---------------------------------BurmaNet----------------------------------- ----- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- The BurmaNet News: September 13, 1996 Issue #513 Noted in Passing: It was like talking to answering machines with carefully censored pre-recorded messages - service correspondent at the SLORC press conference (see: IPS: FOREIGN REPORTERS FROWN AS RANGOON FORCES A SMILE) HEADLINES: ========== ASIAN WALLTREET JOURNAL: MYANMARS GO TO COURT ABSDF: INTERIM STATEMENT ON REUNIFICATION STATEMENT RANGOON RADIO: NLD MP FROM SHAN STATE RESIGNS IPS: FOREIGN REPORTERS FROWN AS RANGOON FORCES A SMILE ANNOUNCEMENT: AUNG SAN SUU KYI ON PEPSI: TAPES AVAILABLE HRWA: PROTECTION NEEDED FOR MUSLIM REFUGEES THE NATION: TOUGHER STAND SOUGHT IN BATTLE AGAINST JUNTA SCMP: THAI COMPANY TO EXPLORE GOLD, COPPER IN MYANMAR NATION: LETTER - ABOMINABLE SLORC BKK POST: SIX DKBA MEN KILLED IN ATTACK BKK POST: BURMESE MUSIC COMES OUT FROM UNDER A HARD ROCK ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- ASIAN WALLTREET JOURNAL: MYANMARS GO TO COURT September 6 -7, 1996 (Review and Outlook) On the whole, it has seemed inappropriate to us for foreign nationals to bring legal battles that belong in other jurisrictions to the US court system. As long as there are some American judges who can't resist a high - publicity case, however, the hopefuls will keep coming. Ask the attorneys who persuaded California federal Judge Manuel Real to order Swiss Banks to pay Philipino ligitants in a tourture and suffering case against there deceased President, Ferdinand Marcs. But one difference between that case and the action filed in California Tuesday by Burmese dissedents and democrats is that the target this time is an American company, the oil giant Unocal. The other difference is that the plaintiffs don't need to win any money to claim victory. As Unocal itself has acknowledged, the motive for the suit is chiefly 'political'. The thrust of the complaint is that Unocal, by participating in a $1.2billion natural gas project in Burma, is implicated in human rights violations committed by Burma's State Law and Order Council, SLORC. The plaintiffs are a US based exile group calling themselves The Natonal Coalition Government of Burma, and the Thailand based Federation of Burmese trade Unions. The suit does not accuse Unocal - which is building the Yadana gas pipeline in partnership with SLORC and France's Total SA - of any wrong doing. But it alleges that the American company knew of or should have known that it's Burmeses partners were deporting villagers and engaging in other abuses to facilittate construction. Among other charges, the suit alleges that Unocal is "vicariously liable" for the use of thousands of forced labourers to clear jungle, build a road along the pipeline route and work on a railroad. Unocal is hopping mad. The allegations filed in a US federal court Tuesday have been haunting the company like a bad dream for several years. Now , as always, Unocal strenuously denies that it or SLORC has done anything wrong on the project. In a statement released Tuesday, Unocal calls the lawsuit "frivilous" and says that "all people who work on the pipeline are paid a better than average wage, people have been more than compensated for any land use and villages are in the same place they always have been." Given the seriousness of the charges, many of which have been documented elewhere in Burma in the past, there remains a compelling moral interest in discovering the truth. Unocal' problem is that no matter how many times it says that the Yadana project "is an outstanding model of economic development" no one can know for sure, because Burma is the kind of place where foreigners are not permitted to wander freely. In a country where even clowns are in prison for making practical jokes, getting information from the locals is dangerous for all involved. If Unocal wants to clear it's name, a day in a US court may not be bad way, because there the Burmese plaintiffs will be held to a far more rigorous standard of proof than that required on the Internet and university campus bulliten boards. Meanwhile, Unocal's protests that it is being persecuted fall on deaf ears. No one forced the company into partnership with one of the most reviled regimes. When it signed on with SLORC, Unocal evidently thoiught the rewards were worth the risk. Unfortunately instead of reforming itself out of power, SLORC has appeared to have interpreted the steadfastness of companies like Unocal and countries like Thailand as a green light to arrest more, not fewer, Burmese freedom lovers. Can anybody be surprised if some of the mud thrown at SLORC has landed on the shirts of people standing nearby? *********************************************************** ABSDF: INTERIM STATEMENT ON REUNIFICATION STATEMENT September 12, 1996 From: "All Burma Students' Democratic Front" On the 11th of September 1996, the Thailand Times newspaper reported that, due to the Moe Thee Zun faction refusing to agree to the voting