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

The BurmaNet News: April 7, 1996
Issue #377

HEADLINES:
==========
NEW YORK MAGAZINE:  IS THE CITY LOSING SLEEP OVER BURMA?
INTELASIA: BURMA WARNS AGAINST HOLIDAY INCITEMENT
ABSDF-DNA: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SAGAING DIVISION
XINHUA: MYANMAR ISSUES COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS ON TOURISM
BKK POST: NO PROGRESS MADE IN BORDER TALKS WITH BURMESE SIDE
BKK POST: CHINA, BURMA REACH DRUG WAR AGREEMENT
BKK POST: SECURITY STEPPED UP AT TIMBER PLANT
BKK POST: INVESTMENT IN BURMA RISES
BKK POST: BURMA MULLS JAIL AMNESTY
NATION: UN, SLORC IN HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE
BKK POST: KHUN SA'S MAN MAY BE EXTRADITED TO US
ASAHI EVENING NEWS: ACTIVISTS TARGET JAPANESE CONGLOMERATE
THE ASIAN AGE: THE MESSAGE OF PEACE IS ALL SET TO GO ONLINE
ANNOUNCEMENT: SF SELECTIVE PURCHASING HEARING APRIL 9
ANNOUNCEMENT: BEYOND RANGOON SHOWING IN LA
BURMANET: BUSINESS NEWS
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NEW YORK MAGAZINE:  IS THE CITY LOSING SLEEP OVER BURMA?
April 8, 1996

     There are just some contingencies public-relations people don't
     bank on.  In celebration of its centenary as a worldwide financial
     institution, Citibank decided it would be a good idea to open up its
     hundredth international branch.  The first choice for that
     all-important site? Myanmar, the dictatorship formerly known as Burma,
     whose human-rights violations include the six-year detention of Nobel
     Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and a recent foray into the slave trade.
     John Morris, a spokesman for the bank, denied that Burma was the
     designee, but added that "political considerations are usually among
     the least of our concerns."  Meanwhile Citibank, wisely stepping away
     from a potential P.R. firebomb, is seeking an alternate location for
     its centennial fiesta.  The current front-runner? Lebanon.

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

INTELASIA: BURMA WARNS AGAINST HOLIDAY INCITEMENT
April 4, 1996
From: Julien H Moe <JulienMoe@AOL.COM>

Rangoon 4April [INTELASIA]- A senior Burmese army officer warned against
anyone taking advantage of a popular and at times rowdy holiday later this
month for incitement or political gain.

    Brigadier-General Khin Maung Than, commander of the Rangoon area, said 42
special courts would be set up to try any wrongdoers during the April 12-15
traditional new year celebrations, state-run media reported on Thursday.

    Khin Maung Than also warned against the wearing of unsuitable clothes,
drunkenness and ``acts, speech and behaviour injurious to the state,
individual persons and organisations.''

    The traditional new year in Burma, as in several of its Southeast Asian
neighbours, is celebrated with high-spirited throwing of water, a traditional
act of blessing. Large crowds usually gather on the streets of the capital to
watch entertainers and parades.

    Khin Maung Than said anyone caught throwing dirty water, ice or balloons
filled with water would be punished.

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

ABSDF-DNA: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SAGAING DIVISION
April 5, 1996
From: Caroline Lurie <caroline@ksc.net.th>

 Kin Tat Sluice Gate And Forced Labor
        Local people have been used as the forced laborers in the
construction of Kin Tat sluice gate in Kabalu township, Sagaing division.
        People from Tant Se, Ye - U, Depeyin, Butalin, Shwebo, Atadaw and
Khin - U township have been working on this forced labor project since
late 1994.  People are being forced to dig the ground, build the canal,
and construct the embankment without pay. The main job is digging the
ditch. The number of ditches depends on the type of people involved. For
government servants two ditches are required. If there is a government
servant or retire person in the family, four ditchs are required. For the
ordinary family, six ditches are required. If someone fail to provide
labor for the project, 100 kyats per ditch could be paid to the local
LORC. People are asked to bring their own tools and their own food to the
worksite. No shelter is provided and people have to stay in makeshifts
near the worksite.
        During this forced labor. U Ko Lay, a retired secondary school
teacher from Aung Zeya ward, Ye-U town, died.  In last year, two laborers
from Seik Khwe village, Shwe Botownship and two laborers from Ye-U
township were killed when the earth collapsed while they were digging the
ditch at night.

