Remembering 1988

Reminiscences & Reflections on 8-8-88

In Their Own Words

Voices Of The Movement
Voices OF '88

A Decade Later

The Uniform And The Longyi
One Week In Rangoon

In Brief

Burma Around The World
Ethnic Views
Voices Of Burma
SPDC Speaks
Business Watch
Inside Washington
Media Resources
Briefings And Developments

Remembering 1988

By Burton Levin

In reflecting on the events of ten years ago, I am reminded how unforeseen they were. When I arrived in Burma in May 1987, Ne Win's rule seemed as firm and as unchallenged as ever. It was a rule that rested on the gun and was buttressed by an extensive network of agents, spies and informers. Ostensibly dedicated to an indigenous form of socialism, the regime had long lost whatever ideological motivation it once may have had. Its sole objective was to maintain itself in power. Toward that end, the military completely dominated the nation's political and economic life. Unlike neighboring Thailand or Indonesia, for example, where the politically powerful military recognized its limitations and relied on civilian technocrats to deal with the complex task of economic management, Burma's leaders kept everything under tight, personal control. They did so because they believed that only military officers were sufficiently patriotic, courageous and virtuous to be entrusted with the nation's fate. They viewed intellectuals as less than manly and tainted by western influences and businessmen as parasites seeking enrichment at the expense of the nation.

The baneful effects of the military's monopolistic control were compounded by the educational and intellectual shortcomings of its ranking members. Through a succession of purges and arrests over the years, Ne Win had cleansed the military of those with courage and intelligence to question his idiosyncratic rule and disastrous policies. Those who remained to advance and prosper were the staunch loyalists, their loyalty cemented by a varying combination of ignorance, fear and a regimen of special privileges which provided the officer corps and their families with a level of material comfort which, though modest by American standards, was far beyond the reach of the overwhelming majority of the Burmese people.

The ravages of governance by swaggering incompetents were readily apparent. A once abundant agrarian economy was reduced to a subsistence level by policies which destroyed the freedoms and incentives that had formerly sustained it. The nation's once huge exports of rice dwindled to almost nothing and living standards spiraled downward. The regime's stubborn unwillingness to explore compromise solutions perpetuated smoldering ethnic conflicts and provided the military a rationale for devouring a large share of dwindling resources. Health, educational and other services were starved of funds. A scarcity of medicines contributed to rising mortality rates, particularly among infants and children.

Burma's suffering went beyond the material. Perhaps even more grievous was the damage inflicted on the human spirit. Though spared ideologically driven efforts to remold society and behavior, the populace lived in a climate of fear. The regime demanded acquiescence and obedience. Utilizing legions of agents and informers, it engaged in unceasing efforts to ferret out the disaffected and imposed harsh punishments on those considered suspect with scant regard for rules of evidence. In this chilling atmosphere, trust was minimal and silence the best course. As a sign of how far this had gone, few Burmese would dare to utter Ne Win's name even in innocent or carefully guarded conversation lest this somehow get back to the authorities as evidence of lese majest.

The combined weight of poverty, repression and the isolation imposed by the xenophobic leadership wreaked havoc on Burma's cultural and intellectual life. The arts, and literature were moribund. Books and serious magazines were scare, of ancient vintage, and prohibitively expensive. Students were confronted by shortages of text books and school supplies. Movies were the most popular form of entertainment and throughout the day theaters were crowded with under-employed and unemployed seeking a few hours respite from their difficult circumstances. (The films were obscure - in more than three years I never ran across a familiar one - and of excruciatingly poor quality.)

Beset by a decaying plant and by rigid controls, the University of Rangoon had sunk into a dispirited third-rate existence. The extent to which fear ruled the campus was brought home by the experience of my vacationing son who was shunned by faculty and staff - as if a carrier of the plague - when he showed up unannounced in the summer of 1987, seeking assistance for an undergraduate paper on the geology of Burma.

The pathetic state of the government monopolized media added to the gloom. The content of the press and television consisted largely of paeans of praise to the military and mind-numbing accounts of Ne Win's inspection tours which invariably ended by noting that Ne Win had provided "proper instructions" to deal with whatever the task at hand. Though the inanities daily encountered in the media provided unintended amusement, they also provided wonderment about a leadership capable of viewing such insults to the intelligence of the Burmese people as beneficial to its interests.

Unlike many third world countries, Burma was blessed with a sizable pool of trained and educated people, the legacy of pre-Ne Win years when higher education standards prevailed, sizable numbers of students had done advanced work abroad and foreign aid donors had supported educational and training programs within Burma. But under Ne Win, this group was shunted aside and rigidly controlled by military officers poorly equipped to deal with civilian responsibilities. Further demoralized by low pay, inadequate program resources, and their own and the nation's bleak prospects, growing numbers of this educated elite sought relief through emigration.

The first cracks in Ne Win's seemingly impregnable position appeared in the wake of the regime's demonetization move in early September, 1987. In keeping with its crude approach to economics, the regime sought to combat inflation and black marketeering by suddenly declaring most of the money in circulation worthless. Notes of small denomination were included and the poor and humble, their meager holdings wiped out, suffered far more grievously than the intended targets. University students, many far from home, found themselves without funds just in the midst of the stressful final exam period. They took to the streets around the University of Rangoon chanting anti-regime slogans and turning over the occasional car. But within a day or so calm returned in what appeared to be yet another demonstration of the Burmese people's considerable capacity for malevolent government.

The tremors which came near to destroying the Ne Win regime in August, 1988, had their origins in a teahouse altercation in the suburbs of Rangoon between college students and local youths over a selection of taped music. Brutal police intervention against the students provoked student demonstrations which in turn were met with further police brutality, resulting in one instance in the death by suffocation of over forty students crammed into a police van.

The courageous determination of the students coupled with the outrageous behavior of the police transformed the public's initial passivity toward the student protests into growing and active support. With memories of the demonetization probably serving as a catalyst, within a few weeks the bottled-up anger of the populace exploded into massive, nation-wide demonstrations against a suddenly vulnerable regime.

Rather than detailing the widely chronicled events that summer, let me recount a few entrenched memories. There was the rise of Aung San Suu Kyi. Coincidentally in Burma to look after a failing mother, her status as the daughter of the nation's founding father provided the initial opening. But it was her courage, charisma and the force and the eloquence of her message that earned her the adulation, bordering on worship, of virtually the entire population and elevated her to the leadership of the anti-regime movement. The Burmese people felt that at long last someone was standing up for their rights.

I met Aung San Suu Kyi a number of times. We had a tacit agreement that it wouldn't be wise to get together too frequently as that would provide fodder for the regime's desperate accusations that she was an American stooge. What came across loudest and clearest in our conversations was her pride in being Burmese and her identification with the nation and the people. Her public references to her father as the founder of Burma's army were made in the course of avowing her affection and respect for that institution. It saddened her that the once popular and respected military was now feared and hated by the people. She harbored the hope that she could work out an arrangement with the leadership that would serve both the interest of the military and the people. As a patriot and as a sensitive human being, she was dedicated to avoiding bloodshed and bringing about change peacefully.

Aung San Suu Kyi gave voice and provided organization to what might have otherwise been an inchoate eruption. She stood and continues to stand as a symbol of the resistance and aspirations of the Burmese people: it is no wonder that the regime so fears her.

Then there was the massive scale of the anti-regime demonstrations and the crowds that gathered to hear Aung San Suu Kyi's speeches. It would not be an exaggeration to speak of the number participating in these activities as cumulatively totaling several times the combined population of Rangoon and Burma's other major urban centers. In tribute to the American government's early expressions of support for the Burmese people's struggle for democracy, the Rangoon demonstrators chose the American Embassy as the focal point for their activities. Processions wound their way past our building and speakers declaimed near the entrance. For veterans of the Foreign Service, it was a rare and comforting experience to witness admiring, rather than hostile, crowds gathered before an American Embassy.

As the demonstrations grew and continued, they attracted more and more components of the regime. Large and organized detachments of the civil service, police, air force and navy, some complete with bands, joined in the anti-regime processions. With its props beginning to crumble, the regime's days appeared to be numbered. Most ominous for the beleaguered leadership was the growing trickle of army personnel into the ranks of the protesters.

The police, navy and air force were regime adjuncts. The army was its core. The dissolution of the army would spell the end of the regime. But for the leadership more was involved than an abdication of power. Their lives may very well have been at stake. By this time the popular mood had turned bitter over the regime's tenacious attempts to cling to undiminished power and the dark efforts of its intelligence organs to discredit and disrupt the opposition movement by a wide range of dirty tricks, including acts of murder. Fear of the vengeance of the people and worry about the steadfastness of their uniformed protectors combined to produced the leadership's decision to resort to massive and lethal force to suppress the uprising. The leadership cited conditions approaching anarchy and the break-down of essential services, including food distribution, as the rationale for this decision. It neither acknowledged, nor probably even recognized, that its mishandling of the situation from start to finish was responsible for bringing the nation to the breaking point.

There was also the horrific casualness with which army units killed their demonstrating compatriots. From the Embassy we could see troops on roofs picking off students ineffectively hiding behind trees, and chasing down and shooting fleeing students as if hunting rabbits. At no time did these unarmed students present a threat. When confronted by the menacing troops they only sought flight. The story subsequently made the rounds that troops involved in the shooting were brought in from outside Rangoon and told they were fighting communist insurgents. Whether true or not, the acts witnessed from the Embassy were little short of murder.

Finally, there was the regime's surprisingly kept promise of fair and free elections and its subsequent tortured rhetoric and actions in weaseling out of accepting the overwhelming electoral victory of the National League for Democracy. I remember the great sense of popular excitement when it became apparent that the NLD had won. Then over the course of the next few weeks the "games" began. Delayed vote counts were followed by a series of arcane procedures which soon made it evident that the regime had no intention of abiding by the results. One strongly suspects that the regime's original willingness to go ahead with elections was predicated on the belief that its puppet party would garner enough support from the countryside to emerge victorious. That the regime misread the situation so badly offered further evidence of its political insensitivity.

The Embassy had been so repelled by the mass killing of early September that for the next several months we avoided contact with the regime at any level. By about February or March of 1988, with Washington's concurrence, I thought that we ought to make an effort to see whether the leadership had learned any lessons from recent events and whether we could exert any influence on the situation. I called on one of the regime's highest ranking officials. Our meeting was set against a backdrop of constant regime propaganda about the "criminals, communists and imperialist agents" who were responsible for the recent uprising.

