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The Nation - Jan 06, 2000
Headlines
Rebels missing on Burma I-Day
BURMA'S Independence Day this year was a non-spectacular event here as the familiar protesters -- exiled Burmese democracy activists who have been desperately using Thailand in recent times as their outpost for anti-Rangoon activities -- failed to show up in front of the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok on Monday. Unlike their previous protests, this year's campaign in Thailand to protest the present and ever-repressive regime on the eve of the 52nd anniversary of the country's independence was conducted only through fax and the Internet. Exiled Burmese students' activities in Thailand have been stifled by Thai security enforcers to prevent the recurrence of incidents like the siege of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok carried out in October by five Burmese students. Since then, Thai authorities have restricted their movements and beefed up security around camps along the Thai-Burmese border housing ten of thousands Burmese refugees, in particular the Maneeloy holding centre which has around 1,200 students. Most of the camp residents are students who were involved in the 1988 pro-democracy protests in Bur, which nearly overthrew more than two decades of military rule. Some 36 local police have been deployed 24-hours-a-day on the camp perimeter, while 54 security officers from the Interior Ministry are keeping peace inside the camp. Police Maj Gen Sawaek Wattanakij, commander of Special Branch's division 2, said about 60 police officers -- both uniformed and plainclothes -- from his unit were deployed in front of the embassy, in response to reports that about 30 students had sneaked out of the camp some weeks ago to stage a protest. Sawaek said another 40 officers from the Metropolitan police were also mobilised in the area to back up his team. So far he said there was no report of any incidents. No protests were reported from other areas around Thailand yesterday. However, Mae Hong Son authorities arrested a Burmese refugee on Tuesday who was planning to join the protest against Rangoon inside the Shan State Army's control areas at Loi Kwaw province, 30 kilometres south-west of the province. In the latest incident, local police said a young man, about five-and-a-half-feet-tall and suspected to be a Burmese student sneaking out of the Maneeloy camp was found dead in the bush near a highway in Samut Songkram's Amphawa district. At least 20 exiled students were arrested in Bangkok, over the weekend, after they sneaked out from the refugee camp, allegedly to hold a political demonstration. Police Col Pornchai Benjathikul, the superintendent of Bhak Thor Police Station in Ratchaburi province said the arrested students, now under investigation at a detention centre in Bangkok, could face charges of illegal entry into Thailand and then face deportation, he said. In a statement on Monday, the exiled 'government' of Burma attacked the Burmese junta's two-decade regime for being harsher than British colonial rule. The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) said the country had been in a state of ''civil war'' since its independence from colonial rule on Jan 4, 1948, and called for talks with the military. The Nation |