------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News:June 7, 1996
Issue #436
Noted in Passing:

HEADLINES:
==========
THE NATION: THE FORGOTTEN INVASION
THE NATION: BURMA GAGS WEEKEND ADDRESSES BY SUU KYI
THE NATION: SLORC EMPLOYING SCORCHED-EARTH POLICY, SAY
REBELS
BKK POST: US STATE PUSHES ANTI-BURMA BILL
BKK POST: DIFFERENCES EMERGE OVER LOAN FOR ROAD DEVELOPMENT
ASIAWEEK: GENERALS' CHOICE
HONG KONG STANDARD : RELIGION AND ROCK SAVE ADDICTS
USA TODAY : BURMA'S JUNTA BANNING SUU KYI SPEECHES
HONG KONG STANDARD : SCORCHED EARTH POLICY AGAINST
`REBEL' VILLAGES
HONG KONG STANDARD : BURMA TIGHTENS REQUIREMENTS
FOR JOURNALIST VISAS
MIAMI HERALD : BURMESE GENERALS, NOT OPPOSITION,
CONTROL RATE OF CHANGE IN COUNTRY

------------------------------------------------------------
THE NATION: THE FORGOTTEN INVASION

June 7, 1996
War-time leader Phibun Songkhram believed that by siding with
Japan, Thailand would get back the lost southern provinces and
also stand to enjoy some of the spoils of war - mostly in the
form of Shan state. Donald Wilson and David Henley write on
Thailand's four-year rule over the Burmese territory.

On  Dec 8, 1941, Japanese troops invaded Thailand at nine
separate points. Despite fierce fighting at points in the south,
organised resistance lasted only a few hours. Field Marshal
Phibun Songkhram, then Thai ruler, ordered a ceasefire, his
government having agreed that to fight the Japanese would be
suicidal. At this point Britain and the US regarded Thailand as
an enemy-occupied country and the innocent victim of Japanese
aggression.

Unknown to the allies - and to most of his own cabinet - Phibun
had other ideas. Influenced, perhaps, by the sinking of Britain's
two capital ships, Repulse and prince of Wales, within 60 hours
of the outbreak of war in the Far East, he determined to seek an
alliance with Japan.

On Dec 14 he signed a secret agreement with the Japanese
committing Thai troops to participate in the invasion of Burma.
One week later, on Dec 211, 1941, Phibun signed a formal treaty
of alliance with Japan in front of the Emerald Buddha at Wat Phra
Keo, considered the most sacred object in all Thailand.

Phibun's reward for entering into this alliance was a secret
Japanese guarantee to return to Thailand the Malayan provinces
ceded to the British in 1909, as well as - with no comparable
historical justification - the "lost territories" of Burma's Shan
state. In pursuit of these aims, because he believed the Allies
beaten, and because it was an auspicious day, on Jan 25, 1942,
Phibun declared war on Britain and the US.

As is well known, Phibun's action was opposed by most Thais as
well as by Thailand's ambassador to Washington, Seni Pramoj, who
simply refused to deliver the declaration of war to the US
Secretary of State.

As a result, he conceived the idea of creating a new "Northern
Army" which would invade Burma and seized control of Burmese
territory east of the Salween River - a territory then known as
the Eastern Shan State.

Since Thailand had already been promised parts of Burma which
were regarded as "lost territory" in the secret in protocol, the
Japanese did not object in principle, though they were not
prepared to allow Thai claims on Burma's Karen state, insisting
that Phibun limit his territorial ambitions to Shan state. The
Japanese also seem to have realised, as apparently the
vainglorious Phibun did not, that a campaign of conquest in
north-eastern Burma would be no walkover.

The logistical problems faced by Luang Seri Roengrit, the
commander of the Northern Army, in Shan state were quite
different, however. The Thai railway system only reached as far
north as Chiang Mai (as, it still does today), and from there the
troops of the Northern Army, carrying their supplies, had to slog
their way along rocky mountain tracks to the Burmese frontier.
Many of the soldiers involved came from the north-east, and were
not equipped to cope with the climate in the northern mountains.
They were inadequately armed, poorly motivated - and they had no
real idea who they were meant to be fighting.

Shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl harbour on Dec 7, 1941,
Chiang Kai-shek cabled Roosevelt and Churchill offering China's
full cooperation in the Southeast Asian theatre. In particular,
he suggested that Chinese Nationalist (KMT) troops should move
into northern Burma to help protect the vital supply routes
between Rangoon and Chungking. This offer was accepted, and units
of the 93rd Division of the KMT army based in Yunnan moved south
down the Salween Valley.

