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Okkar: Behind the drama at Myanmar'



Subject: Okkar: Behind the drama at Myanmar's embassy

Behind the drama at Myanmar's embassy 
By ROGER MITTON Bangkok 
more info: <A HREF="http://www.student.ipfw.edu/~soem01";>http://www.student.ip
fw.edu/~soem01</A> or
               <A 
HREF="http://cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/magazine/99/1015/thailand.html";>http://c
nn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/magazine/99/1015/thailand.html</A>

Thailand is home to thousands of Myanmar exiles who have fled the military
regime back home. Among diplomats at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok are 
several
with a military background, including ambassador Hla Maung. Security at the
mission is notoriously lax and the Myanmar side has long complained to the
Thais in vain. The single - often dozing - Thai policeman inside the unlocked
main gate would wave visitors through without even a cursory check, despite 
the
embassy being a high-risk one and the fact that most disaffected Myanmar 
exiles
live in border camps where weapons are easily available. Putting these factors
together, it is surprising that the armed takeover of the embassy on Oct. it
did not occur earlier. 
When it did happen, it was with evident ease. Five masked youths brandishing
automatic rifles and grenades stormed a side-entrance and occupied the 
compound
within minutes, taking diplomats and visa applicants as hostages. What 
followed
was a wild and wacky 24-hour siege that fortuitously ended without bloodshed.
As both terrorists and hostages made and received phone calls from outside, 
the
Thai authorities belatedly scrambled into action. An adjacent office building
was taken over as a command center and the street outside was shut to normal
traffic - though journalists and curious onlookers, including tourists, had no
difficulty getting close to the scene. 

Conflicting reports filtered out about the number of terrorists and their
demands. No one seemed sure what was going on. But the Thais continued with
their haphazard and laidback negotiation. Surprisingly, it worked. A day 
later,
the terrorists exchanged their hostages for Thai Deputy Foreign Minister
Sukhumbhand Paribatra and another official and then were flown by helicopter 
to
the Thai-Myanmar border where they were released to melt into the jungle -
presumably to celebrate a successful mission. But there was plenty of
criticism. Says political scientist Chayachoke Chulasiriwongs of Bangkok's
Chulalongkorn University: "The government has been letting these people run
around. How could you let somebody take machine guns and grenades into the
center of Bangkok? Really incredible. Ridiculous." 

Myanmar's junta agrees. Says Brig.-Gen. Zaw Tun, deputy national planning
minister in Yangon: "They got away so easily. If that had happened in Myanmar,
they would have been punished." Still, it was evident the gunmen were
exasperated rebel students rather than clinical killers. That said, there were
reports - since denied by Thai officials quoted locally - that the group's
leader was involved in hijacking a Myanmar civilian aircraft 10 years ago. 
Says
Soe Aung of the Bangkok-based All Burma Students' Democratic Front: "These
actions are the indications of the people's desperation; they can't be 
tolerant
any more." 

Officially, all sides publicly condemned the assault, including Western
governments, mainstream Myanmar exile groups and even the National League for
Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Sukhumbhand, a former academic who 
has
been having a torrid time as a first-term MP, emerged an unlikely hero. Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai and Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart were also
praised for their hands-on role in bringing a peaceful end to the incident,
though Sanan blotted his copybook by saying: "We don't consider them to be
terrorists. They are student activists who fight for democracy." 

A group of six or seven hostages felt the same way. Rather than praise the
Thais who had faciliated their release, they burst into wildly demonstrative
scenes of support for their former captors. They cheered, donned revolutionary
headbands and waved NLD and pro-democracy flags. This performance and filmed
scenes of some of them hugging their abductors lent credence to allegations
made by Yangon that collusion had occurred. But Arthur Shwe of the National
Council of the Union of Burma dismisses this. Says he: "The hostages had
nothing to do with it." 

Yes or no, security at the embassy - and at other foreign missions in Bangkok 
-
is likely to be upgraded. And PM Chuan said the situation regarding Myanmar
exiles living in Thailand may need to be reviewed. Says Chayachoke: "By us
treating the students very leniently, it looks to the Myanmar government that
we are giving them support." But few expect draconian action. As for relations
between Bangkok and Yangon, bilateral ties had been improving after the
regime's leaders visited Bangkok in March and then Thai Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan went to Yangon and Mandalay where he praised his counterpart Win Aung
for teaching him "a lot about history." He notably did not call on Suu Kyi. 
Now
there could be a chill. Says Zaw Tun: "We are a little bit angry." 

Sanan's comment will not help. Even the exiles do not share this view. Says
Shwe: "It is natural they be branded terrorists. Their motive was good but
[not] their action." There is a fear of repeat acts and even a sense that
perhaps the five gunmen have shown the democracy activists the way of the
future. The NLD's non-violent credo has got it nowhere, and it may be hard for
the movement to convince young hotheads not to heed a call to arms.