In this meeting, I spoke of the difficulties and challenges facing Burma. Noting the military's lack of expertise in dealing with the country's problems, particularly those relating to the faltering economy, I suggested that the regime abandon its counterproductive propaganda about the uprising, and instead work to foster a spirit of reconciliation. I urged it to enlist the services of talented Burmese living both in the country and abroad through appeals to patriotism and through concrete measures which would provide evidence of a new, cooperative approach to reconstructing the nation.

I was treated to a 45-minute response which consisted of the same drivel about communists and imperialist agents appearing in the government controlled press. This presentation was the work of someone who reputedly possessed one of the better minds among the leadership. The meeting brought home to me the realization that dialogue with this regime was simply a waste of time.

I will not attempt to predict Burma's future. Fortune telling is a risky business and made more so by my prolonged absence from the country and by the paucity of reliable information on the dynamic within a leadership protected by censorship and cloaked in secrecy. One thing obvious is that the same mix that touched off the tumultuous events of a decade ago is clearly evident today. One can only hope for a peaceful denouement spelling the end to tyrannical rule. As for the role of the United States, we lack leverage to influence developments in any meaningful way. Absent changed circumstances, it would be best for us to remain aloof from the regime as a means of offering encouragement to those within Burma courageously struggling for change and in recognition of the imperviousness of Ne Win and his legatees to outside influence. The argument advanced by some that our interest would be served by working with the regime on the anti-narcotic front is not persuasive. At best this would produce a few more seizures and arrests more impressive for show than for substance.

As Thailand demonstrates, the key to large scale reduction of opium cultivation is the tying of remote areas into the modernizing state by the expansion of a wide range of facilities and services accompanied by more respectful treatment of minority peoples. This scenario is impossible under a regime which has presided over retrogression rather than modernization and which treats even its own ethnic brethren, the Burman majority, so shabbily. There will be no easing of the drug problem for so long as the present regime holds sway.

The case for economic engagement is also not strong, although it would be naive to think that unilateral or limited sanctions would have a significant impact on Burma's subsistence economy. Moreover, it would be well to keep in mind that the regime has used most of the proceeds generated by its convoluted opening of the economy to the outside to double the size of an already bloated military establishment.

Burton Levin served as the U.S. Ambassador to Burma from May 1987 to September 1990. Trained as a Chinese
language and area officer, his other foreign service postings included Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong. He is
currently a visiting professor at Carleton College in Minnesota and also holds the positions of Director of the Mansfield Foundation ,
member of the Council for the John Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, and Director of the China Fund.

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T he following pges features selections from Voices of '88,
a traveling exhibit compiled under the sponsorship of the
Open Society Institute. The exhibit will debut in London
on October 23, and in New York City on Novemeber 20 1998.

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The Uniform And The Longyi
By David Warszaski

Law Number 5/96 prohibits individuals or organizations from "disturbing, destroying, obstructing, inciting, delivering speeches, making oral or written statements and disseminating in order to undermine, belittle and make people misunderstand the functions being carried out by the National Convention for the emergence of a firm and enduring Constitution." Any violation of this Law can result in a penalty of 5 to 20 years in prison. It is this article to which the government press of Burma referred in order to justify the threats, most serious in years, addressed at the leader of Burma's opposition Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The Myanmar government and its people can no longer tolerate the acts of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who ignores the interest of the nation and people", The New Light of Myanmar wrote on June 29th. "Aung San Suu Kyi should take a good lesson from the case of former President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, who was used by the Western bloc, but he did not win public support," the newspaper added. A similar campaign in 1990 had lead to a six-year house arrest of the opposition leader. For the first time, however, the regime media threatened to use physical force. A few days earlier Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had been pushed to the ground when she came outside of her house to intervene with the police, who physically did not allow any of her visitors to enter her house.

Ghost sighting in Myeinigone

Besides the ghost, there is nothing interesting in this Rangoon borough of sloppily built, ugly modern buildings, with here-and-there traditional straw huts, a few market places, a few stores, and unpaved side streets. The ghost has so thrown objects around that the tenants of the haunted house have had to move out. There are crowds of curious people even though this place is a good few miles away from downtown Rangoon. They can't be dispersed by the police and government spooks. "I won't leave here until I see the ghost" - stated a middle aged woman, who arrived on a bike, to a police officer - "I came a long way." There are a lot of police. They fear that the ghost is of a political nature.

Ten years ago, on a nearby crossing, the police were firing at protesters. Dozens of people were killed. According to Buddhist beliefs, ghosts of those killed often reside in the place where they met death, but this is not something one can talk about. So the police do not explain why they want the people out of the area. Nor do the people explain why they won't leave.

No talking. No writing.

In 1989 San San Nweh published a short story entitled "Children Who Play in the Side Streets." In it she describes how she tried to persuade children to stop playing in the dirty side streets and move to a new playground. But the children did not want to go there, for they were afraid of the ghost. Recently, a man had died suddenly in a tea-room around that area. The children argue whether he was wearing a white or a red shirt. This short story was supposed to have been printed in that month's Eit-met-hpu, but it was censored. Pages had to be torn out from the whole monthly edition. The author was jailed for 10 months and was blacklisted. It's hard not to wonder how she dared to be so brave. After all, everyone in Rangoon remembers a young man in a tea-room killed by a stray bullet when the police was firing at students on the streets. And even a child would understand that an argument over the color of the man's shirt is but a allusion to bloodshed. The message of the novel is didactic: regardless of how many playgrounds the junta will build, the phantoms of the past will prevent the nation from using them.

Equally didactic is the fate of the author. Lesson for lesson, as in tit for tat. But San San Nweh kept writing, so in 1995 she ended up back in prison, this time sentenced for 10 years, not months. The sentence turned out to be mild: in April this year another San San, a leading opposition figure, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a radio interview in which she criticized the junta.

The few tourists who visit Burma have no idea about all this. They are attracted by the exotic and touristically unexplored reputation of the country. But before they land in Rangoon, they can find out a few things about what is going on. In the airplane from Bangkok, the stewardesses collect the newspapers before landing. They explain that these will be needed by the passengers on the return trip to Bangkok. Next to me a surprised Englishman does not want to surrender his Bangkok Post, an English-language Thai daily. He explains that he hasn't finished yet. The stewardess replies that he won't have enough time since we were about to land. But he would finish in his hotel. She instructs him to be considerate of other passengers. Finally, resigned, he gives up the paper. And I think about Burmese cleaning ladies, who in Rangoon will enter aboard the Thai aircraft, and might leave with the plague: an uncensored newspaper. A few days later, on the same flight back to Bangkok, we receive neatly folded newspapers. They did not seem to have been touched by anyone.

The Uniform Inspects, Receives, And Instructs

Humidity crushes you like a hot and damp eidredown. It sticks to the skin, glues to the hair, and putties up the lungs. In midair, a fine mist changes into steam before it reaches the ground. Mud on the street splashes and fumes with vapor. Monsoon season. Pages of The New Light of Myanmar nearly dissolve between sweaty fingers. The front page has a picture of someone in a uniform speaking to a focused audience. His identity is irrelevant. A similar picture will appear tomorrow and the next day, and forever. The Uniform speaks. You listen.

The news items let one know the Uniform's whereabouts. "Yangon, 20 June. Chairman of Yangon Division Peace and Development Council Commander of Yangon Command Maj-Gen Khin Maung Than today inspected No 1 Livestock Breeding Farm of Yangon Command and monsoon paddy fields being ploughed by farmers in Mingaladon Township and Tatmadaw-men [soldiers] of battalions and units. This morning he first inspected poultry farms of No 1 Livestock Breeding Farm and gave instructions on meeting the set target and minimizing loss and wastage." This text will suffice. All others come under the same stamp: The Uniform conducted an inspection, visited or received. He then explained, suggested, ordered. Sometimes in the latter part of the articles, there is a mention of others who were there or what they said. This is all.

Normally the Uniform is not fully cited. That would be superfluous. Everyday the front page of The New Light of Myanmar, right under the masthead, a frame lists the Four Political Goals, Four Economic Goals and Four Social Goals. They carry no signature. There is no need. It is enough to look at the front page pictures. Sports and weather are missing from the last page, they have been shoved into the central sections. The last page also has Uniforms. Instead of the Four Goals, we have the framed People's Desire: "Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative views. Oppose those trying to jeopardize stability of the State and progress of the nation. Oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State. Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy."

The Goals and Desires are printed on the first and last page every Burmese newspaper and journal. In every issue. They are repeated by TV and radio after every news program. They appear on billboards in key areas of the city, in English and Burmese. From the ones in English, the world learns what the Burmese people desire. From those in Burmese, the people themselves learn what their desires are. George Orwell, as I recall, started as a colonial functionary here, in Burma.

The Burmese road to Socialism

The billboard next to Aung San Suu Kyi's house is in English. It is placed near a bus stop, at which no bus has stopped for years. The entire lane next to her house has been closed to traffic. A few civilians and a Uniform sit at the bus stop. Checkpoint.

Aung San Suu Kyi was two when in 1947 her father Gen. Aung San, creator of independent Burma, was killed in a still unexplained attack. His widow continued to be politically active, so Aung San Suu Kyi grew up in a house full of politics, guests and foreigners visiting Burma. Everything ended in 1962 when the Uniforms, under general Ne Win, her father's former comrade-in-arms, took over. Ne Win - the name, which he assumed as a partisan, means "bright as the sun" - led the nation on the "Burmese Road to Socialism."

The Constitution was abolished, the opposition jailed, the economy nationalized. Student protests were crushed with force. The authorities deflected social discontent toward the foreigners as sources of all evil. Guerrilla movements of the national minorities, especially the Karen and the Shan, took to the jungle once again, fighting for the autonomy promised them at independence. In the cities, anti-Chinese and anti-Hindu riots killed dozens of people. By the end of the 60's, over a quarter million "foreigners" had left Burma. Only the authorities benefited from their plight. But the authorities tried hard. They nationalized trade and introduced People's Stores, in which everyone could get a little bit of rice for food-stamps. They canceled 50 and 100 kyat bills to strike at "profiteers and blood-suckers," and introduced 45 and 90 kyat bills, because Ne Win's astrologers told him that 9 was his lucky number.

