BurmaNet News: July 18, 2001

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
           July 18, 2001   Issue # 1846
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________


INSIDE BURMA _______
*AFP: Prominent Myanmar journalist San San Nwe released from jail 

MONEY _______
*TheSpleen.com: Out of the Jungle [Smuggling], Part II of III

GUNS______
*The Nation: Missiles 'no threat' to regional stability 
*AP: Refugees flee to Thailand after clash at Myanmar border 
*Shan Herald Agency for News: More details on massacre reported
*Shan Herald Agency for News:  Another shipment of ammo from China

DRUGS______
*BBC: Thailand's 'Mad Medicine'
*Irrawaddy: New Drug Factories in Laos

EDITORIALS/OPINION/PROPAGANDA________
*Prospect (UK): Letter--Beauty and the Beast; Western Attacks on Burma's 
pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, merely assist the military 
regime



					
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________



AFP: Prominent Myanmar journalist San San Nwe released from jail 

YANGON, July 18 (AFP) - Prominent Myanmar journalist San San Nwe was 
released from jail Wednesday along with 10 other political prisoners, 
the military government said. 

 "Today 11 NLD (National League for Democracy) members including four 
MPs have been released from various correctional facilities in the 
country... They are all in good health," a spokesman said. 

 San San Nwe, 56, was arrested in 1994 and sentenced to 10 years in jail 
for allegedly giving "false news reports" to foreign journalists. 

 She was accused of "causing misunderstanding of the government" with 
her reports, and of having contact with the democratic 
government-in-exile. 

 As Myanmar's leading woman journalist, San San Nwe has been recognised 
by press advocacy groups including Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters 
Without Borders) which awarded her its 1999 RSF-Fondation de France 
prize. 

 RSF welcomed her release, but regretted that "she was not released much 
earlier." 

 According to an RSF statement received in Bangkok, her health had 
"deteriorated considerably" and she had not received adequate treatment 
for health problems she suffered in prison, including hypertension and a 
kidney infection. 

 Last year, she was a co-recipient along with another Myanmar 
journalist, U Win Tin, of the Golden Pen of Freedom award given by the 
Paris-based World Association of Newspapers (WAN). 

 Noted writer and opposition MP Aung Khin Sint was also among those 
freed Wednesday in a batch that brings to 51 the number of political 
prisoners freed in recent weeks. 

 The latest releases come on the eve of Martyr's Day, the anniversary of 
the 1947 assassination of Aung San, the father of opposition leader Aung 
San Suu Kyi who led the former Burma to independence from Britain. 
 Even though hundreds more opposition figures remain in jail, the 
releases have been welcomed as a sign of progress in talks between 
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta which began last 
October.
 
 The pro-democracy leader is believed to have demanded the regime 
reverse the 1998 closure of the party's branch offices and release 
dozens of its senior members as a condition for the talks to progress. 
 Two weeks ago, her cousin and closest aide Aye Win was also freed from 
Yangon's notorious Insein prison where he served a five-year sentence. 

 The military government has said the concessions reflect 
"understandings" established in the fledgling dialogue, which observers 
hope will pave the way for a fully fledged national reconciliation 
process.
 
 More than 150 opposition figures are believed to have been released 
since the beginning of the year, including about 51 since United Nations 
envoy Razali Ismail visited Yangon in early June on a mission to bring 
new impetus to the talks -- the first between the two sides since 1994. 

 Other high-profile prisoners to be released from jail recently include 
Pa Pa Lay and Lu Zaw, two comedians better known as "The Moustache 
Brothers," who were thrown into jail in 1996 over one of their comic 
performances. 

 Amnesty International earlier this week called on the military 
government to free the rest of the estimated 1,800 political prisoners 
in the country. 

 The rights group welcomed the releases that have taken place over the 
past few weeks but said much more needed to be done in Myanmar, which 
has been roundly condemned for its poor human rights record. 