Forced Labor in Min Kin township, Sagaing division

        Local people from villages in western Min Kin township, Sagaing
Division have been forced to work two forced labor projects at the same
time and made their daily lives more miserable. People have left very
small extra time, hardly enough to work for their daily needs as they have
been forcibly ordered to contribute unpaid labor both in Kyauk O-Ye Poke
Chaung embankment and Kyauk O- Min Kin motor road construction project.
        About 1,800 local people from all six villages in Kyi Nyine
village group, Kyauk O village group, Ain Kyin Taung village group and Min
Sar village group have worked at the two-mile-long Kyauk O- Ye Poke Chaung
embankment project since May 1995. One person from each household was
ordered to work one week in every month. People were grouped in which ten
person each included. Each group were assigned to dig 5 x 49 x 6 ft
embankment.
        People who fail to do so have to either hire the another person to
replace which cost 75 Kyat per day or pay 100 Kyat per day for fine.  For
those who could not effort to do either way were subject to beat or
torture by the local LIB 228 for failing to comply the order.
        Same requirement to work forced labor was imposed on the local
people at the same time. People were ordered to work forced in 4-mile-long
Kyauk O-Min Kin motor road. They were ordered to build 6 ft high, 15 ft
wide and 4 miles long motor road for a week in every month.  People in the
region usually had to spend one week in embankment project and another one
week in motor road project that led only two weeks to work for their families.

School drop out rate high in Sagaing Division
        While the Slorc is claiming that the education standard in Burma
is being upgraded and extra expenditure for the education sector are
allocated, there are high rate of school drop out of children among the
townships in Sagaing Division in the 1995-96 academic year.
        Due to the high sky-rocketing prices of commodities, the daily
needs for the family have become a big burden for the working people
inside Burma. Only the bread winner could not earn for the whole family
members and that forcing the other members including the children at
school to the work place. Beside that, the high cost of schooling for the
children is an another obstacle for continuing the children at school.
Children at school have only one way to drop out from school to help their
family. "Because of this problem, the rate of school drop out in Sagaing
Division especially under 10-year of age is incredibly increasing in
1995-96 academic year." said one primary school teacher who recently
arrived to the Thai-Burmese border. The lives of the children after
quitting school are varied. Some children, after drop out from school,
have to work with their working parents in order to help the family needs.
But some have to quit the school just to take care the household things
while the other family members are at work.
        The other reason for the high drop out rate from school is the
high cost of schooling. Though free education for basic education is
available in Burma, many compulsory fees for the schooling lead the common
working people in Burma to drop out their children from school.  Parents
of school children are required to pay many forms of fees when their
children register at school in the beginning of the academic term.  For
example, every student is required to pay 200 kyats for school
registration fee, 200 kyats for school fund raising, 35 kyats for
township's "Kathina festival " fee, 35 kyats for school sport fees, 200
kyats for renovation of school building, 200 kyats for computer lab in
school and 10 kyats for student sport festival upon their registration at
State High School No.(1) Ye-U Township in Sagaing Division. Moreover, many
different forms of fees are requested throughout the academic school year.
        Insufficient school text books in school is an another obstacle,
students are in hard time to buy the text book in black market with
extremely high price.
        In Min Kin Township, Sagaing Division, students were ordered to
contribute some amount of money, depending on the grade for the extension
of school building at the Min Kin State High School.
        According to the order by Lt-Gen. Khin Nyunt, Secretary -1 of the
ruling Slorc and also chairman of the Education Council in Burma, state
school were ordered to introduce the extra special education session
aiming to abolish the private tuition system in Burma. Again, students
were asked to give to 50 kyats for primary school, 75 kyats for secondary
school and 100 kyats for high school in every month to the school.
Working parents especially who have many children at school could not
afford to keep their children at school but drop out from school.

ABSDF News Agency
ABSDF (DAWN GWIN)

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

XINHUA: MYANMAR ISSUES COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS ON TOURISM
March 14, 1996