The army's iron fist crushed student demonstrations and peasant revolts. But astrologers forecasted that "on the day of the four eights" Burma will once again be free. Student protests and strikes went on since the spring of 1988. In June, Ne Win resigned. On August 8, 1988, (the four eights), hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets. Students of Rangoon's universities were the most active participants of the democracy movement, and suffered the most casualties when finally the army opened fire. More than three thousand people were killed that summer, thousands of others fled to the jungle, took up weapons. But public meetings organized by the newly formed National League for Democracy still drew crowds. Half a million people gathered around the capital's Shwedagon pagoda, to hear Aung San Suu Kyi, the secretary-general of the League. Unable to control the situation, the military carried out another coup d'état.

The new State Law and Order Restoration Council announced that free elections would be held. Proving its patriotic and national roots, it changed the name of the country from Burma to the supposedly more linguistically correct Myanmar, and that of the capital from Rangoon to Yangon. Signs of fighting were removed and the restoration of a free-market economy announced. The opposition was once again jailed, so that it would not interfere in "the work of national reconsolidation." In 1989 Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest. It was to last six years.

Free elections, however, took place as announced. The military was certain of victory. Had they not, after all, given people the opportunity to make money, built new roads, paved the old ones? They could not understand why, in May 1990, the League got 392 of 485 seats in Parliament, and representatives of national minorities hostile to the junta - another 65. They could not accept such a parliament, so they announced that parliament could not meet until a new constitution was adopted. The constitution was to be drafted by a SLORC-appointed National Convention. It is still working at it.

Aung San Suu Kyi and the League keep on repeating that the country should be run by the Parliament, duly elected in 1990. They endlessly reiterate they are against violence and renounce revenge. In 1991 the leader of the League received the Noble Peace Prize, and was released from her house arrest four years later. Meanwhile, one-third of the League's MPs were killed, arrested, or forced to emigrate or resign. Punitive expeditions of the army finally broke down the guerrilla, both of the minorities and of the Students Army, set up after the massacres of 1988.

The League stubbornly reminds, that the will of the voters has to be recognized first, and only then can negotiations start. The Army replies - if it ever does - that there is nothing to negotiate about. The tenth anniversary of the bloody suppression of the "day of four eights" demonstrations is near. The League demands that the authorities convene Parliament no later than August 21.

Curfew in front of the "Vetolady's" house

The authorities have rejected the League's demand. They demanded instead that, as "a measure of riot prevention," provincial NLD activists of the party report daily to police precincts. Rumors soon had it that the capital's Insein prison had already prepared a solitary cell for a "certain lady." The hate campaign against the daughter of the architect of Burmese independence - avenues, parks and plazas across the country are named after him - has been going on for years. Government media condemned her for "having, in disregard of her bloodline, given her body to a foreigner." Her husband is English. For many years, he and his sons have been banned from entering Burma. The authorities hope that this way they will force the leader of the League to leave the country.

"There are five virtues of women which include the virtue of fair complexion, that of hair and that of prime of life" writes Kaythayi (Burmese often have only one name) in The New Light of Myanmar on June 17. We have kept the author's original wording, spelling and punctuation. "Myanmar women traditionally apply Thanakha [a vegetable extract] on the body to preserve the prime of life. The Vetolady [term used by the regime media to designate Suu Kyi] was used to applying the exotic make-up since she had been abroad for a long time and married to a foreigner. She is now trying to make herself like a Myanmar woman. But it will not do. Virtues of a Myanmar woman in her have diluted. So, she will suffer allergic [sic]if she tries to apply Thanakha on her body. So, she has to use the exotic make-up only. As far as Myanmar Women are concerned they have no problem in using Thanakha. Prompted by instigations from outside and flattery from inside the country, the Vetolady thought herself to be a Myanmar Woman democracy leader but Myanmar traditional cosmetic, Thanakha, has proved that she does not have Myanmar complexion any longer."

I'm approaching the house of the woman who "does not have Myanmar complexion any more." The entire checkpoint blocks my way. They check and write down my ID, make photos of me, and then the Uniform instructs me to leave "for security reasons." "State policy" he adds. He genially suggests I should try again some time later. Next day. Or next week.

I explain that I have an appointment and that it would be rude of me not to show up. I ask for the legal basis of their blocking my way. I remind them that Aung San Suu Kyi is no longer under house arrest. I demand to talk to their superior officer. They stand firm. Suddenly one of the civilians gets a fresh idea. "Curfew!" - he shouts out. Now all, very contented, repeat "Curfew! Curfew!" Around us, the city is vibrant with life. The curfew obviously applies to this checkpoint only. I will have to meet the woman "who no longer has Myanmar complexion" at another, fallback address.

Every success, every failure

"How much longer will the West delay intervention in Kosovo?" Aung San Suu Kyi asks almost immediately after entering the house. "As long as in Bosnia? Don't they realize what a threat Serb militarism is? Not an armed threat, mind you, but a political one, to the very principles of democracy. Pacifism is the only intellectually rationalized position, don't you agree?"
I am at a loss for words. This woman has been a prisoner for years, she can't leave the country, and sometimes even her house. She is a leader of a persecuted political party, and wages a risky game with a military dictatorship, and still has time to worry about Kosovo?

"When I was under house arrest I would listen all day to the radio. I followed the struggle of democratic movements world-wide. I felt that every success of democracy is our success as well, and every failure is also our failure. I intensely observed what was happening in Poland, the first presidential elections, the split in "Solidarity." It's a pity it ended that way."

Splits occur also in the League. The military successfully takes advantage of fears, ambitions, and jealousies. So far, no one has seriously questioned the authority of the party leadership, or the validity of basic political demands. Nor does anyone know how to convince the military to negotiate. Aung San Suu Kyi talks about the similarities between the military government of Burma and Communism in Eastern Europe. She is incredibly well read, she cites Ludvik Vaculik and Timothy Garten-Ash. Then the conversation becomes more nuts-and-bolts: how did we manage to print the underground press, how did we organize independent education.

"I find the Serb fascination with the uniform, with military honor, fascinating. The military all around the world are very sensitive about their honor. This military honor is obviously something extremely fragile. At the same time, killing is the only thing that counts in war, and there is no honor in that." Maybe the fact that the opposition leader is a woman is one of the reasons it is so difficult for the military to sit down and negotiate. Negotiate with a woman? That would be an insult to the Uniform. The military tried talks with the League without her, unsuccessfully. The executive committee of the League voted that its secretary general must be present at all political talks.

"But we have to admit that we are all sensitive to the magic of the uniform. We in the League also have a sort of 'dress code': homespun beige jackets. When in May this year the military unexpectedly allowed the League to hold a congress, the delegates said that on sight of their jackets, the bystanders showed them thumbs up for support and smiled."

The Growing Fury

The opposition looks for different methods which allow people to safely manifest their support. Since Aung San Suu Kyi always wears flowers in her hair, it was proposed that such style be a sign of political support. But after some thought the idea was rejected: it would seem as if the League is trying to appropriate innocent and nonpolitical behavior. In the Polish opposition of the Eighties, many people took to carrying electric resistors - small cylinders with two wires at each end - pinned to their clothes, as a symbol of their political resistance. No one has yet come up with the idea of what a Burmese version of the resistor could be.

"The League is in a difficult position. We went through a couple of painful selection processes: first in 1988, when tens of thousands of people came out on the streets, but then the army opened fire. That frightened a lot of people. They backed out of political life. The second, happened the following year, when the chairman of the League Tin Oo [a former Chief of Staff turned dissident] and myself were placed under house arrest. People realized that no one could feel safe. The third selection took place when the army refused to recognize the results of the free election of 1990 and started mass arrests. The fourth - in 1995 when the League leadership was released from house arrest, but the League itself was soon after expelled from the National Convention the authorities had set up. Vexations, arrests, and torture still continue. And the worst thing, when you learn about new arrests."

On my way back from Burma, I stopped in Chiang-Mai in northern Thailand, where the main Burmese emigre organizations have their headquarters. The border, and what is left of guerrilla units, are but a few miles away. But the army has signed separate ceasefire agreements with almost all guerrilla organizations, and now controls the entire territory of Burma.

The guerrilla organizations, though not a part of the League, recognize its authority. They only demand that their delegates participate in any future talks with the government. Before that happens, the former guerrillas look for ways in which to continue the struggle, this time without the use of force. "We would cross the border and secretly meet with activists who remained in the country," one of them told me. "We would sit together in a room and wonder. Wonder who of us is an agent."

"Right after the coup d'Žtat, a new class of the very rich, who had profited from the transition to the market, appeared almost overnight. Burma had always been rather egalitarian; even in the past our villages weren't as poor and our rulers as rich as in India or China. And in colonial times, those who made it rich were almost exclusively Chinese and Indians. During the 'Burmese Road to Socialism' everyone was equally poor. And now we suddenly have people showing off their expensive cars, throwing money away in fancy restaurants. Their greed causes envy. It will be difficult to control the growing fury."

The Burmese economic boom fueled by cheap, mainly Japanese credits, is clearly breaking down. Only a few have made fortunes, mainly on smuggling precious stones and wood to neighboring Thailand. The army does not interfere, they have their fingers in the pie, as well as in the mass production of drugs in the "Golden Triangle." In 1996, the main figure behind the drug production, former guerrilla leader Khun Sa, sold out to the military and now peacefully lives in his house in Rangoon, undisturbed by anyone. The junta has denied a request for his extradition to the US, where he is wanted on drug charges. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer. Prisoners and peasants still have to do forced labor, under the threat of guns. The mass use of forced labor, the persecution, torture and murder of oppositionists has been confirmed by UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Rajsoomer Lallah, in a report of January this year. The Burmese government, outraged by the report, stated that it was biased, because the rapporteur had worked from afar, failing to visit Burma. Because of that, the government continued, its refusal to allow the rapporteur to visit Burma still holds.

"Even when a lot of noise is being made through concocted complaints regarding forced labor" - wrote The New Light of Myanmar on June 20 - "what Myanmar can offer is a ready labor force which has always been underemployed [and this] should carefully be taken into consideration." This is an invitation to get rich at the expense of Burmese workers, but such measures will not stimulate internal consumption, without which the boom will remain a sham. But how can it be stimulated, if the military consumes 42% of the budget, and the official commercial rate of exchange is 6 kyats to the dollar, while the official tourist rate of exchange is 320 kyats? Every visitor has to purchase $300 in "Foreign Exchange Certificates" upon crossing the border anyway. But let us be fair: these are much more nicely printed than the "dollar equivalents" issued by the State bank in Poland under Communism.

Who poured the tea?

"Many women had to enter the labor market due to the bad economic situation, and this has changed the traditional image of the woman's role in society," Aung San Suu Kyi continued. "In the beginning I was not at all aware of that image, as my mother held important State positions and had men reporting to her. Now people accept women's economic independence, so they also will accept their political independence, and equal rights in general."

Could be. But in Burma, male and female clothing is still washed and dried separately, in order not to soil men's things. When in Chiang-Mai I described my meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, which took place in a private house, someone asked right away, "Who poured the tea?" I answered it was the gentleman whose home it was. All faces lit up. "See!" said someone. "See how liberal he is!" Aung San Suu Kyi could be an opposition leader, a Nobel Prize winner, but as a woman pouring the tea remained part of her duties. These, however, are but cultural subtleties. Burmese deserters and victims alike confirm that soldiers often rape women assigned to do forced labor. These rapes remain unpunished.

"The worst thing - one of the guerrillas in Chiang Mai vehemently exclaimed - is that now the military want to marry our sisters!" To marry an adversary's sister is a blow to his manhood. "The authorities hold it against me that I am a woman and that I married a foreigner. But they themselves send their children to study abroad, and dress foreign. They wear designer jeans most of the time, and only put on longyi on holidays. The people see that. That's why I think the nationalist propaganda of the authorities does not have any effect on the people. But the issue of the minorities has to be resolved. The minorities trusted my father and the League inherited some of the trust. The generals fear that and do not allow any meetings between the League and the minorities. Despite that, at the beginning of June, representatives of the four main minority organizations appealed to authorities with demands similar to those made by the League a few days earlier. Not all minorities we have managed, despite government hindrance, to establish contacts with, will cooperate with us when the talks start, to be sure. But others may join us. I am certain we can work out a common position."

To criticize the Holy Spirit after a thorough study of the matter

Other than the Uniforms, you won't see any men wearing pants out on the streets. Everyone wears longyi, Burmese sarongs, much more comfortable in this climate. Government officials sign an obligation to wear longyi, and also forswear participation in political activity of any kind. Much of the economy is still State-owned, and those who work in private companies don't want to stick out of the crowd. Formally the authorities recognize 135 "national races" but in reality their role comes down to ethnographic ornaments. In a country where the Burmese only constitute about two thirds of the population - and next to Buddhism there is also Islam, Christianity, Animism, and even a small Jewish community - only the Buddhist Burmese are considered full-fledged citizens. People of "foreign extraction" receive associate membership only, which involves some limitations.

Christian children are often taken by ruse to Buddhist temples to study. Pamphlets for agitators instruct them to argue with Christians.... "Criticize God as an egoistic entity with narrow horizons, because he himself said, 'There is no god but God.' Point out the weaknesses of Christianity and overcome it through Buddhism. Criticize the Holy Spirit after thorough study of the matter" instructs a brochure entitled "Facts to Attack Christians."

The Muslim Rohingya refugees, who escaped from persecution to Bangladesh, are allowed back into Burma only if they convert to Buddhism on the border.

The Environmental Control & Sanitation Department of Yangon City Development

The Committee sent a letter to city officials on December 18 last year to inform them, that "in accordance with the principles of Environmental Control & Sanitation Department of Yangon City Development Committee, [...] multi-religious graveyards inside the respective Townships are inconsistent with the Town's Characteristics [and are] being closed and transferred to other places." This means the eviction of all Christian, Muslim, Farsi and Jewish cemeteries. The religious groups protested. In response, the authorities banned all burials at these cemeteries. The stalemate remains. But at the same time, the hated foreignness has struck at the regime's most tender spot. On 25th February, the Chief of military intelligence and one of the four ruling generals, General Khin Nyunt and his wife placed an ad in The New Light of Myanmar publicly renouncing their son Ye Naing Win. Ads of this type are normally placed by parents of children who had joined the guerrilla, or fled abroad, to avoid retaliation against other family members. But Ye Naing Win had not join the enemies of the regime. He had only married a foreigner, a citizen of Singapore. That was enough.

Will the generals have a choice?

"The army is bound to be divided. But under conditions of a full blockade on information, I don't want to repeat unconfirmed rumors. Military intelligence knows what's going on, maybe they will be the ones to initiate change? The worst thing is that there is no third force in Burma, like the Church in Poland, which could serve as a mediator between the army and the opposition. Buddhism is much more decentralized and too politically divided. Some of the bonzes support the opposition, get arrested, killed. The regime tries to seduce the others by making large donations to temples, and ostentatious participation in religious holidays. But the people see their opulence and know this has nothing in common with the Buddhist imperative of poverty."

"Regardless of all of this, I'm sure we'll be able to convince the people to forswear revenge in the decisive moment. The League's hands are clean, we never had anything to do with the Generals. It can't be said about us that by protecting them, we protect our own interests. I think that now it's months rather than years before the Generals will have to sit down and talk to us. It will be hard on them, because they understand that after this is all over they will have to give up power. But the recent events in Indonesia showed once again that they will have no other choice."

"I think my TV is broken: all I see is green and yellow" a Burmese joke goes. Green is the color of military uniforms, and yellow - that of monks' robes. But the monks killed during the demonstrations and those who later died in the prison, like abbot Sayadaw U Tiloka of the Shwephonepwint pagoda, are also being remembered. Government spokesmen refer to Buddhism to justify, in the international arena, their rejection of universal human rights. But as the Buddhist scholar Thaung Htun said in April at the Burma session of the UN Human Rights Commission: "It is shameful to claim cultural values in order to justify autocracy and the denial of basic rights and freedoms. To say that freedom is something Western or un-Burmese is a deep insult to our tradition and to the memory of our parents, who gave their lives in the struggle for independence." The generals know that - but they also know that they've hit a dead end from which there is no escape. They can only accept the reality, hand over the command, and - trust. Will they be able to? Aung San Suu Kyi does not represent the entire opposition. The last ten years in Burma's history were so bloody that it's hard to believe that everyone would give up retaliation. And a brutal, government-supported faction of Burmese Buddhism - the Democratic Buddhist Karen Army - which has struck a deal with the government and now specializes in persecuting Christian Karens, may yet have the upper hand to win over Buddhism tout court.

The national minorities did trust Aung San half a century ago, but will that trust will be carried over to a government which - if all goes well and the army steps down - will be formed by his daughter? Will the years of hate propaganda leave no trace? How are the guerrillas supposed to blend back into peaceful life? What about narcobusiness?

"It's only after victory that the troubles will begin," the guerrillas told me in Chiang Mai. "But those will be our troubles. At least we won't be suffering from the cruelty and stupidity of the authorities. And we'll be able to start our lives all over again."

They want to be doctors, teachers, engineers, all the things they would have been if history had not swept them out of lecture halls into the streets, right under the Army's fire, and then into the jungles, emigration, underground. But will it be possible to return to a life interrupted ten years after? And will the army want to talk, or as they did in 1988, 1974, 1964 - drown all protests in seas of blood? Aung San Suu Kyi is at ease. Bidding me farewell, she wishes that we meet again soon.

At the airport I am thoroughly searched. My undeveloped films disappear. "You met with the leader of our opposition," explains the customs guard. But I think that in his voice I hear not reproach, but jealousy and pride. This article first appeared in Poland's largest daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza. The author is a well-known foreign correspondent who has written for numerous publications internationally. The article was translated from Polish for Burma Debate.

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One Week In Rangoon
By David Warszaski

I was one of the 18 detained in Rangoon for six days. The six Americans haveome national and international heroes. The other 12 - three Thais, three Indonesians, two Filipinos and one Australian are lesser (known) heroes.

The incident has also been given wide media coverage in Burma by the Myanmar (Burmese) government. In The Mirror, a government propaganda news daily (as with all media coverage in Burma), the editorial writes that the people of Myanmar (Burma) can no longer bear the nefarious actions of the 18 alien instigators. The citizens of Myanmar (Burma) see them, not as doves of peace, but crows of chaos. Because of that, they had helped the government arrest the 18.

Now with all the international attention on us, many may think that the action was very well planned, a commando team of democracy fighters sent forth on a mission, almost a conspiracy. Even the military was shaken. Eighteen people from six countries. Were they hand-picked? Who was the mastermind? Who was the leader of the group?

In reality, nothing can be further from the truth. We come from all walks of life. A 19-year old American college kid. A 51-year old seasoned human rights activist. A journalist who knows more about writing than direct activism and facing 12 hours of interrogation. We fumbled and drifted, not knowing what was coming next. Not knowing whether lying or telling the truth would get us out or further incriminate us.

When our Malaysian Embassy officials came to see us, we thought we could seek some assurance from them. How wrong we were. All the first secretary could tell us was, "Do you realise the consequences of your actions on bilateral ties?"

Sometimes we kept mum despite the shouts and threats from our interrogators. Your story is different from the rest. It is up to you, we were told. Sometimes we cooperated. We spilled information because we were scared. (In my mind, this is a rogue government with no care of what the world thinks.) For three days, my two Malaysian colleagues and I were kept in the police headquarters before we were sent to a "guesthouse" to join the 15 others. We lived in an office, sharing it with a police officer of high rank, who came in at 9 am and left at 6 pm. Civil servant. He does his own things. People come in to see him, take orders, leave. On the second day he smiled at us. On the third day, he changed his longhi (sarong) into his military uniform in front of us. We became natural inhabitants of his office, like the ginkyoks (lizards) on the wall.

In the beginning we were defiant, cocky. We held on to our own. They too. Hard, indifferent looks. After all, they are in power, our captors. But as the days passed, they could neither feign power anymore than we could feign disdain. We lived together 24 hours a day in an office six by eight metres. They brought us food and cigarettes. They accompanied us to the toilet, our only excursions.

