BurmaNet Appropriate
Information Technologies, Practical Strategies
The BurmaNet News: November 12, 1998
Issue #1137
HEADLINES:
JANE'S INTELLIGENCE REVIEW: BURMA'S CEASEFIRE
AGREEMENTS IN DANGER OF UNRAVELING
1 November, 1998 by Bruce Hawke
[BurmaNet Editor's Note: As this is a rather lengthy article, it
will appear in BurmaNet in installments. Today's issue
carries part 2 of the article.]
**Bruce Hawke visits Shan State, Burma, where the Burmese Army is
stifling all opposition with a campaign of ethnic cleansing.**
The United Wa State Army
Whether there will be wide-scale fighting or not in Shan State in
the near future depends largely on the United Wa State Army
(UWSA), by far Burma's largest, wealthiest and most powerful
ethnic minority army. The UWSA was described by the US State
Department as "the world's biggest armed narcotics
trafficking organisation," and is profiting enormously from
the trade in heroin and amphetamines. From the available
evidence, it is plowing much of the proceeds back into arming and
equipping itself.
The UWSA actually consists of two factions which live uneasily
with each other. The main force (the northern command) is based
in the Wa hills of northern Shan State between the Salween river
and Chinese border. A second faction (the southern command) is
based in southern Shan State opposite the town San Ton Du, in
Chiangmai Province, Thailand. The southern command (formerly the
Wa National Army) is led by a China-born heroin and amphetamines
trafficker with close links to Taiwanese Intelligence, Wei
Xue-gang. He fields about 5,000 troops. The northern command has
grown significantly since the ceasefire agreement in 1989 and now
fields somewhere around 25,000 armed troops, up from the 15,000
it was estimated to have nine years ago.
In 1994, the Burmese Government invited the UWSA to bring 2,000
troops down from the Wa hills to the Thai border to bolster Wei's
forces and to fight MTA troops present in the Maung Yone Valley.
The Burmese were happy to use the Wa as proxy army, but the UWSA
had its own agenda. The troops were brought down, but under the
command of Ta Tahng (aka Wei Sai-tang), a senior northern command
general. These troops, the '894', were hardened fighters with an
unparalleled record on the battlefield. They eventually forced
the MTA out of the area and claimed it for themselves.
There are now 8,000-10,000 northern command troops on the Thai
border controlled by Ta Tahng, now the effective second in
command of the UWSA. They have solidified their position by
bringing down thousands of Wa civilians to the border (In the
process they have displaced thousands of ethnic Shan civilians, a
point which does not sit well with Shan leaders). Breaking with
longstanding tradition, polygamy has been encouraged in an effort
to quickly increase the population base on the border.
The headquarters of the 894 may be reached from Thailand by
taking a road which juts north from Highway 1089 to the west of
the Thai town San Ton Du. Before the frontier, vehicles must pass
through two Thai Army checkpoints. Officially, the border is
closed. In practice, it is business as usual. On the other side
of the border is Wei Xue-gang's well- appointed base,
complete with a large parade ground, a shooting range, barracks.
His fortress-like (and fortress-sized) residence atop Hill 361 is
surrounded by ramparts and trenches. Training and technical
support at the camp is provided by Taiwanese advisors.
Roughly 25km further along the road is the southern end of the
Maung Yone Valley and the northern command troops of Ta Tahng.
There is currently a lot of construction in progress. Thai
contractors are making all-weather roads to link the valley with
Mong Hsat, the next valley north where the northern command also
maintains a garrison. There were, at the time of writing, six
graders with Chiangrai and Phitsanulok licence plates, four
scoops, three rollers and at least 10 dump trucks at work. A Thai
building contractor has just completed a school and hospital and
a new barracks was under construction. There were at least 20 new
Toyota four-wheel-drive pickups and landcruisers in evidence.
Also in evidence were small numbers of Chinese-nationals working
as advisors - there were 10 school teachers and medics in their
20s (the Chinese equivalent of Peace Corps), and at least five
older men who appeared to be either military advisors or
intelligence personnel. Ta Tahng's troops were well outfitted
with Type 56 and M16 assault rifles, RPK and RPD light machine
guns, PK machine guns, RPG-7 portable rocket launchers, and there
were also 81 and 120 mm mortars in view. A UWSA source also
claimed the camp had two 105 mm howitzers, though they were not
in public view.
