- ------------------------- BurmaNet --------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" - -------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: 22 APRIL 1995 Issue #154 - -------------------------------------------------------------- NOTED IN PASSING: The biggest obstacle to humanitarian projects today is direct or indirect control by the military clique. In addition to rampant corruption in every department, humanitarian assistance for civilians through SLORC administration are always abused or diverted to military use. There have been recorded cases of UNICEF medicines being captured at the frontline from SLORC troops. Dr. Thaung Htun Contents: - -------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT REQUESTS BAG-UK: 1996 YEAR OF THE TOURIST...... THINKING OF A CAMPAIGN? EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (BAD NEWS FOR ACTIVISTS) NCGUB: RESPONSE TO TORONTO GLOBE ARTICLE BURMANET RESOURCE LIST ABSDF: CONDOLENCE MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U.S. GOC: OUELLET URGES MYANMAR AUTHORITIES TO FIND PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO INTERNAL STRIFE - -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: NZ PARTY LEADER SEEKS THAI SUPPORT BKK POST: BURMA PUTS LAWYER IN JAIL FOR ATTENDING A MEETING BKK POST: E & O TO RUN RIVER CRUISES ALONG BURMA'S IRRAWADDY AP/BKK POST: RANGOON LURES 110 US FIRMS DESPITE REPRESSION SLORC: RETURN TO MYANMAR--A VETERANS' GROUP REVISITS BURMA AFTER 50 YEARS AP: BURMA JUNTA ATTRACTS INVESTORS - -------------------------------------------------------------- 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. - -------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT REQUEST 002 Dear sir, May I ask you to help me find a friend who was like my brother many years ago. The last time I know of his place was at the University of Hidelberg, West Germany. He was doing research on Burmese Literature at that time. His name is U Tin Htway. - -------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT REQUEST 003 If there are any Kachins or students of post-Colonial Kachin history, please contact burmanet@igc.apc.org. - -------------------------------------------------------------- BAG-UK: 1996 YEAR OF THE TOURIST...... THINKING OF A CAMPAIGN? 18 April 1995 Sarah Sutcliffe at the Burma Action Group UK is compiling information on campaigns for 1996 in an effort to increase information and ideas exhange. It contains a section on ideas and discussions, particularly following a workshop that was held on Tourism at a recent conference in Amsterdam, a section on specific campaign plans / actions, and a section of contacts and addresses of organsations and individuals interested in this issue, and a brief description of their plans for 1996, and resources they have available. This information will be continually updated, and is intended especially for groups/individuals who are hoping to actively campaign on this issue this year and next. If you would like to receive this information, would like to be included in the listing, or have ideas/plans you would like to share, please send a message to Sarah at bagp@gn.apc.org, putting "Tourism coordination" as the subject. Look forward to hearing from you. - -------------------------------------------------------------- EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (BAD NEWS FOR ACTIVISTS) - From 75361.1143@compuserve.com Fri Apr 21 09:32:42 1995 Date: 21 Apr 95 12:28:45 EDT To: "INTERNET:tun@macpsy.ucsf.EDU" Subject: Re: Pepsi Hires Hill & Knowlton Hill and Knowlton is one of the three pr or communications firms usually selected for their expertise on damage control. The others are Dorf & Stanton ("a Shandwick Company with offices worldwide"), currently having Hydro-Quebec as a client, and Burson Marsteller (which handled the Union Carbide Bohpal "incident"). You can bet your bottom dollars, activists, that your job will be a lot harder. The big boys and girls are reading the media tea leaves and monitoring oppositional movement.... One thing to ask Burma activists in Washington to do is to go to the public records department of the criminal division of the US Department of Justice and make sure that H&K has registered as an agent of a foreign principal if it turns out that they are doing damage control regarding Burma (or any other law firm, lobbyist, etc.). They are required by law to file a report of who they are meeting with, etc., every six months. And if they are lobbying in states, local activists might check with the appropriate state lobbying agencies, also. Sincerely yours, Ann Stewart (registered lobbyist #4632 with the USDOJ for the Grand Council of the Crees). 