Early in 1942 these KMT troops arrived in Shan state where,
facing no immediate prospect of a Japanese attack, they settleed
down to live off the land. This peaceful existence was shattered
on May 3, when planes of the Thai air force bombed Kengtung as a
prelude to the arrival of the Northern Army several weeks later.

Half a century later a senior Shan monk still living in Kengtung
recalls the occasion: "The Thais sent 27 aeroplanes and most of
the bombs were dropped at the market where the Chinese troops
stayed.

The bombing caused the KMT soldiers to retreat from the centre of
Kengtung. A few weeks later Thai infantry led by Field Marshal
Pin Choonhavan reached Kengtung and raised the Thai flag there.
Gen Chatichai minister and current head of the Chat Pattana
Party, then a young man with the rank of second lieutenant, was
among the victorious Thai forces.

Phibun was predictably delighted. he announced that the victory
of the Northern Army had vindicated the reputation of the Thai
armed forces, and that the capital of the eastern Shan states had
been liberated from "the enemy". He also announced that the new
name of the eastern Shan states - that is, Shan state east of the
Salween - would be "Original Thai State". Thailand's acquisition
of these territories, together with the return of the northern
Malay states of Kelantan, Trengganu, Perlis and Kedah which king
Chulalongkorn had ceded to the British in 1909, was confirmed by
treaty with Japan in August, 1943.

Meanwhile, in Shan state, the KMT soldiers withdrew to the hills
and forests surrounding Kengtung, while the Thais set up a basic
local administration in the city.

Although the onset of the  rainy season in mid-1942 brought a
halt to the fighting in the area, it only increased the hardships
the Thai troops had to suffer. They were seriously deficient in
food and medical supplies, so deaths from malaria and dengue
fever far exceeded those in battle. Phibun eventually turned his
attention to the problem in January,1943, when he ordered ten
tons of quinine to be sent to the Northern Army.

When Phibun actually visited the north some weeks later, he sent
orders flooding back to Bangkok for uniforms, staff officers,
sugar, money, doctors and a hundred ox-carts of bananas to be
sent to the troops in Shan state. With Japanese backing, he also
ordered the construction of hundreds of kilometres of unsurfaced
roads to link Chiang Mai with Shan state - the present northern
loop road from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son through the settlement
of Pai dates from this period.

By this time Phibun and his war cabinet were becoming distinctly
uneasy, however. January, 1943 - the same month in which Phibun
travelled north - brought news of shattering German defeats at
Stalingrad and in North Africa.

These were the first clear signs that Phibun might have led
Thailand into the war on the wrong side. He responded by banning
all allies from residing in Thailand's six northern provinces.
Meanwhile the Northern Army continued to announce new victories -
spurious claims, treated with scepticism by most Thais, who were
well aware that the Japanese had already completed the conquest
of Burma.

For the remainder of the war Shan state remained a largely
forgotten backwater. Those Thai troops who fell ill and were
returned to Bangkok for treatment were shocked that nobody seemed
to know or care about the hardships the Northern Army was
suffering.

Meanwhile the surviving forces of Chiang Kai-shek's KMT 93rd
Division hid out in the jungles, occasionally clashing with
Japanese forces who had followed the Thais into Shan state and
were now behaving in what had become typical brutality,
completely destroying, for example, the prosperous Chinese Muslim
settlement at Panglong, butchering ethnic Chinese, and making it
quite clear to the dispirited Thais just who the master of
"Original Thai State" really were.

Meanwhile, back in Bangkok, the Thai authorities were
understandably anxious to placate the victorious Allies. Phibun
had started out with the stated objective of ensuring that,
whoever won the war, Thailand would be on the victorious side.

In this, as in so much, he had miscalculated badly. Early in 1944
the British moved to the offensive on the Burma front. Thailand -
and especially the Klong Toey docks at Bangkok - came under
increasingly frequent bombing raids, supplies were short, the
Japanese arrogant and increasingly harsh in their treatment of
their Thai "allies".

At home, Phibun was increasingly disliked not just for involving
Thailand in an unpopular war and  for the rampant inflation, but
also for his unpopular domestic policies - his attempts to
simplify Thai spelling, to enforce unpopular dress codes, and to
forcibly assimilate Thailand's various cultural minorities.

On July 24, 1944, taking advantage of Tojo's fall from power a
weak earlier in Tokyo, an alarmed Thai legislature refused to
pass two government bills, and Phibun - widely regarded as Tojo's
protege - was forced to resign.

