------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: April 19, 1996
Issue #387

Noted in Passing:

                Obviously pressure from consumers and shareholders is
                what we'll respond to. - Pepsi Chairman and CEO Chris
                Sinclair, on the Pepsi Boycott Campaign.
                (see AP: PEPSI CEO DEFENDS BURMA INVESTMENT)

HEADLINES:
==========
IHT: VOICES FROM ASIA - DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI: SPEECH TO THE UNCHR
THE ECONOMIST: MYANMAR'S MYSTERIOUS BOOM
THE ECONOMIST: THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
AP: PEPSI CEO DEFENDS BURMA INVESTMENT
THE NATION: BURMA TOURISM 'ON TRACK'
BKK POST: QUESTION OF MISSING ACRES BOGS DOWN BRIDGE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IHT: VOICES FROM ASIA - DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
April 19, 1996  (Intl Herald Tribune)

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's Nobel laureate, appealing to the
international community to exact pressure on Burma's military junta
to restore democracy: "It is no use saying that Asian people are not
interested in democracy when the people of Burma, who are of course
Asians, have expressed so very clearly that what they want is a demo-
cratic government that will guarantee their rights." (AFP)

**************************************************

DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI: SPEECH TO THE UNCHR
April 17, 1996, Geneva
from dvb@oslonett.no

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: this is the transcript of a speech which was
videotaped at her house in Rangoon and sent to the United Nations
Commision for Human Rights.]

"We would like to remind  those who are simply looking at the economic
benefits that they hope to reap from Burma today that they  are working
against their own long term interest and the long term interests of the
international community in general."

                                                                Aung San Suu
Kyi

It is a matter of much satisfaction to be able to participate in this press
conference at a time when the United Nations Commission for Human Rights
is in session. It is time the world knew what is going on in Burma today.
It has come to the point when we have to worry, not simply about the
violations of human rights in Burma, but  about the lawless activities of
the authorities. The chairman of the NLD, U Aung Shwe, has been moved to
write to the chairman of the SLORC, General Than Shwe, to complain about
the way in which the authorities are using lawless methods to repress and to
harass the members and supporters of the National League for Democracy.

There are those who argue that the concept of human rights is not applicable
to all cultures. We in the National League for Democracy believe that human
rights are of universal relevance. But even those who do not believe in human
rights must certainly agree that the rule of law is most important.  Without
the rule of law there can be no peace, either in a nation, a region or in
throughout the world. In Burma at the moment there is no rule of law. Unless
there is the rule of law there can be no peace or justice in this country.

We believe in self reliance and we depend on  the strength of the people of
Burma to achieve their own goals. At the same time we also appreciate the
moral support and practical help of the international community.  In this day
and age nobody can afford to ignore the opinions of the world around us.
Because of that we would like to appeal to the international community to
take a greater interest in what is going on in Burma.

In the letter which U Aung Shwe wrote to the chairman of SLORC, he cited
five specific cases which proved that the authorities were behaving in a
lawless fashion towards the NLD and its supporters. Yet these cases are
merely the tip of an iceberg of harassment and repression that is going on
throughout the whole country.

The international community has two duties with regard to Burma at the
moment.  The first one is to focus on and to protest against the lawless
activities of the authorities.  The second one is to do everything possible to
implement the terms of General Assembly resolution with regard to the human
rights situation in Burma.

The General Assembly resolution calls for the restoration of democracy in
line with the will of the people as expressed through the elections of 1990.
It is now almost six full years since these elections were held.  In the
process of these elections the people of Burma made it quite clear what kind
of government they wanted.  It is time that the world respected the will of
the people of Burma. It is no use saying that Asian people are not
interested in democracy when the people of Burma, who are of course Asians,
have expressed so very clearly that what they want is a democratic
government that will guarantee their rights fully.

Any move to ignore or to set aside the results of the elections is not only
to insult the will of the people of Burma, but also to insult the will of
the international community as expressed through the General Assembly
resolution.

If there is to be political progress in Burma, concrete steps must be taken
to implement the will of the people as expressed through the elections of
1990. There are those who are prepared to pretend the elections never
existed, and that the will of the people has not been made known to all
concerned.  We can not condone such an attempt to set aside what the
Burmese people see as a very clear expression of their aspirations for the
future of their nation.  The international community should take firm steps
to ensure that the authorities in Burma start the process of recognising the
results of the elections of 1990, a process that is long overdue.

