------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: July 31, 1997 Issue #786 Noted in Passing: [I will] call the United States ``Old Mexico'' if [Madeleine Albright] insists on using the name ``Burma'' instead of Myanmar. - SLORC FM Ohn Gyaw (see UPI: MYANMAR MIFFED) HEADLINES: ========== AP: CANADA TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON BURMA CFOB: AXWORTHY URGED TO IMPOSE FULL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS UPI: MYANMAR MIFFED U.S. CALLS IT BURMA REUTERS: CURRENCY, RIGHTS KEEPS ASEAN SPOTLIGHT OFF BURMA THE KATHMANDU POST: "BURMA DEFENDS RIGHTS RECORD BKK POST: MADDIE ROCKS ASEAN KATHMANDU POST: "BANGLADESH TO REPATRIATE ALL TIMES OF INDIA: MYANMAR DISSIDENT DENIES CHARGE OF TERRORISM THAILAND TIMES: THE PLOT THICKENS INDEPENDENT REPORT: ETYMOLOGY OF ARAKAN WWW: BURMA FAXTOON HOMEPAGE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- AP: CANADA TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON BURMA July 29, 1997 By Hari S Maniam of the Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 29 AP - Canada plans to impose sanctions on Burma's government after being turned down in attempts to encourage that country to make democratic reforms, Canadian officials said today. The officials said they are considering a halt to investment and limits to trade, perhaps through higher tariffs. Canadian officials said they had sought progress in a variety of ways in a meeting today with Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw, but the Burmese was "unambiguously unresponsive." "We didn't see any willingness to engage," the Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said in an interview with Voice of America radio. "Therefore, in this case ... a broader level of international censure, I think, is necessary." Another Canadian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, termed the Canadian decision to impose sanctions "political censure rather than economic censure because our trade relations are not so big." The foreign ministers met during talks in Kuala Lumpur between developed nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on security issues. At a closing news conference, Ohn Gyaw was asked to respond to criticism from other foreign ministers that his presentations had been neither credible, nor adequate. "What I'm providing is what is actually going on in the country," he said. "What I'm presenting is true facts, real facts." He said wrong impressions about the situation are gathered from talking to "people who are against the government." "We are proceeding toward democracy," he said, adding that there were differences of opinion on "whether that democracy accords with the outside world's perception or our in accordance with our own values." Responding to Ohn Gyaw, US undersecretary of state Stuart Eisenstat said, "Our view is that Burma's top drug traffickers have become leading investors in the economy and leading lights in the new political order." He said that situation poisoned the atmosphere of any investment in the country, and was a basis for the US ban on all new investment there. The United States is seeking international cooperation to isolate Burma economically and politically to pressure its military government into making democratic reforms. The Philippines' foreign minister, meanwhile, criticised the US sanctions, saying they would have no more effect than the American attempt to isolate Cuba. In unusually pointed comments, Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon also criticised the way in which US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright advocated progress toward democracy and human rights in Burma, which has been called Myanmar by the military government which took power there nearly 10 years ago. "We feel that the dialogue with Myanmar in the last few days has been quite fruitful, despite the rather high-level decibels in which some of the statements have been made," said Siazon, who will become ASEAN's new chairman. The regional group admitted Burma to its ranks last Wednesday, ignoring the disapproval of the United States and Europe, which said reforms in Burma should have been a prerequisite for membership. "Economic sanctions on a country that has very little external trade and that has been closed from the outside market will not really work," Siazon said. He said neighbouring countries would continue to trade with Burma, dulling the impact of economic sanctions imposed by other nations. "You have the case of Cuba, which has been under economic sanctions forever," he said. "And the natural resources available in Myanmar are very much more than the natural resources available in Cuba." He also referred to "hundreds of years of colonialism during which there no democracy had been given." Siazon also expressed dissatisfaction with the US practice of calling Burma by its historic name. The United States and other countries do not recognise the name change that the military regime imposed when it took power. Albright referred to the country as Burma throughout the talks in the presence of Ohn Gyaw. "I don't know why people keep calling that country by