His successors, under the nominal leadership of Khuang Aphaiwong
but strongly influenced by the Free Thai movement of Pridi
Phanomyong, were well informed about Allied wartime thinking on
the desirability of punishing Thailand for its alliance with
Japan. Britain, in particular, sought to impose retribution and
controls on Thailand which would reduce the country to near-
protectorate status.

In an attempt to forestall this eventuality, the post-Phibun Thai
authorities discreetly contacted the Allies and let it be known
that they were prepared to turn against their former Japanese
partners whenever the Allies gave the word.

They also made it quite clear to the British that they renounced
all claim to Shan state and northern Malaya, and that they would
return these territories to Britain immediately on the cessation
of hostilities.

Meanwhile, in distant Shan state, Thailand's Northern Army
remained in occupation of Kengtung and the surrounding areas
until Japan's unexpectedly swift surrender following the nuclear
destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945.

Even before this time some Thai troops had been straggling back
to northern Thailand. With the surrender and departure of their
Japanese allies, most returned home, though some stayed on among
their Shan fellows, married, and settled down in Kengtung. The
descendants of some of these soldiers still live in Shan state
today.

Interestingly, elements of the KMT 93rd Division also stayed on,
allying themselves first with new Nationalist refugees from China
following the communist seizure of power in 1949.

After being driven out of Burma in 1956, some eventually settled
in the 93rd Division's final base camp at Doi Mae Salong in
Chiang Rai province, where they and their descendants remain to
this day. (TN)
***************

THE NATION: BURMA GAGS WEEKEND ADDRESSES BY SUU KYI

June 7, 1996
Associated Press
RANGOON - Burma military regime has prohibited Aunt San Suu Kyi's
weekend meetings with crowds outside her home, stepping up a
crackdown begun two weeks ago, opposition sources reported.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that
authorities contracted Aunt Shwe, chairman of Suu Kyi's NLD
Party, earlier this week and said the meetings would be banned
beginning tomorrow.

The ban could worsen tensions escalating since the regime rounded
up 262 democracy activists two weeks ago in effort to prevent a
party congress that marked Suu Kyi's biggest political triumph
since her release from six years of house arrest last July.

During the congress, the customary weekend meetings that Suu Kyi
holds outside her Rangoon home swelled to up to 10,000 people,
four times the usual number. The perceive swell in overt support
was countered by the government with its own mass rallies in
subsequent days.

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
confirmed the ban on the weekend meetings and said Suu Kyi's
party had abused the government's leniency in permitting the
public meetings.

The gathering are technically illegal, but the junta had allowed
them through last weekend. Burmese laws prohibit political
meetings of more than 50 people.

Reaction from leaders of Suu Kyi's party was not immediately
available. Junior party members said the leaders were in a
meeting but expressed belief that the meetings tomorrow and on
Sunday would go ahead as planned.

The crackdown appeared aimed at nipping any momentum building
inside Burma for Suu Kyi.

Government rhetoric expressed through state-controlled newspapers
in recent days has grown increasingly shrill, attacking Suu Kyi's
husband, British academic Michael Aris, and declaring any move by
her party to draft a separate constitution illegal.

The junta came under harsh international media coverage for the
mass arrests, demonstrating its will to crush dissent while
trying to stay afloat by quietly cutting business deals with
foreign business eager to profit by developing Burma's moribund
economy.

Most of the foreign journalists admitted to cover the congress
have now left and the Burmese authorities have since tightened
visa restrictions on journalists.

A crackdown on the meetings had been feared for months.
Commentaries in state-run newspapers repeatedly indicated that
the authorities could act at any time to suppress what has
amounted to the only open forum for dissent allowed in the
country.

The weekend meetings began with about 400 people shortly after
Suu Kyi's release last year. The number increased to 2,000 after
the party walked out of a government-staked convention drafting a
new constitution guaranteeing a paramount role for the military.
(TN)
*****************

THE NATION: SLORC EMPLOYING SCORCHED-EARTH POLICY, SAY REBELS

June 7, 1996
Agencies
BANGKOK- Burmese government troops are burning and looting
villages and threatening to shoot stragglers in a campaign to
clear guerrillas out of Burma's eastern Kayah state, an ethnic
Karenni source said.

Soldiers were forcibly relocating families from 38 villages in an
area about 40 kl from the Thai border and torturing those accused
of being rebels, the Karenni Progressive Party (KNPP) official
said.

Almost 300 households in 14 villages have already been relocated
to Ywathit, on the west bank of the Salween River, while 898
household have until June 7 to arrive in the town of Shadaw
further north, a KNPP statement said.

