulf of Martaban at the rate of 525 million cubic feet per day, starting in mid -1998. PTT is also negotiating for additional gas supplies from another Burmese offshore gas field, Yetagun, with the development group led by the US oil firm Texaco. (BP) MAE SAI BORDER PASSES NOT OF MUCH HELP TO TRADERS 20 April 1995 The opening of two temporary border passes in this norther most district appears not to have been of much help to Thai traders hampered by the closure of the Mae Sai- Tachilek checkpoint due to heavy fighting between Burmese troops and Khun Sa's minority forces last month. A Mae Sai wholesaler complained about loss in income because only a small number of Burmese merchants have crossed the border temporary opened at Ban Muang Daeng and Ban Dong Ha, located 1.5 and six kilometres respectively from the Mae Sai-Tachilek pass. He said his wholesale business has also been seriously affected because Burmese clients have stopped making orders for large amounts of consumer goods. The clients instead crossed the Mae Sai River to the Thai side to buy goods in small amounts since they were not able to carry too much merchandise back to Burma, the trader said. Exports of goods to Burma through the two temporary passes have also been difficult taking into account the poor road system in Burma, longer distance and higher costs, he said. Time-consuming procedures at customs checkpoints in Burma have also caused inconvenience for Thai exporters. The wholesaler said he has already stopped ordering goods from suppliers because his current stocks remain full. Mae Sai Mayor Phakdee Rattanaphol said Thais are not allowed to travel into Burma through the two temporary border passes because of security reasons. Mr Phakdee said Mae Sai traders are hoping that Thai and Burmese authorities can soon settle border problems so the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint can reopen soon. He said the reopening should be possible since the closure has had a serious impact on border trade which is valued at about 150 million baht a month. Mr Phakdee said senior Thai and Burmese officials are expected to discuss the reopening of the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint at a meeting of the Joint Border Committee in Phitsanulok Province next week. Mae Sai vendors have been allowed to set up stalls along a road about 500 metres away from the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint. However, they have to move out today since their trade appeared to cause traffic problems. (BP) ENVOY HANDED PROTEST OVER KILLING OF THAI IN BURMA 20 April 1995 Burmese Charge d'Affaires U Nyunt Maung Shein was summoned by the Foreign Ministry yesterday to receive a latter protesting against the fatal shooting of a Thai resident in Chiang Rai earlier this month. It is the fourth time a Burmese envoy was summoned since the Burmese government launched a military offensive against ethnic minorities along the Thai-Burmese border. The aide memoire, handed over by Deputy Director-General of the East Asian Affairs Department Asiphol Chabchitrchaidol, demanded an investigation into the shooting, the Foreign Ministry press statement said. Thaweesuk Tankaeo, resident of Mae Ma Village in Chaing Saen District of Chaing Rai, was shot in the back by a group of Burmese paramilitary troopers while crossing the Mae Sai River back into Thailand. He succumbed to the fatal wound while on his way to hospital. The Foreign Ministry viewed that such an unfortunate incident had taken place as a result of an "intemperate and unrestrained" reaction by Burmese paramilitary troopers because border crossings by local residents of both countries was common even after the closure of Burma's Tachilek checkpoint. "The Embassy of Burma is advised that Thailand's view be conveyed to the authorities concerned in Burma," the note said. (BP & TN) TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN 20 April 1995 Languid, golden Mandalay was the quintessential Burmese City. The last capital of Burma's nobility, it was said to have the country's finest craftsmen, holiest monks and most delicious curries. Today, it could be mistaken for a Chinatown on the make, old wooden houses are being knocked down to make way for garish, concrete structures. Traffic and business transactions - often conducted in Chinese - approach the frenetic. The city's main market stocks crates of medicine, fake, Ameri-can label Jeans, tool's, foodstuffs and appliances all from China, which now dominates the economy of northern Burma. Meanwhile, Burma's Chinese neighbour is gaining military and political leverage with the national government in Rangoon. "China is the biggest country in the world. It has so many people so of course they come down. One day this part of the world will be a colony of China," says market trader Zaw Tun. Whatever, China's ultimate ambitions, its thrust into Burma along with recent aggressive action in the south China sea and a major naval build-up are stoking fears in the region. Having forged close military ties with the ruling junta in Rangoon and reportedly helping build Burmese naval facilities, China is seen by some analysts as seeking access via Burma to the Indian ocean for its bluewater navy. But most concrete at present is the spillover of Chinese economic power across its southern borders, not only into northern Burma but northern areas of Laos and even Vietnam, its centuries-old enemy. Recent travellers from the upper reaches of Laos report a similar influx of Chinese goods, traders, some illegal immigrants and the wide spread use of Chinese "remnant" currency as is seen in Burma. With Burma, two-way trade during the year ending February amounted to $1.2 billion, or or 60 per cent of the country's total exports and imports. Although the numbers are difficult to gauge, some Chinese have bribed their way into settling in Mandalay - located at the centre of Burma - and in areas to the north towards the expatriate Sino-Burmese returning home, they are creating resentment by driving up land prices and beating local in business competition. "If you see a Mercedes Benz you know for sure who is inside, a Chinese," says a resident of Rangoon, where a number of rich Sino-Burmese have returned to invest and make fortunes. Those opposed to the military believe that if democracy were restored and the country truly opened up to the rest of the world, Chinese influence would wane. Long time neutral, Burma swung into Chinese's orbit following the brutal put-down of a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 and the emergence of a military junta which follows Beijing mix of political control and economic liberalisation. Like China, Burma is criticised in the West for its human rights violations. Aiming to double the size of its military force, now estimated at 300,000 troops, Rangoon turned to Beijing which sold the junta some $1.2 billion worth of weaponry and extended loans at "friendship" rates. Although denied by visiting Chinese