a name it's not supposed to be called," Siazon said. Eisenstat, who continued to use the name "Burma" in the closing news conference that included Siazon and Ohn Gyaw, told reporters afterward, "It's important to back up our words with actions." Eisenstat was speaking for Albright, who left the meeting before the final news conference and lunch, to fly to Singapore for bilateral meetings. It's no longer appropriate to blame things on colonialism, Eisenstat said. "We're living on the cusp of the 21st century. Democracy and human rights are now established principles. "When people ask for cooperation with a country and call that country by some other name ... you're talking to the wall," he said. "I think it's just appropriate that we call a country by its proper name, whether you like it or not." Siazon spoke at a joint news conference with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who has made strong statements about the lack of progress in Burma. At the news conference Downer referred to the country as "Burma-Myanmar," and agreed with Siazon that sanctions are not the best way to improve human rights conditions in Burma. "The Australian government has argued for quite some time that we didn't regard sanctions as being likely to be very effective," Downer said. But he added that, "We've gone for 12 months now since the last ASEAN Regional Forum and the lack of progress in Burma-Myanmar since then is, I must say, very, very disappointing." ASEAN consists of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, and Burma. The Southeast Asian nations meet annually in a Regional Forum and a Post-Ministerial Conference with 10 Dialogue Partners: The United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, the European Union, New Zealand and Australia. *********************************************************** CFOB: AXWORTHY URGED TO IMPOSE FULL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST BURMA July 29, 1997 From: Canadian Friends of Burma Canadian Friends of Burma; 145 Spruce St, suite 206, Ottawa, ON K1R 6P1 Tel: 613 237 8056; Fax 613 563 0017; Email cfob@web.net For Immediate Release July 29, 1997 Ottawa - Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy has stated that he will recommend to cabinet that economic sanctions be imposed on Burma due to the illegal military regime's refusal to change the political and human rights situation in its own country. After meeting with Burmese Foreign Minister, U Ohn Gyaw, Minister Axworthy reported that he was clearly convinced the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) has no interest to enter into dialogue with democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi or cooperate with the international community by receiving any independent human rights monitoring envoys. Canadian Friends of Burma applauds Minister Axworthy's initiative, welcomes his statement to impose sanctions and urges him to recommend that the sanctions be imposed immediately. Further, that they include a complete withdrawal of Canadian investment presently in Burma, a complete ban on any new Canadian investment in that country, the revocation of the General Preferential Treatment and the halt of all exports to Burma. CFOB also strongly recommends that the Minister 1) allocate logistical support to the prodemocracy forces on Burma's borders and 2) provide funds for medical and food relief for the 120,000 refugees on the Thai-Burma border and the 60,000 refugees in India and Bangladesh. Since the 1990 national elections in which the SLORC ignored the landslide victory by the National League for Democracy(NLD), the Burmese peoples have experienced a dramatic increase in oppression and brutal human rights violations by the hands of the SLORC. The most recent military offensives against the ethnic minorities, the on-going imprisonment of NLD members and the return of a virtual house arrest for Aung San Suu Kyi prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the SLORC is only getting more repressive. Dramatic measures by the international community are needed to assist the internal pro-democracy struggle. The Canadian government will show that human rights are indeed a central part of its foreign policy by immediately introducing full economic sanctions on Burma. For more information: contact Christine Harmston, Coordinator, Canadian Friends of Burma. ***************************************************** UPI: MYANMAR MIFFED U.S. CALLS IT BURMA July 29, 1997 TOKYO, July 29 (UPI) _ Myanmar's foreign minister has criticized U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for continuing to use the name of Burma and not Myanmar when referring to his country. Quoting an Asean official today, Japan's Kyodo News reports Ohn Gyaw told Albright in Kuala Lumpur that he would call the United States ``Old Mexico'' if she insisted using the name ``Burma'' instead of Myanmar. The agency says Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon confirmed that Ohn Gyaw expressed irritation at those who continued to call the country by its old name. The country's official name at the United Nations is the Union of Myanmar. The Burmese minister