The BurmaNet News January 7, 1998

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------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------     
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"     
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The BurmaNet News: January 7, 1998        
Issue #906

HEADLINES: 
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ABYMU (RESISTANCE AREA): CURRENT SITUATION OF SANGHAS IN BURMA
ABSDF: NLD MEMBERS AND FAMILIES NEED PERMISSION FROM SPDC
REUTERS: IS NE WIN THE ANSWER TO BURMA'S PROBLEM?
REUTERS: 50 YEARS LATER, OPPOSITION SAY MYANMAR NOT FREE
ABSDF: SPDC TROOPS MASSACRE VILLAGERS IN ARAKAN STATE
NATION: BURMA'S BUSY NETWORKER
FTUB: TEXTILE WORKERS ACTIVITIES
BKK POST: BKK POPPY PLANTATION ON THE INCREASE
BKK POST: TRAFFICKING OF HEROIN FROM BURMA DIVERTED 
MONLAND RESTORATION COUNCIL: PRESS RELEASE OF CONFERENCE
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ABYMU (RESISTANCE AREA): CURRENT SITUATION OF SANGHAS IN BURMA
January 6, 1998  (All Burma Young Monks Union)

1. During the 2nd week of December 1997, the military clique, the usurper
all the state powers, obstructed and barred, by various means, the Sanghas,
who had come from different parts of the country, from holding a Sangha
meeting scheduled to discuss the issues relating to:

(a) The loss of treasure enshrined in the Maha Myatmuni Buddha's image;
(a) The freedom to hold and take the religious examination of Sanghas;
 (b) The release of Sanghas arrested and detained for participation in the
effort for human rights; and
(c) The interference  in and control of the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Board
(patron board) by the military clique.

2. In recent months, the military clique boldly went about committing
arrest of the Sanghas, sowing dissension among them and confiscating their
possessions, by force. All over the country, it arrested about 60 Sanghas
and executed, from among them,  one in the Arakan State and 2 in the Shan
State, prohibiting the religious rites and proper burial for the executed
Sanghas. 

3. Moreover, the military clique destroyed 2254 monasteries in the Shan,
Karenni, Karen, Mon States and Tanessarim Division, and drove away by force
3630 Sanghas from them. These arbitrary and repressive acts, far from
restoring law and order, have further worsened the situation and the ABYMU
would like to warn that the SPDC military clique shall be held solely
responsible for them. 

4. Though the military clique has changed its name from the SLORC to SPDC,
we see that there is no change in its essence and the evil military
dictatorship has remained firmly entrenched. For that reason, we, the ABYMU
would like to affirm that we will  strive on until the demands of the
Sanghas are achieved and aspirations of the entire people are fulfilled.

Central Leading Body
All-Burma Young Monks' Union
Resistance Area

 January 7, 1998 

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

ABSDF: NLD MEMBERS AND FAMILIES NEED PERMISSION FROM SPDC
TO ENTER MONKHOOD
January 6, 1997

The National League for Democracy (NLD) has accused Burma's
military regime of obstructing religious affairs by forcing
party members and families to seek permission from the
authorities to enter the monkhood.

The NLD says its Buddhist members are now required to get
permission from the local Peace and Development Council should
they wish to be ordained as Buddhist monks or novices. These
restrictions occurred only after the military junta changed
its name in November last year from the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) to the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC).

It is a tradition in Burma that Buddhists spend at least 7
days as monks or nuns, and no one ever requires special
permission. Therefore, the restrictions placed on NLD members
by the authorities are a violation of the Buddhist scriptures
and a violation of freedom of religion.

Although the military regime previously placed various kinds
of restrictions on the NLD and their associates for their
political activities, this is believed to be the first time
the authorities have begun to obstruct social and religious
activities of party members and their families.

In a statement released on November 26, 1997, the NLD cited
many instances of disruption to their members' social and
religious life, including restrictions on entering the
monkhood and the mistreatment of party members. The NLD stated
that the authorities claimed these social and religious
activities would disrupt peace and stability in Burma.