 "The recent release of some prominent political prisoners is a step in 
the right direction, but at least 1,800 political prisoners are still 
held, often in appalling conditions," Amnesty said in a statement. 
 "The petitions show the extent of regional concern about these and 
other violations." 








______________________MONEY________________________




TheSpleen.com: Out of the Jungle, Parts. II of III


May 2001

TEASER: How did gemstones get mixed up with junkies? Not surprisingly 
both the CIA and the British East India Company had something to do with 
it. Part II of a series on the smuggling culture of the Thai-Burmese 
border area. 

"U-Than" is an ethnic Karen living in Myawaddy, Burma who changed his 
name to avoid reprisals after participating in the 1988 pro-democracy 
demonstrations in Rangoon. He's seen a rise in the amount of 
amphetamines and LSD circulating in Karen State in recent years. These 
drugs, he says, are largely produced for the domestic Burmese and Thai 
markets, but international exports are taking off. Living at a major 
smuggler's gate into Mae Sot, Thailand, U-Than also has a first-hand 
view of the illicit movement of the Burmese drug that has made the 
biggest splash internationally: opium. 

U-Than takes us to unofficial ferry drop-offs along the Moei River on 
the Thai side. He points out various small-time drug smugglers and 
illegal workers. A little farther down the river, we hit paydirt: A 
group of UWSA soldiers in civilian clothes climbing aboard a ferry. They 
chatter into cell phones as the boat motors across to a landing that 
U-Than says belongs to enigmatic opium warlord Khun Sa. 

The UWSA (United Wa State Army), is an ethnic minority military force 
that was formerly a military arm of the Burmese Communist Party. With 
reported links to Khun Sa and a peace treaty with Rangoon, large numbers 
of Wa in the past five years have migrated south from their traditional 
homes in Wa State to take up residence in Shan State opposite the Thai 
border. The Wa are perhaps the strongest minority army in Burma and 
historically have been among the main groups producing opium for export. 
While Wa leaders claim to have abandoned opium production, in recent 
years they have entered whole hog into the manufacture of amphetamines 
in refineries dotting the Burmese-Thai border. The cheaply-produced, 
extremely strong speed they produce is mainly for the regional market -- 
Burma, Laos, Southern China and Thailand, where it is called 
<i>yaa-baa</i>, literally "crazy pill." While amphetamines hardly make 
as big a splash internationally as heroin, the problems of speed 
addiction in Burma and surrounding countries are reaching a crisis 
level. 

The question is: What are UWSA officers doing this far south? And can 
they really be headed towards a Khun Sa stronghold? The official Rangoon 
line is that Khun Sa "went straight" in 1996 after striking a deal with 
the junta (and selling out half of his Mong Tai Army in the process). 
Yet some in the area believe that the enigmatic figure simply got state 
sanction for his highly profitable drug operations. A source in Maesai, 
Thailand says she frequently sees Khun Sa in Tachilek, across the 
border, organizing the construction of a glitzy casino. So what is the 
UWSA doing here, and what were they doing in Thailand? "Maybe they have 
business to take care of," U-Than says. What sort of business? "If I say 
that, maybe Khun Sa will want to talk with me tonight ..." 

The Raj and the Opium Wars

For centuries, opium was almost exclusively used by Upper Burma 
hilltribe villagers for medicinal purposes and as a euphoric, the 
cultivation of the poppy probably learned from the Chinese. In Buddhist 
Lower Burma, opium use was discouraged. The henchmen of King Bodawpaya 
(r. 1782-1819) are credited by Burma historian G. E. Harvey with 
"pouring boiling lead down the throats of opium eaters." It was not 
until Britain entered the scene that the modern patterns of opiate use 
and distribution emerged -- patterns which would eventually affect the 
distribution of all of Upper Burma's rare and valuable resources. 

