------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: April 11, 1997 Issue #691 Noted in Passing: The falcon swooped down with force, but the small shrike slipped under the huge block. The falcon, unable to control its speed, hit the hardened block of earth and died... Just as the falcon, which underestimated the small shrike, met its doom, we do not want you to have regrets later. --Ko Yin Nyunt on US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s ‘interference’. (RANGOON KYEMON: "TO THE PUPPET MASTER") HEADLINES: ========== THE NATION:SLORC'S BLAST THEORY SAID TO BE LAUGHABLE BKK POST: WHO BOMBED TIN OO'S HOUSE? THE JAPAN TIMES: EDITORIAL- MAKING SENSE OF MYANMAR BRC-J: "WE NEED REAL PEACE" THE PALAUNG (OR DA TA-ANG) BRC-J:"ONCE IN MY VILLAGE" A KAREN REFUGEE’S STORY BRC-J: SLORC'S OFFENSIVE AGAINST BUDDHIST MONKS RANGOON KYEMON: "TO THE PUPPET MASTER" BKK POST: BURMESE ADVOCATE RIVER POSTS FOR CLARITY BURMA-UN OFFICE: "GREEN" GROUPS WORK WITH SLORC ANNOUNCEMENT: "NO TO DICTATORS" - HUMAN RIGHTS DAY ANNOUNCEMENT: BURMA EVENING IN WASHINGTON, DC ***************************************************** THE NATION:SLORC'S BLAST THEORY SAID TO BE LAUGHABLE April 10, 1997 Yindee Lertcharoenchok A Burmese Buddhist monk who arrived from Rangoon yesterday rejected the Burmese junta's charge that anti-government Burmese groups in Japan were behind the bomb that killed the eldest daughter of a leading Burmese general on Sunday night. Loi Zang Saifamab, who witnessed the recent Buddhist-Muslim religious riots in Rangoon, said the junta's charge was "a mere joke " because all mail in and out of Burma is closely scrutinised by Burmese authorities to screen out any political documents. According to statement issued by the governing State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc), Cho Lie Oo, the 34 year-old daughter of Slorc Second Secretary and Army chief of staff Lt Gen Tin Oo, was killed at her father's residence by a parcel bomb, disguised as a Japanese language book, sent by Burmese opposition groups in Japan. Responding to Rangoon press reports, four Burma pro-democracy groups based in Japan denied any involvement. " The blast has nothing to do with us", the Japan branch of the National League for Democracy and three other pro-democracy groups said in a joint statement. In Rangoon, diplomatic sources said that Slorc officially asked the Japanese government yesterday to help investigate the source of the bomb. The National Police Agency in Tokyo said the Japanese police have started an investigation into the case. Slorc did not reveal whether other people were killed or hurt. It also did not respond to accusations by exiled Burmese political dissidents that the blast was the result of an internal split within the Slorc. Loi Zang said Rangoon residents gave him different version of the bombing to that in official reports. They said that the bomb was actually planted in front of the residence gate and exploded as Cho Lei Oo drove out of the driveway. An unidentified guard at the gate was also killed, he added. Loi Zang's information matched reports from Rangoon stating that Tin Oo's residence in a Rangoon suburb was not damaged by the blast. The monk said the information he received indicated the explosion was not set off by remote control and that it was, in fact, intended to kill Tin Oo and not his daughter. Loi Zang explained it is very difficult to send mail in or out of Burma because government officials check all letters and parcels. "You can't send any political statement to Burma because you will immediately put the recipient in danger of arrest. I absolutely don't believe that the bomb was from Japan. It's just a joke" he said. Loi Zang said as the bomb was planted in front of Tin Oo's residence, any of the anti-government groups inside Burma could has been responsible. He said he also does not wholly believe the Burmese opposition charge that the explosion was the work of a different faction within Slorc. ***************************************** BKK POST: WHO BOMBED TIN OO'S HOUSE? April 10, 1997 Rangoon, AFP As Burmese authorities search for the culprit behind Sunday's deadly parcel-bomb blast in Rangoon, independent analysts suspect that Muslim extremists or disgruntled business interests may be to blame. Lieutenant General Tin Oo, one of the top generals in the ruling junta, lost his 34 year-old daughter Cho Lei Oo in the blast. She had opened the package delivered to the family home, after receiving a telephone call about it, a source close to the family said. Suspects included ethnic guerrillas fighting Rangoon for autonomy and dissidents trying to sabotage Burma's entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), already