The state-run Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT) today issued three
different commemorative stamps for the Visit Myanmar Year '96.  The new
stamps are of 50-kyat, 4-kyat and 5-kyat.  Visit Myanmar Year '96 will be
formally opened in late November instead of at the beginning of the year,
according to Myanmar's Tourism Development Management Committee.  Myanmar
designated the year 1996 as Visit Myanmar Year with the objectives of
contributing towards the national economy through development in hotels and
tourism services, in which both private and foreign investments are induced.
Foreign investment in hotels and tourism sector is the second highest after
the energy sector, with over US$1 billion in 34 related projects up to
January this year, mostly with investment from Singapore, Malaysia and
Thailand, according to the latest official statistics.  Myanmar is also
making efforts to complete the 34 ongoing foreign hotel projects in addition
to local private hotels and motels with the aim of preparing an ample number
of rooms to meet the incoming visitors expected to reach 500,000 in this
year end's Visit Myanmar Year.  The number of tourists who visited Myanmar
from January to October last year was 72,677, according to the latest
official figures.  There were altogether 298 hotels, motels and inns in
Myanmar, with 5,746 rooms available up to the end of last November, and over
2600 tourism enterprises are now in operation.  Myanmar enacted a tourism
law in June 1990 and formed a Tourism Development Management Committee in
1994, headed by 1st Secretary of the Myanmar State Law and Order Restoration
Council Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt.

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

BKK POST: NO PROGRESS MADE IN BORDER TALKS WITH BURMESE SIDE
April 6, 1996  (abridged)
Mae Sot, Tak

THAI and Burmese officials made no progress yesterday in talks to
settle disputes over border demarcation and the Thai-Burmese Friendship
Bridge.

A source on the sub-committee reviewing the Thai-Burmese border
along the Moei River, said Burma's refusal to resume construction
of the bridge and cross-border trade were major obstacles during the talks.

The Burmese authorities claimed they did not have the power to
make such decisions and must forward Thailand's requests to
Rangoon for consideration, according to the source.

The source said both sides insisted on using their own aerial
maps of the border, which were taken in 1989, as the evidence on
which to base the review.  The officials were unable to sign an agreement to
certify the border line, however, as Burma was not satisfied with the channel
dug in the Moei River by Thailand.

Burma has reportedly ignored complaints lodged by Thailand against the
construction of a concrete wall on the Burmese side of the border, the source
said.
Mr Somboon said a new round of talks would have to be scheduled.

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

BKK POST: CHINA, BURMA REACH DRUG WAR AGREEMENT
April 6, 1996

CHINA and Burma have agreed to increase cooperation in cracking
down on drug abuse and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS along
their joint borders, the United Nations Information Services said.

The communique on "Cross-border Collaboration in Drug Demand
Reduction and HIV/AIDS Prevention" was reached at a meeting in
Kunming between March 18-20.

The meeting was organised by the UN Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the statement said.
Burma and southern China's Yunnan province have worked together
on the joint project since 1993 under ESCAP auspices with
"remarkable results," said Jiang Pusheng, Secretary-General of
the Yunnan Provincial Nareoties Control Committee.

"There has been no new drug-user nor any new HIV/AIDS cases in
any of the four pilot villages, and the number of drug-users has
been reduced," said Mr Jiang, who attended the meeting.

The meeting decided to set up joint working groups, with officials from
both countries to provide a forum for "regular dialogue and consultation"
on planning, training, coordination and evaluation of activities.

The Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese National Narcotics
Control Commission, Zhuo Feng said the project will also raise local people's
awareness through education campaigns in the rural areas in both countries.

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

BKK POST: SECURITY STEPPED UP AT TIMBER PLANT
April 6, 1996 TAK

A 100-strong combined force has been sent to a processed timber
plant in Tha Song Yang following an arson threat by renegade Karens.

Security was stepped up after 100 Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
fighters raided the Thongthara plant on Wednesday and took three hostages.

They also took cash and goods worth 100,000 baht, including gold
and a motorcycle, from the plant owned by Promsap Phiewnuan, son
of Lt-Gen Prom Phiewnuan, former Third Army commander.

Plant manager Watchaphon Haengharn and two workers were released
unharmed in Burma but the renegades said they would set fire to
the plant if they were not paid 50,000 baht.

District deputy chief Vorawuth Intrama said Col Suvit Manmuan,
commander of the 4th Infantry Regiment, assigned Border Patrol
Police, local police and defence volunteers to protect the plant
and patrol the border.

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

BKK POST: INVESTMENT IN BURMA RISES
April 6, 1996

TOTAL foreign investment in Burma since the introduction of an investment
law in late 1988 had risen to $3.2 billion, a government minister said.

The Minister for National Planning and Economic Development,
Brigadier General David Abel, said companies from 19 countries
had invested in a total of 169 projects.

Abel told an economic forum late on Thursday the projects
included 53 in the manufacturing sector, 34 in hotels and
tourism, 24 in the oil and gas sector and 27 in mining.

As well, there were 15 fisheries projects, seven in transport,
six in real estate, one in agriculture, one in an industrial
estate and one unspecified project.