When the British annexed Lower Burma, they had already recognized the 
profit potential of opium. They fought the Opium Wars with China in the 
19th century, essentially for the right of the British East India 
Company to sell opium to Chinese consumers. Meanwhile in Burma, 
according to UN Development Program researcher Ronald D. Renard, the 
colonizers encouraged the Burmans in the southern part of the country to 
use the drug in spite of Buddhist teachings. At this time, poppy 
cultivation in Burma itself was still small-scale. The bulk of opium for 
the Burmese market (as well as other global markets penetrated by "John 
Company") came from India. The events that led to a massive production 
surge in the "Golden Triangle" region of poppy cultivation in Burma, 
Thailand and Laos occurred in the 20th century, but the creation of a 
strong consumer base in Burma was largely a result of British colonial 
policy in the 1800s. The same can be said for the French and Dutch 
policies in Indochina and the Dutch Antilles (Indonesia). 


Poppies and Politics

World War II and its aftermath directly contributed to the rise of the 
Golden Triangle. During the war, the domestic markets of Southeast Asia 
were cut off from their Indian suppliers, leading to a rise in local 
production. Furthermore, the short-lived Thai-Japanese annexation of 
parts of the Shan States fostered strong ties between Thai military 
figures and opium barons in the Burmese highlands -- ties that still 
exist today and explain much about Thailand's role as a prime transit 
nation for opium, gemstones and other raw materials smuggled out of 
Burma. Meanwhile, after the Communist revolution in China -- by far the 
largest opium market in the world at the time -- a massive suppression 
of the Chinese opium trade commenced, and negligible amounts of the drug 
were produced, consumed or smuggled in the country for decades. 

At the same time, according to narcotics expert Alfred W. McCoy: 
"Through an accident of history, the southern borders of China and the 
Soviet Union, a major fault line of Cold War confrontation, happened to 
parallel the Asian opium zone" stretching from Turkey to Thailand. Not 
surprisingly, "as various national intelligence agencies mounted special 
operations along the opium zone, they found that the region's opium 
warlords and ethnic warlords were their most effective covert-action 
assets." With direct and indirect military and financial aid from 
foreign intelligence agencies -- notably the CIA and French intelligence 
-- the warlords strengthened their grip on poppy-producing territory, 
including gem-producing areas in Burma like the rich jade mines in 
Kachin State. 

US, French, Thai and Taiwanese intelligence helped remnants of the 
Chinese Nationalist army (Kuomintang or KMT) set up bases in Upper Burma 
and Northern Laos, ostensibly to launch attacks against China, reports 
Bertil Lintner, author of <i>Burma in Revolt</i>. When several 
incursions proved disastrous, however, the KMT settled into life in 
Burma, allying itself with various ethnic insurgents, notably the Shan 
State Revolutionary Army and the Wa National Army. Opium production 
increased, especially when foreign aid dried up. One great irony of the 
Cold War is that the force intended to bring down Mao forged alliances 
with the Burmese Communist Party while consolidating power. 

In the 1950s, criminal syndicates from Hong Kong built several 
high-grade heroin refineries along the Burmese-Thai border with the KMT 
and ethnic warlords. The US invasion and occupation of South Vietnam in 
the 1960s provided the Golden Triangle producers with a large consumer 
base (American soldiers), causing another sharp increase in production 
and setting the stage for large-scale expansion to the international 
market. 

According to DEA figures, Burmese opium production rose from about 8 
tons in 1936 to 2,575 tons by 1993 (representing around 72 percent of 
world supply by the early 1990s, though Afghanistan has now apparently 
surpassed Burma as the world's top producer). Figures like Khun Sa and 
Lo-Hsing-Han rose to replace the remnants of the KMT, which was driven 
out of Burma by a Chinese-Burmese joint military campaign in the 1960s, 
ushering in a new era of the opium warlord as international businessman. 


