---------------------------------BurmaNet----------------------------------- ----- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- The BurmaNet News: September 27, 1996 Issue #524 HEADLINES: ========== BURMANET: UPDATE ON PARTY CONGRESS AND ARRESTS BURMANET REPORT ON THE OIL CRISIS IN BURMA REUTERS: BURMA'S DEMOCRACY PARTY TO HOLD CONGRESS AFP: US FROWNS ON BURMESE THREAT TO JUNTA CRITIC BURMANET: SUBSCRIBER UPDATE BKK POST: ASEAN BID SCRUTINIZED FBC: OCTOBER FAST FOR BURMA PRESS RELEASE US EMBASSY RANGOON: FOREIGN ECONOMIC TRADE - BURMA MYANMAR ALIN: VERSE COMMEMORATES USDA 3RD ANNIVERSARY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- BURMANET: UPDATE ON PARTY CONGRESS AND ARRESTS September 27, 1996 (Friday afternoon) The National League for Democracy began a party congress this morning, but as in May, the SLORC has already arrested many of the would-be participants. At least 31 NLD members coming in from distant states and divisions have been arrested on the way. The cooks who were preparing meals for the congress participants have also been detained, and their cooking equipment confiscated as well. As of Thursday night, 50-70 NLD MPs were reported to have made it into the compound. A number of party members and NLD Youth are also in the compound as are senior NLD leaders, U Kyi Maung and U Tin Oo. According to inside reports, troops were seen on University Avenue after 10 pm Thursday night. This morning, both ends of University Avenue were blocked off by police, some armed with semi-automatic weapons. Some soldiers were also reported to be stationed there. At noon today, about 200 people were milling around one of the blockades which is located at the intersection of Kaba Aye Pagoda Road and University Avenue. At 1:30 this afternoon, the NLD was planning to hold an opening ceremony to which diplomats and journalists were invited. However no one was allowed past the barricades. Several journalists and TV crews are in Rangoon, but if any are in the compound, they have not been able to get any news out. One TV cameraperson who was videotaping around the barricades later had her room searched and her videotapes confiscated. She herself was also subjected to a thorough search. When asked by journalists, SLORC spokesmen have stated that after the three day meeting is over, everything will return to normal. In the meantime, they are taking people to "government guesthouses" and no one is allowed in the compound. The NLD party headquarters, which had been considered as an alternative meeting site, has also been blocked off. According to one report, the SLORC has begun arresting people in the compound, but nobody can confirm this. Whether it is merely a fear or a rumor is still unclear. The phone line into the compound has been cut and no one has access. We will post more news as soon as we receive it. ************************************************************** BURMANET: REPORT ON THE OIL CRISIS IN BURMA September 27, 1996 Mitsui has stopped deliveries of imported crude oil and diesel to the SLORC, because the SLORC did not pay its 31 million dollar bill, a small sum for most governments. Last week, gasoline prices were rising 50 kyat a day, from 300 on Tuesday to 450 on Friday. Since then the rate has gone down to 270-280 kyat a gallon. Until recently, the price had been stable at 200 kyat a gallon on the open market and 25 kyat a gallon for SLORC government personnel. Depending on their rank and position, government personnel are allowed to purchase a certain number of gallons per month at the subsidized price. Mitsui is the SLORC's largest supplier, and the SLORC is now negotiating with several other Japanese suppliers for future deliveries. One supplier who is seriously considering making a deal with the SLORC is Marubeni, whose CEO is a WWII veteran who saw action in Burma and reportedly sympathizes with the SLORC. Pro-democracy supporters inside are urging the international community to launch a campaign to try to stop these Japanese companies from bailing the SLORC out of this predicament. ************************************************************* REUTERS: BURMA'S DEMOCRACY PARTY TO HOLD CONGRESS September 26, 1996 From: dvb@sn.no RANGOON, - Burma's National League for Democracy (NLD) said on Thursday it would hold a congress September 27-29 to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the party's founding. A party official told Reuters about 200 people had been invited to attend the congress. A plan to hold a similar gathering in May spurred widespread arrests of democracy activists by the military government. "We have sent out about 200 invitations to elected representatives from all over the country. But we don't know how many will be able to attend," the NLD official said. The meeting will be at held the house of party leader and co-founder Aung San Suu Kyi. The NLD, which won a landslide victory in a 1990 general election that was never recognized by