BurmaNet News: August 20, 2001

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
           August 20, 2001   Issue # 1868
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________


INSIDE BURMA _______
*Financial Times: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's voice of dissent

MONEY _______
*People's Daily: China, Myanmar Sign Agricultural Factory Project 
Agreement 
*Mizzima: Burmese arrested with Indian faked currency notes but released 
later 

GUNS______
*DVB: Deserters form anti-junta "Patriotic Burmese Army"

DRUGS______
*Shan Herald Agency for News: Drug traffickers win road construction 
contracts
*ITN: Burma rebels: 'army smuggles drugs'
*Reuters: Burma warlord says he's fighting drugs

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*The Irrawaddy: Thai Film Stirs Concerns About Burma Relations
*Burma Media Association: Junta article blasts award nomination for 
jailed journalists 

OTHER______
*Conference announcement: Burma-Myanma(r) research and its future: 
Implications for scholars and policymakers'

EDITORIALS/OPINION/PROPAGANDA________
*Bangkok Post: Wa, triads speed drugs to Europe 
*SPDC: Findings of the inquiry into the allegations made by SHRF in Dec 
2000 

					
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________





Financial Times: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's voice of dissent


Fri, 17 August 2001


By Prue Clarke

In March 1999, leading Himalayan scholar Michael Aris lay dying of 
prostate cancer in London. He had not seen his wife - Aung San Suu Kyi, 
the Nobel Laureate and Burmese pro-democracy leader - in three years. 
She was 5,000 miles away. It was just one of the monumental sacrifices 
she would make for democracy in her native country. 

More than a decade after she took on the country's military rulers, the 
struggle continues for 56-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced 
Ahn-Sahn-Sue-Chee). 
Growing economic hardship in the isolated Southeast Asian country has 
forced the ruling military junta to begin talks with her opposition 
National League for Democracy (NLD) in an attempt to win international 
aid. (Most major donors have had informal sanctions against Burma in 
place since the regime seized control in 1988 following a bloody 
military crackdown against a nationwide democracy uprising. The military 
renamed the country Myanmar in 1989.)


Noone has been more physically and spiritually tied to Burma's struggle 
for democracy than Aung San Suu Kyi. Born in Rangoon Burma's capital, 
(later renamed Yangon) in 1945, her father, General Aung San was the 
hero of Burma's independence from Britain. When Ms Suu Kyi was just two 
years old, he was gunned down during the transition in July 1947, just 
six months before independence. 

In 1960, Ms Suu Kyi accompanied her mother, Daw Khin Kyi to India where 
the older woman served as Burma's ambassador. In Delhi, Ms Suu Kyi lived 
the life of a diplomat's child and had a wide circle of Indian friends, 
including Indira Ghandi's sons Rajiv and Sanjay.

In 1964 she left India to study philosophy, politics and economics at St 
Hugh's College, Oxford University, where she met her future husband. 
After marrying in 1972, they lived briefly in Bhutan, where Ms Suu Kyi 
worked for the ministry of foreign affairs. On their return to England, 
Ms Suu Kyi lived a normal life, raising the couple's two children. She 
often told her husband that a time would come when she would have to 
return to Burma. 

That time came in 1988, when Ms Suu Kyi went home to nurse her ailing 
mother, who died later that year. Within weeks of her return, she was 
swept up in a student-led democracy uprising and became leader of the 
National League for Democracy, the opposition party. After months of 
confrontation, the army launched a crackdown in which thousands were 
killed. By July 1989, Ms Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest without 
charge. 

The following year, the NLD won a landslide victory, capturing more than 
80 per cent of the vote - a result the military still refuses to 
acknowledge. 

At the same time she has won international support for her struggle 
along with a string of honours, including the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for 
her non-violent political pro-democracy activities. She was unable to 
collect the prize in person. Her sons collected it it in her place. 

She remained under house arrest until 1995, when the military junta 
released her. But she faced severe restrictions on her movements. She 
was prevented from giving public speeches and was confined to the 
capital. 

In 1999, knowing he was terminally ill, Ms Suu Kyi's husband applied for 
a visa to say goodbye to his wife. The junta refused, saying she should 
visit him in Britain instead. It was an offer she could not accept. Ms 
Suu Kyirefused to leave Burma for fear the military would not allow her 
to return. Michael Aris died in March of that year in Oxford. 

In 2000, Ms Suu Kyi was placed under virtual house arrest again, after 
she defied government restrictions on her movement and tried to travel 
by train to the northern city of Mandalay to visit members of her 
embattled National League for Democracy. 

But by the end of 2000, with UN agencies warning that Burma was on the 
brink of humanitarian crisis as malnourishment and HIV/Aids infection 
rates skyrocketed, the regime finally turned to Ms Suu Kyi in a bid to 
appease int ernational donors. 

The closed-door talks are now reportedly focussing on the release of 
2000 political prisoners in the country (the regime has so far released 
159 prisoners in a series of gestures to the NLD), which Ms Suu Kyi has 
made a prerequisite to any lifting of sanctions. There has been no sign 
of any progress in negotiations. 

The magnitude of Aung San Suu Kyi's sacrifices has turned the former 
stay-at-home mother into a formidable opponent that looks increasingly 
likely to wear the regime down. She has vowed to continue her struggle 
until the democracy won by her father 54 years ago is restored. 


______________________MONEY________________________



Mizzima: Indian companies still to have a foot in Burma 

August 18, 2001 
Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com) 

            Despite the active efforts of some business groups in India, 
Indian big business is still to go to Burma because they are yet to be 
confident that their business would not be "nationalized" in future, an 
experience that many of their country fellowmen faced in the 1960s.  

For some years now, a Mumbai-based Indo-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce & 
Industries has been actively lobbying both governments for the promoting 
of bilateral business and Indian investments in Burma. Recently, an 
Indian think thank, the Bengal Initiative, comprising of industrialists, 
businessmen, academicians and social workers visited the military-rule 
Burma on a track II diplomacy but with an aim for the increase of 
business relationship between the two neighboring countries. However, 
the results are yet to come out.  

According to an Indian business study, Burma offers opportunity for a 
wide range of Indian products such as iron and steel products, drug & 
pharmaceuticals, agro-chemicals, cotton garments, construction 
materials, auto components, software, machinery and spare parts.  

But, until now, Indian goods have not placed themselves between cheap 
and ample Chinese goods and neat and small Japanese and Singapore goods 
in the Burmese markets.  

