------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: September 28, 1995 Issue#240 Noted in Passing: So let us find a way to advance the cause of freedom in Burma and reduce the flow of heroin to the streets of America. - John Kerry, US Senator, Massachusetts (quoted in US SENATE: FOREIGN APPROPRIATIONS ACT - AMENDMENT 2744) Headlines: ======== STRIDER: PLEASE DO THIS (RE. BURMA SANCTIONS BILL) US SENATE: FOREIGN APPROPRIATIONS ACT - AMENDMENT 2744 BNET: NOTES ON THE CURRENT SITUATION INSIDE KAWTHOOLEI NATION: WASHINGTON BILL MAY FURTHER STRAIN THAI-US RELATIONS BKK POST: UNDCP JOINS THAILAND, BURMA IN DRUG PROGRAMME BKK POST: 35 BURMESE ARRESTED ON ILLEGAL ENTRY CHARGES ASAHI EVENING NEWS: JAPANESE BANKS EXPANDING IN BURMA BRC-J: NEW ITEMS AVAILABLE ---------------------------------------------------------- Produced with the support of the Burma Information Group (B.I.G). The BurmaNet News is an electronic newspaper covering Burma. Articles from newspapers, magazines, newsletters, the wire services and the Internet as well as original material are published. The BurmaNet News is e-mailed directly to subscribers and is also distributed via the soc.culture.burma and seasia-l mailing lists and is also available via the reg.burma conference on the APC networks. For a free subscription to the BurmaNet News, send an e-mail message to: majordomo@igc.apc.org In the body of the message, type "subscribe burmanet-l" (without quotation marks) Letters to the editor, comments or contributions of articles should be sent to the editor at: strider@igc.apc.org ------------------------------------------------------------- INFORMATION ABOUT BURMA VIA THE WEB AND GOPHER: Information about Burma is available via the WorldWideWeb at: FreeBurmaWWW http://sunsite.unc.edu/freeburma/freeburma.html [including back issues of the BurmaNet News as .txt files] BurmaWeb: http://www.uio.no/tormodl Burma fonts: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~lka/burmese-fonts/moe.html Ethnologue Database(Myanmar): http://www-ala.doc.ic.ac.uk/~rap/Ethnologue/eth.cgi/Myanmar TO ACCESS INFORMATION ABOUT BURMA VIA GOPHER: gopher csf.colorado.edu. Look under the International Political Economy section, then select Geographic_Archive, then Asia, then Burma. ---------------------------------------------------------- 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 simplytoo 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: [on summer vacation] Boycott campaigns: [Pepsi] wcsbeau@superior.ccs.carleton.ca Buddhism: Buddhist Relief Mission, c/o NBH03114@niftyserve.or.jp Chin history/culture: plilian@asc.corp.mot.com Fonts: tom@cs.colgate.edu History of Burma: zni@students.wisc.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: Wungram Shishak, z954001@oats.farm.niu.edu Burma-India border [volunteer needed] Pali literature: "Palmleaf" c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org Shan history/culture: [volunteer needed] Shareholder activism: simon_billenness@mail.cybercom.net Tourism campaigns: bagp@gn.apc.org "Attn. S.Sutcliffe" World Wide Web: FreeBurma@POBox.com Volunteering: christin@ksc.net.th [Feel free to suggest more areas of coverage] ******************************** STRIDER: PLEASE DO THIS (RE. BURMA SANCTIONS BILL) Dear BurmaNet readers, The Congress of the United States has passed the most far-reaching sanctions bill ever to be aimed at the military regime in Burma. Unlike some of the previous efforts, the current bill is likely to do serious damage to the State Law and Order Council's efforts to gain legitimacy and attract investment. Unfortunately, the struggle to get this bill passed isn't finished. There are differences between the versions of the bill which the Senate and House have passed. What happens next is that a committee made up of a few members of both the House and Senate will meet and come up with a compromise between the two versions. That bill will then go back to both houses, where it is likely to pass, and then to President Clinton, who is likely to sign it. It is in the current stage that is the most dangerous. The person who is responsible for appointing the conferees from the House side has close connections with the oil industry and the Unocal Corporation in particular. Rep. Livingstone recently travelled to Burma as (I believe) a guest of Unocal and the SLORC and has expressed his support for the current regime's effort to gain legitimacy. Rep. Livingstone is almost certain to be hostile to the intent of the bill and may have significant influence on what emerges from the conference committee. The most effective way to prevent the bill from being gutted is to speak up now. We have now reached the most critical point of pushing sanctions in the U.S. -- this advocacy effort which must happen in the next 24 to 48 hours will decide whether or not the McConnell sanctions pass or fall. Specifically, we must persuade Congresspersons who are named to the committee to decide the final form of the bill (and whether to keep the McConnell provision, which was passed by the Senate but not by the House of Representatives) to support Burma sanctions. Burma democracy activists from around the world should: 1 send letters and human rights information to the Congressman to demonstrate the wider size of the movement for restoration of democracy in Burma. 