BurmaNet News, April 8, 2004

[Editor]

April 8, 2004 Issue # 2452

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Junta Invites NLD to Attend Convention—NLD Calls for Suu Kyi’s
Release
Kaladan: Rohingyas Cast Doubt on SPDC National Convention

REGIONAL
News International: Myanmar diplomat hurt, embassy set on fire in Malaysia
WMA: Attack in Malaysia Prompts Myanmar to Place Worldwide Embassies on High

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Four Border Checkpoints to Open

INTERNATIONAL
FEER: North Korean Nukes in Burma?
Myanmar Times: EU donates €2m for WFP activities in Rakhine State

OPINION / OTHER
Kaowao: Be Wary, Wise, United and Energetic
FEER: Will Burma's Generals Get Honest?

REVIEW
Asian Review of Books: Heart of darkness: A Land Without Evil by Benedict
Rogers

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS
Justin Watkins (SOAS, London) and U Saw Tun (NIU, DeKalb): Language and
National Identity in Burma


INSIDE BURMA
___________________________________

April 8, The Irrawaddy
Junta Invites NLD to Attend Convention—NLD Calls for Suu Kyi’s Release -
Kyaw Zwa Moe

Burma’s main opposition National League for Democracy party, or NLD, on
Thursday responded to a government invitation to attend its National
Convention, due to be re-convened on May 17, by calling for the release of
its secretary-general Aung San Suu Kyi.

Five NLD party executives, received invitation letters to the convention
on Wednesday, party executive Nyunt Wei told The Irrawaddy today from
Rangoon. But he said he has no idea whether or not the junta has also
invited four executive members currently under house arrest.

NLD secretary-general Aung San Suu Kyi, chairman Aung Shwe, vice-chairman
Tin Oo and secretary U Lwin have all been detained since a
junta-orchestrated mob attack on a party convoy at Depayin, Sagaing
Division last May.

The NLD released a statement on Thursday titled "Free Aung San Suu Kyi"
which called for the immediate release of all four party executives in
order that they may attend the National Convention.

Nyunt Wei read the statement on the phone: "We seek freedom for Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi for she has a duty to perform. She is a person accepted by all
local and international bodies as one who could bring reconciliation to
this country which needs a new constitution."

"Her freedom is needed today now more than ever before... We firmly
believe that her release would demonstrate clearly to the international
community that some change in the political climate in Myanmar (Burma) has
taken place."

Regarding the invitation, Nyunt Wei said the NLD will not comment at the
moment. He added that the NLD will decide whether or not to attend the
convention only after all its nine central executive members, including
the four detainees, can meet to discuss the matter.

Aung San Suu Kyi was not allowed to attend the previous convention, which
kicked off in 1993 with 702 delegates, not only from political parties (86
NLD MPs attended), but other categories such as workers, peasants and
technocrats. It was suspended in March 1996 after the NLD walked out
declaring the proceedings undemocratic.

The reconvening of the National Convention marks the first of a seven-step
road map to democracy announced by Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt in August
last year.

Some of the 86 NLD MPs that attended the previous convention are known to
have also received invitations. An elected member who requested anonymity
said that the number of NLD delegates able attend this time around will be
smaller as some have died, others resigned from the party and several went
into hiding after May 2003 Depayin incident.

Nyunt Wei said he had heard that representatives from other groups had
also received invitation letters for the convention, including the
National Unity Party, or NUP, the re-jigged Burma Socialist Program Party
that stood in the 1990 election. The NUP has not been active for years.

The convention is to sit at Nyaunghnapin, Hmawbi township, 23 miles (32
kilometers) north of Rangoon, according to the invitation letters.

________________________________________________________________

April 7, Kaladan News
Rohingyas Cast Doubt on SPDC National Convention

Chittagong: Rohingyas cast doubt on SPDC National Convention which is to
be convened on 17th May 2004, said a press release of ARNO.

In a press release issued on 6th April, 2004 Arakan Rohingya National
Organization (ARNO) expressed its concern   over the SPDC sponsored
National Convention scheduled to be held on 17th May 2004 to draft a state
constitution.

The statement is reported verbatim: “ Without free and fair participation
and representation of NLD, other political parties and ethnic
nationalities, including the Rohingyas of Arakan, the convention lacks
credibility and as such the peoples of Burma as well as international
community will not accept it.

The SPDC’s Roadmap has yet to be manifested by real and tangible changes
on the ground towards a genuinely free, transparent, and an inclusive
process involving all political parties, ethnic nationalities and elements
of civil society.

