Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Myanmar: Now it's three of a kind
By Richard Erlich

October 21, 2004

BANGKOK - Anti-American hardliners in Myanmar's military regime have arrested Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, also head of the country's military intelligence and architect of a tentative "roadmap to democracy", and placed him under house arrest for alleged corruption, according to conflicting reports from the secretive country.

The arrest occurred on Monday, but news only filtered out to the international community on Tuesday, when it was confirmed by Thailand. "Khin Nyunt was removed from his position," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters.

Myanmar's government-controlled television and radio made no mention of any arrest and instead announced on Tuesday that Khin Nyunt had retired for health reasons and been replaced by army General Soe Win in an appointment signed by junta strongman Senior General Than Shwe, according to Reuters.

"The person who signed the order [to remove the prime minister] said Khin Nyunt had been involved in corruption and [was] not suitable to stay in his position," Thai government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told reporters. "It is still unclear who issued the order," he added.

Myanmar soldiers took up positions outside Khin Nyunt's house in the capital, Yangon, where he has been confined to house arrest, and increased their presence in front of military intelligence headquarters, witnesses told the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC).

There were no immediate reports of unrest in Myanmar, mainland Southeast Asia's biggest country, and it is expected to continue its friendly commercial and diplomatic links with China, Thailand, India and other countries willing to circumvent US-led international sanctions.

Myanmar's military - hardened by more than 50 years of battle with minority ethnic insurgencies along its borders - was also expected to continue supporting hardline general Than Shwe and his right-hand man, General Maung Aye.

Myanmar currently is run by a military junta that had included Khin Nyunt among the top three in power. He had just marked a year on the job after being appointed prime minister in August 2003, crowning 20 years as head of the Defense Services Intelligence Directorate.

Some Myanmar watchers viewed Khin Nyunt as a moderate for plans he revealed soon after becoming prime minister - the most important of which was a seven-step roadmap toward democratic reform. The reconvening of the National Convention to draft a new constitution, first initiated in 1993 but adjourned in 1996, was described, at the time, as the preliminary step of this exercise.

Khin Nyunt's removal has dashed faint hopes for reform and an end to military rule as it will allow Than Shwe and other hardline generals to consolidate power. With Soe Win now installed as prime minister, the top three positions in the junta are effectively in the hands of the hardliners. Their domination heralds a setback for pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's most famous political prisoner, who has suffered more than seven years under house arrest in Yangon.

Suu Kyi had hoped to bring democracy to troubled, impoverished Myanmar, despite the junta blocking her National League for Democracy party from power after it won a landslide election victory in 1990.

The junta frequently criticizes Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi for being a puppet of the United States, Britain and other foreign powers interested in exploiting Myanmar's vast untapped natural resources. Khin Nyunt, who was reported to favor talks with Suu Kyi, met her at least twice and said, "I think of her as a younger sister."

On Monday, the regime's New Light of Myanmar newspaper prominently portrayed Khin Nyunt opening an HIV/AIDS exhibition in Mandalay and visiting Buddhist shrines with other officials. The paper, which frequently expresses the junta's anti-US stance, also warned if John Kerry was elected president in next month's election, "he would reduce the important role of democracy in the whole world".

Spreading its criticism to include Washington's current administration, a commentary last Saturday warned, "Economic sanctions, which cause deterioration of the [Myanmar] economy, will not bring democracy." The paper also blasted America's military for "occupying Iraq illegally".

It blamed the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, along with the BBC, for broadcasting the views of expatriate Myanmar dissidents, and favorably describing them as democracy activists. Myanmar's military has ruled through various juntas after a bloodless coup in 1962 brought the army's commander, Ne Win, to power. Since that time, the government has shown scant respect for political and civil liberties. Voices of dissent have always been met with brutal force in the form of batons and bullets.

After coming to power, Ne Win mired Myanmar in poverty and human-rights abuses, until younger generals shoved him aside in 1988 and locked him under house arrest in March 2002. Ne Win's daughter, Sandar Win, along with her husband and their three adult sons, were simultaneously arrested by the junta, charged with attempting a coup, and later convicted and sentenced to death. Ne Win died in December 2002 at the age of 91.

Earlier this year, Myanmar ordered about 1,000 delegates to start drafting a new constitution under the National Convention. The move was criticized by Suu Kyi and others as a charade to draw up a document that would give the military immunity for alleged crimes committed during its reign.

Khin Nyunt, who led a high-profile delegation to China in July along with other junta members and met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, enjoyed vast internal power through his manipulation of Myanmar's secret police.

Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco, California. He has reported news from Asia since 1978 and is co-author of Hello My Big Big Honey! a nonfiction book of investigative journalism. He received a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FJ21Ae01.html