2 This needs to be done in the next 24 to 48 hours because the meeting to take the decision will occur this week. The letters should be polite in tone and clearly indicate that they are urging support for "the McConnell amendment on Burma in the House-Senate conference on the Foreign Operations bill". The letter can have the same text to each person it is sent to, but it should be personalized using that Congressman's name and address (and not "to whom it may concern"). This amendment contains the same language as the same as the McConnell sanctions bill that was widely publicized. Letter writers should include their address and contact information at the bottom of their letters. This bill is too important to the prospects for democracy in Burma and it is too close to passage to let it be quietly dropped in committee. Whether you are an American citizen or not, please contact the Congresspeople below to let them know how important their decision is. Thank you, Strider [Note: If your email to these Congresspeople "bounces," ignore it; your message almost certainly got delivered despite the "bounce" messages. The United States may be one of the most technologically advanced countries on the planet but the e-mail system used by the Congress is, well, dodgy.] ************ e-mail: MPForbes@hr.house.gov Congressman Michael Forbes House Foreign Operations Subcommittee 502 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 e-mail: RPackard@hr.house.gov Congressman Ron Packard House Foreign Operations Subcommittee 2162 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 e-mail: CWilson@hr.house.gov Congressman Charles Wilson House Foreign Operations Subcommittee 2256 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 e-mail: sfnancy@hr.house.gov Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi House Foreign Operations Subcommittee Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Faxes can also be sent to these other House conferees who don't have e-mail. The address is House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, U.S. House, Washington, D.C. 20515 FAX Congressman Robert Livingston --- 202-225-0379 Congressman John Edward Porter -- 202-225-0157 Congressman Frank R. Wolf --- 202-225-0437 Congressman Jim Lightfoot --- 202-225-6973 Congressman Sonny Callahan --- 202-225-0562 Congressman Joseph Knollenberg --- 202-226-2356 Congressman Jim Bunn --- 202-225-2994 Congressman David Obey ---- Congressman Sidney Yates ---- 202-225-3493 Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi -- 202-225-8259 Congressman Esteban Edward Torres -- 202-225-9711 **************************** US SENATE: FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT September 21, 1995 AMENDMENT NO. 2744 (PURPOSE: TO PERMIT THE CONTINUED PROVISION OF ASSISTANCE TO BURMA ONLY IF CERTAIN CONDITIONS ARE SATISFIED) On page 104, strike lines 7 through 10 and insert the following: Sec. 570. None of the funds made available in this Act may be used for international narcotics control assistance under chapter 8 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, or crop substitution assistance, directly for the Government of Burma unless the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that any such programs are fully consistent with United States human rights concerns in Burma and serve a vital United States national interest. The President shall include in the annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report submitted under chapter 8 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 a description of the programs funded under this section. Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I rise in support of my colleague from Arizona's amendment to restore authority for the State Department to use funds for counter narcotics efforts and crop substitution programs in Burma as long as the President certifies that any such program is fully consistent with human rights concerns and serves vital United States interests. Human rights is an issue of extreme importance and deep concern to every Senator in this Chamber, and must remain a significant element in our dealings around the world, and no Senator is more committed to the issue than Senator McCain. His amendment is a commonsense amendment that gives the United States the necessary flexibility to act in its interest in a nation which provides 60 percent of the heroin smuggled into this country. To prohibit counter narcotics efforts would be ill-advised and counterproductive. Whatever our deep and abiding concern for human rights, it is important to note, Mr. President, that Burma's most noted victim of human rights violations, Aung San Suu Kyi, supports drug control efforts in her country, and that, Mr. President, is the best argument for support of the McCain amendment. We have three important objectives in Burma --democracy, counternarcotics, and human rights. All three demand our attention and our support; but common sense would tell us that we cannot diminish potential success in any of these areas because of specific failures in another as long as we are sensitive to the impact of our actions on overall diplomatic progress. Mr. President, the State Department is well aware of congressional concerns and I fully anticipate that it will conduct counternarcotics efforts consistent with our overall international policy and in consultation with the Congress. Without a strategy that addresses the heroin trade in Burma, we have no effective antinarcotic program at all. I can well understand the Senate's desire to influence the Burmese regime's treatment of the Burmese people. That treatment has been abominable and well deserves our severe reproach. I visited Burma last March and was exposed to a pretty representative sampling of how abominable that treatment has been and continues to be. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's release was a very welcome development. But in and of itself it does not represent evidence of political reform or even an indication of progress toward an objective standard of human rights in Burma. Burma has a very long way to go. I know the authors of this provision feel very strongly, as do I, that the United States must actively support the cause of human freedom in Burma, and make it unmistakably clear to Burma's State Law and Order Restoration Council, the SLORC, that the United States, indeed, all of the civilized world expect them to begin respecting the will and the rights of the Burmese people. But what I have difficulty understanding is why we must refrain from acting in our own national interest while we attempt to act in the interest of the Burmese people. I could understand the objective of this provision if it stated that no funds for drug control could be made available directly to the SLORC. I would not support this assistance either if the State Department were proposing to simply provide money to the SLORC with the promise that the SLORC would use it to eradicate poppy fields. It is quite probable that such funds would be used by the SLORC to further oppress ethnic minorities in Burma, like the Wa. But, Mr. President, that is not what the administration proposed to do with this assistance. First, it is a relatively small amount of money that we are talking about, with most of it going to the efforts of the U.N. Drug Control Program [UNDCP] in Burma; $2 million would be provided to the U.N. to work with ethnic minorities on crop substitution and other programs intended to begin making some, although admittedly small, progress in reducing poppy cultivation. None of that assistance would be funneled through the SLORC. A limited--a very limited amount of assistance, $50 thousand, I believe--would be provided to train Burmese customs officials. But I fail to see the harm in that, given that the amount is so small, and the need for better Burmese control of drug smuggling at the borders so obvious. Mr. President, $2 million isn't going to solve America's heroin problem. But I do not see how we begin to get any control over that problem absent some kind of program in Burma. Opium production in Burma has skyrocketed in recent years. It is, by far, the largest heroin producing country in the world. Again, 60 percent of heroin in the United States originates in Burma. The enormous increase in heroin production globally has substantially reduced the street price of heroin while simultaneously increasing the purity, and consequently, the lethality of the drug. Overdoses--fatal overdoses--have increased rapidly in the United States. Sadly, as long as there is demand for heroin, we will never be able to keep it out of all our children's hands. But if in Burma and elsewhere our efforts make some progress in restricting the flow of heroin to the United States, we will make the drug more expensive and less readily available on our streets than it is today. Mr. President, before I conclude, I should also add that in meetings attended by