BurmaNet Appropriate
Information Technologies, Practical Strategies
The BurmaNet News: November 19, 1998
Issue #1142
HEADLINES:
REUTERS: INFLATION-HIT MYANMAR TO ISSUE 1,000 KYAT
NOTE
Nov 18, 1998 Eastern
YANGON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government,
battling galloping inflation, said on Wednesday that it would put
1,000 kyat banknotes into circulation from November 25. The
country's state television, in making the announcement, gave no
reason for the new issue. The government has put the country's
annual inflation rate at around 20 percent, but independent
analysts have said it exceeds 50 percent, depending on the basket
of goods used to measure price increases.
Myanmar already has kyat banknotes in denominations of 500, 200,
90, 50, 45, 20, 15, 10, five and one. There is also a 50 pya
note. One kyat comprises 100 pyas. The official kyat exchange
rate is about 6.35 to the dollar but the currency trades at
semi-government-controlled exchange centres at between 250 and
300 to the dollar and on the black market at about 340 to the
U.S. currency.
When the government levies taxes on imported goods it calculates
the kyat at 100 to the dollar. The kyat has hit lows of around
420 to the dollar in recent months and the government has
resorted to temporary detentions of unauthorised currency dealers
to control the market rate.
THE STRAITS TIMES: WILL WATSON CASH IN AGAIN AT ASIA'S
RICHEST TOURNAMENT?
November 19, 1998
DUNLOP PHOENIX GOLF By GODFREY ROBERT IN MIYAZAKI
THE Dunlop Phoenix tournament, the pro-am of which teed off
yesterday with Japanese corporate chiefs each paying a reported
US$7,500 (S$12,225) for a slot, has not lost any thunder despite
being sandwiched between two other leading competitions. Time
difference sees the Grand Slam Cup in Hawaii starting first and
the World Cup in Auckland teeing off last, but there is as much
attention on the Dunlop Phoenix tournament, which celebrates its
25th anniversary. A strong international field of 28 players from
14 countries, including the defending champion Tom Watson, and 56
prime Japanese golfers have met the strict selection criteria of
the organisers in the richest tournament in Asia with a total
purse of US$2.08 million. The eligibility list highlights winners
of major championships, the leading players from the Japanese
Tour and golfers who have earned more than 300 million yen
(S$4.08 million) since 1973.
And that can only mean the cream of the crop despite the
obligations of Grand Slam winners Mark O'Meara and Vijay Singh,
who were in Japan only last week but had to jet off to Hawaii for
the four-man showdown which also involved Lee Janzen and Tiger
Woods. Watson heads the US field, which includes Jeff Sluman,
Corey Pavin, Fred Funk, Paul Stankowski, Brian Watts and Brandt
Jobe. If Watson, 49, who won the Phoenix event in 1980 and last
year, brings together two generations of champions, he will also
take delight in seeing Isao Aoki, seven years his senior, raise a
pitch for the seniors.
Aoki, the 1998 BellSouth champion and runner-up of the this event
in 1991, has a strong following here and he will provide the
encouragement for his younger colleagues such as Tommy Nakajima,
Jumbo Ozaki, Shigeki Maruyama and Naomichi Ozaki. Watson and the
Japanese will be keeping a close watch on Briton Lee Westwood,
winner of last week's Taiheiyo Masters and at 25 already a winner
in tournaments in the US, Europe and Asia, including a triumph in
the Malaysian Open.
South Africa has two strong contenders in Ernie Els and Retief
Goosen while Australia will parade the 1979 Dunlop Phoenix winner
Graham Marsh, a regular face in Singapore in the 70s, Craig Parry
and Roger Mackay. The European challenge comes from Jose Maria
Olazabal, Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez
while Singaporean interest will be on former Japan Open winner
Peter Teravainen, Filipino Frankie Minoza, a regular in the
Republic until he won a Japan Tour card and Myanmar's Zaw Moe,
who lives in Singapore.
The tight, pine tree-lined 6,846-yard course has newly
re-modelled greens which are enlarged and undulating. While many
of the golfers find this more challenging, some are quite unhappy
with the raised fairways -- apparently to help drainage at the
coastal course -- which could spin the ball towards the trees.
The three-year programme to renew all 18 of the 25-year-old green
bed was completed only two months ago and the new sand greens are
designed to provide equal compactness but faster and smoother
surfaces. The total length of the course is also 43 yards longer
than in previous years.
That would certainly make the best player, who stands to win
US$321,429, a worthy champion after four rounds of what is
expected to be an exciting tournament for a glittering cast from
around the world. A beaming Watson, who enjoyed his six birdies
in his pro-am round of one-under 70, said: "The new rough
makes the ball play short and the larger greens have made the
going tougher. "I'm expecting a lot of three putts on the
undulating greens."
