BurmaNet News: January 27, 2000

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=========== The BurmaNet News ===========
January 27, 2000
Issue # 1448
=========================================

Noted in passing:

''The gunmen put their weapons down and then the Thai troops came into 
the room and took them away. All of us were still on the floor. After a 
few minutes, we heard more shooting.'' 
    Krittaya Uleenoi, a Thai girl, aged 11.
    (See NATION: GOVT DENIES PRISONERS 'EXECUTED')


=========
Headlines
=========



International--

ICFTU-APRO: "KATHMANDU DECLARATION"-- TRADE UNIONS HAVE A PRINCIPAL ROLE 
TO PLAY RESTORING BURMA DEMOCRACY

NATION: GOVT DENIES PRISONERS 'EXECUTED'

BANGKOK POST: IT WAS THEM OR US, SAYS CHUAN

BANGKOK POST: SOME HAD THEIR HANDS UP

BANGKOK POST: AUTOPSIES TO CLEAR DOUBTS OVER IDENTITIES OF RAIDERS

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: WITNESS SAY BURMESE WERE SHOT IN COLD BLOODED

ASIAN AGE: "DID KAREN REBELS SURRENDER?"

AFP: THAILAND WARNS EXILED STUDENTS TO BEHAVE

UNITED NATIONS: COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN 
CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF MYANMAR REPORT

CHIN NATIONAL FRONT: CNF DOES NOT COLLECT TAXES IN INDIA
===

Editorial--
WASHINGTON POST: TERROR IN BURMA

BANGKOK POST: A CRY FOR HELP FALLS ON DEAF EARS

NATION: RAID RAISES MANY, MANY QUESTIONS
=========================================


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
 INTERNATIONAL
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


ICFTU-APRO: "KATHMANDU DECLARATION"-- TRADE UNIONS HAVE A PRINCIPAL ROLE 
TO PLAY RESTORING BURMA DEMOCRACY

LABOUR FLASH
No. 861, Tuesday, January 25, 2000
BY ICFTU ASIAN AND PACIFIC REGIONAL ORGANISATION, SINGAPORE

BURMA
	Trade union leaders and representatives of international and 
intergovernmental organizations, participating in an International Trade
Union Conference on Democracy for Burma, Kathmandu, January 20-22, 
adopted a "Kathmandu Declaration" stating that the trade union movement 
has a principal role and obligation to play in the restoration of 
democracy in Burma.

	The Conference jointly organized by the ICFTU Asian and Pacific 
Regional Organisation (ICFTU-APRO) and the International Trade 
Secretariats (ITS) considered action strategies in three working groups, 
namely trade union development, economic and political sanctions and 
lobby/publicity work. The Conference outlined the leading role of trade 
unions in exerting political and economic pressure on the military 
junta.

	Addressing the Conference, ICFTU-APRO General Secretary Noriyuki Suzuki 
assured unstinted cooperation and support to the democratic forces in 
Burma, including the Federation of Trade Unions, Burma (FTUB), in their 
relentless struggle for the restoration of democracy in Burma.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
NATION: GOVT DENIES PRISONERS 'EXECUTED'
January 27, 2000
PRIME Minister Chuan Leekpai led the government's vigorous defence 
yesterday of the swift, deadly raid on the Ratchaburi Hospital which 
left 10 Burmese minority gunmen dead and freed hundreds of their Thai 
hostages, amid speculation about summary executions during the 
operation. 
Witnesses' accounts and some evidence suggested that some of the 
terrorists could have been shot after they surrendered. But Chuan denied 
that extra-judicial killing was practised and vowed to clarify all the 
government's actions to the public. 

''In situations like that, there is no time to surrender,'' Chuan said. 
''They were not asleep or tied up when the troops moved in. They were 
carrying their weapons, and if the troops had been slower, the question 
would have changed to why we sent our men to die.'' 

Chuan admitted that there could be ''some questions'' about the 
operation, adding ''but I'm ready to answer them all''. 

Government spokesman Akapol Sorasuchart yesterday denounced media 
reports of possible summary execution of the Karen hostage-takers as 
''misleading'' and demanded sympathy for the commandos who risked their 
lives. He pointed out that the raid took place after the guerrillas 
repeatedly rejected the government's condition that they surrender. 

Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra insisted, sarcastically, 
that the Thai troops, in the commotion and high-stakes situation, could 
not pause to say hello to the gunmen, shake their hands and ask if they 
wanted to surrender. 

Akapol condemned the Khao Sod newspaper for publishing pictures of the 
bodies of the gunmen, stripped to their underwear, and thus sparking the 
conjecture of extra-judicial killing. ''Nowhere else on earth can these 
kind of offensive images be published on a newspaper's front page,'' he 
said. 