American Embassy officials in Rangoon, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, had no objections to counternarcotics programs in Burma. While advising that the U.N. counternarcotics effort in Burma be closely monitored--as it should be, she also understood the importance of reducing poppy cultivation. Further, she observed that the U.N. Burma program employs many prodemocracy supporters. I am convinced that the counternarcotics assistance envisioned for Burma is consistent with our human rights goals in Burma. But, I repeat, to ensure that it remains so, this amendment requires the Secretary to certify that all the programs which our assistance would support are fully consistent with our human rights concerns in Burma. Mr. President, I believe--as we have in many other countries--the United States can advance or values and protect our national interests in Burma simultaneously. They are not mutually exclusive, and should not be treated so. I commend the Senator of Kentucky and also the Senator from Vermont for their abiding concern for the rights of the people of Burma. I understand the motive--the very decent motive--for authoring the provision I seek to amend. My only concern is over this particular approach to achieving a very worthy objective. So let us find a way to advance the cause of freedom in Burma and reduce the flow of heroin to the streets of America. ***************************** REPORT: NOTES ON THE CURRENT SITUATION INSIDE KAWTHOOLEI September 27, 1995 by the BurmaNet Editor SLORC Raids Lead to Suicide: At the KNU Congress at the end of last month, the Second Brigade Commander reported that at least 20-30 people in the Second and Third Brigade areas have committed suicide because of raids by the SLORC army. The troops have been destroying households' rice granaries, so that they will have no food to give to KNLA soldiers passing through. As a result, the villagers themselves are left without any food. They cannot make their way out to the refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border, because the SLORC troops now control all the transportation routes. If they were to walk, it would take at least a month, but they cannot carry enough food for the journey, and there is no guarantee they would make it safely. With their only other choice being to move to towns and cities deeper in Burma to look for work, some families have decided they would rather die. In most cases, the father of the family kills his wife and children before killing himself, either with a gun or by strangulation. Some internally displaced Karen villagers have gone to KNU leaders for help. During the month of August, the Second Brigade Commander providing 1500 refugees with rice and salt. The refugees have built small huts at the Brigade Headquarters or are staying with friends and relatives. However, the commander said that he could only take care of them until the end of September. Many DKBA Have Returned: According to one KNU representative, a DKBA defector reported that he had joined the DKBA, because he had heard that the KNU had killed 30 Buddhist monks and put them in caskets. Although this was not true, he believed it at the time. He and at least 50 other DKBA soldiers, some with weapons and even mortars, have returned to the KNU recently. The defectors were angry with the SLORC, because the SLORC took their arms away from them, did not give them any ammunition, and stopped giving them rations. Far worse, the SLORC troops raped the wives and female relatives of DKBA soldiers while the DKBA soldiers were out on patrols. The DKBA defectors said they realized they were just killing their own people and their own relatives by working with the SLORC. Now many say that their consciences are not clear. General Bo Mya has made a big effort to woo the DKBA back by sending out letters, putting announcements on the radio, and asking people in Kawthoolei to spread the word that the DKBA soldiers will not be punished if they return to the KNU. According to those who have come back already, many more would like to return, but they are afraid of what the KNU might do to them. They are waiting to see what will happen to those who have come back. Many more DKBA soldiers have deserted and either returned to their villages or are internally displaced in Burma. Others cannot escape their units, because they are under surveillance by SLORC troops or they are too far from the border. The SLORC has also killed several DKBA soldiers in the border area (see KHRG Report #95-23, July 10, 1995), presumably because they have outlived their usefulness. The DKBA have not been able to infiltrate the southern areas of Kawthoolei, nor has the SLORC been able to promote the DKBO as the official representatives of the