At the moment there is danger that those who believe economic reforms will
bring political progress to Burma are unaware of the difficulties in the way
of democratisation. Economics and politics cannot be separated, and
economic reforms alone cannot bring democratisation to Burma. Moreover it
is not possible that any kind of economic reform can succeed in a country
where there is no rule of law.  For that reason we call upon the
international community to insist the authorities  in Burma do their utmost
to institute the rule of law in Burma as soon as possible.

So far the authorities have chosen to ignore our call.  However, we believe
that one day we will have to solve our problems through dialogue.

The General Assembly resolution also calls for a substantive political
dialogue  between the authorities, the National  League for Democracy and
other political organisations and various  ethnic groups in Burma. The
National League for Democracy  is ready for dialogue at any time. But that
does not mean that we are prepared  to sit and let the authorities act as
they wish against our members and supporters. We have to protest against
injustice and lawlessness.  It is our duty, not only as a party that
represents the aspirations of the democratic forces of Burma, but as a party
that believes in justice and peace throughout the world.

Our request to the international community is in fact a quite simple one. We
would simply like them to be aware of the fact that the situation in Burma
is a threat not only to its own people, but also to the region and to the
world.
Injustice and lack of peace in the country means injustice and lack of peace
for the rest of the world because it threatens peace and justice  everywhere
else. We would like to remind  those who are simply looking at the economic
benefits that they hope to reap from Burma today that they  are working
against their own long term interest and the long term interests of the
international community in general. To flout the will of the international
community is to promote instability and dissension throughout the world.

We are confident that we shall achieve our goal of building a genuine
democratic state in Burma. However, we also wish the international community
to take part in our struggle, and to be supportive of our endeavours. We
would like the whole world to join us in our call for justice in Burma  and
for the quick implementation of  the terms of the General Assembly
resolution with regard to human rights in Burma.

I would like to end this statement simply with a word of thanks to all
those who have made it possible for me to participate in this press
conference.

Thank you.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Democratic Voice of Burma(DVB) has one hour air time broadcasting to Burma
everyday. It is one of the main sources of information for the people of
Burma especially for those inside the country.  For more information, please
write to: DVB, P.O Box 6720, ST.Olavs Plass, 0130 Oslo, Norway.
Tel: 47-22-200021, Tel/fax:47-22-362525.

*************************************************

THE ECONOMIST: MYANMAR'S MYSTERIOUS BOOM
April 6, 1996
Yangon

Scanning South-East Asia for the next "tiger" economy, many eyes have
lighted on Myanmar (Burma).  Always rich in resources, its government is
now friendly to foreign businesses.  Human rights groups may carp at
foreigners
for dealing with an unpleasant military regime.  But businessman are scared
of missing out on an economy that is now growing at tigerish rates.

When it seized power in 1988, the military junta running Myanmar inherited a
closed, state-dominated economy, which it has opened up to market forces and
foreign investment.  Since then, GDP growth rates have caught up with the
feverish regional norm.  Figures just released by the government claim
average growth of 8.2% over the past four years, which suggests that growth
is picking up again.

The capital, Yangon, certainly looks like a boom-town.  New tower blocks
are poking above the faded colonial facades; streets that just a few years ago
milled quietly with pedestrians, bicycles and the occasional pick-up truck
now throb with Toyotas and Nissans.  In one street, the pavement is
stacked with cardboard boxes of Toshiba television set.  Well-groomed
young couples dine in busy restaurants.  Many see this as evidence that-
whatever its other flaws-the junta has at least got the economy right.

Or has it?  The opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, thinks not.  "The
so-called boom
is an artificial one," she declares.  The economy, far from being the
generals'
saving grace, "will be their undoing."  Since Miss (sic) Suu Kyi was
released from six years of house arrest only last July, by a junta that sill
refuses to talk to her, she might reasonably be suspected of bias.  But the
opposition is not alone in seeing the appearance of new prosperity as in part
a mirage.

Even the International Monetary Fund, in a report issued last October and
praised by the government as "very sound", concluded that, on a per capita
basis, "neither GDP nor agricultural output have yet recovered to the levels
reached in the mid-1980s."  The IMF acknowledges that "real economic
activity has expanded strongly over the last three years."  But it also
identifies trends that make the government look less the prudent liberalizers
of
their own propaganda, more the spendthrift military dictators portrayed by
their opponents.