But it was some witnesses' accounts that fuelled the speculation. 
Krittaya Uleenoi, 11, recalled that Pre Dah (the group leader) was about 
to set off his grenade when the Thai commandos started sweeping in, but 
hostages begged him not to. 
''I pulled his arm and pleaded with him not to do it. All the others 
were making the same plea. He looked at me and put the grenade down,'' 
she said. Afterwards, about 50 other hostages who were in the 
outpatients room screamed out the window to the Thai authorities: 
''They've surrendered, they've surrendered.'' 

''The gunmen put their weapons down and then the Thai troops came into 
the room and took them away. All of us were still on the floor. After a 
few minutes, we heard more shooting,'' she said. 


There are still bloodstains, partially covered by sand, in the room on 
the second floor of another section of the hospital where reportedly 
most of the terrorists were killed. There was no physical evidence of 
fighting as everything in the room was intact, except for what appeared 
to be bullet holes in the wall about 30 centimetres above the ground. 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: IT WAS THEM OR US, SAYS CHUAN
January 27, 2000


Rebels weren't shot dead in cold blood
Yuwadee Tunyasiri and Ampa Santimatanedol
The prime minister yesterday defended the commandos who killed all 10 
rebels in a Ratchaburi hospital raid on Tuesday against criticism their 
actions were inhumane.

"It was either them or us," Chuan Leekpai said. The commandos had to be 
quick and sure if their mission to end the 22-hour hostage crisis was to 
be successful. As the rebels were all carrying guns, the assault team 
had to act fast or they might not have survived.
"The rebels were not asleep or tied up when we went in there," the prime 
minister said. There were reports some of the rebels had surrendered, 
but were still shot in the head after being ordered to undress and kneel 
down.

Mr Chuan said this was not true.
The human rights issue was only raised because the crisis ended without 
a big loss of Thai lives.

Had any of the commandos been killed, questions about whether they had 
acted cruelly would not be asked, he said. "Had our men been killed, I 
would have been asked why I had let them die," Mr Chuan said.

He insisted that the government needed to think about the safety of the 
special commando force, which comprised police and military personnel. 
He ruled out claims that the operation was inhumane and that some of the 
rebels had surrendered. The prime minister said that as he understood 
it, the rescue operation had to be swift.

There was no time for the rebels to surrender.
The use of force was necessary after authorities tried unsuccessfully 
through peaceful means to resolve the crisis, leaving the rebels with no 
time to surrender.

The government wanted to save every life, he saidThe situation would not 
have ended in tragedy if the rebels had agreed to surrender in the first 
place.
Criticism came after a witness said the commandos had over-reacted and 
that they shot some hostage-takers in the head without caring about the 
safety of the people in the hospital.
The rebels did not deserve to die because they were polite to the 
hostages and did not harm anyone, the witness said.

The rebels did not seem prepared to fight back, she said.
Mr Chuan said people should look on the positive side as the mission 
ended swiftly with no loss of the lives of the hostages.
"This was not an easy thing to do, but because it appeared easy the 
success of the operation might have been overlooked," he said.

Mr Akapol said the commandos were trained to shoot in the head as the 
rebels may have been wearing bullet-proof vests.
The bodies were stripped because their clothes had to be kept as 
evidence. He also denied they had marks on their wrists made by 
handcuffs. The commandos had tied electric cable around their wrists 
when they lifted the bodies to check if there were grenades underneath 
them.

"This is normal procedure," he said.
The rebels were not forced to kneel and then shot in the head in cold 
blood.

He also confirmed none of the dead rebels had been from Maneeloy camp. 



*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: SOME HAD THEIR HANDS UP 
January 27, 2000