The statement mentioned that on November 15, 1997, the
military authorities summoned a bride and bridegroom and their
parents on the eve of their wedding, and questioned them
throughout the day. The group was only allowed to return home
in the evening, despite the fact that the authorities knew the
wedding was following day. The bride was the daughter of an
NLD member, and the party accused the SPDC of violating its
members rights.

The All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) considers the
restrictions placed on NLD members and their families as
immoral and pure harassment and intimidation. The ABSDF calls
on the SPDC to immediately rescind the restrictions placed on
NLD members on entering the monkhood and immediately stop
disrupting the social activities of party members.

All Burma Students  Democratic Front

For more information please call 01-654 4984.

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

REUTERS: IS NE WIN THE ANSWER TO BURMA'S PROBLEM?
January 5, 1998
By Deborah Charles 

BANGKOK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Political stalemate in Myanmar (Burma) has become
so entrenched that veteran politicians have now suggested the unfathomable --
that former strongman Ne Win come back to help solve the nation's problems. 

Reaction was mixed on Monday to the surprise suggestion, made by a veteran
politician who played a key role in Myanmar's struggle for independence 50
years ago, that the former leader might be able to help bring about national
reconciliation. 

Late on Sunday, 89-year-old Thakin Chit told a gathering of veteran
politicians in Yangon that Ne Win might be able to help the nation become
peaceful. 

``I would like to propose that if ex-president, retired General Ne Win -- who
used to be able to do a lot in the past -- will work, the entire country could
become peaceful and pleasant,'' Thakin Chit told a group of about 120 veteran
politicians, democracy activists and diplomats at a ceremony to mark the 50th
anniversary of independence from Britain. 

One diplomat laughed when asked about the idea, saying it was ironic to think
that Ne Win -- whose very name invoked such fear over the past few years that
he is referred to in Myanmar simply as ``the Old Man'' -- could find common
ground between the military government and the opposition. 

``They invited Ne Win to help out. It does seem to be a complete
contradiction,'' he said. 

Another diplomat was less cynical, saying it was natural that the veteran
politicians would think of turning to Ne Win, who was part of the ``Thirty
Comrades'' group of nationalists that fought for independence from Britain. 

``It's not completely wild,'' the diplomat said. ``Obviously it was inevitable
that someone should suggest that Ne Win play a role -- he is one of the five
surviving members of the 30 comrades (living in Myanmar).'' 

The former strongman, who ruled Burma with an iron fist for more than a
quarter of a century under his ill-fated 1962-1988 ``Burmese Way to
Socialism'' doctrine, is rarely mentioned in public and has scarcely been seen
since relinquishing power nearly 10 years ago. 

A personal visit to Indonesia in September was one of the first times he had
been in the public eye since he stepped down in 1988, although many analysts
and diplomats feel he still has a good deal of influence over the government. 

Many people in Yangon believe that Ne Win had something to do with a surprise
government change in November, which took place shortly after he went to
Indonesia. The change abolished the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC) and created a new military body -- the State Peace and Development
Council. 

``I don't think his intervening in political affairs would be that
surprising,'' the second diplomat said. 

``But the possibility of him talking to the opposition would be. I think his
position vis-a-vis the opposition is pretty hard line. So I couldn't imagine
him willing to help with dialogue.'' 

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was at the ceremony when Thakin 
Chit made the suggestion, did not comment on Sunday and could not be 
reached on Monday. 

But the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate, whose father General Aung San was
assassinated as he worked for the independence of Myanmar, has repeated her 
as yet unanswered call for dialogue with the military. 

On Sunday she urged the government to hold talks and lashed out at the ruling
generals for failing to give the freedoms fought for by her father and other
freedom fighters. 

She said in a recent interview released in part on Saturday that she was
confident there would be a democratically elected government in the ``not too
distant future.'' 

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in a 1990 poll
but the SLORC did not recognise the result. 

A government spokesman made only a brief comment when asked to respond to the
suggestion made by Thakin Chit and supported by other veteran politicians. 
``U Ne Win is not involved in politics."