Relations between Pangsangh and Rangoon soured noticeably towards
the end of 1997. In December, the Ministry of National Planning
and Economic Development announced that it had blacklisted a UWSA
front company operating in Rangoon, the Myanmar Kyone Yeom
Company Ltd. Its chairman, Michael Hu Hwa (aka Colonel Kyaw
Myint), who claimed to be a deputy minister of finance for the
UWSA, openly and brazenly flouted Burmese business laws and
regulations. A hastily arranged meeting the next day between
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt and senior UWSA leaders, including
Ta Pang in Rangoon, led to the blacklisting being revoked and the
cabinet minister responsible, David Abel, being moved to another
ministry portfolio. However, in February, following adverse
international publicity regarding the company and the fact that
its chairman was openly distributing circulars defaming members
of the government, Myanmar Kyone Yeom was closed down for good.
Tensions between the northern and southern commands of the UWSA
are reaching a critical point. The northern Wa have long been
suspicious of Wei Xue-gang and his purely commercial operation.
Also at issue was his uncomfortably friendly relationship with
leading figures in the Burmese Government, especially Lieutenant
General Khin Nyunt. Wei's previous usefulness to Pangsangh, in
that his operation provided the brains and the international
connections to produce and distribute heroin and repatriate the
profits, became redundant. The northern UWSA now have their own
chemists and distribution channels, according to western
intelligence sources, and they also have their own access to the
Thai border.
During 1997, several Wei Xue-gang heroin shipments were seized by
the Thai authorities while none originating from the northern
command were touched. Wei believed that the northern command
pointman in Chiangmai, Sai Pao, had fingered his production to
the police, according to Wa sources. In late 1997, it was
rumoured that Sai Pao was going to attempt to have Wei
assassinated. Wei pre-empted him. On 7 January of this year, Sai
Pao was gunned down outside the Princess Hotel in Chiangmai as he
was leaving the wedding of a friend's daughter. His assailant was
riding a motorbike and wearing a police uniform. According to
intelligence sources, Wei had contacted corrupt elements in the
Chiangrai police, who hired an assassin from Petchaboon Province.
In June, Wei Xue-gang was indicted on heroin-trafficking charges
by a New York federal court. The US Justice Department put a US$2
million price on his head. He quickly travelled to Rangoon to
negotiate an immunity-from-extradition deal with the junta. Wei
was especially vulnerable: born in China he has no legal right to
Burmese nationality, though he has at various times held
Taiwanese and Thai (his Thai documents named him as Prasit
Chivinnitipanya) passports. According to one intelligence source,
"Leaders in Pangsangh were concerned that he might 'do a
Khun Sa' and invite the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC/SPDC) troops in to take over his
patch". Ta Tahng, head of the northern command Thai border
area, wanted to attack Wei's camp according to sources close to
him. Wei was, at the time of writing, in Pangsangh trying to
negotiate a rapprochement with the UWSA but according to Wa
sources was not making much headway. He had been there since the
beginning of July. "I think he's looking for a dignified way
out," said an intelligence source.
The Wa ethnic group have a long tradition of headhunting. Ta Lai,
the official leader of the UWSA, openly admits to having taken a
few heads in his youth. Though a debilitating stroke in 1995 has
left him as little more than a figurehead, he has regularly and
vocally expressed a desire to take a few Burmese heads again.
These sentiments are also expressed in private by other Wa
leaders. As the Burmese economy implodes, the possibility of
widespread civil unrest or communal rioting in urban areas
becomes a more likely possibility. In the advent of Chaos in the
cities, minority armies plan to seize the opportunity to attack
government positions. If the much expanded and better- equipped
UWSA decides to join them, victory for the Burmese Army is not,
however, a foregone conclusion.
For its part Burma took delivery earlier this year of 20 130 mm
towed field artillery guns from North Korea. The gun, a Soviet
design, was used with devastating efficiency by Vietnamese Army
(NVA) troops during the Vietnam conflict and is easily
manoeuvrable in difficult terrain and jungle tracks and would be
highly suitable for use in Shan State. However, the Burmese Army
is suffering from morale problems. Burmese Army desertions in
Shan State have been steadily increasing at the intensity and
brutality of the war against the SURA has increased. They are now
an almost daily occurrence. On 14 July this year, 78 soldiers
deserted from the Kengtung-based Golden Triangle Command and made
their way to Thailand, the largest mass-desertion to date. As
disenchantment among the rank and file increases, the possibility
remains open that battalions, given the opportunity, may turn and
support rebels - or at least refuse to fight them.