Some had their hands up
We could not take chances, says officer
Some of the God's Army guerrillas were shot dead after they had raised 
their hands in surrender, a special forces officer who took part in the 
mission said yesterday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officer said it was necessary 
for the troopers to shoot despite the fact that some of the 
hostage-takers had surrendered.
"We didn't know whether there were any more guerrillas hiding somewhere 
who might shoot at us," he said. "Besides, it was a life for a life at 
the time. If we didn't shoot them, they would shoot us." The officer 
from a Lop Buri-based special forces unit said he had shot dead a 
guerrilla who had raised his hands. He was not sure the rebel had really 
meant to surrender.
"At a range of 10m, I did not miss when I aimed at the head," he said.
The officer was one of 48 troops from Lop Buri assigned to storm the 
second floor of the out-patients building where six or seven guerrillas 
were holding hostages. The raiding party was ordered to shoot anyone 
armed.
Some of his men might have shot dead a few guerrillas who surrendered 
after having told them to take off their shirts for a quick search for 
weapons and explosives. In such a case, the decision to kill was made by 
the individual troopers, he said.
"I had no time to keep watch or to issue orders because each was given a 
special assignment and had to accomplish it quickly and pull out 
immediately. There was no time for us to strip the guerrillas down to 
their underwear or to see how they were killed," said the officer.
Some of the guerrillas were shown in Khao Sod newspaper yesterday 
stripped to their underwear, one with his hands tied behind his back.
Special forces personnel had not stripped them, he insisted, suggesting 
that was the work of other units that arrived afterward to scour the 
area for hidden explosives.
A police paratrooper, however, suggested the dead guerrillas were 
stripped by provincial officials for the purpose of medical examination.
Pol Col Preecha Boonsuk, superintendent of the air support unit of 
Naresuan camp, denied his men executed the near-naked guerrillas.
"We didn't have time to order people to strip. We had to accomplish our 
mission quickly and then pull out," he said.
An army source said the operation encountered an initial problem because 
a blueprint of the hospital was not available until about 10pm on 
Monday.
However, the map which was obtained lacked detail of the various rooms 
on the second floor where most of the hostages were held.
The source also said the special forces unit was not sufficiently 
equipped with ammunition, thunderflashes, stun grenades and shotguns.


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: AUTOPSIES TO CLEAR DOUBTS OVER IDENTITIES OF RAIDERS

January 27, 2000


Police deny others died in operation
Yuwadee Tunyasiri and Ampa Santimatanedol 
Post-mortems will be conducted on the 10 God's Army guerrillas to clear 
confusion over their identities.
Authorities refused to open the white shrouds containing the corpses, 
sparking speculation the bodies were not those of the hostage-takers.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said the rebels would be identified soon. 
One, however, had been confirmed to be Beda, also known as Preeda or 
Nui, who took part in the seizure of the Burmese embassy in October.
Pol Gen Pracha Promnok, the national police chief, said Pol Maj-Gen 
Chalermchart Sitanond, deputy commander of Region 7, would oversee the 
post-mortem examinations.
Police would first ask ethnic Karen living in border areas who suspected 
the 10 rebels may have been their relatives to help identify them.
It was not certain if Johnny, or Kyaw Ni, another Burmese dissident who 
took a leading role in the embassy occupation, was also among the 10, he 
said.
Pol Gen Pracha denied rumours the special force that raided the hospital 
had killed some other people and misled the public into thinking they 
were rebels.
Akapol Sorasuchart, the government spokesman, said the bodies were kept 
at a secret place and had not been cremated or buried as reported.
Pol Maj-Gen Chalermchart said the bodies were kept in the shrouds to 
lessen any feeling of revenge that the God's Army may feel at seeing 
their fallen comrades.
Doctors at Ratchaburi regional hospital will today be asked to check the 
bodies again to clear remaining doubts.




*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: WITNESS SAY BURMESE WERE SHOT IN COLD BLOODED 

Thai hospital siege,27 Jan.2000 
by Craig Skehan,Sydney Morning Herald Correspondent,in Bangkok 
The Law Society of Thailand has called for an official investigation of 
claims that ethnic insurgents from Burma,who had taken hundreds of 
hospital patients hostage,were summarily executed. 

The Thai media have quoted witnesses as saying the hostagetakers were 
killed in cold blood after special forces stormed Rathburi Provincial 
Hospital in western Thailand on Tuesday morning. 

The Bangkok Post quoted an unnamed hospital official as saying " the 
insurgents were ordered to strip and kneel before they were each shot in 
the head." 

The Thai military andb police have maintained that " all 10 insurgents 
were killed while the hospital was being stormed." 

However,the president of the human rights committee of the Law society 
of Thailand,Mr Somchai Homalor,said yesterday that all of the bodies 
should be the subject of a forensic examination. 

"The office of the Attorney General should require an investigation 
because these persons died in custody or as a result of actions by 
officers who were on duty," Mr.Somchai told the Herald. 

"This is what the law says should happen." 
Mr.Somchai ,who is also the secretary-general of the human rights 
organisation Forum Asia, said government officials had released few 
details of how the deaths occoured. 

Police on Tuesday afternoon displayed the bodies of the 10 dead 
insurgents wrapped in sheets.At least 5 of the corpses were stilll 
bleeding from the head and there is no sign of bleeding from wounds 
elsewhere on their bodies. 