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

REUTERS: 50 YEARS LATER, OPPOSITION SAY MYANMAR NOT FREE
January 4, 1998

YANGON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Myanmar (Burma) celebrated its 50th anniversary of
independence from Britain on Sunday amid opposition accusations at home and
abroad that there were few freedoms in the country despite 50 years of
independence. 

The government celebrated its ``Golden Jubilee Independence Day'' with a flag-
hoisting ceremony just after dawn, and the nation's top general called for
vigilance against disruptive elements within the country. 

``We must be vigilant against various wily schemes of some neo-colonialists
who frequently interfere in the internal affairs of others,'' Senior General
Than Shwe, chairman of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
said in a speech delivered by one of his subordinates at the ceremony. 

``It is the time when we must keep constant vigil against any movements of
those who want to disrupt stability and undermine national consolidation
finding fault without any reason on pretext of democracy and human rights,''
he said. 

The vigilance was apparent in the heightened security on the streets of the
Myanmar capital. Armed policemen were seen at several strategic locations in
Yangon and security was tight outside the house of opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi. 

The 600 people who gathered at Suu Kyi's house for her annual independence day
celebration were stopped at checkpoints and forced to identify themselves
before being allowed in to her compound. 

Suu Kyi, daughter of Myanmar independence hero General Aung San, called on the
government to hold talks with the opposition, and lashed out at the ruling
generals for failing to give the freedoms fought for by her father and other
freedom fighters. 

``Although the independence of the nation has turned to a Golden Jubilee, its
situation is not as bright and beautiful even as silver -- its far from
gold,'' the National League for Democracy (NLD) co-founder said in a speech. 

``We should be proud of being a sovereign independent state. However, our
inability to implement unity among national races and (to create) internal
peace, the lack of human rights and the low standard of living of the people
and the declining economy of the country are not as beautiful as gold,'' she
said. 

Repeating a request she has made often since being released from six years of
house arrest in July 1995, Suu Kyi called for dialogue with the government. 

``No matter whoever avoids (dialogue) by giving whatever reasons, the NLD will
keep making efforts to solve the political issues by holding dialogue in view
of the people's interest.'' 

Veteran politician Bohmu Aung, one of the 30 founding members of the nation's
armed forces, sent a message on behalf of a group of 23 veteran politicians
calling for improved relations between the opposition and the government. 

``We earnestly request on the auspicious occasion of the Golden Jubilee
Independence Day to build up national reconciliation by holding talks between
the two major political forces of the country - the SPDC and the NLD,'' said
the message, read at the ceremony at Suu Kyi's home. 

Exiled opposition groups also marked the independence day with protests
against Yangon's military rulers. 

A group of exiles gathered outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok and accused
the government of repression and human rights abuses and calling for dialogue
with the opposition. 

The All Burma Students Democratic Front issued a statement with similar
accusations, noting that the country had been under military rule for most of
the 50 years of independence. 

``Burma lost her independence again into the hands of the brutal military
regime in 1962. Since that time, Burma has experienced relentless struggles by
her people for the restoration of democracy and human rights,'' it said. 

``Though January 4th is an auspicious day for the people of Burma, people
remain far away from democracy as recognised by international norms and
greatly suffer from spontaneous abuses."

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

ABSDF: SPDC TROOPS MASSACRE VILLAGERS IN ARAKAN STATE
December 29, 1997

SPDC Soldiers Massacre Villagers In Arakan State

On November 16, 1997, Burma's newly formed junta, the State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC), committed a brutal massacre at
Kyat Taw village, in northern part of Araken State. LIB 378
troops are responsible for the event, killing 13 people including
a seven month old child at Kyaut Ku Su village and Sa Pel Sake
village in Kyaut Taw township while collecting porters.

SPDC's LIB 378 commander ordered his troops stationing at Sa Pel
Sake village to collect porters, in quota of one person per
house, from Ku Su village. Section Commander later assigned Shwe
Thein and two other soldiers who right away asked U Sein Hla
Aung, headmen of 100 household of the village by saying one house
must provide one porter each without any complaint.

While 45 year old U Sain Hla Aung was organising a meeting with
other headmen for getting the porters for the SPDC, Shwe Thein
and two soldiers entered into the house and began to heavily
shoot, resulting in the death of six people, including U Sein Hla
Aung and his seven month old son. 

Later Shwe Thein and two SPDC soldiers proceeded to the house of
other influential headman, namely U Wai Pyu Aung and shot
abruptly again, killing seven,  including U Wai Phu Aung and his wife.

People in Arakan State have been brutally harassed by the
increasing number of the SPDC troops.  There have been 54 SPDC
Battalions in Arakan State, deploying 23 out of 54 Battalions
only in Aykab, the capital of Arakan State.  Nine battalions
have also been deployed at the second largest town, namely Bu
Thee Taung, said a statement issued by Arakan United Party on
December 23, 1997. 

"People in Araken State are very unhappy with SPDC troops
excessively deployed in Araken State in order to coerce the
people into forced labour and porterage," said U Sai Aung Kyaw
who recently fled the Araken State.

"People ranging from age 8 to over 50 including old and pregnant
women, who can not give fines to the military for escaping from
being taken as porters, are forced to work without taking
anything in order to construct military barracks, dig holes
for latrines, work for road repair and construction and dig lakes
for drinking water," U Sai Aung Kyaw reported. Military men are
performing these abuses with the intention to get extra-money
from people who can pay fines, he added. 

"There have been a series of massacres in working sites on some
people who have refused to work for the military,  because they
have no time left to work for their private business necessary
for their survival," said U Sai Aung Kyaw.

There have been more worse stories, for instance, in one
case, a 20 year old girl from Ma Kyi Taut village in Bu Thee
Taung township was raped by a soldier from LIB 535 and later the
commander himself dismissed the story, he added.

As there has been no punishment from their superior SPDC
officers, troops in the field are commiting such crimes
throughout Burma, resulting in an escalation of human
rights abuses day by day. (Name of 13 people executed will be
sent very soon). 

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

NATION: BURMA'S BUSY NETWORKER
January 5, 1998
by Sandy Barron

THE ROAD FROM MANDALAY LED TO THE INFORMATION 
SUPERHIGHWAY FOR ZAR NI, THE MAN WHO COORDINATES ONE 
OF THE INTERNET'S BIGGEST HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS. 

Zar Ni left Rangoon for the United States armed with US$50 and a
bunch of foreigners' addresses written in a new copy book.  The
cash - $50 was all the Burmese government allowed people to
travel with - didn't last much longer than a disastrously
expensive overnight stopover at Bangkok's airport hotel; but the
24-year old's real stash was in the copybook.

He collected the addresses during seven years spent hanging
around Mandalay, working as a private English teacher and as a
guide for foreign tourists'.  One of those rare visitors to the
closed--off Burma of the 1980s helped him get a student visa for
the US.  Others became friends and pen pals.  By the time Zar Ni
got on the plane in 1988, he was sitting on his own little
private global network.

Anyone who could pull off international networking in 1980s
Mandalay was unlikely to miss out on the network of the '90s -
given half a chance.  Ten years on, Zar Ni has swapped his
copybook for a computer and puts in 15-hour days as the person at
the centre of one of the Internet's biggest human rights
campaigns.

Two years ago, Zar Ni, by then a student at the University of
Wisconsin at Madison, was looking for ways to support Burma's
pro-democracy movement when he twigged the possibilities of the
Internet.  Now the group he founded links activists, exiles,
scholars and academics from around the world, all working to
promote political change in Burma.

The Free Burma Coalition (FBC) has scored some spectacular
successes, notably its efforts to discourage outsiders from doing
business with the military regime, recently renamed the State
Peace and Development Council.

Texaco, Apple Computer and Pepsi are among scores of high-profile
US companies to have withdrawn from the country after becoming
the targets of FBC boycott campaigns.  Dozens of other American
institutions such as city and state councils and universities
have passed laws aimed at companies which do business with the
regime.  An international tourist-boycott campaign turned the
junta's "Visit Myanmar Year" into a failure.  And last summer,
activists celebrated when US President Bill Clinton passed a
limited sanctions bill prohibiting American companies from making
new investments in Burma.  Australia and the European
Union are also increasingly tough on Rangoon.

Zar Ni credits the Net for the campaign's impact.  Once isolated
and scattered, Burmese expats and their supporters have been
spurred into action by the simple fact of being in close contact.
Sharing information and experience means that a small bank of
expertise can go a long way.  A canny British ethical-investment
specialist in Boston who helped push through tough anti-Burma
legislation in Massachusetts now advises college groups around
the US on strategy.  A media expert in Seattle gives advice to
activists in Florida, or Australia, or England, on ways of
getting their message across on newspapers and television.
Ethnic group activists and Burmese students on the Thai border
who once felt cut off, now alert supporters in Asia and elsewhere
to problems and human rights violations within minutes.  Scraps
of information on the regime's home page are disseminated around
the globe and dissected for clues to behind the scene Dower plays
(usually, given the military's extreme secretiveness, with
limited success).

The credit for the "free Burma" campaigns growing, support goes
mostly to the junta itself, says Seattle based activist Larry
Dohrs, drily "Once the general public hears the facts - the
plain,-unembellished facts about what is going on in Burma - they
are on our side.  They are appalled he says. Harder to convince
have been some members of the American business community, which
has been growing increasingly jittery over the trend to impose
sanctions on unpopular regimes.  In Seattle, the US -Asean
Business Council, with backers such as Boeing and large Burma-investor 
Unocal, has been fighting FBC attempts to get the city council to pass an 
anti-Burma ordinance.  Nor has the campaign made much headway in 
Asean, which admitted Burma as a member last year.

Still, the activists are in a relatively upbeat mood.  Over two
years of Internet activity, the Burma "issue" has been
transformed from relative obscurity into a high-profile campaign
with heavyweight supporters.  Taking their cue from a comparison
first made by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, optimistic activists
sometimes refer to the campaign as the "South Africa of the '90s"
with an eye to how international pressure and sanctions helped
bring down what had become a pariah regime there.

Few are prepared to guess when a similar result might be expected
in Burma. The campaign's successes may be hurting the regime
financially (as is the recent Asian downturn), but there are no
signs yet of democratisation or of improvements in the junta's
grim human rights record.  Reports of forced labour and the
killing of villagers by the military of dreadful jail conditions
and the arrests of opposition party members continue to pour out
of Burma.  No one knows whether recent signs of possible strain
within the regime- its name change, the ouster of a few senior
generals, the attempts at image improvement via American public
relations firms - amount to much.

After 35 years of iron rule by the generals, few Burmese
underestimate the military's staying power.

Sticking with a campaign that has no end in sight can be a tough
call for Burmese pro-democracy activists who have given up
careers, family lives and often personal security for their
cause.  Thousands of university students have spent their 20s and
30s in grim border camps and, as refugees and exiles.  If things
were different, 34-year-old Zar Ni reckons he'd be thinking of
"settling down" now, figuring out a regular career, perhaps as a
journalist maybe even starting a family after he finishes his PhD
next summer on the politics of education under former Burmese
military strongman General Ne Win.  But he's decided to stick
with the uncertainties of activism "probably in Washington'

That will take him even further from his Mandalay upbringing,
where family military connections - including a distant uncle
he's never met who was a pilot for General Ne Win - encouraged
the teenaged Zar Ni to think about a career in the army.  If he
hadn't been an 'obedient Burmese son" he might have been rising
through the ranks of the military today.

"The army was the way to success - to a career, to money, power
and women," he laughs.  "General Aung San [father of Aung San Suu
Kyi and the man who led Burma to independence after World War II]
was our hero.  We all wanted to be a general, like him.  We were
brainwashed into thinking the army was the saviour of the
country.  But my parents didn't want me to join, even though we
had good connections."

Instead, he started on the trajectory which led him to where he
is now by going to Mandalay University and becoming a private
English teacher and-part time, tour guide; his desperate desire
to travel himself was the spur to start networking with
foreigners.  When he eventually got a visa for the US, he started
off in California with a tuition fellowship at the University of
California at Davis, working on the university farm and as a gas
station attendant to help pay his way.