The modern gemstone trade is, of course, a different kettle of fish. Gem 
production and distribution is legitimate in the eyes of the outside 
world. But many of the same names appearing in international drug 
trafficking bulletins are also on the leases for ruby, sapphire and jade 
mines. When late last year Thailand's <i>Bangkok Post</i> reported that 
a prominent Thai army official "dismisses the UWSA claim that its main 
income was derived from trading in mineral ores, gemstones and other 
natural resources," it wasn't telling the full story. The UWSA and other 
insurgent factions certainly do have interests in mineral and gem 
production -- Khun Sa famously offered a 1.5 ton jade boulder for sale 
in 1997, not to mention his "ruby slipper factory" venture of several 
years ago. To what extent these operations are simply a front for 
laundering drug money is debatable. Lintner reports that the gem 
business is merely a "a sideline" for drug traffickers. 

In the interests of maximizing profits, gem miners and traders in Burma 
are understandably reluctant to give to Rangoon what is Rangoon's. Since 
1989, as various ethnic insurgents have ceded territory and struck deals 
with the Rangoon junta, bypassing the taxman has become more difficult. 
Yet the gem markets in Maesai and Mae Sot still handle a steady stream 
of gem material from the Burmese interior -- a testimony to the 
endurance of the smuggling trails carved out by the opium warlords. 

Next Issue: Thailand's Role and the Future of Smuggling 

Damon Poeter is a journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand. Ted Themelis is 
a gemologist and author. 



_______________________GUNS________________________




The Nation: Missiles 'no threat' to regional stability 

July 19, 2001

A senior air force officer yesterday dismissed concerns that the 
procurement of eight Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (Amraam) 
from the United States would destabilise regional security, pointing to 
Singapore's plans to acquire 100 of the missiles.

Air Force Chief-of-Staff Marshall Kongsak Vattana was responding to 
fears that buying the missiles would further strain ties with Burma, 
which recently reached a deal with Russia to purchase 10 MiG jet 
fighters.

Kongsak's comment was also seen as an attempt to counter an earlier 
comment by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who suggested he might 
call off the deal.

Thaksin said on Tuesday the Amraam deal had been reached by the previous 
administration, and he had yet to decide whether approve it. However, 
the premier said yesterday he was not aware the funds for the deal were 
already in place.

Kongsak said the missiles would be purchased using funds "stranded" in 
the United States after the previous government cancelled an order for a 
squadron of F-18 fighter jets.

"It's a very expensive system, but we can initially afford to buy eight 
missiles," Kongsak said, adding the acquisition was vital to national 
defence and was part of the armed forces' modernisation programme. 





__________________________________________________




AP: Refugees flee to Thailand after clash at Myanmar border 

July 18, 2001

BANGKOK, Thailand, (AP) _ Nearly 200 ethnic Karen villagers, mostly 
women and children, fled to Thailand after a clash between rival Karen 
factions on the Myanmar side of the border, a Thai official said 
Wednesday. 

 About 50 soldiers of the pro-Yangon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, or 
DKBA, launched a surprise attack on a mobile border camp of the rebel 
Karen National Union, or KNU, late Tuesday. It was bombarded for about 
20 minutes and then overrun. 
 Anuchit Trongkao, the local Thai chief of civilian defense, told The 
Associated Press that 194 Karen civilians fled the camp and sought 
refuge in Tha Song Yang district, in Tak province, 370 kilometers (230 
miles) north of Bangkok. 

 About 200 other guerillas and their families abandoned the camp, which 
lies on the bank of the Moei River border, and fled inside Myanmar, he 
said. 

 Two 60 mm mortar shells landed on Thai soil, but caused no injuries, 
leading Thailand to believe the DKBA forces had received supporting 
mortar fire from the Myanmar military, he said. 

 The DKBA attackers burned down four houses and a makeshift hospital 
before retreating back to their own camp deeper inside Myanmar, Anuchit 
said. 
 He had no details of casualties, but expected they were minimal as the 
KNU had fled the scene before the attack. 

