All quiet on
BANGKOK: The Thai-Myanmar border was quiet yesterday following heavy fighting between junta troops and the guerilla group behind the Ratchaburi hospital siege in Thailand.Thai military sources along the border and witnesses said there was no sign that fighting between junta troops and God's Army rebels on the Myanmar side of the border had flared again.
More than a thousand villagers had sought shelter at a temple on the Thai side because of the fighting on Thursday.
Sources close to God's Army said during the week that the group's base near the village of Kamaplaw had been overrun by Myanmar troops.
The group's 12-year-old twin leaders were reported missing.
Myanmar on Friday denied any significant offensives were taking place around Kamaplaw.
Thai intelligence sources said, however, that three Myanmar battalions had been deployed to flush out the rebels.
Ten God's Army and allied Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors guerillas were killed last Tuesday when Thai special forces stormed the hospital in Ratchaburi after a 24-hour siege.
Myanmar army troops are reported to have been bombarding the Kamaplaw base for days. Rebels who seized the hospital early on Monday claimed Thai forces had also been shelling the camp.
God's Army is an ethnic Karen rebel group and, before the siege, was thought to number around 200 soldiers. Agence France-Presse
Security sweep nets 1500 illegal migrants
Conference venue off-limits to protests
Wassayos Ngamkham
| A policeman leads suspected illegal
immigrants, tethered to a rope, after their arrest yesterday at the start
of a major operation to ensure the safety of delegates to next month's
10th Unctad meeting in Bangkok. - Tawatchai Kemgumnerd |
Pol Lt-Gen Wannarat Kocharak, the city police chief, said the round-up would continue.
Security units needed to ensure the total safety of the 4,000-5,000 international leaders and participants who would attend the 10th Unctad meeting.
Pressure on illegal migrants has been stepped up after 10 members of the anti-Rangoon Karen group God's Army seized Ratchaburi regional hospital and held more than 500 patients and staff hostage for 22 hours last week.
Burmese, Laotians and Cambodians made up 80% of the 1,491 people arrested yesterday, he said. Chinese, Pakistanis, Russians and Portuguese made up the rest.
Most of the illegal immigrants made their living by begging, by running brothels or by stealing, Pol Lt-Gen Wannarat said.
Pol Maj-Gen Tawatchai Promprasit, deputy city chief, said the Special Branch was assisting with the provision of intelligence information, to prevent any untoward incidents during the trade meeting.
A security blanket had already been thrown around the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, the venue of the Feb 9-19 meeting. Cars and public vehicles had been randomly stopped and searched for weapons for the past week on roads leading to Bangkok.
Checkpoints would operate at the Rama IV-Ratchadapisek intersection at Klong Toey and at Asoke intersection on Sukhumvit road around the clock during the meeting. Vehicles passing the convention centre would be carefully checked.
The venue would be strictly off-limits to all protest groups during the meeting, to prevent any disruption.
Any pressure groups wishing to state their causes during the meeting could do so at the King Rama VI plaza, in front of Lumpini Park, but would not be allowed to move any closer.
Three companies of anti-riot police would be stationed at Lumpini Park, the Pre-Cadet School and the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly headquarters, ready to move into action if the situation required it.
Pol Lt-Gen Yothin Matthayomnant, the Special Branch commissioner, said he anticipated rallies by non-governmental organisations but he did not expect any unrest.
"I am confident that the police will be able to ensure that the meeting goes ahead smoothly and without disruption," he said. The Special Branch has been continually in contact with intelligence and security agencies to update its information on possible trouble makers.
Police have warned that tough legal action would be taken against any person who tried to disrupt the meeting.
Activities which could lead to unrest such as road blockades or the taking over of sidewalks for public demonstrations would not be tolerated, said Pol Gen Sant Sarutanont, deputy national police chief.
About 6,000 police will be on security duties during the conference.
