Subject: BurmaNet News Deember 28, 1995 Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 05:37:58 -0800 (PST) From: strider@igc.apc.org Reply-To: Conference "reg.burma" To: Recipients of burmanet-l From: Received: (from strider) by igc2.igc.apc.org (8.6.11/Revision: 1.16 ) id FAA23384; Thu, 28 Dec 199505:23:20 -0800 Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 05:23:20 -0800 ------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: December 28, 1995 Issue #310 Noted in Passing: Adopted sons and daughters of the colonialists, under external influence, are attempting to cause the disintegration of the union and the loss of independence. - Khin Nyunt (see BKK POST: SUU KYI ACCUSED OF TRYING TO BREAK BURMA) HEADLINES: ========== KNU REPORT: UPDATE ON THE CURRENT SITUATION BKK POST: TWO INJURED IN DKBA ATTACK ON KAREN CAMP FTUB(WB): INDIAN HOME SEC. IN RANGOON DVB RADIO: MILITARY OPERATION NEAR INDIAN BORDER ABSDF(MTZ): HARSH INVESTIGATION BEING HELD IN INSEIN PRISON RADIO MYANMAR: DEFENCE SERVICES URGED TO BE VIGILANT BKK POST: 273 BURMESE ARRESTED BKK POST: SUU KYI ACCUSED OF TRYING TO BREAK BURMA NATION: MANDALAY DEVELOPMENT BKK POST: PM SUMMONS NSC ADVISE RS AS FISHING CONFLICTS BKK POST: BURMA EASES BARRIERS TO MANUFACTURING BUSINESS TIMES: S'PORE BANKS TO PLAY KEY ROLE IN MYANMAR SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: THE SLOW ROAD TO MANDALAY BURMANET: BRIEF BUSINESS REPORTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KNU: UPDATE ON THE CURRENT SITUATION December 28, 1995 On 13 December 1995, a Karen National Union delegation left for Moulmein and Rangoon in response to the SLORC's invitation to talk about arrangements for cease-fire talks. The delegation returned on 23 December 1995 with no spectacular results. In the meantime, at 8:45am on 21 December 1995, when the official Karen New Year ceremony at Wah Baw village was nearly finished, about 200 SLORC troops from the 106 Light Infantry Division led by San Lwin and the 343 Light Infantry Division led by Major Nyunt Tin opened fire on the civilians with small and heavy weapons. In the confusion, they beat Saw Plaw Doh from Tanee Su village to death. They also shot and wounded Saw Oo Yeh from Wah Baw village and Saw Pah Way from Klo Law village. The troops then entered the village and looted and destroyed the villagersŐ property. They ransacked each house taking whatever was useful. They also took all the money they could find and stripped watches and necklaces off the villagers. The costs of the damage and the property taken totalled 1 million Kyat. Also on 21 December 1995, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was stopped from attending a Karen New Year celebration in Insein. After being detained, she was sent home, while Khun Myint Tun and Tin Tun Oo, both youth members of the NLD, Saw Tin Win, a member of the NLD's central committee in Pa-an, and Mann Htay Shein, the patron of the Karen celebration, are still being held. During the past few weeks, the SLORC-controlled DKBA has made a number of armed attacks on Sho Klo refugee camp. They have stolen property and shot refugees, resulting in several injuries and deaths. ************************************************ BKK POST: TWO INJURED IN DKBA ATTACK ON KAREN CAMP December 27, 1995 Two people were seriously injured yesterday when some 30 men from the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army plundered a Karen refugee camp on the Tha Song Yang-Mae Sariang road. The men were armed with AK-47s, M16s and M79s. They raided Sho Klo camp, which houses 9,405 Karen refugees, at about 1 a.m., firing at a shop before running off with cash and valuables worth some 30,000 baht. Kae Sami, the shop's owner, and his wife Nor Kae Pho were seriously injured. A soldier in the area said the attackers were believed to be members of the DKBA and crossed the border into Thailand from Bho Phaw Hta in Burma, which is cross the border from the camp. Third Army region Commander Lt Gen Thanom Vacharaphud said the camp was an easy target for attack as it was only a kilometre from the border. It was difficult to distinguish the refugees from the intruders, as they were all Karens, he said. He said that to prevent a recurrence, all refugees in Sho Klo camp would be moved to Mae La camp, also in this border province. The issue would shortly be discussed among the agencies concerned. He said foreign intruders would be disarmed if caught inside Thailand. (BP) ****************************************** FTUB(WB): INDIAN HOME SEC. IN RANGOON December 25, 1995 NEW DELHI: Union Home Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah is expected to discuss the issue of the AN-26 aircraft and arms dropping issue with Myanmar Government. Mr. Padmanabhaiah is presently in Rangoon. The Home Secretary left for Rangoon three days after the arms dropping incident took place on DEC 18 in which an "unidentified" aircraft airdropped a cache of sophisticated arms. He is expected to be back in the Capital on December 27. Mr. Padmanabhaiah has gone to Rangoon for the regular meetings that the place between India and Myanmar over the issue of militants and insurgents seeking refuge, training and