Once in a while they came in to interrogate us. We fear interrogations. The uncertainties, the lies we have to keep up. The disbelief in their eyes. The continuous questions.
At night, they drape themselves on chairs and tables, while we sleep on mattresses under mosquito nets. I wrote my letters inside. On the third day, we got braver: will you get us bryiani rice from this shop at Sule Pagoda Road? We'll pay. To our delight, they did.

The hard looks and indifference melted. Our smiles became genuine. Even our "Thank you" (Je-zu-tin-bateh). They smiled at seeing us enjoy our meal, they could not hide.

Our captors, they become people in my eyes. They fear us, and hate us, but came to like us. Me too, though to admit it is as if to imply that the junta, with their human rights abuses and atrocities, is okay.

We have a constant attendant, a spy you could say, who watched our every move, and was present at every interrogation, who would not tell us what was going on, or would only tell us lies.

"How long will we be kept here?"
"Very long."
"How long? Forever?"
"Yes."

Once I said, "Don't ask him anything. He only tells lies." I notice a sting of hurt in his eyes. He doesn't hide very well. Neither do the others.

Neither do I.
I came home with a knot in my chest that wouldn't go away. We came home jubilant and triumphant. Heroes. But I did not feel jubilant and triumphant. I was ashamed. Not for what I did (leafletting, small matter), but because I really didn't want to see my captors as people, so I can come home and condemn the junta with authoritative vigour.

So I can mock their ignorance and stupidity. My captors who are part of the junta, who work a 9-to-5 job, and go home to their families and TV sets. A small piece in a monstrous structure; which is responsible for more than 10,000 of its people fighting for democracy in exile; which is responsible for arbitrary arrests, tortures and deaths of elected representatives and activists; which is responsible for the butchery and rapes of ethnic minorities; who is responsible for the 120,000 refugees languishing on the borders of Thailand.

But I come home and I still think of them. Is he responsible? Richard, our interrogator with a big pot belly? Who shouted at me for not co-operating. He, whom we taught how to play cards; who patiently listened and translated into Burmese for his other colleagues; who passed his cards to his friend while he ran to answer a phone call. He who promised to teach us a Burmese card game before we left.

Richard who looked like the mamak who pulls my teh tarik in my favorite stall. Or how about the woman attendant who insisted on standing and watching me bathe? When I look into her eyes, she is as naked to me as I am to her. Or is it the guard we affectionately call the flower boy, who would go outdoors to pick flowers for our hair?

Which do you want?"

"The yellow ones." We made our choice peering out from the windows of our prison.

Or was Khin Maung, the judge, responsible? His dedication to his job was admirable. Eight hours of sitting in his big, hard chair wearing a yellow scarf with a wing-like-thing on the right side of his head. Listening patiently to statements from police officers and witnesses.

His sentencing, he delivered with utmost seriousness, five years in Insein Prison, only to be negated moments later by the auspiciousness of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. We were to be pardoned and deported. But he played his role well.

And so we came back as heroes. Freedom fighters. We joked about the ridiculousness of the whole experience. The trial, the interrogation, the investigations of us. We mocked them and their antics. We condemned the junta. We talked about human rights and democracy, as if our experience has anything to do with the violent realities of Burma.

In our roles of heroes, we are as much actors in a play - a shadow play - as Richard, the judge, or the 'Flower Boy'. We play into what is expected of us by following a director's orders. In our case the director is the world, the media. Who then is the master puppeteer in Burma? Again I ask, who is responsible while people are tortured and killed? Those who direct, those who participate, those who stand and watch, or those who try to lead a 9-to-5 job, concentrating hard on their work so they won't hear cries of pain, loss and death.

If those in the last group, the 9-to-5 people in Burma are to be condemned, so should anyone around the world who has ignored the suffering in Burma. Or in East Timor. Or Turkey. Or Mexico.

As there are different degrees of blame and responsibility, then there are also degrees of heroism. On one extreme, the Americans see us as gallant heroes, taking on a military regime. I feel I do not fit there. Neither do I deserve the Malaysian government's condemnation of our actions and labeling us as trouble-makers and law-breakers. We went there to do a good thing for a forgotten people, and that we took risks to our best.

During those six days, I discovered humanity behind the villain's mask which they cannot hide despite the fact that in Burma, the actors carry guns. Total evil is a clear target, a defined red bull's-eye in the centre of a white circle. In Burma, I found that the paint was mixed to a solid pink, bad inseparable from good. Humans. Like me.

I will continue to do what I do, to fight for the rights of the oppressed under the military rule of Burma. I will write articles, compile updates, research, lobby, not so much of conviction, but for a lack of wisdom to do something different.

(I wish to thank Amy deKanter who has helped me throughout the process, of writing this article. Thank you for giving me a safe space to allow me to remove my mask.)

Ong Ju Lynn is a Malaysian journalist who was one
of the 18 activists detained recently by the Burmese military regime.
This article first appeared in the August 23, 1998 issue of The Nation,
an English-language newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand.

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ROUNDTABLES

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Washington Roundtable of July 22 featured David Young who had been the Burma desk officer at the U.S. State Department for the past two years. Mr. Young shared his perspective on the situation in Burma and U.S. policy toward that country.

A Roundtable was held on July 25 with guest speakers Grover Joseph Rees, Majority Chief Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, and Elena Broitman, Legislative Assistant, House International Relations Committee. Ms. Broitman and Mr. Rees discussed their recent fact-finding mission to the Thai-Burma border.

The Washington Roundtable is co-sponsored by Human Rights Watch/Asia, The Jesuit Refugee Service, The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Refugees International. For more information contact Refugees International by phone: (202) 828-0110 or fax: (202) 828-0819.

NEW YORK -- A Roundtable discussion on June 25 entitled “The Environment and Burma” included speakers Edith Mirante, Director of Project Maje and author of Burmese Looking Glass, Tim Keating, Director of Rainforest Relief and Dr. Thaung Htun, Representative for UN Affairs for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma. A message from Aung San Suu Kyi was also presented. The roundtable coincided with the holding of the United Nations Earth Summit. The New York Roundtable is a periodic meeting of organizations and individuals interested in Burma. For more information contact: Burma/U.N. Service Office by phone: (212) 338-0048 or fax: (212) 692-9748.

NEW ENGLAND -- The New England Roundtable of July 8 featured Chris Cox, a reporter from the Boston Herald and author of Chasing the Dragon, a book on the drug trade in Burma. The New England Burma Roundtable is an informal group of individuals and organizations working to promote human rights and democracy in Burma. Meetings are held the second Monday of every month. For information contact Simon Billenness of Franklin Research & Development Corporation by phone: (617) 482-6655 or fax: (617) 482-6179.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bay Area Burma Roundtable is held the third Wednesday of every month. For more information contact Jane Jerome by phone: (408) 995-0403 or e-mail: jjerome@igc.apc.org.

SEATTLE -- The Burma Interest Group is a non-partisan forum attended by representatives of NGOs, business, academia and other interested parties that meets monthly to discuss Burma related topics. For more information contact Larry Dohrs by phone: (206) 784-6873 or fax: (206)784-8150.

LONDON -- A Burma Briefing held on June 12 hosted Hiram Ruiz of the U.S. Committee for Refugees. Mr. Ruiz discussed his recent visit to Burma and to the refugee camps along the Thai/ Burma border.

Jack Dunford of the Thailand-based Burma Border Consortium, which services the Burmese refugee population in Thailand, spoke at the July 29 meeting. Mr. Dunford provided an update on recent developments in Thailand and Burma.

The Burma Briefing is a periodic meeting of NGOs working on Burma. For information contact Edmond McGovern by phone: (44-392) 876-849 or fax: (44-392) 876-525.

HONG KONG -- Information on Burma Roundtables can be obtained by contacting the Asian Human Rights Commission by phone: (852) 2698-6339 or fax: (852) 2698-6367.

BRUSSELS/PARIS -- The NGO communities in France and Belgium host periodic roundtables in Paris and Brussels. For more information on this European forum contact Lotte Leicht of Human Rights Watch by phone: (32-2) 732-2009 or fax: (32-2) 732-0471.

NETHERLANDS -- The Netherlands Burma Roundtable is held once every two months with the goal of updating organizations and individuals on current events and activities surrounding Burma. For more information contact: Burma Centre Netherlands (BNC), by phone: (31-020) 671-6952 or fax: (31-020) 761-3513.

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VOICES OF BURMA

WISDOM, STRENGTH DEFINE TRUE LEADERS
“Veterans”

The following appeared in the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Daily News on September 8, 1997 as part of an ongoing series of letters by Aung San Suu Kyi.

I would like to define the word veteran as “experienced” rather than as “old”. There are people who have lived beyond the biblical three score years and 10 without having gained the wisdom that comes of encountering a vast range of human foibles and fancies as well as the benefits of joyful human contact. One would expect to mellow in one’s mature years, to gain in understanding and in compassion, to realize that while for the sake of stable society laws have to be carefully formulated and strictly upheld (tempered of course by mercy) those who seek to condemn others on an individual basis should first ask themselves that invaluable question: who can be confident that he has the right to throw the first stone? According to Buddhist teachings, those who vaunt their own virtues and belittle those of others are wicked; to seek to inflate one’s moral rectitude is the sign of a mind that is far removed from true goodness. This is somewhat similar to the Christian story of the Pharisee whose self-righteousness was so much less pleasing to God than the humble man who said: “Lord have mercy upon me, a poor sinner.”

Veterans, in my interpretation of the word, should have learned from their experience that there is still much to do to make this world a better place to live in and that despite their years they still have a duty to do what they can. Such are the kind of veterans about whom I would like to write today, political veterans who have not forgotten what it was that they struggled for in their youth and who are determined to do their utmost to contribute toward the building of a society that is the dream of their countrymen. The Burmese struggle for independence could be said to have begun as soon as the last king of the Konbaung Dynasty, Thibaw, was deposed by the British and sent away to exile in India. Sporadic rebellions arose, led by men who would be king. It is not always easy to determine which by personal ambition but what is certain is that they did not manage to mobilize enough public support for their cause to throw the alien conquerors out of their country. It was only in the twentieth century, when a new generation of modern, educated, young men realized the importance of systematic political association emerged, that the real movement for independence could be said to have begun.