Asian tigers tend to be noted for fiscal caution, small state sectors and high
levels of investment.  Buy Myanmar's budget deficit has been widening.
Consumption has been increasing as a percentage of GDP at the expense of
investment; and the private sector's share in that investment has actually
been declining.  Foreign-exchange reserves have been maintained at their
current low level only by failing to pay back some foreign debt.  Civil
servants' wages and social services have been cut, while the junta has spent
more on defense.  The IMF estimates that defence expenditure accounts for
4% of GDP.  Arcane book-keeping procedures, however, probably conceal
an even greater amount.

The prescriptive part of the IMF's report has not been made public.  The World
Bank, however, in a report also published last October, put reform of the
currency, the kyat, at the top of its list of priorities.  There is an
official exchange
rate of about 6 kyats to the dollar.  But on the streets of Yangon, it takes
125
kyats to buy a dollar.

Myanmar insists it will need a lot of outside financial support to adjust the
currency to market levels, if intolerable inflationary pressures are to be
avoided.
That is not true, or at least not for the person in the street, who already
pays
for imports at a realistic exchange rate.  Rather, unifying the currency would
encourage exports, and help with the budget deficit, by increasing revenues
from import duties and sales tax.

The World Bank has a more convincing explanation for the government's
reluctance to adjust the exchange rate - "the fear that influential groups in
the population would lose as a result."  That means those with access to
imports at the official rate - government departments, the army and state
enterprises, as well as some individual civil servants and soldiers.  The dual
exchange rate robs the poor to give to the comfortably-off and the small
but growing class of very, very rich.

It is also one reason why measuring Myanmar's economy is a guessing
game.  The use of the official rate hugely understates exports and imports,
and distorts year-on-year comparisons.  The government's figures probably
underestimate the size of the economy, while exaggerating the growth rates.

Growth in Myanmar's economy has come largely from agriculture, which
made up an estimated 62.6% of GDP in 1994, up from 57% in 1989.  The
government says farmers, are doing nicely, thank you, and that savings in
agricultural co-operatives are rising.  Miss Suu Kyi says life is getting
harder
and harder in the paddy fields, even though the price of rice is soaring for
consumers.

That, says Miss Suu Kyi, is why the government's economic failings will
become obvious this year.  But the foreign business delegations and
conferences are multiplying.  If the economy is such a mess, why are
the investors flocking in?  The answer seems to be that there is a lot more
looking than investing.  The government likes to quote a figure of $3
billion for the foreign investment it has attracted.  But less than a third
of that has been disbursed.  Actual investment has been concentrated
in the oil and gas sector (41% in 1994-5) - almost all accounted for by
one massive project to pipe gas to Thailand - and in hotel development.
A third of disbursed investment in 1994-5 went into the plethora of new
hotels, often financed from Singapore or Thailand, and built in anticipation
of a surge of visitors as the country opens up.

Miss Suu Kyi argues that business optimism about the military junta is
mistaken, because "you cannot do business with people who do not
keep their word, who do not respect the law and who are not prepared to
allow healthy competition."  It is perhaps a characteristic of soldiers not
to like competition, whether political or economic.  But these ones face
a dilemma.  To suppress political competition, they are maintaining
military spending at levels that are blowing holes in the state's finances.
But they are also staking their future on economic growth.  In which case,
as one western observer puts it, they had better find a cheaper way of
dealing with ethnic insurgency in the border regions, and social discontent
just about everywhere.

******************************************************

THE ECONOMIST: THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
April 6, 1996
Mandalay

No flyin' fishes play these days on the road to Myanmar's second city,
but the countryside still looks the "cleaner, greener land" for which
Kipling's
old solider waxed so nostalgic.  Lush rice fields stretch to the distant
hills, and
the barefoot women in their workaday sarongs smile and chatter at the approach
of foreigners.  Others, thigh-deep in the fertile paddy-slime, are bent double
transplanting rice.

They expect a good harvest soon.  Well irrigated by canals off the Irrawaddy
river, the area has long yielded two to three crops a year.  But these farmers
say they will have to sell more than half their crop to the government, at
about
two-thirds of the market price.  The state's quota has gone up again this
year.

A few miles away, at a roadside limestone quarry, the workers are also
smiling,
despite an unforgiving sun and a shadeless workplace.  Three youths are
chipping at a rock face with a pneumatic drill.  Below them, women and
children, some just ten years old, gather the fragments, break them with stone
hammers, and carry them off in baskets on their heads for sifting.  At the
end of the day, a truck will arrive to take the day's output to Mandalay, and
the workers will be paid the equivalent of 40 cents.