arms route through neighbouring countries into India. While such exchange of views have been taking place over the last few years, it is significant that the Home Secretary chose to go for the meeting after the airdropping of arms had taken place. This in itself provides an indication that Mr. Padmanabhaiah is likely to take up the matter with the Government concerned. Beside Myanmar, Thailand and Bangladesh are among the other groups seek refuge after conducting their operations in India. **************************************************** DVB RADIO: MILITARY OPERATION NEAR INDIAN BORDER December 17, 1995 It has been learned that there has been an increased deployment of SLORC State Law and Order Restoration Council troops along the 2,000 km long India-Burma border where "Operation Aung Nameik" has been launched, and that 40 porters are being collected from each village in the Naga Hills. It has been learned that the military operation was launched following the moving of border posts 10 km inside Burmese territory by the Naga. The moving of border posts automatically put the Naga from Burma inside Indian territory. The Naga living on the Burmese side depend on India for all their needs and apparently the Naga moved the border posts because they wanted to live inside Indian territory as the Naga living on the Indian side are better off. The SLORC troops are trying to recruit Naga youths into the army to establish their foothold. For instance, the 52nd, 53rd, 223rd and 172nd Light Infantry Regiments in Leshe Township are trying forcibly to recruit children from the rural areas and are relocating and burning down villages that offer resistance. Impoverished Naga 13-year old children were forcibly recruited into the army, but many deserted because of language barriers, poor conditions and hardship. According to an account given by a young soldier who fled from the SLORC army, he was given only 70 kyat in salary although he understood the salary of soldiers was 700 kyat. He said he deserted because of extremely poor conditions. *************************************************** ABSDF(MTZ): HARSH INVESTIGATION BEING HELD IN INSEIN PRISON December 26, 1995 from lurie@mozart.inet.co.th Harsh investigation being held in Insein Prison ------------------------------------------------ Professor Yozo Yokota gave the Slorc a copy of his report on Burma that was submitted in the recent UNHCR meeting in Geneva. Regarding the letters written by political prisoners which were clandestinely sent to Professor Yozo Yokota, UN rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in Burma, Slorc began a very brutal investigation into the case and have been interrogating the prisoners in Insein Prison. Slorc would like to find out which prisoners wrote the letters and who helped them to send the letters out of the prison. Water and food supplies have been denied during the interrogation period since mid November. Prisoners were forced to sleep on the concrete ground without mats or blankets. The prisoners under interrogation were kept in the 'military dog cells' which were tightly shut so that nobody could get access to them. Permission to meet the prisoners has been refused since the middle of November. Among the prisoners Saw Nai Nai (elected representative from Pazun Daung township in Rangoon Division), Mon Ywer Tin Shwe were severely interrogated. In Insein Prison, U Win Tin's health condition is bad. He is suffering from spondylitis. The condition of political prisoners in Insein Prison is very bad at the moment. U Win Tin (member of Secretariat of the NLD), Myo Myint Nyein, Dr. Myint Naing (elected representative from the NLD), Mon Ywar Tin Shwe (elected representative from the NLD) and Saw Nai Nai (elected representative from Pazun Daung township in Rangoon Division) were moved into the Military Dog Cells. 23 senior Burma politicians, including Bo Hmu Aung (Thirty Comrade), Dr. Maung Maung Kyaw, Wi Du Ra Chit Maung and Thakhin Khin Aung, have sent a joint letter to the Slorc urging them to start a dialogue. Many students inside also demanded in letters to the Slorc that they start a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders. U Tin Oo, Vice Chairman of the NLD has many times asked the Slorc to release all political prisoners. But there has been no response yet. The Slorc started to take measures against the crowds of supporters that were gathering every weekend outside Suu Kyi's home. Three students who were working with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after her release and asked the gate authorities to move the barbed wire strands were also arrested on November 24 and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Despite the barbed wire, increased security and the arrests of the students, over 5,000 people gathered that weekend to hear Daw Aung San Suu Kyi speak. U Sein Hla Aung of Mandalay who distributed the NLD video tapes was also arrested very recently. Khun Myint Tun, Tin Tun Oo (both youth members of NLD), Saw Tin Win (Central committee member of NLD), and Mann Htay Shein were arrested even more recently for taking Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to a Karen new year