the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), tried to hold its first-ever gathering of elected representatives in late May. It would have been the first time Nobel laureate Suu Kyi met the elected representatives as a group. She was under house arrest during the 1990 election. But days before the meeting was to be held, the SLORC launched a sweeping crackdown on NLD members, arresting more than 260 politicians in a couple of days. The SLORC released most of the activists after about 10 days, saying it had only detained them in an effort to avoid anarchy or unrest that could result from the party meeting. Suu Kyi and the members of the executive council were spared arrest, but they held a meeting with about 300 party members instead of the original gathering of elected representatives. After the meeting, Suu Kyi said the NLD vowed to increase the momentum of its efforts to restore democracy to Burma. She said the NLD, which pulled out of government-sponsored constitutional talks last November, had decided to draft its own version of the constitution. Shortly afterward, the SLORC passed a sweeping law, seen as an effort to muzzle Suu Kyi and the NLD, calling for long prison terms for any person or organization seen disrupting the government's constitution-writing efforts or viewed as trying to disrupt peace and stability of the country. About 70 NLD members and supporters have been arrested or charged and given long prison terms since May. One diplomat said the upcoming party meeting would be a test of how serious the SLORC was in its desire to muzzle Suu Kyi. "Although this size gathering will clearly be seen as a challenge to the SLORC...so far government reaction has been low key," the diplomat said. "NLD attendees have started to arrive in town, but no arrests or detentions that we've heard of so far." Democratic Voice of Burma(DVB) P.O Box 6720 ST.Olavs Plass 0130 Oslo, Norway Tel: 47-22-200021, Tel/fax:47-22-362525. ************************************************************** AFP: US FROWNS ON BURMESE THREAT TO JUNTA CRITIC September 26, 1996 WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (AFP)_The State Department said Thursday it took "very seriously" a commentary in Burma's official media predicting opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be charged with political crimes. Spokesman Glyn Davies noted that the administration supports legislation, backed by Congress but not yet signed by President Bill Clinton, that would provide for economic sanctions against Burma if the junta harms, arrests, or exiles Aung San Suu Kyi. " We take this very seriously," Davies said of a commentary in Burma's state-run media, which said, "in the not too distant future, she (Aung San Suu Kyi) will be accused as a political criminal." "We take very seriously any threats to arrest her or to prevent her from conducting what we regard as legitimate political activity," he added. "We have long urged the ruling junta to engage in dialogue with the political opposition as the best way to achieve national reconciliation." Davies said. Burma's tightly controlled official press Wednesday accused Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, of using foreign media to attack the government. It criticized her "decisions and wrong deeds" and said opposition calls for foreign investment boycott would hurt the people rather than the government. Any moves against Aung San Suu Kyi, who was freed last year after six years under house arrest and has called repeatedly for international investors to shun Burma, would likely spur strong support for American sanctions. But how hard the junta would have to crack down on her supporters to trigger a US investment ban remains unclear, and NLD supporters fear a new crackdown surrounding a conference this weekend at Aung San Suu Kyi's home. Plans for a national party congress in May were thwarted at Aung San Suu Kyi's home. The State Law Order Law and Order Restoration Council, Burma's military government, detained most of the delegates ahead of the meeting. The state-run New Light of Myanmar mentioned the NLD anniversary plans in a commentary Thursday that accused the opposition grouping of "heading toward a one-party Thursday that accused the opposition grouping of "heading toward a one-party democracy dictatorial system." The commentary spoke of "power-crazy internal traitors under the influence of outside powers," who had no intention of cooperating with other parties. It said the country could not accept foreign influence or NLD links with insurgent expatriates," and it deplored that "a single person at the top echelon has influence on the entire party and wields power," a veiled reference to Aung San Suu Kyi. ************************************************************* BURMANET: SUBSCRIBER UPDATE September 27, 1996 Since stopping the burmanet-l list and asking everyone to resubscribe, we have had no more problems with bounced messages. Again we are sorry for this