Further down the road, traffic is held up for a crocodile of about 60 women
in white uniforms, under armed guard.  Assumed by local residents to be
prostitutes and drug addicts, even they are smiling on their way back to
prison after a day breaking rocks.  It is not just prisoners who work
involuntarily.  Village headmen have to supply a quota of unpaid laborers
to the government.  Households that fail to supply a worker, or hire a
substitute, are fined.

Tourists travelling south from Mandalay to visit the remains of a palace at
Amarapura pass a new suburb of households unaffected by such decrees.
Broad avenues lined with saplings and streetlights bisect rows of palatial
villas.  Even a western-style supermarket is being built.  Locals say most of
these villas house retired army officers.  Behind their high fences, they are
probably smiling too.

***********************************************************

AP: PEPSI CEO DEFENDS BURMA INVESTMENT
April 17, 1996
By Robert Horn

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Pepsi-Cola Co.'s new chairman on
Wednesday said Burma's military-ruled government is no worse than
many others around the world, but added that the company might
rethink its stand about investment in Burma if pressure increased.
           Activists on several university campuses in the United States
have begun boycotts of Pepsi products, saying the company
contributes to human rights abuses in Burma by investing there.
Pepsi had sales of dollars 8 million in Burma in 1995.
           The Burmese government came to power in 1988 after gunning
down thousands of democracy demonstrators. It has refused to honor a
1990 election it lost by a landslide.
           Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the winner of the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize, has called for a halt to investment in Burma.
           But Pepsi Chairman and CEO Chris Sinclair told a press
conference that ``there must be ten other countries with records as
bad'' where no one was protesting Pepsi's involvement. He didn't
name any specific countries.
           By the standards used to judge Burma, Sinclair said, one could
make the case that ``in the 1960s we shouldn't have been doing
business in the United States.''
           He did, however, leave open the possibility that Pepsi could
change its mind if protests increased significantly.
           ``Obviously pressure from consumers and shareholders is what
we'll respond to,'' said Sinclair, who became chairman earlier this month.
           But he dismissed the Pepsi boycotts as ``press hyperbole.''
           ``We believe in building bridges and opening up societies,''
Sinclair said. ``Isolating economies doesn't work. We've isolated
North Korea and Cuba and they're probably the two most repressive
societies on earth.''
           Pepsi sells its drinks in Burma through a joint venture with a
local partner, Thein Tun, who is also involved in separate joint
ventures with the military government.
        The government of Burma, also known as Myanmar, rarely
comments on human rights allegations against it; when it does, it denies them.

***********************************************************

THE NATION: BURMA TOURISM 'ON TRACK'
April 18, 1996
Kyodo

PATTAYA - Burma remains on track to achieve its target of
attracting half a million foreign tourists in its 1996-97 "Visit Myanmar
Year", a government tourism official said on Tuesday.

"I'm quite confident that 500,000 arrivals will be coming
into Myanmar, " said Tin Pe Aye, a senior official of the
Ministry of Hotel and Tourism.

Tin Pe Aye, speaking during a regional tourism conference in
Pattaya, denied speculation by industry analysts that Burma
would have insufficient air links and inadequate hotel
accommodation to handle anywhere near that volume of  tourism.

"By 1996-97, nearly all the hotel projects will be finished
and ready for our guests," he said, noting that 8,062 rooms
should come onto the market through implementation of 32
licensed hotel projects worth US$1.04 billion (Bt 26 billion).

The official said efforts are also being made to boost the
number of scheduled flights into Rangoon and Mandalay, with
talks already underway with Lufthansa, All Nippon Airways,
Royal Nepal, Garuda and Royal Brunei Airways. (TN)

***********************************************

BKK POST: QUESTION OF MISSING ACRES BOGS DOWN BRIDGE WORKS
April 18, 1996  (abridged)
by Nussara Sawatsawang, Saritdet Marukatat, and Supamas Kasem

THE deadlock over the construction of the Friendship Bridge
is raising questions about the extent of Prime Minister
Banharn Silpa-archa's success in improving relations with
Burma during a visit to Rangoon last month.

The positive indications the Prime Minister brought back
raised high hopes that construction work on the bridge -
disrupted since June last year - would resume.

Many believed that technical level talks on April 6 would
benefit from better relations at the top. Somboon Sa-
ngiumbutr, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's
Treaties and Legal Affairs Department, and his Burmese
counterpart, U Aye Lwin, co-chaired the talks in Mae Sot.

