------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: February 23, 1996
Issue #349

HEADLINES:
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THE NATION: SUU KYI LASHES SLORC FOR FOCUS ON TOURISM
THE NATION: INK, BLOT AND RIP: CENSORSHIP IN BURMA
BKK POST: RANGOON ATTACKS UN OVER SUU KYI MEETING
BKK POST: JUNTA PLEDGES TO REIN IN RENEGADES
BKK POST: BURMA REMAINS A VEXING CASE FOR AMERICAN
BUSINESSES


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THE NATION: SUU KYI LASHES SLORC FOR FOCUS ON TOURISM

February 23, 1996

Agence France-Presse

SINGAPORE - Burmese opposition leader Aunt San Suu Kyi
attacked the Slorc's focus on tourism in remarks published
yesterday, urging more investments in schools and hospitals
instead of hotels.

"It is true that many hotels have come in. But what progress
has there been in the field of health and education?"
Singapore's Business Times quoted the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
winner as saying.

Suu Kyi said health and education "are the two best
indicators of the living standards of our people".

Suu Kyi also questioned the morality of promoting tourism in
her impoverished country, saying that the "great mushrooming
of hotels" had "not done (Burma) any service because it has
affected the morals of the people for the sake of
entertaining and marking money".

Burma has been engaged in a hotel building frenzy as part of
preparations for a tourism-promotion programme called "Visit
Myanmar Year" in 1996.

Associated Press reports from Rangoon: The Slorc has accused
a United Nations official of abusing its hospitality by
meeting Suu Kyi during a recent visit.
Giorgio Giacomelli, executive director of the UN Drug
Control Programme, met her on Feb 11. Since Suu Kyi's
release from house arrest, the Slorc has told foreign
leaders and diplomats they are not welcome to visit Burma if
they want to met her.

The two talked negatively about the Burmese government's
anti-narcotics efforts, the newspaper New Light of Myanmar
said, claiming that belittling the government's anti-
narcotics measures "was incompatible with the status of a
gentleman".

Diplomatic sources said Giacomelli at first refused to meet
the democracy leader because he had been invited to Burma as
a guest of Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw. He relented after a
diplomat asked him to see her in his capacity as a UN
representative. (TN)

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

THE NATION: INK, BLOT AND RIP: CENSORSHIP IN BURMA

February 23, 1996

Heavy-handed editors have little fro those with possibly
dissident imaginations, Aung Zaw writes.
 