implicated by the junta in a pagoda bombing on December 25 which killed five people. But parcel bombs had never been part of Burmese political culture, which would rule out ethnic rebels, remaining communist cells and dissidents operating outside the country, analysts said. Nor were parcel bombs believed to be within the technical capability of such groups. Analysts also dismissed suggestions that the bombing reflected a split in the junta itself, officially known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc). The military had the technical capacity and there were differences of opinion in the Slorc, but Tin Oo was "an economic mover not a political mover in this country," a long-time Rangoon resident said. A senior military official in Rangoon flatly rejected speculation that the attack could be linked to a split in the Slorc, saying that similar theories had been surfacing for five years. Such speculation was the "wishful thinking of all those opposed to the Myanmar government", he said. A Rangoon-based diplomat suggested yesterday the bombing pointed to a "new outside player". He said a Muslim extremist group was a likely possibility, given recent violence against Muslims and their property by Buddhist monks in Burma. Buddhist-Muslim tensions erupted in mid-March after men in traditional monks' robes mounted attacks in Mandalay and then in other towns, including Rangoon, ransacking mosques and other Muslim property. Other Burma-watchers said the bomb might be linked to Tin Oo's high-profile role in the business world, where he is considered an essential contact man for foreigners wishing to do business with Burma. The military official also rejected the possibility of the attack being linked to a business dispute, calling the theory a" wild goose chase". In Tokyo, a source familiar with Tin Oo's family said the late Cho Lei Oo lived in Singapore where her husband was a businessman. Tin Oo is considered a key contact for Singaporean investment in Burma, the source said. Elsewhere, there was speculation of a Japanese underworld link to the attack. The Japanese foreign ministry said yesterday that it was asking for details on any evidence pointing to a Japanese link after Burma's military intelligence told the embassy in Rangoon that the parcel bore Japanese stamps and writing. ******************************** THE JAPAN TIMES: EDITORIAL- MAKING SENSE OF MYANMAR April 10, 1997 The military junta that rules Myanmar, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, has a long list of enemies. The best known is Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the prodemocracy advocate and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who continues to frustrate government attempts to present a benign face to the world beyond its borders. Ms. Suu Kyi may be the most persistent and unyielding but she is not alone: Communist rebels, ethnic separatists, university students and even Buddhist monks have all challenged the regime at times. Recently, there are signs that SLORC faces challenges from within as well. A series of incidents hint at divisions among the military. Given the stakes, the emergence of such differences is not surprising. They can be extraordinarily dangerous in a country as tightly suppressed as Myanmar, however. They also offer opportunities for friends of that country who hope to see the government move toward greater accommodation with democratic forces. Last weekend, a parcel bomb exploded in the house of Lt. -Gen. Tin Oo, the fourth-highest ranking member of SLORC. The explosion killed the general’s eldest daughter, but reportedly did not injure its intended target. (There are questions about that, however, since the general was missing from a television program broadcast Monday evening.) This was the second such incident. Last December, two bombs went off at a pagoda only hours after a visit by Gen. Tin Oo. Those blasts killed five people and wounded 17 others. The government blamed Karen separatists since they had threatened to launch terrorist attacks after government troops overran refugee camps on the Thai border. The Karen National Union has denied any involvement in the bombings, and no other group has taken responsibility. The KNU has pointed a finger at the military, claiming that only it would have the resources to get a bomb into the house of a high-ranking official. That sounds like an artful dodge except for the strange events that have been going on in Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, where there has been a series of attacks on Muslim mosques by Buddhist monks over the past few weeks. No one knows what set off the violence, although there is speculation that they were triggered by reports that a Muslim