He also told the meeting that the increased participation of the private
sector, particularly in trade and investment, had contributed to the economy.
Abel also said Burma had a large area of fallow land suitable for
cultivation and forest covering 51% of its total land area.

He also said the country had the potential to generate
38,000 MW of hydro-electric power.

Deputy Prime Minister, Lieutenant General Tin Tun told the
meeting that Burma's population was expected to grow to 49
million people by the year 2001 from 44.75 million now.

Annual per capital GDP was 1,532 kyat (US$255), he said.
Burma was seeking 419.6 billion kyat in investment up to the year
2001, he said. Exports were projected to increase from 5.9
billion kyat in fiscal 1995/96 (April-March) to 15.8 billion by
fiscal 2000/01, Tin Tun said.

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

BKK POST: BURMA MULLS JAIL AMNESTY
April 6, 1996

Burma is expected to free about 100 Thai prisoners after the
Songkran New Year, Thailand's ambassador in Rangoon said yesterday.

The gesture is in response to a request by Prime Minister Banharn
Silpa-archa during his recent visit Burma.

Ambassador Poksak Nilubol said: "The Burmese government is
considering who will get an amnesty and will give the list to the embassy
soon".

He said he had asked Rangoon to consider giving priority to
freeing prisoners who suffer health problems, those who are old
and those serving long sentences.

There are 194 Thais, most of them fishermen, behind bars at
Insein prison in the Burmese capital.

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

NATION: UN, SLORC IN HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE
April 6, 1996

UNITED NATIONS - Burmese Foreign Minister U Ohn Gyaw conferred
with a senior UN official yesterday as part of an ongoing dialogue about the
human rights situation in his country, a UN spokesman said.

The meeting, with Alvaro de Soto, an assistant secretary-general
for political affairs, was a continuation of the efforts which
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali had been making under a
General Assembly resolution adopted last December dealing with
the human rights situation in Burma, also called Myanmar. Boutros
Ghali is currently abroad.

The Assembly resolution strongly urged Burma to release all
political prisoners and take steps toward a restoration of democracy.

Under the Assembly resolution, Boutros Ghali is to submit a
report to the current session in Geneva of the UN Human Rights
Commission and to the Assembly session opening in September.

UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said de Soto would raise with the
foreign minister a report by the human rights group Amnesty
International that Burma's military government had given stiff
additional sentences to 21 political prisoners for passing
information on jail conditions to the United Nations.

"If that's true, of course it's deplorable and I am sure it is
one of the subjects Mr de Soto will be raising with the foreign
minister," Fawzi said.

Burma's opposition leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, has accused her government of not respecting
international conventions dealing with human rights. Suu Kyi, who
won a presidential election in 1989, was put under house arrest
for six years and freed only last July.

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

BKK POST: KHUN SA'S MAN MAY BE EXTRADITED TO US
April 6, 1996   (abridged)

ONE of 10 alleged members of Khun Sa's drug trafficking
organisation arrested in Thailand in 1994 could be extradited to
stand trial on drugs charges in America if the Cabinet approves a
Foreign Ministry proposal.

An informed Government House source said the Cabinet is expected
to consider the issue at its meeting on Tuesday.

The Foreign Ministry has asked it to revoke a January 17 1995
cabinet resolution allowing a Thai court to consider if the United States'
request for extradition of the ten suspects could be met, the source said.

According to the source, Foreign Ministry made the proposal after
Chao Fusheng, otherwise known as Vicha Sitthiphan or Somboon
Khamdaeng, made a formal request to be extradited to the United States.

Under Article 15 of a 1983 Thai-US treaty relating to
extradition, if a request for extradition is made by a suspect
the government of the country where he/she was arrested can
decide to extradite him/her to the other signatory country right
away without having to go through legal procedures.

Chao Fu-sheng and the nine other suspects were arrested in
separate raids in Bangkok, Mae Hong Son Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai
in November 1994 at the request of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
They are currently being held at Bang Kwang Prison.

The US government had supplied information to Thailand about 20
suspects including the 10 who had been indicted by a New York
court on suspicion of being linked to an attempt to smuggle 300
kg of heroin into the US three years ago.

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

ASAHI EVENING NEWS: ACTIVISTS TARGET JAPANESE CONGLOMERATE'S
BURMA OPERATIONS
April 5, 1996
From: brelief@gol.com (Ken and Visakha Kawasaki)

By Catherine Pawasarat

More and more Western environmental organizations are urging
shoppers to cast votes against corporate destruction of the environment
or human rights abuses with their dollars, francs and pounds.