A 45 per cent increase in the total size of the greens could
prove Watson right, but he is hoping that he will not be affected
much. Then part in jest but with a serious ending, he added:
"I'm becoming a part-owner of the Kansas City Royals
baseball team and I hope to win the Phoenix again to help me
defray some of the cost." Watson is part of a consortium
which forked out US$75 million for the Royals which he said was
worth double the amount now.
DUNLOP PHOENIX EVENT: ASIA'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS
The Dunlop Phoenix Tournament is Asia's richest golf event
boasting US$2.08 million (S$3.3 million) in prize money. The
eligibility list highlights winners of major championships, the
leading players from the Japanese Tour and golfers who have
earned more than 300 million yen (S$4 million) since 1973. Among
the top names playing this week in Miyazaki, which is an hour's
flight from Osaka, are Americans Tom Watson, Jeff Sluman, Corey
Pavin and Fred Funk, Englishman Lee Westwood and Japan's Tommy
Nakajima and Jumbo Ozaki.
"APPEAL TO THE ROYAL THAI GOVERNMENT REGARDING
THE PLIGHT OF TWENTY-FOUR
DETAINED STUDENTS IN THE SPECIAL DETENTION CENTER"
From: Aye Min <absdf102@erols.com>
-Media Release- November 18, 1998
The following statement is the joint statement by the Burmese
student\ groups around the world. We are planning to present this
letter to the Royal Thai embassies in our respective countries.
We also appeal the democratic community to voice your concern
regarding the fate of those students in the detention center. We
thank you for your support.
Mr Chuan Leekpai
Prime minister
Royal Thai
government
Date.
November 18, 1998
Dear your excellency,
We are Burmese students fighting to restore justice and freedom
in our mother land. We are writing this letter to appeal to your
government's kind consideration regarding the fate of twenty four
Burmese students detained at the Special Detention Center(SDC) in
Bangkok. They are incarcerated not for threatening the property
and lives of Thai citizens, but for their courageous act to tell
the world that there is no justice and freedom in Burma. Among
them, Ko Shwe Hla the vice-chairman of the Burmese Student
Association (Safe Area) has been in the detention center for more
than one year. He was arrested in front of the Indonesian embassy
while he was trying to express BSA's opinion against ASEAN's
constructive engagement
policy. We are also very concerned about their health and well
being, especially Ko Shwe Hla's.
We appeal to your government to give thorough consideration to
the plight of students in the SDC. We strongly urge Thailand, a
leading democratic country in the south east Asia, to take this
opportunity to show its commitment to the Burmese struggle for
freedom and human rights. They have been punished more than
enough even though no crimes have been committed. Putting the
Burmese students in the detention center for long prison term,
for two years in Ko Shwe Hla's case, does not help Thailand's
image in the eyes of the international community.
We also understand that some of the detained students have not
been recognized by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugee as "Person of Concern" for various reasons.
However, we plea your government to kindly grant the same
treatment to them since they deserved to be treated equally as
others. Thailand has shown its sympathy towards Burmese students'
struggle in the past and we petition your government to continue.
Please give them freedom every human being deserves. . We are
more than happy to assist you in anyway we can in this matter
including their well being after release. We thank you for your
consideration in this matter.
All Burma Basic Education Student Union (Thailand)
All Burma Student Democratic Organization (Australia)
All Burma Student League (India)
Burmese Student Democratic Organization (Canada)
Democratic Burmese Students Organization (USA)
Student Organization for Liberation of Burma (Japan)
Oversea National Student Organization of Burma (Thailand)
Working Group for Democracy in Burma (VIC-Australia)
ANNOUNCEMENT: ABBESU ELECTED MEMBERS LIST
ALL BURMA BASIC EDUCATIONS STUDENTS UNION (THAILAND)
We are a body of Burmese students, striking and protesting
against the dictatorship and military elite in Burma, for the
restoration of democracy and human rights in our country .Burma
is presently ruled by SPDC.
The 10th conference of All Burma Basic Educations Stucents' Union
id holding in the promise of our members. On October 10, 1998 we
held successful elections and the democratically ecleced Central
Committee Members are as follows:
DESIGNATIONS NAME
CHAIRMAN MAUNG MAUNG
VICE-CHAIRMAN AUNG ZAW
GENERAL SECRETARY MOE MIN AUNG
FOREIGN AFFAIRS YAN SOE AUNG
FINANCIAL AFFAIRS YAN MYO AUNG
NEWS AND INFORMATION AFFAIRS TIN AUGN MOE
ALLIANCE RELATION COMMITTEE SAW AYE MIN
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE KYAW LAY
WORKING INSPECTION COMMITTEE MAUNG MAUNG OO
OFFICE-IN-CHARGE HLA HTWE
CENTRAL COMMITTEE
ALL BURMA BASIC EDUCATIONS STUDENTS UNION (THAILAND)