problem which was caused by a subscriber who closed his e-mail account but did not unsubscribe him or herself from burmanet-l. It was extremely difficult to identify the person because they were apparently having their e-mail forwarded from one account to another, and we did not have the second account name. The account generating the bounced messages was not on our burmanet-l subscriber list. Eventually with the help of various system administrators we were able to identify the culprit. Now our list is back to normal and running smoothly. Our total subscriber account is roughly 600 but many burmanet-l subscribers have shifted to burmanews-l (to which only strider and the BurmaNet Editor can post messages). Anyone who wants to shift back to burmanet-l can do so by unsubscribing from burmanews-l and subscribing to burmanet-l. SUBSCRIPTION INSTRUCTIONS: TO SUBSCRIBE: send an e-mail message to: majordomo@igc.apc.org For the BurmaNet News only: in the message, type: subscribe burmanews-l For the BurmaNet News and 4-5 other messages a day: in the message, type: subscribe burmanet-l (NOTE: this is a lower case "L", not the numeral one) TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send an e-mail message to: majordomo@igc.apc.org in the message, type: unsubscribe burmanews-l or unsubscribe burmanet-l (NOTE: this is a lower case "L", not the numeral one) We would like to remind our subscribers that if you are closing your e-mail account, please unsubscribe from burmanet first. Thanks, BurmaNet Editor *********************************************************** BKK POST: ASEAN BID SCRUTINIZED September 26, 1996 The Burmese opposition yesterday called on ASEAN countries to think carefully before granting Burma full membership in the organization and warned of "the consequences" for peace and tranquillity in the region. Foreign ministers of ASEAN will meet at the United Nations in New York today to discuss the creation of the "ASEAN 10", which includes Burma as a full member of ASEAN. The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma in a press release in New York said: "If ASEAN makes Burma a full member, it will be violating the purposes and principles of its own charter as well as its own position regarding Burma's contribution to 'peace, stability and economic cooperation in the region"'. It reminded ASEAN that under a parliamentary democratic system, Burma was an original signatory to the Bandung conference and a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. When the military took power in 1962 the military-dominated socialist regime disrupted the development of Burma as a peaceful democratic state and market economy in Asia, it said. The socialist regime adopted a policy of isolationism. The current leaders of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) pursue that policy today. The NCGUB statement said both ASEAN and the United Nations had adopted the premise that there could be no peace or economic development without democracy and respect for human rights. The General Assembly at its 50th session adopted a consensus resolution condemning Burma's violations of peace, development, democracy and human rights that urged the Secretary General to assist the government of Burma in its efforts at restoring democracy and national reconciliation. It said members of the UN, by reason of their charter obligations, must support the Secretary-General in these efforts. "Burma should not be considered a full member of ASEAN until SLORC has been peacefully replaced by a freely elected democratic government. Burma, as a state monopolized military command economy, cannot contribute to the thriving Asian regional market economy," it stated. As a military power which depends for its existence on the import of arms from a major power, SLORC is not in a position to contribute to the security of the region. On the contrary, as the country with the longest lasting internal strife in the region, Burma at present will do nothing but make the region more unstable. This, it said, is the position officially taken by certain ASEAN officials. It pointed to the repercussions for the regional grouping should Burma be allowed to join, such as the possibility of escalation of political tension between SLORC and the democratic opposition, which may lead to a scenario where the breakdown of law and order will create serious repercussions for Burma's neighbors, especially along the border with Thailand. It said the only viable solution to prevent further bloodshed in Burma is to have a national dialogue between SLORC and the democratic opposition at the earliest possible opportunity. Since May of this year, SLORC has escalated its strategy of intimidation. "ASEAN should condemn this repression and not accept Burma as a full member at the present time," the statement said. ***************************************************************** FBC: OCTOBER FAST FOR BURMA September 26, 1996 From: zni@students.wisc.edu (zar