But while the response of consumers overseas has been
increasing, Japan has thus far remained a land of untapped
potential and impenetrable corporate might.

This may change, if local and international non- governmental
organizations (NGOs) have their way. Last month the Burmese
Relief Center (BRC), a Nara - based group working toward
democracy in Burma, launched the Japanese version of an ongoing
consumer boycott in the United States of all Mitsubishi
Corporation products. The boycott has been sponsored for the
last six years by the American NGO Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

Tagging the Mitsubishi conglomerate as one of the world's
worst environmental offenders, RAN says its boycott of the
company's products brought the American arms of Mitsubishi
Electric and Mitsubishi Motors to the bargaining table and motivated
Mitsubishi Corp. to open an Environmental Affairs Department in 1990.

Mitsubishi says it has hardly noticed the boycott and insists that
RAN's information is outdated and inaccurate.

Reflecting the information age, both sides' strategies focus on
getting the "right" facts to consumers.

"If people don't have the right information, it's easy to misunder-
stand the situation," said Tsuyoshi Noma, one of 10 employees
in Mitsubishi Corp's Environmental Affairs Department in Tokyo.

"We have hardly any operations in tropical rainforests, and
we're way down on the list of tropical timber importers to
Japan," Noma said. That hardly fits with RAN's description of
us as 'the world's biggest rainforest destroyer."'

RAN's campaign is focusing on temperate and boreal as well as
tropical forest products, in particular on the largest timber mill
in the Amazon, the world's largest chopstick factory in British Columbia
and a major woodchipping concession in Chile, all operated by Mitsubishi.

"We have those operations, but we do everything according to
the laws of those countries," said Noma.

Despite the international uproar about environmental
destruction, no treaty or convention exists to conserve forests,
and individual countries' environmental laws fall way short of
providing any protection, according to Yoichi Kuroda of Japan
Tropical Rainforest Action Network (JATAN). With a staff of
five, JATAN is perhaps Japan's most active rainforest NGO.

"The information is very confusing for the public because
there's a difference between doing business in timber versus
woodchips, pulp or paper itself. though they all contribute to
environmental destruction." he said.

"Mitsubishi is a corporate sponsor of major newspapers here, so
getting the information in the media is really tough," said
Kuroda, adding that Japan has no precedent of a successful
consumer boycott.

For its part, BRC is calling on consumers to influence Mitsubi-
shi's investment in Burma,  which is run by a military regime
that is internationally condemned for rampant human rights abuses.

"We're only doing business worth $5 million (525 million yen)
a year now in Burma, which is still small compared to other
companies," said Takashi Shogase, a spokesperson for
Mitsubishi Corp "From now on we hope to do long - term
business in infrastructure and industry, opening up the Burmese
economy and raising the standard of living for all Burmese people."

However, BRC activists point to Nobel laureate and Burmese
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's request for foreign aid
and investment to be postponed until more democratic progress is made.

"We urge Japanese people to join us in telling Mitsubishi we're
against their investment in Burma until the junta there makes
progress toward democratic reform." said BRC's Ken
Kawasaki, adding that corporate investment in Burma
indirectly supports the junta's continuing human rights abuses
and environmental destruction for much - desired foreign currency.

The Burmese Relief Center -- Japan may be reached at 07442-2-8236.

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

THE ASIAN AGE: THE MESSAGE OF PEACE IS ALL SET TO GO ONLINE
VIA THE  INTERNET.
March 28, 1996
From: dawn star <cd@utopia.eunet.fr

In a unique move, eight Nobel Prize winners including the Dalai Lama,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Oscar Arias Sanchez, Guatemalan
crusader Rigoberta Menchu Tum, firebrand Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
Nelson Mandela, BettyWilliams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire have joined
hands to form PeaceJam, an international five - year programme specifically
designed to motivate youth to spread the message of peace via the Internet.
 
 Crusaders of peace from all over the world can learn about the lives of the
 Nobel peace prize winners, conduct extensive cross country dialogues and
 organise online conferences on PeaceJam World Wide Web site. The address of
 PeaceJam site is http://www.peacejam.org
 
 Conceived by two Colorado - based peace activists, Dawn Engle and Ivan
 Suvanjieff PeaceJam aims to reach two billion teenagers by the year 2,000.
 The three - fold purpose of the project is to establish a world of peace by
 showing children how to be peacemakers in their own community and by
 demonstrating that a person with courage can over come all odds.
 