Those first political veterans, those who began with the organization of an political, religious society the Young Men’s Buddhist Association (frankly emulative of the Young Men’s Christian Association) are no more. But there are still a number of second generation veterans of the Burmese independence movement to be found today, hoary old men who have not lost their patriotic fire or their zest for political struggle. They are men who defied the might of the British empire, who fought against the oppression of the fascist Japanese Imperial Army during the war, who grappled with the problems of nation building after independence, who suffered imprisonment and exile under military dictatorship and who, now largely in the eighth or even ninth decade of their lives, are still determined to do their level best to realize the dreams of liberty and justice that spurred them on half a century or more ago. It is as though they have drunk of the elixir of political youth.

Let me introduce you to a few of these veterans. There is Bohmu Aung, one of the famous Thirty Comrades who received training from the Japanese army at the beginning of World War II. He is truly a son of the soil, a leader of peasant farmers and a member of the Dohbama Asiayone, the “We Burmese” association which was founded in 1930 after serious riots between the Burmese and the Indian laborers who had been brought into the country by the British administration. Bohmu Aung also spent a few years in a monastery which provided him with a firm foundation in traditional Burmese Buddhist education. After the war, he became a leading member of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League, which negotiated independence for Burma with the British government. After the country regained independence in 1948, he held such key posts as speaker of the lower house of Parliament and defense minister. After the military coup of 1962, he was imprisoned for a number of years and later he went into exile in Thailand to fight for the restoration of democracy in Burma. In his seventies he returned to the country as part of an amnesty package. One would have imagined that after such a colorful, checkered career he would be more than content to spend his twilight years reminiscing about the past and watching his children grow up. Not so. Bohmu Aung, now 88, knows that, his duty towards his country will end only when his life ends. He and other indomitables of his ilk meet regularly to examine the present political situation and to discuss what they could do to alleviate the troubles of Burma.

Among Bohmu Aung’s staunch colleagues are such veterans as Thakin Chit (the prefix ‘thakin’ indicates that he was a member of the Dohbama Asiayone), 89 years old and the last survivor of the party which went to London to sign the Aung San-Attlee agreement that paved the way to independence for Burma. Then there are Thakin Khin Aung, Thakin Chit Maung and Thakin Thein Pe, all octogenarians, all equally committed to playing their part in building the Burma that is the dream of all right thinking citizens. There are some relatively younger members of the group of veterans, such as Boh Aung Naing and Boh Nyo, one time members of the armed forces, and Dr. Maung Maung Kyaw, a well known student leader during the early years of Burmese independence.

These stalwart veterans take a lively interest in what is the present political scene and they write to the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) whenever it seems to them necessary that the military junta be reminded of the needs of the nation. Such communications usually result in a reprimand (most un-Burmese, reprimanding men of such age and standing) from the powers that be put that does not deter our old soldiers who will never die nor fade away from the annals of Burmese political life.

The last time our veterans wrote to SLORC was on August 5, 1997. They pointed out the present political, economic and social ills of our country and proffered the opinion that the only way of resolving these various problems would be to adopt a spirit of understanding, forgiveness and reconciliation and to put the good of the whole nation above personal considerations and the interests of one’s own organization. To that end, the veterans suggested that negotiations be conducted as soon as possible with representatives of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which received the mandate of the people in the elections of 1990. It was specifically mentioned that I should be included in the negotiations.

The predictable reaction of the authorities was to summon our veterans to demand why they had made such a recommendation, to accuse them of displaying favoritism toward the NLD, to ask them whether it was not high time they stayed out of politics and kept quiet, and to warn them what action could be taken against them. Keep quiet! How can our veterans keep quiet when our country is in such dire straits? They have a tradition to maintain, they maintain cheerfully indomitable. May they live to be 120 years.

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Burma Around The World

WASHINGTON, DC - A Burma Roundtable was held on August 26, featuring David Steinberg, Director of Asian Studies at
Georgetown University and Senior Consultant for the Asia Foundation, and John Brandon, Assistant Director for
Asia Foundation's Washington Office. Mr. Steinberg and Mr. Brandon had visited Burma in May and they shared their views
on recent developments inside the country.

The Roundtable of September 22 featured a presentation and discussion of the recently-released World Resources Institute
report, "Logging Burma's Frontier Forests: Sources and the Regime." The authors, Jake Brunner, Kirk Talbott, and Chanel
Elkin, discussed the report's findings which establish a link between logging policy, deforestation and the political violence that
has plagued the country since independence in 1948.

The Washington Roundtable is co-sponsored by Human Rights Watch/Asia, The Jesuit Refugee Service, The U.S. Committee
for Refugees and Refugees International. For more information contact Refugees International by phone: (202) 828-0110
or fax: (202) 828-0819.

NEW YORK - The New York Roundtable is a periodic meeting of organizations and individuals interested in Burma. For
more information contact: Burma/UN Service Office by phone: (212) 338-0048 or fax: (212) 692-9748.

NEW ENGLAND - The New England Burma Roundtable is an informal group of individuals and organizations working to
promote human rights and democracy in Burma. Meetings are held the second Monday of every month. For
information contact Simon Billenness of Franklin Research & Development
Corporation by phone: (617) 482-6655 or fax: (617) 482-6179.

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Roundtable co-sponsored an August 7 dinner at the University of Pennsylvania's Asian
Pacific Center to commemorate the anniversary of the August 8, 1988 democracy uprising. Presenters at the
dinner included Sunda Khin, who spoke on the role of women in Burmese culture and Aung Saw Oo discussing the events
which led to the student demonstrations of 1988.

The Philadelphia Burma Roundtable hosts a monthly activity. For more information contact Dan Orzech by e-mail:
Orzech@well.com.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Bay Area Burma Roundtable is held the third Wednesday of every month. For more information
contact Jane Jerome at (408) 995-0403 or e-mail: jjerome@igc.apc.org.

SEATTLE - The Burma Interest Group is a non-partisan forum attended by representatives of NGOs, business, academia and
other interested parties that meets monthly to discuss Burma related topics. For more information contact Larry Dohrs by
phone: (206) 784-6873 or fax: (206)784-8150.

LONDON - An October 15 meeting hosted by the European Christian Aid organization and the London-based Burma Action
Group (BAG) brought together representatives from non-governmental organizations, churches and donor agencies to discuss
the current situation inside Burma, the status of refugees along Burma's borders and the growing number of internally
displaced persons in the country.

The Burma Briefing is a periodic meeting of NGOs working on Burma. For information contact Edmond McGovern by phone:
(44-392) 876-849 or fax: (44- 392) 876-525.

HONG KONG - Information on Burma Roundtables can be obtained by contacting the Asian Human Rights Commission by
phone: (852) 2698-6339 or fax: (852) 2698- 6367.

BRUSSELS/PARIS - The NGO communities in France and Belgium host periodic roundtables in Paris and Brussels. For
more information on this European forum contact Lotte Leicht of Human Rights Watch by phone: (32-2) 732-2009
or fax: (32-2) 732-0471.

NETHERLANDS - The Netherlands Burma Roundtable is held once every two months with the goal of updating
organizations and individuals on current events and activities surrounding Burma. For more information contact: Burma
Centrum Nederlands (BNC), by phone: (31-020) 671-6952 or fax: (31-020) 761- 3513.

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The New Mon State Party's View on the Current Political Situation

18 September 1998

1. Currently the National League for Democracy (NLD) is externally politically active.

¥ The whole country greatly desires democracy.
¥ Every ethnic minority greatly wishes for and would like to enjoy human rights.
These wishes are the present major political problems of our country. As long as
these problems are not solved or settled, it is natural that there are going
to be disturbances in the country any moment. Therefore, the increase in
NLD's current political movements is only due to political problems. It's a
repercussion of today's political problems.

2. NLD is the party that won the 1990 election with the greatest number of
parliament members. A few other parties also got some seats in the
parliament. That election was general election legally held by the
government and internationally recognized as a fair election. Therefore, the
results of the election should be acknowledged with dignity.

Quite a few of the arms bearing ethnic groups have also accepted the cease-fire
agreement for the peace and development of the country. However, there has
not been any dignified, significant, and systematic solution to the
political problem. This problem also deserves a solution.

Unless the above mentioned problem is solved, there can be all kinds of
conflicts and problems any moment.

3. It is best to solve the political problem through political means. Therefore,
it is best to peacefully solve the problem of restoration of democracy,
which was deterred, and the problems of the indigenous people by means of
discussion and negotiation. Therefore, discussion is undeniably the sole
method of solving the political problem. Since the government wishes for our
country to have democracy with discipline, the New Mon State Party would
like to urge with good will that such a political meeting takes place.

Central Executive Committee

The New Mon State Party

KNU Statement Regarding the Formation of Representative Committee
for Parliament

September 24, 1998

1. Formation of a Representative Committee for Parliament on 16-9-98, on the
basis of the mandate given by members of Parliament, after the meeting of
representatives of 4 ethnic nationality organizations and the NLD, was
consonant with the will of the people and in compliance with the Election
Law.

2. After the formation, the Committee performed necessary and appropriate tasks
on behalf of the Parliament. The action the Committee is a suitable move and
we, the KNU, fully support the decision that the 'Committee shall act on
behalf of the Parliament' as long as the Parliament be convened.

3. As the move to convene Parliament was obstructed by the SPDC, the NLD has to
form the Committee to act on its behalf. This is not something conventional.
Therefore, we demand the SPDC to withdraw its obstructions, and earnestly
urge members of the armed forces to help support the NLD, the Representative
Committee for Parliament and the members of Parliament, in order that the
members of Parliament may perform their duties, normally.

(The KNU is the political wing of the Karen's people's resistance for freedom
and democracy. It has been leading the struggle since 1949, a year after the
independence of Burma from the British. The resistance began in response to
atrocities against the Karen populations in the Irrawaddy Delta and
Tanessarim Division, perpetrated by troops of the pocket army of Gen. Ne
Win. In January 1999, the KNU will celebrate half a century of resistance.)

Joint Statement in Support of the 10-member Representative Committee

20 September 1998

We, of the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), Wa National Organization
(WNO), and Lahu Democratic Front (LDF) support the National League for
Democracy's (NLD) and in particular, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's efforts to
convene parliament.

We fully support the establishment of the 10-member Representative Committee to
represent Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 election. We also call
on the people of burma and the international community to support the 10-
member Committee. We fully back the appointment of the Committee and
whatever actions the Committee deems necessary.

