------------------------- BurmaNet --------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" -------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: 13 June, 1995 Issue #183 Contents: NATION: BURMESE GOVT TROOPS FORCE VILLAGERS TO CARRY SUPPLIES BKK POST:THE WICKED MARRIAGE OF DRUGS AND TERROR THE NATION:15 HELD ON BORDER THE NATION: RANGOON MOTORCYCLE SALES BOOM NATION: BURMESE GOVT TROOPS FORCE VILLAGERS TO CARRY SUPPLIES AP/NATION: RANGOON REJECTS WEST'S HUMAN RCRITICISMS AS MEANINGLESS BKK POST:ASEAN GREETS BURMA'S INVESTMENT MISSION BKK POST: THAKSIN SEES KEY QUADRANGLE ROLES FOR CHINA AND THAILAND NATION: BURMESE GOVT TROOPS FORCE VILLAGERS TO CARRY SUPPLIES Tha Nation/11.6.95 Kyodo A TOTAL of 23 Burma border villagers forced by government troops to carry war supplies in their offensives in their offensive against Karen National Union forces have escaped from their abductors to Karen-controlled area, a report from Thailand's border town of Mae Sot said on Friday. About 20 of them fled further on Friday morning across the border to Thailand. One was wounded by a mine and hospitalized in Mae Sot, while the rest were held in custody by Thai border police, the report said. It quoted one villager, Pan Ji, 26 as saying that he and 14 other men living in a village opposite Thailand's Mae Ku district of Mae Sot were abducted by Burmese troops on the night of May 30. The troops came to their village and seized the men from their homes, tying their hands with rope, the report quoted him as saying. Another abducted villager, Ko U, 23 said hundreds of villagers were forced earlier this month to carry supplies for government troops and to trek through jungle paths at night. Ko U said he witnessed at lease four of five fall and die along the way as a result of malaria and the Burmese troops, and the Burmese troops paid no attention to their corpses. Many government troops also had malaria and the villagers were forced to carry the sick soldiers, as well as those wounded in battle. the report quoted Ko U as saying. AP/NATION: RANGOON REJECTS WEST'S HUMAN RCRITICISMS AS MEANINGLESS The Nation/11.6.95 Associated Press SINGAPORE- Burmese leaders yesterday dismissed Western complaints of human rights violations, including continuing detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as meaningless and ineffective in scaring foreign visitors. "They used these tools but it has not been effective," said David Abel, Burma's minister for economic and national planning. The western yardstick of human rights " is not to the requirement of the Asian perception" and differs from Burma's ethos, culture and history, said Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw. Abel and Ohn Gyaw are in Singapore as part of a 45-member entourage of Burma's ruling junta leader, Gen Than Shwe, who is on a four-day visit here. Since the United Kingdom and the United States are among the leading investors in Burma, It is just meaningless when they talk about human rights and democracy and so forth," Abel said. The UK's US$634 million investment in Burma is the biggest followed by France, Thailand, Singapore and the United States. However, British companies are mostly Hong Kong-based but registered in British administered territories. The present investors, they are not scared(because of human rights allegations), they are prepared to invest more," Abel told a news conference. Burma's military junta came to power in 1988 after violently suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations. It refused to turn over power to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, landslide winner of a 1990 general election. She has been under house arrest since 1989. Ohn Gyaw declined to say if Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace prize winner of 1991, would be released July 19, the date her sentence technically ends. Suu Kyi was restricted to her house simply because she has transgressed the existing laws. It will be in accordance with the law that she will be treated," Ohn Gyaw said. However, he said junta leader leaders have met with her twice and so has US Representative Bill Richardson, a democratic from New Mexico. He was denied a second meeting in May. "At an appropriate time there will be continuing meetings, the process is going on," Ohn Gyaw said. Asked when the appropriate time will come, Ohn Gyaw replied: "I am not a prophet." "Appropriate time will arrive when appropriate environment and appropriate situation will occur...This appropriateness is for the sake of finding(solution) in a congenial way," he said. Abel and Ohn Gyaw said their main concerned now is to uplift the economy the economy, which was one of the region's most prosperous in the 1950s. But it stagnated from the 1960s during socialist rule until the junta transformed into a partially free market system. According to government statistics, Burma's economy grew 6.8 per cent in the fiscal year ended March 31, exceeding a target of 6.4 per cent. The country expects a growth rate of 