The BurmaNet News - 2 February, 199

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------------------------------ BurmaNet -----------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies
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The BurmaNet News, 2 February, 1998
Issue #925

Noted in passing:
"December and the other children will be the next generation of
revolutionaries. It is our responsibility and duty to educate
them for the future." - Sai Myant Thu, Secretary One, ABSDF's Central
Committee (see BKK POST: A REVOLUTIONARY EDUCATION)

HEADLINES:
==========
AP: BURMESE GOVERNMENT CONDEMNS U.S.-FUNDED RADIO
BKK POST: US CONDEMNS GOVERNMENTS ACROSS ASIA
BKK POST: GOVERNMENT SLASHES AID TO RANGOON
BKK POST: A REVOLUTIONARY EDUCATION
AP: JUDGE REFUSES TO REMOVE UNOCAL
THE AUSTRALIAN: THAIS CLOSE DOWN LONG-NECK HUMAN
THE NATION: CHETTHA IN EFFORT TO END DISPUTE
BKK POST: THAI PLANE UNDER SMALL ARMS FIRE
BKK POST: SIX ALLEGED BURMA DRUG RUNNERS KILLED

BURMESE WOMEN UNION: STATEMENT OF FIRST CONFERENCE
NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (Perspectives): MYANMAR WOMEN'S
NLD-LIBERATED AREA (YOUTHS): EXTRAORDINARY

Announcements:
GERMAN TOURISM AND ECONOMIC INVOLVEMENT IN BURMA
THE RANGOON POST: PUBLISHING POSTPONED DUE TO
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----

AP: BURMESE GOVERNMENT CONDEMNS U.S.-FUNDED RADIO FREE ASIA
29 January, 1998
 
BANGKOK, Thailand  -- Burma rebuked U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia on
Thursday, accusing it of airing "astonishingly fictitious" reports about
corruption in Burma's military regime.

Radio Free Asia reported this week that several generals ousted in a recent
government shake-up had been arrested and tons of gold bars had been found
in their homes.

It said one, Tun Kyi, was responsible for a parcel bomb sent last year to
the home of Gen. Tin Oo, the fourth-ranking general in the government. The
bomb killed his adult daughter, but did not harm the general.

The government has denied any of its former generals are under arrest, but
none have been seen in public since the shake-up. Tun Kyi's daughter also
fled to Bangkok last week.

The Radio Free Asia report also said that former dictator Ne Win, who
stepped down in 1988 after 26 years of iron rule, intervened to prevent a
coup in Rangoon last month.

A statement released on the Internet by the military government said the
radio's report was "heavily spiced with fabrications, exaggerations and
total untruth."

Asked for comment, RFA President Richard Richter said Thursday in
Washington, D.C., "We stand behind the story. It comes from several sources."

Most political analysts in Burma agree that the reason for the government
shuffle was to rid the regime of corrupt generals whose ill-gotten wealth
had become too conspicuous.

Radio Free Asia, funded by the U.S. government, is popular inside Burma,
where newspapers are controlled by the military government.

Burma's military government has been condemned by the United Nations and
most Western countries for it suppression of the democracy movement led by
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, for human rights violations and
for alleged failure to fight the drug trade.

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

BKK POST: US CONDEMNS GOVERNMENTS ACROSS ASIA
1 February, 1998

BUT ACCEPTS POSITIVE CHANGES IN CHINA

WASHINGTON, AFP - 
The United States blasted authoritarian regimes across Asia,
condemning rulers in Burma, Indonesia and Cambodia for human
rights abuses, but accepting some improvements in China.

In its annual report on human rights worldwide for 1997 released
on Friday, the State Department said there was growing tolerance
in China, although abuses were widespread and well-documented.

It showed a different tone from last year when Beijing was
blasted for crushing dissent. China's repression had not extended
into Hong Kong, the former British colony handed back to Beijing
in July last year. '

Nevertheless the report was strongly critical of China.

"The government continued to commit widespread and
well-documented human rights abuses ... (including) torture, and
mistreatment of prisoners forced confessions, and arbitrary
arrest and lengthy incommunicado detention."

It also slammed "repressive" policies in Tibet, saying these
"risk undermining Tibet's unique cultural linguistic; and
religious heritage.

Overall, the report said, 1997 was another year in which "strong
authoritarian governments in many parts of the world kept
themselves in power through systematic abuse of the human rights
of their citizens. The dismal scenario is  all too familiar."