festival in Rangoon. It is seems to be that the Slorc's plan is to first crush the supporters of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and her later. The Slorc is aware of the public relations boost the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has given them, and they will not throw this away by re-arresting her immediately. Instead, they will cut off her support base and try to marginalise her. Harassing and arresting her supporters and party members is one way to do this. The current situation in Rangoon is very tense. It seems inevitable that if there is no progress or dialogue with the Slorc, there will finally be some kind of confrontation between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters and the authorities. The authorities have started this confrontation already, by arresting NLD members and supporters. Increased Gatherings -------------------- After the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the gathering in front of her residence has now increased to up to 6,000. The gathering had only 100 people on the day after her release. Among the people gathering outside her gate, most are intellectuals, monks, nuns and foreigners. Assistance to the political prisoners ------------------------------------- The NLD has established a Social Aid Committee and provides assistance to political prisoners. [Information provided by sources in Rangoon and the NCGUB] ********************************************************** RADIO MYANMAR: DEFENCE SERVICES URGED TO BE VIGILANT AND ACTIVE December 21, 1995 Excerpts from editorial in the government newspaper Myanmar Alin' New Light of Myanmar' entitled "Safeguard the interest of the entire nation; remove those who mar and disturb" , broadcast in its press review programme by Burmese radio The Chief of Staff of the Army of the Ministry of Defence, Lt-Gen Tin U also Secretary-2 of the State Law and Order Restoration Council held a meeting with officers and other ranks of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy of the Defence Services in the hall of the Ministry of Defence on 18th December. Lt-Gen Tin extensively explained the situation regarding the state responsibilities being borne by the Defence Services, the facts relating to the tasks of the members of the Defence Services and the country's political, economic and social conditions and judicial affairs. Lt-Gen Tin U explained that we are systematically marching towards the set goals and objectives. He said that while we are striving to develop the nation by implementing the set political, economic and social objectives, efforts are being made for the emergence of a firm state constitution, which is indispensable for the nation... It is very important for members of the Defence Services to take heed of the speech and implement their tasks. The Defence Services - which were born out of the Burma Independence army, BIA and formed to resist and fight the imperialists and, with the people, to resist the fascists - has become a people's army on which the nation relies. The Defence Services have discharged their assigned national duties during national emergencies while crushing internal insurgency and repulsing external aggression. It is known to all how the Defence Services have had to shoulder their political, economic, social and administrative duties in addition to their defence duties. The Defence Services are striving to maintain their noble traditions, while striving to develop into modern and strong Defence Services through four major undertakings for training, administration, welfare and morale. Members of the Defence Services are to strive to perfect the 12 noble traditions and 10 strengths of the Defence Services. At the same time, they should constantly strive to sharpen their military, organizational and administrative skills. Therefore, members of the Defence Services should remain especially alert in the area of security and resolutely take action against those who undermine, mar and disturb national interests, and remove and annihilate these elements. ****************************************** BKK POST: 273 BURMESE ARRESTED December 26, 1995 (BurmaNet Editor's Note: Virtually every shop, restaurant, and factory in Mae Sot uses migrant labor from Burma. A large proportion of the market vendors are from Burma, and many houses have housekeepers and cooks from Burma. The official population of Mae Sot is over 20,000, and the number of migrants may be as much as three times that figure. This being the case, one wonders how the police chose which houses to raid.) Immigration officials arrested more than 270 Burmese people for alleged illegal entry in Tak's Mae Sot district early yesterday morning. A combined force of immigration and Border Patrol Police searched various houses in Mae Sot municipality and arrested 273 Burmese including 83 women and 36 children. Provincial immigration chief Suthee Ariyakabutr said all illegal immigrants would be repatriated through a safety zone. ************************************************* BKK POST: SUU KYI ACCUSED OF TRYING TO BREAK BURMA December 26,1995 Rangoon, Reuters (slightly abridged) In the latest attack on democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, one of Burma's most senior ruling generals accused her of trying to break the country apart at the behest of unidentified foreigners. Military intelligence chief Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, in a speech published in state-run newspapers yesterday, also urged people to be aware of "subversive elements" trying to alter the course laid down by the military for the future. "Adopted sons and daughters of the colonialists, under external influence, are attempting to cause the disintegration of the union and the loss of independence," Khin Nyunt said in a speech on Sunday. Although he did not use Suu Kyi's name, Khin Nyunt was clearly referring to her and her political party when he accused people of trying to disrupt a government-organised convention, which has been meeting intermittently since January 1993 to draw up guidelines for a new constitution. "Without seeing to national well-being they are moving to cause disruption to the national convention only for their party's interest," he said. "It is necessary to be aware of all attempts of internal and external subversive elements to cause change of in the nation's path towards political, economic and social objectives," he said. Earlier this month a commentary in the rigidly-controlled state media suggested Suu Kyi was a traitor and said she and her colleagues would be "annihilated" if they tried to destabilise the country. (BP) *************************************************** NATION: MANDALAY DEVELOPMENT December 27, 1995 Kyodo Chiyoda Corp will propose a development plan for the city of Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, a company official said. Under the plan, the plant engineering company will propose about 60 projects with priority orders as well as infrastructure improvement projects in a 150-page report submitted to city authorities, the official said. The plan aims to develop Mandalay into a larger city with a population of 3.5 million by 2020, almost three times its current population, he said. (TN) *************** BKK POST: PM SUMMONS NSC ADVISERS AS FISHING CONFLICTS ESCALATE December 27, 1995 (abridged) A Burmese attack on a trawler and the seizure of vessels by Malaysia has prompted the Prime Minister to summon the National Security council to discuss fishery disputes. Banharn Silpa-archa's move followed a Fisheries Department report yesterday that a trawler was set ablaze by a Burmese ship on Monday. The Choke Monrudee, from Samut Sakhon, was three-five miles off Koh Chang, Ranong, when it came under fire from a Burmese naval vessel. The trawler's oil tank took a hit and the vessel caught fire. The 15 crew jumped overboard and were plucked from the sea by other trawlers. One crewman, a Burmese, was missing and feared lost. ****************************** BKK POST: MORE INCENTIVES ON OFFER TO ATTRACT FOREIGN INVESTMENT December 26, 1995 Burma eases barriers to manufacturing WITH THE International Monetary Fund expected to reach an agreement on future loans to Burma soon_ at least according to Burma's Minister of National Planning and Economic Development _ a rapid expansion of the country's manufacturing base may not be very far behind. However, the sector still has some steep hills to climb if it is to realise its full potential. Manufacturing accounted for only 9.4 percent of the country's gross domestic product and 8.2 percent of employment in 1994, and investment lags far behind tourism and natural resources exploitation. Since the State Law and Order Restoration Council, the ruling junta, started soliciting foreign investment in 1988, fewer than 50 manufacturing enterprises have been approved worth a mere US$175 million, compared to total approved foreign investment of $2.6 billion as of March 31 this year, and the vast majority of these are small, labour-intensive cottage industries or larger investments in agricultural production and oil refining. Yet things are looking up, partly because of a government which is so eager to attract foreign investment that it has even been willing to modify laws to accommodate individual eases. Manufacturing investment applications doubled to $76.3 million in 1994-95, compared to the previous year. The figures include only investment. approved by the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) and do not include a considerable bulk of Chinese investment or the roughly $400 million which has been invested mainly by Thailand and Singapore under the Companies Act. Investors who have taken the plunge are generally happy with MIC's incentives, which include extendable exemptions on income tax and duty-waivers on imported machinery, and the over-all operating environment. The Burmese state enterprises which are often partnered with foreign investors, are generally praised for keeping the wheels of commerce turning, although they are sometimes accused of nit-picking at the expense of profits. Firms connected to the government or the military generally enjoy privileged access to raw materials, permits and domestic credit. The state-owned Myanmar Textiles Industry (MTI) has been instrumental in securing rental levels as low as $2 per