While at university, Zar Ni helped scriptwriter Bill Rubinstein
with material for the Hollywood movie Beyond Rangoon.  "I
invested a lot of hope in its becoming  a major vehicle to
promote awareness of what was happening in Burma - like the
Killing Fields did for Cambodia." Beyond Rangoon's limitted
impact at the box office sent Zar Ni back to his books - until an
ABC Nightline interview with Aung San Suu Kyi in 1994 goaded him
into action.

" That was the turning point. I felt seriously challenged.. She
was describing fear. I thought that's what's holding me back'.
She was talking about getting your mind free, your heart free.
If she could do this [give up her former life to work for
democracy], I thought, so could I." A campus hunger strike plan
was scotched, but Zar Ni and a few others made up Aung San Suu
Kyi posters and leaflets for a conference on student activism.
'We left an e-mail address and suddenly there were 40, then 80
people wanting to join up and do something.  That was the start
of the Free Burma Coalition, and it just snowballed from there."

Today, the FBC's listserver acts as a daily information board and
clearing house for activist bulletins.  Scores of other Burma information 
sites and information sources have also sprung up - anyone, wanting to 
could easily receive a hundred e-mails a day of news and views from 
far-flung members of the pro-democracy movement.

Zar Ni sees the network -as more than simply a campaign.  "It's
also a training ground and talent pool for young Burmese who will
be part of the country's future.  We have students in key
institutions in America now.  This is their formative age.  If we
touch their hearts now, they'll stay with us.  When Burma is
free, they can go back and help build up the country."

He's back to networking.  "There are really positive things being
done here, now.  This is the first time in Burmese history that
Burmese activists are working with non-Burmese.

"I know our message is getting back into the country, too, and
how important that is.  When I was growing up, I heard of Burmese
in New Delhi protesting against the military, and I felt good - I
felt that we were not forgotten.  It was easy to be afraid,
there.  Burma was like a huge prison."

It's hardly surprising that young people who grew up in one of
the world's most censored countries should relish the
untrammelled freedom of the Internet.  Even trading opinions with
the occasional regime supporters who flame the Activist networks
is strangely satisfying.  Says Zar Ni, with just a touch of irony:  "At 
least it's dialogue - it's the only dialogue from the other side there is."

***To subscribe to the Free Burma listserver, e-mail
listserver@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with the words '"subscribe free
burma YourFirstName YourLastName" as the first line of the
message text.  For more information on Burma on the Net -
including newspaper articles, wire service reports, and
information from both pro-democracy supporters and the military
government e-mail info@xxxxxxxxxx

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

FTUB: TEXTILE WORKERS ACTIVITIES
January 3, 1998

TEXTILE  WORKERS  ACTIVITIES

The company is a joint venture between the military and a company from 
Hong Kong and is called  "Hong Kong UMEH garment factory". The Hong 
Kong firm is  Yan  Xi  Kyan and the Union of  Myanmar Economic Holdings 
UMEH is a military owned economic unit.   There are 1,337  people employed 
in the factory.

The movement started in November and was lead by an elected eleven member 
committee.

November 19, 1997.
Work stoppage started on these seven demands.
1. To increase the salary.
2. Not to force overtime on Government holidays and not to deduct the 
salary if the workers did not work on those holidays.      
3. The company to help with medical treatment if a worker was injured on duty.
4. Fines and deductions for late arrivals be made public.
5. The right for the workers to enter governmental examinations.
6. To give special allowance to workers involved in using chemicals.
7. To make the rules and regulations of the factory  public so that all the 
workers would understand.

December  2, 1997
Work stoppage continued and chanting of     "Workers Rights - Our Rights"
"Increasing of Salary - Our Rights"  took place.

The General Manager Rodney Stewart, the Factory manager, Chinese advisors 
and the Burmese Administrative Manager met with the strike committee.  The 
General Manager agreed to the following seven demands of the workers. 

The Admin  Manager wrote the following agreed issues at 15:30 the sam day.
1. Starting from the training period, employees would be given 55 Kyats. The 
basic salary would start from 1,800 Kyats in 1988.
2. Workers can decide whether they want to work  overtime on Government 
holidays. There will be a discussion if the company needs more workforce on 
holidays. The penalties will be discussed by the Admin Manager with the
supervisors.
3. The medical fees will be issued by the factory. It will also be made public.
4. Fines and penalties will be cleared on time.
5. The workers will be allowed to enter Government exams officially.
6. The workers who handle chemicals will be issued special allowances.
7. The rules and regulations will be made public.
8. The factory agrees to the formation of a  six member permanent workers 
committee by the workers.  

The workers committee requested that the agreements be written on a 
blackboard at the front of the factory and the GM agreed and instructed 
the Admin Manager to write the agreed issues. 

Late evening - December 2, 1997 -- The three Chinese advisors called a 
meeting with the Admin Manager and refused the agreements and 
scratched out the agreements from the blackboard and told the workers 
that the demands would not be met.

Late evening - December 2, 1997-- The workers committee responded by 
issuing a statement that said all the workers from Hlegu and  Indakaw 
would not enter the factory and would do so until the demands were met.

06:30 - December 3,1997 -- The workers  just sat in front of the factory 
and held a picket line.

09:00 - December 3, 1997--The GM tried to drive into the factory pass 
the picket line and had an argument with the workers.

Military Intelligence, Police Special Branch, the township police, the township 
labor department officials, the Social Welfare department officials arrived and 
held a meeting with the strikers.

The eleven member workers committee members were taken to the local 
SLORC office, interrogated individually by the Military Intelligence, Police 
Special Branch and the township police and dismissed from their jobs.

December 4, 1997--The strike and picket line continued.

December 6, 1997--Five more leaders of the strike were dismissed.

December 6, 1997--The Deputy Director of the Labor Department came 
to the talk with the strikers.  The workers insisted that their demands were 
for workers rights and their social welfare and that being a fair movement 
they would continue. They also requested that they wanted their dismissed 
colleagues reinstated at their jobs.

December 7-8 1997--The strike continues.

December 8, 1997--The factory management declared that all the demands 
would be met and that the disputed work areas would be under control of 
the Department of Labor.

December 12, 1997--All the demands were met and all the dismissed workers 
are allowed to go back  to work.     

December 12, 1997
* The workers from "Cherry Garment Factory" located in North Okkalapa; 
Rangoon went on a sit down strike.  They were striking to protest the news 
that the factory would be closed and they would lose their jobs.

The company gave them 3 months advance pay and confirmed that the factory 
would be closed but all the workers would be transferred to the new place and 
would not lose their jobs.

There is frustration and unrest in the following textile and garment factories 
that the military took over in 1997.
Thamaing Textile and Garment in Rangoon
Paleik Textile and Garment factory in Paleik, Magwe Division
Shwedaung Textile and Garment Factory in Shwe Taung, in Pegu Division. 

All  these factories employ at least 3,000 salaried workers. The  factors for 
frustration are the inflation which has jumped over 200% within the last 
two months which the ruling junta has made no acknowledgement and 
shown no sign of adjustment on the salary of the workers. Another point is 
the taking over of the management even to the level of foreman by the 
military and the harsh method of management by the new military supervisors.  

Note:  The present rate of the Burmese Kyat is 380 Kyats / dollar.
According to the agreement and the present rate of the dollar, the income 
of a textile worker in Burma is  0.02  dollar / hour  or   0.14 $ / day.
 
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BKK POST: BKK POPPY PLANTATION ON THE INCREASE
January 5, 1998  (abridged)
ONNUCHA HUTASINGH

Poppy growing in Mae Hong Son is on the increase after years of
gradually reducing plantation sizes. A drug intelligence officer in Mae 
Hong Son said that the crops were grown in steep valleys in Pai district 
and Pang Ma Pha sub-district which are almost inaccessible to the 
authorities seeking to destroy the poppies.

The crop is then supplied to heroin production plants along the
Burmese border.  The major buyers are refineries in Khai Luang
opposite Pang Ma Pha and Mae Or opposite Muang district

Relentless suppression by Thai authorities had driven many
growers across the border into an area formerly held by the
defunct Mong Tai Army of former drug warlord Khun Sa who
surrendered to Rangoon.  But they would not be gone forever.

