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Bangkok Post News (11/10/98)



WHERE IS BURMA'S TRANSITION TO PEACE?
11.10.98/BANGKOK POST

***Burma's generals believe the world is plotting against them
and have arrested 54 would-be ringleaders this week to show them
who's boss. If the international community isn't planning some
action it should be.***

If Burma's ruling despots do allow Rajsoomer Lallah into the
country to take an honest reading of the country's social and
political circumstances, he will have his work cut out for him.

The United Nations' special rapporteur has been to Rangoon
before, of course. Burma is his assigned beat. But times have
changed - unfortunately for the worse.

The government-by-force of the day would as soon give Mr Lallah
free range to gauge the real situation they control with bullets,
jails and harassment as Baghdad would let an American weapons
inspector stroll about unattended searching at will for chemical
and biological armaments.

In the latest episode of what has been termed the worst political
repression since the mass slaughter of democracy activists in
October 1988, Burma's military junta this week arrested 54
people, including 23 members of the National League for Democracy
(NLD), the party that handily won the country's last elections
and was then summarily denied the right to rule its constituents.

The charge: Sedition and inciting unrest, aided and abetted by a
throng of international organisations.

The equally absurd assumption:
A global plot to topple the regime and thus stymy its dedicated
effort    to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy.

Among the accused: The Open Society Institute of George Soros,
the wealthy American financier so vilified by Indonesia and
Malaysia and blamed personally for Asia's economic collapse; the
National Endowment for Democracy, also based in the US; Canada's
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development;
the Jesuit Refugee Service; and the Thai-based Alternative Asean
Network of Burma.

Their plea: Not guilty.

For those arrested, the punishment: An "invitation" to stay at a
government guest house and enjoy comfortable lodgings, good food
and respectful treatment.

But "there are no political prisoners in  Burma", the junta
reminded us this week in a statement, and "no one has died in
custody".

A cloud of paranoia and a thin veil of lies.

By their actions and their words this week, Rangoon's generals
have crossed the final boundaries of good sense, neighbourliness
and wisdom. If they have any friends left, they are cowering,
corrupt or blind to the fundamental necessities of decent
governance.

Among those cowering are the tens of thousands of Burmese, Shans
and Karens attending, ostensibly in spontaneous shows of
patriotism, rallies denouncing the NLD and calling for the
deportation of its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. She is, after all, a
foreigner, the junta reminds us, having married a Briton. She is,
of course, also the daughter of the late Aung San, Burma's
annually commemorated hero of independence.

Condemnation Rangoon's bullying - critics say 2,000 dissidents
have been incarcerated since May - has come from North America,
Europe and much of Asia, yet Burma always has the Asean ace up
its sleeve.

The decision to admit Burma into the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations last year has given the generals carte blanche to
abuse power and usurp privilege, and still belly up to the bar
when regional and international trade deals are being negotiated.

The actions of its rulers are a blot on the region. International
plot or not, there can be no peaceful transition to democracy
while they are still in charge.

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DAYS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
11.10.98/BANGKOK POST
AUNG NAING OO

The night of September 6, 1998 was a  nightmare for U Kyaw San.
It began in the early evening when officers from the Burmese
Military Intelligence Service (MIS) arrived at his home, blasting
their car horns. They climbed over the fence and tried to force
the owners to open the door.

Frightened, the people in the house asked the unrestrained
intruders to come back the following day. But the intruders were
persistent. They tried to force the door open with a crowbar and
pounded the main door and windows all through the night. With no
means to stop the onslaught, as the telephone line had been
severed by the officers, it was an excruciatingly long night for
U Kyaw San and his family.

The next day U Kyaw San, an ex-Burmese army officer, was arrested
at his home. He had not committed any crime. But under Burma's
repressive military government his role within the National
League for Democracy (NLD) suffices for him to be treated as a
criminal. U Kyaw San is the chairman of the Sagaing Division
Organising Committee for the party. As a former colonel, now with
the NLD, it is likely that the army would have considered him a
traitor.

The ordeal did not stop with his arrest. The MIS officers
ransacked the house, forcing U Kyaw San's wife to open boxes,
cupboards and drawers. They confiscated all papers they found,
and ordered his wife to sign an acknowledgement that the papers
and materials were handed over to the authorities with consent.
Courageously, she refused.

On September 19, MIS officers told U Kyaw San's family to bring a
few personal items for him. To their dismay, on their arrival at
the MIS-6 headquarters, the family was told that U Kyaw San had
been sent to Insein Special Prison in Rangoon, Burma's most
dreaded detention centre.

U Kyaw San is one of the many NLD Members of Parliament and
officials who have recently been taken into custody by the
Burmese military regime in the current sweeping crackdown. As the
NLD stated recently, the number of its members arrested since May
this year has now reached well over 1,000. This figure does not
include students and political activists from various other
organisations. According to student sources in Rangoon, the total
number of arrests is nearing 2,000.

Although according to the military government's own law, security
officers should carry a warrant whenever they conduct an arrest
or search premises, this procedure is often ignored for the
arrest of political suspects. The officers usually harass the
victims, are rude and violent, and often cause damage to
property.

For instance, on September 24, MIS officers showed up at the
house of NLD youth wing member May Hnin Aung in Thingangyun
township. Although May Hnin Aung did not expect the officers to
carry a warrant, she asked to see one. The answer she received
typifies the arrogance of the military regime. "There is no need
for us to have a warrant because we are not here to look for
drugs. You can report this anywhere and to anyone you wish."

The 10-member Representative Committee formed by the NLD, which
has been given a mandate to act as a parliament by the MPs
elected in 1990, has recently issued a decree repealing some of
Burma's most repressive laws. One of these is the  1950 Emergency
Provision Act, under which hundreds of political opponents of the
regime been charged and given harsh prison sentences. As the
political standoff between the junta and the opposition
continues, it is likely that many of those currently in detention
will be sentenced and imprisoned under this legislation.

In a comical attempt to placate international criticism the
Burmese military has claimed that NLD members in detention have
merely been invited to attend discussions. They even tried to
back up their claims by posting photos on the Internet of NLD
members reading newspapers and watching television at military
installations. Contrary to this public relations stunt, sources
in Rangoon report that many of the political prisoners picked up
in the latest crackdown have been tortured in custody.

Despite the concerted public relations efforts of Burma's
military rulers, the truth continues to leak out. The detention
of so many of a country's citizens for seeking democracy is hard
to hide, and can only serve to inspire its pro-democracy fighters
and supporters further. On the part of the NLD the arrests have
made them more defiant and determined. As for the military, they
will have to do a lot of explaining about the continued detention
of opposition members, if the detainees are "invited guests" as
the regime so claims.

Aung Naing Oo is foreign affairs secretary of All Burma Students'
Democratic Front.

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