------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: July 5, 1995 Issue #194 BURMANET: A VIEW FROM GRAY HTA NATION: PTT TO SET UP HOLDING FIRMS NATION: BURMESE ARMY, KARENNI REBELS CONTINUE TO FIGHT NCUB: STATEMENT ON SLORC'S VIOLATION OF KARENNI CEASEFIRE NATION: POLICY TOWARDS BURMA HAS CARROTS, BUT NO STICK BKK POST: THIEVING COMES BEFORE FREEDOM BURMESE JUNTA BAN BETEL-NUT SPITTERS BKK POST: KAREN REFUGEES CONVERGE ON BORDER IN FEAR OF MAJOR BURMESE OFFENSIVE BKK POST: CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT TO EASE REPATRIATION OF MON REFUGEES FEER: DENTED IMAGE TORONTO STAR: " WHEN OUR SILENCE IS AN OUTRAGE " AUSTRALIAN SENATE: RESOLUTION ON ASSK NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: BURMA--RICHEST OF POOR COUNTRIES KNIGHT RIDDER: NORTH CAROLINA PROFESSOR TO HELP SET UP AN MBA PROGRAM IN MYANMAR BKK POST:GREEN SPOT DEAL WITH BURMESE BKK POST:PACT ON BORDER ---------------------------------------------------------- o-------------------------------o The BurmaNet News is an | | electronic newspaper | Iti | covering Burma. Articles | snotpo | from newspapers, magazines, | werthatcor | newsletters, the wire | ruptsbutfea | services and the Internet as | r.Fearoflosin | well as original material | gpowercorrupts | are published. | thosewhowielditand | The BurmaNet News is | fearofthescourgeofpowe | e-mailed directly to | rcorruptsthosewhoaresub | subscribers and is | jecttoit.Theeffortnecess | also distributed via | arytoremainuncorruptedinan | the soc.culture.burma | environmentwherefearisanint | and SEASIA-L mailing | egralpartisnotimmediat | lists and is also | elyapparanttothose | available via the | fortunateenough | reg.burma conference on | toliveinstates | the APC networks. For a | governedbythe | free subscription to | ruleoflaw... | the BurmaNet News, send | Fearisahabi | an e-mail message to: | t.Iam | | no | majordomo@igc.apc.org | taf | | ra | In the body of the message, | id. | type: subscribe BURMANEWS-L | Aun | [news only mailing list], | gSa | or, for the news+discussion | nS | list, type: | uu | subscribe BURMANET-L | Ky | | i. | Correspondance and letters o-------------------------------o to the editor should be addressed to: strider@igc.apc.org ------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER 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 have questions on any of the following subjects, please direct email to the following coordinators, who will either answer your question or try to put you in contact with someone who can: Arakan/Rohingya/Burma- [volunteer needed] Bangladesh border Art/archaeology/: [volunteer needed] Campus activism: Boycott campaigns: Buddhism: Buddhist Relief Mission, c/o NBH03114@niftyserve.or.jp Chin history/culture: plilian@asc.corp.mot.com Fonts: tamla@bnms.wov.com History of Burma: zar1963@violet.berkeley.edu Kachin history/culture: 74750.1267@compuserve.com Karen history/culture: 102113.2571@Compuserve.com Karen Historical Society Mon history/culture: [volunteer needed] Naga history/culture: [volunteer needed] [Burma-India border] Pali literature: "Palmleaf" c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org Shan history/culture: [volunteer needed] Tourism campaigns: bagp@gn.apc.org "Attn. S. Sutcliffe" World Wide Web: FreeBurma@POBox.com Volunteering: Dr. Christina Fink c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org [Feel free to suggest more areas of coverage --strider] ---------------------------------------------------------- BURMANET: A VIEW FROM GRAY HTA By tamla@bnms.wov.com (Tamla) Subject: A View from Gray Hta Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 06:10:46 GMT The View From GrayHta by Tamla About 118 KM. north of Mae Sot on route 105, which runs along the Thai-Burmese border, in fact just north of the Thai-Karen Mae Salid, is the entrance to Gray Hta. A trail of about 1 KM leads from the godown at the road to the camp itself. In that short distance it goes up and down several steep hills and crosses the Gray Hta river six times on log bridges. Some of the hills are so steep that the Karens have cut steps in the trail, and most of the bridges are equipped with hand rails, more to aid the galowah than themselves, I suspect. The first view of the camp is not impressive, just a couple of bamboo huts at the side of the trail. But a short way further on, one sees on the right a Buddhist monastery, a large structure surrounded by flowers and fruit trees behind a court used as a playing field. And as one looks up