 The KNU, which has been fighting for greater autonomy from Yangon for 
more than 50 years, was not immediately available for comment. Myanmar, 
also known as Burma, has been ruled by its military since 1962. 

 The KNU is one of the few rebel groups in Myanmar yet to reach a 
cease-fire with the regime. At its peak in the early 1980s, the largely 
Christian rebel movement had nearly 30,000 soldiers and controlled large 
enclaves of territory along the border. 
 But the KNU was badly split by a defection in the early 1990s of a 
Buddhist faction, which then set up the pro-Yangon DBKA. The KNU now has 
only a few thousand guerrillas under arms and has no fixed territory. 
 



__________________________________________________





Shan Herald Agency for News: More details on massacre reported

14 July 2001




The Network Media Group, citing sources from northern Shan State, 
reported that the killings in southern Shan State on 7 July were on 
orders of the Eastern Region Command in Taunggyi. 
The surprise raid by the combined column from LIB 512 and LIB 515 
commanded by Maj. Myo Sein killed Capt. Khamla and 5 members of the Shan 
State National Army, a Shan ceasefire group, it said. One of them, 
Captain Zai Hpong, died from his wounds in a nearby village of Pang Hok, 
where he fled to. 

Another 11-members, including Tha Nge, were taken alive at his house in 
the village. They were interrogated, lined up and shot to death by 
Lieutenent Naing Win's unit, it said. 
S.H.A.N. source in Taunggyi said one of those executed was Sanghtee, a 
relative of Karnyawd, the SSNA leader. 

NMG also reported that Maj. Gen Maung Bo, Commander of Eastern Region 
Command, had during a 'reconciliation' meeting on 28 June, urged Zai 
Phong to accept Kanna, a Shan protege of the late Secretary Two, 
Lt.-Gen. Tin Oo, as "Patron," but Zai Phong had refused. 

Sources from the Shan State Army said both Kanna and Zai Phong split 
away from Karnyawd in 1996 and were then accepted by Rangoon as a 
militia force in Mongkerng, 108 miles northeast of Taunggyi. 



___________________________________________________





Shan Herald Agency for News:  Another shipment of ammo from China

July 18, 2001

At 13:00, on 14 July, 8 army trucks moved from Zegao to Muse of Shan 
State.  They were escorted by Maj. Nyi Nyi Zaw. The convoy was headed 
for the main  ordinance depot in Mandalay, 290 miles southwest.

Source said current commander of the depot is Maj. Soe Lwin. 






________________________DRUGS______________________





BBC: Thailand's 'Mad Medicine'

July 17, 2001

By Bob Howard in Bangkok 

Its chemical name is methamphetamine, but in Thailand it's simply known 
as ya baa or "mad medicine". 

Thais are estimated to consume 600m tablets of the drug each year - the 
equivalent of 12 for every man, woman and child. 



It's the greatest enemy Thailand has ever had, and no one seems to want 
to do anything about it
 
  
Its appeal is widespread, encompassing workers trying to keep awake, 
students out partying, and even the country's poor, who just want 
temporary escape from their harsh conditions. 

Sandro Calvani, head of the UN International Drug Control Programme in 
Thailand, says that ya baa is now threatening the very fabric of 
society. 

He says the drug is so common in Bangkok that taxi drivers will 
sometimes give it as change if they don't have coins to hand. 



Huge market 


"I think methamphetamines are now the main problem for Thailand and the 
region," he said. "This drug delivers immediately, it's extremely cheap 
and easily available, and that is why it has such a huge market." 

One man who sees the effects at first hand is Father Joe, an American 
Catholic priest who helps the disadvantaged in Bangkok's poorest 
districts. 

His Human Development Foundation provides schooling for those who could 
not normally afford it and cares for Thais suffering from Aids. 