process, there is a "deadlock" in the ABSDF reunification conference. The ABSDF reunification conference states that this report is unfounded and totally wrong. As the leaderships of both factions had prepared well in advance for the reunification talks, the process is proceeding smoothly. All of us have also agreed that there will be ballot to elect the central committee that will lead the ABSDF. Since we are making decisions for the working programs and the strategy to enable the front to achieve success in the democratic struggle, we are taking more time than estimated. The report by the Thailand Times newspapers on the 11th of September is totally wrong and different from what is taking place. This reunification conference was called with aim of unity in our thoughts and the result will be one ABSDF. We stated that very soon conference will be concluded successfully with promise for the removal of the dictatorship and progress of the democratic movement. ***************************************************************** RANGOON RADIO: NLD MP FROM SHAN STATE RESIGNS September 6, 1996 [Translated Text] U Hlaing alias U Tun Hlaing of the National League for Democracy [NLD], an elected member of the People's Assembly in Yawnghwe Township Constituency- 1, Shan State during the Multiparty Democratic General Elections, citing poor health, has submitted his resignation out of his own volition to withdraw as elected representative. The Multiparty Democratic General Election Commission has accepted his resignation effective today in accordance with Section 11, Subsection E of the People's Assembly Election Law. ******************************************************** IPS: FOREIGN REPORTERS FROWN AS RANGOON FORCES A SMILE September 10, 1996 By Teena Gill BANGKOK, Sep 10 (IPS) - Burma's military rulers have for years paid little regard to the various attacks on the regime by the foreign media, but under pressure from international investors, Rangoon is starting to sit up and take notice. But critics of the military junta say the regime has so many skeletons in its cupboard and so little public relations skills that the attempted media-friendly approach is unlikely to achieve the objective of cleaning up the tarnished image of the Burmese authorities. As part of the new approach, Burmese officials held a rare press briefing for more than 20 Rangoon-based foreign journalists eaier this month and appealed to them to report events in the country ''objectively''. Though journalists present were eager to take in the usually hard to get 'official comments', there was reported disappointment all around when ministers stonewalled all questions about Burma's human rights record. ''It was like talking to answering machines with carefully censored pre-recorded messages,'' a wire service correspondent who attended told IPS. He did not want his name revealed for fear that the authorities might bar him from re-entering Burma. But the regime made the most of it with the junta's mouthpiece 'Newlight of Myanmar' carrying a huge splash on the press briefing even publishing individual pictures of attending journalists. According to Rangoon based analysts, the Burmese junta's change in strategy towards foreign media began back in July because of pressure from foreign investors who themselves are under constant attack from human rights campaigners urging them to withdraw from Burma (also known as Myanmar). In recent months activist campaigns and media pressure in North America and Europe have forced multinationals like Pepsi, Carlsberg and Heineken to withdraw from Burma and those foreign investors that remain are worried they too will be targeted by pro- democracy forces. The regime is also unhappy with the reported poor response to its declaration of 1996 as a 'Visit Burma Year', which it has blamed on ''hostile foreign media coverage''. The response of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) as the regime calls itself, has been to revive its information committee to brief foreign journalists every month about their viewpoint of events in and round Burma. Official media in Burma is reported to have cut down on its attacks on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the premise that even bad publicity is better than no publicity. Almost in tandem, foreign companies like oil giants Total and UNOCAL have also increased their public relations efforts by sending press releases and information 'fact sheets' to journalists around the world. The oil companies have come under attack from human rights group and Burmese dissidents for allegedly using ''forced labour'' at their pipelines and drilling installations inside Burma. Notably, the military regime has not confined its efforts to wooing foreign journalists visiting Rangoon but has extended its public relations efforts also to Bangkok, from where a number of critical English language dailies are published and often smuggled into Burma for dissemination. In August, countering news reports in Bangkok criticising the sentencing of