and to the left, one sees the first of many beautiful panoramic views of Gray Hta. Another is from the "Teacher's House" which was built especially to accommodate the foreign teachers of English. Gray Hta is nestled in the hills of Thailand about 2 KM. from the Moei river which forms the border of Burma with Thailand. Beyond the hills one can see the larger more foreboding mountains of Burma. "That one over there is Klay Yaw Lee and is the home of a special group of Karen people who are very courageous, and kind. They are also invisible to us ordinary people", says Kaw Ray Htoo my close Karen friend, with a mischievous smile on his face. Their culture still not far from their animist beginnings, is full of stories of magic and myth about rivers, mountains, trees and any other noteworthy feature of their beautiful country. Christians and most Buddhists do not, of course, believe these stories, but the Karens all know the stories and delight in telling them. Incredible as it may seem for a refugee camp, Gray Hta was not an unhappy place. Even though as "displaced persons", without even the status of a refugee, the Karens had almost no human rights, in Gray Hta the Karens had educated and caring camp leaders who created schools, an orphanage, a sense of stability and a mission. Life there was busy productive, and purposeful. Now that has all changed. This is the season of confusion and fear. The people who govern their lives have ordered them to move to BeKlow, a much larger camp about 60 KM. south. There they will be surrounded by a large fence. Is the fence to keep attackers out? Or is it to keep them in as prisoners? Will they be able to seek work, as they have done to provide a small but necessary income? Or will they be left to get more and more poor, until in desperation they may elect to return to Burma? Many Karens will take their chances in the jungle rather than place themselves in a Thai concentration camp. The order was given and then postponed, but not before some had already started to take down their houses. Now with the camp partially torn down, the order to move has been given again. As I write the Karens of Gray Hta are requesting reconsideration and delay until the end of the rainy season. They would rather stay in Gray Hta even with the threat of DKBO attacks than to accept the security offered by the Thai at BeKlow. Either way Gray Hta is no longer what it once was. Now fear and confusion rule. NATION: PTT TO SET UP HOLDING FIRMS 3 July 1995 The Petroleum Authority of Thailand will set up two holding companies for its oil and gas businesses as part of a reorganization programme. The plan is to be implemented on Oct 1 this year, according to Governor Leun Krisnakri. He said the oil refinery and petrochemical businesses are already independent so it is easier to create holding companies than oil distribution and gas business. The holding companies for the oil and gas businesses will be submitted for approval by the new government ahead of the Oct 1 schedule. If the approval process is delayed, PTT will go ahead with its plan and seek approval later. Under the new organization plan, outsiders will also be considered for top management positions. PTT sources said outsider professionals are likely to head the new holding companies because the agency now lacks enough capable people. Meanwhile, negotiations on the price of Burmese gas from the Yetagun field could be delayed by up to four months due to a change of pipeline size from 36 to 42 inches in diametre and Burma's expectations of a better price. The PTT President of the Natural Gas Department, Dr Prajya Phinyawat, said conclusions should be complete in two months' time. The Yetagun field is one of the energy sources for independent power producers (IPPs) which will sell electricity to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand. Besides the Yetagun and Yadana fields, Burma is considering proposals for development of new fields. The Yadana gas supply agreement was signed by Burma and the PTT recently. PTT, the sole supplier of gas in Thailand, has secured supplies for about 2,400 megawatts. (TN) NATION: BURMESE ARMY, KARENNI REBELS CONTINUE TO FIGHT The Nation/4.7.95 FIGHTING continued for the fourth day between the Burmese Army and heavily outnumbered ethnic Karenni guerrillas who were bracing for further fresh attacks. Casualty figures on both sides were still sketchy yesterday yesterday, but about 1,500 people have fled into jungle, some of them crossing into Thailand. A