There were reports in Thai media that all of the bodies were later 
buried by Thai authorities in unmarked graves. 
While most of the insurgents were from the ethnic Karen" God's Army",an 
unconfirmed number have been linked to Burmese student democracy 
activists in volved in taking hostages at Burma's Bangkok embassy last 
October. 
Public opinion in Thailand is running strongly in favour of the decisive 
action ordered by the authorities,and comments by senior official and 
members of the government suggest that there is unlikely to be any 
detailed investigation of wether the insurgents were summarily executed 
as a warning to would-be terrorists.
 
Mr Somchai,speaking on behalf of Forum Asia,said he was concerned that 
the Thai government was being pressured into" becoming an enemy of 
ethnic nationalities". 
"It would not be good for Thailand to dance to the tune of the Burmese 
regime, that would lead to a further spread of Thai side of the border." 


Burmese political activists said that the Thai 9th Infantry had allowed 
Burmese soldiers to use Thai soil in launching attacks against God's 
Army in recent weeks,and mines laid by the Karen guerillas to deter such 
collaboration had killed four Thai soldiers. 
There is a widely held views that this led to the Thai military's 
decision to shell God's Army positions and to the subsequent 
determination to punish severely those who occupied the hospital at 
Ratchburi. 


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
ASIAN AGE: "DID KAREN REBELS SURRENDER?"

"The Asian Age" Newspaper
Date-January 27, 2000.

Bangkok, Jan. 26: Thailand has defended the dawn raid by commandos which 
ended the 24-hour occupation of a hospital by heavily-armed Myanmarese 
rebels in a sustained hail of gunfire on Tuesday.

 None of the hundreds of patients, relatives and staff inside when the 
black-clad troops stormed Ratchaburi Hospital was injured despite the 40 
minutes of heavy gunfire. But all 10 insurgents from God's Army, an
ethnic Karen rebel group, were killed either during 0r, as some 
eyewitnesses suggested, soon after the assault.

 The Thai government is facing embarrassing questions about how the 
intruders managed to cross the border, seize a bus and reach Ratchaburi 
without being stopped by the police, despite being dressed in military
fatigues and laden with weaponry.

 Adding to the controversy, some of the freed hostages have suggested 
that some of the raiders died, not in the heat of battle but were shot 
dead afterwards.

 Several hostages said they saw some of the rebels trying to surrender. 
"I saw one taken by commandos out of the room where I was hiding with 
his arms up holding his gun above his head", said a woman who had been 
visiting a relative when the hospital was seized at 7 am on Monday.
 Other said they saw a gunman injured and unable to move unassisted.

 The Thai Prime Minister, Mr. Chuan Leekpai, said the authorities had 
not wanted violence, but it had been unavoidable. " As long as our 
neighbours still have problems and refugee still cross (into Thailand)
we may not be able to avoid facing this sort of problem", he said.

 "These people have conflicts with the Myanmar Government. We are in a 
difficult position because they were forced out of the border area 
adjoining our territory".

 The head of the Thai National Security Council said the only way to 
prevent a repeat was to speed the resettlement in third countries of 
thousands Myanmarese dissidents living in Thailand. The regional police 
commander, Lt. Gen Anant Heamathanong, said all the
rebels died during the assault, and that none have been "executed". Nine 
died initially and one later on, he said. 

 Six hours after the siege ended, their bodies were laid out an entrance 
tied up in heavy white cloth.
 Four or five had heavy bloodstains around the head and nowhere else. 
The decision to attack was taken only after negotiations failed, said a 
Foreign Ministry spokesman. "We tried our best to be reasonable, but it
failed. This is a clear message from Thailand that we won't tolerate 
terrorism," said Don Pramudwinai. "They (God's Army) might not be the 
most ferocious group, but when you are dealing with terrorists you have
to aim for the maximum result. We hope never to have this sort of 
incident again".

 God's Army is lead by 12 year-old twin boys with supposedly invincible 
powers. It is a splinter group of the Karen National Union, which has 
been fighting for autonomy from Burma for 50 years.

 Hostages said they were never threatened and when the firing stated 
some rebels told them to lie down and get out of harm's way.

(Telegraph Group Limited, London, 2000)


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
AFP: THAILAND WARNS EXILED STUDENTS TO BEHAVE 

Agence France Presse 

January 26, 2000, Wednesday 

BANGKOK, Jan 26 

 Thailand on Wednesday delivered a stern warning to exiled Myanmar 
students living in the country following the bloody end to the hostage 
siege at Ratchaburi hospital. 

Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart told students they could face 
legal action if they made trouble. 