Bangkok post - Jan 30, 2000
Editorial
The dangers of ignoring terror
Twice in a month, international terrorism has
struck in Asia. Last month, Kashmiri separatists hijacked an Indian Airlines
flight, killed a passenger and held India to ransom. Last week, Burmese and
Karen rebels terrorised a provincial hospital in Ratchaburi. There are no known
links between the two groups of terrorists. But they are similar in all
important ways. Most importantly, they are not subject to reason nor national
laws. Thais have been thanking their luck and a prepared army for what can only be
called a happy ending to the hospital seizure. While killing the 10 rebels was a
highly serious matter, the successful freeing of all hostages, unharmed, must be
applauded. The terrorists were replaying their seizure of the Burmese embassy
last year-but on a greater scale, against far more innocent civilians. Taking a
building filled with sick people and healers hostage was indefensible. When the
terrorists refused an offer to surrender, their fate was rightly sealed. The hospital attack was planned and carried out by the same people who seized
the Burmese embassy. Our peaceful end to that dangerous and violent siege went
unappreciated by the rebels. In fact, winning both international publicity and
their release merely emboldened them. At Ratchaburi, they returned to get more.
For one man, it was his third flaunting of Thai law and sensibility. India now faces the consequences of the Indian Airlines hijacking. That
week-long event, from Christmas to New Year, resulted in one passenger killed, a
jetliner full of innocent people traumatised, and New Delhi forced to give in to
violent blackmail. The poor handling of the hijacking and the capitulation of
the Indian government will come back to bite that country later. Like Thailand, India dealt with the hijackers in a composed manner. New Delhi
ended the standoff in Afghanistan by releasing one of the world's most prominent
terrorists. Maulvi Masood Azhar, as soon as he was released by the Indians,
spoke of how it was necessary to continue "the jihad," the holy war, against
India and America. India certainly regrets its decision to release the Kashmir
separatist leader-even while it is relieved at the release of the hostages. It is clear that improved international cooperation is a prime requirement to
push back the terrorists. Burma and Pakistan have failed to achieve basic
expectations in the matter. After Thai officials saved the lives of dozens of
hiding Burmese by allowing the terrorists to go free, Rangoon actually cut back
diplomatic, border and economic cooperation. Pakistan has stubbornly refused to
pursue or even to acknowledge the hijacking gang-even though Islamabad is known
to have helped to train and equip the separatists in the past. Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh pointed out last week that South
Asia-India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in particular-is the world's
biggest breeding ground for violence. In his colourful words, the area has
become "the single largest terrorist gene-pool in the world." Yet, in the
hijacking and in other recent terrorist acts such as bombings, the cooperation
between India and Pakistan has been negligible. This is an issue on which governments around the world can agree on. Pakistan
cannot afford to be seen to be soft on terror. The military dictatorship has
criticised India's handling of the hijacking, but has offered no helping
hand. The increasingly open borders of the world provide undoubted benefits in
travel and tourism, trade and increasing wealth for many. They also provide opportunity for violent gangs and groups who seek to
promote their causes or themselves by putting innocent civilians at risk. No
nation can defeat terrorism alone. Cross-border threats can only be countered by
cooperation among governments.
Burmese army retreat before Karen rebels
SUAN PHUNG -- Ethnic Karen rebels held their ground, forcing Burmese government troops to retreat after a second round of all-out offensives that failed to penetrate a number of ethnic Karen rebel base camps along the Thai-Burmese border, army and rebel sources said yesterday.
An official from the Karen National Union involved in the fighting in the area opposite Ratchaburi's Suan Phung district said the Burmese government troops may have ran out of steam. They were seen pulling back to regroup to their base camp about 25 kilometres away from the border.
However, the three battalions were being replaced simultaneously and fighting could pick up again in the coming days.
Heavy fighting between the government troops and the Karen rebels, including the Karen National Union and their splinter group, the God's Army, erupted about two weeks ago, forcing about 1300 Karen villagers to flee the area into Thailand's Suan Phung district.
The Karen fighters are joined by the self-styled Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors who were responsible for the takeover of the Burmese Embassy last year, as well as the hospital siege in Ratchaburi.
A senior Thai army officer said the rebels had inflicted a heavy blow against the Burmese government troops with their guerrilla tactics in the thick jungle and rugged mountains.