Across the rest of Asia a string of regimes were slammed for
rights abuses, repression and corruption.

In Burma, the United States said the ruling military junta had
changed its name-from the State Law and Order Restoration Council
to the State Peace and Development Council-but not its ways.

"Security forces continued to commit extrajudicial killings,
beatings and rape. The Government continued its restrictions on
basic rights of free speech, the press, assembly, association and
privacy," it said.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) was constantly
harassed, with restrictions tightened on its leader Aung San Suu
Kyi especially.

In Indonesia the 450,000-strong armed forces were being used
primarily to uphold an authoritarian regime, it said.

Despite a surface adherence to democratic reforms, the Indonesian
political system remains strongly authoritarian," the report
said. "Pervasive corruption remains a problem."

The State Department's harsh words are likely to provide
ammunition for critics of international efforts to strengthen
Indonesia's troubled economy.

East Timor, the troubled former Portuguese colony, again
witnessed torture and killings.

"Credible sources confirmed several deaths in detention in East
Timor during the year," it said.

Cambodia, which saw one of its two co-prime ministers ousted in a
coup last July, took little action against the myriad rights
abuses in the country.

"The human rights situation deteriorated markedly during and
after the July fighting," when first prime minister Prince
Norodom Ranariddh was ousted, it said.

Forces loyal to victorious Second Prime Minister Hun Sen had then
launched a "campaign of fear and political intimidation" seeking
out supporters of the prince "some of whom they executed and
others they detained," it added.

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

BKK POST: GOVERNMENT SLASHES AID TO RANGOON
30 January, 1998
by Saritdet Marukatat

Thailand will continue to support existing assistance for
projects in Burma, but discourage any new undertakings due to a
budget squeeze that has slashed aid for Rangoon by half, a senior
official said.

Sumathee Srisuchart, deputy director-general of the Department of
Technical and Economic Cooperation, during a visit to Rangoon
last week, assured Burma of continued backing for technical
cooperation plans already committed to by Thailand.

But budget restrictions would bar Thailand from launching new
projects for the Rangoon government, he said on Wednesday.

"But new projects will not be undertaken at least until the next
fiscal budget," Mr Sumathee told the Bangkok Post. 
     
His visit was mainly aimed at discussing with Burmese officials
how to fully utilise foreign economic and technical assistance.

The department, which handles Thailand's aid to developing
countries, with a priority on its immediate neighbours, has set
aside roughly 20 million baht for projects in Burma this year,
down from 41 million baht in the previous year.

Projects in Burma currently concentrate on agriculture, health
care and education.

The cut resulted from the government's bid to tighten
expenditures to meet International Monetary Fund bail-out
conditions, which require the budget to stay one percent above
the gross domestic product, or at about 69 billion baht.

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

BKK POST: A REVOLUTIONARY EDUCATION
30 January, 1998 
by Peter Weeks And Jennifer Lipman

BURMA: THE CHILDREN OF BURMESE REFUGEES IN THAILAND ARE TAUGHT THE
IMPORTANCE OF DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS TO PREPARE THEM TO CONTINUE THE
STRUGGLE STARTED BY THEIR PARENTS

STORY AND PICTURES:
PETER WEEKS AND JENNIFER LIPMAN

The moment the sound of the school bell is heard above the din of
the Mae Sariang jungle, the children of a small Burmese refugee
camp disappear.

Five-year-old December, running late with her morning chore of
sweeping leaves from the dirt pavement around her home, drops her
broom mid-swing. There is no time for hesitation. For the 40
children of the camp, the school day has begun.

December was born in a jungle camp in Mae Sariang district of Mae
Hong Son, Thailand's northernmost province, five years ago; four
years after her mother, Aye Aye Kheing, joined tens of thousands
of fleeing students and workers escaping to the safety of the
Thai border when the Burmese military junta brutally put down
pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988.

The vivacious little girl carries a heavy burden on her
shoulders. The parents in the camp hope December and her
classmates will carry the "revolutionary period to its
conclusion"-the acceptance of democracy and respect for human
rights in her home, Burma.

Elsewhere in the camp, the former university students who are now
approaching their mid-30s, stop to discuss the latest report on
the BBC's world service or hurriedly prepare to record their own
radio programme for the Norwegian-based Democratic Voice of
Burma.

Almost ten years after the students formed the All Burma
Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) an army of students and
workers -talk around the camp has changed from the need for armed
insurrection to a more peaceful aim.