source in the Karenni National progressive Party(KNPP) said yesterday that those fleeing the fighting were former refugees in Thai camps who had returned to Burma after the ethnic group stuck a ceasefire agreement with the ruling Burmese State Law and Order Restoration Council(Slorc) in March. The latest Burmese Army attacks have forced them to flee again, and some of them have re-entered the camps. But the source said the six existing camps, there in Mae Hong Son's Khun Yuam district and three in the province's muang district, have limited space for new refugees and that if the fighting continued and more refugees entered Thailand, a new camp might have to be established to accommodate the newcomers. The KNPP believes that Slorc is determined to press ahead with its military advance and that its objective is to captured four Karenni bases along the Thai border, the source said. The four bases are identified as Kauk Kauk Hill and Mae Surin River, which are located opposite Mae Hong Son's khun Yuam District and Hta Na Khwe and Nam Oon, which are opposite the provinces Muang District. The source said Maj Gen Maung Gyi, the commander of the Burmese Army's Regional Control Command in the Karenni State capital of Loikaw, last month told, a visiting KNPP delegation led by its vice-chief of stuff Aung Mya that the Slorc wanted the group to withdraw from the four strongholds. The Burmese Army sent two battalions of troops to the KNPP areas on June 17, the same day that the ethnic delegates left for Loikaw to discuss border development projects. The source said the four major strongholds are of "strategic significance" for Slorc which wants to neutralized the Karenni forces. "Our [KNPP] strength is very small....that's why Slorc believes that it can get rid of us. If we were stronger, SLorc would not use force to attack us," the source said. The KNPP considered the Slorc's attacks on it bases a "serious" breach of the bilateral ceasefire deal, but does not rule out peace talks to settle the conflict. The official said his group was surprised that Slorc had broken the three month truce instead of smoothing things out between the two sides through dialogue. The source confirmed that more skirmishes took place early yesterday in the vicinity of the four Karenni bases, but said they would never vacate their strongholds as desire by the Burmese regime. NCUB: STATEMENT ON SLORC'S VIOLATION OF KARENNI CEASEFIRE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE UNION OF BURMA Statement Concerning the Current Military Actions of SLORC in the KNPP Controlled Area (July 2, 1995) 1. The SLORC entered into a cease-fire with the KNPP ( Karenni National Progressive Party) on March 21, 1995. SLORC has broken the fundamental agreement and has been preparing for military actions since the Second Week of June. 2. The KNPP issued a statement on June 28 stating that the KNPP had agreed to the cease-fire because SLORC had agreed to 16 points put forward by the KNPP. Among those 16 are the following: - The present military status quo in both the SLORC designated and the KNPP designated areas was to be maintained. - There was to be a cessation of the practice of forcing civilians to act as military porters in the whole of Karenni. - There was to be a cessation of the practice of collecting porter fees in the whole of the Karenni area. (Porter fees are bribes paid by civilians to SLORC military officers to avoid being forced into potering.) 3. In spite of the cease-fire agreement, SLORC took the following actions in Loikaw beginning in June: - Forced civilians to act as military porters and began collecting porter fees bribes from civilians. - Seized civilian trucks and horses to use for military transportation. - Used 10 regiments to launch a military offensive against the KNPP. The stated reasons for these SLORC violations of the cease-fire are preparation for border tension that will be aggravated by the political change in Thailand following the Thai national election and to suppress the stealing of logs. 4. In reality, the true objective of SLORC is to control the Karenni-Thai border area and to surround, block and increase the pressure on the KNPP. This is a systematic ploy to weaken the activities of the KNPP. 5. Like several other ethnic organizations, the KNPP entered into a military cease-fire with SLORC because of hardships, restrictions and pressure. We are convinced that the organizations that have entered into military cease-fires with SLORC wish to endeavor to continue to find, under each organizations particular circumstances, a political resolution aimed at establishing genuine nationwide peace. 