businessman had raped a Buddhist woman. The unrest has spread to other cities. The government’s inability to contain the violence and reports that some of the monks looked like soldiers in disguise have fueled suspicions that SLORC is divided. According to one school of thought, the chief divide is between those who want to open the country to greater foreign influence — which would include some political liberalization — and those who want to stick to the status quo. Gen. Tin Oo, a hardliner who has threatened to “annihilate” SLORC opponents belongs to the latter group. Or the attacks on Muslims might be intended to derail Myanmar’s bid for membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and forestall the openness that would follow. Since several ASEAN countries have Muslim majorities, violence would deter them from making the offer. Yet another theory is the violence is the product of resentment over a huge influx of Chinese emigrants; since relations with China are so sensitive, the anger had to be channeled in other directions. And finally, there are also reports that someone looted a Mandalay pagoda when it was renovated. All the speculation is just that: inspired guesswork. No one knows what is going on in Myanmar and why. All that is certain is that there are plenty of reasons for the violence. In addition to these religious and social tensions, there are student demands for greater freedoms, which produced demonstrations in December, Buddhists who have protested the detention of monks, and the Karen political leadership that has vowed to have revenge for the offensive that has driven 85,000 refugees across the border into Thailand. And ever present is Ms. Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy and the specter of the election stolen by SLORC seven years ago. Given these grievances, the real surprise is that Myanmar has not had more incidents like those of the last few months. A united leadership has been essential to keeping the country from boiling over. If divisions within SLORC are emerging, there is a chance for foreign supporters of liberalization to join like-minded elements within the junta and push subtly for reform. But the military has a reputation for prickly nationalism: the utmost sensitivity and discretion is required. Unfortunately, even that might not be enough to keep Myanmar from turning once again on its own. **************************************** BRC-J: "WE NEED REAL PEACE" THE PALAUNG (OR DA TA-ANG) PEOPLE OF BURMA April 6, 1997 From: Ken and Visakha Kawasaki We Need Real Peace The Palaung people, or Da Ta-ang as they call themselves, live mostly in the mountains of northwestern Shan State. Numbering over one million, the Palaung -- a Mon-Khmer sub-group -- have a long history and unique languge and literature. The predominantly Buddhist Palaung are famous in Burma for growing high quality tea. The Palaung took up arms against the Burmse military regime in 1963 to demand greater autonomy, but the main resistance army, the Palaung State Liberation Army (PSLA) signed a ceasefire with the SLORC in April 1991. Some PSLA members broke away to form the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF) in 1992. The following is an interview with Mai Aik Phone, member of the PSLF: Q. Why did the Palaung agree to a ceasefire with the SLORC in 1991? A. They had no choice. After the collapse of the Communist Party in 1989, all the armies around the Palaung made ceasefires -- the Kachin 4th Brigade, the Shan State Army, the Kokang, the United Wa State Army. The Palaung was the only group Ieft, so there was great pressure from the SLORC. They started terrorizing the Palaung civilian popuIation. They burned down villages, and in early 1991 they captured 3 Palaung monks from the village of Tached and put them in sacks and burned them alive. The Palaung people begged their leaders to agree to a ceasefire, so they finally gave in. Q. Have there been any benefits for the Palaung people since the ceasefire? A. The Palaung living in the areas controlled by the PSLA (around Namsan and Mantong) have been left alone by the SLORC. But that is only one part of the Palaung population. The Palaung living in other areas of Shan State are suffering from human rights abuses like everyone else. They are being used as porters, forced labour, and many were forcibly relocated last year. The PSLA has not been given any political rights by the SLORC. They can only carry out some business in their area. They have been attending the SLORC's so-called National Convention, but they know it is a farce. It is humiliating for them to be referred to by the SLORC as a "peace" group, and to have to put up the SLORC flag in their offices. This is to trick