Recognising the need to unite the divided country if change is to
be lasting, their new call is for meaningful tripartite dialogue
between the ruling junta, recently renamed' the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), the National League for Democracy led
by Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The passion and idealism that first led them to peacefully but
publicly confront one of the world's most brutal military
dictatorships remains as fresh as the memory of their slain
comrades who littered the streets of Burma nine years ago. 
     
But after the hard years in the jungle battling not only the
Burmese military but also the ever-constant threat of malaria and
other tropical diseases - there is no room for the naivety that
absorbs 18-year-old student radicals elsewhere around the world.

"We have come to the conclusion that there is no solution in the
short term. Human rights and democracy will be achieved only in
the long term," says Secretary One of ABSDF's Central Committee,
Sai Myant Thu.

"December and the other children will be the next generation of
revolutionaries. It is our responsibility and duty to educate
them for the future. If people cannot read and write, they cannot
understand democracy and human rights."

It is a duty which the organisation takes seriously.

Burma once boasted one of the highest literacy rates in Asia, but
after 30 years of civil war and dictatorship, the education
system is in tatters.

Although compulsory, almost 40 percent of children never attend
school and almost three-quarters fail to complete five years of
primary education, according to a US State Department report on
human rights. It cites Burmese government data which reveals that
education's share of the country's operating expenditures
continued to decline to 12 percent in 1994-95.

The Burmese military junta periodically close schools and
universities when discontent grows too loud. It only re-opened
the nation's schools in the middle of August last year after it
closed them the previous December as part of a massive crackdown
after student-led  demonstrations.

The  universities; and colleges, long viewed as a bastion of
pro-democracy forces opposed to the junta, have not re-opened and
the newly renamed SPDC is now considering moving the epicentre of
student discontent, the Rangoon Institute of Technology, to the
city's fringes, away from their supporters at Rangoon University
and away from the majority of citizens.

The principal of  ABSDF's primary school at the refugee camp
headquarters in Mae Hong Son, Kyaw Ning, says in a country where
children have to work so their families can live, it is mostly
the offspring of the Burmese privileged who receive a decent
education.

Orphans and children of ordinary citizens fear school, he says.
Reports of school children being kidnapped and forced to work as
porters during military actions are widespread.

In the jungle camp, inaccessible except by four-wheel drive,
education is relished. At dusk, when the family has been fed and
washed, parents sit with their children around a candle in their
open-air bamboo huts as the youngsters complete the day's
homework.

The subjects of their studies are comparable to those in any
western country, as is the method of education. As many
governments in the region are just starting to question the
benefits of rote learning where students are simply fed facts,
the Burmese students' schools long ago adopted  modern teaching
methods which encourage independent thought and innovation.

By the end of the first year of school, the camp's children can
speak basic English as well as their Burmese mother tongue, and
will have been introduced to the concepts of science,
mathematics, history and geography.

"We promote awareness of the importance of education which we
think is important for democracy and human rights," says
Secretary One Sai Myant Thu. "After all, these children could be
the leaders of the new Burma, we have to look out for the*
future."

ABSDF controls three refugee camps on the north-western Thai
border. Like any quasi-government, there are departments for
everything from foreign affairs to supplies and propaganda. But
by far the largest is the education department which not only
serves the 106 children in the three camps on the Thai border but
also the hundreds of adults living there. The children's
education, however, takes precedent. 
     
"If they improve their education, it will never be forgotten.
This, I think, is how you become a developed country and maybe
one day they will help to develop our country when we return,"
the primary school principal Kyaw Ning says.

"We have big problems because of the unstable situation we live
in. We don't have textbooks for the students, only one for each
teacher. It makes it very difficult but it is worth it. I decided
to become a teacher because it is one way I can help my country."

The 15 teachers in the ABSDF camp have all completed teacher
training courses organised by nongovernmental organisations and
use the same curriculum as the Burmese education system with some
crucial changes.

"Subjects like maths are the same, but for geography and history
we make some changes. The military dictatorship has renamed the
country and many cities and towns, we do not recognise these
changes. En history in Burma, you are told the military has saved
the country and. you can depend on them. That is simply not
true," Sai Myant Thu said.

"In our school, the children are made aware of the struggle and
the true history of Burma. Our education system would like to
produce democratic revolutionaries. If the children understand
democracy and the military dictatorship, then they can love
democracy and human rights whether they are 10 years old or 50
years old."