75361,1143@compuserve.com. - -------------------------------------------------------------- NCGUB: RESPONSE TO TORONTO GLOBE ARTICLE Attention : The Editor Toronto Globe and Mail Fax: : (416) 585-5085 Dear Editor, We have read with interest the report by John Stackhouse about the lack of funding, medicines and other needy medical supplies "for the elderly people, pregnant women and sick children" in Burma and his inference that this humanitarian problem in Burma was due to the international aid embargo imposed since 1988. The report we are referring to -- "Hospital makes do on 40 cents a visitor- Embargo punishes neediest Burmese" -- was published by the Toronto Globe and Mail on April 19, 1995. We, as well as the whole world, do agree with Mr. Stackhouse that there are problems in Burma. But, what we cannot agree with him is his conclusion that lack of aid is the root cause of problems in Burma. The Burmese people would refer to his case as "Anar Ta Lwe, Say Ta Lwe" -- the medicine being applied to the wrong spot instead of where the pain is. Even a person with a casual interest in Burma can see that Burma is not only rich in natural resources but is also one of the countries that has enormous economic potentials. The only reason that a country of such potential has become impoverished is only because of decades of mismanagement by the military dictators and their total disregard for the welfare of the people. The poverty in the country today is artificial brought about particularly because of the junta's interest in beefing up the military only. According to the World Development Report of the World Bank, 1994, war expenditures in 1992 amounted to 22% of the total budget while the health sector only got 6.8% and the education, 17.4%. The military has also been rapidly expanding its forces from 180,000 before 1988 to 350,000 to date. The military expansion continues today. In 1992, the junta bought $1.2 billion worth of modern military hardware from China and made a new deal worth of $400 million last year. The worst humanitarian situation in Burma today is that of the nearly one million internally displaced persons who are living in desperate conditions. These people living in non- SLORC areas (the area that is not under the control of military regime called State Law and Order Restoration Council) areas are getting no assistance and are constanly harassed by SLORC troops. The biggest obstacle to humanitarian projects today is direct or indirect control by the military clique. In addition to rampant corruption in every department, humanitarian assistance for civilians through SLORC administration are always abused or diverted to military use. There have been recorded cases of UNICEF medicines being captured at the frontline from SLORC troops. Drugs with UNICEF labels can be bought in open-air markets in Rangoon. An NGO worker who recently came out from Burma confirmed that health workers in rural areas were having problems bringing vaccines to their regions from the State capitals because the allowances for transportation funded in hard currency by foreign organizations were abused by the Health Ministry in Rangoon. With the exception of religious organizations, there are as yet no truly independent local NGOs. Therefore, foreign NGOs are forced to rely on government services and infrastructures. Decision-making by these agencies depend on a large degree on how closely tied each individual official is to the military and SLORC. Access to local people without official involvement is limited even in SLORC areas. The concept of trying to empower the local community is not something SLORC is keen to encourage. Despite this known situation we understand that the UNICEF and the UNDP are prepared to fund and encourage NGOs to work in Burma. NGOs wanting to enter Burma should be fully aware of the situation they are getting into as they are certain to be exploited by the SLORC for political gain. For example, an Australian study of the AIDS/HIV in northern Burma funded by the UN Drug Control Programme was not allowed to interview prostitutes and military men. SLORC has no overall health or development strategy within which NGOs can operate. NGOs are being persuaded to operate in Burma only because they are considered by SLORC to be the sources of the much needed foreign funds. In conclusion, we want every overseas humanitarian and United Nations organizations to consider the realities in Burma, making sure they do not becoming the tools for the military junta. The assistance for the Burmese people should not benefit the SLORC. We want assistance for the refugees on the border and inside Burma, in the cease-fire zones, in the liberated areas and outside Burma. We want cross-border humanitarian assistance for AIDS, food, safe water, medicine, training, for education, etc, and all this should not come through SLORC. (Dr. Thaung Htun) Secretariat member National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma - -------------------------------------------------------------- BURMANET RESOURCE LIST BurmaNet regularly receives enquiries on a number of different topics related to Burma. The scope of the subjects involved is simply too broad for any one person to cover. BurmaNet is therefore organizing a number of volunteer coordinators to field questions on various subjects. If you If you have questions on any of the following subjects, please direct email to the following coordinators: Art/archaeology: [volunteer needed] Campus activism: tlandon@u.washington.edu Boycott campaigns: tlandon@u.washington.edu Buddhism: [volunteer needed] Fonts: [volunteer needed] History: [volunteer needed] Kachin history/culture: 74750.1267@compuserve.com Karen history/culture: [volunteer needed] Mon history/culture: [volunteer needed] Shan history/culture: [volunteer needed] Tourism campaigns: bagp@gn.apc.org "Attn. S. Sutcliffe" World Wide Web: FreeBurma@POBox.com c/o glen Volunteering: "Volunteer coordinator", c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org - -------------------------------------------------------------- If you have