premier Li Peng as "sheer fabrication," Western intelligence reports show the Chinese have for several years been helping to construct three deep water ports and have installed a sophisticated radar facility on the Cocos Islands in the Indian ocean. "Beijing is engaged in building strategic road links from its border towns to all the seaports of Burma. It is helping to develop these ports," said the recently released annual report of India's defence ministry. "These are strategic moves of very high importance," says David Shambaugh, professor of Chinese politics at the university of London. "Beijing views Burma as vital buffer in relation to India." Increasingly, the question is being asked, is China embarked on a determined course to dominate Southeast Asia, or are recent developments just by products of an economic dynamic heading towards superpower status? TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN 20 April 1995 The Billy Joel music videos, super bowl, Hollywood hits, the latest financial reports and on-the-scene local news coverage. Channel-surfing in China has never before been this good. Shanghai, China's largest and most cosmopolitan city, is leading the nation in transforming television from a propaganda tool of the ruling communist party into an entertainment source that is offering viewers more choices. While the programming is still staid by Western Standards, it represents a significant loosening of government controls on television, which is state-owned and operated. Most of china's 600 million television viewers, about half of the total population, content themselves with limited programming on two or three channels offering sappy, slow- moving Chinese soap operas, variety shows performed by the military, and lectures on electrical engineering. "Even we in the television industry had the same effecting as the masses: there just wasn't much to watch on television," said Wang Jianguo, vice director of the administrative office at Shanghai's Oriental Television. Shanghai's broadcasting and television bureau is trying to liven up local programming in an effort to keep viewers from abandoning television for other forms of entertainment, such as going to karaoke bars. "As Shanghai becomes more affluent, the amount of television viewing has declined rather than increased," said John Kaye, director of television services for the audience estimate company Neilsen SRG in Hong Kong. Shanghai efforts in the past two years have resulted in 12 channels offering everything from ESPM to Carnegie hall concerts to tips on where to get the best busy in town. Things foreign and western are no longer forbidden in China, and such programmes give Chinese viewers the opportunity to be part of the international pop culture, introducing them to sports stars like Michael Jordan of the United States and signing groups like Sweden's Roxette. But Oriental's Wang is quick to assert that the new programming poses no threat to communist party rule. "China's media organs are still the mouthpieces of the party and the government," he said. Shanghai's ability to make such quick progress has been helped by the fact that it is one of only five cities in china with central government permission to import foreign movies and programming without higher approval. In November, China's first music television channel went on the air, part of Shanghai's extensive cable network system. But the real evidence of Shanghai's leading role in Chinas's television revolution is the establishment of the nation's only non government-financed TV station, Oriental Television. Although the Shanghai government provided start-up money, the station has gotten no further government funds and is responsible for its own profits and losses. Set up in late 1992 as an alternative to Shanghai television, Oriental's entertainment-oriented programmememing quickly captureed 42 per cent of the city viewers, compared with STV's 31 per cent. Although both stations now have about an equal share of viewers, oriental remains the trail blazer. In 1993, for example, it became the first in China to offer live broadcasts of the academy awards and super bowl from the United States. Chinese government television already routinely shows programmes from other countries, which generally are cheaper than American programmes. They operas and Eastern European movies. Oriental's news shows have departed from the standard format of tedious reports on government decisions and production figures accompanied by film of factory lines, tractors and rows of sleepy, white-haired officials in meetings. Instead, Oriental's reporters have earned a reputation for being first with local news, offering on-the-scene reports of flooding caused by a water main break or an early morning traffic accident. Also breaking with tradition is Shanghai's extensive cable television system, which says it has signed up 1.1 million subscribers in just two years, about a third of the market. That would make is the single largest cable system in the world, Kaye said. The cable service costs only a Yuan (95 cents) a month. Its 12 channel include four local cable efforts: a feature channel, an economic news channel, a sports channel and the music video channel. The latter is a far cry from MTV, the US-based music television channel - airing politically or sexually provocative Western videos would be certain to elicit a government backlash. "The channel does show some English-language videos, but they're all fairly harmless and usually cover top-40 pop music," said Tung, an American living in shanghai. Videos for Chinese songs show people running slowmotion through snowy forests and wistful women with wind blowing through their long hair as they sing of lost love. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET: ABSDF: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT AMNESTY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE AW: ASIAWEEK Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt. EQUALS US$1 (APPROX), BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION BF: BURMA FORUM BKK POST: BANGKOK POST (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK) BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN CPPSM:C'TEE FOR PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW GOA: GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP KNU: KAREN NATIONAL UNION Kt. BURMESE KYAT; UP TO 150 KYAT-US$1 BLACK MARKET 106 KYAT US$1-SEMI-OFFICIAL 6 KYAT-US$1 OFFICIAL MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN MNA: MYANMAR NEWS AGENCY (SLORC) THE NATION: A DAILY NEWSPAPER IN BANGKOK NCGUB: NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER,RANGOON) NMSP: NEW MON STATE PARTY RTA:REC.TRAVEL.ASIA NEWSGROUP RTG: ROYAL THAI GOVERNMENT SCB:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP SCT:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL TAWSJ: THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL UPI: NITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY