------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: March 27, 1997 Issue #677 Noted in Passing: " I can say with absolute confidence that the general public of Burma would be very little affected, if at all, by sanctions. So far, the kind of investments that have come in have benefited the public very little indeed." Aung San Suu Kyi, The Progressive Interview HEADLINES: ========== AUNG SAN SUU KYI : THE PROGRESSIVE INTERVIEW THAILAND TIMES:MOSLEM GROUP CONDEMNS ATTACKS ABSDF: SLORC ACCUSED OF DESTROYING ANCIENT PAGODAS DVB-OSLO: MANDALAY MONKS' GRIEVANCES UNREST BKK POST: FUGITIVE LI SETTLES DOWN IN RANGOON FEER: HEROIN HAVEN THE NATION: ARMY HUNTS KAREN LEADERS THE NATION: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TARGETED BKK POST: ARMY CHIEF TELLS UNHCR TO STAY OUT BKK POST: CHETTHA AND SLORC TO DISCUSS FISHERIES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- AUNG SAN SUU KYI : THE PROGRESSIVE INTERVIEW March 1997 By Leslie Kean and Dennis Bernstein "In some ways, it's better to have the people of the world on your side than the governments of the world." The Burmese Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi talked to us over a noisy phone line from her Rangoon headquarters in mid-January. She informed us that the repression against her had escalated to violent physical attacks. Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for six years until July 1995, was tongue-and-check about the intrusive buzz on her telephone line. She said the noisy line was due to the presence of military-intelligence tape recorders, then laughed. "we couldn't survive without our sense of humor," she explained. Aung San Suu Kyi may be the most surveilled human being on the face of the Earth. The SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council), which took over the country in 1988 and changed the name of Burma to Myanmar, sees Suu Kyi as its primary threat. She heads the popular opposition and, by virtue of her own extraordinary family history, she has a strong claim on the intelligence of the Burmese people. Suu Kyi's father, Aung San, led the successful battle against British colonial rule 1947. He was assassinated that same year at age thirty-two, when Suu Kyi was only two. Aung San is a legend and a national hero in Burma in the eyes of the people and military alike. There are statues of him, museums about him, and streets named after him. His image is featured on Burmese one-kyat bill, which has been yanked from the circulation by the SLORC. When you hold the bill up to the light, the portrait of the independence hero greatly resembles his daughter. Students activists and pro-democracy protesters have adopted the note, worth less than a penny, as their flag of freedom, waving it during protest gatherings at risks of arrest. It has come to be known as the "democracy note." Aung San Suu Kyi says that she has no intention of shying away from the legacy of her father. "I could not, as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on," she declared before an audience of 500,000 at the beginning of her campaign in 1988. "This national crisis could in fact be called the second struggle for national independence." For its part, the SLORC - buoyed by billions from Burma's booming drug trade and foreign investment - shows no intention of turning over power peacefully. Indeed, judging from our conversations and the increasing violence in Burma, further repression and major bloodshed loom on the horizon as a distinct possibility, although Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers remain steadfastly committed to the path of nonviolence. Suu Kyi won the overwhelming support of the people of Burma during her "revolution-of-the-spirit" campaign for democracy in 1988-1989, following a bloody takeover by the SLORC in which thousands of demonstrators were massacred in the streets. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide victory in the 1990 elections. She was under house arrest and was not an official candidate, though the triumph of the NLD was vindication for Suu Kyi. In her most famous essay, "Freedom From Fear," released in 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi explains the necessity for individual transformation to bring about real change. "It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy, and human rights. There has to be a united determination to preserve in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance, and fear. Among the basic freedom to which men inspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end." Until a few months ago, Suu Kyi was able to give speeches at her front gate every Saturday and Sunday, answering questions the people submitted to her. Undaunted by roving military-intelligence video cameras and the imminent risk of arrest, thousands of Burmese would sit on old newspapers and plastic bags on the sidewalk to cheer, laugh, and listen to "the lady." But the junta has now banned these gatherings and in recent months has kept Suu Kyi under de-facto house arrest. The authorities have arrested hundreds of her party members and prevented Suu Kyi from meeting with journalists and diplomats. If they leave her house, her bodyguards and assistants face being hauled off to one of Burma's horrific prisons. Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest, and was cited by the Nobel Committee as "one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades." She is the recipient of numerous other prestigious international awards, and she presented the keynote address, smuggled out on videotape, to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995. In early November 1996, she was riding in her car to visit supporters when a mob of thugs - some throwing stones, some wielding iron bars -surrounded the vehicle and smashed the windshield. This was in an area controlled by government forces, who did nothing to intervene. When we last spoke with Aung San Suu Kyi in January, she expressed a heightened urgency about the situation. She was alarmed about the mass arrests of her colleagues, the increasing poverty of the Burmese people, and the upsurge of heroin use on university campuses. She was also outspoken about the need for economic sanctions against the SLORC. Q: The attack on you and your colleagues in your cars in early November was a serious threat to your security. What were your thoughts in that moment when your car was being attacked? ASSK: It was quite interesting. (She laughs.) I was fairly detached. I saw it all as an observer. There were all these faces crowding in toward the car, and there was one man in front with an iron bar in his hand who I assume was the one who made a big gash in my windscreen. I just said, "Keep moving." I made the decision that we were simply going to continue on to meet the crowds that had come to support us. One of the boys who was in the car with us was a bit angry about the whole thing, so I spent some time calming him down and telling him not to be angry. But it was clear to us that the attack was a deliberate attempt to harm us badly or even kill us. It is, of course, very serious. But we do not consider our own personal safety as any more serious than the safety and security of the people in general. Q: Since President Clinton signed a law in September that would impose sanctions if conditions worsened in Burma, repression against you and your people has increased. Arrests of NLD members have increased; you were physically attacked in your car by thugs; students have been arrested and universities closed; your movements have been severely restricted; your weekend speeches have been canceled; and you are not allowed to meet freely with journalists and diplomats. Do you think this satisfies the conditions in the U.S. law for sanctions to be placed on Burma? ASSK: Yes, I think so. If the restriction on the work of my party and on me personally are not removed in the very, very near future - that is in a matter of days - I think the United States should start thinking seriously of sanctions. This is really about as bad as it has ever been. I do not like to encourage personalized politics, so we would not like it to be thought that just because certain political personalities were attacked, this means the situation is very grave. The true gravity of the situation comes from the fact that ordinary member of the NLD are repressed all the time. We don't want a completely paralyzed political organization, while a select few leaders are protected by international attention. Q: How many NLD people have been arrested since November? ASSK: There must be about a hundred. Some are young members of the youth wing who were arrested because they were supposed to have been involved in the organization of the student demonstrations that took place over the last few months. Q: Witnesses report that the car attackers were paid by the SLORC and bused in to do the job. Some of them may have been members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), the SLORC so-called civilian social-welfare organization. What has been the role of this SLORC front group in the increasing violence? ASSK: The USDA is increasingly becoming a branch of the local authorities. On Burmese New Year's Day, the USDA people were sent over to my house to physically break up the NLD efforts to take up in a fish-releasing ceremony. In another incident, members of the USDA, most of them students, were instructed to throw tomatoes at me at the anniversary of the death of Burma's first democratic prime minister, U Nu. Fortunately, they didn't actually get into action with the tomatoes, although they were in position with crates of tomatoes when my car came by. Sadly, many students are members of USDA because they're forced to be, partly through incentives and partly through threats. In some schools, they are threatened that if they don't become a member of the USDA, they will not be allowed to take their examinations, or they will not be given good grades. I received a letter from a teacher who said that in her school those who want to go to the classes reserved for the best students have become members of the USDA. So students must join for their own survival. The world community must realize that the USDA, is not an innocent social-welfare organization, as it claims to be, but an organization being used by the authorities as a gang of thugs. Their operations resemble those of the Nazi Brown Shirts. The SLORC sent people from a so-called social-welfare organization to beat up other people taking part in a nonviolent, religious ceremony. I must say that that amounts to something very, very close to what the Brown Shirts used to do in Germany. Q: There is a movement in the United States and Europe to pressure corporations to stop doing business in Burma. How do these investments such as those from Unocal and its partner, Total Oil of France - affect the prospects for democracy for Burma? ASSK: These companies do create job for some people but what they're mainly going to do is make an already wealthy elite wealthier, and increase its greed and strong desire to hang on to power. So immediately and in long run, these companies harm the democratic process a great deal. Q: The SLORC claims that its economic programs for modernization, such as building roads and infrastructure, are helping the people and bringing them benefits. ASSK: A lot of roads, bridges, railways, and such are built through the use of forced labor, and that is causing the people great suffering. What we put into this in the form of human suffering is not worthy what comes out of it. I think corporations should give more attention to this suffering and should wait to invest until there is a responsible government in Burma. I do not think it is a good idea to separate economics from politics; in fact, I do not think economics can be separated from politics. It's quite understandable that many business concerns think only about their own profits. It's up to the public to put as much pressure as it can on these companies, through shareholder resolutions and public actions. Apart from the fact they should consider the moral implications of investment in Burma, companies should also take into consideration that investing in Burma now is not going to be of any benefit to them in more than the very short term, because conditions in Burma are such that healthy economic development is simply not possible. Unless there is free and fair competition, there can't be healthy economic development, And what we have in Burma now is not an open-market economy that allows free and fair competition, but a form of colonialism that makes a few people very, very wealthy. It's what you should call crony capitalism. Q: Does your support for sanctions impede your chances that the SLORC will enter into dialogue with the NLD? ASSK: The government has hinted at this possibility. However, we cannot accept this explanation for the lack of dialogue, because they did not do anything toward entering into dialogue even in the days when we were very careful not to call for sanctions. And we were very restrained for a long time, because we wanted to keep the door opened. So I think that for the authorities to say now that calling for sanctions will prevent dialogue is a ploy to stop us from supporting sanctions. It has to be the other way around: dialogue first, then we stop our call for sanctions, because sanctions make people understand that you cannot exercise repression and at the same time expect international support. We have been making constant efforts, all the time, to start a dialogue with SLORC, but you know it takes two. We don't want a monologue. We would like a substantive political dialogue among the SLORC, political leaders including myself, and leaders of ethnic groups -exactly as stipulated in the U.N. General Assembly resolution on Burma. Q: How would sanctions impact on the people of Burma? ASSK: I can say with absolute confidence that the general public of Burma would be very little affected, if at all, by sanctions. So far, the kind of investments that have come in have benefited the public very little indeed. If you have been in Burma long enough, you will be aware of the fact that a small elite has developed that is extremely wealthy. Perhaps they would be affected, but my concern is not with them but with the general public. Because of rampant inflation, living standards have been dropping for the great majority of the population. The people are poorer because standards of health and education have fallen. And conditions in the rural areas are worse off than they have ever been. So, you cannot equate the so-called open-market economy adopted by the SLORC with any real development that benefits people. Of course, there is a trickle-down effect but the trickle is a very, very small trickle. And it's dissipated very easily. It is essential to institute a legal frame work that would ensure justice and improve the quality of life in Burma immediately, because the greatest suffering among the people at the moment is caused by lack of justice and lack of the rule of law. Q: In the United States there have been some cities and the state of Massachusetts that have chosen not to do business with companies that deal with Burma. Is this an effective means of supporting democratization in Burma? ASSK: Very much so. We would like to see more of this. It's consumer power. It's good to know that the people of different countries are really concerned and involved in the movement to help Burma. I think in some ways it's better to have the people of the world on your side than the governments of the world, even if governments can be more effective in certain directions. Q: In November, the SLORC launched its tourism campaign called "Visit Myanmar Year." Are you still calling for tourists to boycott Burma? ASSK: Yes, my mind has not changed in any way. I still oppose "Visit Myanmar Year," and I would ask tourists to stay away. Burma is not going to run away. They should come back to Burma at a time when it is a democratic society where people are secure - where there is justice, where there is rule of law. They'll have a much better time. And they can travel around Burma with a clear conscience. Q: In Burma today there is an increasing availability and use of heroin on college campuses. Why is that? ASSK: The government appears to be more interested in stamping out political activity that drug addiction. Very few university students on the campus could get away with engaging in political activities, but they seem to be able to get away with taking drugs. We have heard that it is very easy to obtain drugs on the university campuses. Q: Why do you think the heroin used by students is sometimes nicknamed "freedom from fear" - the same name as your famous essay? ASSK: Perhaps it means that the only way the students can escape from the fear of repression of the government is by taking drugs. That would be very sad, wouldn't it? Q: The SLORC has a new partnership with drug kingpin Khun Sa, who is now called "blood brother" by the generals even though he is one of the world's most wanted heroin smugglers. Does this budding friendship contradict the SLORC's public declarations of fighting the drug trade? ASSK: It's very difficult to have any faith in the sincerity of the SLORC about stamping out drug production if they find it so easy to forgive a drug baron whom at one time they said they would never, never forgive and would never, never regard as anything but a drug runner. The SLORC is far more aggressive in its attitude toward the National League for Democracy than against drug traffickers. Q: Burma provides 60 percent of the heroin imported to the United States, and many of the ethnic peoples are financially dependent on the opium crop. Do you think crop substitution in the areas where poppies are grown would be an effective way to fight addiction? ASSK: Yes, it's one way. But basically, I think that in order to do something like that, you have to win the confidence of the people, and I don't think you can win people's confidence through intimidation and repression. We are in favor of crop-substitution programs, but first of all we would like to talk to the people concerned and discuss the problem with them. That is what democracy is all about. You talk over your problems with the people because the people are involved in the whole process of government. As for the National League for Democracy, we are of course against the proliferation of drugs because we recognize that they are harmful, not just for our own people but for people all over the world. Certainly democratic government would do its best to make sure that growing opium is eliminated in this country and that the people who depend on growing opium for their life will find other ways of earning a living. Q: There is a burgeoning AIDS epidemic in Burma. Reports describe shooting galleries that serve 200 addicts with one needle. Have you heard about this problem, and do you have plans for dealing with the underlying causes of AIDS? ASSK: We do hear that AIDS in on the increase, that's partly due to the fact that the authorities never really attack problems at their source. They seem to think that if they insist that the problem does not exist, it will simply go away. The best way to deal with AIDS is through education. So we need a rally widespread AIDS education program. In fact, what we need in Burma is education of all kinds - political, economic, and medical. AIDS education would be part of a whole program for education, which is so badly needed in our country. Q: In the past, you used to be able to go to your front gate every weekend and address questions submitted to you during the week by the people. Beginning with your release from house arrest in July 1995, numbers increased until the weekend gate speeches grew to about 5,000. Now that your speeches have been forbidden by the SLORC, do you feel totally cut off from your supporters? ASSK: No, I don't feel totally cut off, but of course the weekend rallies cannot continue to take place. The people still gather on Saturdays and Sundays to demonstrate their solidarity with us, which is wonderful considering how much intimidation is exercised by the authorities. I'm sure I will be able to resume my contacts with them, but when I can I'm not prepared to say at the moment. Q: Are you concerned that there might be other instances of physical confrontation? ASSK: It's possible. But then we look at this kind of things as simply an occupational hazard. Leaders of political parties need to keep in contact with the people; that's what it's all about. If violence were to erupt, I am fairly confident that we could control our people. Whether or not the authorities can control theirs is another matter altogether. Q: What do you tell people when they get discouraged? ASSK: We are confident that our cause will prevail, because that is what the great majority of the people in Burma want. We all want justice and human rights. Since what we want will benefit all the people in Burma, our cause is bound to win. And for those who get discouraged, I would say they should search their own hearts. I have a strong belief that those working for the truth will never lose. We will be successful whether we have lost or win, since we are working for the truth. Sacrificing for the truth means victory. The National League for Democracy has promised the people that we will continue working for their benefit, knowing that we will have to sacrifice and there will be many difficulties. Our promise to them will never be broken. And we will not use any methods that require the people to take risks. If there is something to sacrifice for, we will take the risks. That is why our League has been formed. We will sacrifice ourselves at the forefront, but we will also need the goodwill, trust, and strong determination of the people. Q: How much personal danger do you feel? Have you been threatened that if you leave your compound or try and speak to the people, you will be in trouble or you might be imprisoned? ASSK: I haven't been told anything like that, but of course the official papers are always talking about "annihilating" our forces (she laughs again). But we don't think about that too much. There is no time to be thinking about such things. ________________________________________________________ Leslie Kean, who writes regularly on Burma, is co-author of "Burma's Revolution of the Spirit: The Struggle for Democratic Freedom and Dignity" (Aperture, 1994). Dennis Bernstein is an associate editor with Pacific News Service and is the co-host of "Flashpoints," a public-radio news magazine in the San Francisco Bay Area. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Text provided by Leslie Kean and typed by the Free Burma Coalition (FBC). **************************** THAILAND TIMES:BURMESE MOSLEM GROUP CONDEMNS MOSQUE ATTACKS March 26, 1997 AFP DHAKA: A dissident Burmese Moslem group yesterday blamed the military junta in Rangoon for recent anti-Moslem riots and mosque attacks in Burma and urged Islamic and international leaders to intervene. In a statement sent to AFP yesterday, the Rohingay Solidarity Organization (RSO) of Burmese Arakan state claimed agents of the Burmese junta disguised themselves as Buddhist monks to carry out the attacks. In its one-page statement, signed by the group's fugitive head Mohammad Yunus, the RSO claimed dozens of Moslems have been killed or wounded and 18 mosques demolished since the trouble began last week in central Mandalay, Burma's second largest city. The RSO condemned the latest assault on Burmese practice of successive Burmese juntas was to "create an issue" and make Moslems "scapegoat whenever they faced strong dissension from the masses." It appealed to the 54 nation Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the international community to take urgent measures to protect the religious institutions of the Moslems in Burma, as well as their life and property. ********************************************** ABSDF: SLORC ACCUSED OF DESTROYING ANCIENT PAGODAS IN ARAKAN STATE March 26, 1997 From: ABSDF Press Release On Restoring Arakan Pagodas The Arakan Students and Youths Congress has accused the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) of destroying the largest ancient pagoda in Arakan State in western Burma while claiming that it has been attempting to restore the pagoda. In a statement issued in Bangkok by the All Arakan Students and Youths Congress (AASYC) yesterday alleged that the SLORC has been excavating Arakan's historic pagoda known as 'Koe Thaung' or '90,000 Buddha Images'. The Congress is demanding the immediate cessation of the supposed restoration work on the pagoda, and is calling on SLORC to stop the destruction of other historic buildings and sites across the State of Arakan which shares a border with Bangladesh. On February 18 of this year, SLORC leader General Than Shwe and his entourage of ministers visited Mrauk U in Arakan and examined the historic relics, ancient Buddha images and gold ornaments excavated from the Koe Thaung Pagoda. The pagoda was built by Arakan King Min Teikkha in the years 1553-1555. The pagoda is called 'Koe Thaung' according to the number of Buddha images enshrined in the pagoda. The people in Arakan believe that many precious artifacts, including images made of gold, diamond and emerald, were enshrined in the pagoda when it was built. The Congress also blasted SLORC's military intelligence chief Lt. General Khin Nyunt for confiscating five six-inch high emerald Buddhas found in a ruined pagoda located in Pashit village in Ponna Gyun township in April 1994. The organization also accused SLORC officers of taking several ancient Buddha statues from Okathalin Pagoda located in Paletwa township in Arakan. Since SLORC assumed power through a bloody military coup in 1988, the regime has been accused of destroying cultural and historic sites, pagodas and buildings belonging to the members of ethnic minorities. Some of the more significant destruction includes the bulldozing of Keng Tung Palace in Shan State for the construction of a luxury hotel. Source: All Arakan Students and Youths Congress (AASYC) For further information contact the AASYC in Bangkok on 731 8768, or the ABSDF on 300 0631. *************************************** DVB-OSLO: MANDALAY MONKS' GRIEVANCES UNREST (translated from Burmese) March 23, 1997 The Information Department of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, NCGUB, and the Federation of Labor Unions of Burma issued a news release today saying that the immediate cause of the current demonstrations by monks is the theft by the SLORC [State Law and Order Restoration Council] authorities of gems and gold from the Maha Myatmuni Buddha image in Mandalay and other Buddha images. On the morning of last Sunday -- 16 March -- Yedaw Abbot U Pyinnyawuntha, who was in charge of ablution ceremony for Maha Myatmuni Buddha image in Mandalay, noticed a hole in the stomach of the buddha image during the ablution ceremony. He immediately called a meeting with responsible monks. During the meeting it was reported that the SLORC authorities had stolen gold not only from Maha Myatmuni Buddha image, but also from Pakhan Buddha, Anyar Thiha Taw Buddha, and Pakokku Theingo Shin Buddha images. The monks reported at the meeting that a hole was found in the stomach of the Maha Myatmuni Buddha image because the SLORC authorities were looking for rubies. It was decided at the meeting to report the matter to the authorities concerned. At the meeting, a monk also reported that his niece had been raped by Moslems and the Moslem issue was discussed at the meeting. Following the meeting, anti-Moslem riots began at about 1630 with the destruction of a mosque at the corner of 35th and 84th Streets in Mandalay. It is reported that so far 11 mosques have been damaged in the week since 17 March. U Pyinnyawuntha is being detained in the Mandalay Palace grounds. The three main demands of Mandalay monks are: -- Release of Yedaw Abbot U Pyinnyawuntha and other detained monks; Investigation into the opening of the stomach of the Maha Myatmuni Buddha image; and -- Theft of gold from other Buddha images. If the demands of the monks are not met by today, the monks gave the ultimatum that they would take retaliatory action. Sagaing Hill is being surrounded by the SLORC's 39th Infantry Division and SLORC authorities are expected to go to Mandalay tomorrow. The Moslem unrest has spread to Rangoon and Kanbe Mosque was stoned yesterday. It was reported that 50 persons in monks robes arrived in Kanbe and stoned the mosque. At about 2200 on Saturday, about 50 monks tried to open the doors to Ma-ugon Mosque, but they were not able to enter. The donation of dry rations to over 1,000 monks scheduled at Kaba-aye Pagoda in Rangoon today has been called off by SLORC. It was reported that only 100 monks will be allowed. Moslems armed with sticks and swords are reported to be guarding their mosques. Although civilian anti-Moslem crowds have not not seen in Rangoon, the situation remains very tense. *************************************** BKK POST: FUGITIVE LI SETTLES DOWN IN RANGOON March 26, 1997 Nusara Thaitawat Li Yun-chung, the fugitive drug suspect, is in Rangoon with the knowledge of the Burmese junta and is unlikely to be returned to Thailand, according to a source. A contract for the killing of Li is understood to have been issued by the people who helped him escape, to shut him up should he return to Thailand, said the source. Li's escape had been planned and executed by a sophisticated network of brokers, known to prey on wealthy criminals, especially drug dealers. The brokers fear Li would incriminate them if he was returned to Thailand and eventually extradited to the United States, where he is accused of importing 486kg of heroin. Khun Sa and Lo Hsing-han, former drug warlords from Shan State, who are now doing legitimate business with their drug money with the full knowledge of the junta, have been asked to help Li settle in Rangoon, said the source. Li was not an aide to Khun Sa, former leader of the Mong Tai Army, but has done business with him. "We know he will not be returned to Thai custody, but we still have to monitor what he's doing and with whom," said the source. Li, alias Pongsak Rojanasaksakul, was granted a 30-day bail on February 7, after two previous requests were denied, and is believed to have made his way to Mae Sai, Chiang Rai, where it is easiest to enter Burma. By the time narcotics police and the US embassy in Bangkok found out about the bail a few days later, Li was safely in Rangoon. An investigation into the decision by Somchai Udomwong, the Criminal Court deputy chief justice who granted bail to Li, is under way and he has been transferred to the Appeals Court. Pradit Ekmanee, Criminal Court chief justice, told a committee investigating Mr Somchai it was standing policy of the Criminal Court not to grant bail in extradition cases. The committee, which met for the third day yesterday, asked Mr Pradit to explain the processes under which bail is considered. Born in Burma of ethnic Chinese ancestry with Thai residency and multiple aliases, Li was indicted for the shipment of the heroin into Hayward, California in 1991. He and Cha Chung-chang, his alleged accomplice, were arrested on July 23 at the request of the US government, for their role in the shipments to 35kg of heroin to New Jersey in 1992, 168kg to New Orleans in 1993, and 72kg to Singapore in March 1996. Cha, alias Prapan Thongchaisawang, remains in custody pending extradition. The source said he did not have the money nor the trust for the brokers and Li was to be a test case. (BP) ******************************************************* FEER: HEROIN HAVEN March 27,1997 By Bertil Lintner in Bangkok U.S. dismayed at drug suspect's escape to safety American diplomats in Thailand were enraged when Li Yun-chun, an alleged drug-trafficker awaiting extradition to the United States, jumped bail in Bangkok last month. But even more worrying for U.S. and Thai narcotics officials is that he had somewhere safe to escape to: Burma. The number of major drug-running suspects now in Burma but wanted in the U.S. has risen to eight. Drug-enforcement officials are even more disturbed that the wanted men are not exactly in hiding, as one source put it, but running supposedly legitimate businesses. "Burma is becoming a haven for fugitive drug-traffickers,"says a Western narcotics official. "That's far more serious than Li's actual escape from Bangkok." Li, also known under his Thai name Phongsak Rojjanasakul, was arrested last July along with another trafficker, Cha Chung-chang alias Praphan Thongchaisawang, in the city of Thonburi, which adjoins Bangkok. Both were linked to a 486-kilogram heroin shipment seized in California in 1991. Their first two appeals for bail were rejected, but perhaps taking advantage of the confusion around Chinese New Year in early February, Li went free on 5 million baht ($200,000) bail and failed to report back on March 7, as ordered. Instead, he hurried