square metre for its clients. There have also been few complaints about corruption, although bribery is common practice where the issuing of import and other business permits is concerned and is picking up generally. As for the main sticking point, the 20-times overvaluation of the currency at the official rate and a stipulation that foreign investors must pay income tax on expatriate income in hard currency, the recent establishment of exchange centres in Rangoon will alleviate some of the difficulties by permitting the free exchange of Foreign Exchange Certificates at market rates. The strongest attraction for investors is the enthusiastic, plentiful and economical work force. Basic wages range from $15-40 a month, beating both Bangladesh and Vietnam, even if total wage bills are often inflated by the need to import technicians. Small, export-oriented garment factories from South Korea and Hong Kong are the most common manufacturing enterprises. Although fabric has to be imported, customs formalities are generally smooth, and, like hotels, they are allowed to earn kyat to pay local expenses by selling 10% of production domestically. In addition, only men's shorts and trousers are restricted by US quotas. However, there have been several setbacks, including the withdrawal of several US labels for mainly public relations reasons. Most recently Victoria Group from Hong Kong, which runs four . factories valued at a total of $8 . million including a higher value added knitwear plant which it V built from scratch, has been- thrust on the defensive by American human rights activists. As a result, the firm says it may have to halve its workforce of 3,500 workers, which ironically will t punish the very people the rights groups purport to protect. Meanwhile, manufacturers serving the domestic market have their own problems. Because o the exchange rate conundrum the 150% tax imposed on imported products is the equivalent of just 7.5%. Therefore the household appliances assembled by Daewoo are only 20-30% more price competitive than imports, while battling the perception that locally made products are not as good. Worse, the high imported component in locally assembled TV disqualifies them from the General System of Preferences, making them uncompetitive in export markets. If Burma joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, components sourced within the group will qualify as local content. Meanwhile, the going is tough. The food processing and beverage sector fares best domestically and the most successful of all is the $15 million Pepsi-Cola venture which produces 900,000 bottles a day and is diversifying and expanding with a second factory in Mandalay. Its only major challenge is distribution made difficult by the poor infrastructure. ***************************************************************** BUSINESS TIMES: S'PORE BANKS TO PLAY KEY ROLE IN MYANMAR December 18, 1995 by Loh Hui Yin in Bangkok (abridged) DBS Bank, UOB said to be forming ventures as banking sector is opened up SINGAPORE banks look set to play a major role in Myanmar's impending move to liberalise its banking system. DBS Bank and United Overseas Bank are said to be forming joint venture banks with local partners, with the proposed DBS venture likely to start first. Banking sources say Myanmar's gradual opening up of its protected banking industry will be patterned on Thailand's offshore banking scheme, known as the Bangkok International Banking Facility (BIBF). This means joint ventures will initially lend in foreign currency, usually US dollars, to finance investments in cash-hungry Myanmar. The liberalisation should spur foreign investments into Myanmar and also facilitate the repatriation of earnings by foreign companies there. Although DBS Bank and other foreign banks already lend to foreign projects in Myanmar through their headquarters or branches in Bangkok, a joint venture is seen as a stepping stone to a full banking licence. "We are positioning ourselves for that day," said a foreign banker. DBS Bank, the first Singapore-owned bank to have a representative office in Myanmar, is likely to take a majority stake in its joint venture. Among the projects DBS Bank has financed are renovations to two major hotels, The Strand and Inya Lake. Bilateral relations will be strengthened next month when a Singapore ministerial delegation visits the country. ********************************************************** SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: THE SLOW ROAD TO MANDALAY December 21, 1995 BYLINE: The Burmese Government's drive to attract foreign money and tourism cannot hide the country's oppression, writes William Barnes Burma's generals are showing an unusual interest in archeology - olive green uniforms can frequently be seen stomping around what has been described as the most remarkable religious city in the world: Pagan. The city that stretches 12 kilometres along the Irrawady river - a day's journey by slow boat from Mandalay - took 200 years to build before being abandoned forever ahead of Kublai Khan's tartar hordes in 1287. Pagan's founder, King Anawrahta, united Burma politically; the country's current rulers claim to