7.7 per cent for the next fiscal year. The Junta leader, Than Shwe, is scheduled to return to Burma today, ending his third visit abroad since becoming chairman of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council. ASEAN GREETS BURMA'S INVESTMENT MISSION 10 JUNE 1995 Burmese Prime Minister Than Shwe, leading a high-powered military and political delegation to Indonesia and Singapore, has clinched agreements the boost ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Than Shwe, a senior general and chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc), signed an agreement in Singapore to strengthen relations, starting with tourism and agro-business. The pact promotes trade growth through simplifying procedures and cooperation in shipping. Than Shwe, who ends a four-day visit to Singapore on Sunday, arrived in the city state from Jakarta, where he signed a bilateral agreement to boost economic and trade relations. Both Singapore and Indonesia are members of Asean, which also includes Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand and Than Shwe's visits were his first to Asean nations since he became chairman of the Slorc in 1992. As well as talks on economic cooperation, Than Shwe was also expected to discuss the prospect of Burma's participation in Asean activities. "Singapore will help Myanmar [Burma] integrate itself into the region and develop like the countries of Asean," Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said during a speech at a dinner. But Goh also told Than Shwe that Burma should continue improving its economic and political climate wanted to attract more foreign investment. Earlier this week, Singapore Technologies Industrial Corporation said it had signed a memorandum of understanding to build a US$ 360 million international airport in Mandalay. Analysts said Than Shwe's visits were sign of Asean's divergence from efforts to isolate Burma and of a desire to take advantage of its rich resources and cheap labour. "Than Shwe's visit is in keeping with the Asean strategy not to ostracise the country because of its human rights record but to help it to integrate with the region," said Kripa Sridharan, a political scientist at the national University of Singapore. "Given that there is a positive trend in Myanmar to liberalise its economy, and efforts by some Asean countries to diversify, one could expect strengthening of cooperation between Asean and Myanmar," said Kevin Chew, economist at Baring Securities. (BP & TN) Mail: (i)ndex (u)nread (w)rite (c)apture (d)elete (s)ave (h)elp (q)uit: Message 13 (221 lines) >From steele@mozart.inet.co.th Mon Jun 12 03:38:22 1995 Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 17:38:23 +0700 (GMT+0700) From: Douglas Steele To: strider Cc: Douglas Steele Subject: news NATION: 15 HELD ON BORDER 12 JUNE 1995 Burmese troops have arrested 15 Thais along the border in the past two days, police said yesterday. Pol Maj Phayuha Boosabong, a provincial Border Patrol officer, said Burmese soldiers on Saturday apprehended two Thais in Kra Buri district's Ban Klong Krang. Villagers told police they saw Burmese soldiers from Hill 491 arrest another 1 3 Thais in the same area yesterday afternoon, Phayuha said. (TN) RANGOON MOTORCYCLE SALES BOOM 12 JUNE 1995 Motorbike dealers have stepped up a sales drive in the capital of Burma as a growing number of citizens turn to motorbikes to deal with the worsening traffic situation. Dealers said demand for motorbikes has also grown rapidly in recent months because such vehicles have low fuel consumption and their prices have dropped. A new 50 cc motorbike now sells for about 200,000 kyats against 400,000 kyats in the past, the dealers said. A Thai trading company recently sold two cars for office use in Rangoon and purchased three motorbikes to cut costs. A bike sales agency affiliated with Honda Motor Co of Japan will open a showroom for bikes later this month. The agency said it has increased its monthly sales target to more than 250 units from a monthly average of 150 sold last year. Another sales agency affiliated with Suzuki Motor Corp of Japan, which opened a showroom in April last year, said it plans to sell various models, including those with larger engine capacity, to meet the growing needs of customers. (TN) THE WICKED MARRIAGE OF DRUGS AND TERROR 12 JUNE 1995 The stark face of narco-terrorism was seen in Thailand last week. The heroin warlord Khun Sa and a reputed "Mr Big" of Prachin Buri province tried to trade guns for drugs. Police broke the case and seized three Soviet anti-aircraft missiles bound across Thailand to the northern Chiang Mai fron tier. The million-baht barter deal involved arms from Cambodia, drugs from Burma, and broker and his messengers in Thailand. Two Thai men carrying the missiles northwest from Cambodia were intercepted by police. Authorities arrested the two gun-runners involved in actually transporting the SA-7 Strella missiles. These were the small fish. Unknown Cambodians government or Khmer Rouge and Khun Sa were not apprehended. Police Chief Gen Pote Boonyachinda provided few details of the investigation of the Prachin Buri businessman allegedly involved in the transaction. We hope that in coming days we will learn more of this mystery man, and in time learn that he, too, will face Thai courts. Narco-terrorism a melding of the illicit trades of narcotics, guns and money-laundering has long been a feature of the cocaine trade in Latin America. There, democratic regimes have been directly threatened by gangsters involved in this dirty business. Only determined and relentless action can wipe it out. At about the same time Thai police were breaking up the guns-for-heroin deal, an elite force in Colombia was arresting that nation's leading drugs dealer. Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, who with his brother headed the infamous Cali cartel, was found hiding in a closet in his home. Although there was no immediate link to Saturday night's murder ous bomb blast in Medellin, analysts noted the bomb, intended to kill "as many people as possible", was planted only one day after the arrest of Rodriguez. Gen Pote and other experts said that Khun Sa wants anti-aircraft missiles to fight off attacks by the Burmese army on his fiefdom next door to Thailand. In fact, the warlord has long been ru moured to possess such weapons. Links to illegal arms dealers also have been reported in the past, but never confirmed. The international scope of the deal, involving crooks from at least three different countries, must give our authorities cause for concern and motivation to press harder against such criminals. There can be little doubt that our own police are equal to the task. Over the past many months, Thai police, border police and the Army have tightened and re-tightened the border opposite Khun Sa's area of influence inside Burma. As Gen Pote said at last week's news conference, "Thailand does n't give support to Khun Sa. Thai police already have a warrant against him and if they see Khun Sa they will arrest him immedi ately." In two separate cases, Thai courts are considering extra dition of former MP Thanong Siripreechapong and 10 of Khun Sa's lieutenants. Our Burmese and Cambodian neighbours inspire less confidence. Slorc authorities have spent the last two dry seasons in military offensives against Khun Sa. Although they clearly wish to destroy the heroin trade is more problematic. As for Cambodia, that fledgling nation is still reeling from a long and brutal civil war. The nation has become a major transit point for narcotics, guns and laundered money. The government is hard-pressed in trying to deal with these problems. Starting today, US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents based in Bangkok will begin a two-week training course for 45 Cambodian anti-drugs police and military officers. There is much work to do. When men like Khun Sa or "Mr Big" gain an advantage, they are relentless. They use the huge amounts of money gained in narcot ics and arms trafficking to corrupt. Today, many parts of Latin America are involved in life-and-death battles against cocaine cartels. All society is involved, from the brutalised farmers to the upper levels of local and national government. In the last two months of an anti-drug campaign in Colombia, President Ernesto Samper has dismissed 220 police officers including three colonels and 13 lieutenant colonels. In addition, 400 sergeants and 1,600 police men were dismissed. The missiles seizure shows the international scope of narco- terrorism in our own midst. Drugs and weapons combine into a deadly and serious corruption problem. The men involved seek to control politics and nations. They corrupt individuals, pervert societies and debase the nations where they live. Khun Sa and "Mr Big" of Prachin Buri are two of a kind. (BP) THAKSIN SEES KEY QUADRANGLE ROLES FOR CHINA AND THAILAND 12 JUNE 1995 Both China and Thailand have a major role to play in the imple mentation of the Economic Quadrangle Cooperation Plan, according to Palang Dharma party leader, Thaksin Shinawatra. "Sincerity and seriousness" from each member country Thailand, Laos, Burma and South China will be needed to overcome obstacles, said Mr Thaksin after the opening ceremony of Shinawatra Group's building in Chiang Mai. He said the Palang Dharma Party readily supports pushing the quadrangle forward. The aim of the economic quadrangle is to foster regional links between member countries to promote trade and business activities. Given the potential of China's huge consumer market, trading and business activities between Thailand and southern China is seen as essential in the development of northern Thailand. "We must seriously stimulate this cooperation. Burma in particu lar must be more supportive than it is," said Mr Thaksin. "I think it's necessary to push this matter because it's part of the economic development in the north, and so far there is very little cooperation regarding transport management on the Mekong river." (BP) END REPORT