------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: November 20, 1997 Issue #872 HEADLINES: ========== ABSDF: MOULMEIN TOWNSHIP NLD CHAIRMAN JAILED BKK POST: KAREN ILLEGALS PUSHED BACK TO BURMA AP: U.N. PROBES THAI SOLDIERS REPORT ABSDF: COUNTERFEIT NOTES CIRCULATED IN SHAN STATE BUSINESS WIRE: DOMINION BRIDGE CORPORATION THE NATION: BURMA MINISTER FIRES STAFF BKK POST: DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS LEAD THE LIST THE NATION: ADOPT OPEN ATTITUDE, SUKHUMBHAND TELLS BKK POST: THAI GARMENT FIRM SETS UP PLANT IN BURMA THE NEW STRAITS TIMES: BOLTON'S MYANMAR COMPANY THE HINDU: DRUG BARON BUILDS A ROAD TO MANDALAY SCMP: NEW REGIME MUCH LESS PREDICTABLE FBC PRESS RELEASE: SINGAPORE/DRUGLORD LINK LIQUIDATED FBC PRESS RELEASE: ARCO SALE A PARTIAL VICTORY BKK POST: BORDER MEETING ON NARCOTICS SCHEDULED THE HINDU (NEW DELHI): EDITORIAL - ENGAGING MYANMAR FBC ANNOUNCEMENT: OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE DEMONSTRATION -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABSDF: MOULMEIN TOWNSHIP NLD CHAIRMAN JAILED FOR 6 YEARS November 18, 1997 From: lurie@mozart.inet.co.th Press Release Date: November 18, 1997 Moulmein Township NLD Chairman Jailed For 6 Years U Kyi Lwin, the chairman of the Moulmein Township Organizing Committee for the National League for Democracy (NLD) was sentenced to six years imprisonment with hard labour on October 17 for allegedly violating the Publishing and Printing Act. An NLD member from Moulmein, U Myo Aung, who recently arrived on the border told the ABSDF that U Kyi Lwin, 52, had been detained since July this year without being charged. "Military Intelligence officers came to his printing shop located on Main Lower Road in Moulmein in July and took him away", said U Myo Aung who witnessed the arrest. The township court in Moulmein sentenced U Kyi Lwin to six years imprisonment with hard labour on October 17, 1997, after five court appearances. U Kyi Lwin joined the NLD after the 1988 uprising. U Myo Aung said Military Intelligence have been constantly monitoring the movements of NLD members in Mon State, and arresting them whenever they can find fault with them. He also told the ABSDF that a number of NLD members have left for the Thai-Burma border due to increasing repression and harassment by the military authorities. In another case, U Win Shwe, an NLD member of the Bilin Township Organizing Committee, was recently detained and put under house arrest. Towards the end of October the SLORC was reportedly preparing to charge him under Section 5 (j) of the Emergency Provision Act. All Burma Students' Democratic Front For more information please call 01-923 1687 or 01-654 4984. *************************************** BKK POST: KAREN ILLEGALS PUSHED BACK TO BURMA November 19, 1997 Supamart Kasem UmPhang, Tak --More, than 2,000 Karens were sent back to Burma in an operation said to have caused the deaths of a baby and a 45 year-old man yesterday. The Karen Refugee Committee has called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to act against Thai officials over the deaths of the two Karens. Authorities treated 2,500 Karens in Ban Lae Tongku, Ban Kui Lortor and Ban Tee Jorchee, Umphan, as illegal immigrants, not refugees, said the commander of the Fourth Infantry Regiment Task Force. As they had entered the country illegally and there was no fighting in Burma, they must return, said Col Chatchaput Yaemngarmriab. ****************************************************** AP: U.N. PROBES THAI SOLDIERS REPORT November 19, 1997 By Robert Horn, Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- U.N. investigators are looking into reports that Thai soldiers caused the deaths of two Burmese refugees, including an infant, and wounded four. ``We've had various reports about this incident,'' said Amelia Bonifacio, the Bangkok representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The soldiers fired their weapons for five minutes around ethnic Karen refugees in the Thay Pu Law Sue camp near the Burma border to intimidate them into moving to another location, Karen ethnic group activists and aid workers said. As the refugees fled in panic, a 3-day-old infant was trampled to death, another refugee was fatally shot in the stomach and four were wounded, the activists said on condition of anonymity. The condition of the wounded was not known. Independent verification of the incident has not been possible because the Ministry of the Interior has not allowed outsiders into the camp, west of the Thai city of Umphang and 210 miles from Bangkok. Bonifacio said investigators were conducting a fact-finding mission and would try to enter the camp