people into thinking that real peace has come to the Palaung area. In fact, we know it is a false peace, that is why we broke away to form the PSLF. Q. What is the aim of your front? A. We want true peace, democracy and human rights for the Palaung people. We also want self-determination. To achieve this we must cooperate with the other ethnic groups and Burmese pro-democracy groups to oppose the SLORC. We also want to spread information about what is really happening to the Palaung people to the outside world. We have recently set up a human rights committee. Q. What problems are you facing? A. Many problems. We used to be based at the Karen Headquarters of Manerplaw, but this was captured by the SLORC in 1995. From the Thai border, it is also difficult to travel to the Palaung area. There are several thousand Palaung refugees in Thailand, mostly from central and southern Shan State. They have fled to Thailand over the last 18 years to escape fighting and forced recruitment into local armies. Unfortunately, there has been little publicity about this. Some people do not even know that any Palaung refugees exist. Q. Do you think there is any danger that Palaung culture will disappear? A. The longer that SLORC remains in power, the longer this danger exists for all ethnic groups. The are trying to assimilate everyone into the Burman culture. Until recently the teaching of ethnic languages was banned in schools. Now they have started allowing some languages to be taught in schools, but we know this is just a cosmetic move to make it look as if they are promoting ethnic culture. In fact, proper rights must be given to the ethnic peoples so that they can safeguard their own culture. Until this happens, instability and fighting will continue, which is a major threat to indigenous culture. For example, the Palaung refugees in Thailand are now forgetting their old customs. And how will all the Palaung villagers recently relocated from the hills to large relocation sites by the SLORC be able to maintain their culture? We need real peace and the right to establish our own state to ensure that our culture survives. Burmese Relief Centre April 1997 Newsletter http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm ***************************** BRC-J:"ONCE IN MY VILLAGE" A KAREN REFUGEE TELLS HIS STORY April 6, 1997 From: Ken and Visakha Kawasaki Once in my village..... A Karen refugee from a camp on the Thai-Burma border tells his story. I've been a refugee since I was eight years old. It was 17 years ago that I left my village in Thaton district, Karen State, but I can still remember what happened. Two days before leaving, two Burmese soldiers came into my house and entered the room where my parents and I were sleeping. They called my father outside and talked aggressively to him in Burmese (which I did not understand). One of the soldiers hit my father in the chest with his fist, and my brother, sister and I started to cry. Then the soldiers left. At the time my father was a schoolteacher in the village school. The next morning I did not see my father. I asked my mother where he had gone, but got no answer. The next day my youngest aunt came to my school class and told me to go back home right away. The school year was not yet over. When I arrived home a bullock cart was waiting in front of my house, and we left straight away. I remember that my mother took nothing with her, only a small Karen bag. We had to pretend we were going out to a festival to get past the Burmese army checkpoint at the village entrance (Burmese troops had built their base in the village six months earlier and fenced in the village to control the movement of the villagers.) We arrived at another village where I saw my father welcoming us. Later I learn' that my father had arranged for the bullock cart pick us up. Then we continued to the border stay in the area controlled by the Karen resistance which we call Kawthoolei. Kawthoolei was my first place of refuge. My family settled down and we grew rice and peanuts. But only three and half years later, Burmese troops closed in, and the Karen resistance lost most their liberated area. My family and I had to cross into Thailand. We could no longer stay inside Burma because the area where we had been living was recognised by Burmese troops as a rebel area, where they suspected everyone of supporting the resistance, and killed or tortured anyone they saw. Since then, we have been staying as refugees o Thai soil for over 13 years. We were able to stay I~ peace until 1995, when Karen refugee camps in side Thailand came under attack by the SLORC and the SLORC-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). My camp was in Kamawlayko (70 kms north of