6. However, by breaking the cease-fire agreement with the KNPP with its recent military activities, SLORC is causing the prospects for finding a political resolution, by negotiation with the organizations that have entered military cease-fires, to fade away. 7. SLORC violently suppressed the 1988 popular democratic uprising; it crushed the peaceful opposition forces who rejected the 1990 May elections; it pretended to establish peace by putting various pressures on ethnic armed organizations who refused to enter into cease-fires. 8. These ploys by SLORC will not bring genuine long lasting peace. On the contrary, they will cause indefinite civil war and threaten the peace and security of the entire region. 9. Should SLORC have a desire for genuine, long lasting peace it needs to show mutual respect, establish equal relation, and recognize all legitimate political forces. This would lead to genuine peace negotiations. 10. To improve the welfare of the people and to achieve a political resolution between SLORC, the democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and the ethnic armed organizations it will be necessary to carry out a negotiated working plan for starting the democratization process in Burma. In order to achieve it the participation of the internal and the international community is appreciated. NATION: POLICY TOWARDS BURMA HAS CARROTS, BUT NO STICK 2 JULY 1995 Burma re-entered the world in 1988 after a quarter century of military socialist isolation. It roughly coincided with the collapse of the socialist-communist world and the expectation that the new global order would be one based on democratic and free-market principles. In Asia also, there was a shift towards a more democratic politics and governance, as shown by events in the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. However, despite the world-wide optimism about the "triumph of democracy" (and capitalism) paradigm popularlized by Francis Fukuyama's "End of History" scenario, opposition to democracy materialized unexpectedly in Southeast Asia in particular. The 1988 people's power movement in Burma was snuffed out not so much by the Burmese military, but by Asian leaders and governments determined to prove that democracy is incompatible with both Asian values and the requirments of economic development. Or conversely, that free-market economic development is best achieved by authoritarian leaders and methods. Next to be snuffed out was the democracy movement in China in 1989. A significant outcome of the rollback of democracy in Burma and China has been the solidification of a regional front of Chinese- Asean governments and leaders, aimed apparently at preventing the extension of democracy in Burma and China. What we now have in Asia is a paradox: the triumph of free-market principles, conventionally associated with democracy, and the suppression of politicql freedom which again is associated with the free-market. It therefore seems that Chinese-Asean leaders and government have changed the trajectory of the Asian portion of the "new world order," and they have firmly de-linked free-market principles from democracy. And unfortunately Burma has become a test case in the experiment by Chinese-Asean leaders to prove that autocratic authoritarian rule best promotes a free-market economy and prosperity. On the surface, it appears that Burma is experiencing economic growth. Rangoon and Mandalay have become modern boom town: there are new hotels, shopping malls, new office blocks, restaurants and nightclubs. Trade with China and Singapore is booming, and Burmese with connections to the military are indeed prospering. Those without such connections, have to make do with whatever is avalilable. One such avenue, a relatively better one, is to go abroad and work illegally as prostitutes, dish-washers, maids, janitors and as other minimum-wage labourers in Thailand, Singapore, Japan, ect. As for bulk of the population, they are squeezed not only by their economic conditiond, but by the military too. Villagers have not only been forced to work as "slave labourers" on various "public" projects such as building military camps, roads, providing the military with security (like standing guard on highways to prevent ambushes), and carrying ammunition and supplies for military columns. In addition, the people, especially the minorities like Karen, Shan, Mon