Artillery sound could be heard throughout the night by Thai villagers living along the border area, while eye witnesses said Thai troops also fired 60mm mortar shells into the Karen rebels' area.
By yesterday afternoon, fighting had pretty much died down but local villagers were taking extra precautions by building bunkers in case fighting spilled over into the Thai side of the border.
Burmese dissident groups said the shelling by the Thai Army's Ninth Infantry Division about 10 days ago had inflicted heavy casualties against the rebels, forcing the radical student group to take over a hospital in Ratchaburi in what appeared to be a desperate measure to get the Thai military to stop attacking them.
The group claimed that about 200 Karen villagers have died from the shelling by the Thai troops.
The displaced Karens are being kept at Huay Khok Moo, just south of Suan Phung district, while the 300 who crossed over on Friday are stranded at Huay Sud pass. Journalists are denied permission to enter both areas by the military.
BY PONGSAK BAI-NGERN
The Nation
........................
Academics fear rise of intolerance
AS euphoric glow over the ''successful'' storming of the Ratchaburi Hospital to rescue hostages fades it became clear that not everyone is happy about how the episode ended. Two Chulalongkorn academics were alarmed about the role of the media as well as the public mood.
''The media played a role in fanning the public's [hatred] instead of helping people understand the cause of the siege,'' Assoc Prof Surichai Wun'gaew of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Political Science said.
''The problem along the border is much more complex than what has been portrayed by the media. The siege was a reflection of the desperation of a group of people.''
Surichai said issues like drugs, illegal migrant labour and border conflicts tend to be conveniently simplified into a black or white dichotomy by both the media and the public. This, he believed, will do no service to the maturity of Thai society.
''I can only partly understand this brutal handling,'' he said, referring to the death all 10 rebels and some witness accounts that some, if not the majority of the rebels or ''terrorists'', were summarily executed after they had turned themselves in.
Supaporn Phokaew, lecturer of mass communication at Chulalongkorn, shares the same concern. ''[The Thai media] played with public opinion, especially the broadcast media.''
The popular call-in jor sor 100 radio station was cited as an example. Supaporn accused the station of having a preconception about how the siege ought to be handled and for trying to lay down foundations to make the authorities' killings acceptable in the public's eyes.
''They played with public's emotions and many lost their judgements,'' Supaporn said. ''Some information that did not fall into their preconceived plot [that the rebels were mere terrorists and that they all deserved to be killed, and none were summarily executed after they had given themselves up] has been ignored.''
Supaporn said callers who had opposing views or information were rushed to finish their talk and their views were brushed aside. ''It's wrong for the rebels to have targeted a hospital. But we don't need to have only one preconceived way of reacting to it.''
Hatred among Thais toward some ethnic groups or foreigners is growing, warned Surichai. ''This stems from the tendency to generalise and stereotype ethnic groups. ''Through the media, we have promoted racism,'' he said, adding that ''the end result is that we see things in black and white and ignore the grey''.
Surichai, who has been active in making students and the public more empathetic to the marginalised ethnic minorities, said as a result of the siege, the Karen and Burmese students have now been vilified even though thousands of them may not have supported the siege.
''What was presented was that these ungrateful Karens deserved it. But what kind of 'interest' exists along the border? Didn't the Burmese military junta rely on the fact that they are now part of Asean in seeking help to eradicate their enemies?''
Beside the controversial role of the media, the two academics are also concerned about the euphoric mood of the public. It seems that many felt it was appropriate that all 10 terrorists were killed.
''The public sentiment ought to be one that value justice and peace,'' Supaporn said. ''For anyone to suggest that this is a happy ending is to set a wrong precedent. Hyper nationalism tends to lead toward violence.''
Supaporn warn the public to not become ''infatuated'' about hyper nationalism. ''It tends to lessen our ability to judge and turn us into easy prey for mental manipulations. Those with a different view are often branded as unpatriotic. This kind of patriotism is leading us to nowhere.''