"Anyone who misbehaves will be taken away and detained," he said, adding 
that Thailand was still committed to helping refugees with cases 
grounded on solid human rights concerns. 

Up to 2,000 exiled students registered with the Nations High Commisioner 
for Refugees (UNHCR) live in Thailand and have had an uneasy 
relationship with the authorities in recent times. 

One student was detained by police on Tuesday after he expressed unease 
about the killing the 10 hostage-takers in a raid which ended the 24 
hour siege, Sanan said. 

After a siege at Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok last year, in which 
several of the Ratchaburi hostage takers were involved, Thailand 
announced it planned to send the 2,000 students to third countries. 

Most of them are living in a detention camp at Manelooy, near 
Ratchaburi, which has been the scene of unrest several times in recent 
months. 

Beijing is coordinating with UNHCR over sending students abroad. 

Thailand is also home to 100,000 refugees who have fled fighting between 
insurgent groups and the Myanmar junta. 

The government also last year launched an operation to deport around a 
million illegal workers, most of which were from Myanmar.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
UNITED NATIONS: COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN 
CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF MYANMAR REPORT

BurmaNet Editor's note: The Convention on the Elimination of all
forms of Discrimination Against Women is a United Nations treaty to 
which Burma is a party. At the CEDAW committee meeting in New York 
The Burmese government representative presented their report on
compliance with the CEDAW Convention, and was questioned by the CEDAW
committee members. The questions, responses and final report are 
available on the web on three pages:
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000121.wom1159.doc.html
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000121.wom1160.doc.html
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000126.wom1166.doc.html
===

COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN CONCLUDES 
CONSIDERATION OF MYANMAR REPORT

[For the full text of this report, go to:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000126.wom1166.doc.html]

The detention of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi could be 
misconstrued as a deliberate attempt by the Myanmar Government to 
discriminate against women, the representative of Myanmar told the 
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this 
afternoon as it discussed that country compliance with the Convention on 
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. 
He said it was untrue that Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest. She 
was currently free to attend social functions and even meet with 
diplomats in Yangon. However, she had been restrained in 1989 and had 
not been allowed to participate in the 1990 elections. Furthermore, he 
said, upon the lifting of that house restraint in 1995, she had begun to 
threaten the Government with utter devastation unless it entered into 
dialogue with her political party. 
Other members of the Myanmar delegation dealt with aspects of its 
compliance with the Convention in areas including education, health, 
trafficking and prostitution of women, violence against women and 
marriage. 
Aida Gonzalez Martinez of Mexico, Committee Chairperson, said Aung San 
Suu Kyi's living conditions demanded the world's attention. The 
Committee was also concerned about the living conditions and human 
rights of various ethnic groups in Myanmar. They should all be able to 
live in peace under the law. 
Several experts also expressed concern about Aung San Suu Kyi. One said 
that due to geographical inhibitions and lack of information, it was 
difficult to know exactly what might be happening in a country. However, 
as far as she knew, the Nobel Prize was usually awarded to nationals of 
a country for their achievements in the area of peace. If the Committee 
took up the situation of Aung San Suu Kyi, it was also its duty to 
pursue it, particularly its humanitarian aspect. 
The Committee will meet again at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow to begin its 
consideration of the combined second and third periodic reports of 
Burkina Faso. 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
CHIN NATIONAL FRONT: CNF DOES NOT COLLECT TAXES IN INDIA

General Headquarters, Chinland
 
 
 Statement on Myanmar rebels deposing illegal tax collections in Mizoram 
by Chin National Front
 
 Chin National Front (CNF) is fighting hand in hand with other 
nationalities in Burma against illegal government of military regime of 
Burma in order to restore democracy and human rights and establish 
federal union. As so, CNF always respect human rights, oblige 
international laws and sovereignty of other states and give high 
priority to have good relation with other 
 countries especially to its neighboring countries of India and 
Bangladesh. 

 As Chin National Army (CNA) is the arm wing of CNF, CNA are guided to 
respect and follow strictly human rights, international laws and 
sovereignty of others states by CNF. Further more, CNF enacted codes of 
military conduct 
 based on Geneva Convention to be followed by CNA.
 
 CNF is surprised to read the news that Home Ministry of India accused 
CNA as collection of illegal taxes from transporters and businessmen in 
Mizoram State which was written in "The Hindustan Times" on January 3rd, 
2000. As 
 mention has been already made in the above, CNA follows and respects 
international laws and sovereignty of the other states, CNA never 
collect any tolls or taxes in other soils including Mizoram State. CNF 
would like to 
 announce especially to the people of India that the news heading " 
Myanmar rebels deposing illegal tax collections in Mizoram" is totally 
wrong information.
 