today. The refugees angered Thai army officers because they refused to move to a new location that the soldiers said was just a 10-minute walk from a Burmese army post, the activists said. More than 100,000 Karen and other ethnic refugees from Burma are living in camps in Thailand, having fled Burmese army offensives aimed at wiping out the Karen National Union, a guerrilla group fighting for Karen autonomy in Burma since 1948. The camps periodically have been attacked and burned down by a splinter group of Karen under the control of the Burmese Army. Many refugees have said Burmese soldiers participated in the attacks. Refugees living in camps in the northern section of the Thai-Burma border generally have been treated with compassion by the Thai army and local residents. There have been a number of clashes, however, in camps along the southern section of the border where Thai businessmen are developing highways and other investment projects linking the two countries. Those camps, along with the Thay Pu Law Sue camp, are under the control of Thailand's Ninth Army Division. During the administration of former Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the army rounded up refugees, including women and children, and sent them back to Burma into the path of a Burmese army offensive in February. Chavalit and his generals denied any refugees were sent back, but army officers, district officials, local villagers and the refugees all said the forced repatriations took place. Bonifacio said her investigators had met with local officials in Umphang and she was scheduled to meet with Thai foreign ministry officials today. She said she hoped the new administration of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai would take a more favorable attitude toward the refugees, but acknowledged it was too soon to tell what its policy would be. [related excerpts] --------------------------- THE NATION: UN PROBES ALLEGATION BY KAREN ON FATAL ATTACK November 19, 1997 In a press conference held Monday in Tak, however, the army denied there had been any fatalities. Two refugees were injured when Thai soldiers fired shots in an attempt to prevent hundreds of Burmese from illegally entering Thailand early Saturday morning, the army explained. An official of the Karen Refugee Committee yesterday said he received a different report that three refugees were killed by a group of unidentified men and cremated on Saturday. He said the attackers wore hoods and witnesses could not confirm who they were. "I don't believe the assailants are Thai soldiers since they have never used any violent means against the refugees," said the source. Col Chatpat Yaem-ngamriab, commander of the Fourth Infantry Task Force, yesterday denied that Thai soldiers fatally attacked the Karen refugees. "I only received a report that two refugees were injured after they sneaked out of a camp after the restricted time and encountered Thai patrol men on their way," he said. ****************************************************** ABSDF: COUNTERFEIT NOTES CIRCULATED IN SHAN STATE November 15, 1997 From: Caroline Lurie Thai-Burmese Border In June 1997, there were reports that authorities confiscated 700,000 kyat worth of counterfeit 500 kyat notes in Taunggyi. This followed the seizure of 15 million kyats worth of counterfeit money on October 19, 1997, in Muse on the Sino-Burma border, as well as many hundreds of thousands of counterfeit kyat in the golden triangle and along the Thai-Burma border. In Shan State there is widespread use of counterfeit 500 kyat notes by the local people. On September 16, 1997, many shop keepers in Kunhein, eastern Shan State, found they had received wads of counterfeit 500 kyat notes with the Burmese letters ka-la and ka-najee and they surrendered the money to the police, according to a trader from Kynhein. The trader said that the quality of the counterfeit money is almost as good as the real thing and is much better quality than the counterfeit notes he had seen before. Previous counterfeit money had slightly different colour separation, no water mark and no security line. But the current counterfeit money is almost the same as real notes and even has what looks like a security line which on proper notes is made from a very thin piece of film. Because of the quality of the counterfeit notes, many people are finding it difficult to distinguish them from real notes. It is not known how many counterfeit notes have been circulated in the central cities of Burma, but many have been found in Shan State, he added. In addition, many Burmese traders on the Thai-Burma border have been facing difficulties because Thai traders are refusing