The mass communications lecturer said problems can be overcome if the society holds dear to the virtue of truth more than it does today. ''Have we got a clear picture as to what took place [before and during the raid]? What do we know about those [Karens] wounded and trapped along the border? If summary executions did really take place, then we can not just ignore and rest in peace.''
Supaporn said it's not enough for the media to take the government words as truth.
And no matter what, Supaporn believes that violence can never be justified and would only lead to more violence.
''It's wrong for people to applaud violence. This reminded me of the Oct 6, [1976] incident,'' she said referring to the shameful chapter in Thai history when self-proclaimed civilian patriots and police officers lynched and killed a number suspected communists and leftist students in the heart of Bangkok in broad daylight.
For Surichai, he hopes the public will ask themselves as to what extent the government and its people were part of the cause of the crisis. The lecturer was referring to the constructive engagement policy toward the Burmese military junta and the general ignorance of the public on the plight of the various ethnic minorities.
''The hospital siege did not occur out of nowhere. I hope our society, which claims to be civilised, would adhere to certain principles in solving crisis and not resort to violence,'' the academic said.
By Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation
The Nation - Jan 30, 2000
Headlines
Ethnic Karen get short end of stick
THE recent hostage situation in Ratchaburi begs the question as to why authorities, in particular the First Army Region, was quick to point a finger at a rag-tag army of ethnic Karen rebels.
In fact the only person officially identified so far was a Burmese student who was part of a gang that stormed the Burmese Embassy last year.
Just hours after ten armed men took control of the Ratchaburi Hospital, taking hundreds of patients and medical staff hostage at gunpoint, commander of the First Army Region Lt Gen Thaweep Suwanasingha was quick to point his finger at the Karen rebels who call themselves God's Army. This band is a splinter group from the Karen National Union (KNU) and led by 12-year-old twin brothers said to have miraculous powers.
Amid the chaos and commotion from the hospital take-over, few bothered to second-guess the general or ask why the 10 young men did what they did.
Soon afterwards, just about every sector of society went berserk with the God's Army -- from outright condemnation to misleading articles with outrageous headlines.
But why was Thaweep quick to demonise the God's Army who, according to those who have come to know them in the past years, has no reason whatsoever to pick a fight with the Thais?
Border observers and local residents, including aid workers and Burmese dissidents, pointed to a number of social development projects that have been implemented in recent years, including road construction projects, cross-border trade and even possible logging concessions. (All these would link Thailand's lower central region to the southern region of Burma's Karen states.) One major obstacle in the way is the Karen rebels, including small pockets of KNU troops.
The God's Army came into being shortly after Burmese government troops overran the KNU's 4th Brigade in the area in 1997. A bunch of disgruntled Karen villagers rallied under twins Johnny and Luther Htoo and took up arms.
Local villagers and aid workers who know the Htoo twins said they are just small boys who like to climb trees and play with dogs. The notion that these two kids are born with miraculous power comes from a Karen prophecy that twin boys would be born and that they would help their people in the fight against the Burmese dictators.
Local Karen villagers often tell stories of how the twins are always victorious in battles against the Burmese troops. One story has it that a soldier, out on patrol with the twins one day, stepped on a land-mine but did not detonate it, thus reinforcing the conviction that the two boys have special powers.
But miraculous power or not, the twins and the Karen villagers were rather helpless when battalions of Burmese soldiers, with the help of the First Army Region's 9th Infantry Division, bombarded Kamarplaw and other God's Army positions with mortars for three straight days. More than 1,000 villagers fled their homes and crossed the border into Thai territory to seek refuge in Huay Khok Moo in Suan Phung district.
Thaweep, when asked why the First Army Region and the Burmese army were ganging up to bombard Karen positions, he said he was merely defending the nation's sovereignty. The answer did not hold water. Besides, more and more officials are now admitting that the hostage takers were not ethnic Karen but Burmese.
National Security Agency chief Phummarat Thaksadipong said on Friday that eight out of the ten gunmen have been identified. And from the eight, five or six are Burmese dissidents. The only name to be officially identified was Peda, also known as Preeda, one of the gunmen from the self-styled Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors who stormed the Burmese Embassy last year.
