BurmaNet News: December 16, 1999

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----------------- The BurmaNet News ----------------
December 16, 1999 
Issue # 1414
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HEADLINES: 
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International?
KYODO: JAPANESE PM TO VISIT SE ASIA, MAYBE BURMA
CHANNEL NEWSASIA: THAI OPPOSITION SAYS GOVERNMENT
MISHANDLED MYANMAR HOSTAGE CRISIS
SCMP: THAI PM UNFAZED BY CRITICISM IN BIG DEBATE 

Inside Burma?
AP: TWINS LEAD 'GOD'S ARMY' IN MYANMAR 

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KYODO: JAPANESE PM TO VISIT SE ASIA, MAYBE BURMA

Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 1241 gmt 15 Dec 99 

Tokyo, 15th December

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi is planning a week-long tour of three 
Southeast Asian nations in January, government sources said Wednesday 
15th December. According to a preliminary schedule, Obuchi will leave 
for Thailand, Cambodia and Laos around 10th January, they said. 

The visit will be part of Obuchi's efforts to intensify dialogue with 
member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ahead of the 
summit meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) major nations in Okinawa in 
July next year. 

In Cambodia, Obuchi is expected to announce major financial assistance 
for removal of land mines, which were planted throughout the country 
during the civil war in the 1970s and 1980s. 

The sources said Obuchi may visit Myanmar Burma . The matter is being
examined within the government as such a visit could be interpreted as 
indicating Japan's readiness to resume economic assistance to the 
military government in Yangon Rangoon.


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Channel Newsasia: Thai opposition says government mishandled Myanmar
hostage crisis

Wednesday, December 15 10:10 PM SGT 
Opposition parties in Thailand on Wednesday accused the government of 
gross mismanagement in handling the hostage crisis at the Myanmar 
embassy in October. 


Firing the first salvoes in the parliamentary censure debate, the
opposition said there were actually seven hostage takers and not five as 
claimed by the government. 

It was the third no confidence motion against the two-year-old Chuan
Leekpai government. 

The leader of the opposition New Aspiration Party, former prime minister 
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, led the charge against the government. 

Touching on the Myanmar embassy hostage crisis, he claimed there were
several armed Myanmar student groups in the Thai capital who were 
prepared to attack the Embassy should the opportunity arise. 

Moreover, he claimed three of the hostage takers were members of God's
Army, a splinter military group from the rebel Shan Army in Myanmar and 
the group presently giving refuge to the hostage takers along the 
Thai-Myanmar border. 

The opposition called for mobile courts to be set up at border areas to 
try the armed Myanmar students, and demanded that the hostage takers be 
jailed for at least 25 years. 

Responding, the government noted it could not set up such courts, nor 
could it insist on jail sentences, which were up to the courts.  
Opposition leaders also accused the government of selling the kingdom to 
foreigners, closing down 56 financial institutions but not touching 12 
others run by Finance Minister Tarrin Nihammaenda's brother, and not 
prosecuting  executives of the heavily debt-laden Krung Thai Bank. 

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai noted that his government would look into 
any allegation of mismanagement and those found guilty would be 
prosecuted. 

Observers note Mr Chuan's government is expected to face tougher
questioning Thursday when the opposition touches on Finance Minister 
Tarrin's performance.


The debate over the next two days will feature speakers from both sides 
of the floor, with the opposition aiming to topple a government that 
already has a very strong backing from the Thai people.


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SCMP: PM UNFAZED BY CRITICISM IN BIG DEBATE 
December 16, 1999 

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Bangkok 

Thai opposition politicians failed to inflict any serious wounds on 
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's Government yesterday after the first day 
of a no-confidence debate against the ruling coalition. 

Coalition members appeared unfazed by accusations hurled against them, 
but opposition leaders were expected to unleash their most ferocious 
attacks during the two remaining days of debate before the vote due on 
Saturday. 

The opposition kicked off its attacks with a claim the Government had 
supported international terrorism when it agreed to supply an escape 
helicopter to five gunmen who seized 38 hostages at Burma's embassy here 
in October. 

Thailand's handling of the embassy crisis sent relations between Bangkok 
and Rangoon into free-fall, with the junta only recently reversing its 
decision to seal its border with Thailand. 

Opposition leader Chavalit Yongchaiyudh also accused Mr Chuan of totally 
failing to resolve the economic problems facing the country during his 
two years in office. 

He accused the Chuan administration of sacrificing 70 now defunct 
finance companies and intervening in seven banks to please foreign 
interests which aimed to seize control of the Thai financial sector. 

He also accused the Government of economic mismanagement as it built up 
a record national debt of 3,700 billion baht (HK$95 billion). 

But in response Mr Chuan said: "You said the economic situation is 
getting worse - that is your point of view, but what I can say now is 
the economy is getting better and is on its way to full recovery." 

The opposition cannot win the debate because the Government has a strong 
majority, but it plans to extract maximum political mileage from the 
debate ahead of national elections, which must take place within 11 
months. 

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AP: TWINS LEAD 'GOD'S ARMY' IN MYANMAR 
December 15, 1999 

By APICHART WEERAWONG Associated Press Writer 

KA MAR PA LAW, Myanmar (AP) - Here at the jungle base of God's Army, no
one questions the leadership of Luther and Johnny Htoo. 

No matter that the 12-year-old twins are shorter than the M-16 rifles 
some of their followers carry. The fighters who have rallied behind them 
believe the brothers offer divine protection in a children's crusade 
that blends elements of the Old Testament and ``Lord of the Flies.'' 

An offshoot of the ethnic Karen guerrilla movement that was nearly 
crushed in a brutal government offensive two years ago, God's Army is 
made up of about 100 battled-hardened veteran fighters, former 
university students and children. 

But the Htoo twins are unlike most of the estimated 300,000 child 
combatants in Third World conflicts around the world. They rule their 
unit, which operates from Ka Mar Pa Law, a village base in the malarial 
jungle near Myanmar's border with Thailand. 

They tell their followers when to fight, what to eat, how to behave. 
Their leadership is never challenged. 

Surrounded by adult aides and a bodyguard of rifle-toting children, the 
twins speak little to outsiders. Reporters must first be carefully 
screened by their sympathizers in Thailand and then make a half-day trek 
on foot through mountainous jungle to reach their remote camp. 

Johnny, chubby cheeked and shy, seems the more childlike of the two. He 
readily lays aside his gun to bounce a volleyball. 

Luther, whose moods swing quickly between cocky and sullen, has a 
disturbing 1,000-yard stare. Both boys smoke cigarettes constantly. 

``I have never cried,'' Luther told an Associated Press reporter who 
recently visited the base. ``Why would a man cry?'' 

When Luther noticed a gun lying unattended, he shouted for its owner. A 
larger boy came forward. Luther ordered him to do 100 jumping exercises 
as punishment. 

Like most Karens, God's Army are Christians in a predominantly Buddhist 
country. The twins have a fundamentalist bent and don't allow fighting, 
swearing, drugs or alcohol. 

The twins' power dates to 1997, when Myanmar all but crushed the Karen 
National Union, the mainstream rebel movement which has fought for Karen 
autonomy for half a century. According to refugee accounts, government 
forces killed men in front of their families, raped women and torched 
villages. 

When the army came to Johnny and Luther's village, the story goes, the 
guerrilla fighters fled, leaving it unprotected. The twins rallied some 
men and directed a successful counterattack. 

Since then, the twins have been deemed to have powers from God. 

The government sees nothing divine about their fighting force. 

An official spokesman for Myanmar's military government, in response to 
queries by the AP, said the government considers God's Army a group 
created by the Karen National Union to carry out terrorist activities 
against Myanmar, such as the Oct. 1 takeover of Myanmar's embassy in 
Bangkok. The spokesman insisted his name not be used, in line with 
government rules. 

While many in God's Army are children, others are tough Karen National 
Union veterans or members of the dissident student group that carried 
out the embassy takeover in which 38 hostages were seized. 

Their small following receives arms from the Karen National Union, but 
operates independently from them. 

The estimated 4,000 fighters of the Karen National Union mostly carry 
out hit-and-run attacks, and God's Army fights the same way. But because 
of the twins' unbeaten record and alleged powers - their followers 
believe they are immune to gunfire - it has high morale and attracts 
hard-core guerrilla fighters. 

``God sent these two leaders to rescue all the Karens,'' said Su Bia, a 
veteran fighter who has joined the ranks of God's Army. He said he lost 
six siblings in the 1997 fighting. 

``Those who do not listen to the leaders will not be protected when they 
go out on the front line,'' he said. 

The twins' parents live in Ka Mar Pa Law, and the boys profess love for 
them, though they seem to have little contact with them. 

``We knew from the day they were born'' they would be special, their 
father, Pu Kaw, said. ``We had a vision that they would be pure, 
extraordinary people.'' 

``When I first heard about the twins, I doubted that it was true,'' said 
a leader of the Myanmar Embassy takeover who gave only his first name, 
which is also Johnny. ``But when I met them, then I realized that they 
are really special. They definitely have something.'' 


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