Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Burma's military uses fear to keep iron grip on nation Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 15:45:13 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Burma's military uses fear to keep iron grip on nation \BY David Brunnstrom \CR REUTERS NEWS AGENCY \DT MOULMEIN, Burma MOULMEIN, Burma - The view "crost the bay" from the old Moulmein Pagoda of Rudyard Kipling's poem "Mandalay" is marred by ugly barracks that serve as the jail. The road to Moulmein from Rangoon, 190 miles away, passes another prison, the huge Insein jail, and groups of detainees working in roadside chain gangs. In the capital itself, Western journalists saw people shackled by the feet and hands being led from court to waiting prison vans. The fear of ending up on the chain gangs or in a cell helps the ruling junta stamp out opposition. Far from the image of a smiling land of gilded temples that Kipling evoked, fear seems the dominant emotion in Burma today. Politics are discussed only in nervous whispers and with glances over the shoulder. The military, which took power in 1988 by killing thousands to crush a nationwide pro-democracy uprising, says it has relaxed its rule in recent months by releasing some political prisoners and lifting a night curfew and two other martial-law orders. But local people say the tools of the secret police state - the agents of the Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence - are as active as ever. They help enforce martial-law provisions that still ban gatherings of more than four persons and anti-military agitation. "Don't talk so loudly. You don't know who may be listening," said one middle-aged man, who like many other sources said he feared reprisals if identified. Conventional wisdom puts the number of MIs, as the military intelligence informers are known, at about one out of 10 members of the adult population. Political discussions with foreigners, and especially foreign journalists, are definitely taboo. "It's very dangerous for me to be seen talking to you," said an employee of a government department after a chance encounter in Rangoon. "There may be no law against it, but laws here are elastic." In case anyone forgets the junta's unwritten rules, large red signboards scream out Orwellian messages. "Anyone who gets riotous or destructive is our enemy." "The strength of the nation lies only within." "Beware of above-ground and underground destructive elements." And chillingly: "Observance of discipline leads to safety." The military has dominated Burmese politics since a coup in 1962 ousted the last democratically elected government. There was a brief flowering of free speech during the 1988 uprising and with the emergence of the National League for Democracy, whose leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, attracted mass support until her house arrest in July 1989. Despite her detention, the NLD won a May 1990 general election by a landslide. But instead of handing over power, the junta arrested its main leaders. Remaining officials of the party say they are closely watched by military intelligence. "There is so much I wish to tell you, but it's just not possible," said one. Although the junta says it has released more than 600 political prisoners since April, diplomats and opposition sources estimate that 1,000 to 1,500 remain in detention. Last month, a military tribunal jailed eight dissidents for 10 years and one for six for producing leaflets dismissing the government's relaxation moves as a sham and demanding the release of Mrs. Suu Kyi. Mrs. Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her courage in standing up to what the award committee in Olso termed "a regime characterized by brutality." Her party's current leader in Rangoon, Aung Shwe, declined to be interviewed by foreign journalists, even though the junta said he had been permitted to speak. Officials of the party said they were afraid of the consequences. When journalists visted the NLD headquarters without warning, staff members shut the office and left. Asked why they should be afraid, junta spokesman Col. Ye Htut replied: "They have no reason to be. They are not barred from speaking to you. If they are scared, they must have their own reasons." Freed politicians said they had been released only after agreeing to take no part in politics. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM