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Bangkok Post (28-9-99)
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>Junta? s minister says
military wants to surrender <br>
Power <br>
<i>Aung denies regime guilty of repression<br>
</font></b></i><font size=3>Harry Rolnick, Bangkok Post <i>New York<br>
<br>
</font></i><font size=3>We are </font><font size=3>like people holding a
hand grenade,? said Burma?s Minister of Foreign Affairs U Win Aung on
Friday ?where the safety pin is out.?<br>
In a speech to the Asia Society in New York, Mr Aung admitted previous
economic errors, said the current regime was in power reluctantly, and
discussed the problem of ethnic divisions in the border regions.<br>
The hand grenade image, which startled diplomats, businesspeople, Burmese
officials and dissidents in attendance, referred to ?a society which had
been torn apart in the past, but which, under the new Constitution, is
coming together again?.<br>
Mr Aung said his government had been arguing over the best way to bring
in the warring factions, but that ?it must be done.<br>
We must stop the fighting, because we cannot survive without national
unity.?<br>
He said there must be power-sharing in Burma. ?This is the only solution,
so that we can gradually form a sense of unity.?<br>
Mr Aung said ?the present government is a transitional one. Our goal is
to end this for greater democracy. But we cannot survive without the
unity of our people?.<br>
He said isolationism and past economic policies had been mistakes, and
that a market economy was the only way for Burma to prosper.<br>
?We plan to privatise 100% of the state sector,? he said.<br>
Concerning Burmese refugees in Thailand, Mr Aung refused to admit they
even existed, referring to them as ?military camps, not so-called refugee
camps?.<br>
?All Myanmar people, whether they live in Thailand or the United States
or anywhere else, are always citizens of our country.?<br>
In rebuttal to Mr Aung?s speech, David I. Steinberg, director of Asian
Studies at Georgetown University, said that, far from the minister?s
avowal of Burma?s recent progress, ?the evidence is that the government
is hunkering down and </font><font size=1>... </font><font size=3>is more
isolated than it has been since 1988?.<br>
Mr Steinberg said Burmese military officers ?feel they cannot relinquish
essential powers because of their perceptions of internal threats to the
unity of the state?.<br>
Mr Steinberg said the military has isolated itself from the people
through its suspicion. He did not believe it had any intention of
surrendering power.<br>
In a heated debate, Mr. Aung himself a product of the Rangoon Military
College </font><font size=1> </font><font size=3>said Burma?s government
is not an elite military affair but has representation from ?farmers,
workers and people from throughout the country?.<br>
Mr Aung denied that there has ever been human rights violations or
religious repression under his government.<br>
?A government,? Mr Aung said, ?not only must rule but must take
responsibility. But when the West wants </font><font size=1>to
</font><font size=3>demonise a country, they can demonise
it</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">.?<br>
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</font><font size=5><b>Nearly 1 million speed pills seized<br>
</font></b><font size=4><i>Wa group plans new amphetamine plant<br>
<br>
</font></i><font size=3><b>Mae Hong Son<br>
</font><font size=4>P</font></b><font size=3>olice seized almost one
million methamphetamine pills on the weekend amid indications the Wa
National Army is planning to open another drug factory.<br>
Border sources said the new factory was being set up by elements of the
Wa National Army in a village in Burma's Shan state, opposite Muang
district, Mae Hong Son.<br>
The source said Col Maha Sang, the WNA leader, and Col Maha Ja, his
younger brother, who are behind the scheme, were planning to take
advantage of the limited autonomy Rangoon has allowed in Shan
state.<br>
Authorities have stepped up suppression efforts to curb the inflow of
methamphetamines, largely coming from factories in Shan state run by the
United Wa State Army. An estimated 200 million pills are imported
annually from Burma, according to the authorities.<br>
The border source said the new plant was being built in Mae Or Luang,
about 20km south of the Ho Mong base of the UWSA and opposite the Ban Rak
Thai border crossing.<br>
It was likely to be equipped with machinery to be delivered from Ho Mong
and several other towns in Shan and Kayah states, where small drug
factories can each produce only 250,000-300,000 pills a month.<br>
In the weekend seizures, eight suspects were arrested in two raids.<br>
On Saturday, police searched a car at a toll plaza near Don Muang and
found 470,000 pills in a suitcase in the car's boot. Sunthorn sae Lee,
28, and Somchai Cheewinrungroj, 27, who were charged with trafficking,
said the drugs were intended for delivery to a client at a hotel on Rama
IV road.<br>
On Sunday, six men were rounded up in Din Daeng, Suan Luang and Klong
Toey and charged with possessing 434,000 speed pills with intent to sell.
Police said the suspects, identified as Mongkol Pongsrimas, 34, Kaufei
Sae-pan, 27, Akkaradej Pongsrimas, 17, Peerapong Pongsrimas,17, Nopparuj
Siripankul, 26, and Ongart Chitcharoen, 32, told them they worked for one
Bangkok-based dealer.<br>
The Narcotics Suppression Bureau said it has seized 5.9 million speed
pills, 104kg of heroin, 42kg of cannabis and 159 ecstasy pills since
January.<br>
During the same period, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board also
confiscated some 25 million speed pills. It expects to to seize five
million more. <br>
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