Mizzima News
November 13, 2004
Although General Thura Shwe Mann emphasis in his speech that nobody is above the law and everybody is equal before the law, the culprit of the Depayin Massacre is still at large.
There is a common perception in the midst of the intellectual circles in Rangoon that tells the tendency of the current political scenario in Burma. Accordingly the view that prevails in the country is not so conducive. It is said that perspective of democratic Burma has been bogged down to a state of uncertainty because of the present coup operated by the hardheaded Senior General Than Shwe who is a man of egocentric and self-indulgent style of decision-making.
Shwe Mann, the third top brass and Than Shwe's loyalist in Burma's ruling junta, has accused ex-Prime Minister Khin Nyunt of involving in a series of corruption scandals and said Khin Nyunt was ousted before he could unveil findings of his investigation of senior army commanders' scandals.
In his 24 October speech to Rangoon's business community, Shwe Mahn said Khin Nyunt was on a goodwill visit to Singapore in mid-September when 186 people, including military intelligence officials, were arrested at Muse border checkpoint , the Burma-China border. More than $480 million and 42 tons of jade were seized, he said. It was printed as an 18-page booklet on 7 November in three government's mouthpiece newspapers.
Former powerful Prime Minister and the head of Military Intelligence Services (MIS) or the Defense Services Intelligence Bureau (DSIB), was sacked 19 October 2004 and is now under house arrest. Senior General Than Shwe's men are investigating military intelligence chief and his officers including others suspected of having illegal dealings with businessmen. Khin Nyunt was the key player who brutally handled the suppression of the 1988 mass demonstrations against the military leaving thousands dead. He took responsibility to rein the shocked country with his military secret police force using a policy of sugarcoated reformism.
As the DSIB is under crackdown, most of its high-ranking officials are detained by the army. Out of those high-ranking officials, Brig. Gen. Than Tun, Brig.Gen. Thein Swe, Col. Hla Min and Maj. Moe Thu were the first batch that got 22 years imprisonment each. Nobody knows the fate of the other senior officials including Maj. Gen. Kyaw Win who was the vice chief of the DSIB.At the same time, Col. Khin Maung Lin (Director-General of the Customs), Col.Tet Htut (Director-General of the Passport Section, Immigration Dept.) and U Tun Hla Aung (Director-General of the Bureau of Special Investigation- BSI) have been arrested and they are still under severe interrogation.
A clean sweep in the junta continues. Minister of Home Affairs Col Tin Hlaing and Labor Minister Tin Win, both former military intelligence officers, were forced to retire. Four deputy ministers, Brig-Gen Khin Maung (Agriculture and Irrigation), Brig-Gen Kyaw Win (Industry-1), Brig-Gen Aung Thein (Livestock and Fisheries), and Nyi Hla Nge (Science and Technology) were also fired.
The Defense Services Intelligence Bureau (DSIB) was formed in August 2001 and the first move of DSIB was expanding its strength throughout the country. The DSIB was structured with seven major departments - Administration, Foreign Affairs, Counter Intelligence, Domestic Security, Border Areas, Computer & Information Technology and Training - and it was no other than the unification of Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and the Office of Strategic Studies (OSS) or ' Think Tank ' of the junta. The DSIB became an influential institution as it had authoritative power to handle the domestic political affairs and the foreign relations. In domestic affairs, it succeeds to get ceased fire agreements with 17 major ethnic armed groups. Its Propaganda Warfare of Dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi worked to an extent drawing international attention.
In foreign affairs, it could find way for the junta becoming member of the ASEAN. It also succeeds making friends with China, India, Malaysia and Thailand. The DSIB could do well persuading the Japanese Government not to go along with the Western Bloc's Burma Policy. In brief, the institution helped Gen Khin Nyunt becoming influential figure of Burma.
But, Than Shwe was frustrated by Khin Nyunt's power base DSIB.
Its a common knowledge in Burma that every senior military officer possesses more than a million dollar although the salary is not more than $ 100 and it means all of them are involved in corruption or narcotic trades. But the current crackdown on the DSIB is not because of the corruption but for the power struggle among the top brasses. The dictators build their dictatorial institutions by allowing corruptions to their strong supporters. That's why no officer can afford avoiding bribery and corruption.
