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'WE RESTORED ORDER' (Asiaweek inter



Asiaweek 
December 17, 1999 

 'WE RESTORED ORDER' 

BY ROGER MITTON 

In a rare interview, strongman Khin Nyunt goes on the defensive 

   He is everywhere -- and nowhere. Pictures and speeches of Lt.-Gen. Khin
Nyunt pepper the pages
of The New Light of Myanmar. No major event takes place in his country
without him. It would be
unthinkable for him not to be in any important delegation going overseas.
Every foreign dignitary that
visits Yangon calls on him. Yet few outside a small coterie in the ministry
of defense really know him. He
is notoriously diffident and media-shy. At last month's ASEAN summit in
Manila, most people -- even
regional ministers -- did not know he was there. But ensconced in his
17th-floor suite in the Manila
Hotel -- plush digs for a delegation whose country is mired in poverty --
Khin Nyunt monitored every
step his people in Manila took. 

Given his elusive nature, it is no surprise that impressions of him vary. A
Western ambassador, whose
government views the Yangon regime as the epitome of evil, blithely gushes
about how Khin Nyunt is
"charming and perfectly courteous." An Asian envoy calls him "a nice,
intelligent man." Yet one of his
own entourage laments his impassive and aloof demeanor, and disparages him
"because he never
smiles." Actually, he does, though it is a strained smile, as if designed
to dispel that image of a cold and
calculating prince of darkness. After all, he has been Myanmar's head spook
since 1984 (when his
former mentor, the dictator Ne Win, appointed him chief of military
intelligence). It's natural that he
defies categorization. Earlier this year pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi told Asiaweek:
"Military intelligence organizations go in for torture and oppression and a
whole lot of nastiness, so as
somebody who represents such an organization I suppose you can call Khin
Nyunt all sorts of things,
but expressions like the 'prince of darkness' are rather too dramatic." 

More importantly, Khin Nyunt, 60, is a member -- some say the key member --
of Myanmar's ruling
military council. He goes by the Orwellian appellation "Secretary-1," or
simply "S-1." When it comes to
policy-making and strategy, Khin Nyunt calls the shots. Like many publicly
tactiturn men, he is a great
talker in private, keen to expound on grand strategies. And the impassive
tag is misplaced, for when
addressed he does not hide his feelings -- beaming and slapping his thigh
at a subject he seeks to engage
upon, or frowning in irritation at a question he views as based on
nonsensical rumor. His English
comprehension is good, but his speaking ability is poor, so he'll switch to
Burmese for most answers.
Insiders say he is a control freak, insisting that minister consult first
with him, rather than report directly
to the cabinet. He carries this suspicious trait into his private life. At
a recent bash in one of Myanmar's
new hotels, the European host had prepared an elegant traditional dish for
S-1, only to see it rudely
carved up and tasted by aides for possible poisoning. 

Khin Nyunt is known as a workaholic. He certainly has his work cut out
balancing the views of his more
forceful and isolationist colleagues around the powerful army head Gen.
Maung Aye and the growing
ranks of reformist young officers who want to see Myanmar open up faster
and embrace modern
technology. There is talk that Khin Nyunt's own job is on the line as the
alleged power struggle with
Maung Aye intensifies. It's said that when the aging Ne Win dies, Khin
Nyunt will lose his greatest
source of protection and may be sidelined. Others maintain that he is the
man who keeps the junta
afloat. This being Myanmar, one guess is as good as another. 

Born in the town of Kyauktan, 12 km south of Yangon, Khin Nyunt is married
to Dr. Khin Win Shwe;
they have two sons and a daughter. One son is an army officer, but the
other, Dr. Ye Naing Win (also a
medical doctor like his mother), was bizarrely disowned last year by Khin
Nyunt reportedly for marrying
a Singapore woman. S-1 takes his wife with him on most of his overseas
trips. In Manila on Nov. 29,
Khin Nyunt met with Asiaweek to discuss a wide variety of topics. Excerpts
from the extensive
interview: 

Hasn't Myanmar's admission into ASEAN harmed the group's image and standing? 

That's wrong. We have actively participated in ASEAN's activities and our
contributions are recognized
by all members. For example, two ministerial meetings -- one on
transnational crime and one on labor
affairs -- were held in Yangon this year. An ASEAN without Myanmar would
not be an ASEAN in
the true sense of the word. 

You remain opposed to any moves to re-evaluate the non-interference principle? 

Yes, yes. The principle of non-interference is enshrined within ASEAN, and
it's a basic principle of
international law. To re-evaluate this concept would mean attacking the
foundation of the association. If
the foundation is destroyed, the house can fall. 

So you disagree with Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan and Philippine
Foreign Affairs Secretary
Domingo Siazon, who want to change this? 

I have very good personal relations with both of these men and we respect
each other. You know, even
in a family, each member can have their own views. 

Your present military government took over from Ne Win 12 years ago. What
have you achieved? 