Mae Sot, in Tak Province) and it was also burned down two years ago. We were relocated to a bigger camp, Mae La, 50 kilometers north of Mae Sot, but we were never free from the threat of attack. At the end of January this year, the camps of Huaykaloke and Huabone, and part of our camp were burned down by SLORC and DKBA. Now every night we sleep in fear among the dust and the ashes. We have buried everything that is important for us, such as family photos and birth records At the beginning of February this year, I heard that our fellow Karens from Mergui-Tavoy in the south had also been forced to flee their homes and become refugees in Thailand. This was very sad news for me. My mother often says, "I want to go back to my village. I have no desire to be a Thai citizen. I have my own country. I would go back but I'm afraid of persecution by the SLORC and forced labour." When she was five years old, one of my younger sisters who was born in a camp on Thai soil, said, "I remember how we used to go fishing in Htee Pa Do Hta" (my village in Karen State). In fact she had never been to the village. She had simply heard my parents talk about it so often that it had carved itself into her heart and become her own memory. Now she is studying in middle school in the camp and has an ambition to go back to our village when it is safe and to be a school teacher there like my father was. I have a favourite poem, which some of my friends in the camp composed about our native village. Once in my village... We rode in bullock carts and went to festivals. Food and rice were plentiful. It was a time of harmony in our village. When people planted or harvested rice, they sang songs At night, under the moonlight... Some young men visited young women. We children played catch and ran While older people were weaving We went out fishing in the communal village ponds. In the afternoon, we rode our families' buffaloes back home Singing our village folk song Now our village has become a battle field Children and women are dying. Oh friends... keep in your mind always wherever you are One day we will rebuild the village And organise a village festival. Burmese Relief Centre April 1997 Newsletter - - - - - - - http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm ****************************** BRC-J: SLORC'S OFFENSIVE AGAINST BUDDHIST MONKS INTENSIFIES by Buddhist Relief Mission April 6, 1997 On March 17, 1997, news reached the international press that Buddhist monks were rioting in Mandalay, Burma's cultural capital and second largest city. Official SLORC sources reported the violence erupted when a Buddhist girl was molested by a Muslim in Mandalay. A later report referred to "riots between Buddhist monks and Muslims." Some news services wrote that the government had imposed martial law, while others said that there was only a "curfew." This flurry of news seems to have come after several mosques were destroyed--by mobs of Buddhist monks, according to some reports. By March 21, protests had spread to other cities. Although it was later reported that demonstrators were demanding the release of a monk who had been arrested, no further details were available. Every report intimated that the cause of the riots was the attempted rape. To anyone familiar with Buddhist monks, these reports did not ring true. Certainly Burmese monks have joined demonstrations and have actively participated in protests against the SLORC since 1988, against Ne Win's military dictatorship before that, and against repression since the time of British rule. The alleged violence and the destruction of mosques, however, was not very credible. The lack of details regarding these events and SLORC's restriction of movement by monks, as well as the course of succeeding events must have left the astute observer wondering. For those alert to SLORC's tactics, all this news sent signals that something of major significance was taking place and that the military junta might be making a preemptive move to quell a perceived threat to its iron-fisted rule. Certainly there are communal tensions in Burma, particularly between the Burman majority and Chinese and Muslim minorities. In the summer of 1988 the official media made much of threats of Buddhist violence against Muslims, which in actual event never materialized. With Buddhists making up 90 percent of the population, Muslims and Christians are small minorities, and, by and large, their leaders have to be placating and cautious. Occasionally both Muslims and Chinese have been useful targets of hate, always convenient distractions for other problems the general population might face. Inside reports indicate that a number of monks in Mandalay were planning to stage a demonstration for