The lack of textbooks means great - emphasis is placed on oral
traditions of  teaching, particularly song. In the ;.hands of the
Burmese students, such  old and innocuous standards as John
Denver's Take Me Home Country Road take on a revolutionary
meaning. The lyrics from other western songs from the same era
are taken and rewritten to tell' the children of their country's,
and their parent's struggle for human rights.
     
"They understand why they are living in the jungle," one parent
told the Bangkok Post. "But it is sad they have never seen their
home." Occasionally they can sneak a peak at Burma from across
the Salween River, but they dare  not cross it for fear they will
be shot.

"It is hard for them," said Secretary One Sai Myant Thu.
"Sometimes they go into town (Mae Sariang) to help get supplies
and they see their aunt or uncle get arrested because they are
Burmese. We have to explain to them that we stay in Thailand but
we are Burmese.

"They ask why they can't live in Thailand and we tell them it is
not our motherland. We must explain this. They know about the
1988 demonstrations and who our enemy is. Most of the children
have experienced attacks by Slorc.

"They are familiar with the sounds of mortars, so we explain the
situation and our struggle and the principles of democracy and
human rights."

The use of the plural we is not accidental. In the camp, where
families  are on one side and  single men and women on the other,
the singles regularly cross over to play a game of takraw -
similar to volleyball but using any part of the body except the
arms, and played with a woven bamboo ball with the children or
explain a logarithm.

The ABSDF headquarters was forced to move to its new site west of
Mae Sariang in 1996 after the old headquarters inside Burma was
overrun by the military junta following the student
organisation's attempt to broker a peaceful settlement to a split
within the ethnic Karen National Union army which was also
fighting the Slorc.

The ABSDF is reliant on a handful of non-governmental
organisations which provide funding for food and health to
varying amounts every year. The money is spread across 1,700
people in refugee camps on Burma's three borders with Thailand,
Bangladesh and China. Once divided, it allows for 70 baht per
person per month for food. That buys only two daily bowls of
"refugee rice", the poorest of poor quality grain. Supplements,
as they are called, are provided by the students themselves.

Bush chickens run freely around the camp and vegetable gardens
criss-cross the open spaces which have been hacked out of the
jungle. Crudely laid plastic irrigation pipes bring water to the
plots from the stream further down the hill. But their attempt to
establish a relatively stable life on the Thai side of the border
after the Slorc attack has come to  nought. 

The Thai government announced mid-January it would finally crack
down on illegal logging along the Salween River and would
forcibly relocate up to 12,000 Burmese refugees, including the
ABSDF camps, to the Sop Moei district, also in Mae Hong Son
province.

The refugees believe it is unsafe for them to go back to camps
which were previously overrun by the Burmese military and are
resisting the Thai authorities' plan to move them. A deadline has
been set for February 12 and a confrontation seems inevitable. 
     
When the thousands of students in their late teens and early
twenties arrived in the jungle in 1988, most had no prior
knowledge of life outside a city.

They relied on supportive peasants and ethnic groups fighting the
pre-Slorc junta to teach them how to build a base entirely from
materials found in the jungle.

Today, the 30-odd buildings at ABSDF headquarters, including a
basic sound studio for recording radio programmes, are made only
of bamboo tied together with vines. 
     
But it is far from idyllic. There is at least one case of malaria
in the camp each month. "We're used to it," they say
dismissively. 

Tuberculosis is another problem. In December last year, 56  Karen
refugees from Sho Klo camp, south of ABSDF headquarters were
hospitalised with the contagious disease. 
 
"It is a hard life, but we cannot  go back until we win," says
Secretary One Sai Myant Thu. "We cannot go back and take our
children until we have human rights and democracy in Burma."

When December passes the yearly  exams and graduates from primary
school, she could be transferred to one of the other ABSDF camps
to attend secondary school, but more likely, the camp will
establish its own secondary school as the  children grow older.

If December then' wants to get a university  degree, it will be
beyond the capabilities; of the ABSDF and she must throw herself
on the political whims of governments like Australia or the
United States to win some form; of assistance and- a safe place
to live.

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

AP: JUDGE REFUSES TO REMOVE UNOCAL
30 January, 1998

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal judge has rejected a request by civil rights
lawyers to remove oil company Unocal from a $1.2 billion pipeline project
in Burma. 