expertise or experience in one of the areas above, or if there is a subject related to Burma which should be added to the list, please contact the editor: strider@igc.apc.org - -------------------------------------------------------------- ABSDF: CONDOLENCE MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF THE U.S. Mr. Bill Clinton President United States of America Date: 21st April, 1995 THe ABSDF is deeply regret to hear about the huge car bomb blast in Oklohama City building in United States which yesterday killed at least 36 people including 12 children and may have buried scores more. We are also very concerned about the missing of more than 300 people and those who were seriously injuried in this incident. We, on behalf of the Burmese people would like to express our deep sorrow, identical to that of you and family members of the victims for the loss on April 20 in Oklahoma of the United States. Sincerely yours, (signed here) Moe Thee Zun Chairman Central Leading Committee, ABSDF C.C H.E Embassador to Thailand Embassy of United States - -------------------------------------------------------------- GOC: OUELLET URGES MYANMAR AUTHORITIES TO FIND PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO INTERNAL STRIFE Government of Canada Foreign Affairs Minister Andre Ouellet today urged Myanmar's State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) to work peacefully and seriously toward national reconciliation with the political opposition in Myanmar (Burma). The Minister also urged the authorities to refrain from escalating the armed conflict across the country and across the border with Thailand. "Escalation of the armed conflict can only result in more human suffering within Burma, create more transborder refugees and impose a further burden on its neighbours and the international community." said Mr. Ouellet. The Minister added that Canada remains concerned about the current situation in Burma, including continued human rights violations and the SLORC's refusal to abide by the results of the 1990 elections. Mr. Ouellet said that such concerns impede the development of full bilateral relations between Canada and Myanmar. The Minister called on the SLORC authorities to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, enter into meaningful negotiations with representatives of the democratic movement, set up a clear timetable and commitment to a transitional constitutional process, provide legal guarantees to minorities, abolish forced labour and facilitate access for humanitarian groups to needy communities. Attached is some background information on the situation in Burma and on Canada's response to the conflict in that country. For further information, media representatives may contact: Media Relations Office Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (613) 995-1894 Backgrounder - ---------------- MYANMAR (BURMA) Context Since the military coup d'etat in 1962, General Ne Win's Burma Socialist Program Party has controlled Burma and maintained it in isolation. In 1988, in response to civil unrest, the military established itself as the State Law and order Restoration Council (SLORC) . The SLORC promised to return peace and prosperity to Burma by ending internal political conflict, reestablishing democracy and normalizing relations with the outside world. The 1990 elections were won by the National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was placed under house arrest in 1989. However, the SLORC refused to allow the new Parliament to convene and claimed that a new constitution must be adopted before the Council hands over power. The SLORC established a National Convention, excluding most of the elected leaders, to work on a draft constitution that will formalize the military's role in Burma's political life. Two senior generals held talks last fall with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but no progress has been reported and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is now in her sixth year of house arrest. The SLORC has concluded military cease-fires.with most of the ethnic armies that have been fighting the central government for decades. No political settlements' have been reached. Last December, the SLORC renewed military action against the Karen National Union (KNU) forces along the border with Thailand. The main Karen stronghold in the town of Manerplaw fell in late January but the fighting continues along the Thai border. On February 16, Thailand placed its armed forces on full alert along the border after a series of incursions by Myanmar troops and allied Karen forces pursuing KNU rebels into Thai territory. It is estimated that the fighting in Burma has created over 70,000 refugees, most of them in Thailand but some also in Bangladesh. CANADA'S RESPONSE To address immediate human suffering, Canada provIdes financial and material contributions to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, as well as other humanitarian aid groups operating directly in the refugee camps. Canada also assists groups such as Medecins sans frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and the Burma Border Consortium of humanitarian aid agencies working with Burmese civilians, either within Burma or in the refugee camps. Canada has contributed almost $3.5 million to these programs. Canada has also made several protests to the SLORC authorities against