made the protest Sunday at multilateral security talks between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its dialogue partners. At that meeting Albright and others strongly criticized Burma's ruling junta for alleged human rights violations, drug production and suppression of the democratically elected National League for Democracy. The military rulers, who took power in a coup in September 1988, subsequently changed the name of the country to Myanmar from Burma. The United States and some Western countries do not use the name Myanmar, since NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of murdered independence hero Gen. Aung San, won the election, but was ousted in the coup. *********************************************************** REUTERS: CURRENCY, RIGHTS KEEPS ASEAN SPOTLIGHT OFF BURMA July 29, 1997 (abridged) By Bill Tarrant of Reuters KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 Reuter - Two issues not in the script -- "rogue" money speculators and the UN human rights declaration -- stole the limelight at annual meetings between the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asian and Western powers, which ended today. The two topics took some of the heat off Burma, which joined ASEAN along with Laos last week, much to the dismay of Western nations led by the United States and the European Union, who wanted to put Rangoon's military rulers beyond the pale over their record on human rights and democracy. Malaysia's outspoken Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, fresh from a two-month trip abroad, touched off the biggest fireworks at the meetings when he said in an address to ASEAN last week that "rogue speculators" bent on ruining ASEAN's fast-track economies were driving down regional currencies. He later named American fund manager George Soros as the chief culprit. Then at a meeting yesterday with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Mahathir called for a review of the 1948 Human Rights Declaration, saying it needed to be updated with the times. Clashing views over whether the declaration should be reviewed dominated a news conference attended by 19 foreign ministers or their deputies, who had come to the Malaysian capital for the annual ASEAN meetings. US officials with Albright said it was highly unusual for the host of a multilateral conference -- in this case Malaysia -- to criticise one of the participants. Some diplomats and analysts at the meeting said Mahathir, a master of the diversionary technique, may have deliberately sparked the debate on currency speculators and the UN human rights declaration to deflect attention away from Burma. ASEAN insists that its policy of "constructive engagement" is the best way to reform Burma from within the family fold. ASEAN officials privately say it is important to have Burma -- which shares borders with China, India and Thailand -- to keep it out of Beijing's sphere of influence. ********************************************************* THE KATHMANDU POST: "BURMA DEFENDS RIGHTS RECORD FROM US ATTACK" (AFP) July 30, 1997 Kuala Lumpur, July 29(AFP)- Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw defends his country's human rights record Tuesday after it was raked over the coal by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at ASEAN meeting here. He blamed "wrong report" in the press for misconceptions about the human rights situation in Burma which, he said, was "going to the direction of democracy." In statements Sunday and Monday at meetings between ASEAN and its main Western and regional trade partners, Albright hammered away at Burma, linking the ruling junta to drug trafficking and money laundering. Asked to respond to the charges, Ohn Gyaw told a news conference concluding the ASEAN meeting:" We do have law. We do have the process how to eliminate the suspicion of money-laundering." Speaking for the EU, Derek Fatchet, British Minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, told the news conference that EU would not budge in its opposition to Burmese junta until it made "fundamental movement" toward democracy and human rights. Ohn Gyaw had remained impassive through the sessions, but scowled when pressed at the news conference to respond to Albright's latest criticism. "As far as the question of human rights in concerned, I have to say that the press have been making wrong reports," Ohn Gyaw told reporters. "But when the press is picking up certain information from a source which is against the government, then of course there are some misunderstanding and misconceptions," he said. He said Burma had been cooperating with the United Nations and with the Human Rights Commission in Geneva "in a manner that is responsible." Earlier, in an interview with CNN, Ohn Gyaw dismissed allegations of human rights abuses in Burma, saying the charges came from insurgents and the dissidents. "When actually you come to visit our country, you will see that we treat our people much more fairly than they treat them in the West," he said. He contended that Burma's military rulers did not need opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi or others