In a ruling from the bench this week, U.S. District Judge Richard Paez said
opponents of Unocal's involvement had not shown that barring the company's
participation would stop the human rights abuses claimed in the lawsuit. 

He denied a preliminary injunction that would have ordered Unocal off the
project until a trial of the suit. 

``It's a significant result,'' said Edwin Woodsome, a lawyer for Unocal,
based in El Segundo, Calif. But he said opponents could seek another
injunction later in the case. 

Unocal is the largest U.S. investor in the South Asian nation. It is a partner
with the Burmese government in the pipeline being built from Burma to
Thailand. 

President Clinton imposed trade and economic sanctions on Burma last April,
barring new U.S. business there because of the military government's
repression of the country's democracy movement and its failure to curb drug
trafficking. The ban does not affect existing investments. 

The suit against Unocal alleges that the military government is forcing
workers into slave labor and destroying villages in the path of the pipeline.
It also says soldiers overseeing the project have raped and tortured scores of
peasants. 

Unocal denies knowing anything about such abuses and says it has monitored
payments to workers and settlements of land claims. The company says it is
merely an investor with a 28 percent share of the project and not an active
manager. It also contends U.S. courts lack jurisdiction. 

Paez refused to dismiss the suit last March, saying the company could be
held responsible under U.S. and international laws for abuse by a foreign
partner. He reaffirmed his decision after consulting with the State
Department, which said it had no objection to the suit. 

The suit was filed on behalf of thousands of peasants in the path of the
pipeline. 

Anne Richardson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, expressed confidence Friday
that during the trial, ``we believe we will be able to show that the project
probably could not go on without Unocal's critical support.'' 

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

THE AUSTRALIAN: THAIS CLOSE DOWN LONG-NECK HUMAN ZOO
29 January, 1998
by Andrew Drummond in Bangkok

The Thai Government has ordered the immediate closure of a slave
labour camp where kidnapped Burmese long-necked women have been
forced to perform for tourists.

A report by Ladawan Wongsiwong, deputy secretary-general in the
office of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, calls for the
prosecution of those running what is effectively a human zoo.

Ms Ladawan is also pressing for a police inquiry into two
reported deaths at the camp in Thaton, near Mai Ai, in Chiang
Mai province, on the Thai-Burmese border and an investigation
into links between the camp owners and local government and
police officials.

Childrens as young as five from the Padaung hill tribes,
kidnapped from deep inside Burma and taken to the camp, were
forced to perform for tourists, guarded by men armed with guns
and knives.

They did not know where they had been taken. There were no
schools or medical facilities. When Thai government officials
called they had to bring in medicine for a 67-year old woman
suffering from a high fever, whose job was to look "ethnic" and
weave, according to Ms Ladawan.

They also found a woman, eight months pregnant, who had received
no medical attention but still had to dance for tourists.

Ms Ladawan said: "The important thing now is to get these people
out".

Official confirmation of the existence of the tourist laobur
camp, owned by businessman Thana Nakluang, comes two months
after London's The Times newspaper reported that the Padaung
women were beaten if they tried to appeal to foreign tourists.

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes the allegations
seriously. After a confrontation in Thaton between Ms Ladaawan,
who had her own bodyguards, and guards employed by Mr Thana, the
government officials were allowed in.

Ms Ladawan said: "At first the Padaung were reluctant to talk.
There were guards following us with walkie-talkies and the
Padaung made gestures and spoke in their own language saying
they had been forbidden [to speak]. But when we made the guards
back off, they opened up. All the people we spoke to wanted to
go back to Burma. Conditions in the camp were very bad, and the
guards were threatening.

Last year the 34 Padaung people, more than 20 of whom were
children, left their homes near Loikaw, capital of the Burmese
State of Kayah. They had been told that their relatives were
calling for them to join them in refugee camps near Mae Hong Son
in nothern Thailand, where they would be unmolested by the
Burmese military.

Instead, when they arrived at the Thai border they were taken by
truck to Thaton.

At Thaton, they were given bamboo to build their own houses and
told that they were now to work for Mr Thana. At the camp they
were threatened and the women were beaten and slapped.


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

THE NATION: CHETTHA IN EFFORT TO END DISPUTE
1 February, 1998

THREAT: TERRITORIAL CLASH WITH BURMA POSSIBLE.

ARMY Commander in Chief Gen Chettha Thanajaro, seeking to defuse
a possible armed clash with Burmese troops over a territorial
dispute in the Moei River, yesterday called for the mutual
withdrawal of troops from two disputed islets in the river to
pave the way for negotiations.