However, the news that NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would be freed soon
and that she would be allowed to participate at the National Convention
shows a positive sign, but it cannot be believed until it practically
comes true because of the regime’s repetitive failures in its previous
commitments. Now the common questions with the Burmese people is ‘when Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi would be arrested again’.

There are an estimated 1300 to 1400 political prisoners in various jails
of Burma. To make a good starter Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political
prisoners, including the ailing student leader Min Ko Naing now at Akyab
jail must be freed; national reconciliation must be brought out through
tripartite dialogue _ among SPDC, NLD with other democratic oppositions,
and ethnic nationalities, including Rohingya representatives _ as called
for by the United Nations annually since 1994; there must be transparency
and inclusiveness in their efforts on democratic values and principles.
Otherwise, instead of solution the situation will aggravate.”


ON THE BORDER
___________________________________

April 8, The Irrawaddy
Four Border Checkpoints to Open - Aung Su Shin/Mae Sot

Four customs checkpoints will soon open along the Thai-Burma border in Tak
Province to assist Thai investors who will set up factories and
agricultural farms in Burma, said a local customs chief yesterday.

Mae Sot customs chief, Surachart Jantawatchrakorn, said four customs
checkpoints may open in Umphang, Phoppra, Mae Ramat and Tha Song Yang
districts in the next three months

The project is aimed at Thai entrepreneurs planning to invest on the Burma
side of the border and is the result of the Pagan Declaration, an economic
cooperation plan endorsed by leaders from Burma, Thailand, Laos and
Cambodia last November. The declaration aims to generate greater economic
growth by encouraging Thai investment in neighboring countries. But many
Thais feel the border project will only benefit the Burmese.

Initiatives include the construction of an 18 km road between Myawaddy and
Thingan Nyinaung, with a 120 million baht grant from the Thai government,
said Suchart Triratwattana, chairman of the Tak Chamber of Commerce.

"When transportation is good, Burmese farmers can transport their
agricultural products from one place to another with ease. When their
income is good, they will not come to Thailand to find jobs," said Suchart
Triratwattana.

According to Amnat Nantaharn, chairman of Tak's Federation of Industry,
the Burmese government has provided 3,000 acres of land for Thai investors
to construct factories and agricultural farms.

However, Burmese workers in Mae Sot fear going to work across the border,
to areas controlled by the pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, or
DKBA. "I have no confidence in working in those areas," said Win Lwin, a
25-year-old Burmese worker. "It is better living and working in Mae Sot,
even though there is the threat of arrest by the Thai police."

One of the aims of the agreement is to encourage the return of Burmese
migrants back to Burma. Authorities, however, may find it difficult to
persuade the migrants, who are still scared to work in DKBA-controlled
areas, to return home.

REGIONAL
_____________________________________

April 8, The News International
Myanmar diplomat hurt, embassy set on fire in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: A diplomat was badly wounded by an axe-wielding attacker
when a group of enraged refugees set fire to the Myanmar embassy in the
Malaysian capital on Wednesday, officials and police said. The diplomat, a
counsellor, was hospitalised with severe wounds to his head and hands and
the embassy in Kuala Lumpur’s diplomatic district of Ampang was gutted by
fire, Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar told reporters.

The incident prompted Myanmar to order heightened security at its 30
diplomatic missions around the world. The embassy’s second secretary,
Myint Thein Win, said the counsellor was attacked with an axe when he
rushed out to try to stop the refugees setting fire to the building. A
security officer was also injured in the attack and received outpatient
treatment.

Four members of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority had been arrested and
would face charges including attempted murder, Noh said during a visit to
the scene, adding that the embassy was "70 percent destroyed." The men are
believed to have been disgruntled after trying for several days to have
their documents verified by embassy staff, he said.

"They are Muslim Rohingyas in the process of verifying their documents to
seek refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). "We have seized an axe, a knife and small plastic bags with
petrol. The four men will be charged with attempted murder, arson, causing
damage to property and for having no legal travel documents."

Kuala Lumpur police chief Mustafa Abdullah said the four were among 14
people from five families, including women and children, who had gathered
in front of the embassy on Wednesday morning. Three of the men climbed
over the wall into the embassy grounds, hurled plastic bags full of petrol
at the large house which serves as the embassy before throwing burning
rags onto the fuel with assistance from an accomplice outside the
premises, he said. All 14 people had been detained, Mustafa said.