Suu Kyi's personal assistant Win Htein to more than 14 years in prison, the Bangkok based Burmese embassy wrote a letter to national dailies ''explaining'' the reasons behind the action. According to the embassy, Win Htein, a former Burmese Army captain, was 'guilty' of arranging a video recording showing the failure of the summer rice crop in some parts of the Burmese countryside. The embassy claimed the video was part of a ''conspiracy'' to spread ''disinformation'' and ''confusion''. ''The military regime's attempt at public relations reminds one of the adage that it is better to keep your mouth shut and let people wonder whether you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt,'' says Aung Naing Oo, a Bangkok-based dissident student leader. He argues that no amount of positive media coverage -- particularly botched attempts -- can camouflage certain basic facts about the regime's human rights record. In May, more than 260 members and supporters of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) were detained as the authoities vainly tried to prevent the pty from holding a major congress. Most have been released, but continue to suffer harassment. ''If the regime can sentence someone to 14 years in prison for making a video recording like the case of Win Htein, you can imagine how brutal it is,'' says Aung Naing Oo. In Burma, the military has ruled the country with an iron fist since the early 1960s. But it was in 1988 following the violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in which hundreds were killed due to indiscriminate firing by soldiers that the extent of the regime's ruthlessness was reported to the outside world. The regime's image has not got any better. One year after the crackdown, the regime put Suu Kyi under house arrest -- she was only released last year -- and in 1990 the junta refused to give up power after being trounced by the NLD in parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, international human rights groups have documented several instances of how the junta has been using and continues to abuse the rights of ethnic minorities in building the country's infrastructure. Analysts point out that having successfully clung onto power all these years despite international condemnation, the regime is now craving for respectability. Aiding the regime in its efforts to attain greater international recognition in recent years are countries like Malaysia and Indonesia which have used their strong influence in the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) to bring Burma into the fold of the regional body. This year, Burma was invited officially for the first time as an observer at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) at a meeting in Jakarta. Since then, the regime has applied for full membership of the grouping and Malaysia has indicated it is keen to have Burma join the body as early as next year. ************************************************************ ANNOUNCEMENT: AUNG SAN SUU KYI ON PEPSI: TAPES AVAILABLE Spetember 12, 1996 From: zni@students.wisc.edu (zar ni) We are distributing audiotape copies of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's phone interview wherein she made specific comments (about 2 and half minutes) on PepsiCo's "withdrawal". For those spiders who are persuading their university procurement and other officials not to do business with PepsiCo, her comments are right on and to the point. This tape is one of the most potent tools in presenting our case before city councils, student governments, faculty senates, and other university officials including presidents, boards of regents and trustees, and procurement officers. Coming directly from the legitimate leader of Burma's democracy movement and an elected government, the statement that PepsiCo is still in Burma is very very powerful. And playing this tape before relevant bodies of officials is highly recommended. The tape is about 10 minutes in length and has been aired nationally on the Pacifica Radio Network and other stations. Thanks are due to Leslie Kean, the co-director of Burma Project/USA in Mill Valley, California for giving the FBC permission to reproduce the tapes for the Pepsi Boycott campaign. We request $5 donation per tape to cover the cost (mailing, padded envelopes, tapes, etc.) and the FBC members donated labor. Please make checks payable to "Free Burma Coalition" and mail them to The Free Burma Coalition, University of Wisconsin, 225 N. Mills St., Madison, WI 53706 After they lost their bids to Harvard and Stanford dining services ($1 million and $4-6 million loss respectively) due to the efforts of our colleagues in those schools in particular and the growing Free Burma movement in general in the US, PepsiCo announced its "withdrawal" from Burma this past April. Now PepsiCo is waging an agressive PR campaign to whitewash its image on campuses. It has been sending out letters to the University Procurement Divisions. It is giving away Pepsi drinks in public areas on campuses. It is