to accept 500 kyat notes with the Burmese letters Ka-Htawoonbei and Ka-Dayinkauk. All Burma Students' Democratic Front ****************************************************** BUSINESS WIRE: DOMINION BRIDGE CORPORATION ANNOUNCES US$112 MILLION IN CONTRACTS November 18, 1997 MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 1997--Dominion Bridge Corporation (NASDAQ/NMS: DBCO; VSE: DMO.U) ("DBC") today announced that its Asia Pacific subsidiary, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, has been awarded two contracts totaling U.S. $90 million. The first is for a gas pipeline construction contract in Myanmar, South East Asia, which was awarded by a major United States energy company. ***************************************** THE NATION: BURMA MINISTER FIRES STAFF November 19, 1997 Associated Press BURMA'S new minister of commerce has fired several members of the ministry's staff and urged their replacements to follow regulations, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported yesterday. Gen Kyaw Than, who was appointed minister of commerce on Saturday in a shake-up of the military government, sacked senior ministry staff on Monday. The paper gave no reasons for the filings or details about how many people were let go. Analysts have said one reason for the government shake-up was to effectively retire many of the ministers who had become corrupt. ****************************************************** BKK POST: DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS LEAD THE LIST November 19, 1997 [abridged] Nussara Sawatsawang BURMA A PRIORITY FOR CHUAN GOVERNMENT Democracy and human rights will be Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's key elements in guiding foreign policy for the Democrat-led coalition government, according to Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan. Mr Surin conveyed the government position to senior ministry officials for the first time since taking office yesterday, an informed source said. "He quoted Prime Minister Chuan as saying that he wants to emphasise those two aspects because they are part of Thai culture and the country's assets which we should be proud of," the source said. Mr Surin also told officials of his desire to improve coordination between ministries and other government agencies in pursuing foreign policy. In 1993, Mr Chuan as prime minister allowed Nobel laureates to hold talks in Thailand on Burma over the military regime's anti-democratic drive and suppression of human rights. ******************************************** THE NATION: ADOPT OPEN ATTITUDE, SUKHUMBHAND TELLS BURMA November 19, 1997 BURMA should adopt a more open attitude and allow more interaction between its citizens and those of other countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra urged yesterday. Speaking after the first meeting of senior Foreign Ministry officials, Sukhumbhand said that if Burma can become fully open, foreign trade and investments will pour in. The flow of trade to Burma has been hindered by human rights issues and problems with the legitimacy of the ruling government, he said. In the government's policy speech to Parliament tomorrow, the Chuan Leekpai administration will announce it commitment to playing an assertive role in promoting human rights and democracy. Sukhumbhand said the Burmese junta's change of name from the State Law and Order Restoration Council to the State Peace and Development Council represented the first step towards a positive change in the country, but added that it was too early to conclude whether the change will mean a new Burma. He said changes in Burma would benefit the Burmese people as well as its immediate neighbour Thailand. "I think if there is a constructive change in Burma, everyone should applaud and encourage the Burmese leaders." While agreeing that "constructive engagement" was the right foreign policy for Thailand, Sukhumbhand said he would like more stress on the word 'constructive' than on "engagement". He said the West's concept of constructive engagement has been to point fingers- at Burma to try to force a change and failing to do so, drop trade and military contacts. "We should try to direct Burma to be open in all aspects and to have interaction with the Thai people - people to-people contact and not only contact with military personnel and top business people in trade and investment and border trade,' he said. He cited possible interchanges such as allowing Thais to participate in Kathin ceremonies in Burma, private sector technology exchanges and scholarly seminars held in both countries. Such exchanges, he said, would widen Burma's world vision to realise that standing