A car tyre businessman from Mandalay said that he has been trying to get 
the representative job particularly from Indian companies but he is 
getting no where as the Indian business persons are not certain about 
the political uncertainties in Burma.  

"Chinese tyres are cheaper than the Indian tyres in Burma. But, quality 
of Indian tyres is much higher than the Chinese ones. It is four times 
better than the Chinese tyres in quality", he said. "But, we cannot get 
Indian tyres easily in Burma while we get Chinese tyres everywhere. 




__________________________________________________



 People's Daily: China, Myanmar Sign Agricultural Factory Project 
Agreement 

Saturday, August 18, 2001, updated at 11:12(GMT+8) 

China and Myanmar signed an agreement Friday in Yangon on China's 
assistance to an agricultural machinery factory project in Myanmar's 
northern Mandalay division. 

According to the agreement, the factory, to be built in Ingon, Kyaukse 
township, will produce annually 10,000 sets of walking tractor and 5,000 
sets of reaper. 


___________________________________________________


Mizzima: Burmese arrested with Indian faked currency notes but released 
later 

Aizawl, August 15, 2001 
Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com) 

Two Burmese nationals were caught with faked currency notes in an 
Indo-Burma border end of last month but later released by the local 
police, according to intelligence sources here.  

Mr. Maung Maung and Mr. Tin Maung who are residents of Tahan in Kalaymyo 
township of Sagaing Division in Burma were arrested by Assam Rifles 
Battalion No. 19 in Chhungte Bawk, which is about four miles far from 
Champhai in Mizoram State.  

The duo were arrested with Indian faked 500-currency notes worth seven 
and half lakhs Rupees on 28th July. The two were handed over to local 
police the next day.  

However, the Burmese were released by the police on the same day. 
Contrary to the army, one of the Champhai police officer claimed that 
the seized currency notes were, in fact, not faked currency and that is 
why the duo were released. 



_______________________GUNS________________________



DVB: Deserters form anti-junta "Patriotic Burmese Army"

16 August

DVB has learned that army deserters from the SPDC Defence Services have 
formed a new, armed group at the Burma-Thai border on 13 August. A 
spokesperson said the group is called the Patriotic Burmese Army [PBA] 
and it will take up arms to fight the SPDC military government. DVB 
correspondent Ma Sandar filed this report from a location near the 
Burma-Thai border.  

[Ma Sandar] Ko Kyaw Kyaw Oo, the person in charge, explained the 
formation and objectives of this army.  

[Kyaw Kyaw Oo] The raison d'etre is that armed forces personnel, who 
changed sides because they were unable to endure SPDC's suppression and 
who wanted to see the demise of military dictatorship, got together and 
formed the PBA. Although the Burmese armed forces' duty is to defend the 
country they have taken over the responsibility of the State, which is 
not their concern, and have committed many atrocities such as using 
civilians as porters for their military operations, extortion, 
confiscation of farmlands, false imprisonment, and rape. These 
atrocities could not be accepted and tolerated. They also forcibly 
recruit 13, 14-year-olds to join the army and fight for them in order to 
sustain their grip on power. Thus, the nationalist army formed by Gen 
Aung San with good intentions and noble traditions was not embraced but 
despised by the people. Furthermore, the reputation of the armed forces 
is also waning. That is why we formed the PBA.  

[Ma Sandar] The PBA will use political and military means to try and 
eliminate the Burmese military dictatorship and also call upon the 
comrades in the SPDC armed forces who are subjected to oppression to 
join hands and fight for Burma's democracy.  

That was Ma Sandar's report on the formation of a new anti-Burmese junta 
armed group. According to latest reports, the PBA was formed with army 
deserters from Karenni region. They also plan to organize other regions 
as well. The spokesperson said since the PBA is in an embryonic stage 
they are unable to disclose their leader and strength of the army.  

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 16 Aug 01 






________________________DRUGS______________________



Shan Herald Agency for News: Drug traffickers win road construction 
contracts


Law and Wei in road construction contracts

August 19, 2001


Law Hsing han's Asia World and Wei Hsiaokang's Hongpang have recently 
been  contracted by Rangoon to upgrade the roads in Shan State, reported 
sources  from the border.

While Asia World is to improve the road from Taunggyi, Shan State's 
capital  to Meikthila, 100 miles in the west plus the Lashio-Nawngkhio 
road (100  miles) and repairing the 110-mile long highway between Lashio 
and Muse that  it had built 5 years ago, Hongpang's job will be in 
eastern Shan State  totalling 375 miles (600 km). The roads will be for 
all seasons. 
Hongpang is due to begin i0ts work on the Kengtung-Tachilek road (102  
miles) as soon as the monsoons end in October. It aims to complete a 
tarred  highway by the end of March, said sources.

Since late last month, no trucks from Taunggyi have reached Kengtung  
because of landslides.It also takes even 4-wheelers 9-10 hours to travel 
 between Kengtung and Tachilek.

It is not yet known however which company, Asia World or Hongpang, will 
win  the contract to upgrade the road between Taunggyi-Takaw, the 
crossing over  the Salween (110 miles).

Both Law and Wei are reputed as Burma's drug lords,  the "honor" that 
both,  especially the former,  have refused to accept.


___________________________________________________



ITN: Burma rebels: 'army smuggles drugs'

A Burmese rebel army claims to have ambushed a government convoy 
carrying thousands of amphetamine tablets bound for Thailand. 

Fighting erupted between Shan State Army (SSA) rebels and Burmese 
(Myanmar) troops after the reported seizure. 

During recent months clashes between SSA rebels, who fighting for an 
independent homeland, and regular troops have intensified along the 
mountainous border with Thailand. 
Thailand accuses Burma of using border unrest as a cover for its 
involvement in the production and distribution of amphetamines and 
ecstasy to Thailand and beyond. 
Main drugs route

Thailand is the main market for amphetamine pills in southeast Asia and 
an important route to other markets for drug traffickers based in 
neighbouring Burma. 
SSA leaders say they are looking to safeguard their future and to keep 
their children away from drugs. 

SSA leader Yod Suk explained: "The reason why we are focused on 
intercepting drugs at the moment is because narcotics are not only 
affecting Thailand and the outside world. 
"It is directly threatening and affecting our own Shan people as well. 
"If many of our people become addicted to drugs, we won't be able to 
achieve what we want and are fighting for, so eradicating drugs is our 
priority," he continued. 