 The funds raised by these promotional programmes will be used to fund the
 peace related project of the Nobel prize winners. PeaceJam Fund is a public
 charity in collaboration with Philanthropic Collaborative and is based in
 Rockefeller Plaza, New York. A PeaceJam prize has been created for young
 people who have made outstanding contributions.

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

ANNOUNCEMENT: SF SELECTIVE PURCHASING HEARING APRIL 9
April 5, 1996
>From Citizens Trust: wach@igc.apc.org

The public hearing and committee review for the SF Selective Purchasing
Legislation is confirmed for April 9.  Please note the time and venue below:

Date: April 9, 1996
Time: 1 pm
Venue: 401 Van Ness, Room 410

If anyone has any questions or wish to speak at the hearing please contact
me at wach@igc.apc.org, 415-989-3200, or Jane Jerome: janej@bellmicro.com.

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

ANNOUNCEMENT: BEYOND RANGOON SHOWING IN LA
April 5, 1996
From: Yuki Kidokoro <yuki@ASUCLA.UCLA.EDU>

For those of you in the Los Angeles area (and also to let the rest of you
know), we will be screening Beyond Rangoon on Friday:

Date:   Friday, April 12
Time:   7:30pm
Place:  UCLA's Melnitz Theatre

Bill Rubenstein, screenwriter, and a Burmese student activist will speak
briefly after the screening.  To get directions, or for more information,
call or e-mail me at the number/address below.

Yuki Kidokoro, UCLA Environmental Coalition
308 Westwood Plaza / 300KH, Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 206-4438, (310) 206-3755 fax
yuki@asucla.ucla.edu

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

BURMANET: BUSINESS NEWS
Information provided by M. Beer, C. Schlenker, and M. Swan and
edited/abridged by BurmaNet
March 20-April 7, 1996

SUTL CORPORATION DIVERSIFYING IN BURMA

WHEN the first-ever ranking of Singapore's top 50 private companies, the
Enterprise 50 award, was announced in February, an unfamiliar name -SUTL
Corporation -surprised the market when it came in third.

SUTL, Corporation Pte Ltd, formerly Singapura United Tobacco Pte Ltd,
is a leading distributor of international brand consumer products such as
Evian,
Ajinomoto, Johnny Walker and State Express 555 in Burma.

In Indochina and Burma, SUTL already has six trading offices, 10 duty-free
outlets, and a distribution network for a wide variety of goods including
food,
household products, cosmetics, toiletries and tobacco.

   Of late, the company has diversified into other forms of retailing as well
as
leisure and property development. It recently opened an 8,000 square foot
supermarket in Rangoon.

   Arthur Tay said the company is also keen to form joint ventures to
manufacture
food and mass market consumer products for the Indochina, Burma and
Yunnan markets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

USI MANUFACTURING CLOTHING IN BURMA

USI Holdings, once a sleepy garment company, is being transformed by its
owners, the Chengs, of the Singaporean company Wing Tai. Cash generating
operations, mainly garment manufacturing, have been shifted to low cost bases,
including Burma.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MYANMAR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES BANK OPENS IN YANGON

A state-run Myanmar government employees bank was opened to
promote the welfare of state service personnel and pensioners.  The bank will
disburse loans to government employees in service, pensioners and those
enjoying
assistance funds from the state at a rate of 10 times their monthly salaries,
pensions or assistance funds.  The new bank is the seventh established by the
government after the central bank, economic bank, agricultural and rural
development bank, foreign trade bank, investment and commercial bank, and
cooperative bank.  There are over 1 million state service personnel and over 5
million pensioners across Myanmar.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SLORC SAYS PADDY OUTPUT UP IN MYANMAR

Burma's paddy production in the 1995-96 fiscal year to be is estimated to be
950
million baskets (about 19.86 million tons), the New Light of Myanmar reported.
 
The newspaper quoted Minister for Agriculture lieutenant general Myint Aung as

saying that efforts must be made to raise per acre yield in the forthcoming
five-year
plan, to introduce triple-cropping, and to put other land under
double-cropping for
promotion of paddy production.  The minister also said that the total paddy
production was 711 million baskets (about 14.86 million tons) in 1992-93, 803
million baskets (about 16.78 million tons) in 1993-94 and 872 million baskets
(about
18.22 million tons) in 1994-95.