Citing official reports detailing the negotiations between the hostage takers in Ratchaburi and the authorities, a senior intelligence official told The Nation that the armed men even said they were not Karen but Burmese. They had also told negotiators that one of the reasons for their action was to stop the First Army Region from shelling Karen villages.
The armed militants told the only journalist given permission to enter the hospital during the siege that about 200 innocent villagers had been killed by mortar bombs fired by the (Thai) Army.
The official added that the militants from the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors were indebted to the Karen for allowing them to take refuge in their territory when nobody else would take them in. But the radical student group had brought nothing but misery to the Karen villagers in the area ever since they left refugee camps in Thailand and relocated in Kamarplaw.
The hospital siege had attracted a bad press, as well as a vengeful Thai Army which felt it have been humiliated twice by the band for failing to detect its foray into the country.
Last November, in what appeared to be a desperate move by the Thai Army to force the Karen in Kamarplaw to hand over the five Burmese student rebels, about 200 Karen villagers living in the outskirts of Suan Phung were forced out of their homes. They were sent to nearby Kanchanaburi province and charged with illegal entry by the immigration police, who released them on the Thai-Burmese border a week later.
They were forced to leave behind their children, who are now being looked after by local Karen and Thai villagers in Takholang village in Suan Phung.
According to local villagers, the 200 Karen are now in Kamarplaw. Though not too far from Suan Phung, they are indeed a world apart from their offspring.
And with the ongoing all-out offensive by the Burmese military junta, together with the help from Thai troops, the fate of these silent victims is definitely uncertain.
BY Don Pathan
The Nation
.........................
PM sets up security centre
IN the wake of the Ratchaburi Hospital take-over, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has ordered an establishment of an ad hoc centre to handle security during the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) next month, the premier's security adviser Prasong Soonsiri said yesterday.
The centre will be manned by the National Security Council. It will co-ordinate security measures to be provided by the various law enforcement agencies as well as liaise with related government agencies in other countries, particularly the United States, Western European nations, Israel and the Middle East, Prasong said.
''The hospital event has made officials review weakness, if any, concerning security procedures,'' said the premier's security adviser during a forum on security preparation for the Unctad meeting.
Chuan, meanwhile, said that the government must be prepared for any problems. The idea of setting up the ad hoc security centre was planned well before the hospital take-over incident, he said.
''We cannot afford complacency since some countries have conflicts among themselves. That's why we have to take special security measures for their representatives,'' Chuan said, but declined to elaborate.
In light of the series of bomb threats in Ratchaburi province during the past few days, the premier said officials could not simply ignore the threats, despite knowing that they were a hoax.
Chuan yesterday performed a merit-making ceremony by giving things to Buddhist monks at the Panan Choeng Temple in Ayuttaya before presiding over the meeting of the 17th Chamber of Commerce meeting there.
When asked for whom he intended to give the merit, Chuan stated: ''To all the 10 gunmen.''
Chuan said later that when he consulted senior monks on the merit-making, the monks supported him in performing the ceremony as a follower of Buddhism.
Regarding the criticism about the authorities' handling of the hospital take-over, which resulted in the death of the 10 gunmen, Prasong asked for fairness for the officials whom, he said, had used all available means including negotiations, which failed.
''We must not view the event with biased minds, otherwise bandits will become heroes and authorities the villains,'' he said. ''No one wants to kill another, even the premier himself said, 'Who acts late, dies'.''
It is unacceptable, he said, that while this group demanded justice in Burma, they themselves ''violated the human rights'' of Thai patients who were already suffering from sickness.
He blamed the gunmen for being ''ungrateful'' for the ''mercy'' that the government had given them in the past, including shelter, food and medical treatment.
---------------------------
Renovations brought forward
RATCHABURI -- The renovation of the 738-bed Ratchaburi regional hospital, 90 kilometres south of Bangkok, came much earlier than initially planned and more money is needed to cover the damage after the disastrous invasion by the 10 gunmen who were shot dead by commandos.