 Now, the military regime of Burma (Self-style State Peace and 
Development Council) is despair for how to continue holding the power 
because of more and more pressure from every corner. The regime is 
trying to crack down by any means against pro-democracy activists who 
base in neighboring countries lest the pressure is lesser. In order to 
have confusion and misunderstanding 
 on us by the people of Mizoram State and India, the military regime is 
spreading terror news in India. Therefore, CNF would like to request the 
People of Mizoram and India to keep alert on the activities of military 
regime on India's soil and appeal people of India not to allow the 
military regime to do such dreadful things in India's territory.
 
 Date : 6th January 2000
 Central Executive Committee
 
 **************************************************
 
 Myanmar rebels depositing illegal tax collections in Mi ZORAM
 
 Aizawl , January 3.MYANMAR REBELS working mainly for the Chin National 
Army (CNA) were depositing huge amounts, illegally collected as tax 
money from Chin independent State, at their Mizoram- based " information 
centre " , 
 Home Ministry said today.
 
 A note by Ministry said self styled Sergeant Pawnge of the CNA had 
depositedRs.30000 at the organization's Azawl - based "information 
centre" on December 15 last year.
 
 According to note, the Chin Rebels, fighting for sovereign State within 
Myanmar , were collecting tax mainly from transporters and businessmen 
operating near the Indian border .
 
 The tax money was mainly being used to buy weapons to sustain their 
fighting against the military junta of Myanmar . '' Part of the money is 
also being used to bring out until - Government literature" a senior 
Home Ministry official said.
 
 (UNI)The above news was originally written by the national papers of 
The Hindustan Times" on January 3rd 2000.


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
 EDITORIALS
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
WASHINGTON POST: TERROR IN BURMA

January 27, 2000, Thursday, Final Edition 

IT SEEMS TOO bizarre to admit of rational explanation: a terrorist 
organization of fundamentalist Christians in the jungle of Southeast 
Asia, calling itself God's Army, led by twin long-haired, cigar-smoking 
12-year-old boys who proclaim themselves invulnerable to bullets and 
land mines. The group burst into prominence this week when it briefly 
seized control of a provincial Thai hospital, before being routed by 
Thai commandos. Little is known of the boys, who apparently did not 
participate in the attack; perhaps their appeal can never be explained. 

But the circumstances giving rise to such terrorism are easily 
understood; ultimately responsible is Burma's brutal regime, which 
practices a kind of state terrorism all its own. The Burmese generals 
have driven more than 1 million people (out of a population of 47 
million) into exile in neighboring Thailand. According to a recent field 
survey led by Johns Hopkins University's Dr. Chris Beyer and others, 
these people took refuge across the border to escape the regime's 
widespread practice of forced labor, the burden of corrupt officials 
demanding money and labor, and equally corrupt military commanders who 
steal food, livestock and land. Some refugees interviewed by the team of 
public health workers were political dissidents or their families who 
had been imprisoned and tortured before fleeing; others were apolitical 
families who simply could not survive in such a harshly repressive 
climate. 

Many migrants are virtually enslaved in sweatshops by exploitative Thai 
employers. Others camp out in the jungle, hounded by Burmese and Thai 
soldiers alike. The twin brothers of God's Army are said to hail from a 
village that Burmese soldiers burned after raping women and killing men; 
such abuses are widespread enough to make the legend plausible. 

None of this excuses the terrorism of God's Army. Aung San Suu Kyi, 
Burma's Nobel Peace Prize-winning democratic leader, has consistently 
rejected violence as a tactic against the regime that keeps her under 
house arrest. Among other consequences, the hospital seizure will hurt 
legitimate Burmese dissidents who have found shelter in Thailand and the 
courageous Thai officials who support them. 

But it is also true that Burma's difficulties, including the problems 
that spill into neighboring Thailand, will persist as long as the 
brutality of its junta does. The United Nations needs to appoint a 
special envoy to make clear to the generals the urgency of dialogue with 
Burma's democrats, who after all won an election (never honored) 10 
years ago. Japan and Burma's Southeast Asian neighbors should redouble 
their commitment not to invest in Burma's murderous regime. And the 
generals themselves should devote less effort to pointing fingers at 
others and more to curbing the terrorism they practice against their own 
people every day.


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
BANGKOK POST: A CRY FOR HELP FALLS ON DEAF EARS

Sanitsuda Ekachai - Bangkok Post 27 January 2000

When misery from military atrocities in our neighbouring country spills 
over to threaten our national security, what should we do? Help the 
victims or side with the oppressors?If we choose to turn a blind eye to 
the kind of tyranny that we ourselves would never tolerate, then we have 
some serious soul-searching to do.