Father Joe says the drug is a big problem amongst those in his care
 
Many of those he sees have been hooked on ya baa. He says that while 
methamphetamines may not have the notoriety of other drugs, they are 
highly addictive and cause mood swings which often result in violence. 

Father Joe's views on the subject are clear. "It's the greatest enemy 
Thailand has ever had, and no one seems to want to do anything about it. 
Everyone's making too much money," he said. 

Making ya baa

The manufacture of methamphetamines is thought to be concentrated in 
Burma, along its border with Thailand. 

The biggest producer is believed to be the self-styled United Wa State 
Army, an armed ethnic minority group which can call on 15,000 soldiers. 
The drugs are then smuggled across the Thai border. 

The trade has caused tensions between Thailand and Burma, which the Thai 
prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra tried to address in an official visit 
to Rangoon in June. 



Thailand has been flooded by methamphetamines
 
The United States has also agreed to send Black Hawk helicopters to the 
north of Thailand to help clamp down on the smuggling routes. 

But use of the drug is so widespread that the authorities face an uphill 
battle. 

With each tablet retailing at around $1, it is cheap to buy. It is even 
cheaper to produce, as - unlike heroin or marijuana - it needs no crop, 
just a simple laboratory. 

One report by the Thai army estimated there are more than 80 factories 
in Burma turning out the drug. 

Ya baa tablets are also small and easy to hide, which makes them ideal 
for smuggling. The trade is estimated to be worth well over half a 
billion dollars a year. 

Father Joe is convinced the solution lies not in Burma but with the 
Thais themselves. 

"It's easy to blame someone else for a problem you don't know what to do 
about," he said. 

"No one has come out and said it might be morally wrong to sell them to 
our kids. The solution is with the parents and the communities." 



 


 


___________________________________________________


	

Irrawaddy: New Drug Factories in Laos

July 17, 2001

By Aung Zaw

The United Wa State Army (UWSA) has been moving some of its 
methamphetamine production bases from Burma to areas in Laos opposite 
the Thai provinces of Chiang Rai, Phayao and Nan, according to recent 
press reports in Bangkok. Thai army intelligence sources have confirmed 
that about fifty-five factories exist in the Shan State in Burma with 
another ten now in Laos.

The methamphetamine production bases in Laos are located mainly in the 
northern province of Udomxai, according to well-informed Lao sources. 
The sources also said that several ethnic minority groups are thought to 
be operating the drug rings. 

The Bangkok Post recently published a report citing a Thai military 
source who claimed that the Wa had shifted some of their operations to 
Laos. "The Wa moved eleven factories to an area (in Laos) opposite 
Chiang Saen (Thailand) in addition to five other factories already run 
by Shan people who were former members of the Mong Tai Army. Their 
combined production capacity should reach a million pills a month," 
according to the source.

Another source in Bangkok said that he suspects Thai businessmen and 
corrupt Lao officials are behind the new drug factories. "When Thai 
businessmen support (drug rings) financially, Laos officials give them 
protection," said the source. 

Former Hmong rebels on the Laos border are also helping to set up and 
provide security for the new methamphetamine factories, a Thai 
intelligence source said.

There are currently two major routes for smuggling methamphetaminesknown 
locally as yaa baafrom this region of Laos. The first route is to Luang 
Prabang Province via Xieng Khuang Province en route to Vietnam. The 
second goes to Luang Prabang via Bokeo Province and the northern section 
of Sainyabuli Province before ending in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. 
The second route targets the markets of Thailand, the worlds largest 
consumer of yaa baa.




___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				







___________EDITORIALS/OPINION/PROPAGANDA__________


Prospect (UK): Letter--Beauty and the Beast; Western Attacks on Burma's 
pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, merely assist the military 
regime


By John Jackson in Prospect Magazine Aug/Sept 2001

What impression would you get of Nelson Mandela from an article which 
reported only the views of his opponents in the ANC? The answer is 
obvious. Unfortunately for Burma's pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San 
Suu Kyi (Daw Suu henceforth), detention denies her the freedom to 
challenge unfounded criticism of her leadership. The portrait painted of 
Daw Suu in last month's Prospect by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy 
must therefore be challenged by those who can.