Cross-border skirmishes

Relations between Thailand and Burma have soured in recent months, 
almost boiling over at one point in February into full-blown warfare. 

Burmese regular troops ventured across the border, briefly capturing a 
Thai military outpost and shelling the nearby Thai town of Mae Sai. 

The Thai army retaliated by reinforcing the border and pounding Burma's 
troops with artillery. 
The situation has calmed down, but is still tense with both sides 
trading accusations of cross-border violations. 

Rebel army

Although Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has 
made peace with 17 anti-government groups, the SSA is determined to 
continue its armed struggle. 
The Yangon government has vehemently denied any involvement in the 
narcotics trade. 

The SSA has been fighting for independence from Burma for more than 40 
years and is the most powerful antigovernment force in the country. 

The group wants freedom for ethnic minorities in Burma and has spent the 
past few years trying to prove that it is not involved in drug 
production and trafficking. 

Despite pressures from the international community, Burma's military 
government has turned a deaf ear to calls for an end to its repression 
of opposition groups. 

The European Union has suspended aid to Burma and the United States has 
imposed economic and trade sanctions. 


__________________________________________________



Reuters: Burma warlord says he's fighting drugs


TONGKYI, Burma,(Reuters),  Aug. 16 - Yod Suk, commander of an ethnic 
militia battling the Burma military in remote jungles near the Thai 
border, has been branded a criminal and narcotics trafficker, but he 
insists he is fighting to stamp out drugs. 

The Shan State Army (SSA) leader told Reuters at his headquarters in 
Burma that his soldiers were doing their best to intercept drug convoys 
bound for Thailand, where hundreds of millions of methamphetamine pills 
are sold every year.        ''

The reason why we are focused on intercepting drugs at the moment is 
because narcotics are not only affecting Thailand and the outside world. 
It is directly threatening and affecting our own Shan people as well,'' 
Yod Suk said.        

''If many of our people become addicted to drugs, we won't be able to 
achieve the goals we are fighting for, so eradicating drugs is our 
priority.''        

Thai anti-drugs officials say the United Wa State Army (UWSA), an ethnic 
army allied with the Rangoon junta, is the main producer of the 
methamphetamine pills flooding Thailand.        Methamphetamines are 
increasingly supplanting heroin as the main drug produced in the 
infamous Golden Triangle region where the borders of Thailand, Burma and 
Laos converge.       

 The Burma junta insists the UWSA is not involved in drug production or 
trafficking, and says Yod Suk and the SSA are the main culprits. It has 
accused the Thai military of siding with the SSA and of profiting from 
the drugs trade.        

Yod Suk was formerly part of the Mong Tai Army of drug warlord Khun Sa, 
who surrendered to Burma troops in 1996 and now lives in Rangoon under 
junta protection.        Yod Suk says there are some 20,000 soldiers in 
his army, including thousands of new recruits. The SSA, which has been 
fighting for independence from Burma for more than 40 years, is the most 
powerful anti-junta militia in the country.        

Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has made peace 
with 17 ethnic militia groups in recent years, allowing many of them, 
like the UWSA, considerable autonomy in return for dropping their 
struggle against  Rangoon.        

But the SSA, as well as the Karen National Union (KNU), are still 
fighting the junta, saying they want independence for their people.      
 

 During recent months clashes between the SSA and soldiers of the UWSA 
and Burma military have intensified along the mountainous border with 
Thailand.        

Relations between two countries have soured this year, boiling over in 
February when Thai and Burma soldiers clashed and dozens were killed.    
    

Since then, the two countries have tried to patch up ties. Yod Suk said 
the detente was unlikely to last for long.        

''I see relations between Thailand and Burma as on and off. Whenever the 
relationship has improved, it didn't last for long and was always 
fragile,'' he said. 



___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				


The Irrawaddy: Thai Film Stirs Concerns About Burma Relations

August 18, 2001

By Maung Maung Oo

Suriyothai, the most expensive movie in Thai film history, was released 
on Friday in theaters throughout Thailand. The movie, which tells the 
story of a queen who died defending the ancient Thai capital of 
Ayutthaya against an invading Burmese army, has raised concerns about 
its possible impact on Thai-Burma relations.

Filmed over a period of five years, at a cost of nearly US $10 million, 
the movie was released to coincide with the Queen of Thailand's 69th 
birthday. It is widely believed that the Queen was behind the idea of 
making the film.

Directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol, a renowned director who is also a 
member of the Thai Royal Family, Suriyothai tells the story of an 
eponymous consort of King Maha Chakkraphat (1548-1569) who sacrificed 
her life in a battle with Burmese troops.

There are plans to sell the movie to Hollywood film distributors for US$ 
20 million. A number of foreign distributors, including Warner Brothers, 
New Line Cinema and Miramax, are reportedly interested in obtaining the 
rights. Film distributors in some Asian countries have also shown an 
interest in the movie.

According to the Bangkok-based Nation newspaper, advanced ticket sales 
have already reached the 100,000 mark. Long queues have been appearing 
at theatres screening the film, and Suriyothai t-shirts, posters and 
phone cards sold at booths near ticket counters have been doing a brisk 
business. Tickets for the debut showing of Suriyothai are priced 20 
percent higher than those for other films. 

While the movie has excited Thai audiences, it has also attracted 
attention from academics and other experts, who question its historical 
accuracy. The story is, in fact, based on just a few lines that appear 
in a Thai chronicle of the Ayutthaya era. 

An even more sensitive issue is how the film portrays Burmese, who came 
off looking very badly in another Thai film released earlier this year. 
Bangrajan, about a group of Thai villagers who fought to the death 
against an invading Burmese army, was widely criticized for playing on 
highly negative stereotypes of Burma. 

Chatrichalerm said he tried to be sensitive to such concerns. "I did 
show this film to Burmese artists and film makers, and they did enjoy 
it," the director said in a pre-release interview on CNN television. 

In an earlier interview, he hinted that he took some liberties in his 
treatment of his subject. "It is an historical film, but it's my 
interpretation of history. I didn't make this movie to make people 
believe it. My aim was to make people more aware of Thai history," the 
director said. Concerning the films portrayal of Burmese, he added: "We 
do not show them as baddies, but as warriors and a great nation."

Ko Myo, a Burmese man in his 20s, rushed to buy tickets to the 
three-hour-long movie. "It was quite fair," he said. 