In most need of restoration is the administrative building used as a base by the armed militants and where 168 people were held hostage, and the adjacent building where most of the gunmen lost their lives last week.
The administrative building has in the past been too crowded. With nearly 1,000 outpatients per day, reconstruction plans were already under way which have been accelerated as a consequence of the siege.
The adjacent Chao Fa Mahachakri building, which is under reconstruction, was in need of a huge clean-up. Some of the militants lost their lives on the second floor, which will be used for operating theatres.
''We need to take out the surface of the floor because the bloodstains were too deeply absorbed into its texture,'' said a hospital maid, busily engaged in cleaning up the remaining mess.
A Catholic priest and Buddhist monk were at the hospital for two days and held a ceremony to give moral support to officials and patients and to pray for the spirits of the dead.
Staffed with 70 doctors, most of whom are specialists in treating serious diseases, the hospital, which was chosen as the most outstanding regional hospital in 1992, serves as the ''regional'' hospital for nearby provinces, where patients with severe conditions would be referred. The opposite was true last Monday,
By Thursday the hospital seemed to be back to normal with hundreds of patients waiting for their turn to be called to be examined by their doctors. But for some, things will not be the same.
''I asked my husband to accompany me to the hospital today,'' said a woman in her 50s waiting for her turn in the outpatient wards.
But the seemingly normal atmosphere was suddenly disrupted when someone shouted ''bombs'' and everyone ran for cover. The bomb turned out to be leftover ammunition.
Hospital officials were not in the mood to work.
''I have no desire to work today. I don't know whether another group of gunmen will come back,'' said one hospital official who asked not to be named.
Only the hospital director is authorised to talk about the incident. Apparently, the reason is to avoid different views being given which may clash with those of administrative officials, and may be considered detrimental to the hospital.
Damage after the siege was estimated to be nearly Bt3 million. What is more difficult to assess is to calculate the psychological damage.
Of the 168 people held hostage, 98 were outpatients, 25 were follow-up patients, nine hospital officials, 23 relatives of patients and 13 people who were taken to the hospital on the same bus as the 10 gunmen.
A team of psychiatrists from the Mental Health Centre, Region 4, are to meet with hospital psychiatrists and psychologists tomorrow to discuss the follow-up counselling of the 168 hostages and to engage them in a mental therapy programme which normally lasts from one to three months.
''In desperate situations like this, where there were deaths, violence and the use of heavy weapons normally used in war and in a hospital, which is considered a safe place, people who experienced this kind of incident will almost certainly be suffering from post-trauma disorder,'' said Dr Thanu Chartrananond, deputy director general of the Public Health Ministry's Mental Health Department.
Symptoms usually found related with post-trauma disorder were anxiety, depression, insomnia and paranoia. Those suffering from some diseases may see a worsening of their symptoms after experiencing this kind of incident. How patients cope with the disorder depends on each individual, the doctor explained.
''The 168 people who were held hostage will be encouraged to share their experience with therapists and among themselves,'' said Dr Suparat Ekassavin, ''the sooner the therapy begins, the better the result and give more opportunity to involve all the people who went through such trauma.''
Hospital director Mongkol Jitwattanakorn rejected the idea of having armed hospital guards to prevent a similar incident.
''Our place is to provide medical care to patients. Not to have guards walking around carrying guns,'' he insisted.
BY Mukdawan Sakboon
The Nation
Editorial & Opinion
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: Govt needs to nurture Burmese exiles
Thailand is in danger of throwing out the baby with the bath water in dealing with the Burmese students in exile. That is because the Chuan government is inclined to give in to the belief in some quarters that they are the source of all evil.
In the aftermath of the hospital siege in Ratchaburi, the security apparatus is up in arms and in a mood to exact more revenge. Interviews and comments by Thai leaders over the past week have helped very little in understanding the complexity of the issues and the dilemma faced by the democracy-loving students.
These exiled students will not just go away as one would wish. If Thailand continues to give a knee-jerk response -- complete with hyped xenophobia and the use of drastic measures -- then the Rangoon junta leaders will have the last laugh at a problem that they created. Thailand has so far taken all the beatings.