human rights violations in Burma and has repeatedly demanded the liberation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. February 22, 1995 - ------------------------------------------------------------ Burmese Embassy Protests at Canadian Statement In a Burmese language broadcast at 1300 GMT on April 19, Rangoon Radio reported that the Burmese embassy in Ottawa, Canada, has sent an aide-memoire to the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade on 7th April 1995 regarding the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's 22nd February 1995 press release, which contained baseless allegations concerning the situation in Burma. In the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's press release, Canadian Foreign Minister Andre Ouellet expressed Canada's concern over the battles along the border and urged more efforts towards national reconciliation. The aide-memoire presented to the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade by the Burmese embassy in Ottawa pointed out that the Canadian foreign minister's statement was untrue, lacked concrete proof, was unconstructive and constituted interference, as it was based on groundless allegations and biased accusations made by the armed insurgents and their supporters. The state government has been striving for national reconciliation since taking over the responsibilities of the state, and 14 armed groups in the jungle have returned to the legal fold and have joined hands with the government in regional development activities. The remaining two armed groups are welcome to return to the legal fold and join in regional development activities. Although action has been taken against some people, it was not because of their political principles or beliefs but because of their violation of existing laws. The government is fully opposed to human rights violations. There have been no human rights abuses in Burma. - -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: NZ PARTY LEADER SEEKS THAI SUPPORT 21 April 1995 The New Zealand opposition leader yesterday called for support from Thailand to include her country in the Asian-European summit. Helen Elizabeth Clark, New Zealand's Labour Party leader, said Thailand so far had a "general attitude" on the inclusion of her country in the forum while Malaysia and Singapore were positive. " I think in the future Thailand will be supportive of New Zealand's involvement," she said. New Zealand wanted to take part in the Asian-European leadership meeting because the country is part of the Asia-Pacific region, she reasoned. "One issue which has been concerning in New Zealand is the prospect of the Asian-European summit, whether or not New Zealand will be part. It is because New Zealand is part of the region, and if something is going on, New Zealand wants to be there," she told reporters. The Asian-European summit is expected to be held early next year. Participants are not finalised. Mrs. Clark is on a three-day visit to Thailand ending today. She met with Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Foreign Minister Krasae Chanawong at Government House yesterday. She is scheduled to hold talks with Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanhaeminda to day. Mrs. Clark met with National Security Council Secretary General Charan Kullavanijaya during a visit to hold talks on the Burma situation. She called on the Burmese government to immediately release Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite being briefed by the Thai side that the situation in Burma was changing, including a general election after the ratification of the constitution. "I think that the international community needs to continue to express concerns that the election will be held and call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi," said Mrs Clark, who last year moved a motion in the New Zealand parliament calling for the freedom of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate on the anniversary of her five-year house arrest. It is uncertain that the Burmese junta government, known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, will release her. Mrs Clark also urged the Asean Regional Forum to start talking about confidence building measures to build a sense of security and better understanding for countries in the Asia-Pacific region. (BP) - -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: BURMA PUTS LAWYER IN JAIL FOR ATTENDING A MEETING 21 April 1995 A Burmese Muslim lawyer was recently sentenced to five years in prison after he had attended a meeting to discuss a government order to relocate a local Islamic cemetery in southeastern Burma. A press release from the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) yesterday identified the lawyer as U Wai Lin from Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State. The lawyer was reported to have attended a meting held by a group of Muslims who had expressed concern over the cemetery relocation order by the Loikaw Law and Order Restoration Council. The ABSDF said the lawyer was handed down a five-year sentence in the third week of March after military intelligence had discovered that the meeting had taken place. It did not say when the meeting was held, however. U Wai Lin was charged with violating the Emergency Provision Act. The act gives almost unlimited power to the administrative body to arrest and