to push for democracy as it was already "committed" to achieving a democratic system. "Whether she is there or she's not there, the system will be there," the Burmese minister said. "With or without her, there will be democracy." "With or without dialogue, there will be democracy. We are trying to build a system, not with a person but with the people of a country, he said. ASEAN officials, who privately acknowledge the problems in Burma, generally kept quiet during the meetings, neither adding to the criticism nor springing to their new member's defense. Philippines Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon, the first ASEAN minister to speak up publicly, remarked Tuesday that Burma's membership would provide "the appropriate forum" for ASEAN's partners to convey their opinions. ********************************************************* BKK POST: MADDIE ROCKS ASEAN July 30, 1997 (abridged, and full text of song inserted) Eileen Ng, Kuala Lumpur, AFP Madeleine Albright dispensed, with the tough guy image and stole the show at a songfest with a Madonna skit. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright did a Madonna, Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw took to the dance floor and other delegates put on memorable shows at Asean's farewell dinner, guests said yesterday. To the tune of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" and backed by a State Department chorus, Ms Albright sang "Don't cry for me, Aseanies" - a play on the acronym of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In accordance with a hallowed Asean tradition, the final dinner on Monday night for the foreign ministers and top aides of the nine-member group and its 10 "dialogue partners" was an occasion for letting the collective hair down. Ms Albright's melodic references to controversial financier George Soros and his alleged speculation against Asian currencies, and to Russia's reaction to Nato enlargement, drew laughter at the dinner held in a Disneyland-style resort hotel in suburban Kuala Lumpur. Ms Albright, who normally cultivates a no-nonsense image, revealed a feminine side that would much rather "shop, flirt and curtsy" than "wake the bad men from their sleep". Wearing a long black dress and blood-red lipstick, she put her heart into the performance and brought the house down when she sang: TEXT OF THE SONG Don't cry for me ASEANies The truth is I always love you All through the SLORC days And the Hun Sen days. You thought I'd stay home But now I've showed up Sat through the ARF ARF Bought a batik scarf I was told I could not interfere In your internal affairs But then somebody Said that you tried to Buy our election They think you got me My own selection As Secretary Don't cry for me ASEANies Jesse Helms, he also loves you He has a special bill It's called Helms-Burton And if you are very good He'll make one for you I came here to talk to your leaders But they were all on the golf course So I went back to Sunway Laguna And called George Soros Talked market forces Hatched a conspiracy The rest is history Now that we've all started expanding Consider my friend Fidel Castro And while we're at it Saddam is waiting They're not such bad guys Why not engage them Economic boycotts Have not amazed them They are going to turn all this into a movie Starring Madonna As Madeleine Albright And Jackie Chan As Dr. Mahathir Some countries might sue me for libel In others I'd risk house arrest But I confess to Having said that ASEAN men Are Asia's sexiest Thank you Abdullah Badawi For showing us the ASEAN way We love Malaysia It's like Fantasia We won't forget you Or the other tigers See you in Manila for the next thrilla' America's top diplomat, who apparently wrote the lyrics herself, ended her song to a standing ovation from the audience, which was clearly surprised and fascinated by her performance, said officials. For his part, Burmese minister Ohn Gyaw, who had been raked over the coals by Ms Albright and the European Union over his country's human rights records, showed he was a sport when he went on stage to dance. Ohn Gyaw joined his daughter for a traditional Burmese dance, and drew more applause when he asked his wife to join them. He then joined the other eight Asean ministers in singing "We are Asean" to the tune of a Malaysian folk song. The Australians sang "Down Under" - popularised by the rock band "Men At Work" - while Japanese Foreign Minister Yukihito Ikeda sounded like a rapper when he sang, said Philippine Under-secretary of Foreign Affairs Rodolfo Severino. The South Koreans did a slick modern dance number. Asked to rate the performances of the various delegations, Mr Severino, who will take over as Asean secretary-general in January, said: "For laughter the Americans, for quality Myanmar (Burma) and for thorough preparations the Koreans." As for Ms Albright's singing prowess, Mr Severino, ever the Asean diplomat, hailed it as a "commendable effort". ******************************************************* KATHMANDU POST: "BANGLADESH TO REPATRIATE ALL BURMESE MUSLIM REFUGEES" July 29, 1997 Dhaka, July 28(AFP)- The Bangladesh government was standing