[Tomorrow's issue will include the third and last part of this
article, "The Campaign Against the Shan"]
XINHUA: MYANMAR URGES WESTERN COUNTRIES TO STOP FINGER
POINTING ON DRUG FIGHT
10 November, 1998
YANGON (Nov. 10) XINHUA - Myanmar has urged the western
countries, which are seriously affected and inflicted by narcotic
drug menace, not only to stop fingerpointing and scapegoating
others, but also to seriously find more realistic and practical
methods to tackle the drug menace problem. A latest official
report on the political situation of Myanmar, issued by the
Office of Strategic Studies (OSS) of the Defense Ministry, points
out that "pressuring others to accept and carry out methods,
which have undeniably failed in the past, will definitely not
help in our fight against narcotic drugs".
The report cites Myanmar's method in dealing with former drug
warlord Khun Sa, saying that, in spite of all the natural
obstacles and man-made difficulties imposed by the Western
nations, it managed single-handedly to disband his army after his
unconditional surrender in January 1996 and then to have Khun Sa
and his top aides under government custody and supervision.
"His troops were sent back to their respective villages to
live and work there as normal citizens, while the leaders were
also given financial and other assistance to start a new life
doing legitimate business," the report says. Myanmar
government described the surrender of Khun Sa as one of its two
major wins since taking over of state powe r in late 1988.
In spite of the fact, the report says, the western world,
especially the United States and the United Kingdom, have
continued in accusing Myanmar of not being serious in the fight
against narcotic drugs, not extraditing Khun Sa to the U.S. and
not prosecuting him and other ethnic leaders. On survey of opium
cultivation and production in Myanmar, the report charges that
the western nations have reported differently.
According to the figures released by the OSS at the end of 1997,
there was a wide gap existing in the forecasts made by Myanmar
and the U.S. on the cultivation and production of opium.
According to Myanmar's related data which were based on ground
survey and calculation, there were 9,751 hectares in poppy
cultivation and 106 tons in opium production in 1996, but
according to the U.S. data which were based on satellite images,
there were respectively 162,496 hectares and 2,560 tons which
were enough to produce at least 250 tons of refined heroin.
However, there is no comparison for 1997 in the report.
Meanwhile, the report claims that Myanmar has prevented 45
billion U.S. dollars worth of heroin from reaching streets of the
U.S. since 1988 up to date despite cut in assistance by the U.S.
since then. According to official statistics, in the first six
months of this year, Myanmar seized a total of 4,927 kilograms of
narcotics including 219 kg of heroin and 4,471 kg of opium,
destroying 15 heroin refineries and over 8,000 hectares of poppy
plantations.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: JAPAN PRAISED FOR MILITARY
AID
11 November, 1998
Deutsche Presse- Agentur in Rangoon
Burma's junta has lauded Japan's historically important role in
helping the country establish its own armed forces and achieve
independence from Britain, state press reports said yesterday.
"We shall never forget the important role played by Japan in
our struggle for independence," said State Peace and
Development Council First Secretary Lieutenant General Khin
Nyunt.
"In the same vein, we will remember that our Tatmadaw
[military] was born in Japan."
General Khin Nyunt, head of the military intelligence unit, was
speaking at the opening of the Myanmar-Japan Bilateral Conference
on Information Technology Co-operation in Rangoon, the official
New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported. Observers said the
general's open praise for Japan represented the first time the
junta had so openly lauded the country's somewhat ambiguous role
in Burma or Myanmar's recent history.
Japan occupied Burma, then a British colony, during World War II
and helped to build up an indigenous army under Burmese leaders
such as Aung San and Ne Win, both of whom received military
training in Japan. Aung San, the father of Nobel laureate and
current opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was assassinated soon
before Burma was granted independence in 1948. Ne Win went on to
seize political power with a military coup in 1962, launching the
country on the economically disastrous "Burmese Way to
Socialism".
During the war years, the Japanese army lost support in Burma
when it committed many atrocities against local people. When they
began to lose, Burma's fledgling army became a resistance
movement against the Japanese and helped the allied forces to
defeat them. Japan was Burma's largest donor country before
September 1988, when the military crushed a pro-democracy
movement. Like most democracies, Japan cut off official
assistance to the regime after the bloodbath.
MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE: INFORMATION SHEET NO.
A-0687(I)
10 November, 1998
[Information Sheets issued under the email addresses MYANPERSP@aol.com and OKKAR66129@aol.com match
those issued by the Directorate of Defence services Intelligence
(DDSI) in Rangoon, and can be assumed to reflect official SPDC
opinion.]