imprison those charged for security reasons. Meanwhile, travel restrictions have been imposed on Muslims in Arakan State, a member of the Muslim Liberation Organisation of Burma said yesterday. According to U Kyaw Hla, Muslims living in the southern provinces of the state have been barred by the Slorc from travelling to the Arakan capital of Sittwe (Akyab). He named the provinces as Myahaung, Minpya, Bauktaw, Khauktaw and Ponnakyu. He also said that the same travel restrictions have been slapped on Muslims living in Sittwe. These people are also prohibited from travelling to Rangoon "simply because they are Muslims." However, he noted that the ban does not apply to certain influential Muslim businessmen if they are willing to purchase an 80,000 kyat plane ticket for the flight to Rangoon. The normal price is 1,200 kyats. (BP) - -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: E & O TO RUN RIVER CRUISES ALONG BURMA'S IRRAWADDY 21 April 199 A cruise ship that used to ply the Rhine and Elbe rivers in Germany will enter service in Burma this coming November as part of an expanded luxury travel service by Eastern & Oriental Express. The "Road to Mandalay" service will offer five-and six-day cruises along the Irrawaddy River between the ancient city of Mandalay and Bagan, site of more than 2,000 pagodas and temple remains. The tour will also include visits to Mingun, Sagaing and Rangoon. Fares for a five-night southbound cruises starting and ending in rangoon range from 45,900 to 72,300 baht, including shared doubled accommodation, meals, sight-seeing excursions and transfers, domestic flights within Burma and two night' accommodation in Rangoon. The first southbound cruise from Mandalay will begin on November 8 and the first northbound journey from Bagan on November 11. The cruises will run fortnightly during November and December. (BP) - -------------------------------------------------------------- AP/BKK POST: RANGOON LURES 110 US FIRMS DESPITE REPRESSION 21 APRIL 1995 By Denis Gray WASHINGTON blasts Burma for its human rights violations but 110 American companies are represented in the country. Burmese who once risked their lives fighting for democracy now wield cellular telephones and speculate on real estate. Despite sharp Western critism and widespread anti-military feeling domestically, the junta which rules Burma nonetheless attracted $ 1.3 billion in foreign investment last year and appears to have co-opted some segment of the populace. Rangoon's generals are hanging tough, displaying a dash of cockiness as they welcome a steady stream of foreign economic delegations and entrepreneurs to a capital which has taken on the air of a boom town after decades of stagnation. "When we meet big western politicians they says business and politics go together. When we meet gib businessmen they tell us politic and business are different," say Minister for National Planning and Economic Development Brig Gen David Abel, penetrating his remark with a laugh. In an interview, the minister cited a number of economic successes including an annual growth in Gross Domoestic Product averaging 7.5 % over the past three year and expected to reach as high as 9% in 1995. Within two year, he said, a programme of pritisation would be nearly complete with only telecommunications some strategic industries remaining in government hands. By then a stock market would be operating in Burma. >From the regime's point of view, among the brightest recent developments has been the resumption of government aid by Japan, which like the United States and other Western countries halted such as sistance after the Military brutally crushed a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. Another prize is a billion-dollar investment by France' Total and Unocal of the United States to exploit offshore natural gas. This has made France the no 1 foreign investor followed by Singapore, Thai;and and the United States which says it neither encourages nor discourages private investment although its embassy here publishes a guide for visiting American businessmen. "The economy is about to take off," says Set Maung, a senior economic adviser to the junta. And there is little doubt that given its vast resources Burma will soon day become one of Asia's most prosperous countries. Businessmen in the region already describe it in the same glowing terms applied to Vietnam a few years ago, predicting is on its way to becoming another Asian economic tiger, or at least a tiger cub. Deep sceptism, however, persists among some analysts and critics. Burma's infrastructure is decades behinds that of Asia's economics dynamos, its currency is highly overvalued and poverty is widerspread, with yearly per capital income estimated at less than $250. Because of its repressive regime, the United States continues to veto and badly needed loan from the international Monetary Fund. And while many foreign firms clearly have no compunction about doing business with the junta, the risk of political upheaval keeps others away or at least wary of sinking capital into long-term projects. "Burma id really on thin ice. The military has a very, very thin hold which depends on guns. That's their only source of authority," says Josef Silverstein, an American political scientist specialising in Burma. He describes Burma's economy as a superficial,"Potemkin village". Mya Maung who follows Burma's