Burma -- A quiet land held hostage

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

/* Written  8:17 pm  Feb 22, 1994 by tun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "Burma -- A quiet land held hostage" ---------- */
Article below is written under a penname for his/her brother still
remain in Insein prison in Rangoon.
 
   ----------------------------------------------------------

Bangkok Post
Sunday, Feb. 20
Sunday Perspective: 
Burma -- A quiet land held hostage
 
The visitor to Burma might be surprised to find an atmosphere 
hardly indicative of a country in turmoil. But behind this facade, 
reports AUNG ZAW, is a citizenry held in silence.
  
 
IN the troubled country of Burma, the roads of Rangoon seem 
peaceful and still, compared to the streets of traffic-congested 
Bangkok; men on the street are still dressed in the traditional 
Burmese longyi, not western-style suits.
Here, far from Burma's borders and deep jungle, there is no 
cross-fire between the armed minority groups and the Burmese army 
and no killings of porters. The streets where pro-democracy 
demonstrations once took place are now quiet, except for the 
recent Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA) rallies 
staged by the Slorc (State Law and Order Restoration Council.) 
There are some newly built hotels, and foreign cigarettes and 
soft-drinks are now available.
Colourful signboards advertising Pepsi-Cola, Sprite, and Lucky 
Strike compete with signboards erected by the Slorc proclaiming 
their three national causes. Rangoon seems like a peaceful capital 
for the many new tourists and businessmen flocking to Burma.
But only a 30-minute drive from downtown Rangoon is the 
British-built Insein Prison, located in the suburb of the same 
name. Some of the country's most important minds -- intellectuals, 
student activists, politicians, and even some young 
anti-dictatorship army officers -- have served long prison terms, 
or were executed, here for their beliefs.
The Tatmadaw, the name of the Burmese armed forces, arrested 
thousands of political activists in 1988 and the years following. 
So many of the country's elite died there as a result of torture. 
Burmese often intentionally mispronounce Tatmadaw as Tha'mataw 
from the word Tha' -- meaning `to kill', and mataw meaning `not 
enough'.
According to human rights reports, about 30 political prisoners 
died in the prisons following the 1988 crackdown. Slorc has 
admitted that these people had died in jail but has given no 
official explanation.
Unlike the many tourists and foreign businessmen who experience an 
apparently benign land, a foreign journalist who visited Upper 
Burma in December of 1993 was able to view a relocation camp.
 From a distance, he saw an area where villagers were forcibly 
relocated to by the army. The soldiers were watching from the 
hills surrounding the camp, which is enclosed by barbed wire. Like 
those locked up at Insein, they are also, in fact, prisoners. 
Recently the Karen Human Rights Committee released a report 
concerning human rights abuses in Karen State.
The Karen villagers are accused of being informers for the Karen 
National Union (KNU), which has been fighting for more than four 
decades with the Rangoon regime, and then they are taken away by 
force by the Army commanders.
One young Karen man, Saw Cho Cho refused. He was taken to the town 
of Kauk Kyi and thrown into jail. His parents were then informed 
that their son would be released if they paid 20,000 kyat, but his 
parents are poor farmers and cannot raise the money.
Saw Cho Cho is still detained in Kauk Kyi Prison.
The report also details armed theft by the military: "On 25 
January 1994, Capt Aye Myint and his troops from the Light 
Infantry Division 119 took 7 baskets of paddy, 1 basket of hulled 
rice, and 32 kilogrammes of jaggery from villagers in Tar U Ni 
village in Thaton township."
There are a number of cases. The villagers have been taken as 
hostages to army camps, their houses burned down, and their 
belongings taken by troops. It is not surprising why Burmese call 
them Tha'mataw.
Back in Rangoon, according to one source, the handful of remaining 
opposition parties and some students will find ways to once again 
appear in public. "There is speculation that if Aung San Suu Kyi 
is not released in July of this year, the people will take to the 
streets."
But a journalist who recently returned from Rangoon does not think 
this will happen, as the situation is worsening. "The fear is 
increasing, especially in recent months," he said.
According to the journalist, the people have resigned themselves 
to being unable to actively oppose Slorc.
"If you form a protest or circulate a statement, [the penalty] is 
between 10 and 20 years," a former activist told him. "What can 
people decide for their futures if they have no choices?" The only 
choice available to Burmese, he said, is the freedom to pursue 
profits: "If you want to make a business, you can do so, but 
nothing else."
T he remaining National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders, 
including Aung Shwe, present chairman of NLD, and Khun Htun Oo, a 
Shan delegate to the National Convention and one of its most 
outspoken critics, are under surveillance.
Military Intelligence will not allow NLD leaders to be interviewed 
by journalists, unless they provide answers to questions in 
advance of the interview, which is then conducted under military 
surveillance in any case.
One journalist said, "I started to worry in the end. Because Slorc 
permitted me to enter, they can easily track who I meet and who 
gives me interviews and information. That's how they try to find 
their remaining opponents."
Behind the colourful signboards, there is an eerie quiet. 
Political prisoners, villagers in relocation camps, and really, 
all the Burmese people, except for Slorc and its men-in-uniform, 
are forced into silence together with Aung San Suu Kyi.
There is no doubt Burma will be a different picture when all these 
hostages are free to walk the streets and talk again.