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                 Narcotic Drugs and the Burmese Generals

Kanbawza Win
September 5, 2001

Since the Taliban has eliminated opium, Burma is able to retain the
title of The Greatest Heroin Producing Country of the World. According
to US State Department figures, opium poppy cultivation covers 154,000
hectares and yields 2,365 metric tons of opium gum-- enough to produce
230 tons of heroin to satisfy the North American heroin market. The drug
trade in Shan State, Burma's eastern part, continues virtually unchecked
and the Burmese Generals continue to ignore the drug warlords?
trafficking groups e.g. the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Kokang
militia, with whom they have negotiated cease-fires. They did not even
know when the seven Thai narcotics officials were kidnapped by the
UWSA.  One thing is vividly clear: the Burmese Generals have not the
will, the ability nor the resources to take effective action to suppress
heroin. All they can do is to lobby for more funds from the
international community under the pretext of eradicating the opium crop,
which, once in their hands, can be diverted for the army?s use.

Most of the opium cultivation, traditionally in the mountainous regions
of the Shan plateau (eastern Burma), has been expanding into areas under
the Burmese Generals? control: the west bank of the Salween river (which
could be called Burma's Red River) as well as in Chin state along the
western border with India (US satellite photo).  The Burmese army
officers posted in these remote areas visit rural villages, practically
encouraging the peasants to plant more opium with the excuse that it is
going to be used in traditional medicines and is the only way to pay
taxes, while to some remote isolate hamlets the military personnel
themselves deliver the poppy seeds and provide technical assistance
during the harvest time. Forced labour, now quite a common feature in
Burma, is not confined to public works, railway construction or
porterage for the army only but also in the forced narco agriculture.

?Silk Road of Drugs? recently published in the Bangkok Post clearly out
line the connection of drug trade with the Junta, Singapore, China and
the drug warlords. It points out that a deep seaport opened in June,
hailed as Burma?s economic development would not have been possible with
the blessings of the Burmese military government. China was only too
happy in moving these drug producing groups from its border. The seizing
of five million methaphetamine tablets destined to Singapore also points
out the Singapore connection.

Gentlemen of Myanmar

The peaceful entry of the Burmese army into Ho Mong, the headquarters of
the well-known drug lord Khun Hsa (better known as the Mong Tai Army)
in1996 year is authentic proof that the drug kingpin and the Burmese
generals are in the same boat. Furthermore, Khun Hsa has not only been
amnestied or rehabilitated but has been publicly honoured and the
Burmese media have lovingly referred to him as U Khun Hsa.  (The Burmese
prefix U, pronounced Oo, signifies a dignified person of a certain age
on a par with ruling Burmese Generals like U Ne Win.) Logic dictates
that a big drug lord obviously welcomes a smaller drug lord as a brother
into his legal fold.
How come the best-known figure of the heroin trade in the world and the
most wanted men in the United States have escaped criticism from any
regional or international body? The answer is simple. Constructive
Engagement, a term used by the Association of Southeast Asian Countries
(ASEAN), originally composed of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the
Philippines and Indonesia but now expanded to include Burma and the
Indo-Chinese countries. The regional authorities praise the Junta for
its superb diplomacy and economic gains. But what is surprising is that
the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP)  is cooperating with
Rangoon. Besides known smaller drug war lords such as Lin Ming-Xing of
the Eastern Shan State Army, Yang Mao-liang, Peng Chia-sheng and Liu
Go-shi of the Myanmar Democratic Alliance Army, Pao Yu-chiang, Li Tzu-ju
and Wei Hsuh-kang of the United Wa State Army and the likes who are all
former rebel drug war lords  of the Chinese origin have all become
leaders of the national races taking the honourable position  in the
drafting Burma's new constitution better known as the  National
Convention. Thus U S Secretary of State Mandeleine Albright comments,"
Drug traffickers who once spent their days leading mule trains down
jungle tracks are now leading lights in Burma's new market economy."