In 1988, when the armed forces assumed the responsibility of governing
Myanmar, the country was on
the verge of disintegration. Anarchy and chaos prevailed. Frankly, the
machinery of government had
broken down completely and the economy was in a shambles. Our first task
was to restore peace and
stability, law and order. 

If the country were disintegrating, you must agree that the policies of Ne
Win were misguided, if not
disastrous. 

It's not our policy to pass judgment on previous administrations. Whatever
they did during their time,
they tried to do it with the interest of the nation at heart. As soldiers,
we respect U Ne Win as the
person who nurtured the present armed forces. He has retired completely
from politics. There is no
linkage between the previous government and the present one. 

And you are saying the present one has set the country right after his
mistakes? 

I'm saying I hope that when people look back over the past 12 years they'll
recognize we were able to
restore peace and stability. The people go about their daily activities
without fear or anxiety. We have
successfully invited 17 armed groups into the legal fold. I hope people
will acknowledge all these things
we've done. 

You haven't done much for the economy. 

Look, we transformed the economic system from a centrally-planned socialist
system to a
market-oriented one. We have carried out unprecedented infrastructural
development. And don't forget
we also led Myanmar out of isolation and into becoming a member of ASEAN. 

But you've failed on the political front. 

No, that's not true. We have changed the political system from a one-party
state to a multi-party system.
Please remember that it was only during our time that political parties
were allowed to be formed. 

Surely, there is no democracy. 

The military has no intention of holding onto power for a long time. Once
the new Constitution has
emerged, power will be transfered to a constitutional government. This will
happen a lot faster if the
negative elements inside the country would stop fomenting unrest. Democracy
would also come sooner
rather than later if outside powers would stop applying undue and
unwarranted pressure and would stop
imposing sanctions. [They should] concentrate their efforts on furthering
the cause of the whole
population of Myanmar, instead of one individual and her organization. 

But it's the political impasse with Aung San Suu Kyi and her National
League for Democracy (NLD)
that is preventing progress in Myanmar. 

There is no political impasse or whatever is being alleged in some
quarters. We've allowed the political
parties as much freedom as possible under our existing laws. 

Which isn't much. 

Our government's policy is to be as tolerant and as patient as possible in
our dealings with the political
parties. 

Like arresting them, you mean? 

We've had to take legal action against people who've been inciting unrest
and instability. People who
have broken laws and regulations. But we're not repressing anyone or
committing human-rights abuses.
For example, all the NLD's women and youth members who had been called in
for discussions at our
guesthouses have now been permitted to go home. 

Not the MP-elects still in detention. 

Not in detention -- in guesthouses. Detention means committing an offense
and being put in prison. That
is not the case. 

Detention means being detained -- you can't go home. 

But these people, they can go back home. During the weekends and holidays,
they go back home. And
they can have invited guests. They are very happy when they stay in the
guesthouses. They can discuss
freely with our people. 

And the 800 to 1,000 political prisoners? 

Let me put the record straight. There are no political prisoners in our
country. We do not put people in
prison because of their political beliefs. Even the people who are
arrested, even in the very beginning,
when the situation was very bad, the number was not 800. That is an
exaggerated number. 

Some people say it is even higher. 

No, it is very much less. Actually, the people against whom we have to take
action, because of breaches
of the law, they only number in the tens. 

What have these "tens" done? 

We have detained them because they broke laws and regulations. So, for us,
they are not political
prisoners. Sometimes, we have visits from U.S. congressmen, foreign
parliamentarians and so on, who
bring lists of people of concern to them. We check the people named on the
list, and if there are
sufficient grounds, humanitarian reasons or advanced age, there are
instances where we have let them
go. 

Why did you take them in to begin with? 

The peace and stability we've attained is still very fragile. That's why we
must enforce certain rules and
regulations. 

The U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Rajsoomer Lallah, has
castigated you for a litany of
abuses, including political repression. 

Mr. Lallah's report was based mainly on information from insurgents and
from elements who oppose us.
So naturally, this information is biased and prejudiced against us. Mr.
Lallah has never been to
Myanmar. To tell you very openly, we are not entirely happy with the way he
was chosen. He was
pushed onto us. If you are going to appoint a special rapporteur, the least
we can hope for is that there
be some discreet consultation with us. But that was not the case. 

Will you ever allow Suu Kyi to be the leader of the country? 

Even among her own party members, even the hardcore members, they are
resigning from the party
because they are dissatisfied at the way that she is running the party. If
you look at the situation among
the people in Myanmar, she is getting less and less support. In fact, there
are very few people
supporting her these days. More and more people are supporting the government. 

Yet you still crack down on her and even refuse to let her drive out of
Yangon. 

There is a constant threat from some terrorist groups that could even
endanger Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi's life. This we would not want to happen. So we are requesting her to
stay in Yangon for the time
being. 

Do you personally dislike Suu Kyi? 

We are soldiers and so consider ourselves as sons of [her father] Gen. Aung
San, the founder of our
armed forces. So we regard Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a younger sister. I have
no personal animosity
toward her and it is my earnest hope that she will change her totally
negative and confrontational attitude
against us, which is also negatively affecting the entire nation. 


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