Those found in their homes after the deadline "will be
categorised as rebels and will be shot," according to orders
issued by the local commanders of the ruing Slorc, the statement
said.

Government soldiers looted and burned the homes of villagers who
resisted in the first phase of the relocation and some families
have fled to refugee camps in Thailand, it said.

Slorc pushed the armed Karenni resistance out of its bases in the
rugged territory between the Salween River and the Thai border to
the east in a series of campaigns which began shortly after a
cease-fire was signed last year.

Fifteen ethnic groups have signed such agreements in return for
development aid and de facto control of territory, but Rangoon
said  the presence of its troops was necessary in Karenni-held
areas to control illegal logging and exports.

The KNPP allegations fit the pattern of counter-insurgency
programmes applied by military governments in Burma since the
1960s, which  was designed to cut guerrillas off from supplies
and the local populace.

The Karenni are allied with ethnic and pro-democracy groups in
the jungle-based NCGUB and Aunt San Suu Kyi's Rangoon-based NLD,
both of which are drafting a federal constitution. (TN)
****************

BKK POST: US STATE PUSHES ANTI-BURMA BILL

June 7, 1996
WASHINGTON - Joining the lower house, the Massachusetts state
senate on Wednesday approved sanctions legislation banning state
contracts with companies doing business in military-ruled Burma.

The sanctions legislation now returns to the lower house it
reaches the desk of Governor Willian Weld.

If Mr Weld signs the bill, Massachusetts will become the first US
state to enact anti-Burma legislation. (BP)
********************

BKK POST: DIFFERENCES EMERGE OVER LOAN FOR ROAD DEVELOPMENT

June 7, 1996
By Nussara Sawatsawang
THE Burmese government is interested in accepting Thailand's
offer of a 300 million baht loan to upgrade a road near the
Burmese border.

However, Rangoon has a different road in mind than the route
Bangkok offered to finance.

Kobsok Chutikul, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's
Economic Affairs Department, said Burma's construction Ministry
recently notified the Thai Embassy in Rangoon it wanted to used
the loan, first offered three years ago, to develop an 80 km road
between Kengtung and Manila in Shan State.

But Thailand originally offered to extend the loan to develop a
164-km road between Tachilek - opposite Chaing Rai province- and
Kengtung.

Both routes form part of a ring road in the so-called economic
quadrangle encompassing southern China's Yunnan province, Burma,
Thailand and Laos.

According to Mr Kobsak, Rangoon opted for the road in Shan state
because it had already allowed a Thai firm to upgrade the
Tachilek-Kengtung road.

"We want a clear explanation as to what's going on with the old
route in which we still are interested (in providing the loan
for)," Mr Kobsak said.

"But we are ready to offer financial assistance for another road,
through China or elsewhere, provided it benefits both Thailand
and Burma."

Both Prime Minister Banharn Slipa-archa and his Burmese
counterpart Than Shwe have said they were keen to see the ring-
road operational. The issue was discussed during Mr Banharn's
visit to Rangoon in March.

One observer said Rangoon would gain economic and security
benefits from developing the road in Shan State.

The Kengtung-Manila road would be a convenient conduit for the
flow of goods between Yunnan and Thailand and provide Rangoon
easy access to ethnic insurgents.

Thailand and Burma have yet to draft the terms of the loan but a
technical team led by Finance Ministry officials is expected to
meet Burmese counterparts in Rangoon later this month to discuss
the issue, Mr Kobsak said.

The Finance Ministry has made it clear the loan is conditional on
the participation of Thai companies in the project and the
sourcing of material and equipment in Thailand.

But Rangoon late last year said it wanted to use Burmese
contractors for the project and sought to use  the money to buy
materials and equipment at a "competitive price" from Thailand.

Mr Kobsak said Burma had informed Mr Banharn it would open
bedding to all companies.

An official added Thailand must abide by "neutral principles"
when extending loans to neighbouring countries base on similar
condition.

Since the loan was first offered in 1993, Thailand has agreed to
reduced its interest from 3 to 1.5 percent. (BP)
**********

ASIAWEEK: GENERALS' CHOICE

Myanmar's junta should undertake a historic compromise

June 14, 1996
"IF you want to put question to people, the civilized way is to
make an appointment with them, not drag them away in the middle
of the night." So Said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, after the junta
recently detained 262 of her supporters in the National League
for Democracy (NLD). Her words were meant, in fact, to defuse
tensions. For if Daw Suu Kyi had chosen to inflame the thousands
who still gather regularly at her home in Yangon to hear her
speak, there might have been a replay of the military carckdown
of 1988, when thousands lost their lives. Still, in maintaining a
steely calm in the face of intimidation, she has shrewdly
refocused world attention on the repressive rule of the Slorc.
More than that, she has shown that six years of house arrest,
which ended in 1995, have neither dimmed her political savvy nor
neutralized her as a powerful force of opposition to Slorc.