Ne Win, the Evil Genius

Every Burmese knew who was pulling the strings behind the Burmese
Generals: Ne Win, still the old strong man. Credit should also go to his
cohorts whose strict confidentiality and quick execution of
meticulously- planned operations caught the US intelligence by surprise.
One might recall that the very fact that New Year?s Day was chosen for
the surrender of Khun Has, with the US satellite and field agent
observers engrossed in their New Year celebrations. This prevented early
and strong US pressure to extradite Khun Hsa. It was only five days
later when the US embassy in Bangkok opened after the Christmas holidays
that Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs,
Winston Lord, issued a statement.  So Khun Hsa's position in Rangoon is
a fait accompli.

As a native Burmese, who had worked hand in glove with this evil genius,
we can imagine whose brilliant strategy this was. The great Burmese
helmsman has construed that the democracy movement led by Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi constitutes a far more serious threat than the ethnic groups
fighting for autonomy. If these two were successfully combined, it would
mean Ne Win days were numbered, and so to implement this divide-and-rule
policy, he has ordered the initiation of cease-fire agreements with most
of the freedom fighters and concentrated his energy on Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi's democracy movement. These cease-fire agreements have served as a
real catalyst in the rapid transformation of the relationship between
the Burmese Army and guerrilla movements engaged in the drug business.
Partnership has replaced armed confrontation; huge portions of territory
in Shan State, previously battle fields between the guerrillas and
Rangoon, have been turned into poppy fields to such an extent that
American and French satellite surveys have detected an explosion of
poppy cultivation hitherto unknown in areas directly controlled by
Rangoon.

Narco Dollars

The Thai border town of Mae Sai, linked by a bridge to the Burmese
sister town of Tachileik, boasts several banks that regularly and
systematically transfer huge amounts of money to anonymous bank accounts
in Singapore. Every flight to Tachileik from Rangoon and Mandalay brings
hordes of Burmese military officers clad in mufti with parcels of bank
notes. They walk across the bridge to the international banking network.
Commissions, protection and transportation costs are all handled by the
Military Intelligence Service, now known as the Directorate of Defence
Services Intelligence.  This is how the Burmese generals are able to
channel Burmese heroin revenue into secret funds and are able to equip
and expand the army twofold (the target is half a million men, at a cost
of more than $ 2.4 billion, with an official currency.) Singapore's
efficient banking system graciously accepts all these accounts, being
herself a major supplier of arms to the Burmese army.  Singapore has
also installed a high-tech Cyber Warfare spying centre for tapping
domestic phone, fax and e-mail lines on a country-wide basis.

Singapore Connection

Between private pockets of high ranking Burmese generals and their
relatives on one hand and defence spending on the other, it is very hard
to determine exactly where the narco dollars end, e.g. the private
ownership of Air Mandalay based in Singapore (Myanmar Airways is also
based in Singapore) -- the new holding has received loans from the
French bank to operate French/Italian made ATR aircraft. This particular
commercial operation, categorized as a state secret, conceals the number
and the identities of the true shareholders. This lack of transparency
in a country like Singapore, which claims to apply very strict anti-drug
laws with death penalties, and has executed hundreds of small-time drug
traffickers, seems paradoxical. The fact is that Singapore, a staunch
supporter of the Burmese Army and Burma's largest investor, has not
uncovered a single case of money laundering in the numerous financial
and co-operative operations.  Even as far back as 1992, the Far Eastern
Economic Review, demonstrated (suggested?) that the only substantial
source of hard currency for these genocidal generals is from the export
of heroin, raised many peoples? eyebrows.