The call came as the Burmese army unit in Myawaddy, opposite
Tak's Mae Sot district, threatened to move troops onto  Koh 
Manao in answer to Thai military occupation of the islet earlier
this week.

Burmese troops were reportedly stationed 30 metres away from the
Thai occupied point on Koh Manao.

The local Thai-Burmese border coordinating committee has been
trying to  defuse the rising tension.
     
Col Chatpatr Yaemngamreap, commander of Tak's 42nd Special Task
Force, and Thai border coordinating committee chief Lt Col
Jirawat Wongsariyanarong spent yesterday trying to contact 275th 
Burmese Infantry Battalion commander Lt Col Saypone without
receiving a reply from the Burmese until the evening. The results
of the discussion are not yet known.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Chettha admitted that the
situation is deteriorating. Thailand and Burma have had various
disputes over the shifting Moei River border, the latest coming
over Koh Khok Chang  Puek another islet located between Mae Sor
and Myawaddi.

Yesterday's heightened tension was sparked by the Third Regional
Army's dispatch of 60 soldiers to occupy Koh Manao to protest
Burma's continued violation of an agreement reached last year not
to disturb Koh Khok Chang Puek while legal teams negotiate a
settlement of the dispute.

The Burmese responded by sending 16 soldiers to the islet.

Chettha said both sides must exercise self-restraint and respect
the legal principles and bilateral treaties governing the
frontier between the two countries.

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

BKK POST: THAI PLANE UNDER SMALL ARMS FIRE
30 January, 1998

Tak: A Thai aircraft came under small arms fire, possibly from
Burmese troops, as it was flying in Thai airspace near the
Burmese border in Mae Sot yesterday.

An Aviation Department source said Burmese soldiers on a disputed
islet opened fire with small arms at the two-engine light plane
over Wat Prathat Khok Chang Phuak in Ban Mae Tao, Tambon
Thasailuad. They missed.

Fourth Infantry Regiment Task Force commander Col Chatchapat
Yamngarmriab immediately ordered an investigation. 

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

BKK POST: SIX ALLEGED BURMA DRUG RUNNERS KILLED
30 January, 1998
AFP

Rangoon - Six alleged drug traffickers were killed in a shoot-out between a
Burmese military patrol and a narcotics gang in north-eastern Shan state,
officials said yesterday.

A massive 122 kg of heroin and 75 kg of opium were seized in the raid on
Sunday, while two mobile refineries used to transform opium into heroin
were found, a statement said. 

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

BURMESE WOMEN UNION: STATEMENT OF FIRST CONFERENCE OF THE BURMESE WOMEN UNION 
29 January, 1998

With the aim of improving the status of women in Burma regardless of
ethnicity, Burmese Women Union (BWU) was founded on January 7, 1995 and it
Central organizing Committee has been working and organizing to fulfill its
aim. While BWU is mainly based on female students who fled from Burma with
various aims after the 1988 people uprising, it is also organizing ethnic
women along the borders of Burma and expatriate women from Burma in abroad.
It has been implementing its functions and objective of improving the
status of women from Burma within last three years.

The First Conference of BWU was held between January 24-26, 1998 at the
liberate area. Altogether 29 representatives both from the border camps and
overseas took part in the conference. The constitution of the BWU was
successfully drown and concrete aims, objectives and working plans were
adopted during the conference.

In order to forge ahead to the developing and internationally accepted
status of women in modern world from the deteriorating status of the women
of all ethnicity in Burma, it is essential to overthrow the repressive
military dictatorship in Burma. Democracy and human can not be prevailed in
Burma until the military dictatorship is overthrown. The BWU strongly
believes that it is impossible women rights be respected while there is a
lack of democracy and fundamental human rights in Nation. With this strong
belief, the conference unanimously calls on the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) the following demands for the political changes in Burma. 

(1) Towards a peace in Burma, to transfer the power to the winning political
party of the 1990 election. 
(2) to allow freedom of women associations.
(3) to unconditionally release the political prisoners including the female
political prisoners.
(4) to hold the tripartite dialogue meeting for internal peace called by the
democratic forces and ethnic forces of Burma. 

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

NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (Perspectives): MYANMAR WOMEN'S ROLE ENHANCED
19 January, 1998

Myanmar women have always enjoyed equal rights in the family, rights to
education and to profess the religion of their choice and rights to free
expression all along history.