The siege at the Ratchaburi hospital by a group of Burmese rebels is the 
latest in a string of problems afflicted upon Thailand as a result of 
longstanding political oppression and ethnic cleansing in Burma. And
because of Thai complicity. 

Deforestation. Drug trafficking. The influx of illegal labour. A new 
wave of communicable diseases. A rise in crime. And now terrorism. These 
national security problems are the end product of military oppression in
Burma. Yet, we blame the lambs instead of getting the wolves.

Prolonged civil war in Burma has sent hill people fleeing to safety in 
Thailand, leading to deforestation on our side of the border. The Thai 
authorities' standard response is blanket eviction, which often affects 
our
own indigenous hill people.

Some ethnic groups in Burma use drug money to oil their war machines as 
part of their political self-determination effort. If you think this is 
a
distant reality, check the drug problem in any school near home.

It's the ordinary people who suffer most from unending civil war and the
state's systematic oppression which perpetuates poverty and gross
violations of human rights.

Millions of refugees from war and poverty have fled across the border in
search of safety and hope even though many end up living a dog's life in
Thailand's sweatshops and brothels.

But whenever the problem of illegal workers is brought up, the real 
oppressor is never blamed. Nor the exploiters-the Thai and foreign 
investors who prosper from modern slavery. Only the victims are
condemned-for stealing jobs from Thais and for threatening public 
safety.

In the Ratchaburi hostage drama, the terrorists' pleas exposed the Thai 
military's role in cornering them so they had to resort to violence. 
Heavy shelling had killed hundreds of civilians and the refugees had 
been refused
humanitarian aid.

But few paid attention to their desperation as terrorism is 
unacceptable. And terrorism fans the Thai public's ethnic prejudices and 
fervent nationalism-exactly what warmongers want.

Why? If peace and democracy in Burma would help significantly reduce 
Thailand's national security problems, what has kept our policy-makers
from working for reconcilation in Burma? Diplomatic constraints? Fear of 
interfering in another country's internal affairs? Or is it just money? 
The
Thai authorities insist they cannot get tough because Thai fishing 
operations depend on Burmese waters. But fisheries money is nothing 
compared with underworld bounties.

Timber money. Drug money. Human trafficking money. These are bottomless 
sources of cash for powerful, well-connected people on both sides of the 
border. That's why Thai accomplices believe the status quo in Burma must 
stay intact and rebellions kept in line. Forget the people's misery.

Our authorities love to talk about Thailand's need to join the 
borderless world in order not to be left behind. But, like it or not, 
the influx of foreign labour, new diseases and terrorism are the other 
side of the
globalisation coin.

We must stop viewing the border problems through nationalist eyes, but 
as they really are-the result of political oppression within and 
economic imbalances without.

Only when justice and equity prevail, domestically and internationally, 
will the oppressed not need to use violence to fight back.


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
NATION: RAID RAISES MANY, MANY QUESTIONS

27 January 2000
 IMAGINE a group of young guerrillas, brave yet
soft-hearted and naÔve, if not downright foolish. Their base has been 
bombarded by both Thai artillery and
Burmese troops. In the crossfire, many of the fighters and innocent camp 
civilians are injured. There are not enough doctors to treat them, and 
medicine is running low.

 Desperate and angry with the once-friendly Thais, a band
 of young men decide to embark on a high-risk and
 poorly-planned mission. They arm themselves heavily,
 cross the border into Thailand and hijack a public bus.
 After some argument among themselves about their
 destination, they finally select the sprawling compound  
 of the provincial hospital of Ratchaburi.

They were wrong to do it and then did it wrongly. Their
seizure of the hospital violated not only humanitarian rules, but the 
terrorist manual itself. Hostages were not tightly  supervised as the 
gunmen tried to spread their control to the many buildings. Government 
spies managed to sneak  in and mingle with the fledging terrorists and 
their  hostages, setting the stage for the gang's deadly downfall.

When government troops swept in before dawn, it was all
over quickly -- 10 young bodies were carried out in
blood-stained shrouds shortly after the sun rose.

Details were sketchy and somewhat contradicting. What
appeared certain was that few guerrillas were prepared to
fight. Some, according to hostages, were shot after
shouting their intention to surrender. No hostage was
harmed.

Now, imagine you are Manoon Waewtapthep. Your
78-year-old mother suffers from diabetes and is in
Ratchaburi Hospital for treatment. Doctors say she is all
right and can be released within a few days. Then 10
terrorists come storming in with rifles, bombs and
hand-grenades. In the middle of the protracted
commotion, the old woman is suddenly gripped by severe
chest pains, but the doctors have either run away or are
being held captive. She dies.