have achieved much the same. We don't know how many visitors Anawrahta had - though thousands of captured people were turned into slave labour to work on his grandiose city. Today's rulers also use "voluntary labour" to refurbish some of their country's historic attractions, though less as monuments to their glittering achievements than as a means of attracting tourists. For the tourist industry has become a key part of the army's plans to retain its grip on power. If foreigners pour into the country for Visit MYANMAR Year 1996, then the quick injection of money may stave off demands for more competent government. The beauty of tourism is that it provides quick returns at a time when many parts of the economy are still stuttering and before the millions of dollars from gas sales to Thailand become payable in mid-1998. There is also the spinoff that gawping foreigners crawling over the country might convince the local population that outsiders have finally accepted that the army's three decades of rule has some legitimacy. The regime has been prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of tourism and the promise of rich rewards: other peoples' sacrifices; their rewards. Mandalay residents have complained bitterly about being forced to scoop mud out of the city moat. Elsewhere villages deemed to lack aesthetic appeal have been peremptorily moved from sensitive areas, and the classic signs of economic pick-up are showing in traffic jams and environmental destruction. Burma risks losing part of its unique charm under a rash of jazzy new hotels that have already carved a swathe through the Edwardian terraces of colonial Rangoon. More serious are the sometimes clumsy attempts at restoration that horrify foreign experts who say that sympathetic preservation is overshadowed by the need to impress visiting generals. But with dollars in their sights, Burma's generals are as likely to heed such warnings as they are to curb the excesses of hotel building in Rangoon. Yet what real benefits will the man-in-the-street gain from the sharp reversal of the long policy of isolation? For just as what can be seen in Pagan is a fraction of what the mostly wooden city was like in its prime, it can only be imagined what Burma's economy might be like unfettered by army control. The 1996 tourist "boom" will certainly be slimmer than the military originally hoped, yet thousands will come: drawn by the lure of an exotic, long locked -away country, despite the pleas of foreign human rights groups to stay away. But most of the money tourism brings will ultimately be funnelled into the hands of the military and its civilian partners. The bigger hotel projects are usually part-owned by the military or by one of the new business elite growing fat on favours from the army. The economic activity - the government claims the economy grew 6.8 per cent over the 1995 financial year - has stoked inflation to between 20 and 60 per cent over the last five years. People on fixed incomes or in poor rural situations are in dire straits. "Malnutrition is the number one health hazard," said one Burmese attached to the health ministry. "Prices are going up tremendously - even 1988 (when price rises fuelled mass protests for democracy) was not as bad as now." The old middle class of doctors, teachers and civil servants has been under great financial pressure. "It is very, very hard - sometimes I don't even have the eight kyats to buy plain tea to talk to my friends in a tea shop," said one government clerk. Doctors may make a mere 2,000 kyats (about HK$ 128 at the unofficial rate) a month; half the price of a night in a modest Rangoon hotel room. "They have destroyed the middle class - pushed them down to a much lower level," said one former general now sympathetic to the opposition. The United Nations Development Fund calculates that two-fifths of rural folk don't even have the 1.2 hectares of land necessary to scratch a subsistence living. Many of them cut firewood to survive; which makes matters worse by adding to highly destructive deforestation. A Harvard University study has warned that a country once dubbed the rice bowl of Asia is poorly positioned to cope with a population that has doubled in 30 years. Bank lending (which might help farmers boost their yields with, say, fertiliser) is grossly inadequate, as might be expected in a country where hardly anyone trusts savings to banks for fear of government theft and inflation. The spurt of economic activity that has taken place since the regime abandoned the disastrous Burmese way to Socialism in 1988 can be put into perspective by noting that manufacturing accounts for just 14 per cent of GDP and that it took Thailand 30 years of seven per cent GDP growth before its agricultural workforce began to fall. With only one in four children going even to primary school it is hard to see any government finding it easy to lift the millions living outside the privileged Rangoon-Mandalay axis into a comfortable mode of existence. The State Law and Order Restoration Council, as the junta styles itself, is especially ill-favoured because it lacks - thanks to its appalling human rights record - access to international