north, and both Thai and Western intelligence officials say he was last seen walking across the bridge from Mae Sai in northern Thailand into Tachilek in Burma. "The escape must have been well-planned,"an official says. "Once in Tachilek, he quickly took off for Rangoon." Li, a Burma-born Chinese, has good connections in Burma, where he once cooperated with heroin kingpin Khun Sa. Having surrendered to the Burmese authorities in January last year, Khun Sa, now a businessman in Rangoon, is also under indictment in America. In November 1994, U.S. and Thai authorities launched a coordinated sweep code-named "Tiger Trap"against Khun Sa's heroin network in Thailand, shortly after indicting 20 of its members, including Khun Sa himself. Ten men on the Tiger Trap list were apprehended during the operation, while four others were captured later, one of them in Kunming, China. Of those arrested, three have so far been extradited to the U.S., among them Chao Fu-sheng, a sales representative for Khun Sa's organization and procurer of refining chemicals. That leaves six men wanted under Operation Tiger Trap still at large in Burma. Well-placed sources say they include Khun Sa himself; his uncle, Khun Hseng; the chief of staff of his former Mong Tai Army, Chang Chu-shuan; and the kingpin's accountant and aide-de-camp, Lao Tai; and two others. Following Khun Sa's surrender a year ago, all of them followed him to Rangoon where they went into the real estate and transport business. A senior U.S. drug-enforcement official insists that they are also still running heroin refineries along the Thai border. Heroin prices in the areas opposite Khun Sa's former territory in eastern Burma first shot up from around 130,000 baht per 700 grams to almost 500,000 baht immediately after Khun Sa's surrender. But prices have now stabilized at around 190,000 baht for the same amount, lending credence to the allegation of continued activity. Li has now joined those seemingly able to operate with impunity and official protection in Burma along with Khun Sa's five remaining top lieutenants. An eighth drug-trafficker has also established himself as a prominent businessman in Burma: Wei Hsueh-kang, one of the three notorious Wei brothers, who controls the economic activities of Khun Sa's rivals in the heroin business, the United Wa State Army, based along the Yunnan frontier in northeastern Burma. Wei has been indicted in the U.S. for his drug-trafficking activities, and he is also a wanted man in Thailand. Following Li's escape, the Thais reacted quickly to contain the damage. Justice Minister Suwit Khunkitti announced on March 16 a government investigation into how and why Li was granted bail. Investigators will also look into suspected bribe-taking. U.S. officials emphasize that the Thais have been cooperative, but Burma appears to be an entirely different case. Li's reappearance in Rangoon is bound to affect already strained U.S.-Burmese relations. The U.S. is concerned about not only the acceptance of Khun Sa but also long-time trafficker Lo Hsing-han, whose son Steven Law was refused a U.S. visa last August. *********************************** THE NATION: ARMY HUNTS KAREN LEADERS March 26, 1997 Kanchanaburi - Two key Karen guerrilla leaders in hiding are wanted by local Army officers for what they claim will be Thai-mediated talks with the Rangoon junta on the resettlement of Karen refugees fleeing Burma. An informed border source yesterday said officers of the Army's Ninth Division have urged Karen refugees at Tha Ma Piew in Suan Phung district of Ratchaburi to help locate Maj Gen Oliver, commander of the Karen National Union's (KNU) 4th Brigade, and Padoh Khwe Htoo, KNU civil governor for Mergui and Tavoy districts. "They want Gen Oliver and the governor to talk with the Slorc within 10 days and then they want to send the refugees back to Burma," said the source. Slorc, or the State Law and Order Restoration Council, is the military regime in Rangoon which has ruled the country since taking over in a bloody coup in September 1988. The source said refugees in Tha Ma Piew do not know the exact whereabouts of the two Karen leaders, who, along with other leading KNU members, abandoned and fled the 4th Brigade headquarters at Htee Kee late last month as Burmese Army troops advanced. The Army officers were hoping refugees could pass on the message to both Gen Oliver and Padoh Khwe Htoo. Although the Ninth Division, which oversees border security from Kanchanaburi down to Prachuap Khiri Khan, has in the past few days allowed several thousands Karen fleeing Burmese forces to take refuge in Ratchaburi province, KNU officials and relief workers have said they believe the asylum "Is just temporary". They added they believe the refugees in Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi will eventually be pushed back into Burma, as the Thai government and military has already reached a consensus to send them home. According to the source, there are about 2,300 refugees at Phu Muang in Kanchanaburi, with around 2,800 Karen civilians from Huay Khi Ma and another 700 from Ta Ko Bon taking refuge in the vicinity of Tha Ma Piew in Ratchaburi. He said about 2,000 Karen refugees in Burma's Thu Kha and another 1,000 in Huay Ne Phia "are stranded right on the Burmese frontier" across from Thailand's Thong Pha Phum district, while several thousand more will likely move towards the border should Burmese forces, currently about 10 kilometres away, advance closer to their villages. The source said about 400 