economic development from Boston College, said real progress was impossible as long as a military council makes all key economic decisions while lacking expertise and managerial skill. Although the junta has crushed or crowd into sub-mission all political opponents, analysts like Silverstein and Mya Maung say detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu could one day unleash pent-up popular anger against the Military. Clearly aware of such as a possibility, the Slorc has ignored calls from presidents and parliaments around the world for her release fro nearly six years of house arrest. "When there is no security problem she will be released," deputy intelligence chief Col Kyaw Win told foreign reporters recently. "we will not bend to pressure from any quarter." With only minor concessions to world public opinion, Slorc has been Marching to its own tune, following China's path to tight political control balanced by economic it beralisation which appeases those who reap the benefit. The military's game plan is quite clear. Directing the drafting of a new constitution, it has reserved powers for itself that will insure its pivotal role in politics after a new government is empowered, probably near the end of 1996. Meanwhile, the military - described by one government officials as "a powerful state within a poor country" - is entrenching and enriching itself through lucrative business deals. Diplomats in Rangoon say Western Nations have come to realise the junta is unlikely to fall in the foreseeable future and thus are moving away from a no-win policy of confrontation to one of "critical dialogue." (BP) - -------------------------------------------------------------- SLORC: RETURN TO MYANMAR--A VETERANS' GROUP REVISITS BURMA AFTER 50 YEARS [This article may have appeared in print in Burma, but if so, it was not indicated by the person who contributed it.--Editor] By Kitty Delorey Fleischman "Welcome Jungle Fighters. " From the perspective of 50 years down the road, many things had changed, but the beauty of the people remained much as they remembered, and the signs of welcome were everywhere. A half-century changes a lot. Soldiers who had gone into battle as teens and young men, returned as grandfathers. Even the name of the country had changed--Burma is now Myanmar. Myitkyina has gone from a village of 10,000 to a thriving city of over 1 million. The airstrip that saw the comings and goings of a buzz of Allied planes has now been replaced by a modern airport. For the first time in a half century, veterans of the World War II China-Burma-India Theatre stood on the soil where many of them had served with Merrill's Marauders. A flood of memories brought to life comrades who had perished 50 years earlier and turned the peaceful countryside back into the battlefield of long ago where the cream of the Japanese Army---including the famed Chrysanthemum Regiment of the Emperor---was turned back in a rout as complete as it was unexpected. Popular opinion was certain the Japanese Army couldn't be defeated. The forces that were sent to fight them were a throwaway force sent merely to delay the Japanese. But the military genius of Gen. "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell, Gen. Frank D. Merrill and Col. Charles Hunter, as well as the sheer bravery, determination and grit of the troops which followed them, proved to be decisive advantages for the Allies. In a February 1995 tour arranged by B/Gen. Robert L. Castorr, to commemorate the end of the second Burma campaign, a group of 25, including American veterans and survivors of veterans, made the pilgrimage to retrace the steps of the famed Merrill's Marauders, as guests of the Myanmar government. Three weeks later, on the Big Island of Hawaii, as we sit next to a golf course on a warm, sunny day, I asked my father, retired Capt. Donald W. Delorey, to tell about the trip back in time when the tour arranged by Castorr took them to the place where, as young men, they had repelled the Japanese Army and changed the course of history. For me the trip has double importance. Not only was my father in Merrill's Marauders, my mother, Mary Jane Healy Delorey was a nurse who served with the 44th Field Hospital and the 69th General Hospital. He was also retracing the steps of their courtship as they crossed paths in India and Burma. Delorey first heard about the trip at a meeting of the Burma Star Association. As the group assembled, he was pleased to find several of his friends among the travelers. Roy Mattsomoto, a former Marauder was named as a member of the Ranger Hall of Fame, for his gallantry in the battle of Nhpum Ga. Ted "Zak" Zakotnik was a member of the First Battalion of "Old Galahad." Richard Gillette was a machine gunner in the first campaign. He was 20-years old when he complained to Lt. Delorey that he hadn't made corporal yet. Although he was a fine soldier, Delorey kidded him, I wouldn't make you a corporal if you were the last man in the squad." Two days later, he came back to restate his claim, saying that he was the last man in the squad. Lloyd "Cheeseburger" Hakenburg served in both campaigns with the 5307th and 475th. When the 17-year old first showed up in camp, Delorey told him to go and shave. It was his first time. Dave Quaid served the Marauders as a photographer during both campaigns. He also serves as the historian for the Marauders, and is a