It is unclear, however, how well the movie will be received by Burma's 
ruling generals, who went on record as being displeased by Bangrajan's 
"biased" depiction of history. Shortly after the movie's release, a 
serious border skirmish broke out between Thai and Burmese troops, and 
relations spiraled to their lowest level in years.

Recently, the Burmese junta announced plans to shoot a historical movie 
of its own. The film will be about Bayint Naung Kyaw Htin Nawyahta, a 
famous Burmese warrior, and is expected to cost 150-200 million kyat (US 
$ 220,000-294,000) to make. It will be the most expensive movie ever 
made in Burmese film history.




___________________________________________________



Burma Media Association: Junta article blasts award nomination for 
jailed journalists 

[Abridged]

By Tin Maung Htoo
Burma Media Association (www.bma-online.net)

August 16, 2001

An article published in the state-run New Light of Myanmar on August 13 
and 14 sharply criticizes the nomination of a "media group" consisting 
of 24 journalists and dissidents in Insein Prison, saying those nominees 
are "lawbreakers" and no way to deserve the "International Press Freedom 
Award.

The article states that Burma Media Association (BMA) compiled a list of 
24 persons serving prison terms for committing crimes or breaking laws 
and recommended them as journalists to be worthy of the Canadian press 
freedom prizes.  But BMA's president Maung Maung Myint said the 
nomination is to focus on the movement of press freedom in prison for 
that they were given additional sentences ranging from 5 to 12 years.  

"We nominated them for their wonderful media movement including magazine 
publishing inside prison, smuggling out the report to UN special 
rapporteur Yozo Yokota and a prisoner's shirt on which prisoners of 
conscience put their signatures to the UNHRC [United Nations Human 
Rights Commission] annual meeting in 1995," said Norway-based president. 
 

A two series of the article titled "They Dare not Show Their Faces -24," 
also labels the nominator exiled Burma Media Association (BMA) as a 
colonialist informer and Paris-based Reporters without borders (RSF) as 
a collaborator, putting one more international media advocate group into 
their targeted spot.  

"The so-called RSF or the unruly reporters group in France, hand in 
glove with the informer group of Myanmar [Burma] fugitives, announced 
that it demanded continued international punitive action against Myanmar 
[Burma] government until it released the '18 journalists'," asserted in 
the article.. 

Paris-based international media watchdog group, RSF, released reports 
about the imprisoned  journalists last month, decrying Burma as the 
country with the most journalists detained in Asia and urging the EU, 
U.S. and international community to keep pressure on the Burmese 
military regime unless journalists are released soon.  




______________________OTHER______________________




Conference announcement: Burma-Myanma(r) research and its future: 
Implications for scholars and policymakers'

6-8 Sep 2002 [tentative dates, venue t.b.a.]. An open international 
conference on 'Burma-Myanma(r) research and its future: Implications for 
scholars and policymakers'. Academic (strictly) papers welcomed from 
scholars and research students with an interest in Burma-Myanmar, 
irrespective of political persuasion. Academics from Myanmar-Burma 
heartily invited and welcomed. 

Contact: gustaafhoutman@xxxxxxxx 
Website: http://www.therai.org.uk/anthcal/myanmarburma2002.html. 




___________EDITORIALS/OPINION/PROPAGANDA__________




Bangkok Post: Wa, triads speed drugs to Europe 

Monday 20 August 2001 

Switzerland made a major drug sweep last week. More Golden Triangle 
methamphetamines were seized than in any raid outside Thailand. The 
entry of the burma-based gangs into such a far-away market confirms the 
urgent need for increased efforts against transnational crime.


To his credit and despite his focus on local and populist policies, 
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra understands that Thailand is deeply 
involved in a world that gets increasingly smaller. The prime minister 
has supported and led efforts to involve the country in regional efforts 
to combat regional problems. Last week's record seizure of speed tablets 
in Switzerland should cause the government to re-double efforts against 
transnational criminals who have globalised crime and corruption.

Authorities across Switzerland seized 450,000 methamphetamine tablets 
made in the Burmese pill factories of the United Wa State Army. They 
arrested 102 dealers across Switzerland, but apparently no major 
traffickers. Most of those arrested were Asian. Andrea Canonica of the 
Swiss customs service said brothels and individual prostitutes were the 
biggest group of dealers _ which raises suspicion of involvement by 
Thais. Evidence from the investigation that led to the drug sweep 
indicates a major and highly profitable ring of international 
traffickers remains at large in Switzerland.

In our region, the smuggling ring includes the Wa and their Burmese 
government enablers. The 14K Chinese criminal syndicate reportedly 
exports both speed pills and heroin for the Wa. A number of Thai-based 
smugglers pack and ship the drugs to Europe by air, hidden among 
legitimate exports of clothing, canned food and children's toys among 
other items.

The Swiss investigation covered five countries. Thai police co-operated, 
according to senior officials in Switzerland. So did the forces of 
Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, where drugs were sent after being 
stockpiled by the Swiss-based gangs. Profits were astounding. Street 
dealers in Swiss cities charged users the equivalent of 400 to 530 baht 
per pill, according to authorities _ roughly eight to 10 times the 
hugely inflated street price in Bangkok.

The Swiss bust provided the first major confirmation that the drug 
trafficking of the United Wa State Army has grown to include 
methamphetamines. The Wa continue to expand their drug business. Since 
moving into the former territory of wanted drug warlord Khun Sa, the 
former ``Red Wa'' have renewed his old opium and heroin traffic. They 
have formed a trafficking alliance with the 14K triads. Now, they have 
hugely expanded their ya ba market into Europe.

Mr Thaksin last week authorised the Foreign Ministry to take policemen 
into foreign embassies to help fight transnational crime. The timing was 
a coincidence, but the Swiss drug bust proved the point. Some western 
countries began to include a police post in their embassy staff a decade 
ago. The officers can provide direct contact between and among police 
forces and work on international crime such as the drug trafficking to 
Switzerland and the rest of Europe.

Thailand and Mr Thaksin also have become the leaders of the effort to 
increase regional co-operation against drug trafficking. China has 
assumed a prime role in some ways, including financing. But it has 
become clear that the Thaksin government must come up with both the 
motivation and means to move the effort. Laos and Burma may be willing 
to help. But Rangoon, in particular, remains one of the biggest drags on 
advances against drug trafficking in the entire world.