ni) The Free Burma Coalition 225 North Mills Street University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706 Contact: In Madison Zar Ni (608)-827-7734; In Los Angeles Nandar (310)-837-8862 and David Wolfberg 310-391-7788; In Washington, DC, Dr. Sein Win (202)-393-7342; More than 300 students and others across the United States, as well as numbers of people in South Africa, Canada, Japan, and Thailand will participate in a fast sponsored by the Free Burma Coalition on Monday through Wednesday, October 7-9, 1996. The Free Burma Coalition (FBC) is an umbrella group of organizations around the world working for freedom and democracy in Burma. The mission of FBC is to build a grassroots movement inspired by and modeled after the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. The FBC movement stands 100 percent behind the leadership of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) who have been recognized as the sole legitimate leaders by the people in Burma. The objectives of the Free Burma Coalition are 1) to weaken the grip of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) by cutting its substantial flow of foreign currency provided by multinational corporations such as Total, UNOCAL, Texaco, ARCO and PepsiCo, among others. And, 2) to strengthen the position of the democratic forces within Burma by building up an international movement calling for the end of totalitarian rule under SLORC. The Free Burma Coalition intends to draw attention to the situation in Burma with the international fasting and related activities on October 7 through 9. In accordance with the wishes of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, the FBC is calling for immediate and complete withdrawal of all foreign business from Burma. In her audiotaped speech in support of the Free Burma Fast, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said, "Profits from business enterprises will merely go towards enriching a small, already very privileged elite. Companies such as UNOCAL and Pepsi, ARCO, and Texaco only serve to prolong the agony of my country by encouraging the present military regime to persevere in its intransigence." Free Burma activists at 50 colleges and at least ten high schools, plus others who are sympathetic to the situation, are participating in the fast in order to draw attention to the growing democracy movement in Burma. Through this act of solidarity, the activists aim to raise international awareness about the human rights abuses committed by the SLORC, the illegitimate military regime in Burma. Since staging a military coup in 1988, SLORC has ruled Burma with an iron fist. After massive protests and pro-democracy demonstrations, in which hundreds of lives were lost, the SLORC held an election in 1990. The National League of Democracy, under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, won an overwhelming 82 percent of the parliamentary seats. However, SLORC refuses to cede power. Condemned by Amnesty International, the U.S. State Department, and the UN Human Rights Commission, SLORC still continues to ignore calls for a dialogue with the pro-democracy groups in Burma. In response to SLORC's record, activists have steadily been building an international grassroots movement to call attention to the regime's horrendous human rights record. Participants in the fast hope to intensify international pressure on corporations supporting Burma's genocidal regime and encourage the people of Burma by showing international support for their struggle for democracy. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi expressed her support for the fast by stating, "The Free Burma Fast will help focus attention on the essentially peaceful nature of the quest for democracy in Burma." At places such as Warren-Wilson College, University of Houston, Penn State, Stanford, and University of Wisconsin at Madison, students will hold public rallies and continuous vigil to publicize the cause during the fast. Over the past year and a half, Free Burma activists at Harvard, Stanford, and Colgate Universities have been successful at ridding their campuses of PepsiCo's business, because of PepsiCo's continued business dealings with the Burma military government. Six U.S. cities and the state of Massachusetts have passed selective purchasing legislation which bars them from doing business with corporations that have economic interests in Burma. In addition, boycotts and protests by activists have led Eddie Bauer, Columbia Sportswear, Oshkosh B'Gosh, Levi Strauss, and Liz Claiborne to terminate their operations in Burma. As of September 17, the U.S. Congress approved legislation which states that the President must prohibit new businesses from investing in Burma if SLORC physically harms, rearrests, or exiles Aung San Suu Kyi, or arrests significant numbers of people who belong to the democracy movement. But U.S. oil corporations UNOCAL, TEXACO, and ARCO have so far refused to yield to pressures from Free Burma activists. Fasters also hope to bring to light social injuries to the indigenous communities in Burma caused by these corporations. ****************************************************************** US EMBASSY RANGOON: FOREIGN ECONOMIC TRADE - BURMA June 1996 INFRASTRUCTURE SITUATION Burma's physical infrastructure, while improving, remains a major impediment to the production and distribution of goods and services, and a short and medium constraint on economic growth. Much of the improvement in transportation and irrigation infrastructure has been accomplished through increasing use of uncompensated "people's contributions" of labor. The most serious long term infrastructure problem, namely the failure of a least two-thirds of Burmese children in recent years to complete primary school. Many kinds of skilled labor are already in short supply. If other problems were overcome, enabling Burma's economy to grow rapidly in the short- and medium term, a shortage of semi-skilled and functionally literate labor could develop in less than a decade. Nevertheless, diverse physical infrastructural problems constrain growth more immediately. Physical Infrastructure: The electrical supply remains inadequate, especially outside Rangoon and Mandalay. Some state and private enterprises operate below capacity due to chronic shortages of electricity. Private and foreign firms often rely on costly, diesel-fueled generators. Individual GOB ministries and SEE's under their supervision generate their own electricity. From FY 89/90 to FY 94/95, the commercial supply of centrally generated electricity increased by 40%, throughout the period, slightly more than half was generated by burning natural gas, slightly less than half by dammed water. Meanwhile, losses, chiefly in distribution of commercially supplied electricity increased. However, most of the large and increasing share of power lost in distribution reflects, not physical loss but rather either illegal line tapping and undeclared supply of cost-free electricity to the Ministry of Defense. That Ministry, which includes the many factories of the Directorate of Defense Industries and has by far the largest budget of any Ministry and does not pay for any electricity supplied from outside the Ministry. About half of the 1,308 MKWH estimated to have been "lost in distribution" in FY 94/95 is authoritatively said to have been consumed and not paid for by the Ministry of Defense. This constituted a hidden subsidy of around 2 billion kyat. This subsidy appears to be increasing both in real absolute terms and relative to the value of non-defense power consumption due to the expansion of the armed forces in general and of the import-substituting growth of the Directorate of Defense Industries in particular. Most of rural Burma has no centrally generated electrical supply, and relatively little progress has been made in rural electrification. The number of villages with electricity increased by 24%, from FY 89/90 to FY 94/95. However, most of the villages gaining access to centrally produced electricity during the period were near pre-existing power lines. Four of Burma's fourteen divisions and states (Arakan, Chin, Kachin, and Tenasserim) are not connected to the national power grid. Rail service is poor, although more rail services have been added, and some passenger and freight forwarding services on the main routes have been upgraded, in some cases by allowing private sector participation. The port of Rangoon, through which nearly all legal seaborne external trade passes cannot accommodate vessels of more than 10,000 tons, and is severely congested during peak export seasons, imposing large demurrage costs on seaborn trade. No airport in Burma including Rangoon International, can accomodate jumbo jets. Telephone facilities have improved but remain inadequate. Card phones and digital and radio telephone systems have been introduced in Rangoon, Mandalay and several other cities. the number of licensed phones in Rangoon is approaching 100,000, up from 47,000 in 1991; the number of licensed phones in the whole country is approaching 200,000, up from 95,600 in 1991. However, international fax and phone calls to and from Burma are still expensive, problematic and strictly regulated. In 1994, there were fewer than 900 licensed fax machines in Burma. Since mid-1995, the GOB has issued few satellite TV dish licenses and has periodically fined owners of unlicensed dishes and confiscated unlicensed equipment. There is no internet Service Provider in Burma. Use of uncompensated "people's contributions" chiefly labor: The GOB's published official statistics on the cost of local rural development works projects disaggregate those costs into state expenditures and "people's contributions" including "public donations in cash, kind and services". The great majority of the contributions of these works are believed to be in the form of uncompensated, often involuntary labor. Both