They have played their part in development of society without confining
themselves to their homes and they proved to be an able and qualified force
in Myanmar way of life throughout history.  They did so starting from
struggles for national independence to nation-building endeavours, sharing
responsibilities with men.

At the recent Work Coordination Meeting 1/98 of the Myanmar National
Working Committee for Women's Affairs, Secretary-1 of the State Peace and
Development Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt noted that the Committee, with sound
policy and practical accomplishments, was able to contribute to enhancement
of women's role during its one-and-half-year tenure.

The State Peace and Development Council is working with added momentum for
national development mustering the strength of all available resources
within the country in implementing tasks for national development and
special priority has been paid to furtherance of women's role.

He said Myanmar possesses characteristics different from those of the
Western countries and that it has participated in accord with its tradition
to participate in the international movement in cooperation with
international organizations as a world family member, and in order to
present Myanmar women's full rights to the international forum and
cooperate with others for women's development.

Women in some countries of the West are suffering many forms of
discrimination based on their race, colour and status, and social problems
which are the result of excessive freedom in political, economic and social
sectors, are cropping up.

Myanmar women have no need to demand their rights for they can enjoy these
on equal term with men in society and at the workplace.  They have enjoyed
full rights and this is due to the people's belief in Theravada Buddhism,
social customs, traditions and culture, and customary rules.  The NWCWA is
implementing the Myanmar National Action Plan for the Advancement of Women
in respective sectors nationwide, and has made good headway.

It is essential for all women to oppose and prevent the colonialists'
cohorts' subversive acts abusing women's rights and misusing human rights
as political platform to mislead young Myanmar women, and to strive for
strengthening of women's rights contributing to perpetual flourishing of
Myanmar women's cultured manner, code of conduct and ethics.

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NLD-LIBERATED AREA (YOUTHS): EXTRAORDINARY CONFERENCE STATEMENT
30 January, 1998

1. The extraordinary Conference of National League for Democracy-Liberated
Area (Youths) was successfully held from January 29 to 30, 1998, at a place
in the liberated area, under the aegis of the National Coalition Government
of the Union of Burma and Central Committee of the NLD-LA.

2. We are now at a time when there are developments indicating that an
unusual turn of the political situation is about to take place. This
Conference was held for the purpose of engendering a new generation of
youth leaders, with greater unity, experience and qualification, among the
NLD youths, and laying down necessary programs so that we may better
shoulder our responsibility in the role that we have to play, at the time
of political change, concerning the entire people made up of various ethnic
nationalities. 

3. The delegates attending the Conference, after discussing freely and
frankly about the prevailing political, economic and social situations, and
situation of the youths, in Burma, laid down future programs and adopted
the following decisions.

* We, the participants of the Conference, gravely demand the SPDC to
coordinate for the emergence of a tripartite dialogue - comprising of the
authorities, democratic forces and all the ethnic nationalities - on the
complicated issues relating to politics, economy, social situation & etc.
* We seriously demand the SPDC to hold a meeting with the NLD, at the
earliest date, with a view to organizing the tripartite dialogue for
resolving the political crisis facing Burma.
* We earnestly support the decision of NLD, stipulating that Chairman U
Aung Shwe and Gen. Sec. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi shall participate in the
dialogues, since it is in accordance with the right of the NLD to choose
its own representatives with regard to the matter of holding discussions
with the SPDC military authorities.
* We absolutely denounce the SPDC's unfinished National Convention, that
would perpetuate the evil life of the military dictatorship system, and
urge the SPDC to speedily implement the results of the 1990 elections,
which is the true will of the people, and as called for by the UNGA
resolutions.
* We strongly condemn acts of obstruction, restriction and repression
against the legal activities of the NLD, a legally standing political
party, especially the interference against activities of the NLD Gen. Sec.,
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, relating to the organization of the NLD Youths. 
* We vigorously condemn the use of the Union Solidarity Development
Association (USDA), said by the SLORC to be formed for social activities
and into which innocent students and youths had been enlisted by force, as
a tool for obstruction and suppression against activities of the political
opposition, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
* We demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including
members of the NLD Youths, imprisoned or detained.

4. Therefore, we, the NLD-LA (Youths) in congress at this extraordinary
youth Conference, bearing in mind and holding fast to the principles and
programs laid down by the NLD led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, affirm that we
will relentlessly struggle on, together with all the ethnic nationalities
and the entire mass of youths, for the resolution of problems of the
country and the youths, and for the establishment of a genuine multi-party
democratic State.

