Chronology

January 1997

Slorc arrests in bid to halt unrest

Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt accused Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and Communists of fomenting the unrest.

The general said 56 people were in custody in connection with the protests, including 13 members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, 34 remnant members of the defunct Communist Party of Burma, and nine people accused of throwing rocks.

Action to affect 50,000 students in run-up to exam period

Burma’s military government will keep some universities closed to prevent a recurrence of student unrest as it continues investigations into last month’s demonstrations and bombings, senior officials said.

The officials told a monthly news conference the ruling Slorc was still trying to determine who was responsible for two bombings o­n Dec. 25 at a Buddhist shrine. The blasts killed five and wounded 17.

They said the bombings could be linked with demonstrations in early December when thousands of students took to the streets in the biggest anti-government demonstrations in Ran-goon since 1988.

Intelligence officials said restrictions placed o­n Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition NLD party, would remain in place for her safety until the situation normalised.

Prison term for NLD member

Saw U Rei, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party was sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly having links to an ethnic rebel groups and publishing illegal documents.

He was given three years in prison o­n Nov. 29 for contact with the Karenni rebel group and another seven years o­n Dec. 18 for illegal publishing.

Khun Sa thrives after rebuilding empire

Notorious opium warlord Khun Sa has built a fast-growing business empire in Burma a year after he surrendered to the government in January 1996, sources said.

Khun Sa was leader of a defunct 20,000-strong Mong Tai Army (MTA) that previously sought autonomy for Burma’s eastern Shan State. International drug agencies accused him of using the army as personal guerrilla force to protect his heroin business.

Sources close to Khun Sa said that he has since led what they called a life of luxury in Rangoon, where he oversees his diverse business in hotels, beach resorts and highway construction.

Rangoon in vice crackdown

Burmese police arrested 65 prostitutes and five pimps in downtown Rangoon in November and December in a crackdown o­n prostitution, official media said.

Prostitution has been the rise in some of Burma’s major cities, where the world’s oldest profession used to be virtually non-existent.

HK investment bank pulls out of Burma

A Hong Kong investment bank has decided to stop its operations in Burma, where a privatisation programme has "not materialized" and its operation have been dogged by controversy.

Peregrine Capital Myanmar Ltd (PCM), a subsidiary of Peregrine Investment Holding Ltd, closed down its office in Rangoon, the company said in a statement from its Hong Kong headquarters.

"Unlike other Asian countries, particularly China, a privatisation programme has not materialized in Myanmar and there is little evidence to suggest when it will take place," the company said. "Furthermore, the anticipated establishment of a securities market has not taken place".

The Burma company was also dogged with problems relating to its former executive chairman Mariam Segal.

Segal was ousted in July after the Hong Kong-based investment bank accused her of trying to set up a competing venture in Burma. She was sued for breach of contract and Peregrine was awarded US$ 4.1 million in New York.

That court success allowed the company to begin operating "free from the external interference that had dogged it," company director Alan Mercer said.

Malaysian MPs against accepting Slorc into Asean

Twelve opposition members of Malaysia’s parliament endorsed an alternative Asean declaration o­n Burma, calling o­n member government’s not to accept Rangoon’s application for membership as long as the junta remains in power.

One of the signatories, Lim Kit Siang, Secretary-General of the Democratic Action Party, urged Asean countries to set up a monthly mechanism to monitor democratic reform and drug trafficking in Burma before deciding o­n the suitability of its membership in the regional grouping. He said Burma had more than doubled its drug exports since 1988. It was estimated that drug money accounted for half of the Burmese economy.

Czechs honour Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi received an honorary doctorate in absentia from Prague’s Charles University.