Karen. Nevertheless, the DKBA proved to be extremely useful in bringing about the swift fall of Manerplaw, a decisive blow to the KNU and pro-democracy groups who were working there. Massive Winter Offensive Against the Karen: The SLORC is planning to launch a large offensive against both the KNU and the Shan once the rainy season ends in November. The SLORC has already cut supply lines between the northern and southern parts of Kawthoolei and controls most of the transportation routes. At the same time, the Thai government has made it much more difficult for the KNU to transport supplies through Thailand. Many more refugees are expected. ******************** NATION: WASHINGTON BILL MAY FURTHER STRAIN THAI-US RELATIONS September 27, 1995 by Don Pathan, Marisa Chimprabha THAI-US relations are facing new difficulties as a United States joint House and Senate committee finalizes the 1996 foreign aid bill which proposes sanctions against Bangkok if it failed to provide humanitarian assistance to Burmese exiles and refugees. An amendment containing a section calling for the sanctions was added to the Senate's 1996 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill by the chairman of the Foreign Operations Sub-committee, Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky), late last week. McConnell's amendment was countered by Sen William Cohen (Republican Maine), who proposed an additional amendment which acknowledged and raised Thailand's policy towards Burma and Cambodia. Cohen's amendment stated that the US government acknowledged that Thailand as a policy in place not to support or cooperate with the Khmer Rouge and it called on President Bill Clinton to affirm the US government's full support of that policy. It also stated that Thailand had given refuge to large numbers of displaced persons from neighbouring countries, placing a great burden on the Thai economy. Cohen's amendment encouraged the Thai government to prevent cooperation between individual members of the Thai military and the Khmer Rouge. Although Cohen's amendment did not call for the removal of McConnell's amendment, which has the potential of straining Thai-US diplomatic ties while the drug controversy involving top Thai politicians is yet to be settled it is a means of countering McConnell's position on Thailand. Both the Senate and the House have passed their respective versions of the bill, which must now be sent to the joint committee for final adjustments. The Senate approved its version of the bill late last week by an overwhelming 91-9 vote. A final version of the bill will be sent to President Bill Clinton for signing before becoming law. While the bill passed by the Senate contained both the McConnell and Cohen amendments, it is very likely that McConnell - as a member of the joint committee charged with screening the bill - will remove the Cohen amendment. Cohen noted that last year's foreign operations appropriations bill; which placed conditions on the continuance of the International Military Education Training Programme (Imet), strained the Thai-US relations. Last year's bill required the US secretary of stab to submit a report to Congress on the Thai military's support of the Khmer Rouge and Bangkok's failure to support Burmese pro-democracy activists. The bill drew strong criticism from Thai lawmakers, especially members of the House budget committee, which threatened to cut the Defence Ministry's budget support for the Joint US Military Advisory Group (Jusmag). Cohen argued that the US should not jeopardize its overall military ties with Thailand despite the fact that some Thai military personnel may be dealing with the Khmer Rouge. He also said the requirement for the secretary of state to submit a report to Congress on Thailand's efforts to deny support to Burmese exiles and refugees completely ignored the heavy burden the country had borne in providing assistance tn Southeast Asian refugees. ***************************************************************** BKK POST: UNDCP JOINS THAILAND, BURMA IN DRUG PROGRAMME September 27, 1995 Chiang Rai THE United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) has joined Thailand and Burma in a regional drug and AIDS eradication programme, according to Chiang Rai Governor Khamron Booncherd. Border districts of the two countries _ Mae Sai District in Chiang Rai and Tachilek of Burma's Kengtung _ are the target areas of the project which is to begin in the 1996 fiscal year. Mr Khamron yesterday disclosed that anti-narcotics representatives of the three parties met on Monday in Bangkok and agreed to take part in the drug and AIDS supression campaign. Use of the drug has rapidly increased in the region and it poses a major problem in all social institutes, he said. Young