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The Nation - Thai-Burmese tensions



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: The Nation - Thai-Burmese tensions kick-start clash in Parliament

The Nation - Oct 15, 1999.
Headlines
Thai-Burmese tensions kick-start clash in Parliament

THE growing tensions between Thailand and Burma were taken to the
Parliamentary floor yesterday as opposition lawmakers accused the government
of not being competent enough to bring the bilateral dispute to an end.

Opposition MPs from the New Aspiration Party slammed Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai and Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, accusing them of mishandling
the dispute, but they offered no real solution of their own.

The fact that Thai fishermen were still being kept out of Burmese waters was
testimony to the government's failure to solve the problem, the lawmakers
said.

They criticised Surin, who cited diplomatic sensitivity for conducting the
session behind the closed doors, for not allowing the debate to be broadcast
so the public could decide for themselves.

Tension between Thailand and Burma erupted in the past week with the latter
accusing Thai authorities of handling the recent hostage crisis at the
Burmese Embassy with ''kid gloves''.

Moreover, Burma's generals were irked by the statement by Interior Minister
Sanan Kachornprasart that the five hostage-takers were just ''students
fighting for democracy''. Rangoon ordered its border with Thailand shut and
cancelled all fishing concessions given to Thai fishermen. Cross-border
trade and fisheries industry had been at a standstill since then.

Yesterday's debate strayed off at a tangent with opposition accusing Surin
of lacking vision and following the footsteps of big powerful countries.
They said he had been using his position to promote himself at an
international forum, citing a report saying Surin was aiming for the seat of
UN secretary-general.

Surin dismissed the allegations and took a jab at an NAP member whose wife
exploited her husband's position for financial gains. He did not reveal the
MP's name.

''My Khunying [wife] doesn't go abroad looking for logging concessions and I
have never travelled abroad to request for any kind of concessions for
myself or for her,'' Surin said.

Though Surin did not name names, it was understood that he was referring to
the wife of Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, leader of the NAP. She allegedly was
linked to attempts to seek a number of logging and fisheries concessions by
the Burmese military government during Chavalit's various stints in the army
and afterwards. Chavalit has close personal connections with the Burmese
military junta.

Surin's statement infuriated the opposition, whose members demanded that the
foreign minister retract his statement.

Speaking on his way back to Nakhon Phanom, Chavalit urged Thailand to
understand the feelings of the Burmese, who had been hurt by the incident,
and not to call them dictators every time a dispute surfaced.

Chavalit blamed Rangoon's anger on the Thai government's inconsistency in
the handling of the hostage crisis. ''You can not call them [the captors]
democratic student activists, after all, the circumstances already pointed
to them as terrorists,'' he said.

The Nap leader said the government had to do its utmost to restore bilateral
ties since being Thailand's neighbour was a permanent, not temporary,
arrangement with Burma.

He said Thailand's chronic problems with Burma had resulted from the
government's lack of understanding of its neighbour. ''I don't understand
why we had so many problems with Burma, unlike China or India, who also
share long borders with Burma but still manage to maintain good relations
with it,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Gen Mongkhol Ampornpisit, supreme commander of the armed forces,
ordered all troops along the border to keep an eye out for the five
dissidents who had stormed the Burmese Embassy early this month, and arrest
them on sight.

Mongkhol said he had told troops stationed along the border to seek
information on the whereabouts of the five.

The Army's 1st and 3rd Regions, as well as Navy's 4th and 9th Fleets, have
been ordered to sharpen surveillance efforts amid reports that Burma had
dispatched army units to the border areas following the hostage crisis,
which ended after Thailand agreed to provide a safe passage for the armed
men.

Recalling the 25-hour ordeal, police chief Gen Pracha Promnok revealed to
reporters that he had been caught in a tight situation -- he had to find
ways to end the siege as soon as possible, without risking the lives of the
Burmese diplomats who were being held against their will.

Pracha said he had received a fax from the Burmese police chief asking Thai
authorities to ensure the safety of the diplomats.

He showed it to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who made it clear that the
crisis should be solved through negotiations that had to be conducted in a
calm manner, he said.

The Nation