firm on its policy of repatriating 20,000 Burmese Muslim refugees and will refuse permanent resettlement in this impoverished country, officials said Monday. "Not a single Rohingya refugee will allowed to stay in Bangladesh permanently and they will be sent back home with the cooperation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR)," said state Minister for Foreign Affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury. He said Dhaka had asked the UNHCR and would also urge Rangoon through diplomatic channels to extend the August 15 deadline for repatriating the Burmese refugees, called Rohingya, cleared by the Burmese authorities. Burma have agreed to take back 7,000 of the state-estimated 20,000 Burmese refugees in two camps leaving behind 13,000 who Rangoon says are not citizens. The UNHCR says the figure at 21,000 following a number of births in the past years. More than 250,000 Muslims from Burma's Arakan state fled to Bangladesh in 1991 to escape repression and human rights violation, a charge denied by the military junta in Rangoon. Most were repatriated following a 1993 accord between the UNHCR and Burmese authorities. Chowdhury defended the government's repatriation policy, saying" if more than 250,000 have returned home voluntarily, I don't think we need to coerce the remaining to go back." The minister, who held talks with UNHCR officials Sunday, explained that permanent resettlement of the refugees was "impossible" considering Bangladesh's economic condition. He also rejected the UN organization's charge that the Dhaka government was not cooperating with it. The UNHCR had demanded that the remaining Rohingya be resettled in Bangladesh amid new influx of the Muslim minority from Burma's Arakan state, bordering Bangladesh's Teknaf fishing town. Arun Sanglaram, the head of UNHCR in Bangladesh, said Monday in a telephone interview that there was still tensions in the camps, but after talks with the government he was confident the situation would improve. " Repatriation can resume immediately if the situation calm down and we will be giving pre-departure counselling to the refugees, keep family unity in repatriation and will also carry out medical checks," he said. He refused to comment "at this stage" on UNHCR's resettlement proposal of some refugees. Dhaka maintains the new entrants are economic migrants who are not eligible for UNHCR assistance, but the aid agency says they were both "economic and political refugees." Local Bangladeshis also want the refugees out blaming them for increasing crime and taking up theirs jobs. The UNHCR said some 7,000 Burmese refugees have fled again into Bangladesh in recent weeks. Security officials said some of the refugees were pushed back or detained, while others were hiding with theirs relatives or jungles. Canh Nguyen-Tang, Coordinator for the Bangladesh-Burma Refugee Repatriation based in Rangoon, also joined the talks with Chodhury. He told the Independent newspaper the situation in the camps was still "tense," but he would try to convince the refugees that there would be no forced repatriation. Bangladesh's acting foreign secretary Aminul Islam told the Independent: "There has been no coercive repatriation and Bangladesh is fully committed to follow the memorandum of the understanding singed with the UNHCR". Meanwhile, the Daily Star newspaper reported senior officials from the foreign, home and relief minister were scheduled to visit the Kutupaling and Noapara camps Monday. Repatriation was put off last week after noisy demonstrations and violence at Kutupalong camp. ********************************************************** TIMES OF INDIA: MYANMAR DISSIDENT DENIES CHARGE OF TERRORISM July 30, 1997 (by Robert Horn, AP) Bangkok: The leader of an underground Myanmar movement surfaced in Bangkok on Tuesday to deny charges he plotted bomb attacks against diplomats and leaders of the military government in Rangoon. In news conference on June 27 , Myanmar's intelligence chief, Gen. Khin Nyunt, accused labour leader Maung Maung and other dissidents of planning to bomb the Chinese and Indonesian embassies. Khin Nyunt used the occasion to accuse the US government of funding terrorist groups in Myanmar. The United States has rejected the allegations. Khin Nyunt said Maung Maung also helped smuggle explosives into Myanmar in a rice cooker and was behind the parcel bomb that killed the daughter of one of the military government's top generals. "That is pure fabrication," Maung Maung said in an interview in Bangkok, his first public statements regarding the accusations. "Khin Nyunt is trying to cover himself. He is the one behind the bombings," the 46-year-old labour leader said. (AP) ***************************************************** THAILAND TIMES: THE PLOT THICKENS July 27, 1997 Burma's infamous censors may soon have a brand new job-choosing winners in Southeast Asia's biggest writing competition. Sandy Barron reports Thank to this week s expansion Asean! the story of Southeast Asia's biggest literary award looks set for a, major plot twist. The SeaWrite Award organisers - a Bangkok-based committee from the Thai literary and business