wide spread allegations and casual observation indicate: (a) that the regional and national construction works that are "carried out by the State in co-operation with the public," and in which uncompensated "people's contributions" are employed, are the road, railroad, irrigation and embankment construction, renovation and improvement projects; and (b) that the technologies, the capital- labor mix, and the use of uncompensated labor in these projects are substantially identical to those employed in the local rural development road and irrigation works projects construction projects. **************************************************************** MYANMAR ALIN: VERSE COMMEMORATES USDA 3RD ANNIVERSARY September 15, 1996 (translated from Burmese) Traditional four stanza verse by Lecturer Daw Myint Than in praise of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, USDA, on its third founding anniversary in Burmese government daily Oh -- Third anniversary has arrived Hail to USDA male and female members New aura, wearing smiles, genuine tradition first With modern accessories, solid active participation Ready to discharge duty in the interests of Myanmar nation (Come one, come all) Let not truth be tarnished Our USDA. (Oh -- At present, departmental authorities have been submitting joint membership applications to the USDA and holding ceremonies for receiving donations.) What auspicious occasion! Time to rejoice In life, shall practice (USDA code for) "Sincere conduct, high aspiration, speaking the truth" This aspiration "for perpetuation of the Union and USDA patriotic principles" constitute our soul, our life. (USDA members constitute the association's hard-core and a national force on which the nation can rely upon for working together with the Defense Services in the interests of the entire indigenous people of the nation) Now as well as in the future, "a front for national cause" In positive light, strive relentlessly to be outstanding Relentlessly aspire to stand out prominently Our organization's reputation Stand grand and eminent. Hey! -- Various levels of USDA organizations flourish and expand. (Senior General Than Shwe said the five objectives of our USDA constitute a guiding light for national tasks which are of concern to every Myanmar citizen) Therefore, No matter how much We are being undermined We shall keep focus on the five objectives Deep in our heart forever Strive to be "correct person" (having knowledge of correct situation; correct awareness; correct conviction; correct stance) Correct person whose reputation cannot be rivaled throughout Myanmar land (Hey USDA male and female members!) With potential to bloom, grow and glow Oh! Persons with potential. ********************************************************* BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER RESOURCE LIST BurmaNet regularly receives enquiries on a number of different topics related to Burma. If you have questions on any of the following subjects, please direct email to the following volunteer coordinators, who will either answer your question or try to put you in contact with someone who can: Campus activism: zni@students.wisc.edu Boycott campaigns: [Pepsi] ai268@freenet.carleton.ca Buddhism: Buddhist Relief Mission: brelief@gol.com Chin history/culture: [volunteer temporarily away] Fonts: tom@cs.colgate.edu High School Activism: nculwell@facstaff.wisc.edu History of Burma: zni@students.wisc.edu International Affairs: Julien Moe: JulienMoe@aol.com Kachin history/culture: 74750.1267@compuserve.com Karen history/culture: Karen Historical Society: 102113.2571@Compuserve.com 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 Pipeline Campaign freeburma@irn.org Resettlement info: refugee_help@mail.serve.com Rohingya culture volunteer needed Shan history/culture: Sao Hpa Han: burma@ix.netcom.com Shareholder activism: simon_billenness@mail.cybercom.net Total - France Dawn Star: cd@utopia.EUnet.fr Tourism campaigns: bagp@gn.apc.org "Attn. S.Sutcliffe" volunteering: refugee_help@mail.serve.com World Wide Web: FreeBurma@POBox.com Geographical Contacts: Massachusetts simon_billenness@mail.cybercom.net [Feel free to suggest more areas of coverage] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. It is produced with the support of the Burma Information Group (B.I.G) and the Research Department of the ABSDF {MTZ} The BurmaNet News is e-mailed directly to subscribers and is also distributed via the soc.culture.burma and seasia-l mailing lists. For a free subscription to the BurmaNet News, send an e-mail message to: majordomo@igc.apc.org For the BurmaNet News only: in the body of the message, type "subscribe burmanews-l" (without quotation marks). For the BurmaNet News and 4-5 other messages a day posted on Burma issues, type "subscribe burmanet-l" (NOTE: this is a lower case "L", not the numeral one). Letters to the editor, comments or contributions of articles should be sent to the editor at: strider@igc.apc.org