Any person from Southeast Asia knows that the Singapore authorities at
the highest level are using the New York-based Morgan Guaranty Trust
Company, a subsidiary of J. P. Morgan, as a custodial operative in
engaging in joint ventures with one of the world's notorious drug war
lords and with the drug- backed military dictatorship of Burma. This has
been confirmed in corporate, government and legal documents from four
other countries and has been contended by high-ranking US narcotics and
government officials in private interviews. What more proof is wanted
when the de facto undisputed leader of Singapore himself has business
relations with the renowned heroin trafficker Lo Hse Han of Burma and
his business partner, Steven Law? Their operations in Burma, Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand and the United States are now the focus of an ongoing
US narcotics and money laundering investigation. No doubt part of their
deadly stuff has found its way to Canada.

Singapore co-operated with the Burmese embassy at Martin Drive in
sending back the Burmese dissidents (pro-democracy movement members) to
be persecuted in a much-publicized case in 1992 and gave their sons and
daughters to be married to the offspring of the Burmese drug war lords
(highlighted in the Burmese media was the marriage of the son of former
drug kingpin Lo Hse Hang to Ng Sor Hong of S'pore Janseng Road) under
the watchful eye of its arch leader Harry Lee (Lee Kwan Yew) has
demonstrated their Kiasu spirit of double standard.

US Policy

The American Government, torn between its own global moral
responsibility of advocating human rights and democracy in Third World
countries and the protection of American citizens from the alarming
danger of soaring illicit drug use and narcotic-related violence at
home, has not figured  out how to react even though it is the first
country to declare trade sanctions on Burma. The US Drug Enforcement
Administration, in its failure to understand in depth the Burmese
situation, has been increasingly calling for a softer approach to the
Burmese generals. This includes normal relations with Burma including
the reinstallation of the US ambassador to Rangoon where full diplomatic
relations would enable co-operation with the Burmese junta for the drug
menace. Republican Congressman Charles Rangel, in his speech to the
House Committee on International Relations and the subcommittee on Asia
and the Pacific has said, "Please extend the hand of co-operation and do
not use human rights as an excuse to sever relations that could cause
the stoppage of hundreds tons of heroin." Coupled with this is the
drastic switch of Australia and the European Union to a softer approach,
in spite of Leo Nicholas, Scandinavia's Honorary Consul, being tortured
to death.  This proved how business deals far override moral conscience.
The French, who used to meddle in Quebec's affairs, have openly
supported the Burmese Junta. The TOTAL oil company, partly owned by the
French government, is the leading European investor in Burma shoring up
millions of dollars into the coffers of the Burmese junta, who have used
it to suppress the pro-democracy movement. Perhaps the current French
administration construes that 'Liberty, Equality and Fraternity' are
confined to France only.

Even though we accept that business always supersedes moral obligation,
we would make an ardent and passionate appeal to the world to see from
another perspective. If we were to quote the US chief drug advisor and
policy- maker, Dr Lee Brown,  "The best way to serve both the US people
who are suffering under the drug trade and the Burmese people who are
suffering under the repressive regime is to side with the democratic
resistance in any way we can to overthrow the dictatorship and see that
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was honestly elected, is able to become the
leader of this country." Otherwise the biggest drug war lord, better
known by its ugly acronym SPDC, together with its retinue of drug war
lords, will simply laugh at the North American efforts, even as our
youths die of drugs in the city streets. Opium has not only sustained
them in power but also has been able to humble the mighty Uncle Sam who
dares to criticize them. The crux of the problem was that the Junta?s
had successfully used the double edge sword by making cease fire
agreements with the opium growing tribes. Not only has the drug trade
supplied them with unlimited source of financial supplies but was also
able to smash the ethnic and pro-democracy alliance with the Wa groups.
Until and unless strong action is implemented and the whole concept of
the Burmese government is changed, Burma will continue to provide the
bulk of the world's opium supply, for the SPDC?s rationale is that men
will come and men will go but the opium poppy will go on forever.


