NEWS - Junta enraged at sympathy sh

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Subject: NEWS - Junta enraged at sympathy shown to 'freedom fighters'

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST - Monday, October 4, 1999

THAILAND

Junta enraged at sympathy shown to 'freedom fighters'

WILLIAM BARNES

Burma is furious with Thailand for calling the weekend's embassy
hostage-takers "dissidents" and "fighters for democracy".
The military regime quickly closed its border with Thailand and put its
frontier troops on high alert for "safety reasons" after the crisis.

Rangoon had told the Thai authorities on Friday they could take any
measure
they saw fit to end the siege.

They probably did not expect the hostage-takers to be swiftly flown by
helicopter to a border sanctuary.

"I have absolutely no doubt the boys over there will be very annoyed.
You
can be sure they will be telling each other that the devious Thais are
up to
their tricks again," one diplomat said.

Rangoon gave its full support for whatever tough measures might be
necessary: "The Burmese military said they were quite willing to
sacrifice
their officers in the embassy if necessary," secretary-general of the
regional human rights group Forum-Asia, Somchai Homlaor, said.

Yet a softly-softly approach was ordered by Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai,
who clearly was concerned for the fate of the Thai, Burmese and foreign
hostages.

The relatively liberal, reforming Democrat Party leaders who control the
coalition Government turned out to be happy to treat even a gang of
trigger-happy hostage-takers with sympathy.

"We have given them safe passage to their own country. We don't consider
them to be terrorists. They are student activists who fight for
democracy,"
powerful Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasert said after the drama
ended.

The Thai Government was probably prepared to madden Burma's generals
because
relations between the two countries are at a low ebb.

"The Thais are really fed up with having to clean up all the time when
Burma's terrible domestic problems spill over the border," one veteran
diplomat said.

Refugees, political exiles, civil war and lately a new wave of drugs
have
all caused problems for Thailand.

The amphetamines made by ethnic allies of the regime have been blamed
for
tearing many Thai communities apart.

Thailand has become deeply irritated by what it sees as the regime's
inflexible hostility to its critics and its increasing political
repression - even after being allowed coveted membership of the
Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

"Myanmar [Burma] is a liability on the international stage and devalues
Asean as a political tool," a government adviser said.