"We want to warn all illegal immigrants or foreign citizens not to create
trouble in our country but to respect local laws. We are anti-terrorists
and anti-criminals. We will not compromise on security." UNHCR spokeswoman
Jennifer Ashton told AFP: "We don’t condone any criminal activities but we
will look at the cases of the women and children to see if they are people
of concern to us."

In Yangon, the ruling junta "condemns the premeditated and dastardly
attack" on its embassy. "As is normal in such circumstances, security has
been stepped up in Myanmar missions all over the world," it said. Around
2,500 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar for Malaysia in 1991-92, alleging
persecution by the army, but most were later repatriated with the help of
the United Nations.

________________________________________________________________

April 8, World Markets Analysis
Attack in Malaysia Prompts Myanmar to Place Worldwide Embassies on High
Alert - Elizabeth Mills

Authorities in Myanmar have today called for tighter security at the
nation's embassies, following an arson attack on its diplomatic premises
in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Following the attack, which
resulted in the injury of a diplomat and gutted the building, three
refugees were arrested. It is thought that the three, all of whom are
Muslim Rohingya refugees, scaled the embassy walls, attacked the staff
member with an axe when he attempted to foil their progress, and then
doused the building in fuel. The reasoning behind the attack is unclear,
although news agency AFP posits that the three had become frustrated in
their attempts to secure verification for their documents. Thousands of
Rohingya Muslim refugees fled from persecution in Myanmar during the early
1990s; many crossed the border into Bangladesh, but some escaped to other
countries. Malaysian Officials have been keen to stress that the attack
resulted from an internal Myanmarese matter, particularly after the
Australian High Commission was recently the victim of a small-scale attack
in the city.

Significance: While it is indeed likely that this attack was the result of
a one-off dispute, authorities obviously feel that the attack warrants a
general increase in security elsewhere. Somewhat surprisingly, in light of
Myanmar's domestic political tensions, there have been few attacks on the
country's embassies; one notable exception was the 1999 assault on the
embassy in the Thai capital, Bangkok, during which gunmen seized the
building and around 40 people inside, in protest at the military regime.


INTERNATIONAL
_____________________________________

Issue cover dated April 15, Far Eastern Economic Review
North Korean Nukes in Burma?

The United States government has set up an interagency group of senior
officials to examine whether North Korea is selling missiles or nuclear
technology to Burma. A U.S. official working on non-proliferation issues
says a group of deputy assistant secretaries from the departments of
State, Defence and other agencies was "just convened" to monitor
"weapons-related issues" in Burma. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Matthew Daley told a congressional hearing on March 25 that Washington has
raised the issue of "possible missile transfers" from North Korea with
Burmese officials and "registered our concerns in unambiguous language."
He said the officials responded by insisting that they "have not accepted
offers of such weapons systems." Daley also told the congressional hearing
that press reports that Burma was seeking to acquire a nuclear-research
reactor "are not well founded." Regarding reports that Rangoon was
providing heroin as compensation to acquire military technology or
equipment, Daley said "available evidence does not support such a
conclusion."

________________________________________________________________

April 8, Myanmar Times
EU donates €2m for WFP activities in Rakhine State - Kerry Howley

The European Union donated €2 million (about US$ 2.5 million) to the
United Nations World Food Program last month to support its activities
helping people in northern Rakhine State.

It is the first time the EU has contributed towards WFP activities in
Myanmar, the UN agency said in a statement released on March 26.

The statement said the donation will be used over two years to help
400,000 people in northern Rakhine State. The WFP will assist children,
families returning from Bangladesh, women heads of household and others,
the statement said.

Mr Andreas List, a senior member of the European Commission’s delegation
in Bangkok, said the EU is the world’s largest aid donor and is committed
to providing humanitarian aid in Myanmar.

“The [WFP] program is being funded as it meets the immediate food security
needs of returnees and vulnerable groups,” he said in an email message to
Myanmar Times last Thursday.

Mr List said the EU’s assistance to Myanmar is focused on healthcare, with
priority given to programs involving HIV-AIDs, malaria, drug abuse,
sanitation and food aid.

The EU was committed to sustain or increase the level of its assistance,
he said.

The WFP has worked in northern Rakhine State since 1994, when refugees
began returning from Bangladesh in large numbers.