Swiss authorities were honest, even as they took congratulations for 
last week's big bust of Wa-made methamphetamines. They removed some 
tentacles from the trafficking monster, but the head remained intact. It 
remains to be seen if the drug gangs consider their market test in 
Switzerland to be successful, or if they will look for different weak 
spots in their next trafficking venture. The exact, next step by the 
criminals is unknown but the lesson is clear.: Only cross-border 
co-operation stands a chance against cross-border crime.
	


___________________________________________________





SPDC: Findings of the inquiry into the allegations made by SHRF in Dec 
2000 


[Net posted, August 18, 2001]

1. The Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) is an overseas organization  
of expatriate Shan extremists in the United States of America. Its 
leader  Khun Kyar Oo was once head of an armed Shan insurgent group that 
was active  from 1958 to 1975. Later due to a power struggle and dispute 
over ideology  within the organization, Khun Kyar Oo  (son of Khun Kyar 
Nu) absconded to  Thailand and resided there till 1988 after which he 
left for America. Father  and son together have also been instrumental 
in forming the Shan State  Organization (SSO) USA to oppose the present 
Myanmar Government. Khun Kyar Oo  also founded the Shan Human Rights 
Foundation and the Shan Refugee  Organization, which are agitating 
through propaganda pamphlets for the  emergence of an autonomous Shan 
State, Shan independence and the founding of  a New Union. Before U Khun 
Sa exchanged arms for peace to rejoin the legal  community, Khun Kyar Oo 
met and held discussions with U Khun Sa at Homong and  distributed 
anti-government leaflets among the local populace. In April 1996  he 
formed a committee to convene a Conference on Shan Unity with the 
purpose  of  recruiting and setting up a Shan Army to fight for Shan 
independence.  

2. The Shan Human Rights Foundation has often levelled false charges  
against Myanmar Army troops combating the Ywet Sitt Shan insurgent group 
in  military operational areas in the Shan State and on the Myanmar 
?Thai border  making false accusations that they commit murder, rape, 
and physical violence  against the ethnic races living in the villages, 
and that they also conscript  villagers for forced labour and extort 
money from them. The December 2000  report that they have issued made 15 
such allegations against Myanmar troops  serving in operational columns 
in the regions of Kunheng, Mongpan,  Kyaingtong, Montong, Monghpyat, 
Monghsat and Mongyawng. Of  these charges  three are of  murder, two of  
rape, one of  battery, one of  forced labour,  three of  extortion and 
one of teasing and frightening the local girls who  according to rural 
custom in the region bathe in the nude.  

3. The Shan Human Rights Foundation led by extremist Shan nationalists  
have deliberately ignored the fact that the Shan insurgencies have come 
to an  end and that former armed national groups have opted for peace 
and are  engaged in development programs, and that even in the once 
isolated and  remote regions peace now prevails and vast progress has 
been made. The false  allegations they make are for the sole purpose of 
hurting the prestige and  status of the Government and the Armed Forces. 


4. A careful review of and inquiries held concerning the 15 allegations  
made in the Shan Human Rights Foundation has found that these 
allegations are  false and that they had invented out of thin air the 
following falsehoods:  

(a) The names of officers mentioned in the report do not correspond  to 
any officer who have served or are serving now in the units and 
regiments  mentioned. 
(b) The villages in the report exist nowhere in the regions mentioned.  
(c) The incidents mentioned in the report did not take place at all.  
(d) The names of  the male and female villagers mentioned in the  report 
are neither natives nor residents of  the village-tracts in the region.  

(e) A deliberate attempt was made to distort facts and present the  
positive incident, which actually took place, in a false light.  
(f) That the overall purpose of this report was to disrupt harmony  and 
destroy national unity. 

5. In order to refute with firm evidence the slander and false  
accusations made by the Shan Human Rights foundations the findings after 
 careful investigation and inquiry have now been presented for perusal 
in The  Truth, Volume 10. 


Col. Than Tun 
Head of  Department 
Office of Strategic Studies 
Dated:  14- 3  -  2001 

The Allegations Made By The Shan Human Rights Foundation Against 
Military  Servicemen On Operational Duty and the Actual Facts Of The 
Situation  
Allegation 

1. It was alleged that a column of troops of the No.4 Company of the  
Myanmar Light Infantry Regiment No. 524 led by Capt. Maung Myint on  
10-10-2000 seized 11 civilian porters at a new settlement on the 
outskirts of  Kunheng and that later the bodies of 6 of the porters were 
found by their  relatives while 5 are still reported missing. The report 
goes on to state  that local populace in the region believed that they 
had been killed by  Myanmar Army troops. 

Fact 

2. In the first place no officer by the name of Capt. Maung Myint has  
ever served in the Light Infantry Regiment No. 524. Inquiries were made 
in  Ward 3/5 and other wards located on the outskirts of  Kunheng and it 
was  found that all who had gone to work as military porters had 
returned home  safe and sound and that none were missing. No cases were 
reported of  villagers who had discovered the bodies of their relatives 
and no such  incidents had occurred according to inquiries made at the 
wards concerned.  The report of the SHRF was found to be a mere 
invention with not a shred of  truth. 

Allegation 

3. According to this allegation, on 13-9-2000 a patrol consisting of 12  
men of No. 221 Light Infantry Regiment  based  in the town of Mongphyat, 
 while going past Nam Tip Creek in Monghpyat Township had shot dead Aa 
Pae,  age 26, of Paang Kaw village, of Mong Tin village tract, while he 
was fishing  on the banks of the creek. 

Fact 

4. There is no village by the name of Paang Kaw in the Mong Tin village  
tract of Monhpyat Township. There is a village called the old Paang Kaw 
in  the Lan Hsat village tract as well as a new Paang Kaw village. The 
old  village of Paang Kaw consists only of three households with a 
population of  12 among whom there is no one known as Aa Pae, age 26. 
Likewise, inquiries at  the new Paang Kaw village also revealed that 
there was no one by the name of  Aa Pae. The villagers also confirmed 
that no shooting of villagers by  military troops had taken place. 

The No. 221 Light Infantry Regiment with headquarters at Monghpyat  has 
also never been on operational duty in the Mong Tin nor the Lan Hsat  
village-tracts. These villages are not in their area of operations. This 
 proves that the allegation in this case is also false. 