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<center><font color="#000099"><font size=+1>Narcotic Drugs and the Burmese
Generals</font></font></center>

<p><i><font color="#CC0000">Kanbawza Win</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#CC0000">September 5, 2001</font></i>
<p>Since the Taliban has eliminated opium, Burma is able to retain the
title of The Greatest Heroin Producing Country of the World. According
to US State Department figures, opium poppy cultivation covers 154,000
hectares and yields 2,365 metric tons of opium gum-- enough to produce
230 tons of heroin to satisfy the North American heroin market. The drug
trade in Shan State, Burma's eastern part, continues virtually unchecked
and the Burmese Generals continue to ignore the drug warlords? trafficking
groups e.g. the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Kokang militia, with
whom they have negotiated cease-fires. They did not even know when the
seven Thai narcotics officials were kidnapped by the UWSA.&nbsp; One thing
is vividly clear: the Burmese Generals have not the will, the ability nor
the resources to take effective action to suppress heroin. All they can
do is to lobby for more funds from the international community under the
pretext of eradicating the opium crop, which, once in their hands, can
be diverted for the army?s use.
<p>Most of the opium cultivation, traditionally in the mountainous regions
of the Shan plateau (eastern Burma), has been expanding into areas under
the Burmese Generals? control: the west bank of the Salween river (which
could be called Burma's Red River) as well as in Chin state along the western
border with India (US satellite photo).&nbsp; The Burmese army officers
posted in these remote areas visit rural villages, practically encouraging
the peasants to plant more opium with the excuse that it is going to be
used in traditional medicines and is the only way to pay taxes, while to
some remote isolate hamlets the military personnel themselves deliver the
poppy seeds and provide technical assistance during the harvest time. Forced
labour, now quite a common feature in Burma, is not confined to public
works, railway construction or porterage for the army only but also in
the forced narco agriculture.
<p>?Silk Road of Drugs? recently published in the Bangkok Post clearly
out line the connection of drug trade with the Junta, Singapore, China
and the drug warlords. It points out that a deep seaport opened in June,
hailed as Burma?s economic development would not have been possible with
the blessings of the Burmese military government. China was only too happy
in moving these drug producing groups from its border. The seizing of five
million methaphetamine tablets destined to Singapore also points out the
Singapore connection.
<p><b><i>Gentlemen of Myanmar</i></b>
<p>The peaceful entry of the Burmese army into Ho Mong, the headquarters
of the well-known drug lord Khun Hsa (better known as the Mong Tai Army)
in1996 year is authentic proof that the drug kingpin and the Burmese generals
are in the same boat. Furthermore, Khun Hsa has not only been amnestied
or rehabilitated but has been publicly honoured and the Burmese media have
lovingly referred to him as U Khun Hsa.&nbsp; (The Burmese prefix U, pronounced
Oo, signifies a dignified person of a certain age on a par with ruling
Burmese Generals like U Ne Win.) Logic dictates that a big drug lord obviously
welcomes a smaller drug lord as a brother into his legal fold.
<br>How come the best-known figure of the heroin trade in the world and
the most wanted men in the United States have escaped criticism from any
regional or international body? The answer is simple. Constructive Engagement,
a term used by the Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN), originally
composed of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia
but now expanded to include Burma and the Indo-Chinese countries. The regional
authorities praise the Junta for its superb diplomacy and economic gains.
But what is surprising is that the United Nations Drug Control Programme
(UNDCP)&nbsp; is cooperating with Rangoon. Besides known smaller drug war
lords such as Lin Ming-Xing of the Eastern Shan State Army, Yang Mao-liang,
Peng Chia-sheng and Liu Go-shi of the Myanmar Democratic Alliance Army,
Pao Yu-chiang, Li Tzu-ju and Wei Hsuh-kang of the United Wa State Army
and the likes who are all former rebel drug war lords&nbsp; of the Chinese
origin have all become leaders of the national races taking the honourable
position&nbsp; in the drafting Burma's new constitution better known as
the&nbsp; National Convention. Thus U S Secretary of State Mandeleine Albright
comments," Drug traffickers who once spent their days leading mule trains