If there is a flaw in Suu Kyi's recent performance, it lies in
her criticism on the "constructive engagement" that Asean has
adopted towards Yangon. The policy had been a failure, she said,
because it has not led to democracy in Myanmar. Yet that never
was a goal of constructive engagement. In maintaining normal
diplomatic and business ties with Yangon, Asean sought above all
to foster stability and economic development in its troubled
neighbour. If that eventually gives rise to greater democracy -
as it has elsewhere in Asia, notable South Korea, Taiwan and
Thailand - then it would be a happy by-product.

Even so, there are signs that Asean's brand of quite diplomacy
has reaped political dividends. In fact, Suu Kyi's ability to
level public criticisms of Slorc over the past year may owe more
than a nod to constructive engagement. It is understood that
Myanmar wants membership in Asean. Significantly, Suu Kyi was
freed on the eve of last July's annual meeting of the
association's foreign ministers, to which the Burmese were
invited for the second time as special guests. Often, insiders
say, Slorc's generals weight their neighbours' discreetly
expressed views more carefully than those of more vociferously
critical nations.

Suu Kyi also suggested that Asean's engagement efforts have not
brought even economic advances to her country. She's closer to
the mark there, though it is too early to pronounce definitive
judgment. According to the Asian Development Bank, Myanmar's GDP
has grown by 7.5 annually in the past four years. Yet the base
was so low that the momentum will have to be maintained for some
time for the achievement to be meaningful.Meanwhile, Myanmar's
people remain among Asia's poorest, while inflation has risen to
a debilitating 25%. Nor has Slorc been notable successful in
attracting outside investment. Between 1990 and 195, foreign
investors put some $815 million into Myanmar. Vietnam, by
contrast,garnered some $18 billion over the past decade.

A solution to Myanmar's problems, however, does not lie in the
actions of other countries. The key is a healing of the deep
divisions between the generals and Suu Kyi and her many backers.
To its credit, Slorc allowed a free elections to take place in
1990 - which the NLD won by a landslide. Since then, the generals
have had to deal with the popular mandate the exercise bestowed
upon Suu Kyi ad her party. Yangon has tried one way - by
nullifying the poll results and house arresting her. That the
junta was obliged to release Suu Kyi was a clear admission of the
bankruptcy of that approach.

Ii is time for Slorc to adopt a new tack. It should release the
rest of the NLD members under detention and begin a dialogue with
Suu Kyi - which is all she has been asking for. The generals
should go beyond that to allow her and some of her allies
meaningful roles in government. She would no doubt be able to
persuade many of the exiled Burmese intelligentsia to return home
and help rebuild the country. Myanmar desperately needs their
skills. And the generals need not fear retribution as they hold
the balance of power. Besides, Suu Kyi has repeatedly said the
military should continue to have an "honourable" role in national
politics.

Such a reconciliation would do wonders for Yangon's international
relationships. Confidence in the country's stability would rise,
and investment would speed up. Myanmar might even receive aid and
concessionary loans from newly friendly governments and agencies.
Already, Thailand and the Philippines have expressed their dismay
at the recent detentions. Asean members should lobby Yangon to
undertake the above initiatives - and be ready to talk to Suu Kyi
if it will not do so. A historic compromise now stares the
generals in the face. For their nation's sake, they should
embrace it. (AW)
*****************************************

RELIGION AND ROCK SAVE ADDICTS

6/7: Heroin Addicts
Hong Kong Standard
RANGOON: Fighting a tide of drug abuse in Burma from their base
in a Rangoon suburb, the Myanmar Young Crusaders are using God
and rock 'n' roll to save souls and rescue addicts from heroin.

Up to 600 people congregate every Sunday night in the Crusaders' church
 as, on a stage flanked by huge amplifiers, former addicts sing songs of
salvation backed by screeching heavy metal guitars.

``The musicians were all drug addicts when they came here,'' Peter Bo,
who heads the Young Crusaders' Bible study college, shouts over the din
as one of the guitarists launches into a solo.

``Now they know that the Lord can help them and that there is no need
for distress.''

The Young Crusaders were founded in 1974 by David Yone Mo, a former
drug addict and leader of the Red Devils, which the ministry's literature
describes as a gang of extortionists which``terrorised Rangoon''.