institutional lending to revamp its minimal infrastructure. Most roads outside the Rangoon-Mandalay corridor remain impassable for much of the year; in 1994-95 the government spent only US$ 10 million (at unofficial exchange rates) on public health. The army does spend plenty on itself: the defence ministry currently consumes a third of the government budget for its newly expanded force of more than 300,000 soldiers. The weapons and the soldiers are used to terrorise much of the population: especially the ethnic minorities. Foreign investors willingly take part in the hotel boom partly because guests pay in dollars which isolates them from the grossly overvalued official currency. But money is only being drip-fed into other sectors by overseas investors, despite talk of Burma starting to look good next to excessively corrupt and communist Vietnam. One Asian ambassador to Rangoon said the generals showed their hopeless naivety in calculating their original Visit Myanmar Year 1996 target of 500,000. "They told me Thailand got six million tourists a year so it was reasonable for them to expect 10 per cent of that - my goodness," he said. "They go by instinct - they don't think with their heads." The target was recently halved to save embarrassment; the airports alone would have collapsed under the original numbers. ********************************************************** BURMANET: BRIEF BUSINESS REPORTS Information supplied by M. Beer and abridged by BurmaNet JIJI PRESS TICKER SERVICE: HONDA TO SET UP REP OFFICE IN YANGON December 21, 1995 Honda Motor co. plans to set up a representative office in Yangon in 1996, in a move aimed at collecting information on market trends and industrial policies in Myanmar. The Indochinese country is billed as one of the world's most promising auto markets, however, Honda's exports to Myanmar are expected to remain under 100 vehicles for 1995. But increased penetration of foreign businesses into the Myanmarese market is raising the prospect of a jump in demand for passenger cars, particularly for corporate-use vehicles. The Tokyo-based automaker will use first-hand information collected by the representative office to chart out a sales strategy, the officials said. Honda's move apparently reflects the growing desire felt among Japanese carmakers to get into the potentially lucrative myanmarese auto market so as not to miss a good opportunity for profits in the future. Mitsubishi motors co. recently started marketing jeep-type recreational vehicles and other models in Myanmar, while Nissan motor co. plans to begin the sale of its sunny small cars and pickup trucks there next spring. Toyota motor corp. opened a service center in Yangon in early december to offer repairs, inspections and other after-sales services. KYODO: FUJI BANK TO OPEN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN MYANMAR December 20, 1995 Fuji Bank will open a business representative office in Yangon on Friday, officials of the bank said Wednesday. It is the second office of a Japanese bank in the city, following one by the Bank of Tokyo. The officials said the office is to gather information in Myanmar where the economy has rapidly improved since 1988, when the government changed policies to introduce foreign investment and develop a market-oriented economy. REUTERS: ISRAEL'S KOOR TO SEEK BUSINESS IN ASIA December 21, 1995 Senior executives from Koor Industries Ltd, Israel's largest industrial concern, will visit Burma in February to seek out trade and business opportunities. XINHUA: MYANMAR TO INTRODUCE MICRO-ORGANISM FERTILIZER December 21, 1995 Yangon Myanmar is planning to introduce effective micro-organism (em) fertilizer to boost the yield of crops, said Myanmar Minister for Agriculture Lieutenant General Myint Aung. When meeting with the Japanese professor Teruo Higa here on Wednesday, Myint Aung said em fertilizer will be widely used throughout Myanmar beginning 1996-1997 monsoon. They discussed plans to produce em on commercial scale in Myanmar for boosting the yield of crops without affecting the environment, according to today's the New Light of Myanmar. The paddy yield in the 1994-1995 fiscal year was recorded at 900 million baskets (over 18 million tons) and it is targeted at 1 billion baskets (about 20.9 million tons) in the 1995-96 fiscal year beginning April with rice export of over 1 million tons. COMLINE: MITSUI JOINS MYANMAR GOVERNMENT IN FEASIBILITY STUDY ON FERTILIZER IMPORTS December 22, 1995 Mitsui & Co. [8031] has joined Myanmar's Ministry of Agriculture in conducting a feasibility study regarding the expansion of fertilizer imports. The feasibility study calls for the import of 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of fertilizer per year and the construction of packaging, storage and distribution facilities throughout the nation, which could become operational in early 1997. Agricultural production accounts for 50% of Myanmar's GDP and employs 65.5% of its work force. If the fertilizer supply system goes into effect as planned, Myanmar's importance as a fertilizer procurement base could increase significantly. ******************************************************************