alone with a few friends is no right in the long run. Sukhumbhand said he would like to ask Rangoon if it would allow Burmese students to accept scholarships to study in foreign countries like Thailand an Singapore. The minister also said the government wanted the Burmese ruling junta to make it clear that it was willing solve the boundary conflicts in the Moei River between the two countries After preliminary talks to resolve the conflict earlier in the year, the dialogue has stalled. Sukhumbhand will oversee boundary problems with neighbouring states. ****************************************************** BKK POST: THAI GARMENT FIRM SETS UP PLANT IN BURMA November 19, 1997 Sukanya Jitpleecheep Burmese workers paid only 20 baht per day People's Garment Plc, a subsidiary of the Saha Group, recently became the first Thai firm to set up garment factory in Burma when it formed a joint venture with local businessmen in Rangoon. The company holds a 75% stake in the new firm, MP Garment, which manufactures and sells clothing for domestic and export markets. People's Garment Plc plans to invest about 10 million baht in Burma. The plant, under construction on a five-rai site in Rangoon, is scheduled to open next year. "Lower labour costs is one of the main considerations for choosing Burma as the production base for our garments," People's Garment managing-director Poa Pavarolarvidya said. The cost of labour in Burma was about 20 baht per day, seven times lower than in Thailand. And with the right know-how to support the Burmese operation, People's Garment would improve its competitiveness on the world market, Mr Poa said. The company wanted to be using Burma as its production base for exports by the time the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) agreement takes effect and the import duty on finished garments is lifted. Initially, MP Garment would produce men's shirts for export to Japan and Europe at a rate of 240,000 pieces per annum. The firm would next produce trousers. New brands would be created exclusively for the Burmese people. Mr Poa said though MP Garment was the first Thai venture in Burma, firms from Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong had invested in the country. "Before manufacturing garments in Burma, our local partner will send staff for training in Thailand and we will send our employees to consult Burmese people, too," Mr Poa said. People's Garment had considered setting up clothing factories in Laos and Vietnam, but decided to postpone its investment plans. This was because the market in Laos was too small and transport costs too high, while in Vietnam inflation was high and basic laws changed every day. Some US clothing brands, including Liz Claiborne and Levi Strauss, had shut down their operations in Burma after US consumers protested against companies that did business with the Rangoon junta. But Mr Poa said this problem would not affect the company as most of its products were for export to Japan. People's Garment would inform its European clients which products had been made in Burma. "We are Thai, we are not American. So we don't worry about US sanctions on Burmese products," he said. Mr Poa said People's Garment's turnover this year was expected to reach 600 million baht. Next year's turnover was projected to remain at 600 million baht, of which the export ratio would double from 100 to 200 million baht while the local market would account for 300-400 million baht. People's Garment has four plants in Thailand - in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Chachoengsao and Lamphun. The company's total capacity is 30,000 pieces per month. ****************************************************** THE NEW STRAITS TIMES: BOLTON'S MYANMAR COMPANY November 18, 1997 BOLTON Bhd, through subsidiary Primtrax Sdn Bhd, has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary in Myanmar known as Pele Investment Holdings Bhd with an issued and paid-up capital of US$41,985 (RM134,330). ********************************** THE HINDU (NEW DELHI): DRUG BARON BUILDS A ROAD TO MANDALAY November 19, 1997 LONDON, Nov. 18. Khun Sa, Asia's most notorious drugs criminal, has gone into business with the military dictators of Myanmar his former foes. The multi-millionaire is pumping the vast profits from his illegal heroin empire into the country's economy in one of the world's biggest money laundering operations. Flouting a 1.25 million pounds bounty put on his head by the U.S. President Mr. Bill Clinton, and a U.S. demand for his extradition to face drug trafficking charges brought in absentia, Khun Sa is living the good life in Yangon with four young lovers. For three