sending their PR managers and local reps to talk to student governments at various schools. The major official line is something like the following: We have withdrawn from Burma. So we are no longer bad. So please take our products back. PepsiCo has not withdrawn from Burma at all. Their announcement was a calculated PR move to placate the growing Pepsi Boycott movement. They continue to have licensing agreements with their local contractor who has led mass rallies echoing the SLORC's call for annihilation of Burma democracy activists and supporters. History of PepsiCo and Burma: 1991 PepsiCo began its operation in Burma by entering a joint venture with local businessman Thein Tun 1996 April PepsiCo got kicked out of Harvard dining services for failing to dislose the list of farm product suppliers (Pepsi was engaged in "countertrade" whereby it was trading in products that were produced by slave labor (i.e., ordinary Burmese citizens including children working at gunpoint by the SLORC trrops). Countertarde here means, according to PepsiCo, "a barter system, whereby PepsiCo purchases and sells products (i.e., rattan, mung beans, sesame seeds) to pay for concentrate and other imported materials." On the one hand, PepsiCo maintained, and still maintains, publicly " Our overall belief is that global trade is a humanizing and positive influence in the world." On the other hands, PepsiCo was knowingly buying products out of slave labor farms! PepsiCo lost its bid to open a late-night restaurant (Taco Bell!!) at Stanford University student union when 2,000 students signed pepition, in a matter of several days, to protest the prospect of Taco being on their campus. Pepsi was removed from the list of available soft drinks at Colgate University, NY provided by the Marriot Corp. PepsiCo and it's subsidairies most notably Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut continued to find themselves confronted with grassroots consumer boycotts at over 70 colleges and a smaller number number of high schools where Free Burma folks were active. PepsiCo could not provide services and goods to city councils of Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Madison, Oakland, Santa Monica, Oakland, San Francisco because of its involvement in Burma. PepsiCo Board of Directors was publicly challenged by the socially responsible shareholders such as Rev. Joe LaMar of Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers and Simon Billenness of Franklin Research and Development at their annual shareholder meeting. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility sponsored a shareholder resolution calling on PepsiCo to terminate its business in Burma "until political prisoners are released and political power is transferred to the democratically-elected government of Burma". PepsiCo management got enough votes to defeat the resolution. PepsiCo announced its "withdrawal" from Burma and sold 40% equity interest to the local business partner, but said that the it would keep the franchise agreement for several more years. To this day, PepsiCo continues to supply their local contractor with cola syrup, sells its formula, and maintains a licensing agreement. In response to PepsiCo's outrageous lies, the Free Burma Coalition announed its October Fast for Burma. News stories about Burmese citizens and students boycotting Pepsi products inside Burma appeared in Thai and other international newspapers. May 1996 PepsiCo was criticised by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for continuing to do business in Burma. Summer 1996 PepsiCo came up with a "new" argument that they are merely a third party trader in the Bruma market and that they are just fulfilling the contractual obligation. Fall 1996 Campus-based Pepsi Boycott movement is going full steam ahead with several groups meeting with their college presidents, dinining services officers, and procurement managers. City and community-activists are also working on Burma city council ordinances whereby PepsiCo will be denied business opportunities with the City. October Fast for Burma (Oct. 7 noon -Oct. 9 noon) Sources: PepsiCo in Burma: Pepsi-Cola Products Myanmar Ltd.: A Report to Shareholders; The Proxy Resolutions Book (January 1996), ICCR, New York; Free Burma listserv; BurmaNet. *********************************************************** HRWA: PROTECTION NEEDED FOR MUSLIM REFUGEES September 13, 1996 (Human Rights Watch Asia) From: hrwatchuk@gn.apc.org In The Rohingya Muslims - Ending a Cycle of Exodus?, released today, Human Rights Watch/Asia documents the repatriation of more than 200,000 Burmese Muslims from Bangladesh to their home state in northern Burma, and concludes that the arrival of an estimated 10,000 new refugees by the end of May 1996 raised important questions about the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) and about the promotion of voluntary return to countries with particularly abusive governments. On September 3, 1996, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister, Abdud Samad