OPINION / OTHER
_____________________________________

April 8, Kaowao
Be Wary, Wise, United and Energetic - Kanbawza Win

The die is caste. Sanctions will continue for one more year at least and
who knows we may witness a new American President with a new vigorous
policy on Burma. But for the time being, we cannot be complacent and must
be always on the look out. Much lessons has to be learnt from the battle
at the Congress as I recollect a feature article “The Battle for
Afghanistan was fought in the White House,” when Afghans were fighting
tooth and nail against the Soviet occupation and shoulder fired Stinger
missiles have not yet come out of the factory even for the US army and yet
the Afghan lobby groups were asking to be shipped to Afghanistan
guerrillas. The American generals were reluctant to part with so precious
a weapon yet. But wise political decision prevails and the end result was
the Soviet version of Vietnam. So also, in spite of the intense lobbying
of the soft approach by imminent scholars, backed by the corporate in
putting up their version of Constructive Engagement, wise American
decision has prevailed. But we must remember that this is just only one
battle and the War against the tyrannical Junta is still yet to be fought
and won.

Studying the careful move of the Myanmar Junta we will have to admit that
the regime is very resourceful and must never be under estimated. But
there is a Burmese saying, “Mwe Mwe Chin Chae Myin Dae”, if directly
translated means that a snake sees the hidden legs of other snakes,
implying that those who have worked with the military knows what the
military is up to. Having worked for fourteen years with the Ne Win regime
at a time when little captain Khin Nyunt used to come and stand near my
table, I at once sense the move. They have succeeded in penetrating the
core of the strategic thinkers of the resistance. The fact that if we were
to look at the period after Daw Suu was released in 2002, the regime hired
a Public Relations firm in Washington in DC to decertify Burma for not
cooperating with the US in suppressing drug trafficking and production.
The de-certification could have lifted the US's restriction on the
assistance from the international institutions such as, the World Bank and
the IMF but it failed miserably. To quote Dr. Khin Saw Win’s words, “Why
the Burmese Generals bribed and shower those people anti-sanction groups
with money, materials and opportunities? The answer is so clear, because
it has direct impact on them. If it has impact on the grass roots... poor
people of Burma they would not have cared to spend so much money to hire
these anti-sanctions people to lobby for them.”

However, the most important aspect of the regime’s tactic is that it
manages to penetrate the Burmese Diaspora, especially those who are the
members of strategic thinkers. The Junta has managed to convince these
people to view the conflict through the prism of conflict resolution,
equating the morality of the pro democracy groups and ethnic nationalities
with those of the gun-tooting generals. In fact they have already won over
the ICG (International Crisis Group base in Brussels) the NBR (National
Bureau of Asian Research based in Seattle) and very recently a group of
scholars including Burmese academic activists from the FBC (Free Burma
Coalition) and some from the BSG (Burma Strategic Group) like the sons of
former minister U Kyaw Nyein etc. All of them attended a meeting under the
banner of "Re-examining US relations with Burma", sponsored by Sasakawa
Foundation and the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns
Hopkins University. All the speakers concluded that US policy is not
achieving its objective. Robert H Taylor a chief consultant of Britain’s
Premier oil commented “A Burma allied with China will be bad for US
interests as well as damaging to ASEAN and India,” and blames the media
for presenting a distorted picture of Burma.

All these indicated that the Junta is very sophisticated and have even
penetrated the leading intellectuals of NBR intent to serves as the
international clearinghouse on contemporary and futures issues concerning
the Asia Pacific, and Russia. The NBR has also declared of its neutrality,
does not take policy positions, but rather sponsors studies that promote
the development of effective and far-sighted policy. But Dr Kyi May Kaung
describe these scholars, “having a political agenda, while at the same
time hiding it under the academic garb," the Burmese Junta has changed
tactics and is now eyeing the Burmese Diaspora. Obviously, it started with
those who are the offspring and distant relations of the Generals who
somehow or other, find themselves in the dissident groups. It was through
them that they endeavour to split the dissident’s unity and some
well-known lobby groups and organizations have already switch sides and
supported the Junta’s road map and national reconciliation process, which
in fact is a big lie. How can there be a national reconciliation not to
mention the National Convention when NEARLY 1,500 political prisoners are
still lingering in jails and the ethnic cleansing is going on with might
and main.