About 22 years after Mr Yone Mo had a revelation on his deathbed and
found God, his Baptist ministry claims to have brought more than 2,000
drug addicts back from the depths of despair.

The magic formula for getting addicts to kick the habit, according to the
Young Crusaders, is a healthy dose of religion mixed in with an equal
amount of discipline and a dollop of vocational training.

The rock music, Mr Bo said, was to make sure his young charges stayed
awake in church.

``These young people like this sort of music,'' he said. ``They will come to
listen and it is this which touches their hearts.''

After the last singer leaves the stage, the band shifts into a funky blues
number and the congregation of drug addicts and other young men and
women sings a rousing prayer before filing out of the church.

Under the church _ a single room crammed with wooden chairs and
amplifiers, mixing tables and instruments _ are the dormitories where
drug addicts and alcoholics spend years mending their ways.

About 80 men from across the country are admitted for treatment at
the Young Crusaders centre in Rangoon every year. Most were addicted
to heroin, Mr Bo said, adding that 80 percent of them were eventually
able to stop using drugs.

About 15 of the addicts have tested positive for HIV, the precursor to AIDS.

Addicts stay at the centre for an average of three years, studying the Bible
and working on a nearby plot of land owned by the Crusaders, which
Mr Bo said was essential for keeping their minds off drugs.

``I tried to give up drugs on my own when I was back in Kachin state, but
it was too difficult,'' Zaw Naw, who arrived at the centre 15 years ago,
converted to Christianity and now works with the Crusaders as a minister,
said.

He said he grew up surrounded by a cheap and plentiful supply of heroin
in his rural community in the Golden Triangle, which embraces
opium-producing regions of Burma, Laos and Thailand.

Kyaw Myint, a 27-year-old ethnic Chinese from Kachin state, arrived at
the ministry a week ago, after spending four years pumping himself full
of heroin three times a day.

``It's been very difficult and I can't sleep at night,'' he said, adding he
was
wracked by withdrawal symptoms _ aching bones and itchy skin _ but
was confident he would pull through with the help of the Crusaders.

Mr Bo said that increasing numbers of addicts were turning up on the
ministry's doorstep every year due to the availability of drugs in Burma.

The US State Department estimates that there are between 200,000 and
300,000 drug addicts across the country. _ AFP
********************************************

BURMA'S JUNTA BANNING SUU KYI SPEECHES

6/6 USA Today
RANGOON, Burma - Burma's military regime has prohibited pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi from holding her usual weekend speech to
supporters outside her home, opposition sources said Thursday.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated
Press that authorities contacted Aung Shwe, chairman of Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy, and said the meetings would be banned beginning
Saturday.

A senior government official confirmed the ban and said Suu Kyi's party had
abused the government's leniency in permitting the public meetings.

The ban could worsen tensions escalating since the regime rounded up
262 democracy activists two weeks ago to prevent a party congress that
marked Suu Kyi's biggest political triumph since her release from six years
of house arrest last July.

During the congress, 10,000 people attended Suu Kyi's weekend speech,
four times the usual number. The government countered the perceived
swell in support with its own mass rallies in subsequent days.

The gatherings outside Suu Kyi's home are technically illegal, but the junta,
known formally as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, had allowed
them. Burmese laws prohibit political meetings of more than 50 people.

Reaction from leaders of Suu Kyi's party was not immediately available
but the crackdown appeared aimed at quashing any momentum building
inside Burma for Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her
non-violent promotion of democracy and leader of the country's opposition
since anti-government protests were crushed in 1998.

Government rhetoric expressed through state-controlled newspapers in
recent days has grown increasingly shrill, attacking Suu Kyi's husband,
British academic Michael Aris, and declaring any move by her party to
draft a separate constitution illegal.

The regime came under harsh international media coverage for the mass
arrests, demonstrating its will to crush dissent while trying to stay afloat
by quietly cutting business deals with foreign firms eager to profit by
developing Burma's moribund economy.

Most of the foreign journalists admitted to cover the congress have now
left. The Bangkok Post newspaper in neighboring Thailand reported that
Burmese authorities have tightened restrictions on granting new visas
for journalists.

A crackdown on the meetings had been feared for months. Commentaries
in state-run newspapers repeatedly indicated that the authorities could act
at any time to suppress what has amounted to the only open forum for
dissent allowed in the country.

The regime has staged massive rallies around the country to counter
perceptions of support for Suu Kyi, but participants at one said they were
told to go or pay a fine.