Azad, started a three day visit to Rangoon to discuss, among other things, the repatriation of nearly 50,000 Burmese Muslim refugees remaining out of the 270,000 who fled to Bangladesh in 1992. But even as these discussions took place, new asylum-seekers were fleeing Burma. In the week of August 26, two refugees reportedly died after they stepped on landmines as they tried to cross the border into Bangladesh. On April 20, fifteen others drowned when their boat capsized while being towed across the Naf river back to Burma by Bangladesh border guards. The cycle of exodus is clearly not over. In February and March 1996, Human Rights Watch/Asia interviewed some of the early arrivals in the new influx of refugees to Bangladesh and found that forced labor, lack of freedom of movement, and the forcible disappearance of family members triggered their exodus. The 34-page report, based on those interviews and other data collected since then, documents a pattern of continuing discrimination against the Muslims in Arakan state, from the denial of citizenship to forced relocations and forced labor. The UNHCR signed agreements with the governments of Bangladesh and Burma in May and November 1993, giving the UNHCR a role in repatriation on both sides of the border. The repatriation of thousands of Burmese has taken place in the context of developments within the UNHCR, which has seen a shift from providing refugee relief to promoting voluntary repatriation as the most durable solution to refugee problems. UNHCR officials and the UNHCR annual report have cited the Rohingya repatriation as a success and vindication of this new position. Human Rights Watch/Asia strongly questions the degree to which the rights of the refugees have been protected in the process. A draft of Human Rights Watch/Asia's findings was sent to the U.N. High Commissioner, Mrs. Sadako Ogata in Geneva; comments from her office have been incorporated in the final text. However, differences of opinion and interpretation between Human Rights Watch and the UNHCR inevitably remain, notably on the issue of the voluntariness of the repatriation at different times. There is no dispute that the first stage of the repatriation, between September 1992 and the end of 1993, was forced. At the time, the UNHCR was not present in Burma and had no agreement with the Burmese government to provide assistance to returnees. Even more seriously, while the UN agency was present in the camps in Bangladesh, it could not prevent major abuses, including beatings and the denial of food rations by camp authorities directed at forcing the refugees back to Burma. The second repatriation effort took place after the UNHCR had established a limited field presence in Arakan state in early 1994. It began promoting mass repatriation on the grounds that the situation in Arakan was now conducive to return, and it gave up the hard-won right to interview each refugee individually to ensure that she or he was returning voluntarily. Human Rights Watch/Asia examines the extent to which the refugees have been able to make fully informed decisions about their return, based on knowledge of their right to request continued asylum and objective information about conditions in Arakan. It also looks at various elements of the reintegration program and the consequences of the UNHCR having as its implementing agency or government partner an ostensibly civilian agency that in some parts of Arakan is under the direct command of the military. Human Rights Watch/Asia applauds the UNHCR s efforts to work toward preventing refugee outflows by promoting human rights, but notes that the UNHCR has in many cases avoided addressing human rights concerns in Arakan. In particular, the UNHCR must ensure that it does not neglect its responsibilities to the refugees in a situation where there is a conflict of interest: where the need to publicize and advocate against continued abuses takes second place to the need to maintain good relations with both the country of origin and the host country. The UNHCR s policy since June 1996 of discouraging and reportedly assisting the government to prevent possible asylum seekers from leaving Burma is a cause for great concern. In the final analysis, the refugee problem will not be solved until and unless the Rohingyas are recognized as citizens by the Burmese government and granted the rights they are currently denied, said Zunetta Liddell, Human Rights Watch/Asia s London- based research associate. They will remain a vulnerable group, always ready to flee if the alternative is to suffer further abuse. Human Rights Watch/Asia recommends that the Burmese government (SLORC, or State Law and Order Restoration Council) immediately amend or repeal the 1982 Citizenship Act to abolish its over- burdensome requirements for citizens in a manner which has discriminatory effects on racial or ethnic minorities, and to grant the Muslims of Arakan State full citizenship and accompanying rights, in particular the right to freedom of movement. The SLORC should