In 1962, when the Revolutionary Council headed by late General Ne Win of Burma's Army seized power, the council's first and foremost allegation was widespread of corruption in the political parties. However, the vision was clearly seen later that the aim and object of the coup was not because of corruption but to grab the absolute power by a military autocrat in the name of national interest and security. From the very first, people sincerely assumed the council's reason of corruption was a real matter. Afterwards, they convinced that it was just a dirty trick to gain a power play.
Today, Burma is still under the yoke of an inhumane military dictator. A dictator is a beast that never allowed next to him to be a full-fledged dictator. Than Shwe kicked out Khin Nyunt for high dream and building his personality cult. The downfall of Gen. Khin Nyunt and the promotion of General Soe Win spotlighted the factional conflict for power in the military, which the generals used to say ' the indivisible army '. Actually, it's a showdown between the infantry force and the military intelligence service for absolute power.
According to analysts in Rangoon, a coup plot of the military intelligence faction was leaked and Than Shwe took a swift upper hand. Anyhow, as usual in a power game, the loser must face a series of corruption scandals that led him to hell. It's a counter coup in the military. As some people thought, it was not a conflict between soft-line democrats and the hard-line autocrats. It's neither a political change nor a policy shift of the junta. Khin Nyunt, as chief of the military intelligence, was a trickster and he could manage propagating himself a soft-liner and patriot. In comparison, Than Shwe also is a crooked-and-twisted power player who called the tune attacking the Nobel laureate's motorcade at Depayin on 30 May 2003.
Major conflict between Than Shwe and Khin Nyunt started with the Depayin premeditated ambush, which took nearly a hundred innocent, lives. As there were a lot of evidences, people accepted that the Depayin massacre was orchestrated by the junta. Then, a question was popped up in the military regime that who would take the responsibility of the massacre.
A source close to War Office in Rangoon said that the plot was managed by Senior General Than Shwe and the field-commander was no other than new Prime Minister General Soe Win. The plot, said the source, was done by the loyalists of Than Shwe without Khin Nyunt's knowledge. But, there was a backfire afterwards and a voice of forming a special enquiry mission for Depayin was louder internationally.
To cover up the culprit of the crime against humanity at Depayin, Than Shwe made a bargain with Khin Nyunt. Then the seven-step roadmap was created to cover the massacre up and Khin Nyunt became Prime Minister. The aim was no more than buying the time to fade out the Depayin nightmare from people's mind as well as to prolong the power base. Khin Nyunt agreed to play the game as he himself had a different intention. It's really a power game and as a result release of Aung San Suu Kyi was as dim as always.
None of the generals has a soft heart instead an iron fist to grab the power. People of Burma have shown their opinion very clearly in the 1990 General Elections, in which the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory. That means people disagree with the military dictatorship or the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). For that reason, the military dictator regards its own people as its arch-opposition and it transforms the whole nation into a prison state.
It was at the Mingaladon Airport in Rangoon on 18 October, the Rangoon Divisional Commander Brig. Gen. Myint Swe, one of Than Shwe's loyalists, told Khin Nyunt to surrender peacefully as he did in accord with order from his superior. Firstly, there was a tense atmosphere between Than Shwe's loyalists and Khin Nyunt's men but Khin Nyunt knew the situation and showed signs of giving in to the Rangoon Division Troops. That was the end of once powerful military intelligence chief. Khin Nyunt thinks he has the secret files of the other generals. The case was that he never considered of keeping those files would lead him to downfall.
The sole dictator of the regime never allows people expressing a different opinion or different way of thinking and tightly controlled all types of administrative organs including media to consolidate his stronghold. Agreeing to disagree is a fundamental right only of those who live under a democratic system. In military-ruled Burma, disagreeing or dissident opinion against the incumbent dictator can be seen as a crime.
The author, Zin Linn's is a Freelance Journalist, Writer and former political prisoner. He spent totally 9 years in the junta's hellish prison for dissident opinion and now in exile. Now he's working at the NCGUB East Office and also takes responsibility for Burma Media Association, which affiliated with Reporters Sans Frontiers based in Paris.
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