Bkk Post- Judging Burma by deeds, n

[tinkyi@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Bkk Post- Judging Burma by deeds, not words

March 1, 1999
Editorial

Judging Burma by deeds, not words
The international police did everyone a disservice when they chose Burma as
the site of a worldwide police conference on heroin. The host country has
done nothing to deserve such respect. In recent months, Rangoon had begun to
try to talk a good game on the fight against drugs trafficking. But Burma
has made little discernible progress in eradicating drugs. Its cozy deals
with several of the worldms top traffickers are indefensible. And while no
one can defend the growing Thai demand for illegal drugs, Burma is the
pusher which is profiting.
The conference was bound to leave a bad taste in the mouth. Burma planned
all along to use the international forum to brag about its latest pledges to
combat drug making and narcotics smuggling. But its words and actions
remained far apart during the entire process. Authorities played host to
Interpol agents and to two of the worldms top drug smugglers who are the
target of Interpol arrest warrants. Something is badly wrong with such a
picture.
There was no shame, then, to the Western boycott of the Rangoon conference.
US and European leaders wanted to make a point about the Burmese support for
drug traffickers. If there is shame surrounding last weekms gathering, it
falls on some attendees.
Interpolms mission, for example, is to help to arrest Khun Sa and Lo
Hsing-han, top heroin smugglers. Yet Paul Higdon, Interpol's director of
criminal intelligence, showed no embarrassment about attending a conference
about a kilometre away from the known residences of the two wanted men. Mr
Higdon shrugged that Burma had had to make difficult deals to ensure peace
with its ethnic minorities. Nor did Thai delegates make a point of the
Burmese sheltering of drug pushers wanted in this country.
It is necessary to be fair. The Burma drug problem is far beyond easy
solution. The nation is a world centre for poppies, and the largest illegal
amphetamine producer in Asia. This problem cannot be solved overnight. Nor
can it be solved by Burma by itself. International efforts are absolutely
necessary to solve international narcotics trafficking.
But remove the dictatorial politics from the equation and Burma still falls
far short. Rangoonms problem is precisely that it will not cooperate with
its neighbours or with international anti-narcotics experts. Christian
Kornevall, the top United Nations drug expert in Southeast Asia, pointed
this out last week in refreshingly un-diplomatic fashion. Burma, he said
correctly, refuses to join UN plans for drug eradication.
The UN is willing to show Burma far better methods to clean up its worst
narcotics problems, and to accomplish this years earlier than Rangoon
promises. Thailand has said many times it is willing to help Burma with
plans for crop substitution to help Burmese farmers. Burma harped last week
on the reduced or halted anti-drug aid from some Western countries. But
experts are unanimous that Burma spends more time complaining than it spends
in meaningful anti-drug measures it could take with the United Nations or in
concert with helpful neighbours.
Burma has a point about being denied aid to fight narcotics. Many
drug-consuming nations demand Burmese action, only to deny Rangoon some of
the needed tools. But it would be a far stronger and more vital point if
Rangoon made a real effort to cooperate with the international community. It
is telling that its major show of teamwork so far has been with Interpol -
an agency which only gathers information and has no actual police powers.
Rangoon had all last week to talk about its spirit of anti-narcotics. There
is little evidence the talk swayed any of the delegates to the ruined
conference. Nor should talk prevail in such circumstances. In Burmams case,
actions will talk far louder than any of the words it uttered last week.