also cease the practice of forced labor in Arakan State and across Burma in compliance with the 1930 ILO Convention on Forced Labor which the government signed in 1955, and it should permit the new UN Special Rapporteur to Burma to visit the area on his mission later this year, and he should be guaranteed free and confidential access to residents. Human Rights Watch/Asia also urges the Bangladesh government of Sheikh Hasina to state unequivocally that it will permit individuals to seek asylum. In doing so, it should provide objective information to refugees on which they can make an informed decision to return and should ensure that refugees are fully aware of their right to protection from refoulement if they can establish a well-founded fear of persecution if they are returned. Bangladesh is obliged to give all asylum seekers the opportunity to claim refugee status. The Bangladesh government should demonstrate its commitment to international human rights standards by becoming a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol. Even without having become a party to the Convention, Bangladesh should fulfill its obligations with regard to the principle of non-refoulement which is customary international law. Finally, Human Rights Watch/Asia calls on the UNHCR to conduct a thorough evaluation of its policy of promoting mass repatriation to Arakan State at a time when the situation there has not substantially improved. Under current circumstances, if the conditions in Arakan State deteriorate, UNHCR should not tolerate violations by the Bangladesh government of the right to seek asylum or the principle of non-refoulement. The UNHCR should also reassess its classification of Burmese Muslims newly arrived in Bangladesh from Burma as economic migrants and seek assurances from Bangladesh that they will not be returned against their will without having had the opportunity to apply for refugee status. ********************************************************* THE NATION: TOUGHER STAND SOUGHT IN BATTLE AGAINST JUNTA September 12, 1996 UNITED NATIONS - A Burmese opposition leader urged Socialist International yesterday to take a "stronger and more concrete stand" against the military government in Burma. In a speech to the organisation's 20th congress, Win Khet of the National League for Democracy said democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains in danger despite her release last year from six years of house arrest. Win Khet told the congress that diplomatic efforts by Japan and Southeast Asian governments to engage Burma in dialogue have failed to achieve any relaxation in curbs against democracy. "It is clear.... that the Burmese generals are determined not to change," he said. "Instead of reconciliation, they are intent on destroying all opposition." He said it was time "for governments, especially those represented in the Socialist International, to take a stronger and more concrete stand." Win Khet expressed appreciation for Denmark's efforts to urge the European Union to impose sanctions on the military government. "I sincerely urge the other nations represented here to also act," Win Khet said. "Unless the Burmese generals are told that their actions will not be tolerated, they will continue to ruthlessly suppress the Burmese democracy movement." Win Khet said democracy activists "cannot rule out the possibility that they (generals) will act against Aung San Suu Kyi. She is in personal danger." He did not elaborate. Despite the grim picture, Win Khet said prospects for change were not hopeless. He said Burma's economic problems were adding pressure on the regime but were also creating a severe shortage of goods. "Domestic support for the democracy movement is growing," he said. "People are becoming more outspoken and even the ethnic armies that have signed ceasefires with (the generals) are beginning to coordinate their calls for political dialogue and democratic reforms." He also cited campaigns by labour unions, non-governmental organisations and some politicians in the United States, India, Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Western Europe on behalf of the democracy movement. Socialist International, an association of 120 democratic socialist parties worldwide, opened its 20th congress at the UN headquarters on Monday. Delegates are discussing issues such as globalisation, security and ways to promote social democratic ideals during an era when state management of the economy has fallen out of favour. (TN) ********************************************************** SCMP: THAI COMPANY TO EXPLORE GOLD, COPPER IN MYANMAR September 10, 1996 (South China Morning Post) Thailand's Asia Investment Co. Ltd. will conduct mineral prospecting, exploration and feasibility study on potential deposits of gold, copper and base metal in southern Myanmar's Shan state, official daily the New Light of Myanmar reported today. Under the agreement signed here monday between the Thai company and Myanmar's department of geological survey and mineral exploration