[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

THAI PAPERS ON AUGUST 13, 1999

1

*****************************************************************
8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888
*****************************************************************
THAI PAPERS ON AUGUST 13, 1999
1. BANGKOK POST - BURMESE IN FIRST THAI TRADE FAIR
2. BANGKOK POST - NEW ARRESTS AT BAGO DENIED BY RANGOON
3. THE NATION - MONEY CAN CHANGE A GOVERNMENT
4. THE NATION - KAREN REBELS VOW TO CONTINUE RESISTANCE
*****************************************************************
8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888 8888
*****************************************************************
BURMESE IN FIRST THAI TRADE FAIR
BANGKOK POST/ 13.8.99
A dozen Burmese firms are taking part in the first Myanmar Trade
Fair to be held in Thailand.
The fair at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, which
ends tomorrow, includes silverware, jewellery and rattan and wood
products.
Kyaw Thein, executive committee member of Burma's Central
Cooperative Society, said the fair would give businessmen useful
experience.
"We want to do business with Thailand and this is the first time
we have co-organised a trade fair here."
*****************************************************************
NEW ARRESTS AT BAGO DENIED BY RANGOON
BANGKOK POST/13.8.99
AP
A Burmese opposition group claimed yesterday that there has been
a new round of arrests of anti-government activist in Bago,
where 19 other activists were reportedly detained last month.
About 40 persons in the Bago area, 65km northeast of the capital
Rangoon, were detained recently, said a news release from the
National Council of the Union of Burma.
The council is a coalition of exile political and ethnic minority
groups opposed to the military government of Burma. A Burmese
government spokeman denied the claim.
The opposition news release said that a large number of small-
scale demonstrations and other protest activities have taken
place in the past few months in Bago.
*****************************************************************
MONEY CAN CHANGE A GOVERNMENT
THE NATION/13.8.99
WIN HTEIN
WITH BURMA'S ECONOMY WORSE THAN LAST YEAR, THERE ARE SIGNS THE
POWERS-THAT-BE ARE SOFTENING THEIR STANCE AGAINST OUTSIDE HELP
WHILE DISSIDENTS ARE LOOKING TO A SIGNIFICANT '9-9-99'
With the Burmese junta facing a critical lack of foreign
reserves, it recently allowed a few foreign missions into the
country, such as the four-member EU mission and Australian Chris
Sidoti's human rights team. Is the junta relaxing its iron grip
on this very poor country to gain funds from abroad?
A few weeks ago Kyaw Kyaw Maung, the chief of Burma's central
bank, said in a report: "We have no more foreign reserves for the
next two months, and have proposed [to seek] help from the World
Bank and the IMF. Inflation is over 40 per cent every year. We
may face a financial shortage in the near future."
In addition, last week a report said that foreign investment in
Burma has fallen from US$777.4 million to just $29.5 million this
year. The junta has also announced that Burmese can work abroad
as long as they pay US dollars in tax to officials. It also
declared that consumers must pay US dollars for overseas
telephone calls in Rangoon. Is this junta so hungry for foreign
funds?
Although the military leaders allowed foreign delegations to come
to Rangoon, their mouthpiece, Win Aung, is still denying any
possibility of outside intervention. He said angrily, "We are not
monkeys. We cannot change our policies for the supply of money.
Even though we are facing problems, we can solve them our own
way. We lived for 26 years under socialism without any outside
aid."
Dr Khin Maung Kyi, a senior Burmese economics professor from
Singapore University, commented in an interview with the
Democratic Voice of Burma, "The country's economic situation is
worse than in 1988. There are no exports, just imports
from abroad. For example, last year's exports were just US$968
million while imports were over US$2,300 million. The country
cannot solve its financial crisis without help from the World
Bank or the IMF." He explained that there are three main areas of
concern. The first is the imbalance between imports and exports.
The second is that the generals are spending far in excess of
their income. The third is high inflation because the junta
prints unlimited money.
Over the last decade inflation has run at over 500 per cent. Now
one US dollar is worth 380 kyat, up from 70 kyat in 1988. But the
official exchange rate has not changed, fixed at 6.50 kyat.
The generals have a dream that income from the controversial
Yadana gas project will fix their financial shortage. But the
natural gas project is late in delivering its predicted $400
million per year.
"The country needs a good government which the people support.
The SPDC is just soldiers, it will never be a good government.
All over the world we have seen that soldiers cannot solve
financial problems. They must hand over power to the National
League for Democracy, which is the elected government from 1990.
There is just one way to solve this case," said Tin Maung Win,
vice chairman of the National Council for the Union of Burma.
"People face a lack of electricity in Rangoon while the generals
declare they are building a modem country. There are over a
million workers and over 100,000 refugees on Thai soil. Hundreds
of millions of amphetamine pills flow into Thailand from Wa
State, backed by the SPDC. Do you call this a modern country?" he
said.
Meanwhile, some residents of Rangoon say that people are
collecting food, as they are worried about possible shortages in
a coming 9999 (Sept 9,1999) uprising. There is also the problem
of rising prices, for example, a kilogram of rice is 220 kyat, up
from 190, and a kilogram of cooking oil is 710 kyat, up from 620
kyat, in Rangoon, Mandalay, Sagaing, Pegu and Hinthata.
The latest rumour in Rangoon market is about plastic rice. This
fake rice kills those who eat it after four weeks, and is causing
people to fear more. A source said that some poor people have
rioted for rice in the rice mill in South Dagon and Shwepyitha
Rangoon's poorest quarters.
Last week, the Office of Strategic Studies (OSS), which is run by
the MIS, warned, "If Burma's economy collapses or the country
becomes unstable, the entire region will suffer the
consequences." If the military loses power in the coming 9999
uprising, all Asean countries will be war zones, the statement
added.
A report from Rangoon says that Burmese banknotes with 9999
stamped in indelible red ink have begun circulating throughout
the country in recent weeks. This seems to have been timed just
before the anniversary of the 8888 uprising. Moe Thee Zun, a
popular student leader in the 8888 uprising, claimed, "The whole
political situation is ripe. People are just waiting for a spark.
Now the economic condition is that spark for a 9999 uprising."
However, there is hope amid the latest foreign mission. The
United Nation's deputy secretary, Alvaro De Soto, plans to visit
Rangoon this month. He will try to encourage a meaningful
dialogue between the SPDC and the NLD, with the backing of US$1
billion from the World Bank and the IMF. Now is the best
opportunity for such a move, while the military regime faces a
reserve shortage. If not, there is no way are worried about
possible shortages in a to prevent the coming 9999 uprising.
*************************************************************
KAREN REBELS VOW TO CONTINUE RESISTANCE
THE NATION/13.8.99
DON PATHAN
VALAY KEE, BURMA
Ethnic Karen rebels yesterday celebrated their Martyr's Day 47th
anniversary by vowing to fight on in the face of growing
difficulties.
"We honour this day by commemorating our fallen leaders and all
those who have sacrificed their lives in the resistance, in
defence of Karen people and Karen land," said Gen Bo Mya, the
fourth leader of the Karen National Union (KNU).
Speaking to soldiers and local Karen villagers, some of who came
from refugee camps on the Thai side, the greying, burly general
who has led the union since the 1970s urged his people to
continue to struggle on in order to free our people from
oppression, tyranny, injustice and domination".
Yesterday's event took place on the bank of a small creek that
separates Tak province from Burma's Karen State. Similar events
took place at other National Union camps, most of which are
scattered along the rugged Thai-Burmese border.
There are eight to ten million Karens scattered throughout Burma.
It is essential that these people have their own nation, and~ are
not subjected to the oppressive rule of the ethnic Burmese, Bo
Mya said.
Over 100,000 Burmese refugees, mostly Karen, have fled to
Thailand over the years to escape what they say is an ethnic
cleansing campaign by the Burmese junta.
Bo Mya insisted that the morale of his army is still strong
despite set backs in recent years when splinter groups emerged
and a number of the rebel's top brass defected or laid down their
arms. The Burmese junta, which opened up its once hermit country
to foreign investments a decade ago, has been slowly gaining
acceptance in the inter national community with its admission in
1997 into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
In the past five years, the Burmese government has launched
successive offensives against the Karen, overrunning its
long-time headquarters at Mannaplaw and other major positions and
forcing them into a guerrilla war.
Though the guerrillas have been doing well for the rebel army,
Bo Mya said he still would like to build a main stronghold.
"We could have taken Mannaplaw back but the Thai army refused to
return our weapons," he said. "
According to a KNU senior officer, Thai troops had seized over
500 assault rifles from KNU soldiers as they retreated across the
border when the government troops overran the stronghold five
years ago. Nevertheless, the junta is still unable to finish off
Bo Mya's battlehardened men.
A number of ceasefire talks were initiated over the past years
but have so far produced no results.
"We're ready for ceasefire talks with the Burmese anytime. But it
must be understood that we will never surrender our arms," Bo Mya
said.
The latest round of ceasefire talks was held last year between
the Karen leaders and the junta, headed by Col Kyaw Thein, a
senior official under the command of the powerful security boss
Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, but no real progress has been achieved, Bo Mya
said.
The 72-year-old leader said he has no plans to retire and
insisted that the splinter group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army, no longer poses any problem for the KNU.
Bo Mya dismissed a recent statement from the authorities in
Kanchanaburi province who claimed that the United Wa State Army,
one of the world's largest armed drug trafficking groups from the
Golden Triangle, has set up positions near his area.
"Narcotics are the work of the devil,"
Bo Mya said. Yesterday's event commemorated the death of the KNU
first leader, Saw Ba U Gyi, who was gunned down by Burmese
soldiers.
The KNU came into existence in 1947 and an armed struggle began
in 1949. The group has established military alliances with other
armed rebel group, including the Shan State Army and the Karenni
National People's Party.
*****************************************************************
DON'T GIVE UP - FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS
ABSDF - AUGUST 13, 1999
*****************************************************************




--------------------------------------------------------------
All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF)
P.O. Box 42, Hua Mark P.O, Bangkapi, 10243, Bangkok
<caroline@ksc15.th.com> <lurie@mozart.inet.co.th>