Burma's Human Rights Day, March 13, to focus attention on the deaths of 16 monks in SLORC prisons. However, their demonstration was postponed when SLORC, which has spies in many monasteries, obtained advance information and swiftly moved to arrest some of the monk leaders. Because of these arrests, the situation, particularly in Mandalay, was extremely tense in mid-March. At this time, despite SLORC's attempts to keep the news quiet, news of other troubling events spread swiftly across the country via telephone lines, and, with coded messages, around the world. Independent reports confirm acts of astonishing villainy at Maha Myat Mu Nye Pagoda, the most sacred pagoda in the old Buddhist city of Mandalay. In the morning of March 16, Yedaw (Myethnarthit) Sayadaw, U Pinnyawantha, the respected senior monk who daily wipes clean the face of the revered Buddha image, Mahamuni, discovered a hole gouged in the stomach of the image. He immediately called other patron monks to investigate, and they soon realized that the priceless ruby, "Padamya Myetshin," was missing. This jewel is not an ordinary stone, but is regarded by pious Buddhists as a wish-fulfilling gem of fabulous power. In subsequent discussions, it was learned that SLORC officials had also stolen large amounts of gold from Pakhan Pagoda, Anyathihataw Pagoda, and a temple in Pakkoku. At 4:30 that afternoon, anti-Muslim riots broke out on the corner of 35th and 84th Streets in Mandalay. SLORC's explanation was that these riots were monks' retaliation for the attempted rape, but informed sources blamed members of SLORC's own agents for trashing mosques and Muslim shops to draw attention away from the thefts. The next morning, March 17, the Venerable U Pinnyawatha Sayadaw was arrested by SLORC. Monks in Mandalay began demonstrating, with two demands-- that U Pinnyawatha Sayadaw be freed, and that there be an immediate inquiry into the theft of the Padamya ruby and the gold. Moving swiftly to prevent sympathetic monks from joining the Mandalay demonstrations, the 39th Light Infantry Battalion surrounded monastery-studded Sagaing Hill and closed the Ava Bridge across the Irrawady. In the meantime, the anti-Muslim rioting spread to a number of other Burmese cities, with more reports of SLORC agents dressed as monks provoking the disturbances. Some of these agents were said to be from the USDA, which is sarcastically nicknamed "Kyant Phout," meaning a foul lizard of very bad omen. The All-Burma Muslim Union, a part of the Burmese pro-democracy movement, immediately accused SLORC of being behind the latest Buddhist-Muslim strife and of systematically causing trouble for Muslims. Mohammad Yunus of the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) of Arakan State soon issued a statement charging that SLORC disguised its own agents as monks to carry out the attacks. RSO declared that dozens of Muslims had been killed or wounded and 18 mosques demolished. The RSO further charged that the junta always made Muslims the "scapegoat whenever they faced strong dissension from the masses." A major Buddhist celebration was scheduled at Rangoon's Kaba Aye for March 23, offering lunch to one thousand monks. That morning, however, it was abruptly announced that only 100 selected monks would be allowed to attend the much reduced event. In another abrupt move, the annual monks' examinations, traditionally held at this time of year, have been canceled. SLORC is undoubtedly afraid to allow monks to gather freely. In conjunction with this latest anti-SLORC uprising, more than 100 activist monks are known to have been arrested and disrobed and at least three monks killed outright by SLORC security forces. Monasteries are under tight security in many cities, especially Mandalay and Rangoon, and dawn-to-dusk curfews have been imposed. To informed observers, it seems certain that SLORC is manipulating these latest events not only to hide its own crimes, but also to eliminate resistance to its authority from a very influential sector of society, the Buddhist Sangha. One of SLORC's favorite slogans, ever present on billboards, in magazines and newspapers, and on TV and radio, is "Crush all destructive elements!" Only in the lunatic world of SLORC could those destructive elements mean activist monks, university students, NLD supporters, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. BUDDHIST RELIEF MISSION 266-27 Ozuku-cho Kashihara-shi Nara-ken 634 Japan Tel: (07442) 2-8236 Fax: (07442) 4-6254 e-mail:brelief@gol.com http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm ****************************** RANGOON KYEMON: "TO THE PUPPET MASTER" [translated from Burmese] April 2, 1997 Ko Yin Nyunt [summary of Kyaw Gaung’s January 29, 