What is missing from magazines published in Burma often
tells you more about the country than what is left in.
In a recent brutal example, Thintbawa magazine had 58 of 160
pages torn out by censors at the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB).
Writers in Rangoon said it was some of the crudest
censorship that had seen since 1988. The cover story,
editorial, a special feature article and cartoons were torn
out. Even the cover was blotted out with black ink.
The main reason for the censorship was Thintbawa’s coverage
of the Rangoon University Diamond Jubilee and a comparison
of the colonial and national education system, according to
reliable sources. Burmese university rose up students
against the colonial education system during British rule.
Ironically, an article by Burmese author, Aye Kyaw’s about
the first student boycott under British rule was actually an
old article and had won a prize. But current officials did
not want the public to read it so they tore it out, said a
writer in Rangoon.
All articles related to student politics, boycotts and
criticism of the current education system are considered to
be rebellious literature, said a writer in Rangoon.
Powerful junta leader Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, who presided over
the Rangoon University Diamond Jubilee Ceremony, did not
mention anything related to students uprising after 1962. He
also evaded talking about the Students Union Building which
was blown up by Gen Ne Win. “It’s as if the Army were saying
that the Student Movement prior to 1962 was good, then post-
1962 suddenly it became bad,” commented one foreign observer
who was invited to attend the grand ceremony.
Thintbawa is one of the most popular magazines in Burma, It
runs features with emphasis on social and educational issues
together with short stories and cartoons.
Last year, officials in Burma shut down two magazines, Kyi-
pwa-yay and Mahethi, for publishing advertisements from
Burmese youths and students in Tokyo who were considered
dissidents. The two magazines were allowed to reopen a few
weeks later.
Closing down magazines and  newspapers and throwing writers
into prison are not new occurrences in Burmese.
The Britain-based anti-censorship group, Article 19, in a
report released last year, said, “Burma is one of the most
heavily censored states in the world. It noted the
contradiction between greater economic freedom allowed since
the military government took power and the suppression of
free and open debate and said the disparity must end if
Burma’s chronic political problems are ever to be resolved.”
Under the State Law and Order Restoration Council about 100
magazines and journals in Burmese are publishing despite
heavy censorship. Many writers and intellectuals said they
have recently been trying to test the waters. Even though
they don't dare ask for freedom of expression they are
privately criticizing restrictions and censorship laws.  “It
is good to have as many journals, magazines as possible,”
said Pe Myint, a well-known writer.
While tough on political writing, the ruling junta
encourages publishers and writers for less threatening
business-related magazines and journals.
But even business magazines cannot escape from heavy-handed
censorship laws. In the December issue of Myanmar Dana
Magazine four paragraphs were blotted out with black ink.
The article was about disgraced former South Korean
strongman Roh Tae Woo who confessed he pocketed  $221
million as President from 1988 to 1993. Roh Tae Woo wasn’t
alone his corrupt generals and government officials were
also brought up in the article calling them ‘former
generals’ and ‘former presidents.’
Observers in Rangoon suggested this article could raise some
unwanted parallels to former president, party chairman and
dictator Gen Ne Win who is still believed to pull the
strings of power.
The only articles related to the Burmese democracy movement,
that are tolerated are ‘negative things about the movement
and anti-Aung San Suu Kyi stories, such as a Burmese woman
who married an alien.”
Since Slorc took power in 1988 many editors, writers and
cartoonists have been put under surveillance and sometimes
summoned for questioning. About 30 writers, poets and
journalists were thrown into jail. Burma’s most famous
satirist, Maung Thaw Ka, died in prison as a result of
torture.
San San Nwet, Win Tin, Monywa Tin Shwe, Ne Min, and Myo
Myint Nyein and some other writers and some other writers
and artists still remain in prisons. Recently, it was
believed that writers Win Tin, Monywa Tin Shwe and Myo Myint
Nyein were denied visits from family members and received no
food for weeks. The Slorc, according to sources, discovered
the political prisoners leaked a letter to UN human rights
investigator Yozo Yokota in November. (TN)

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

BKK POST: RANGOON ATTACKS UN OVER SUU KYI MEETING
February 23, 1996

Burma’s military government has accused a United Nations
officials of abusing its hospitality by meeting with
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a recent visit, a
state-run newspaper said yesterday.

Giorgio Giacomelli, executive director of the UN Drug
Control Programme, met with Suu Kyi on the last day of his
February 7-11 visit to Burma.

Giacomelli and Suu Kyi talked negatively about the
Government’s anti-narcotics efforts, the New Light of
Myanmar said in an op-ed piece titled “Joining Hands against
the Drug Menace,” authored by Ngwe Soe. The newspaper’s
opinion pieces are believed written by high-ranking military
officer using a pen name.

The piece did not refer to Suu Kyi by name, but as “the wife
of the man with the long nose,” a reference to Suu Kyi’s
husband, Michael Aris, a British specialist on Tibet.

Belittling the Government’s anti-narcotics measures “was
incompatible with the status of a gentleman,” the paper
said. Diplomatic sources said Giacomelli at first refused to
meet with the democracy leader because he had been invited
to Burma as a guest of Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw.

He relented after a diplomat asked him to see her in his
capacity as a UN representative. Neither Suu Kyi nor
Giacomelli have spoken about the meeting.

Suu Kyi has criticised the military government for letting
opium warlord Khun Sa walk free while other drug dealers and
political activists remain jailed. Suu Kyi also attacked the
junta’s focus on tourism, urging more investments in schools
and hospitals instead of hotels.

“It is true that many hotels have come in. But what progress
has there been in the field of health and education?”
Singapore’s Business Times quoted her as saying. She said
health and education “are the two best indicators of the
living standards of our people,” and a study of the two
sectors would show “whether or not there has been any real
development.”

Suu Kyi also questioned the morality of promoting tourism in
her impoverished country. She said the “great mushrooming of
hotels” had “not done any service because it has affected
the morals of the people for the sake of entertaining and
making money.”