New deals were now being done between the growers and the Burmese
military commanders.

Opium, heroin and amphetamines were the top three illicit drugs
produced on the Mae Hong Son border.

And even though Khun Sa had gone, production had not shrunk
thanks to his former 3,000 followers who remained in the area.
With the support of Thai financiers these people were back in the
drug producing game.

The source said the Shan minority had been supplied chemicals
used to refine heroin and Thai investors, mostly kamnan and
village headmen, helped clear trafficking routes.

It has long been accepted that opium and heroin produced by Khun
Sa's followers were top grade, as was the quality of their amphetamines.

The source said speed pills produced in Ratchaburi and Suphan
Buri could never rival amphetamines from the northern border,
which are laced with heroin, Amphetamines produced under the
trade name W99 is sold at 25 baht a tablet in Mae Hong Son but
jumps to 70-80 baht in Chiang Mai and 200 baht in Bangkok.

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BKK POST: TRAFFICKING OF HEROIN FROM BURMA DIVERTED 
ELSEWHERE
January 5, 1998

Thailand is no longer a popular through-route for the trafficking
of heroin from Burma to other nations.

However, it is now a market for amphetamines, marijuana and
ecstasy pills coming in from neighbouring countries.

Four to five years ago Thailand was the favoured country for
moving drugs out of Burma but tough action. particularly by the
Border Patrol Police during the last government of Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh, has clamped down on the smuggling.

Several drug suppression agencies have set up local units along
the 850km-border which runs along the northern provinces of Mae
Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.  These are opposite the
heroin-production bases in Burma.

The action means that drug producers are now transporting heroin
via Burma's Shan state to the southern Chinese town of Kunming
>From there it goes to Europe, America and other Southeast Asian
nations.  The new route is protected by thick jungle

Transportation involves either. a caravan of animals or boats
along the Salween river.  The drugs are then loaded onto vehicles
to take them to Kunming.  They then go either direct to overseas
markets or via Laos and Vietnam.

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MONLAND RESTORATION COUNCIL: PRESS RELEASE OF CONFERENCE
January 4, 1998

The Fourth anniversary of Monland Restoration Council conference
successfully held on December 26 & 27 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.  There
about 50 Mon people in the United States attended the conference. In the
conference, we discussed broadly about Mon people current situation in Burma
and the future plan of MRC.  A  committee -- Mon Culture and Literature
committee was also formed in this conference. The aim of this committee is
 to promote Mon culture and literature in the U.S.A and  Burma.

Since MRC Executive Committee members are two years-terms, we don't have
election for five EC members in this conference. These five EC members are
 still unchanged. The five EC members are as following:

1. Nai Pon Nya Mon (Pon Nya)       Chairman           Indiana-Purdue University,
						Fort Wayne, Indiana
2.  Nai Karak Lavi                        Vice Chairman 	Philadelphia
3.  Nai Ong Mon                             Secretary General   Drexel
University,                     
						    Philadelphia.
4. Nai Janoi Marn                          Joint secretary       Hudson
Valley College,
 						Albany, New York
5. Nai Bannya Seike Mon                  Treasurer	Indiana-Purdue
University,               
						Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Background and aims of Monland Restoration Council

Monland Restoration Council was  formed  in the United States in 1993.  Its
members include  Mon students, politicians and Buddhist monks  and  activists
of 1988 uprising  who are now living  in the  United States.  Our goals are:

To work to end civil war in Burma and to struggle for the establishment of a
genuine democratic federal union of  Burma that guarantees autonomy,
equality, and ethnic nationalities' rights to self-determination.  

To  strive to defend the Mon ethnicity by protecting  and promoting Mon
culture, customs, language, and literature, which have long been disappearing
under the ethnocide and culture genocide policies of military dictatorship of
Burma.

To provide humanitarian assistance to  people who  become  refugees along the
Thai-Burma border after escaping human rights violations and political
persecution in Burma.

To work for peace and struggle against human rights violations in Burma.
   
Monland Restoration Council
213 Comberland Ave.
Fort Wayne, IN 46805, USA
Tel/Fax:  1-219- 471-3961

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