worlds as well as The Oriental hotel and representatives from Asean embassies - have been looking forward to a peaceful 19th birthday in September ahead of gala 20th-anniversary celebrations next year. SeaWrite has plenty to celebrate - over almost two decades, it has grown to become the focal point of the Thai literary year. It has promoted fine new writers, stimulated interest and debate over books and ideas, survived controversies and generally made itself into a hot fixture on the local cultural scene. But this week's addition of two new members to Asean means fresh issues for the SeaWrite organisers, who will almost certainly invite the newcomers into the club and who can then expect to come in for a share of some of the international media and human-rights spotlight that's permanently fixed on Burma. While literature in Laos languishes in quiet, state-controlled obscurity, the grim position of writers in Burma has received wide international attention. PEN International, the writers organisation, has described Burma as "one of the most heavily censored countries in the world". The extraordinary censorship system has been documented in a variety of reports by human-rights groups and others, most extensively in PEN's Inked Over, Ripped Out: Burmese Storytellers and the Censors, by Anna Allott. The list of banned topics includes democracy, human rights, the events of 1988, the Nobel Peace Prize, prostitution, criticism of Slorc and the army. Between 1988 and 1993, in the wake of bloody pro-democracy demonstrations, dozens of Burmese writers and artists were detained and sentenced to between three and 20 years in jail. Most have since been released but remain blacklisted today and their works banned. A favourite occupation for Burmese exiles is to scour the short stories and poetry in magazines for subtle undertones missed by the Press Scrutiny Board. WHO DECIDES WHAT'S 'GOOD'? It's unlikely that any such undertones will appear in Burmese fiction that makes its way into the SeaWrite competition. That's because SeaWrite is structured so that the Bangkok embassies of the various participating countries are given the job of finding winning writers from their own countries. Thus, ironically, it is likely to be Burma's State Law and Order Council, the people operating the country's draconian censorship laws, who will choose what SeaWrite hopes will be the finest Burmese writers. Burma's likely entry into Seawrite next year (it is too late now to join the 1997 award in September) puts the spotlight on how very differently the award operates in Thailand compared to other Asean countries. In Thailand, winners are chosen in an open competition which has become a lively and hotly contested event. In other countries, there is no competition - winners are chosen quietly by small committees or writers associations, far from the media spotlight. With the exception of the Philippines, the committees tend to have close links with governments who are not slow to censor. Such is the case in Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam. Malaysian winners are chosen by members of the Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka, a government- sponsored think-tank. Over the years, Singapore's committees have often been dominated by members of government organisations. While that doesn't mean that the chosen writers aren't good, or don't have plenty to say on love, war, post-colonialism, race, identity and so on, they have not been known for outspokenness on tricky domestic political topics. Writers who are known for such outspokenness, like the internationally acclaimed Indonesian Promoedya Ananda Toer, Vietnam's Bao Ninh and Duong Thu Truong, and Burma's Wendy Law Yone, are unlikely to join the ranks of SeaWrite winners, as are many others less well known but banned in their own countries. In Asia, the international writers' group PEN campaigns on behalf of such writers, and St is currently raising attention for banned or jailed Burmese, Indonesian and Vietnamese writers. Burmese writer and pro-democracy activist Ma Thida, who received a 20-year jail sentence in 1993, won a PEN Freedom to Write award last year. Another inmate of Rangoon's Insein jail, San San Nweh, has been made an honorary PEN member and is the subject of action alerts and letter writing campaigns by members around the world. Strict censorship laws don't mean Burma and other countries aren't keen to be seen to support writers - on the contrary. Take an editorial in the official New Light of Myanmar paper: "Writers and publishers must bring out literature of value in the interest of the reading public and for all the national races of the Union as urged by the Minister for Information ... at the Sarsodaw Nay ceremony for giving of prizes to winners of the National Literary awards ... As the state has enhanced cash awards to the deserving in order to create favourable conditions for literary workers to produce quality works, writers should attract the readers' attention by describing cultural traditions and national pride of the people. Then only will Myanmar literature be enriched and flourish." How that sort of rhetoric