The first thing to say is that Daw Suu has not courted the admiration 
which she attracts from around the world. She hasn't chosen personal 
suffering as a political strategy, as Scott-Clark/Levy imply, she is 
just one of many for whom personal suffering is a consequence of 
opposing military rule in Burma.

Moreover, the article is based on a contradiction. It asserts that on 
the one hand Daw Suu is too hardline, while on the other, she's too 
passive. Since her release in 1995, she has been criticised for not 
mobilising a mass uprising against the regime, and at the same time 
criticised for not being conciliatory enough.  Far from displaying 
strategic naivety, however, her policy of non-violent pressure has led 
to dialogue with the regime whilst avoiding the break up of Burma. Daw 
Suu accepts that the military will play a major role in Burma's 
transition years, and is willing to make certain compromises. The goal 
of accountable government is neither unrealistic nor immodest. We must 
now await the outcome of the present talks.

Perhaps most damaging is Scott-Clark/Levy's misleading claim, based on 
conversations with a handful of Daw Suu's critics, that support for her 
in Burma has evaporated. They talk about loss of backing within her 
party and among Burma's myriad ethnic groups. Minorities have good 
reason to be wary of Rangoon politics. They have suffered the most from 
Burman domination, civil war and the denial of human rights. However, 
Daw Suu is probably the one politician from the majority Burman ethnic 
group in whom they do have cautious faith.  In March, the leadership of 
non-Burman ethnic groups, including the Shan, Chin, Karen and Karenni, 
made a declaration of support for dialogue between Daw Suu and the 
military. They want talks which include ethnic leaders, but are willing 
to accept an initial confidence building process.

Another false claim is that Daw Suu is authoritarian because her party, 
the National League for Democracy (NLD), has expelled members for 
speaking against party policy.  This is disingenuous. The two NLD MPs 
mentioned were expelled, not simply for criticising party policy but for 
the way they went about it. Instead of voicing concern at an internal 
meeting, they wrote a ten-page report attacking the leadership, and sent 
it to the junta. Given the regime's attempts to destroy the NLD through 
the use of spies and agent provocateurs, it is amazing that the party 
deals with disciplinary proceedings like any normal party in a 
democratic state. The NLD is unlike many other resistance movements, 
where the fate of "dissenters" has not been so humane. The maintenance 
of democratic procedure in a repressive state bodes well for Burma's 
future.

Millions of people joined the NLD before the elections in 1990. It is 
true that thousands have since left. But to suggest they have "just 
faded away" is doing the regime's work. Read the reports from Amnesty 
International, Human rights Watch, the UN Rapporteur for Burma - each 
and every day NLD members are coerced and forced to resign. They are 
threatened with arrest, sacked from public employment, their businesses 
are closed down and they can expect visits from the intelligence 
services in the dead of the night. For the last few years Burma's 
newspapers, all state run, have on a weekly basis published details of 
NLD resignations. They say it is an indication of the NLD's failings 
rather than the regime's repression. Scott-Clark/Levy seem to agree.

Neither Daw Suu nor the NLD have insisted that all aid should go through 
them, as Scott-Clark/Levy claim, and with good reason. Any party in 
Burma found receiving foreign money, regardless of its intended 
purposes, can be disbanded and its leaders jailed.

The only thing worse than the inaccuracy of this piece is its timing. At 
a moment when the pro-democracy movement needs all the international 
support it can muster for talks with the regime, the article can only 
undermine the potential for such support in the west. The lives of over 
45m people depend on these talks succeeding. Unjustly undermining the 
one person who can deliver a prospect of peace is the last thing the 
Burmese people need.

John Jackson is director of the Burma Campaign UK








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