decades, Khun Sa smuggled heroin around the world from his ethnic Shan fiefdom in the jungles of the Golden Triangle before negotiating a cease-fire last year with the country's ruling generals. The druglord with a taste for vintage cognac and teenage consorts said he would retire and tend chickens. Now the 62-year-old, whose alias means "Prince Prosperous" has re-emerged as the junta embraces capitalism. The former British colony is rapidly being transformed into a so-called "narco-economy" by drugs money. Khun Sa is ploughing his fortune into a four-lane toll highway from Yangon to Mandalay, running a bus company and property speculation in the Burmese capital. He also plans to invest 12 million pounds in a tourist casino-hotel complex for tourists. In return the generals, who came to power after massacring demonstrators in 1988, are taking their cut of his drug proceeds. Myanmar accounts for more than half the world's opium production. Last year's estimated yield of nearly 2,600 tonnes would produce about 260 tonnes of heroin. Although most Golden Triangle heroin ends on the streets of America's inner cities, British agents fear Myanmarese drugs will increasingly find their way to Western Europe as new smuggling routes open through China and the former Soviet Union. Yangon, a crumbling colonial relic unchanged for three decades while the generals pursued disastrous socialism, is awash with money from rich drugs smugglers, of whom Khun Sa is the most infamous. Money laundering is out of control, and shady magnates flanked by bodyguards with AK-47s dominate seedy, nightclubs funded by drugs money. The U.S. Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright, recently raised concerns that foreign companies in Myanmar are collaborating with some of the world's biggest narcotics smugglers. The British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, accused Myanmar of conniving with drugs smugglers during a speech on his summer Asian tour. ******************************************** SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: NEW REGIME MUCH LESS PREDICTABLE November 19, 1997 William Barnes in Bangkok The new streamlined military junta is more likely to spring political surprises than its moribund predecessor, Rangoon-based diplomats said yesterday. Yet the reshuffled Cabinet remains ill-equipped to deal with a modern world and a spreading economic crisis, they added. The military's four top generals surprised observers when, on Saturday, they announced the creation of a renamed and trimmed-down junta and a far-reaching Cabinet reshuffle. Only the Prime Minister, General Than Shwe, now serves in both bodies - which some observers said might be the start of moves to create a civilian Cabinet. But diplomats in the Burmese capital said there was no evidence of any military withdrawal from the Government. "The Army has been faced with a major economic disaster yet has appointed only one new civilian to a Cabinet dominated by soldiers," said one envoy from the region. "It still doesn't trust outsiders - especially foreign-educated ones." The revamp has broken up the junior rival factions within the junta to leave just five top soldiers, the air force and navy chiefs and the 12 regional commanders in the State Peace and Development Council. The old-style junta, the old State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), contained a mish-mash of cliques and rival business empires with most members of the junta also serving as Cabinet ministers. "The old arrangement wasn't working - it was in a state of atrophy. There were so many voices being heard that nothing was being done," one Western diplomat said. "There were 16 lieutenant-generals in the [21-member] SLORC - now there are only three. At least the potential is there for some new initiatives." The regional commanders are all brigadier-generals - at least two ranks junior to the top rung of the junta. The regime's hidden back-room politics has so far prevented analysts from deciding if either the reputed hardliners or the more devious intelligence establishment have come out ahead in the revamp. "The truth is we don't really know what personal links tie the establishment together," said one veteran diplomat in Rangoon. "What does stand out is that the most senior figures were able to put aside their differences to agree to strengthen the military leadership." *************************************** FBC PRESS RELEASE: SINGAPORE/DRUGLORD LINK LIQUIDATED November 19, 1997 From: "W. Kesavatana-Dohrs" FREE BURMA COALITION 225 North Mills Street, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 Phone (608)-827-7734 Fax: (608)-263-9992 