The congress amounted to a symbolic challenge of the junta's legitimacy,
coming on the sixth anniversary of an overwhelming victory by Suu Kyi's
party in parliamentary elections. The junta never allowed Parliament to
convene.

Though only 18 delegates eluded arrest and attended, they adopted resolutions
demanding that the military, which has ruled since 1962, turn over power
to the civilian Parliament.

The junta announced last Friday that the 262 detainees would be freed, but the

opposition says about half remain in custody.
******************************************

SCORCHED EARTH POLICY AGAINST `REBEL' VILLAGES

June 7, 1996
Hong Kong Standard: Scorched Earth
BANGKOK: Burmese troops are burning and looting villages and threatening
to shoot stragglers in a campaign to clear guerillas out of Burma's eastern
Kayah
state, an ethnic Karenni source says.

Soldiers were forcing families from 38 villages in an area about 40 kilometres
from
the Thai border, and torturing those accused of being rebels, the Karenni
National
Progressive Party (KNPP) official said.

About 300 families in 14 villages have been relocated to Ywathit, on the west
bank
of the Salween River, while 898 households have until today to arrive in the
town
of Shadaw farther north.

The ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council's (Slorc's) local
commanders warned those found in their homes after the deadline
``will be categorised as rebels and will be shot'', the KNPP said.

Government troops looted and burned the homes of villagers who resisted
the first phase of the relocation, forcing some families to refugee camps
in Thailand, it said.

The Slorc pushed the armed Karenni resistance out of its bases in the
rugged territory between the Salween River and the Thai border to the east
in a series of campaigns that began shortly after a ceasefire was signed last
year.

Fifteen ethnic groups have signed such agreements in return for development
aid and defacto control of territory, but Rangoon said the presence of its
troops was necessary in Karenni-held areas to control illegal logging and
exports.

The KNPP allegations fit the pattern of counter-insurgency programs applied
by military governments in Burma since the 1960s. They are designed to cut
guerillas off both from supplies and from the local populace.

The Karenni are allied with ethnic and pro-democracy groups in the
jungle-based National Council of the Union of Burma, and in Aung San
Suu Kyi's Rangoon-based National League for Democracy (NLD) _ both of
which are drafting a new federal constitution.

The ruling junta is also drafting a constitution, which reserves a central
role
for the military in political institutions and is based on a central authority

rather than a federal model.

In a sign of growing junta displeasure at recent press coverage, visa
requirements for foreign journalists were being tightened, effective
immediately,
a Burmese embassy official said yesterday.

The official said Rangoon issued an order to all Burmese embassies that
all journalists' visas be approved by the Foreign Ministry.

Previously Burma's embassies had granted approval unless there were
special circumstances.

The visas must also be used within seven days of issue, and journalists must
have an airline ticket with a fixed arrival and departure date in order to get
one.

Previously, the 14-day visa was valid for three months on issue. Under the
new rules, the visa is still valid for 14 days.

``I don't know why they made these changes. We just heard about them from
Rangoon,'' the official said. He did not know how long it would take to get
approval from Rangoon.

Over the past few weeks, Burmese embassies, particularly in Bangkok, have not
been granting journalist visas.

The move follows rising political tension in Burma after the Slorc arrested
more than 250 members of Ms Suu Kyi's NLD last month.

Those arrests by the Slorc occurred just before a national gathering
of the NLD in Rangoon.

The league won an overwhelming victory in a 1990 parliamentary election,
but was prevented by the Slorc from assuming power.
*****************************************

BURMA TIGHTENS REQUIREMENTS FOR JOURNALIST VISAS

June 6, 1996
Hong Kong Standard: Journalist Visas
BANGKOK: Burma's military government has tightened visa requirements
for foreign journalists, effective immediately, a Burmese embassy
official said on Thursday.

The official told Reuters that Rangoon issued an order to all Burmese
embassies that all journalists' visas be approved by the Foreign Ministry.
Previously, embassies had granted approval unless there were special
circumstances.

The visas must be used within seven days of issue, and journalists must
have an airline ticket with a fixed arrival and departure date in order to
one.

Previously, the 14-day visa was valid for three months on issue. Under
the new rules, the visa is still valid for 14 days.

``I don't know why they made these changes, we just heard about them
from Rangoon,'' the official said. He did not know how long it would take
to get approval from Rangoon.

Over the past few weeks Burmese embassies, particularly in Bangkok,
have not been granting journalist visas.

The move follows rising political tension in Burma after the ruling military
government's arrest of more than 250 pro-democracy activists last month.