Secretary-1 Attends Opening of Myanmar-Japan Bilateral
Conference on Information Technology Cooperation
A ceremony to open Myanmar-Japan Bilateral Conference on
Information Technology Cooperation jointly organized by Myanmar
Computer Federation and Centre of the International Cooperation
for Computerization (CICC) of Japan was held at the International
Business Centre on 9 November addressed by Chairman of Myanmar
Computer Science Development Council, Secretary-1 of the State
Peace and Development Council, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt. He stated that,
in working towards the national goal for the emergence of a
peaceful, prosperous, modern and developed Union of Myanmar, the
State Peace and Development Council is relying mainly on the
country's internal resources. A necessary prerequisite for adding
momentum to the nation's modernization and development efforts is
a healthy and well educated people. Myanmar has therefore
designated the uplifting of health, fitness and education
standards of the entire nation as one of its social objectives.
Towards this end, the Government has placed special emphasis on
the development of knowledge and skills, correct national outlook
as well as the attainment of modern technology among students,
youths and intellectuals. In order to foster human resources, a
new University of Computer Studies for Upper Myanmar was opened
to promote advanced computer technology in addition
to the existing University of Computer Studies in Yangon. An
unusually greater number of students was admitted to
undergraduate and post-graduate computer courses in 1997-98
academic year. Such undergraduate diploma courses as Diploma in
Computer Studies and Diploma in Computer Maintenance courses,
which were opened in October 1998, have taken in a substantial
number of students.
It is observed that private computer centres have also been
conducting international diploma courses as well as basic
computer courses. These indicate that human resource development,
which is the prerequisite for Information Technology, has been
promoted quantitatively and qualitatively. At the same time, with
a view to systematic development of Information Technology in
Myanmar, the Government promulgated Myanmar Computer Science
Development Law on 30 September 1996 and founded the Myanmar
Computer Science Development Council. It has also formed the
Myanmar Computer Federation Organizing Committee for the
establishment of subsidiary associations at various levels. Due
to the efforts of the Committee, Myanmar Computer Scientists
Association and Myanmar Computer Industries Association were
founded on 17 May 1998, and Myanmar Computer Enthusiasts
Association was founded on 24 July 1998. Based on these three
associations, Myanmar Computer Federation was established on 15
October, 1998. Myanmar Computer Scientists Association and
Myanmar Computer Industries Association have been active in their
attempts to disseminate computer technology. The First Symposium
on IT Initiative in Myanmar was held in Yangon on 29 June 1998,
and the Second Symposium was held in Mandalay on 23 October.
These associations, in collaboration with XYBASE Technologies
(Malaysia) and Mastech Co Ltd (Myanmar), held an IT Forum at
Yangon's Traders Hotel, as recently as on October 13. In other
words, these successful ventures testify to the satisfactory and
fruitful results of cooperation between the computer
associations, the Computer Federation and the Government in
endeavours to spread and advance computer technology in the
country. It is well known that, in promoting the dissemination of
modern technology among students, youths, intellectuals and the
populace, Myanmar is encouraging
the transfer of technology and investment from friendly foreign
countries, which have a positive view on Myanmar .
The cooperation of Japan in today's Conference is a clear example
of this friendly outlook. Furthermore, the Conference will help
Myanmar's current endeavour to formulate the IT Master Plan. In
order to develop the country's Information Technology, Myanmar
must work closely together with friendly nations like Japan,
which is well developed in IT, as well as with members of ASEAN
in preparation to carry out IT projects. Japan's IT plan will
serve as a reliable reference when Myanmar's IT Master Plan is
drawn. Centre of the International Cooperation for
Computerization (CICC) of Japan, which helped organize this
conference, contacted the Myanmar Computer Federation Organizing
Committee even before the emergence of Myanmar Computer
Federation. It helped acquire CICC scholarships in Information
Technology for some members who are currently studying in Japan.
In addition, CICC is offering further scholarships for the coming
year 1999.
It is also learnt that CICC is going to donate 13 high-tech
computers to Myanmar Computer Federation for the Human Resources
Development Centre. Myanmar Computer Federation, which has been
expanding contacts with international organizations, will be
admitted as a member to Asian Oceanian Computing Industry
Organization (ASOCIO) on the occasion of its annual meeting which
will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 25 and 26 November,
1998. President of CICC Mr Takuma Yamamoto also spoke on the
occasion. Then, Chairman of MCF Dr Tin Maung and Executive
Director Mr Yamazaki explained how information technology is
important. The conference will commence at the International
Business Centre at 8.30 am on 10 November.