Three other patients died during the 22-hour siege and
some others nearly did. One boy was left unattended after
an operation, but he managed to hang on and was saved
by quick action once the gunfire ended and the smoke had
cleared . A pregnant woman went into labour while in
captivity, which could have been a tragedy but for a group of nurses who 
arranged for her to be sneaked out to
safety.

Put yourself in Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's place.
Your soft approach toward five Burmese students who
seized the Burmese Embassy last October to highlight
their plight and their opposition to the regime at home
becomes a ''damned if you do, damned if you don't''
situation. You let them go, expecting them and their peers to at least 
show appreciation for what you did. After all, they have captured world 
attention and are getting away safely. But no, there is little hint of 
appreciation of kindness and it turns out your tolerance only served to 
magnify their senseless aggression.

Next, they take a hospital. Hundreds of lives hang in the
balance. You cannot let them go this time, and they will not surrender. 
They give you no other choice but to act in a way which you hope ends 
the hostage situation quickly, and at the same time, deliver a chilling, 
unmistakable message. Your compassion has been taken for granted, after 
all.

These were the clashing perspectives that came to a head
in the inevitable tragedy that materialised on Tuesday
morning.

While few people questioned the need for Thai troops to
have attacked, controversy was developing over the
manner in which some of the gunmen were killed. Some
news reports quoted witnesses as saying a number of the
terrorists were shot after giving themselves up or were
under arrest.

Khao Sod yesterday published pictures of the dead
gunmen, who were stripped to their underwear. Witnesses
who entered rooms where some gunmen had been killed
found no bullet holes in the walls. And most of the slain
were shot in the head.

Much evidence suggested some of deaths were
extra-judicial executions. But the government insisted such an 
assumption was unfair, because the gunmen were not ordinary criminals 
running for their lives with a mere gun or knife in a secluded alley. 
They carried assault rifles, hand grenades and had planted powerful 
bombs in the area, and nobody knew if someone held a remote control that 
could blow up the whole complex.

''In situations like that, there is no time to surrender,'' Chuan said 
yesterday, leading the government's collective defence of the 
shoot-to-kill action. ''They were not asleep or tied up when the troops 
moved in. They were carrying their weapons, and if the troops had been 
slower, the question would have changed into why we sent our men in 
there to die.''

Government spokesman Akapol Sorasuchart pleaded for
sympathy for the commandos who risked their lives to
save the hostages, none of whom were hurt in the
commando operation, while Deputy Foreign Minister
Sukhumbhand Paribatra insisted that such a rescue could
not be done in a half-hearted way. Most of all, the gunmen had been 
given a chance to surrender.

''Under such circumstances the commandos couldn't say
'hello' to the gunmen, extend their hands and ask if they
would like to give themselves up,'' Sukhumbhand said.

There were accounts of a close call, in which a guerrilla
was planning to detonate a bomb but heeded his
hostages' pleas in the last second, and of remarkable
selflessness in which gunmen told their hostages to lie
down when the government forces began closing in.

''They told us to get down when the troops came nearer,'' a woman told 
the BBC. ''No gun was turned against us. We
persuaded them to give up, and I saw some laying down
their weapons or holding their rifles aloft.'' She said the commandos 
told Thais to leave the room through one exit and the gunmen the other. 
Nobody was killed at that
moment.''

Somchai Homla-or, president of the Human Right
Commission and secretary-general of Forum-Asia, called
for an investigation into the 10 deaths at the Ratchaburi
hospital, saying extra-judicial killing after the
hostage-takers laid down their weapons was against both
Thai and international laws. While calling the gunmen's
seizure of the hospital unacceptable, Somchai said the
government should make it clear to the world community
that all humanitarian principles were respected in the
crackdown.

The human rights lawyer said that according to Thai law
the corpses of the terrorists had to be sent for an autopsy at the 
Institute of Forensic Medicine, and the Office of the Attorney-General 
should make an inquiry into this case, to bring the fact to the public.

''Some people may think that problems can be solved by
using violence, without respecting the law and human
rights. But in fact, this wrong operation will add more
problems and more violence, while the real problem has
never been settled,'' he said, accusing the Burmese
government of being the real cause of the raid.

To advocates of the Thai troops' operation, the same can
be said to the ''freedom fighters''. Violent means can never be used to 
promote a noble ideology or support the
struggle of the innocent. Once the line had been crossed,
the distinction between good and evil became
dangerously blurred.


===END=============END=============END===


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