constant source of accurate information on the unit. Many of the other travelers went either because of their interest as veterans, or in some cases, as sons and grandsons of men who had served. Although time had changed many features of the land, peace had made the biggest differences. Rice paddies the Marauders had waded across knee deep in water and under fire from the Japanese looked much smaller during the dry season and without the constant rat-a-tat of machine gun fire. But, that is another part of the story. The tour started off with an elegant dinner in Washington, D.C. at the home of Ambassador & Mrs. U Thaung from the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar. It was the first of many parties to which the group was treated. After their arrival in Myanmar, as they went from town to town, it seemed almost as though each town was vying to outdo the festivities in the town before it. Dancers, singers and children in beautiful, lavish costumes greeted the group wherever it went. Signs welcoming the veterans' entourage were posted at the gates of the cities and often along the roads. The veterans were a staple on the nightly newscasts and in the daily newspapers. Major General Saw Lwin, commander of the Northern Command, took the group on a boat tour down the Irriwaddy River, followed by a sumptuous dinner with entertainment provided by students from the university at Myitkyina. Major General & Madame Aye Kyaw of the North East Command at Lashio hosted a trip to baths at a hot springs and presented the group with lavishly hand-embroidered vests and carvings of elephants. Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council, presented each veteran with the Myanmar government's Medal of Freedom, the highest award they had, thanking them for their assistance in fighting off the Japanese invaders. They also were presented with green berets, the symbol of Myanmar's own elite forces. At Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, the veterans were joined by Esther Po Ja Naw, a 73-year old nurse who had served with Dr. Seagraves and had traveled with his hospital into India as they had fled the advancing Japanese. Gary Layton had located her and invited her to join the group. Following the liberation of Myitkyina, Seagraves' medical team followed Stillwell back into Burma to reestablish the hospital. Esther Po Ja Naw was presented with a Bronze Star by General Stillwell for her work. Her husband found the decoration and with pride had asked her to wear it to the dinner with the veterans. In town after town, the group was warmly welcomed. As they toured the temples and marketplaces, Buddhist monks, grandmothers and little children let their pictures be taken with the veterans. "Everywhere we went, we were treated with such courtesy and respect," Delorey said. "The people were so warm and so kind to us. One 94-year old man who had served with the American forces came 50 miles to see us. The trip also had personal aspects for each. As sons and grandsons tried to recapture the images that were sometimes the last seen by their fathers or grandfathers, my father had his picture taken on the rocks on the banks of the Irriwaddy River where he and my mother had first planned their lives together. He found the site where her hospital used to stand. And he sat at the spot where they used to watch "Bedcheck Charlie," a Japanese airman with a notoriously bad aim, try each night to unsuccessfully unload his bombs on the airstrip. For 50 years, we younger Deloreys heard the story of "Babu," a little girl, around six years old, and Dad hoped to find out the fate of little Babu. As the Marauders had approached Myitkyina, they arranged with the village leader to allow the residents an opportunity to escape the coming clash of the armies. The village people were to walk straight down the middle of the road in the morning, so they could be certain no Japanese soldiers were hiding in their midst. Fearing for their safety, the villagers had instead come through the jungles. Thinking it was a Japanese ambush, the Marauders had opened fire. Several people were injured before the soldiers realized what had happened, and a grief-stricken grandfather carrying the injured little girl, calling her "Babu" as he went, etched a place deep in my father's heart. He hoped to find Babu, but at least, through a man from the village who had been 16-years old at the time and remembered the incident, found answers to several of his questions, and received some assurance that at least she probably was alright as the group of villagers was rushed to the hospital for care. Outside of Yangon the group toured an international cemetery for Allied soldiers. Even a half-century later, there were tears for fallen heroes. "Tommy, we love you even through you're buried far away. Mom," the brass plaque read. It was a message that could have been signed by many mothers whose sons never returned. After leaving Burma, the group entered Thailand and was taken to the site of the Bridge on the River Kwai. Again, even time can't heal all wounds as many who had suffered during tough years of war saw testimony of the terrible suffering that was endured by the prisoners who were forced--many for up to four years--to live on a handful of rice each day while they toiled to build the bridge that would have supplied the northern railhead into Burma for the Japanese