REUTERS: MASSACHUSETTS APPEALS RULING ON MYANMAR TRADE
LAW
11 November, 1998 by Leslie Gevirtz
BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts will appeal a federal judge's
ruling that declared unconstitutional its law penalizing
companies doing business with Myanmar, formerly known as Burma,
officials said Tuesday. "Massachusetts stands with -- not
against -- the federal government in its policy toward the
current Burma regime," Massachusetts Attorney General Scott
Harshbarger said in announcing the appeal. President Clinton
slapped sanctions on Myanmar in May 1997, banning new investments
by U.S. companies while allowing existing business to continue.
Myanmar, ruled by the military, has had Nobel Peace laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
"The (U.S.) Constitution allows the states to choose not to
buy goods and services from persons who do business with
countries that violate human rights," Harshbarger added.
The National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington-based group of
companies that do business overseas, challenged the 1996
Massachusetts law, which adds 10 percent onto bids for state
contracts from companies doing business with Myanmar. The
European Union filed a brief supporting the council's position.
The EU and Japan are protesting the law before the World Trade
Organization. The Clinton administration has pledged to defend
the law before the world trade body. Chief U.S. District Judge
Joseph Tauro ruled on Nov. 4 that Massachusetts' Burma Law
"unconstitutionally infringes on the federal government's
exclusive authority to regulate foreign affairs... State
interests, no matter how noble, do not trump the federal
government's exclusive foreign affairs power."
His ruling, while binding only in Massachusetts, casts doubt over
the legality of similar "selective-purchasing statutes"
elsewhere. Some 20 cities, including New York and San Francisco,
have similar laws regarding trade with Myanmar. Frank Kittredge,
president of the powerful Washington, D.C.-based trade council,
welcomed the appeal.
"We have always wanted to take this case as far as we could
in the court system," he said. A ruling by a federal appeals
court would be binding in the rest of New England and Puerto
Rico.
More than 30 companies including Textron Inc. and Johnson &
Johnson were affected by the state's law, according to court
papers. U.S. cities enacted dozens of similar laws that helped
dismantle the apartheid regime in South Africa during the 1980s.
Other U.S. courts have rejected legal challenges to such laws.
"If selective purchasing had been banned 10 years ago,
(South African President) Nelson Mandela might be still in prison
today," said Massachusetts Rep. Byron Rushing, a Democrat
from Boston who wrote the state's Burma Law.
WORLD RESOURCE INSTITUTE: REPORT ON BURMA'S FOREST
10 November, 1998
Burma holds more than half of mainland Southeast Asia's closed
forest, and is often called "the last frontier of
biodiversity in Asia." Having lost virtually all of their
original forest cover, Burma's neighbors -- China, India, and
Thailand -- rely increasingly on Burma as a source of timber.
Most of the regional timber trade is illegal and, increasingly,
these forests are being logged to support military action at the
expense of human development needs such as health and education.
This report focuses on the environmental implications of logging
in these areas and on the political and economic forces behind
this logging. The report does not argue against logging per se.
History shows that countries liquidate a portion of their natural
capital to build the roads, schools, hospitals, and other service
s needed to develop their human resources (World Bank, 1997). The
World Bank estimates that human resources form the dominant share
of wealth, even in low-income countries, and that failure to
invest proceeds from wealth-generating activities (e.g., logging)
in a country's human resources leads inexorably to
impoverishment. This is the course that Burma appears to be
following. According to the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, defense
spending has increased, and health and education spending have
decreased, both in real terms and as shares of government
disbursements, since the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC) was formed in September 1988. In fact, the ratio of
military to social service expenditures is by far the highest in
the region.
Instead of arguing against logging itself, the report makes the
following points. First, properly managed, Burma's forest
resources can make a substantial contribution to the country's
development through timber production, tourism, and watershed
management. Second, in the past 30 years, Burma's forests have
suffered from unsustainable logging -- much of it illegal. Since
1988, the trend has accelerated, most sharply in the border
areas. Third, the long-term conservation of Burma's
extraordinary biodiversity will require a degree of local
management to ensure the implementation of policies that will be
respected and supported by the population.
1998, 54 pages, large-format paperback, ISBN Number
1-56973-266-3, $20.00. Logging Burma's Frontier Forests is a
contribution to WRI's Forests Frontiers Initiative.
Go to http://www.wri.org