We ask that the SPDC engage in a dialogue with that Parliamentary Representative Committee.
We demand the release of all political prisoners especially the detained MPs.

Central Committee
PSLF, WNO, and LDF
DAB Fully Supports 10-Member Representative Committee
September 28, 1998

The Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) heartily welcomes and fully supports the
recent formation of a 10-member Representative Committee by the National
League for Democracy (NLD). Further, the DAB calls on the Burmese military
regime to begin a process of dialogue with the Committee if it wishes to
avoid confrontation.

The DAB also fully supports the plans of the Committee to carry out functions on
behalf of Burma's detained MPs and the people of Burma until a "People's
Parliament" can be convened.

The Burmese military has ignored the results of the 1990 election for the past
eight years. Despite this, calls for the implementation of the election
results has been renewed repeatedly.

As the winning party of the 1990 election, the National League for Democracy
(NLD) has a mandate from the people of Burma. The NLD has steadfastly
called for the convening of parliament. The continued repudiation of the
election results by the military has led the NLD finally to initiate actions
to convene parliament itself.

The success of the convening of the People's Parliament rests entirely with the
people of Burma. The DAB calls on the people to support the plans, functions
and actions of the 10-member Representative Committee in its endeavor to
successfully convene parliament.

[The DAB is a coalition of ethnic nationality groups and democratic forces
founded in 1990 and based in Burma. It is the first alliance between ethnic
nationalities and Burman pro-democracy groups.]

Central Committee
Democratic Alliance of Burma

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VOICES OF BURMA

National League for Democracy
No: (97/b) West Shwegondine Road
Bahan, Rangoon

Date: 3 October 1998

Statement No: 82 (10/98)

1. When the military assumed state power in 1988 it declared that it would immediately perform four major tasks, the fourth
being "to hold multiparty democratic general elections". This it did on the 27 May, 1990 and the nation together with the world
acclaimed this general elections to be free and fair.

2. Three hundred and ninety two members of the National League for Democracy were elected and given the mandate by the
people to fulfill their election promise to govern for the good of the country.

3. All the promises given by the Chief of Staff of the Defenses Forces and the other military leaders at the time of assuming
power and till the day of elections were broken two months after the elections when they issued Announcement
1/90 (27 July 1990) [See details of such promises in our Statement 52 (9/98)]. In this Announcement 1/90 they declared
that the military would continue to govern until such time as a new government is formed under a new constitution.

4. Why did the military leaders hold elections when no constitution existed? Was it because they wanted to deliberately
deceive the people? The authorities must explain.

5. Paragraph 12 of Announcement 1/90 contains that "Article 3 of the People's Parliament Election Law states that the
parliament be formed with representatives elected from constituencies according to this law". To this date, the State Law and
Order Restoration Council have failed to convene that People's Parliament.

6. Being the recipient of the people's mandate, the Central Working Committee of the National League for Democracy was
duty bound to repeatedly ask for the convening of the People's Parliament which it did but had no success. Therefore the
National League for Democracy announced that it would convene parliament comprising all elected representatives including
those from the states and nationalities and published the reason why there was justification for so doing in its Statement
35 (8/98).

7. After its public statement that a parliament would be convened comprising all elected representatives including the states and
nationalities, the authorities set out to arrest and hold in detention a total of 967 (as of 2nd October 1998) NLD
parliamentarians-elect, and members of organizing committees and other members from the States, Divisions, Townships
and Villages.

8. The law relating to arrests in Burma is set out in the Criminal Procedure Code part III, chapter 5 and 6.

9. Chapter 5 contains the general procedure for arrests. Section 46 sets out the manner and Sections 47, 48 and 49 lays
down how to proceed step by step from once place to the next. Section 50 prescribes that undue cramping and
crowding of person arrested be avoided. Section 51 and 52 refer to body search of the person arrested and Section 53
provides for confiscation of weapons carried by the person arrested.

10. Section 51 makes the following provisions for arrests without warrants: (1) A person accused of involvement in the
commission of an offense, or against whom information has been given, or who is suspected of committing an offense;
(2) A person who without any reasonable cause is found with an implement for committing a break-in or burglary;
(3) A fugitive from justice;
(4) A person found in possession of suspected stolen property in respect of
which there is reason to believe that an offense has been committed;
(5) A person obstructing the police in the performance of their duties; and
escapee from lawful imprisonment;
(6) A military absconder;
(7) A person to be extradited;
(8) Released prisoners who have violated the provisions of Section 565 (3) of
the Criminal Procedure Code and
(9) When written authority is given by a police officer to arrest without a
warrant as permitted by law.

11. There is no provision of law that authorities the present arrests of parliamentarians-elect, NLD organising committee
members and other members with out warrants of arrest.

12. Chapter 6 contains provisions for warrants of arrest of persons. Section 75 requires that a warrants of arrest of a person
must be issued in writing by a court of law and must bear the signature of the issuing magistrate and bear the seal of the court.
Section 80 requires the police officer or any other person executing the warrant to explain the contents of the warrant
and to show the document to the person to be arrested. These provisions are clear.

13. In arresting the NLD parliamentarian-elect and members, these provisions of law have been transparently contravened.
Reference can be made to our Statement 63 (9/98), 65 (9/98), 68 (9/98), 72 (9/98).

14. When the authorities assumed state power their declared Number 1 claim was to maintain law and order and territorial
peace and tranquility. This is to place before the people the violations of the provisions of law which the authorities
themselves are now committing.

Central Executive Committee
National League for Democracy
Rangoon

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SPDC SPEAKS

EMBASSY OF THE UNION OF MYANMAR
Washington, DC
PRESS RELEASE 15/98

24 September 1998

National Races of Myanmar Do Not Support the NLD's Call To Convene "People's Parliament"

NLD's Claim of Support Spurious

The National League for Democracy (NLD) in a statement issued on 17 September
1998 claimed that it had secured support for its decision to convene a
"People's Parliament" from 4 national groups that had concluded peace agreements
with the government. The NLD named the following groups:

o The Shan National people's Liberation Organization
o The Karenni All People's Liberation Army
o The New Mon State Party
o The Kayan Newland Party

However, the leaders of all 4 groups have addressed official letters to the
Chairman of the SPDC clarifying their stand regarding the NLD's call to
convene a parliament. They reiterated their commitment to cooperate with the
government to achieve peace and development and confirmed that they have
withdrawn all statements that might be misconstrued as supporting the NLD's
illegal move.

The local populace in the areas concerned fully appreciate the dawn of a new era
of peace and are wary of any move that will upset peace and tranquillity.

Since the NLD's claim that it has the support of the nationalities for its
efforts to convene the parliament this month could give rise to speculation,
the authorities have decided to make public the declarations received from
the leaders of the national groups. In their declarations the leaders
underline their support for the government's effort for peace and stability
and reject the decision to the NLD to convene the parliament.

The following declarations have been published:

1. Letter dated 5 September 1998 from Za Khun Ting Ring, Chairman, Kachin
Special Region (1), New Democratic Army-NDA

2. Letter dated 18 September 1998 from U Mahtu Naw, Chairman, Central
Military Commission, Shan/North Special Region No. 5 Kachin Defence Army-KDA

3. Letter dated 18 September 1998 from the Central Committee, Shan/North
Special Region No. 1, Mon Koo Region Defence Army

4. Letter dated 18 September 1998 from U Eik Hmon, Chairman, P.S.L.A Peace
Group

5. Letter dated 19 September 1998 from the Chairman, Central Executive
Committee, Shan/North Special Region No. 3, Shan State Army (S.S.A)

6. Letter dated 19 September 1998 from U Phon Kya Sin, Chairman, Shan/North
Special Zone No. 1, Kokang

7. Letter dated 19 September 1998 from U Sai Lin, Shan/East Special Region
No. 4

8. Letter dated 19 September 1998 from Pha Do Aung San, Leader, Kayin Peace
Group

9. Letter dated 19 September 1998 from Central Executive Committee,
Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army - D.K.B.A

10. Letter dated 19 September 1998 from U Htay Ko, Chairman, Kayan National
Defence Army

11. Letter dated 20 September 1998 from the Chairman, Special Region,
Thandaung (KNU)

12. Letter dated 20 September 1998 from U Saw Thamu Heh, Commander, Kayin
Peace Group, Haung Tharaw Special Region (KNU)

13. Letter dated 21 September 1998 from General-Secretary, S.S.N.A.

14. Letter from Pao National Organization, Shan/South Special Region No. 6

The above press release appeared on the internet on September

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ERICSSON DISCONNECTS BURMA LINE

The Swedish telecommunications company, Ericsson, announced on September 1 that
it was suspending all business ties with Burma, to be effective immediately.
According to a statement released by the firm employing over 100,000 people
in more than 130 countries: "The decision is taken in light of concerns
expressed in the United States which potentially could damage Ericsson." The
corporation has been hit hard by U.S. "selective purchasing" laws, which bar
government contracts with companies that do business in Burma and has been a
target of American and European consumer boycott campaigns.

COURT STRIKES DOWN BURMA LAW

A U.S. federal court has struck down the Massachusetts state law which barred
state contracts to those companies doing business in Burma. The
Massachusetts "selective purchasing" bill, was found to be unconstitutional
because it "impermissibly infringes on the federal government's power to
regulate foreign affairs" according to Chief U.S. District Judge Joseph L.
Tauro's November 4 decision. The 1996 law was the rallying point for a much
heated debate around the issue of federal vs. state power to impose economic
sanctions against a regime guilty of widespread human rights abuses and had
become the target of a major lobbying effort on the part of U.S.
corporations. The suit was brought against the State of Massachusetts by the
National Foreign Trade Council, representing 580 businesses, 30 of which
reportedly have been affected by the law. An appeal has been filed.

CHINA AND BURMA SIGN BIGGEST DEAL TO DATE

China's Yunnan province will be exporting over $250 million in mechanical and
electrical products to Burma over the next five year in what sources say is
the largest-ever deal between the two countries. As reported in Xinhua
newspaper, the agreement will provide equipment and technology for building
the Banglang Power Station, Burma's biggest hydropower plant. The Banglang
Power Station, which is located near Mandalay, is a $600 million project and
will be used primarily for generating electricity, but also for irrigation
and flood-prevention.