Allegation 

5. On 20-9-2000, a 7-member patrol of the No. 245 Myanmar Regiment  
arrived at Huay Koi village and conscripted a villager Ai Sai, age 21, 
to act  as guide for the patrol. They then proceeded in the direction of 
Nant Kan  village, but just before they reached the village, Aa Koi, age 
19, of the  same village emerged from the surrounding forest carrying a 
musket. The  troops shot him dead on sight without telling him to halt 
or giving any form  of warning. Afterwards, the patrol feigning 
ignorance turned back from Nant  Kan and changed direction to Wan Aan 
village of Mong Khun village tract.  
Fact 

6. In Kyaingtong Township there is no village tract by the name of Huay  
Koi, nor a village called Nant Kan. There is only a village tract with a 
 similar sounding name Hwe Kwai. In this village tract there is only one 
Akhar  village, that is, Wan Maing village. In this village there is no 
one by the  name of Aa Koi age 19, nor did any shooting incident take 
place in its  vicinity. Moreover, there is no one by the name of Ai Sai, 
age 21, in Hwe  Kwai village of Hwe Kwai village tract. On the day of 
the so-called incident,  20th September 2000, the No. 245 Regiment was 
on operational duties in the  front-line areas of Lwe Lan/ Hopan/Ho Tet 
regions and was nowhere in the  vicinity of Hwe Kwai village. It is 
obvious that this report of the SHRF is  also without substance. 

Allegation 

7. It was alleged that No.3 Company of No.332 Light Infantry Regiment  
led by Capt. Hla Pe seized one Zaai Mae Tha, his wife Naang Pa and their 
 16-year old daughter Naang Nun who lived in a farm hut in a cultivation 
plot  near Ho Lin village of  Nar Lawt village-tract, Mongpan Township, 
on  5-11-2000. Capt. Hla Pe then ordered some of his troops to 
interrogate Zaai  Mae Tha and Sgt. Thar Maung to interrogate Naang Pa, 
while he himself took  Naan Nun to a nearly hut and sexually assaulted 
her. Sgt. Thar Maung was also  said to have raped Naang Pa. The troops 
interrogating Zaai Mae Tha are said  to have brutally beaten him when 
they did not get the information they  wanted. This company reportedly 
left soon after, seizing five chickens and  two ducks from Zaai Mae 
Tha?s farm. 

Fact 

8. Since the time of the formation of No.332 Light Infantry Regiment to  
this day, there has been no one named Capt. Hla Pe or a Sergeant named 
Thar  Maung on its regimental record. No such persons have ever served 
in the  regiment. Moreover in November 2000, the regiment was on 
operations in  Maukmai Township and after that it returned to regimental 
headquarters in  November/December. Inquiries made have confirmed that 
the regiment in  question did not operate in the Mongpan Township area. 
The accusation made in  the SHRF report is therefore entirely groundless 
and is an outright lie.  

Allegation 

9. On 18-9-2000, the SHRF report alleged that one village girl Naang Sao 
 age 18, of Wan Nawng Nur village of Nawng Long village tract was 
accosted by  3 soldiers of the No.313 Light Infantry Regiment while on 
her way to visit  relatives in Wan Laa-o village and taken to a nearby 
wood and raped. It  stated moreover that this regiment had commandeered 
many acres of cultivation  plots owned by the villagers and on which 
they had been forced to plant paddy  and other seasonal crops for the 
regiment. The regiment was so harsh in its  treatment of the villagers 
that no one had dared to protest according to this  allegation. 

Fact 

10. There is no village tract known as Nawng Long. There is only a  
village tract called Lwe Lon and there are no villages by the name Waang 
 Nawng Nur or Wan Laa-o in this village tract. No incident where a 
soldier of  the No.314 Light Infantry Regiment sexually assaulted a girl 
has ever  occurred. Nor does this regiment own cultivation plots outside 
its regimental  perimeters in Kyaingtong Township. The only land 
cultivated by No.314 Light  Infantry Regiment are in accordance with 
orders issued by the Triangle Region  Command Headquarters and on plots 
allotted to it where its troops plant  summer paddy, beans, sugar cane 
and corn. Furthermore these plots of land are  not in the Lwe Long 
village-tract. The summer paddy cultivation plot is near  the Kyaing 
Phaung village in Yan Law village-tract, Kyaingtong Township; the  sugar 
cane field is in Kat Taung / Kat Hpa village, Kyaingtong Township; the  
corn field is near the Lwe Mwe village and the Pesinngon pea cultivation 
plot  is within the perimeters of the regiment. The No.314 LIR has not 
commandeered  any land in Lwe Lon village-tract either for the state or 
for the regiment.  No villagers, either men or women, have ever been 
forced to work on these  cultivation plots. The work is done entirely by 
the men of the regiment. The  results of the inquiries show that the 
SHRF allegations are a series of lies.  

Allegation 

11. According to this allegation, it so happened on 6-10-2000, that 3  
girls from Sali Mon village of Wan Maan village-tract, Nang Kham Pan, 
age 18,  Nang La Lon age 19 and Nang Kawng Kwee age 18, had been 
foraging in the woods  near their village for edible leaves and fruit 
when on their return at about  1500 hours, they arrived at their usual 
bathing place at Nant Man Kham Creek  near their village. So they 
decided to take a dip and bathe. As is the Shan  rural custom, they 
bathed in the rude since they were in a secluded spot.  While bathing 
thus, a 12-member patrol of the No.334 Light Infantry Regiment  arrived 
on the scene. These soldiers, it said, proceeded to frighten the  girls 
forcing them to stand up in the nude while jeering at them and aiming  
their guns towards the girls. 

Fact 

12. In the Sali Mon village of  Won Man village tract in Mong Yawng  
Township, there are only 15 households with a population of about 50  
Inquiries made in the village showed that no young women, named Nan Kham 
Pan,  age 18, Nan La Lon, age 19 and Nan Kaung Kwee existed. Nor was 
there any  incident of young women bathing in the nude and soldiers 
mocking them. It can  therefore be concluded that the SHRF allegation is 
without any foundation and  is a mere fabricated story with intent to 
make trouble. 

Allegation 

13. According to this allegation, on 15-9-2000, while an Akhar villager  
Ah Koo Par  of  Nam Zi village in Pa Khaa village tract, was weeding his 
 cultivation plot with his wife and two children, a seven-member patrol 
of  No.327 Light Infantry Regiment arrived on the scene and asked him 
for  directions to the short-cut pathway to Mohnyin village. When Ah Koo 
Par  replied that he did not know he was beaten and kicked. The report 
further  charged that these soldiers were looking for the trail used by 
drug  traffickers in order to extort money from them. 