1997 article "BBC and VOA, Which Air Skyful of Lies, Oppose Interference in Country's Internal Affairs; Madeleine K. Albright's Farcical Words are Poisoning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's Thinking" abridged. It appeared in the MYANMAR ALIN and KYEMON.] As a Myanmar citizen and supporter of Kyaw Gaung's article, I would like at this stage to point out to dear sister Madeleine Albright: "Listen to both sides in every matter and decide judiciously. If you decide to hear only one side, you will be wrong. I say that the dear sister's allegations against the Myanmar Government were based on one-sided information. If you did that to gain political points during the elections, well, the elections are over now, and you have become the secretary of state. Do not interfere in other country's internal affairs with a one-sided view." I would like to say: "We Myanmar nationals have gone through many eras. We have been through anarchic times, living in fear and wondering when we would be beheaded. The SLORC has redeemed the country's deteriorating situation, and this is the time to construct a peaceful and developed nation. At this time, we people do not like and support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her cohorts, who are trying to halt the country's development and destroy the people's livelihood. There is a Myanmar saying: "Do not encourage a ruffian, and do not shelter a thief." I would like to remind you, dear sister, do not encourage the ruffians--the clique that has been destroying our country and whom the people do not accept; I do not want you to have regrets like former American Defense Secretary McNamara." Finally, I would like to tell the dear sister and the traitorous axe-handles the falcon and the shrike story from Buddhist scriptures. Once upon a time, while a shrike was out searching for food it was snatched by a falcon. The small shrike then said: "Oh, falcon, you were able to capture me because I was not on my own turf. If I had been on my turf, you could not have captured me." So, the falcon mockingly took the shrike to its turf and dropped it saying: "Oh, shrike, try to hide and save yourself." The shrike stood on a huge block of hardened earth and said: "Come and get me." The falcon swooped down with force, but the small shrike slipped under the huge block. The falcon, unable to control its speed, hit the hardened block of earth and died. That is my story. We Myanmar nationals love our country and our place. We do not depend on any foreign nation. The axe-handles should know that the strength of a nation lies within. Just as the falcon, which underestimated the small shrike, met its doom, we do not want you to have regrets later. ********************************** BKK POST: BURMESE ADVOCATE RIVER POSTS FOR CLARITY April 10, 1997 Supamart Kasem Mae Sot, Tak Burma has proposed marking the Moei River border with Thailand with marker posts. The suggestion was made during yesterday's meeting of Thai and Burmese authorities to thrash out border disputes along the river. A source said the posts would help clarify where the border is during the rainy season. They would be put up beneath the Thai- Burmese Friendship Bridge, linking Mae Sot district with Myawaddy in Burma. Southern force commander Maj-Gen Khet Sein and Treaties and Legal Affairs Department director-general U Aye Lwin led the Burmese delegation for talks. They also inspected construction work on the bridge. Tak Governor Pongpayom Wasaphut and 10 other senior officers from relevant agencies represented the Thai side. The government said. " There will be mo problems over border demarcation since the 1868 Thai-Anglo Treaty stipulates clearly that both countries can jointly benefit from the Moei River and islets in the river. Therefore, we have no objection with Burma's proposal to put up posts along the river" ******************************************* BURMA-UN OFFICE: "GREEN" GROUPS WORK WITH SLORC April 4, 1997 From: "Burma UN Services Office" APPEAL TO NGOs (esp. NY enviros) & INDIVIDUALS *WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY WORKS WITH BURMA'S JUNTA As The Observer's March 23, 1997 article entitled "Burma's Junta Goes Green: Save the rhino, kill the people" points out, the NY-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Smithsonian Institution (SI) have become the first environmental NGOs, unconscionably, to work with Burma's military dictatorship (SLORC) since the massacre of thousands of unarmed civilians there in 1988. WCS and SI are directly collaborating with Burma's junta on two projects. One is the Myinmoletkat Nature Reserve in the territory of the indigenous Karen, the last of about a dozen ethnic groups to actively resist