BKKPOST: Feb 20 Burma story

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

/* Written  3:21 pm  Feb 23, 1994 by DEBRA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:hrnet.asia-pac */
/* ---------- "BKKPOST: Feb 20 Burma story" ---------- */
## author     : kamol@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
## date       : 21.02.94

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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."

The 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.