Fact 

14. The village known as Nan Zee village of the Pa Khaa village tract in 
 Mongkhat Township does not exist. In this region there are many paths 
to  Mohnyin village that can be easily found, and because there are so 
few  villages in the area. Any path chosen would lead directly to 
Mohnyin and  there is no way one can get lost. Government military 
troops have been  stationed in the area for many years and knowing the 
topography of the area  so well they need no scouts to show them the 
way. Moreover to say that the  patrol was on the lookout for drug 
traffickers to extort money is pure  speculation. It is therefore 
obvious that this also is a trumped-up charge by  the SHRF. 

Allegation 

15. It is alleged that on 6-11-2000, the No.524 Light Infantry Regiment, 
 conscripted 450 people from Kunheng Township and conveyed them in 31 
trucks  to force them to labour on road repairs from a location near 
Kyaingtong right  up to Kunheng. These people were obliged to bring 
their own food, drinking  water and tools and implements. This road was 
being repaired to convey timber  extracted by Armed Forces troops to 
China for sale. And it alleged that the  people were being pressed into 
labour without payment for this purpose.  
Fact 

16. Inquiries have revealed that up to the present, no battalion or  
regiment, including the No.524 Light Infantry Regiment, has ever taken 
part  in road repairs in Kunheng Township. This allegation is a pure 
figment of the  imagination of the SHRF. 

Allegation 

17. The SHRF report has made the charge that during the period 
27-10-2000  to 7-11-2000 the No.2 Company of the No.225 Light Infantry 
Regiment led by  Capt. Aung Soe conscripted 100 people aged 15 years and 
above of Mongton  Township and forced them to work on cultivation plots 
owned by the regiment.  He was also accused of commandeering private 
motor vehicles for regimental  transportation duties. 

Fact 

18. There is and has never been an officer by the name of Capt. Aung Soe 
 on the regimental roll of the No.225 Light Infantry Regiment. In the 
Tactical  Command Base (Mongton) there used to be a General Staff  
Officer Grade II  (Operations) by the name of Major Aung Soe but he was 
posted a long time ago  to No.553 Light Infantry Regiment. In accordance 
with orders issued by the  Triangle Region Command Headquarter each 
regiment or battalion is obliged to  cultivate at least 20 acres each of 
Pesinngon peas. Following these orders,  the No.225 LIR in June 2000, 
taking on loan a tractor from the Mongton  Township Agriculture Office 
started to plough the field and prepare the  ground. Then in July 2000, 
the men of the regiment together with members of  their families sowed 
the seeds. No civilian was recruited to do this work at  all. In October 
and November 2000, is the season for sowing winter crops such  as 
soybean and peanut. But the No.225 LIR did not grow these crops at all.  
The above is an actual account of what actually took place, which 
clearly  refutes the accusations made by the SHRF in this matter. 

Allegation 

19. In this case it is alleged that Government troops in Mongpan rounded 
 up 65 men and women each day to force then to work without payment on 
their  garlic cultivation plot from 1-11-2000 to 5-11-2000; and that 
during this  period, the people also had to prepare the ground in paddy 
fields already  harvested and owned by the people for the cultivation of 
a 1000 viss of  garlic for the military. They were also made to tend the 
fields sown with  garlic and buy at their own expense, organic 
fertilizers such as cow dung and  50 bags of chemical fertilizers at the 
rate of K 165 per bag for fertilizing  the soil of the garlic 
cultivation plot. For each viss of seed garlic they  were expected to 
produce 7/8 viss of garlic and if  this quota was not  fulfilled they 
had to supplement it by purchasing garlic on the market. The  Military 
had targeted a garlic harvest of 1000 viss but each household  working 
for them was not permitted to plant garlic to produce a yield of more  
than 10 viss. If the yield exceeded more than 10 viss, the extra produce 
was  confiscated, according to the allegations in the report. 

Fact 

20. Military regiments stationed in Mongpan Township have not cultivated 
 any garlic at all leave alone such a large cultivation that would yield 
1000  viss of garlic. Neither have controls been imposed on the civilian 
populace  in the region in the cultivation of garlic.  Moreover, 
whatever crops and  vegetables grown on land owned by the various 
regiments, are cultivated  entirely by the families of servicemen for 
their own consumption and there is  sufficient manpower to do this 
effectively. The regiments have never asked  the local populace help 
because there is simply no need. So the charges made  by the SHRF are 
entirely false. 

Allegation 

21. This allegation states that on 4-10-2000, two soldiers, reportedly  
from the No.227 Myanmar Regiment arrived at Wan Phai Tai and Wan Phai 
Nur  villages in the Mongpan village tract of Mongkhat Township and 
delivered a  written message to the village headmen concerned. The 
message contained  orders for each household to dispatch one person each 
on 5-10-2000 for the  purpose of working in regimental owned land to 
cultivate peanuts. On that  day, one person from each household of the 
two villages had to work on the  peanut cultivation plot from 7 in the 
morning till 5 p.m. bringing along  their own food. They were made to 
work the whole day with only a short break  for lunch. While at work 5 
or 6 soldiers guarded them with guns as if  they  were convicted 
prisoners, according to the report. The report added the same  thing 
occurred in other villages and that the local populace was being forced  
to work on regimental land without payment. 

Fact 

22. In the Mongpan village-tract of  Mongkhat Township, the two villages 
 mentioned, Wan Phai Tai and Wan Phai Nur really do exist. But inquiries 
have  revealed that no villagers of the two villages mentioned nor 
villagers from  other villages have ever been forced to work on peanut 
cultivation plots own  by the No.227 Myanmar Regiment. So this 
allegation is false and one made up  by SHRH with ulterior motives. 

Allegation 

23. According to this allegation on 28-9-2000, 3 soldiers of  No.224  
Myanmar Regiment arrived in Naung Pet village of Phuay Hung 
village-tract of  Kyaingtong Township and delivered an order to the 
village headman and told  him. ?All villagers are to report for work at 
the Regimental Headquarters on  the day after tomorrow. If you arrive 
late the job will not be finished in  the two days required. Each one is 
to bring his own food, but drinking water  will be supplied by the 
regiment.? On the first day the villagers were made  to dig and prepare 
the ground and on the second day they had to sow peanut  seeds till the 
job was done. They were made to toil hard from early in the  morning 
till 7 o?clock in the evening. The report goes on to say that Naung  Pet 
village consists only of 24 or 25 households and that the villagers were 
 being forced to give many hours to work for the military with little 
time  left to do their own work. 