Army. Frequent bombings kept the bridge from being as useful as it was intended, but did nothing to relieve the suffering of the prisoners who then had tobegin rebuilding it. The trip to Burma was a trek that took the group entirely around the world and 50 years back in time as well. Speaking for myself, it was wonderful to even hear about the trip. My father is no longer a young man, but to us "kids" he still is every inch a hero. I know it meant the world to him to go be able to go back to Burma, a place he has always loved. Shortly before my mother died, my parents were returning from the grocery store one snowy winter afternoon in Michigan. As my dad struggled to hold my increasingly-frail mother's arm and manage a number of packages as well, he finally decided to leave the packages for a subsequent trip and help her first. Turning to him, she said, "When I first met you, you acted like you owned the jungle, and now look at you...you've turned into a whimp!" Offended at first, my father, who fought in both campaigns with the Marauders and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, three Purple Hearts, a presidential citation and a personal letter from Harry S Truman, finally decided that at age 75, he had a right to be a whimp if he wanted. As for my dad, he still can scarcely believe that he was back in Burma. It was a wonderful experience. In his own words: "It was a real privilege to be with such a fine group of men...to be part of a group that was able to do the things Gen. Castorr arranged for us to do. "It was the trip of a lifetime." - -------------------------------------------------------------- AP: BURMA JUNTA ATTRACTS INVESTORS RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Washington blasts Burma for its human rights record but 110 U.S. companies work here. Burmese who once risked their lives fighting for democracy now wield cellular telephones and speculate on real estate. Despite sharp international criticism and widespread anti-military sentiment inside the country, the ruling junta attracted $1.3 billion in foreign investment last year and appears to have co-opted some segments of the populace. Rangoon's generals are hanging tough, cockily welcoming a steady parade of foreign economic delegations and entrepreneurs to a capital that has taken on the air of a boom town after decades of stagnation. ``When we meet big western politicians, they say business and politics go together. When we meet big businessmen they tell us politics and business are different,'' Brig. Gen. David Abel, the minister for national planning and economic development, said with a laugh. In an interview, the minister cited a number of economic successes, including a 7.5 percent average annual growth in gross domestic product over the past three years. It is expected to reach up to 9 percent in 1995. Within two years, he said, privatization will be nearly complete, with only telecommunications and some strategic industries remaining in government hands. By then, a stock market will be operating. Among the brightest recent developments for the government is the resumption of aid from Japan, which like the United States halted assistance after the military brutally crushed a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. Another prize is a billion-dollar investment by France's Total and Unocal of the United States to exploit offshore natural gas. There is little doubt that given its vast resources, Burma will one day become one of Asia's most prosperous countries. Skepticism, however, persists among some analysts. Burma's infrastructure lags decades behind that of Asia's economic dynamos, its currency is highly overvalued and poverty is widespread, with yearly per capita income estimated at less than $250. Because of Burma's repression, the United States continues to veto loans from the International Monetary Fund. And while many foreign firms clearly have no compunctions about doing business with the junta, the risk of political upheaval keeps others away. ``The military has a very, very thin hold which depends on guns. That's their only source of authority,'' said Josef Silverstein, an American political scientist specializing in Burma. Mya Maung, who follows Burma's economic development from Boston College, said progress was impossible as long as a military council without managerial skills is making key economic decisions. Although the junta has crushed or cowed all political opponents into submission, Silverstein and Mya Maung say pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, could one day marshal popular anger against the military. Clearly aware of this possibility, the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council has ignored calls from around the world for her release from a nearly six-year-old house arrest. ``When there is no security problem she will be released,'' deputy intelligence chief Col. Kyaw Win told foreign reporters recently. ``We will not bend to pressure from any quarter.'' Meanwhile, the junta is directing the drafting of a new constitution -- and reserving powers for itself to insure a pivotal role in politics after a new government is empowered, probably near the end of 1996. It also is entrenching and enriching itself through lucrative business deals. - -------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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