SLORC, which continues to launch a genocidal assault against them. The other is the Lanbi Island Marine National Park, the first step of a plan to open up 200 miles of coral islands (the Mergui archipelago) to mass tourism. Since February, "The Burmese army has murdered 2,000 people and driven 30,000 from their homes to prepare for the nature reserves...Tens of thousands have been forced to work, unpaid and unfed...," The Observer notes of the most recent atrocities of what is virtually the worst human rights violator in the world (the US. State Dept., Amnesty Intl., AFL-CIO, environmental, and religious organizations have repeatedly criticized SLORC). The New York Times has referred to Burma as "the South Africa of the 90s." A dozen cities have enacted selective purchasing legislation against Burma (New York City is pending), federal sanctions have been signed into law, and international business and tourism boycotts have been initiated. Just last week, the European Union revoked Burma's GSP trade privileges. Where else are millions, children through elderly, relocated to impromptu forced labor camps, often beaten/tortured to death, with women conscripts also subject to mass rape nightly? There are few conscientious firms -- much less NGOs -- that would do business with the genocidal dictatorship of Burma. WCS science director Josh Ginsberg claims that WCS does not sanction human rights abuses, "But we have no control over the government," and that walking away from Burma "wouldn't do any good for anybody." However, WCS could choose to withdraw from its partnership with SLORC and deny it future tourist revenues -- 2/3 of which would be allocated to the military - before WCS taints its name with more blood of the military's innocent victims. *PLEASE CALL, WRITE, FAX WCS, a.k.a. BRONX ZOO: Dr. William Conway, President & General Director Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460 718-220-5102 (phone); 718-563-2289 (fax) Please also send a copy of your letter to Burma UN Service Office 777 UN Plaza 6th Floor New York, NY 10017 fax: 212/238-0049 phone: 212/338-0048 email: ************************************** ANNOUNCEMENT: "NO TO DICTATORS" - HUMAN RIGHTS DAY OF ACTION! April 10, 1997 From: simon_billenness@cybercom.net (Simon Billenness) "NO TO DICTATORS" - A day of action for human rights WHEN: Saturday, April 26th: 11am - 5.30pm WHERE: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge WHAT: Opening Keynote Speaker: Noam Chomsky Presentations on Burma, East Timor, Niogeria and Tibet Traditional Food Available at Lunch Activists Workshops on: - grassroots lobbying of Congress - organizing consumer boycotts - enacting selective purchasing laws - building coalitions in the community - shareholder resolutions Music, Dance and Cultural Presentation HOW: Suggested Donation: $5 Event sponsors include Citizens for Participation in Political Action (CPPAX), East Timor Action Network, New England Burma Roundtable, Nigerian Advocacy Group for Democracy and Human Rights, Tibetan Association, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. For more information, contact Sastry Penumarthy at spenumar@foxboro.com or simon Billenness at simon_billenness@cybercom.net ** Special thanks to Tin Tin Lay for agreeing to prepare the Burmese food for this event. The Burmese food table will take donations for the Democratic Burmese Students Organization. ** ********************************* ANNOUNCEMENT: BURMA EVENING IN WASHINGTON, DC April 10, 1997 From: FreeBurma@aol.com " Burma Evening ’97 " (A Fund-raising Concert for Refugee Women & Children of Burma) According to the Amnesty International Annual Report, human rights violations in Burma reached the highest peak in 1996. Since early this year, the Burmese military junta has launched a series of attacks on ethnic Karen refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border, forcing more than 80,000 defenceless refugees, including women and children into Thailand . To help these refugees who are in urgent need, the Burmese Community in the Greater Washington, DC area cordially invites you to the following fund-raising concert. Your kind contribution will be a great help. WHEN: April 20, 1997 (Sunday) 2:00 - 3:00 PM (Food Bazaar) 3:00 - 5:30 PM (Burmese Cultural Concert) WHERE: Calvary Baptist Church 755 Eight Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 (Direction by Metro: Red or Yellow Line to Gallery Place-Chinatown. Parking available next to the Church. ) For ticket information contact: · Washington, DC (202)393-7342 - Virginia (703)834-5670 - Maryland (301)656-9559; (301)424-6009 · New York (718)381-4830; (718)434-6693 ( Also available at the gate - $10/ticket) *************************************