of the ministry of mines, the exploration will be carried out in Pindaya and Ywangan regions. Asia Investment Co. Ltd. is the second Thai company that entered agreement with myanmar this year to explore gold and copper after Atina Time Square Ltd. The report quoted Myanmar Minister for Mines, Lt. Gen. Kyaw Min, as saying that Myanmar has provided initial tax exemption and a better investment climate to encourage foreign companies investing in Myanmar to proceed to the production stage. According to official statistics, approved foreign investment in Myanmar's mining sector has exceeded 322 million US dollars in 28 related projects as of the end of may this year. A total of 15 foreign companies have been involved in mineral explorations in Myanmar. They are from Australia, Canada, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. ************************************************************* NATION: LETTER - ABOMINABLE SLORC September 12, 1996 In reply to Joe Cummings' argument that a boycott of tourism would ill-serve the people of Burma, I have to disagree. The call for a boycott from the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi was in response to Slorc's announcement of a tourism campaign known as Visit Myanmar Year 1996, which was initially supposed to start at the beginning of this year. It is now officially starting in November. The pro-democracy movement has always stated that to support this campaign means supporting Slorc; staying away until after this tourism campaign ends is a way of showing your support to the movement for democracy and human rights in Burma. Nobody is suggesting that you seal off the country to the outside world, but given that sanctions occur, the tourism campaign is totally boycotted, and Cummings' book has low sales, how arrogant to think that with foreigners unable to visit Burma Slorc's oppression would be worse. Does he really think that the Burmese people are unable to bring their situation to the international community themselves? The author is wrong when he states that many foreigners leading the boycott movement haven't been to Burma in years. Firstly, the boycott movement was initiated and supported by the Burmese democracy movement and in partnership with foreign activists. The Burmese people are not able to speak out without repercussions. To avoid the risk of imprisonment, through relationships with those who can speak out, information is distributed. Secondly, a lot of the information that came from the country supported by photographs was done by people who have travelled extensively throughout the country and continue to do so. To say that the average Burmese is politically better off now is ridiculous. There is still a one-party system, laws are arbitrarily announced in response to any successful initiative from the opposition, meetings are banned, gatherings are forbidden and freedom of the press remains a distant. dream as ever. Ethnic rights are ignored, health and education put on the back burner, and economic policies are catered for the elite, their family and friends. The army controls the country and in that position conducts horrendous human rights abuses in rural areas, including Slorc-controlled territory. I would also like to respond to Cummings' statement about the Moustache Brothers but I can't, because it would make their situation and that of their families more difficult than it already is. To use them in this article to support tourism is nothing more than disgusting. They cannot respond from the labour camps, or the tiny prison cells where they are chained like dogs to each other. To say that the greatest human rights abuses currently taking place are shielded from the foreign public's view is about the only correct fact that Cummings has stated. However, how does one define the greatest human rights abuse? For a person living in urban Burma, under the watchful and active eye of the military intelligence personnel, knowing that to do what most people consider a normal and not radical form of behaviour, such as writing a poem or meeting friends to discuss their lives, could land you in jail for up to seven years. Or is it the farmer who is forced to either become a porter for the army, or labour for nothing for the "development" projects? Or is it the woman who was elected by the majority of the people, placed under house arrest, "freed" and then publicly insulted by the regime and made to fight for her right to speak to the people who voted for her? As for his comment on the restoration of Mandalay Palace, Cummings is incorrect when he states that forced labour was discontinued and convicts used instead. Many of my friends who live in and around Mandalay were still forced to work for the restoration work done at the palace even after this abuse was exposed to the world. The author presents himself as a non-biased observer of the current situation in Burma but goes on to say that he is the principle author of the Lonely Planet Guide books to that country. It need hardly be said that a travel