refugees are taking shelter at Hua Him in Prachuap Khiri Khan province and a few hundred more in Burma are on the move towards the Thai border. The Ninth Division plans to relocate the 3,500 refugees in Phu Muang, who were earlier relocated by the Army from Phu Nam Rawn, will be sent to Huay Sud. Thailand has been severely criticised for pushing Karen refugees into the Bongti Pass area in Burma, via Tha Ma Piew, only a few days after their arrival. Although Thai leaders have insisted the refugees returned of their own accord, relief workers and refugees themselves say they did not want to go back to Burma because the situation was still unsafe. Facing strong international criticism for their handling of the Karen situation, government leaders have moved to publicly reassure the world community the country still strictly adheres to humanitarian principles in its refugee policy and that refugees fleeing an immediate threat of fighting would be allowed to cross the border into Thailand. (TN) ******************************************************* THE NATION: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TARGETED March 26, 1997 THE Interior Ministry has proposed setting up a committee to deal with the increasing number of illegal immigrants in Thailand, currently estimated to be in excess of one million, a senior ministry source said yesterday. The proposed committee is expected to increase cooperation among various government agencies assigned to handle and suppress the presence of illegal foreign workers ­ mostly from Burma, Laos, Cambodia and South Asian countries. The Interior Ministry, which will act as the core agency, will host a meeting to establish the committee early next month. The committee will be assigned to deal with the situation as recommended by a National Security Council (NSC) resolution in March, which also alerted government agencies of the unknown number of illegal immigrants. According to the NSC, the uncontrolled number could pose a threat to national security. The committee will comprise representatives from the Police Department, the Immigration Division, the Labour and Foreign ministries, the NSC, the National Intelligence Agency, the Budget Bureau and the Supreme Command Headquarters. Meanwhile an adviser to the Interior Minister, Supasit Techatanont, yesterday referred to a government regulation which allows Cambodian, Lao and Burmese migrants who entered Thailand before June 1996 to work on a temporary basis. ''By the March 15 deadline for illegal immigrants to register with the ministry, 351,706 illegal immigrants had registered, but only 328,097 of them sought permission to work temporarily in Thailand. Among the 328,097, 285,662 are Burmese, 29,954 are Cambodians and 12,481 are Laotians," he said. However, an intelligence report from the NSC reveals that there are many more of those nationals, as well as additional numbers from China, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, illegally working in the country, he said. It is estimated that there are about 700,000 unregistered illegal immigrants in the country, he added. (TN) ******************************************************* BKK POST: ARMY CHIEF TELLS UNHCR TO STAY OUT March 26, 1997 Wasana Nanuam and Cheewin Srat-tha Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Chettha Thanajaro said yesterday that the government had no policy of allowing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide humanitarian aid to Karen refugees seeking shelter along the Thai-Burmese border. Gen Chettha made the remark in response to last week's request from the Karen Refugee Committee which urged the government to allow the presence of UNHCR in border areas. The army chief said the government had made it quite clear that it would prohibit the UNHCR from providing humanitarian aid to Karen refugees. "The government has deemed the UNHCR presence unnecessary," said the 59-year-old army chief. Gen Chettha said the government considers Karen refugees victims of fighting inside Burma and not victims of warfare which was the precondition for the presence of the UNHCR. The army chief said the Thai government, with the support of non-governmental organisations working at the border, has provided aid and humanitarian assistance to Karen refugees. The Karen Refugee Committee claims that around 92,000 Karen refugees camping along Thailand's western border with Burma were vulnerable to further attacks as their refugee camps were reportedly located adjacent to Burmese troop concentrations on the other side of the border. A security source said the government was concerned that if UNHCR was allowed to work in the border area it would not only cause difficulties for border work but also heighten border tension that could be harmful to Thai-Burma relations. "They should go and work on the other side of the border and not on our side," noted one security official. In a related development, Mae Hong Son Governor Pakdi Chompuming said the government had no policy to allow UNHCR to work on the country's western border. The governor said around 30,000 Karen refugees had sought shelter along the border and would all be repatriated once the situation turned to normal. Governor Pakdi said it might be better for the UNHCR to provide aid and other humanitarian assistance through the Thai Red Cross. He said fighting along the Thai-Burma border was much different from the situation in Cambodia whose people had to flee civil war in the country. (BP) *******************************************************