students in various educational institutes have become victims of illegal narcotics. In Chiang Rai, drugs are found along the common borders with Burma and Laos, noted Mr Khamron. In view of this problem the UNDCP has offered help to affected countries to control the use of drugs. Initially, the UNDCP had funded a joint project among Thailand, Burma and Laos since in a regional anti-drug campaign. Under the previous cooperation, the UNDCP was responsible for the project's funding and providing equipment and vehicles to countries under its programme, whereas the latter focused on the integrated community development project such as the planting of cash crops instead of opium, said the governor. As for the new programme, the UNDCP Thailand and Burma have agreed to join hands in monitoring drugs and AIDS problems in the target areas, said Mr Khamron. In Chiang Rai, there are about 17,000 drug addicts and over 4,000 HIV carriers. Of the HIV-affected patients, about 1,000 people had already died of the disease, said Mr Khamron. ***************************************************************** BKK POST: 35 BURMESE ARRESTED ON ILLEGAL ENTRY CHARGES September 27, 1995 Bang Lamung, Chon Buri POLICE arrested 35 Burmese illegal workers during a swoop on living quarters for labourers a housing estate yesterday. The 21 men and 14 women were charged with illegal entry. Acting on a tipoff, a team of Pattaya tourist police raided the labourers' living quarters at Laem Chabang Housing Estate Project 2 in Tambon Bang Lamung, Chon Buri and arrested the workers. One of the aliens, a 17-year-old man of Mon origin, told police he and others sneaked into Thailand about a year ago. They were taken from a border area in Tak's Mae Sot District by a Thai agent who had promised to get them work as construction labourers in Bangkok and nearby provinces, he said. Each alien had to pay 2,000 baht as brokerage fee to the Thai man. ***************************************************************** Typed by the Research Department of the ABSDF {MTZ} 27.9.95 ***************************************************************** ASAHI EVENING NEWS: JAPANESE BANKS EXPANDING IN BURMA September 26, 1995 Japanese banks have moved to accelerate expansion in Burma since it resumed economic ties with other nations following the release of dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi in July, banking sources said Monday. The bank of Tokyo opened a representative office in August, becoming the first Japanese commercial bank to establish an office in Burma. Fuji Bank said it plans to set up a representative office int he country this year, saying its application was approved by the Burmese government in September. ******************************** BRC-J: NEW ITEMS AVAILABLE Dear Friends, In the cause of Burmese democracy, Burmese Relief Center -- Japan would like to announce some new items now available for consciousness- and fund - raising. We have just finished reprinting, in standard postcard size, two cartoons by Saw Ngo (Green November 32). One card (red on black and white) demands, "Stop the Pipeline" while the other (from the original watercolor, but still effective in black and white) lampoons SLORC's "Visit Myanmar Year," and urges a boycott. These cards may be ordered from BRC--J. Set of ten cards (5 of each design) is only $8. To support various health programs of Mae Tao Clinic, BRC -- J has also produced four notecards done by a talented Burmese artist and friend of the Clinic. Each has a superb line drawing of a scene associated with Mae Tao Clinic and an informative explanation on the back, but no message inside. A card with its envelope weighs less than 10 grams. Available in sets of eight cards (four to send, four to keep) with envelopes, each set is priced at $15. While on the border this year, we also commissioned what we understand to be the first gemstone pictures with Burmese themes, Shwedagon, Ananda, Kyaik Tiyo, a Buddha, Mandalay Palace, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Each picture is made with dust, sand, and chips of various gemstones, to produce a subtle, elegant work of art in full color. Each picture (approx 14 cm or 5 1/2 inches in diameter) with a teak frame and a matching stand sells for $40. As soon as the current supply runs out (which should be very soon), we will be ordering more from the factory, which also supports many Burmese refugees. All prices include airmail postage and, in the case of the gemstone pictures, protective packing. Contact us if you are interested in any of these very special items. We can advise you as to terms of payment. As always with BRC -- J sales, all proceeds go directly to Burmese refugees and students on the border. In solidarity, Ken and Visakha Kawasaki