Fact 

24. In Kyaingtong Township there is no village-tract known as Phuay Hung 
 or a village called Naung Pet. Moreover the Regiment in the township is 
the  No. 244 Myanmar Regiment and not the No.224 as alleged. Neverthe- 
less, the  Regiment in the township did not have any peanuts sown or 
cultivated in  September 2000. Nor were villagers ever conscripted to 
work on any  cultivation plot of the Regiment. This is another false 
story fabricated by  the SHRF. 

Allegation 

25. It is said that on 4-4-2000, Lt. Myint Aung, officer in command of  
the No.99 Myanmar Regiment checkpoint at the Nam Taeng Bridge summoned  
headmen Lung Kan-Tha of Hut Mai village and head man Lung Mai-Tha of 
Teng  Kwan village of the Naung Lon village tract and arrested them for 
failing to  report insurgent movements across the Nang Taeng river. On 
5-4-2000 another  arrest was made of Naung Lon village-tract headman Lon 
Saw Ya of  Hut Mai  village. These three villagers were kept captive 
with little to eat and drink  for many days until village elders come to 
plead to Lt. Myint Aung on their  behalf. The commander then demanded 
Kyat  250,000 for their release. After  releasing the prisoners he 
warned the villagers that if they failed to  immediately report any 
insurgent movement in the area in future, it would be  punishable by 
death. On 6-5-2000 when villagers from Hut Mai village went to  the Nam 
Taeng Bridge checkpoint report insurgent movements near their village  
and to give information that the insurgents had crossed the Nam Taing 
Creek,  Lt. Myint Aung blamed them for being one hour late in making the 
report and  as punishment demanded cooking oil and chickens which they 
had to deliver.  

Fact 

26. What actually occurred was that on 2-4-2000 about 60 insurgents  
belonging to the Ywet Sitt Shan insurgent group had passed by Teng Kwan  
village and crossed the Nam Taing creek. But no report of the insurgent  
movement was made to security forces in the area. So responsible village 
 officials, including the village council chairman of  Hut Mai village 
in  Naung Lon village tract of  Lin Khai Township, U Sai Kan Hta, age 32 
and  village headman of Taing Kwan village U Lon Mai Ta, age 48, were 
summoned on  3-4-2000 and Naung-Lon village-tract chairman U Lon Saw Ya 
on 4-4-2000 to  make inquiries about the actual situation in their 
locations and they were  allowed to go as soon as relevant information 
was obtained to keep track of  insurgent movements. But they were asked 
to report future insurgent movements  in their localities as soon as 
possible. No cash demands were made nor is it  true that the villagers 
had to give cooking oil and chickens as compensation  and punishment. 
The inquiries into the matter show that the SHRF accusations  are 
unfounded and entirely false. 

Allegation 

27. According to this allegation, on 9-9-2000 the Mon Hpyat Township  
authorities are said to have extorted K 30,000 each from Wan Ngern and 
Kaw Pa  Law villages in Lang Saat village tract. The reason given was 
that these two  villages had failed to heed the order issued by the Mong 
Hpyat Township  authorities for villagers of  Laang Sat and Mong Tin 
village-tracts to march  in columns to greet the Regional Commander when 
he came on an operational  tour of his command. The villagers of Wan 
Ngern and Kaw Pa Lao villages of  Lang Saat village tract had not turned 
out to greet the regional commander as  instructed, so they were obliged 
to pay Kyat 30,000 each for their failure.  The villagers were said to 
have pleaded that it was very difficult for them  to collect such a 
large sum of money but it was of no avail. So fearing  severe punishment 
in retribution they had with great difficulty collected the  required 
sum of money, which was paid to the authorities on 9-9-2000. On  receipt 
of the money, the authorities are supposed to have warned the  villagers 
that they had got off  lightly this time, but that next time they  would 
have to pay a sum of money many times larger. 

Fact 

28. In the Mon Hpyat Region no villagers have ever been summoned to  
greet the regional commander on his operational tour. Such an order is  
contrary to military practice and tradition especially in an operational 
area  of command. However inquiries were made into the matter and it was 
found that  the township authorities had not made any such arrangement 
for greeting the  regional commander and that they had neither mad any 
demands of cash from any  one. This is nothing but a wild accusation 
made by the SHRH.  
Allegation 

29. It is said that according to the SHRF report, that on 9-8-2000 a  
patrol led by one Capt. Maung Hpwe with five members of  the No.224 
Myanmar  Regiment extorted money from villagers of Mong Lan 
village-tract in  Kyaingtong Township. The villagers, that afternoon had 
returned after making  some purchases in town when this patrol stopped 
them at the head of  Yan  Khaik village and said they were collecting 
revenue, and took K 300 from each  villager by force. Likewise, 
villagers from Wan Sang, Wan Oi, Wan Wo, Wan  Zaai, Wan Loi and Wan Nguk 
of  Mong Lan village tract were stopped on their  way back from market 
in town at the same spot and each was forced to pay a  sum of K 300 
each. 

Fact 

30. As stated earlier, No.224 Myanmar Regiment does not exist in  
Kyaingtong. There is only the No.244 Myanmar Regiment. There is a  
village-tract by the name of Mong Lan village tract, which has Wan San, 
Wan  Yi, Wan Kyaing, Wan Hoi and Wan Nok villages within its 
jurisdiction. When  villagers from this village tract come marketing to 
Kyaingtong they have to  make a detour of the Kyaingtong Airport. But 
some villagers, not wishing to  make a detour, often trespass and cut 
across the airfield. The military  airport security guards often have to 
shout warnings to these villagers, as  there is much danger, especially 
in times of take-off and landing of  aircraft. They have also had to be 
warned that the airport is a secure area,  which is off-limits. This is 
what really occurred and the results of  inquiries into whether there 
have been cases of extortion have all turned out  negative. No one has 
ever extorted money from these villagers nor have they  ever been fined. 


This allegation and all the rest are trumped-up charges made by the  
SHRF with no foundation at all. 


Translated by Daw Kyi Kyi Hla 
(Myanmar Perspectives) 





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