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INSIDE WASHINGTON

LABOR DEPARTMENT RELEASES BURMA REPORT


The U.S. Department of Labor has completed its study into human rights abuses
and the use of forced labor in Burma. According to a report provided to
Congress on September 25: the use of child labor in the country is on the
increase and remains a "serious and widespread problem"; forced labor
continues to be used to develop infrastructure projects and support military
operations; there are no labor unions and workers are denied the right of
association; and there has been no improvement in labor practices or in the
observance of international labor standards.

U.S. DEPLORES ARRESTS OF OPPOSITION MEMBERS

In a September 8 statement, the U.S. Department of State condemned the arrests
of over a hundred opposition figures following the tense confrontations
between the regime and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during the two
previous months. The regime, fearing unrest as the anniversary of its
September 18, 1988 military coup approached, tightened its grip over
democracy activists in the country. The move brought expressions of concern
from the United States and other governments. According to spokesman James
Rubin: "The U.S. deplores in the strongest of terms the September 6
detention of well over a hundred opposition figures, both elected Members of
Parliament and party rank and file.… Resolution of the political impasse in
Burma will require real, substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition,
including Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of the ethnic groups."

CONGRESS HOLDS BURMA HEARING

The Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific together with the Subcommittee on
International Operations and Human Rights of the House Committee on
International Relations held a September 28 hearing on "Human Rights in
Burma" to examine the effectiveness of current U.S. policy. Panelists
included Mr. Gare Smith and Mr. Ralph Boyce of the U.S. Department of State;
U Bo Hla-Tint of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma;
Ms. Maureen Aung-Thwin, Director of the Open Society Institute's Burma
Project; Mr. Thomas Vallely of the Harvard Institute for International
Development; Ms. Mary Pack, Burma Project Director for Refugees
International, and Ms. Michele Keegan, a student at American University who
was one of 18 democracy activists recently arrested and tried in Burma for
expressing their support of the political opposition.

U.S. OFFICIALS JOIN EUROPEAN MEETING ON BURMA

Senior-level representatives of the U.S. Department of State joined their
European and Asian counterparts in a closed-door conference held at Chilston
Park, in Great Britain on October 23 and 24. The aim of the meeting was to
enhance coordination between countries concerned with the lack of progress
in negotiations between Burma's military leaders and the democratic opposition.
As one of the outcomes of the two-day conference, Rangoon-based ambassadors
from five countries, Australia, Japan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the
United States were tasked with delivering messages to both the regime rulers and
heads of the National League for Democracy urging them to move toward dialogue.
The five ambassadors were able to convince the military to permit the visit of UN
special envoy, UN Assistant Secretary General Alvaro de Soto, a visit previously
blocked by the junta's leaders. De Soto was to carry a plan to be presented to both
sides which might help break the political impasse.

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MEDIA RESOURCES

VOICES of '88
Burma's Struggle for Democracy
Burma Project
Open Society Institute (OSI)
400 West 59th Street
New York, NY 10019
USA
Tel: 212-548-0632
Fax: 212-548-4655
email: burma@sorosny.org

A 19-page booklet produced in commemoration of the thousands of Burmese citizens who became victims of the military
government's ruthless suppression of the 1988 mass pro-democracy demonstrations, Voices of '88 contains pictures,
cartoons and poems from Burma's brief period of press freedom in late August and early September 1988. Suggested
donation of US$5 a copy are appreciated in aid of the Burmese Student's Education Fund.

The portable exhibit described in the booklet can be made available to interested parties. For information on the exhibit and
future venues contact the Burma Project.

The Burma Road to Capitalism: Economic Growth versus Democracy
by Dr. Mya Maung

Greenwood Publishing Group
88 Post Road West
P.O. Box 5007
Westport, CT 06881-5007
Tel: (203) 226-3571
Fax: (203) 222-1502

This book evaluates Burma's economic performance under military management and considers the relationship between
democracy and economic growth. Dr. Mya Maung's research argues that neither the regime's rejection of democracy nor
its ostentatious economic "reforms" have promoted real economic growth or human development in Burma. Instead, they
have depressed the country's social capability for past, present, and future economic development.

Facing the Fire

Effects of the 1997 Offensives in Karen State, Burma
by Borderline News and Video
Bangkok Office:
P.O. Box 21
Srinakharinwirot Post Office
Bangkok 10117
Thailand
cfisher@mozart.inet.co.th
Border Office:
P.O. Box 44
Mae Sot
Tak 63110
Thailand
win6@loxinfo.co.th

This 25-minute documentary filmed by Karen and Burman refugees, depicts the effects of last year's offensives by the
Burmese military against the rural populations in Karen State and in camps along the Thai-Burma border. Containing
scenes from Democratic Karen Buddhist Army attacks on refugee camps and the forced repatriation of new arrivals,
the film presents attempts by civilians and the armed resistance to survive in the face of the Burmese army's increasing
control in these areas. It is available in PAL format in English and Karen.

Borderline News also provides fortnightly Burma-related news clippings. This service is offered to concerned groups
and individuals who do not have ready access to the Internet and other media. Containing the most relevant articles
from the BurmaNet News and other publications, this English- language newsletter provides readers with a bi-monthly
summary of recent events in and around Burma. A subscription costs 800 Baht a year in Thailand and US$70.00 a year
internationally.

LINES FROM A SHINING LAND

Edited by Derek Brooke-Wavell
The Britain-Burma Society
40 Kidmore Road
Caversham Heights
Reading RG4 7LU
Berks
U.K

A snapshot history narrated by 33 individuals who had spent part of their lives in Burma, this book draws from the
experiences of former diplomats, administrators, soldiers, academics, writers, broadcasters and schoolchildren. Their
stories cover aspects of the country ranging from intriguing vignettes of colonial society from early 1900, to the
assassination of General Aung San, followed by Independence in 1948 and the years of rebuilding, under civilian and
military governments.

LOGGING BURMA'S FRONTIER FORESTS: Resources and the Regime

World Resources Institute (WRI)
World Resources Institute
1709 New York Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
http://www.wri.org/wri

This report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) presents evidence of how Burma's extensive deforestation has resulted
in severe environmental consequences such as soil erosion, catastrophic floods and acute water shortages. The report finds
that Burma's successive military regimes have used border logging trade with neighboring China and Thailand mainly to
expand its army and support massive offensives against ethnic opposition groups. Most importantly, the report establishes
a link between logging policy, deforestation, and the political violence that has plagued the country since independence in
1948. The report can be ordered by calling 1- 800-822-0504. Cost: $20 plus shipping and handling.

THE BURMA ARCHIVES PROJECT

The International Institute of Social History (IISH), Amsterdam

Established by a group of Burma-related librarians, scholars, journalists and activists, the Burma Archives Project supports
and encourages the compilation, collection and safe preservation of documents and materials on Burma deriving from the
1980s onwards. It also publishes the Burma Archives Newsletter which is designed to be a forum for the exchange of ideas and report on the Project's progress.

For more information, please see http://www.iisg.nl/asia or contact the Asia Department of IISH at: asia.department@iisg.nl

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BRIEFINGS AND DEVELOPMENTS

SUU KYI AND JUNTA STAND-OFF

A series of standoffs between pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and military
officials ended peacefully after she and her colleagues attempted on four
separate occasions to visit members of their National League for Democracy
party outside the city of Rangoon. The first confrontation began on July 24
and lasted for six days as the Nobel Laureate sat in her car awaiting
permission to pass the police blockade. In August, Aung San Suu Kyi and
three NLD members spent 13 days in a van on a bridge 19 miles outside the
capital. These confrontations brought statements of concern from around the
world and an international appeal to the regime to enter into dialogue with
the opposition.

INTERNATIONAL BURMA ACTIVISTS ARRESTED

A group of 18 foreign activists were arrested by the military and sentenced to 5
years of hard labor for distributing pamphlets promoting democracy and human
rights in Burma. The arrests took place a day after the 10 year anniversary
of the August 8, 1988 democracy uprising. The three Malaysians, six
Americans, three Indonesians, three Thais and two Filipinos, were arrested
and charged with violating sections of the 1950 Emergency Provision Act.
After being held in a government guest house for six days the group was
tried and sentenced, then subsequently deported.

JUNTA CONDUCTS INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS FROM
EMBASSIES ABROAD

According to a July 29 report in Jane's Defense Weekly, the Burmese regime
operates major signal intelligence stations at its Embassies in Thailand,
Bangladesh and at least one other country, possibly Laos. These stations
allow for the interception of international telephone conversations,
facsimile traffic, satellite telephone transmissions, electronic mail
messages and radio broadcasts. The Bangkok station is reportedly located in
a compound housing the office of Burma's military, naval and air attaches.

STUDENTS TAKE TO CAPITAL STREETS

A decade after the brutal suppression of the mass pro-democracy uprising,
thousands of Burmese students took to the streets once again on September 4.
This time the military security forces took a low-key approach, deploying
riot police but trying to avoid violent confrontation, diplomatic sources
were quoted as saying. Nearly 4000 students demonstrated outside the main
campus of the Yangon Institute of Technology (YIT) and the Hlaing campus in
the city, chanting "End the military government." The YIT reopened only
weeks earlier after having been closed since the student protest of December
1996. Universities in Burma have been closed for the better part of seven of
the last ten years in an attempt by the regime to prevent students from
mobilizing against it.

INTERNATIONAL LABOR BODY RELEASES DAMNING REPORT

A report issued by a special Commission of Inquiry appointed by the
International Labour Organization (ILO) documents a multitude of human
rights abuses inflicted upon the Burmese people by the ruling junta, which
include not only forced labor, but killings, torture, rape, and forced
relocations. The 392-page report was made public on August 20 following an
extensive investigation by the Commission, which was appointed in March 1997
under Article 26 of the ILO Constitution. During the course of their
inquiry, members of the Commission received over 6000 pages of written
information and heard testimony by more than 250 eyewitnesses with recent
experience of forced labor practices. According to the report "...there is
abundant evidence before the Commission showing the pervasive use of forced
labor imposed on the civilian population throughout Myanmar by the
authorities and the military...." The ILO, of which Burma is a member, is a
tri-partite body within the United Nations system, made up of
representatives of governments, business and labor.

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