BURMA'S GDP TARGETED AT 6 PC IN NEW FIVE-YEAR PLAN

According to the New Light of Myanmar, Burma has set a target of 6 per cent
increase in its gross domestic product (gdp) and value of services in the next

five-year plan (1996-1997 to 2000-2001).  The targeted growth rates for
important
sectors are 5.4 percent per annum in agriculture, 5.8 percent per annum in
meat
and fisheries, 2.8 percent per annum in forestry, 18.5 percent per annum in
mining and 7.4 percent per annum in industry.  Export value is targeted at
15,776 million kyats (nearly 3 billion us dollars) in 2000-2001 with an
average
 increase of 21.6 percent per annum.  according to the 1995-96 preliminary
figures, it is estimated the annual growth rate in the last four-year plan is
8.2
percent against the target of 5.1 percent growth.

BURMA EXPANDS TELEPHONE SYSTEM

Telephone numbers in Rangoon will change to six digits replacing the original
five digits starting on April 16 in an expansion program to meet public demand

for telephones.  The current expansion in Rangoon exceeds the numbering
capacity available with five digits.  Since last year, a number of foreign
companies
have signed contracts with the Myanmar Telecommunications authorities to
install nearly 20,000 auto-radio telephone lines in Burma covering areas of
Rangoon, Mandalay, Lashio and Moulmein. The foreign companies
include Israel's telrai communications, Japan's sumitomo and the United
States'
inter digital communication.  About 4,000 cellular phones are also to be
installed in Rangoon by Australia's Ericsson company according to a contract
signed here in January.  Official figures show that in the 1994-95 fiscal
year,
there were 141,250 ordinary telephones in Burma.  Recently, Burma called for
public participation in cooperation with the government to develop
communication
facilities, signaling partial opening of the telecommunication sector to
private
entrepreneurs.  There are only three telephones per 1,000 inhabitants, and
more
and more telephones are still needed to cope with increasing economic
activities.
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HEINEKEN DENIES REPORTS

Vuurstein [a Heineken spokesman] said Heinekin's brewery building project
in Burma is going extremely well. The joint venture between Asia
Pacific Breweries and Fraser and Neave Ltd.,  has attracted controversy
due to the regime there, but Vuurstein denied reports that forced labor would
be
used to build the brewery and that Amnesty International opposed its entry
into
the country.
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ROAD-BUILDING UNDER THE SLORC

A total of 4,363 km of roads have been built in Myanmar since the State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) took over the power of state in 1988.
The New Light of Myanmar quotes 2nd Secretary of the SLORC Lt. Gen.
Tin Oo as saying that the total length of roads in the country increased to
27,680 km at present from 23,317 km in 1988.  Addressing the Central
Supervisory Committee meeting to ensure smooth and secure transport here
Thursday, Lt. Gen. Tin Oo, who is also chairman of the committee, disclosed
that 23 highways in Kachin, Chin, Rakhine and Shan States and Taninthayi
Division are under construction.  He also revealed that 133 more bridges
have been completed since 1988, making the total in the entire country to
5,065, adding that nine major bridges are being implemented.  Over 680 km of
new railroads have been completed since 1988 and another 616 km are under
construction he said.  About 80 roads, totaling 24,227 km in the country,
were designated as Union highways, he added.
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ABN-AMRO BANK RETURNS TO BURMA

ABN-AMRO Bank, the Netherlands' largest banking group, recently opened
a representative office in Rangoon, marking a return to the country after a
33-year absence. Local businessmen and government leaders attended the
official
opening of the office at the FMI Center, one of the city's few modern office
buildings.  Maarten Reuchlin, senior vice president of the bank's
international
division, was also on hand, as well as the bank's new country representative,
Ko Ko Gyi.
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JAPAN ASSISTS BURMA IN DISEASE TREATMENT

Japan has granted "grass roots assistance" to Burma's government-run
Infectious Diseases Hospital, which handles Rangoon's AIDS patients, a news
report said Thursday.

The $94,500 grant contract was signed Wednesday by Yoichi Yamaguchi,
Japanese ambassador to Burma (Myanmar) and Dr. Khin Win, medical
superintendent of the hospital, said the New Light of Myanmar.

Burma, lacking medicines, medical equipment and rudimentary rural health
services, faces an explosion in the spread of infectious diseases such as
AIDS made more serious by a chronic lack of development aid since the
military's crackdown on prodemocracy demonstrations in September 1988.
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IRRI CHIEF STUDIES PADDY CULTIVATION IN BURMA

Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), based
in the Philippines, George Rothschild recently made a study tour of
summer paddy cultivation in Burma. The study also covers integrated
farming in Ayeyarwaddy and Mandalay Divisions, research farms and
some agricultural research centers in Yezin and Pyinmana, central Burma,
according to the New Light of Myanmar.