boycott of Burma would significantly reduce the sales of his book. In the author's own words, "The State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) ... is abominable. Faith Doherty Southeast Asian Information Network Chiang Mai ******************************************************** BKK POST: SIX DKBA MEN KILLED IN ATTACK September 12, 1996 Six members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army were killed and four others wounded during an attack on a Karen National Union base in Burma opposite Ban Muenruechai, Phop Phra in Tak province. The fighting was started by some 100 DKBA at about 11 a.m. yesterday at the KNU temporary base about three kilometres west of the Thai-Burmese border with heavy weapons and rifles. KNU reinforcements, despatched to the scene shortly afterwards, attacked the DKBA soldiers from the rear. The 30-minutes firefight caused casualties on the DKBA, according to border sources. (BP) ************************************************************ BKK POST: BURMESE MUSIC COMES OUT FROM UNDER A HARD ROCK September 12, 1996 Music: As a official attitudes to Western music soften, heavy metal pirates are reaping the benefits PHILIP McCLELLAN, Rangoon, AFP TWO decade after Burmese strongman Ne Win showed his disapproval of popular music by personally destroying a drum kit in the dance hall of leading hotel, hard rock is making a comeback in Burma. In a side street in downtown Rangoon, Zaw Win sells the latest hard rock from the Metalzone, a narrow shop where stacks of freshly-pirated cassettes line walls decorated with posters of wild-haired rockers. These "recording" shops have been. Mushrooming across the capital in recent years as official attitudes towards Western music soften - a trend only helped by the increased availability of pirating equipment. Popular music in Burma has come a long way since the Ne Win stormed into a hotel where is two unmarried daughters had sneaked off to go dancing and demolished the house band's drum kit. For the next two decades, dance halls were boarded up in accordance with Ne Win's wishes and popular music went underground - grudgingly accepted, but officially shunned. Today, heavy metal has become the music of choice for many young Burmese, particularly the thrashing sounds of Los Angeles-based rocker Metallica. The Metazone's Zaw Win, who confides that his tastes run to love songs and country music, says that while his shop stocks everything from Burmese ballads to the enough Metallica. While Metallica have made great inroads in the Burmese capital, the leather-clad rockers are unlikely to be reaping many royalties from Rangoon. In a small room at the back of the Metazone, where a group of teenagers are watching footage of an old Sex Pistol concert, are stacks of tape recorders and countless compact discs and vinyl records of top Western acts. "These CDs are bought in Singapore," Zaw Win says, pointing to several large poles of compact discs. "We copy them onto cassettes and then sell them. I would sat we sell about 100 cassettes day - mainly Metallica." The pirated tapes of Western rock music are selling without interference from the authorities, and the music is also generating anew cottage industry. Iron Cross is perhaps Burma's best known rock outfit, and probably one of the hardest working bands in the world - even though concerts are few and far between in Rangoon. The band members are busy putting the finishing touches to their 25th album of the year at the capital's premier recording facility, Lynn Studio, in a leafy Rangoon suburb. Last year the band recorded "at least" 40 tapes - not including collaborations with other groups. The secret to Iron Cross' prolific output is due to what Tony Lynn, after whom the studio is named, calls "copy music." Each new album or collection of songs arriving in Burma is painstakingly translated into Burmese, after which the band layers in guitars, vocals, drums and the inevitable keyboard. Iron Cross alone puts out about one tape every 10 days, mainly copies, although the band also finds time to put out a handful of recordings of their original songs every year. The industry is demand driven, with shops like the Metalzone making requests for copies of songs or albums to be recorded. The band of choice? "Metallica," says Lynn. "The young people mostly like heavy metal." However, while business is booming for the recording industry, live music remains frowned upon by the authorities, and is only allowed on special occasions. Iron Cross keyboard player Bangnar Naing, who is adding his touch to a Bryan Adams song, says the band hasn't played live in Rangoon since April. Tony Lynn says the main problem is the cost involved and low-profit margin, but when pressed admits that the authorities are less than keen about allowing live heavy metal shows. "There are no restrictions on the type of music," he says. "The main problem is that they worry about people getting all hot and dancing and dancing. They think that they won't be able to control the audience." (BP)