down jungle tracks are now leading lights in Burma's new market economy."
<p><b><i>Ne Win, the Evil Genius</i></b>
<p>Every Burmese knew who was pulling the strings behind the Burmese Generals:
Ne Win, still the old strong man. Credit should also go to his cohorts
whose strict confidentiality and quick execution of meticulously- planned
operations caught the US intelligence by surprise. One might recall that
the very fact that New Year?s Day was chosen for the surrender of Khun
Has, with the US satellite and field agent observers engrossed in their
New Year celebrations. This prevented early and strong US pressure to extradite
Khun Hsa. It was only five days later when the US embassy in Bangkok opened
after the Christmas holidays that Assistant Secretary of State for East
Asian and Pacific Affairs, Winston Lord, issued a statement.&nbsp; So Khun
Hsa's position in Rangoon is a fait accompli.
<p>As a native Burmese, who had worked hand in glove with this evil genius,
we can imagine whose brilliant strategy this was. The great Burmese helmsman
has construed that the democracy movement led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi constitutes
a far more serious threat than the ethnic groups fighting for autonomy.
If these two were successfully combined, it would mean Ne Win days were
numbered, and so to implement this divide-and-rule policy, he has ordered
the initiation of cease-fire agreements with most of the freedom fighters
and concentrated his energy on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's democracy movement.
These cease-fire agreements have served as a real catalyst in the rapid
transformation of the relationship between the Burmese Army and guerrilla
movements engaged in the drug business. Partnership has replaced armed
confrontation; huge portions of territory in Shan State, previously battle
fields between the guerrillas and Rangoon, have been turned into poppy
fields to such an extent that American and French satellite surveys have
detected an explosion of poppy cultivation hitherto unknown in areas directly
controlled by Rangoon.
<p><b><i>Narco Dollars</i></b>
<p>The Thai border town of Mae Sai, linked by a bridge to the Burmese sister
town of Tachileik, boasts several banks that regularly and systematically
transfer huge amounts of money to anonymous bank accounts in Singapore.
Every flight to Tachileik from Rangoon and Mandalay brings hordes of Burmese
military officers clad in mufti with parcels of bank notes. They walk across
the bridge to the international banking network. Commissions, protection
and transportation costs are all handled by the Military Intelligence Service,
now known as the Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence.&nbsp; This
is how the Burmese generals are able to channel Burmese heroin revenue
into secret funds and are able to equip and expand the army twofold (the
target is half a million men, at a cost of more than $ 2.4 billion, with
an official currency.) Singapore's efficient banking system graciously
accepts all these accounts, being herself a major supplier of arms to the
Burmese army.&nbsp; Singapore has also installed a high-tech Cyber Warfare
spying centre for tapping domestic phone, fax and e-mail lines on a country-wide
basis.
<p><b><i>Singapore Connection</i></b>
<p>Between private pockets of high ranking Burmese generals and their relatives
on one hand and defence spending on the other, it is very hard to determine
exactly where the narco dollars end, e.g. the private ownership of Air
Mandalay based in Singapore (Myanmar Airways is also based in Singapore)
-- the new holding has received loans from the French bank to operate French/Italian
made ATR aircraft. This particular commercial operation, categorized as
a state secret, conceals the number and the identities of the true shareholders.
This lack of transparency in a country like Singapore, which claims to
apply very strict anti-drug laws with death penalties, and has executed
hundreds of small-time drug traffickers, seems paradoxical. The fact is
that Singapore, a staunch supporter of the Burmese Army and Burma's largest
investor, has not uncovered a single case of money laundering in the numerous
financial and co-operative operations.&nbsp; Even as far back as 1992,
the Far Eastern Economic Review, demonstrated (suggested?) that the only
substantial source of hard currency for these genocidal generals is from
the export of heroin, raised many peoples? eyebrows.
<p>Any person from Southeast Asia knows that the Singapore authorities
at the highest level are using the New York-based Morgan Guaranty Trust
Company, a subsidiary of J. P. Morgan, as a custodial operative in engaging