She said her countrymen felt that “a lot of our young
people, especially young girls, are going astray.” She
repeated  her call for foreign investors to go slow on
putting their money into Burma, saying, “I don’t think my
release is enough to indicate that there has been any real
change in the situation.”

While questioning tourism employment figures released by the
junta and complaining about inflation, Suu Kyi conceded that
“there are a handful of people who have done well for the
past five or six years.”

“But you should try to look at the hospitals where people go
to in Burma. Then you will find out how much development
there has been and whether if you were a citizen of Burma,
you would think that is something that you would be
satisfied with,” she added.

* The Indian coast guard seized three Burmese trawlers off
its east coast in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday night for
entering Indian territorial waters without permission, a
coast guard spokesman said in Calcutta.

The coast guard patrol also arrested 29 crew members from
the trawlers under India’s Foreigners Act, he said. Indian
authorities are sensitive about foreign vessels approaching
the Andaman Islands, as they are a major base and
communications centre for India’s navy.

In August, the coast guard seized three Chinese trawlers
flying Burmese flags off the coast and arrested crew members
who were carrying sophisticated communications equipment and
military maps, the coast guard said. (BP)

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

BKK POST: JUNTA PLEDGES TO REIN IN RENEGADES
February 23, 1996

The Burmese military regime has agreed to take
responsibility for cross-border attacks by its Karen allies,
the Third Army commander said yesterday. Rangoon pledged to
prevent any further incursions by the renegade Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army, which killed three people, including a
monk, in Tha Song Yang, Tak, said Lt-Gen Thanom Watcharapuk.

“They have promised to keep close watch on DKBA forces and
not allow any more assaults across the border,” said Lt-Gen
Thanom on his return from the 12th Regional Border Committee
meeting in Moulmein, Burma.

The Burmese Government, he said, had also agreed to take
back all Karen refugees living in Thailand. During the
talks, Burmese officials proposed the opening  of border
checkpoints in Kawthaung, Ranong, Mae Sot, Tak and in Mae
Hong Son.

Lt-Gen Thanom said both sides agreed to enhance contacts
between local officials to make sure problems do not
escalate. The junta’s demand for compensation for the
killing of Burmese in a Mong Tai Army assault on Burmese
forces in Tachilek in early 1995, he aid, remained to be
settled. (BP)

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

BKK POST: BURMA REMAINS A VEXING CASE FOR AMERICAN
BUSINESSES
FEBRUARY 23, 1996
By Seth Mydans, New York, NY Times

There are not many countries left where you can’t buy a
bottle of Pepsi, so when a suitable partner turned up in the
isolated nation of Burma five years ago, Pepsico was eager
to set up a bottling plant.

The timing was awkward, though. Just three years before, in
a brutal crackdown, the government had choked off a
democratic uprising, and this Southeast Asian country was
under tight military control.

Burma became a target of human rights activists, who
continue to press for the kind of boycott they say helped
bring change in South Africa. Several American companies
have pulled out in recent years. Levi Strauss dropped its
contract suppliers in Burma three years ago.

A spokesman, Michael Woo, said the move grew out of “a very
serious review of the social and economic and political
environment there as well as health and safety issues, the
human rights environment and the possible impact on our
brand image.”

But Pepsico plunged ahead, thereby casting its vote in a
longrunning debate between boycott and “constructive
engagement” in countries whose human rights policies fall
short of American standards.

It is a debate with immediate implications, as American
companies search the world for new areas of growth _ and new
sources of cheap labour. As they do, they face issues of
human rights, exploitative working conditions, and child
labour.

Burma is a vexing case. The military government that seized
control in 1988 has begun to open its economy invitingly
even as it clamps down on political opposition, while
manufacturers say the quality of work is consistently high.

American businesses, often in their own self-interest, have
frequently argued that economic engagement is the quickest
route to democracy, and Pepsi id firmly in that camp.
“International trade over the long term builds understanding
and communication,” said Elaine Franklin, Pepsico’s
spokesman, citing the company’s presence in the Soviet Union
before the collapse of communism.

She said Pepsi had started off small in Burma, with about $8
million in sales in 1994. But she said Pepsi was in Burma,
as elsewhere, for the long haul.