The arrests by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
were made ahead of a congress of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy (NLD) party. The NLD secured an overwhelming victory
in a 1990 election but was prevented by the SLORC from assuming power.

Despite efforts to block journalists from entering the country, many foreign
reporters who already had visas went to Burma and covered the congress.

For several years the Burmese government has regularly refused visas to
journalists.
- Reuter
*****************************************

MIAMI HERALD : BURMESE GENERALS, NOT OPPOSITION,
CONTROL RATE OF CHANGE IN COUNTRY

By ROBERT HORN
Associated Press
RANGOON, Burma -- No matter how hard Nobel peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi pushes for democracy, whatever changes come to
Burma -- peaceful, violent or none -- will depend on her nemesis, the SLORC.

With an acronym worthy of a James Bond foe, the 21 generals comprising the
State Law and Order Restoration Council run one of world's most feared and
mysterious regimes.

They exercise absolute control inside Burma and show utter disdain for outside
criticism. Neither the carrot of potential foreign investment nor the stick of
threatened sanctions show much sign of making them budge.

Junta's influence

What do they want? Where will their confrontation with Suu Kyi take Burma
after the roundup of 262 people to prevent an opposition congress this past
week drew international attention to the regime?

``Perhaps you can tell us,'' Suu Kyi remarked to journalists.

The junta doesn't say, though it started releasing some detainees last week.
State-run newspapers reveal two main policy goals: to woo foreign investors
to develop Burma's economy and to permit nothing else foreign -- like
democracy -- to slip in.

The odd office tower or hotel pops up in Rangoon courtesy of foreigners
seeking profit in one of Asia's most backward economies, but the people keep
their heads down, always fearful of the secret police.

Suu Kyi kept the heat on last week by pledging to hold more opposition
congresses. It was an implicit dare for the generals to crack down again and
reap fresh attention for the struggle she resumed after her release from six
years of house arrest last July.

The generals let her know the dialogue she wants will have to wait. State-run
media called her a puppet of Western powers.

Limited options

They haven't yet arrested Suu Kyi -- a move that would cross a line for many
investors and governments. But diplomats privately express worries that the
regime may feel backed into a corner and fret about how the generals will
react if Suu Kyi mounts another congress.

The junta could let it proceed and lose face at home -- perhaps the generals'
biggest fear. They could arrest more Suu Kyi supporters, but they eventually
will run out and be stuck face to face with Suu Kyi herself.

Or, they could launch a harsher crackdown. No one in Burma has forgotten 1988,
when troops killed hundreds of democracy demonstrators in Rangoon.

Street massacres would create an international backlash. The U.S. Senate
already is considering a near total trade embargo.

Analysts say just a few industrial nations adopting sanctions would be a blow
to the government, which they believe is deeply in debt from using trade
revenues to build up the army from 185,000 soldiers in 1988 to a planned
500,000.

Those who know the generals describe them as ruthless and corrupt, but also
pragmatic, disciplined and charming. They almost never give interviews, but
appear nightly on television signing new contracts or visiting religious
shrines.

Diplomats scan the press for any hint of change and pump junior officers for
information about the ruling clique.

Seeking a `closet visionary'

Analysts speculate about who might be a ``closet visionary'' -- a SLORC
version
of South Africa's last apartheid president, F.W. de Klerk, who could bring
himself to negotiate with Suu Kyi, the Burmese Nelson Mandela.

No such general seems on the horizon, but Suu Kyi does not rule out one
emerging. ``People must remember that de Klerk was once a hard-liner, too,''
she says.

An effective visionary would have to be one of the four generals who wield
true power:

--Gen. Than Shwe is the undisputed leader as prime minister and SLORC
chairman. Reputedly practical, religious and tough, he began freeing more than
2,000 political prisoners after coming to power in 1992 and allowed Suu Kyi
family visits. He called on her twice himself. But he took four years to free
her.

--Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the junta's first secretary and secret police chief, is
regarded as the most intelligent of the four and has a reputation as a
workaholic who does not smoke, drink or womanize. Chroniclers of the 1988
uprising allege Khin Nyunt emptied jails to create anarchy and justify the
generals' seizure of power.

--Lt. Gen. Maung Aye, like Than Shwe, saw combat against communist and
ethnic insurgents. As junta vice chairman, Maung Aye is first in line to
succeed
Than Shwe. The only top SLORC member who graduated from Burma's elite
military training school, he is popular with the troops.

--Lt. Gen Tin Oo, like Maung Aye, has at times threatened to ``annihilate''
Suu
Kyi. The military chief of staff, he has more combat experience than Than
Shwe and Maung Aye and has their respect.
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