CHRONOLOGY 1998

Junta ready to go mainstream

Military strongman Khin Nyunt said that his country was ready to play its part in the regional mainstream following its entry into Asean.

Speaking at a joint ministerial meeting with Singapore, he hailed the support extended by the rich city-state, Burma’s chief trading partner and number two investor, and said his country was set for “economic takeoff.”

Expressing gratitude to neighbouring countries backing for Rangoon’s efforts to be integrated into the “Asean family,” he said “Burma looks forward to contributing its share for peace, stability and prosperity of the region.”

Burma opens hi-tech warfare & spying centre

The military opened a hi-tech warfare and spying centre built and supplied by a Singaporean company, a defence journal reported.

The new Cyber Warfare centre is located inside the Ministry of Defence compound in Rangoon, reported the Asian Defence Compound in its September issue.

The centre “has been optimised for tapping domestic phone, fax and e-mail lines on a countrywide basis,” the journal said.

“It was built and supplied under a turnkey project by an unnamed Singaporean company, whose representatives are currently training their [Burmese] counterparts in how to use advanced electronic intelligence hardware installed in the centre,” the Malaysian-based publication said.

Khin Nyunt's brother to face legal action

Five members of the NLD, including elected MPs, were arrested for trying to hold meetings and will face legal action.

They include Dr. Than Nyein, brother of the first secretary of the ruling junta Lt-Gen. Khin Nyunt — and the NLD chairmen for Taketha and Mayangone, the two townships which Suu Kyi had visited in the two weeks prior to the arrests, as part of a campaign to organise an NLD youth wing.

A senior military official said the NLD was holding the meetings in defiance of the law, in an effort to embarrass the government.

US group on fact-finding trip to region

Former US ambassador to Thailand Morton Abramowitz met with leaders of the Burmese opposition in Bangkok after visiting Singapore, Burma, and Thailand to assess the situation in the region.

Mr. Abramowitz was accompanied by former ambassador Richard Lee Armitage, who served as Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs in the Pentagon from June 1983 to May 1989.