In its global battle with the Coca-Cola Co, Pepsi has the
edge in this nation of 45 million people, although Coke has
made a little headway in northern Burma, where a thriving
cross-border trade has brought cheap goods from China.

A spokesman for Coca-Cola, Kathryn Norton, said that for
“strictly business” reasons Coke had no plans to enter
Burma. “Our policy,” she said, “Is not to involve ourselves
in political matters.”

Responding to the argument that companies should not dirty
their hands with unsavory governments, Ms Franklin of
Pepsico said: “It is pretty arrogant of any company to
decide to make its own foreign policy.”

US policy is neither to encourage nor discourage investment.
But political sentiment is running increasingly against
Burma’s government as it continues to stifle opposition led
by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi _ who has
said foreign companies should “jolly well wait” before doing
business in her country.

Measures that would impose economic boycotts are gaining
backers in both the House and Senate, with the Senate
version sponsored by Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky
Republican.The Unocal Corp, with a 28% interest in a $1
billion natural gas pipeline project in Burma, is also
moving ahead, despite aggressive lobbying from human rights
groups. Barry Lane, a Unocal spokesman, said that if his
company pulled out, another contractor would almost
certainly step in.

“What good is it going to do,” he said, “for the people of
Burma by our not being there? We were in Indonesia when
Sukarno was there; he put down some uprisings. But
incredible improvements have been made there over the years.
In the Philippines we began under the Marcos regime.”

But other companies, primarily clothing makers that can more
easily transfer operations from country to country, have
pulled out _ some for morality, others for practically. In
addition to Levi Strauss, these include Eddie Bauer, unit of
Spiegel Inc, and Liz Claiborne.

Levi Strauss has been a pioneer in “socially responsible
business practices,” issuing a set of guidelines in 1992 for
its world-wide operations to insure, in the words of its
spokesman, Woo, that its products “are manufactured in a way
that is fair and humane and compassionate.”

Typically, standards like these are applied to individual
factories or local working conditions. Burma is a rare case
in which companies have been forced by public lobbying to
consider the human rights record of a whole nation. Other
companies that have withdrawn have for the most part taken a
practical approach. Human rights did not appear to concern
them as much as publicity.

Eddie Bauer, for example, with 411 stores in North America
and contract factories around the world, pulled out of Burma
last year to “better guarantee deliveries,” said a
spokesman, Cheryl Engstrom.

In the past, the company has broken its ties with some
foreign suppliers because of poor working conditions for
factory workers. But in Burma, Ms Engstorm said: “It is
difficult for us, as customers of a factory, to go outside
the walls of that factory and begin making determinations
about the status of the country.”

Instead, she said, the company is concerned that because of
growing opposition by the US government and human rights
groups, “it would become impossible for us to work in Burma
in the future.”

Burma surrounded by nations eager to trade with it, sharply
reducing the possible impact of any American withdrawal. It
is not another South Africa, where an international boycott
helped bring apartheid to an end.

As of the last fiscal year, the United States accounted for
just 8% of the $2.65 billion in investment commitments to
Burma, with France, Britain, Thailand, and Singapore
accounting for most of the rest. China’s vigorous cross-
border trade, along with its increasing ties to the military
government, are helping to spur the involvement of Southeast
Asian nations, which do not want to cede influence to the
region’s growing giant.

Still, backers of a boycott cite overriding human rights
concerns. “A lot of  people have the attitude that business
is business,” said Matthew Donohue, a lobbyist with the
Burma Action Committee, based in Portland, Oregon. “But this
is business that by being transacted is directly
contributing to arrests and repression.”

This is something people will “have to start confronting as
we move into the global economy,” he said. “We are going to
have to assume some responsibility for the effects of the
dollars we spend if we are going to consider ourselves to
have the kind of moral fiber that traditionally the United
States has held.” (BP)

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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:

Arakan/Rohingya/Burma     volunteer needed
Bangladesh Border
Campus activism:        zni@students.wisc.edu
Boycott campaigns: [Pepsi]
wcsbeau@superior.ccs.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
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
Shan history/culture:        [volunteer needed]
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
Volunteering:                   christin@ksc.net.th

[Feel free to suggest more areas of coverage]
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