will go down with SeaWrite remains to be seen. Although the SeaWrite organising committee hasn't met recently and can't confirm officially what its approach will be to the prospective new members, invitations to the new member countries are practically automatic, sources said. A SURE THING? Speaking only her own behalf, SeaWrite committee member and president of PEN International's Thailand chapter Dr Suwan na Kriangkraiphet believes that It's almost certain that Burma and Laos will be invited, and that the committee will would be hoping for a "real connection" with Burmese writers. I here s always a possibility that the committee might take a fresh look at the judging criteria. she said. It's no secret that although the Bangkok organising committee has a policy of noninterference with the selection process in other countries, some members are not convinced that the neighbours necessarily always choose their most interesting writers. One original SeaWrite goal - the promotion of fresh writing by new talent - really only applies now in Thailand and sometimes in the Philippines. Most other countries prefer to pick older, established writers on the basis of a long career's work. As well as the credibility problem raised by the censorship factor, SeaWrite organisers face other, older, challenges in the run up to next year's 20th anniversary. Principal among them - the huge difficulty of establishing good communication links in an event which in any one year has to encompass many languages. This year, a range of work by Thai SeaWrite winners was translated into English in a book edited by committee member Nitaya Masavusit. There are hopes to broaden the range of translations in future to include more work from other countries. Just don't expect to see Burma's Ma Thida among the list of credits. ********************************************************* INDEPENDENT REPORT: ETYMOLOGY OF ARAKAN July 30, 1997 From: Arakan Burma The term Arakan is definitely of Arabic or Persian origin having the same meaning in both these languages. It is the corruption of the word Arkan, plural of word "Rukn", meaning a pillar. The fundamental tenets of Islam are called "Five pillars of Islam". Thus the word Arakan signifies the land of Islam or peace. It is difficult to ascertain since when the application of this term to the origin now known as Arakan began. But almost certain is the fact that the name Arakan became popular after the Muslim conquest of the country in 1430 C.E. Since Persian was the court language of the then independent Bengal Sultans who conquered Arakan and which continued to be the official language of Arakan up to 1845, the Arakan kings who maintained excellent relation with the Bengal Sultans might have given it its name of Arakan. The Arakan kings were well versed in Persian. It took a hundred years for the Kings to learn the doctrine of Islam. When it was well understood they founded what was known as the Arakanese Empire. The authors of the "Ain-i-Akbar, Baharistan-i-Ghaibi and Siyar-ul-Mutakherin write it as Arkhanq, which appears also with a slight change in Alamgirnama and Fathya-i-ibria is close to the name Arakan. Medieval Portuguese and other European travellers mentioned it Arracan, Arraco, Orrakan, Arrakan and Van Linscoten writes it Arakan which is nearest to the modern name. One of the coins found in Arakan and preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, minted by Sultan Bahadur Shah dated 965 A.H.(1557-58 C.E.) is inscribed in Persian with Kalimah on the observe side and mint name Arakan on the reverse side. Similar coins minted by his predecessor Sultan muhammad Shah 962 A.H.(1554-55 C.E.) with inscription of mint name Arakan was preserved in Indian Museum, Calcutta. Mohammad Shah's coins with the same reading are also found to be preserved in the British Museum. From the inscriptions of the coins it can be concluded that the name Arakan was used since mid 16th century. The name Arakan did not appear as a solitary instance in the above languages. Different important places, rivers and mountains in Arakan also bear names of Persian or Arabic origin. For example, the name of the capital city of Arakan is Akyab (ek-ab)meaning that land of one water in Persian like Punjab ( panj-ab)meaning land of five waters. The name of rivers:Kaladan (intellectual), naf(nerve), Kulapunj( fifty learned men)are also either Persian or Arabic origin. Thus the terms Arakan and Arakanese are attributed to Muslims. Unfortunately, some historian, quite misleadingly, use the term Arakanese synonymous with Rakhin alone although in general sense all the people of Arakan, Muslims (Rohingyas) as well as Buddhists (Rakhines), should be called Arakanese. Ref:Arakan's place in the civilisation of the bay in Journal of the Burma Research Society (JBRS),fiftieth Anniversary Publications No.2. ************************************************************ WWW: BURMA FAXTOON HOMEPAGE July 29, 1997 From: Win Tun We inform all of you to see our weekly faxtoon homepage and we extend some more sections mostly in Burmese. http://www.faxtoon.com Radio Burma Group *******************************************