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT LINK TO BURMESE DRUG LORD "LIQUIDATED" SINGAPOREAN AND MALAYSIAN INVESTORS URGED TO FOLLOW SUIT Washington, DC -- November 19, 1997 -- The Singapore Embassy says that a fund linking the Singapore Government Investment Corporation (GIC) to Burmese narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han is being liquidated. This follows investigative reports on the link by Australian SBS television and The Nation magazine. Singapore's acknowledgment comes in a letter to The Nation editor in the Nov. 24 edition. The GIC is a secretive multi-billion dollar institution with high-level Singaporean politicians, including Senior Minister Lee Kwan Yew, acting as officers and directors. Lo Hsing Han has long been a key player in the Burmese drug trade, which supplies 60% of the heroin on US streets, according to the State Department. The GIC, through its holdings in The Myanmar Fund (the Fund now under liquidation), co-invested with Lo in the Traders Hotel in Burma's capital, Rangoon. The fund also owned 25% of one of Lo's family companies. This was an embarrassment to Singapore, which purports to take a hard line on drugs issues. Protesters followed Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chock Tong during recent visits to Los Angeles and Chicago, calling for him to respond to State Department criticisms of Singapore investors' ties to Lo. At a news conference in February, Robert Gelbard, then Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs said "Drug traffickers have become the leading investors in Burma's new market economy and leading lights in Burma's new political order. Since 1988, over half of (investment) from Singapore has been tied to the family of narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han." Singapore has never responded to the US criticism. "As long as Singapore continues to play such a key role in supporting Burma's drug trade through it's investments there, it seems unlikely that any progress will be made in stemming the increasing flow of heroin from Burma into Singapore and the rest of the world," says investigative journalist Leslie Kean, co-author with Dennis Bernstein of "Singapore's Blood Money" (The Nation, Oct. 20). "Singapore has the potential to have a huge influence in that regard, and they have taken the first small step in that direction." "Perhaps now other Singapore and Malaysian investors will follow suit and take the same responsibility for their investments, by cutting their ties to Burma's heroin traffickers," adds Kean, noting that US-based Northwest Airlines quickly stopped a mileage promotion with the Rangoon Traders Hotel after learning of Lo's ownership and drug ties. Contact: Larry Dohrs, Free Burma Coalition, 206-784-5742 ***************************************** FBC PRESS RELEASE: ARCO SALE A PARTIAL VICTORY November 18, 1997 From: "W. Kesavatana-Dohrs" FREE BURMA COALITION 225 North Mills Street, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 Phone (608)-827-7734 Fax: (608)-263-9992 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ARCO DUMPS 39% SHARE OF BURMA PROJECT DEMOCRACY ADVOCATES SEE A STEP TOWARD TOTAL WITHDRAWAL Los Angeles, Nov. 18, 1997 -- The decision on November 13 by oil giant ARCO to sell a share of its investment in Burma is seen by pro-democracy activists as a first step toward total withdrawal from activities in the military-run pariah state. "Every journey begins with a first step," says Ali Ahmed, a leader of the Burmese exile community in Los Angeles. "This is the first step toward ARCO cutting all ties with the Burmese narco-dictatorship." ARCO has been the object of a relentless campaign of demonstrations and leafleting, which highlight President Clinton's ban on new investment in Burma, a decision made in April for reasons of national security. Secretary of State Albright has criticized Burmese military complicity in the heroin trade, and said that drug money is even laundered through "joint ventures with foreign firms." A coalition of Burmese exiles, labor, campus and community groups have held weekly demonstrations outside ARCO's headquarters. Demonstrators have also attended ARCO-sponsored high school football games, with banners reading "nArco in Burma = Heroin in the US." The State Department reports that 60% of the heroin on US streets comes from Burma. "It can't get much clearer for ARCO," says Kevin Rudiger, a spokesman for the LA Burma Forum. "Our government says new investment in Burma harms our national interest. Our government says Burma's junta tolerates and benefits from heroin exports to the US. Our government denounces Burmese repression, but