Youth Extraordinary Conference
National League for Democracy-Liberated area (Youths)
January 30, 1998

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ANNOUNCEMENTS:

GERMAN TOURISM AND ECONOMIC INVOLVEMENT IN BURMA
31 January, 1998 

We are a group of people who are dissatisfied with the actual amount of 
financial transactions going between Myanmar and the Federal Republic of
Germany (FRG) while massive violations of human rights are still going on.
Germany did not only provide the basic small arms used for ethnic
cleansing, the war and forced labour, according to its policy of
constructive engagement German companies investing or providing credits are
secured through a state-owned insurance policy in case the investment
fails.  The ongoing pressure for economic sanctions in countries like the
US created a void in which German companies filter into the market.

Our aim and objective is to start and support the long road to democracy in 
Burma through working for a change in foreign policy and public /
institutional opinion in the FRG towards the 'Tatmandaw'.  In this year
general elections will be held in Germany and part of our campaign will
focus on the participating parties including the ruling conservatives.
There's a good chance that after years of Conservative rule a change occurs
and we consider the field of election as an excellent framework for raising
public questions.

Furthermore we would like to contact newspapers, radio-stations and focus
on the impact of tourism as far as it actually supports a regime notorious
for its human right violations (out of own experience we do not
underestimate the amount of tourists from Germany).  We are also thinking
on providing information and links for Germans visiting Thailand and the
Thai-Burmese border.  Even so that Germans usually speak or understand
English quiet well, we do intent to provide links to groups, NGOs and or
interested other groups on a web page and to provide short German
translations on their most important contents.  We do respect and
understand the importance of copyright for organisations and we are not
interested in adding to eventually already existing problems.  We will
concentrate our attempts on Germany and its responsibility to respect and
follow the European Convention on Human Rights.

We would appreciate any feedback on the subject.  If any organisation is 
unwilling to be named or linked in the webpage we will need to know.
However we do not intend to jeopardise individuals, groups, institutions or
NGOs working on Thai territory with refugees. 

As far as German organisations working on the issue of Burma in the FRG are
concerned, we do not intend to minimise their efforts or to copy ongoing
(?) campaigns.  We are always open for networking and sharing information.
This campaign will be financed through fund-raising in the private sector.

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THE RANGOON POST: PUBLISHING POSTPONED DUE TO FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS
1 February, 1998

Immediate Release 

It gives us a very cruel moment to tell you that The Rangoon Post's
publishing must be postponed temporarily due to financial difficulty. But
the post will resume publishing as soon as the problem is resolved. The
Rangoon Post will be registered as a non-profit corporation and look for
sympathizers of Burma's democracy movements to support for the publication.  

The Rangoon Post, monthly news journal, is designed to inform diplomats,
officials, and businessmen in Asia, Europe, and North America news, human
rights abuses, heroin productions, and growing economic sanctions against
the Burmese regime and to aid for those who do research, study, observe,
and involve in the democracy movements. 

Why the post is needed?
BurmaNet, an online newspaper, has regularly given a huge amount of
information on every corner of Burma's situations to the world since 1994.
But some people do not have Internet access, and some do not even have the
time to hook up the Internet to read the daily news of Burma.  Therefore,
The Rangoon Post, hard-copy news letter, is designated for those who do not
have either the time or the computer to collect information on Burma by
spending lesser times.

As a result, 300 academics, activists, diplomats, journalists, lawmakers, and
students subscribed the paper. The outcome of the publishing was very much
reasonable too. Some went to Thai-Burma border to help the refugees. Some
academics referred to the news from the post. Some journalists directly
quoted from the post. And some Burmese language broadcasting stations such
as VOA, RFA, DVB, and Radio Free Burma, an internet real-audio service,
picked up the news from the post and aired into Burma. 

As soon as the post is resumed, we will move more effectively by
distributing the post directly to the offices of officials, diplomats, and
businessmen throughout the world to educate the Burma's situations and
enacting selective purchasing laws in the states and cities in the United
States against the Burmese regime. 

In short, we would like to apologize to everyone for our temporarily
incapability of distributing the paper. We, with our deep hearts, would like
to request you to help us by supporting financials or logistics.
	 				
Sincerely,
Nyi Nyi Lwin (Editor) 
Philip McCracken, III (Editor)

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