------------------------- BurmaNet --------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" -------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: 21st JULY 1995 Issue #225 Noted in Passing: ``It must not be forgotten that national traitors from within the country will continue to conspire with foreign elements to enforce an economic blockade without any regard to the welfare of the 45 million Myanma masses." - article in New Light of Myanmar, (quoted in Reuter: Aung San Suu Kyi's Picture) Contents: BURMANET: INTERVIEW WITH DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI ABSDF: FORCED CONTRIBUTION IN KAYAH STATE AFL-CIO: LETTER TO AUNG SAN SUU KYI NATION: SUU KYI SPEAKS AGAINST RISING COST OF LIVING NATION: LETTER - ON THAKSIN'S COMMENTS BKK POST: BURMESE ECONOMIC GROWTH PUT AT 6.8% BKK POST: CULTIVATE CONTACTS, FORGET MBAS IN STREET-WISE BURMESE BUSINESS REUTER: AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S PICTURE IN BURMESE PAPERS BKK POST: SUU KYI'S VISIT TO MARTYRS' MEMORIAL PASSES PEACEFULLY -------------------------------------------------------------- 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.Fearoflos | well as original material | ingpowercor | are published. | ruptsthosewhoare | The BurmaNet News is | subjecttoit...Theef | e-mailed directly to | fortnecessarytoremain | subscribers and is | uncorruptedinanenvironm | also distributed via | entwherefearisanintegralpar | the soc.culture.burma | tofeverydayexistenceisnoti | and seasia-l mailing | mmediatelyapparentto | lists and is also | thosefortunate | available via the | enoughtolivein | reg.burma conference on | statesgovern | the APC networks. For a | edbytherule | free subscription to | oflaw...fear | the BurmaNet News, send | is ahab it. | an e-mail message to: | Iam | | no | majordomo@igc.apc.org | taf | | ra | In the body of the message, | id. | type "subscribe burmanet-l" | Aun | (without quotation marks) | gSa | | nS | Letters to the editor, | uu | comments or contributions | Ky | of articles should be | i. | sent to the editor at: o-------------------------------o strider@igc.apc.org In Washington: Attention to BurmaNet c/o National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) Information Office 815 15th Street NW, Suite 609 Washington D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 393-7342, Fax: (202) 393-7343 In Bangkok: Attention to BurmaNet c/o Burma Issues PO Box 1076, Silom Post Office Bangkok 10500 Thailand Tel: (066) (02) 234-6674, Fax: (066) (02) 631 0133 The NCGUB is a government-in-exile, formed by representatives of the people that won the election in 1990. 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. -------------------------------------------------------------- BURMANET: INTERVIEW WITH DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI July 18, 1995 C. Fink (These comments and observations come from a private 15 minute interview in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's house on the afternoon of July 18th. Like all other foreign journalists who have interviewed her, I was photographed and videotaped by the "guards" who were on duty at the gate. Aung San Suu Kyi has held two press conferences and many private interviews with journalists in the days since her release. Every day she also meets with representatives of various embassies, NLD party members, and other close friends. At 3pm every afternoon, she climbs up a step-ladder inside her gate to give a ten minute speech in Burmese to Burmese citizens who have come to see her. The crowd, which numbers several hundred each day, respond with delight to her jokes and willingly agree to her pleas for both support and restraint.) Despite her busy morning of meetings with NLD party members, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi looked vibrant and full of energy when she met with me at 1:30 this afternoon. The fresh flower clipped into her neat bun suggested her unfailing optimism, although the political dilemmas she is facing would dishearten virtually anyone else in her position. The SLORC has not made any further moves to release political prisoners nor have they lifted regulations on political activities or relaxed censorship. While many observers have commented on her frequently stated willingness to negotiate with the SLORC on almost any issue, her demeanor and many of her comments indicate that she will not rest until democracy is restored. In talking about her future political activities, she insisted that she would not do anything clandestinely. She believes in honesty and openness and expects the same from the SLORC. She commented, with a laugh, that SLORC officials used to lie to her, but she told them "you must stop, because you are committing a sin and I don't believe you, so you don't get anything out of it." Now, she says, they are more truthful with her, and she sees this as a very positive first step. Nevertheless, she has informed SLORC officials that she will be having foreign embassy staff checking her house for bugs, so the SLORC better quickly remove any they have planted. The person she talked to insisted that SLORC had not done anything of the sort, but she said that she was just warning them so that they would not be embarrassed later. Moreover, she told the officials that if they put her in Insein Prison, they could do whatever they wanted to her, but as long as she was in her own house, she would do whatever she wanted. She added, "I ask them questions, not the other way around. I am not afraid of them." Nevertheless, she is clearly being cautious. She has only left her house for a few private visits and has not even been downtown yet. She noted that others had told her of the many highrises that are being built downtown, and she hoped that "Rangoon does not become like Bangkok." She went on to discuss the criticism U Aung Shwe received for expelling her from the NLD before the 1990 election. She said that she felt very sorry that others had blamed him, because he had done exactly what he had to do. "If he had not kept the party going, I would not have had any organization to come back to." As for the Burmese students abroad, she urged them not to come home yet. She said that she knows how anxious they must be to return home and live in peace, but nothing in Burma has changed yet. They must continue their work abroad, but they must also be patient. They should not set their expectations too high, for "the road ahead is still a long one." They must neither do anything extreme nor "put their feet up" and wait for democracy to happen. More specifically, she suggested that they improve their fluency in English, as fluency in English is essential in today's world, and they should also read more serious books. She asked the ethnic groups to congratulate the SLORC for releasing her, but to make it clear that this is only the first step. They should adopt a position of "cautious optimism". She reiterated her appeal for all groups to put aside their differences for the time being and to work together for the restoration of democracy. They must all be united if democracy is to be achieved. When asked where she found her energy and determination, she replied that her father was her main inspiration. Her father, she said, had worked tirelessly for the people and never for himself. She believes that as his daughter, she can and must live up to his example. With so many people putting their trust in her, she feels that she cannot let them down, and that encourages her to work even harder. Others, she noted, have suffered much more than her, having had to spend years in jail and experience many forms of torture. She clearly feels a responsibility to these people and all others to continue to work fearlessly for true peace and democracy. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has the intelligence, integrity, and political savvy necessary to lead and unite the country. Whether she will ever have a chance is another question. The fact that the SLORC has still made no official announcement concerning her release is cause for alarm. Most local residents remain wary, convinced that the SLORC is up to no good. The constant presence of plainclothed military intelligence staff photographing those who show up at Aung San Suu Kyi's gate has scared many supporters away. Some fear a crackdown after all the journalists leave. No one believes that the SLORC will willingly let her assume a top leadership position. The inscrutability of SLORC policy remains a critical problem. Just as no one predicted her release, no one knows what the SLORC intends to do next. In the meantime, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition members will resume their political work, operating under the conviction that one day democracy will be theirs. ABSDF: FORCED CONTRIBUTION IN KAYAH STATE July 20, 1995 Press Release Forced contribution in Kayah State ---------------------------------- Burma's ruling military junta, the Slorc has planned to hold a big student sports Carnival in Kayah State in November. In preparation for this occasion, the local Slorc officials are forcing the local people to contribute towards the cost of the construction work. Each student from middle school must pay 200 Kyats, for high school students 500 Kyats each, and from each ordinary family 200 Kyats. Some families have to pay even more money as their forced contribution. The local officials also collect forced donations of motorbikes, trucks and even bicycles from their owners. The owner of saw mills are being forced to cut the necessary timber for constructions for the sports festival. The roads in Loikaw are being widened by 25 feet and some monasteries and houses have had to be destroyed for the road widening. ( Photos of a monastery and houses damaged by the road widening in Loikaw available from ABSDF Information Dept.) ************************************************************** The politicians are rubbish, said Khin Nyunt --------------------------------------------- According to a reliable source inside Burma, On July 11, a day after the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the military junta's intelligence chief, Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, invited the ceased-fire ethnic leaders to Rangoon, he then made an attempt to woo them saying "it is better if we militarymen can work together but if the politicians were involved, things will become complicated and difficult. Let us unite against them (pro-democratic forces)". The meeting was attended by a number of ethnic leaders, including UWSA leaders, namely, Gyo Nyi liang, Pao Yo Chan and Gyo Bontan. **************************************************************** By friend or foe? ------------------ Tin Huan Min, the commander of No.(525) regiment of UWSA (United Wa State Army) which made a cease-fire agreement with Slorc in 1989 went to Kunming in Yunnan state of China. He disappeared on May 20, 1995, for unknown reasons. U Win Ko, a Minister of NCGUB (National Coalition Government of Union Of Burma), mysteriously disappeared while in Kunming in 1993. Voice of the Peacock ABSDF ( For more information please contact: Zaw Min_ joint-Secretary of Foreign Affairs Department of the ABSDF (Chairman Moe Thee Zun)) ********** AFL-CIO: LETTER TO AUNG SAN SUU KYI July 19, 1995 American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations July 19, 1995 Aung San Suu Kyi 54 University Avenue Rangoon, Burma Dear Daw Aung San Suu Kyi: On behalf of the 14 million members of the AFL-CIO, I join with the world's democratic leaders in hailing your unconditional release. Your strength of spirit throughout the long years of your confinement provided hope and inspiration to all those who struggle for freedom. American workers share your hope that this gesture represents a first step toward the restoration of democracy in Burma. We support your call for national reconciliation, tbe release of all political prisoners, and a peaceful political transition. As the experience of countries as diverse as South Africa, Chile and the Philippines demonstrate, a successful democratic transition will require the active participation of workers. Thus, we deeply deplore the fact that Burma's military junta has yet to end its brutal repression of Burma's workers and of their human and labor rights. Particularly disturbing is the government's continued enslavement of men, women and children through tbe use of forced labor, including conscript work gangs, forced portering for the military, and "volunteer" labor used in infrastructure projects for the benefit of foreign investors. We believe, with you, that it is democracy and civil society - not economic opportunism - which will ensure a better future for the citizens of Burma. Therefore, until the rights of Burrna's workers are respected, the AFL-CIO will continue to support full international trade and investment sanctions. We wish you great success in achieving peaceful political dialogue with all groups in Burma. For our part, we pledge to continue our support for the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) and their efforts on behalf of democratization. Sincerely and fraternally, Lane Kirkland President _____________________________________________________________ NATION: SUU KYI SPEAKS AGAINST RISING COST OF LIVING FOR BURMESE July 20, 1995 United Press International RANGOON _ Burmese democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi expressed sympathy on Tuesday for the economic burden suffered by her people under the country's military dictatorship. In a thinly veiled criticism of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council, Suu Kyi alluded to rising prices for rice and other commodities.