ARCO executives wine and dine the very generals responsible. Whose side are they on?" Many foreign investors have withdrawn from Burma, including Amoco, PepsiCo, Heineken, Levi-Strauss, Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, Disney and others. Most recently, Texaco announced it would leave Burma by the end of the year. ARCO and Unocal are the only well-known US companies remaining. The Burmese economy is reportedly on the verge of collapse. Burma's democracy movement has long called for investors to stay away until democracy is achieved. International and internal pressure is increasing on the junta to open dialogue with Burma's overwhelmingly popular democrats, headed by Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Contact: Kevin Rudiger, Los Angeles Burma Forum, 310-399-0703 Ali Ahmed, Los Angeles Burma Forum, 562-602-4407 ************************************** BKK POST: BORDER MEETING ON NARCOTICS SCHEDULED November 19, 1997 Precursor issue to be raised at meet Thai and Burmese authorities will work out drug suppression measures when they meet in Chiang Rai early next month. Bunpot Plamdee, director of the Northern Narcotics Control Centre, said yesterday Thai government representatives and their counterparts from the Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) will meet to discuss the problem of drugs and precursor smuggling for the second time this year in Chiang Rai during December 1-2. The meeting organisers are the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) and Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB). "It is very possible Burma will join the programme to prevent and suppress narcotics in this region because the SPDC leaders have turned to seriously solving the drugs problems, especially those in Thai-Burmese border areas." Mr Bunpot said. According to him, measures to prevent drug smuggling across the Thai- Burmese border via new routes and to provide officials concerned with updated information about the drug trade will be stepped up. Thailand was successful in suppressing drugs at a certain level with support from UNDCP experts and cooperation from Burma and Laos, but the ONCB conceded the more serious drug suppression measures were. the harder drug dealers would seek new methods of smuggling, he said. Meanwhile, a policeman and two Muser drug traffickers were killed in a shootout at a checkpoint on a road between Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district and Chiang Rai's Mae Chan yesterday. Police said the gun battle erupted after a Border Patrol Police unit manning the checkpoint tried to stop a pick-up truck for a routine check. The two hilltribesmen in the truck opened fire. ****************************************************** THE HINDU (NEW DELHI): EDITORIAL - ENGAGING MYANMAR November 18, 1997 THERE ARE STRONG trade-cum-strategic arguments in favour of engaging the military regime in neighbouring Myanmar, but these should not be allowed to cloud or sideline India's principled policy of supporting the democratic forces in that country. Engagement is not endorsement, apologists for the trade-led policy, may say, quoting the President of the richest Democracy as he feted the Chinese head of state and defended his policy from attacks by his own countrymen. Let India engage the junta in Myanmar but let us also simultaneously pile pressure on the regime to return the country to the democratic path. Let us reiterate at every possible forum that a ruthless dictatorship in Myanmar is a major destabilising force in a region strategically important for this country. Scope for the apprehension that there may be a dilution of the long-held Indian policy is provided by the latest act of grant of $10 millions in credit to that country. In the absence of a clarification, the two-day visit to Yangon, the Myanmar capital, by the second in command at the External Affairs Ministry is bound to send the wrong signals, particularly to the pro-democracy forces waging at grim battle in that country. Hardly 24 hours before the Minister, Mr. Saleem Shervani, was to land in Yangon, the military authorities clamped further restrictions on the movement of the democracy activist, Ms. Aung San Sun Kyi, besides putting out misleading reports that there had been a change of heart on her part and that she had opted to receive supporters at her home rather than travel outside the capital to meet them. Contradicting earlier suggestions of a possible rapprochement between the military government and the Nobel laureate whom it had jailed for six years, the authorities issued a strong denunciation of the leader. A more inauspicious welcome could not