The visit of the IRRI chief is also aimed at signing of a cooperation
agreement between the IRRI and the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture on tasks
in agriculture during the five-year plan period.  Myanmar Minister for
Agriculture Lt. Gen. Myint Aung met the IRRI chief on Wednesday night and
discussed with him boosting of paddy production in Myanmar, production of
quality and high-yield species, opening courses on development of
cultivation techniques, acquiring efficient technicians, and securing
technical assistance, the report said.
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UNOCAL ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL APPRAISAL WELL

Unocal Corporation announced that it has successfully completed and tested
an appraisal well in the Badamyar sands structure adjacent to the Yadana field

in the Andaman Sea offshore Burma.

The Badamyar-1 (BDM-1) well, drilled to a total depth of 3,676 feet,
encountered
approximately 170 feet of gas-bearing pay in the Upper Miocene Badamyar sands
overlaying the main Yadana reservoir.  Three drill stem tests yielded a
combined
cumulative flow rate of 32 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) on a 40/64"
choke.

BDM-1 is the first well drilled to specifically appraise the Badamyar sands
structure, which is also known as "Padamya" meaning ruby. It is the second
well
of a six-well 1996 exploration drilling campaign being conducted on Moattama
blocks 5 and 6 by a consortium led by Total, SA., operator of the project.

 Earlier this month, the consortium announced the discovery of the Sein field,
located about six miles (10km) south of the Yadana field. Both the Sein field
and Badamyar structure could easily be produced through a nearby Yadana
platform complex that is under development.

 Co-venturers participating in the consortium include: Unocal Myanmar Offshore
Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Unocal Corporation (28.26%); Total (31.24%);
Thailand's PTTEP International Limited (25.5%); and the Myanma Oil and Gas
Enterprise (15%).
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COMPAQ SETS UP SERVICE CENTERS

Compaq Computer Corp. of Houston will sell its computers and establish
service centres in Burma, a company official said yesterday. Compaq, the
fifth-largest computer company in the world, will have a network of five
resellers in Burma.
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MYANMA RAILWAYS BUYS EQUIPMENT FROM CHINA

The state-owned Myanma Railways has signed an agreement to buy
$50-million (U.S.) worth of railway cars and equipment from China. Under
the contract, Myanma Railways will buy locomotives, coaches, communication
facilities and spare parts from China National Complete Plant Import and
Export
Group of Yunnan. Myanma Railways bought $40-million worth of locomotive
engines, coaches and motor vehicles from the same company in 1994."
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PAN-ASIAN ELECTRIC HIGHWAY WITH LINK TO BURMA

Fiat SpA and Hitachi Ltd have submitted proposals to help build a proposed
pan-Asian electric railway that could someday be linked  to Europe.
Asian and European leaders who held a summit in Bangkok earlier this month
assigned Malaysia to prepare a blueprint for an electric rail system
stretching
from Singapore in the south to Kunming in China, and branching out to Burma's
capital Rangoon and Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam.
The project would involve upgrading existing national railways and linking
them up at the borders. No cost estimate has been mentioned so far.
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FRANK SMALL AND ASSOCIATES EXPANDING INTO BURMA

FRANK Small & Associates (FSA) completed a rewarding first year under its
partnership with Sofres International by chalking up an increase of 30 per
cent
in turnover last year.  Sofres International is the world's fourth largest
market research company.. FSA Malaysia has been instrumental in
the setting up of regional FSA offices in Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma.
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DAIWA TO SET UP BURMA SECURITIES MARKET

    Daiwa Institute of Research has been granted permission to set up an
over-the-counter securities market in Burma.   The market, an equally owned
joint venture with the state-owned Myanmar Economic Bank, is due to begin
operations in May. The Myanmar Securities Exchange Centre, as the market
will be known, involves an initial investment of Dollars 3.4m (Pounds 2.2m).
It will initially concentrate share trading activities which occur in various
grey
markets around the capital of Rangoon and then become a securities company
once a fully fledged stock exchange in launched in Burma.
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MAYBANK UPGRADING BURMA OFFICE

MALAYAN Banking Bhd intends to upgrade its representative office in
Rangoon to a full fledged branch soon. It is awaiting approval from the local
authorities.
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TUAN SING HOLDINGS PLANNING BURMA QUARRY VENTURE

Property and construction group Tuan Sing Holdings has reported a 86 per
cent jump in net earnings to $ 16.1 million for last year. SPP managing
director
Lau Cheng Soon said the group would continue to diversify into more specialist

construction activities abroad, including a granite quarry joint venture in
Myanmar.