in joint ventures with one of the world's notorious drug war lords and
with the drug- backed military dictatorship of Burma. This has been confirmed
in corporate, government and legal documents from four other countries
and has been contended by high-ranking US narcotics and government officials
in private interviews. What more proof is wanted when the de facto undisputed
leader of Singapore himself has business relations with the renowned heroin
trafficker Lo Hse Han of Burma and his business partner, Steven Law? Their
operations in Burma, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the United States
are now the focus of an ongoing US narcotics and money laundering investigation.
No doubt part of their deadly stuff has found its way to Canada.
<p>Singapore co-operated with the Burmese embassy at Martin Drive in sending
back the Burmese dissidents (pro-democracy movement members) to be persecuted
in a much-publicized case in 1992 and gave their sons and daughters to
be married to the offspring of the Burmese drug war lords (highlighted
in the Burmese media was the marriage of the son of former drug kingpin
Lo Hse Hang to Ng Sor Hong of S'pore Janseng Road) under the watchful eye
of its arch leader Harry Lee (Lee Kwan Yew) has demonstrated their Kiasu
spirit of double standard.
<p><b><i>US Policy</i></b>
<p>The American Government, torn between its own global moral responsibility
of advocating human rights and democracy in Third World countries and the
protection of American citizens from the alarming danger of soaring illicit
drug use and narcotic-related violence at home, has not figured&nbsp; out
how to react even though it is the first country to declare trade sanctions
on Burma. The US Drug Enforcement Administration, in its failure to understand
in depth the Burmese situation, has been increasingly calling for a softer
approach to the Burmese generals. This includes normal relations with Burma
including the reinstallation of the US ambassador to Rangoon where full
diplomatic relations would enable co-operation with the Burmese junta for
the drug menace. Republican Congressman Charles Rangel, in his speech to
the House Committee on International Relations and the subcommittee on
Asia and the Pacific has said, "Please extend the hand of co-operation
and do not use human rights as an excuse to sever relations that could
cause the stoppage of hundreds tons of heroin." Coupled with this is the
drastic switch of Australia and the European Union to a softer approach,
in spite of Leo Nicholas, Scandinavia's Honorary Consul, being tortured
to death.&nbsp; This proved how business deals far override moral conscience.
The French, who used to meddle in Quebec's affairs, have openly supported
the Burmese Junta. The TOTAL oil company, partly owned by the French government,
is the leading European investor in Burma shoring up millions of dollars
into the coffers of the Burmese junta, who have used it to suppress the
pro-democracy movement. Perhaps the current French administration construes
that 'Liberty, Equality and Fraternity' are confined to France only.
<p>Even though we accept that business always supersedes moral obligation,
we would make an ardent and passionate appeal to the world to see from
another perspective. If we were to quote the US chief drug advisor and
policy- maker, Dr Lee Brown,&nbsp; "The best way to serve both the US people
who are suffering under the drug trade and the Burmese people who are suffering
under the repressive regime is to side with the democratic resistance in
any way we can to overthrow the dictatorship and see that Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, who was honestly elected, is able to become the leader of this
country." Otherwise the biggest drug war lord, better known by its ugly
acronym SPDC, together with its retinue of drug war lords, will simply
laugh at the North American efforts, even as our youths die of drugs in
the city streets. Opium has not only sustained them in power but also has
been able to humble the mighty Uncle Sam who dares to criticize them. The
crux of the problem was that the Junta?s had successfully used the double
edge sword by making cease fire agreements with the opium growing tribes.
Not only has the drug trade supplied them with unlimited source of financial
supplies but was also able to smash the ethnic and pro-democracy alliance
with the Wa groups. Until and unless strong action is implemented and the
whole concept of the Burmese government is changed, Burma will continue
to provide the bulk of the world's opium supply, for the SPDC?s rationale
is that men will come and men will go but the opium poppy will go on forever.
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