SCMP-Soldiers flee after shooting b

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Subject: SCMP-Soldiers flee after shooting bullies

Saturday  February 20  1999
Burma

Soldiers flee after shooting bullies

WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok
Three Burmese soldiers killed their sergeant-major and a corporal before
fleeing to the Thai border where they complained of "cruel" army life.

This desertion, and others, confirms reports that the Burmese army runs on
fear to produce brutal individuals, said one opposition group yesterday.

The three soldiers were with the 430th Light Infantry Regiment, based in
Bawlake in Kayah State, until they shot their bullying superiors seven days
ago.

The three fled across the border immediately after the killings.

A sergeant with the 282nd Regiment was killed in January after beating a
private during sentry inspection near the Thai border at Nat-E Tong,
according to the All-Burma Students' Democratic Front.

The Front claims that "extremely violent and abusive" officers had triggered
an increasing number of desertions from the army over recent months.

Soldiers are often very young and inexperienced conscripts who are
"toughened up" by brutal treatment and by being kept apart from civilians.

"Ordinary soldiers are virtual slaves for their superiors," said Aung Naing
Oo, the student group's foreign affairs spokesman.

"They are often beaten and made to work under extreme conditions. The
soldiers take extreme measures in the end."

In a report titled "School for Rape" issued by the human rights group
Earthrights International, the military was described as "an army of
children . . . that schools its soldiers in masculinity, militarism and
brutal exploitation".

It noted that soldiers and officers were required "to act out this abusive
ideology on a daily basis".

"The result is an immature force that is unable to distinguish between
control and violence."

It said that the soldiers who had inflicted these "horrible abuses" suffered
severely in the organisation themselves.

The economic crisis ravaging Burma has merely exacerbated the frequent food
shortages faced by soldiers and the non-delivery of wages, increasing
unhappiness in the ranks and encouraging more abuse.

The Students' Democratic Front issued an appeal to all armed ethnic groups
and pro-democracy organisations along the Burmese border to shelter and

protect army deserters.