But the meeting apparently made no headway towards resumption
of building work on the bridge across the Moei River that would
link Mae Sot district in Tak with Myawaddy in Burma.

According to Thai sources, this was because Burma retained
its firm stance on the issue and the Burmese delegation
insisted that it was not empowered to do anything but convey
the outcome to Rangoon.

The lack of progress upset some Thai officials who expected
the Burmese side to show some goodwill, as Thailand did
before Prime Minister Banharn visited Rangoon March 17-18.

The steps Thailand took to ensure that the Prime Minister
did not come back empty handed included the evacuation of
the shops encroaching into the river, removal of stalls and
adjustment of the water channel.

Burmese Ambassador to Thailand Tin Win clarified that bridge
building will not resume until the root cause of the problem
is resolved. For Burma, this means returning the water
channel to the original course before work started, with an
islet in the Moei River.

"The area the Thai side has dredged is about 13-14 acres,
but according to Burma's evidence and map, it (the original
area) is 17 acres," the envoy said. "So some more (acres)
are left and we should leave the matter to technical teams
from both sides to find out."

Indeed, Rangoon knows well solutions to the problems of
bridge construction and water channels are not important
only to bilateral relations between the two countries but
also to domestic politics in Thailand.

Prime Minister Banharn - whose popularity improved with the
decision to reopen border checkpoints in Chiang Rai, Tak and
Ranong provinces, and plans to facilitate border trade - will score
another point if building work were to resume on the bridge.

At the same time, the Prime Minister would become a target
for Opposition critics if he continues to order the dredging
due to the ill-defined boundary with Burma.

"The Burmese know how to play the game. They know they need
to steer a course between the key players involved in developing
Thai-Burmese relations, who are more than the Prime Minister,"
said one analyst, who did not want to be named.

The Burmese know that the Government does not enjoy unity as
other politicians in the Government are also trying to
tackle problems with Burma in order to boost their
popularity, the official added.

Local businessmen have complained that Burmese customs have
not operated fully since the reopening of the checkpoint last month,
allowing only a small amount of border trade to be conducted.

****************************************************

BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER RESOURCE LIST

BurmaNet regularly receives enquiries on a number of
different topics related to Burma. If you have questions on
any of the following subjects, please direct email to the
following volunteer coordinators, who will either answer
your question or try to put you in contact with someone who
can:

Campus activism:        zni@students.wisc.edu
Boycott campaigns: [Pepsi] ai268@freenet.carleton.ca
Buddhism:                    Buddhist Relief Mission:  brelief@gol.com
Chin history/culture:        plilian@asc.corp.mot.com
Fonts:                                  tom@cs.colgate.edu
History of Burma:            zni@students.wisc.edu
International Affairs:  Julien Moe: moe@gramercy.ios.com
Kachin history/culture:      74750.1267@compuserve.com
Karen history/culture:  Karen Historical Society: 102113.2571@Compuserve.com
Mon history/culture:         [volunteer needed]
Naga history/culture:   Wungram Shishak:  z954001@oats.farm.niu.edu
Burma-India border            [volunteer needed]
Pali literature:                 "Palmleaf":  c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org
Rohingya culture                Kyaw Oo: myin@erols.com
Shan history/culture:   Sao Hpa Han: burma@ix.netcom.com
Shareholder activism:         simon_billenness@mail.cybercom.net
Total/Pipeline          Dawn Star: cd@utopia.EUnet.fr
Tourism campaigns:              bagp@gn.apc.org     "Attn. S.Sutcliffe"
World Wide Web:              FreeBurma@POBox.com

[Feel free to suggest more areas of coverage]
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News is an electronic newspaper covering Burma.
Articles from newspapers, magazines, newsletters, the wire
services and the Internet as well as original material are published.
It is produced with the support of the Burma Information
Group (B.I.G) and the Research Department of the ABSDF {MTZ}

The BurmaNet News is e-mailed directly to subscribers and is
also distributed via the soc.culture.burma and seasia-l
mailing lists. For a free subscription to the BurmaNet News,
send an e-mail message to: majordomo@igc.apc.org

For the BurmaNet News only: in the body of the message, type
"subscribe burmanews-l" (without quotation marks).
For the BurmaNet News and 4-5 other messages a day posted on
Burma issues, type "subscribe burmanet-l"

Letters to the editor, comments or contributions of articles
should be sent to the editor at: strider@igc.apc.org