So when National Security Council secretary-general Kajadpai Burusupat said the Maneeloy Holding Centre would be shut down by the end of the year, he was being more than unrealistic. Apparently, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has a better assessment. He said it was impossible to repatriate all the remaining students to third countries by December.
Kajadpai was hopeful because major Western countries have pledged to increase their intakes of the students. The US has agreed to admit 600 people this year. Quite frankly, these pledges must be treated with a grain of salt until the actual repatriations take place. If the third countries had practised what they preached long ago, the students probably would not have had to suffer as they are today. They should be living a better life with a better education right now.
Since the Burmese military crackdown in 1988, thousands of students have fled to Thailand. Some managed to go further abroad while others either chose to stay for various reasons or could not find any third country to accept them. At the moment about half of the estimated 3,000 exiled students in Thailand live inside Maneeloy. The rest are unaccounted for.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has labelled 800 students as persons of concern under its protection with financial assistance. It has been able to persuade at least 500 of them who used to live in Bangkok and surrounding areas to return to Maneeloy with the remaining 300 students still in hiding. Together with 900 unregistered students, the number of exiles in Bangkok is put at 1,200 students.
The All Burmese Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), the main organisation of exiled students, has said that its 700 members want to stay in Thailand and wait to return to Burma to fight for democracy and the end of military rule.
The Immigration Office and police have already started to crack down on the students and have arrested 20 to 30 of them. They are now being detained in Bang Khen. The raid will intensify in coming weeks which can easily lead to abuses and violations of human rights.
Chuan has said the Thai government feels sympathy for them. He said it will not desert them and will take care of them. Though it was a good assurance, his pledge is not much good without backing by tangible actions.
It is an open secret that throughout their stay here, the students have been the favourite whipping boys of the Thai authorities, be it the Immigration Office, police or NSC policy makers. Frequently, they have been helpless pawns in domestic political games, particularly those related to Thai-Burmese relations.
Issues related to these ties have featured in parliamentary debates and political circles in the past decade more than other bilateral relations. It is mainly due to the sheer size of the vested interests and influence of the personalities involved. Doubtless, the treatment of the exiled students has been very erratic and closely linked to the political pulse of the day. There was a time when Thai security units were acting like search agencies in going after key student leaders, just to please the Burmese junta leaders.
However the government now needs to take a new approach towards the students. Instead of treating them as trouble makers, they should be given full opportunity to become a constructive force while residing here. Treat them like enemies, and sure enough they will become just that.
First and foremost, the government needs to persuade the 1,200 students to report to the authorities with UNHCR assistance. Certainly, in the initial period, they will probably not trust Thai officials since some have been double-crossed before. Sufficient assurance and incentives must be given to encourage them to come forward.
After years of reluctance, Thailand must be forthcoming in assisting these exiles. The past half-baked efforts and half-hearted approach need to be reviewed as it has not only brought mistrust but also allowed Burma to manipulate both Thai officials and the students to no one's benefit except Rangoon's.
There were good lessons to be learnt from the country's handling of the refugee crisis in the 1970s-80s. It allowed in several hundred thousand Vietnamese boat people and Cambodian refugees, but few left the country with fond memories. Even fewer were grateful for Thai hospitality because there were mistreated.
This unfortunate experience can be avoided altogether with the Burmese students, who are still in their prime. It is bad enough for them to have wasted over a decade of their young lives waiting inside Thailand. They are still the future of Burma -- not a lost generation as many would have us believe. Like it or not, if they choose to stay, the government has to ensure that they are fruitful and friendly -- and, of course, law-abiding -- citizens.
The students are not without blame. The lack of unity, competing personalities and an unclear direction have all but weakened their movement as a whole. But as young as they are and with the horrible experiences they have been put through, they should still have the stamina and determination to uphold their democratic spirit -- something Thailand must help to nurture.
Thailand must strip its metaphysical pretensions. Being an emerging democracy and as open as it is today, we must face the consequences, especially when it comes to deciding on a secure environment for the exiled students who choose to stay.
BY KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN
The Nation