have been accorded to an Indian leader. The red carpet was pulled from right under his feet. It was the junta's well thought offensive to counter any Indian plan to signal support for the regime's potentially most serious opponent. Mr. Shervani apparently evinced little interest in meeting Ms. Sun Kyi or expressing India's concern for her welfare. The visit itself was the culmination of a three-year effort to engage the country in trade and business. Border trade was regularised more than two years ago and the first trade fair in February 1995 signaled that while India continued to offer sympathy and support to the democracy activists in Myanmar, it would pursue the trade track separately. The announcement of a large loan at the just-concluded second trade fair proclaims the successful pursuit of that policy. Funds to prop up the regime, which has now put on a new make-up. In a trade-driven global scenario, the fact remains that at a time when Western companies have come under pressure to blacklist the Myanmar regime, the Chinese, Japanese and South East Asian countries have been investing in a major way not wanting to be left behind. An argument that is trotted out in India, too. Besides Myanmar's possible utility as a gateway to the economies of the Asian Tigers, its strategic location gives it considerable importance. The country has for long remained a haven for the insurgents in the northeastern parts of India who appear to be slowly getting isolated and, for lack of support, ready to rejoin the mainstream. If engagement of Myanmar results in an end to external assistance to these misguided elements, it can be an argument in favour of the policy. But pressure must continue on the regime in Yangon, which has apparently regained control of most of the remote regions of the country. The men in khaki must realise that returning the country to democracy can bring lasting peace, with substantial dividends in terms of stability and progress. ********************************************** FBC ANNOUNCEMENT: OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE DEMONSTRATION AND HUNGER STRIKE FOR THE LIBERATION OF BURMA FRIDAY, NOV. 21, 1997 November 19, 1997 From: chavezi@oxy.edu 1:30 PM @ SYCAMORE GLENN (Occidental College) WE, the student led Free Burma Coalition of Occidental College, in an effort to increase pressure on our President, Dr. John Brooks Slaughter -- member of the Board of Directors for ARCO Corp., and to challenge any possible college investment within ARCO, will hold a demonstration / hunger strike in the name of the Burmese people. WE, the students, faculty, and staff of Occidental College do not wish for our college to be associated with the murdering, enslavement, and oppression of a people who are struggling for the establishment of a Democratic state. WE have always understood Occidental College as being a resource for the molding of individuals who will contribute toward the betterment of our pluralistic society. Knowing that Occidental College plays a significant role in the oppression of the Burmese people is a hypocritical irony, and as students, faculty, and staff, we denounce our involvement and the tainting of our college's honor. WE demand the following from our college: 1) That our President, Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, use his position within the ARCO Board of Directors, to pressure ARCO into pulling from Burma. 2) That our college break any investment relationship, if such exists, with ARCO until it pulls out of Burma (several of our trustees are involved with ARCO). The demonstration in the name of the Burmese people will begin at Sycamore Glenn (Occidental College) at 1:30 PM, this Friday Nov. 21. We will march all through the campus, and stop in front of the President's Office, where Pres. Slaughter will HAVE TO ADDRESS US. A meeting has been scheduled with him, but he's expecting three students. Little does he know that they'll be accompanied by a couple of hundred students, and TV cameras. The hunger strike will begin after the meeting with Slaughter, and will continue till Mon. Nov. 24, when ARCO will hold it's national Board of Director's meeting. Those that will participate in the hunger strike will be Sara Hunt, from Students React, and Ismael Chavez, from the Four Winds Student Movement. WE hope that others will join them. WE ASK THAT ALL OF YOU SUPPORT THE OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THEIR EFFORTS! IF YOU CAN ATTEND THE DEMONSTRATION, PLEASE DO! With you in the struggle, The Free Burma Coalition of Occidental College Call (213) 590-1815 FOR MORE INFO. OR E-MAIL chavezi@oxy.edu ******************************************