The rationale of the soft approach scholars is that the political
decisions of the Junta are made by calculating rewards and punishment or
in other words the Junta have faith in “the carrot and the stick policy”
and hold Daw Suu as a bargaining chip vis a vis the West. The regime
expected some benefits from the release of DASSK in 2002. But it achieved
only the UK's humanitarian assistance on HIV, while at the same time the
Junta was facing a new round of economic sanction from the US. This was
compounded by a potential mass uprising inside Burma due to economic
mismanagement. Simple calculus drove the Junta to crackdown on the NLD and
the result was Depayin massacre. At the same time, there are doves and
hawks in the Junta’s hierachy. The soft-liner and reformists led by Khin
Nyunt see things more pragmatic to resolve the problem than hardcore
hardliners who just simply thought they are winning. So the argument is
that, if Daw Suu is released next time, there is a need for the US to make
some concession such as lifting the sanctions and so on. Since American
sanctions are the only biggest power-chip the oppositions have, they are
targeting it, as a sort of a one good term deserves another. The rationale
is because the Junta is so powerful that there is no way to rescue the
hostage (Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD) except to pay for the ransom.
If that is the case the big question is are we going to reward a terrorist
government? Even if so will the international community stand with folded
arms?

Paradoxically, some of the self style Burma expert or rather the home
grown scholars danced to the tune of the Junta by calling for compromise
justifying that it does not tantamount to total surrender. It is quite
hilarious to read such statement, when Ko Myat Soe asks a simple question
“compromise with whom, where and how? Perhaps, these scholars have
accepted the Junta’s logic of inviting the NLD without releasing Daw Suu.
U Tin Oo, etc,  not to mention thousands lingering in jails.

These so called scholars, Burma expert and academic activist or whatever
name they profess seems to forget that we are struggling for national
liberation. Our epic struggle is to be free from the boots of the Burmese
army for the attainment of democracy, prevalence of human rights and for
national self-determination. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself has never
forgotten this Hculean task and in replying to the Junta’s proposal has
asserted an independent enquiry of the Depayin Massacre. This implies that
she wants the truth to be known not only by the people of Burma but also
by the international community. Whether to bring justice to the guilty or
not is entirely another matter. This shows that she was not endeavouring
to narrow down the conflict but to stand squarely behind the people for
justice and righteousness. Hence, if our avowed leader has shows the way,
we the ethnic nationalities who has been exploited and tricked into the
system to be subjected to ethnic cleansing should do more in speaking for
justice and righteousness.

Clause 5 of the Panglong Agreement clearly states that the signatories of
that conference especially the ethnic nationalities believe that they were
assenting to early independence from Britain and not the Burman
interference in their internal administration. Cooperation did not mean
integration or submission. Clause 5 preserves explicitly their existing
autonomy status. The whole ethnic nationalities residing in the Union of
Burma are struggling for this prime purpose in as much as our pro
democracy compatriots are struggling to be free from the vehemently hated
Junta. Our struggle is simple, national solidarity for democracy and the
prevalence of human rights with unity in diversity. Hence we are against
the thinking of these scholars and lackey who construe everything from the
position of conflict resolution and equating our morality. We have chosen
to die fighting rather than chose to live on our knees and we remain so.

The international community judge and history will judge us that we are a
prime example of honourable people who chose to die fighting than to
submit to the current regime which is complicit in narcotics trafficking,
ethnic cleansing, forced labour, gruesome abuse of ethnic minorities and
the violent suppression of free speech and political opposition.

(The views expressed here are solely the opinion of the author. Kao-Wao
Editor)

________________________________________________________________

EDITORIAL

Issue cover dated April 15, Far Eastern Economic Review
Will Burma's Generals Get Honest?

Forget the national convention; Burma should recognize the 1990 election
results

AUNG SAN SUU KYI will be released from house arrest. Maybe. Arriving in
Bangkok earlier this week, Burma's foreign minister, Win Aung, told
reporters that the dissident leader would be released before the May 17
start of a national convention to draft a new constitution. Now, since
even the generals running Burma know that the national convention will
have no legitimacy unless it includes the participation of Miss Suu Kyi,
this is at least some hope for her gaining freedom soon.

Miss Suu Kyi and other senior members of her National League for Democracy
have been held by the military since a bloody clash last May between a
pro-junta mob and her supporters in northern Burma. Initially, the lie
from the junta was that she was being held for her safety. The truth is
that a Miss Suu Kyi free to travel the country proved too popular with the
people and unnerved the junta.

Forced by international reaction to Miss Suu Kyi's detention, the junta in
August announced plans to revive the national convention. The first one
was suspended in 1996 after the NLD walked out, rightly accusing the junta
of manipulating the process. Even if Miss Suu Kyi and her NLD are invited
back to the new convention, it remains to be seen if the generals have
mended their ways. The dictatorship has lied so often about its intentions
to get honest that there is no choice except to remain sceptical until
proved wrong.

In the previous convention, the junta sought a constitution that would
give the military 25% of seats in the lower house of parliament, control
over the upper house and a veto over policy. Most of the 700 convention
participants were hand-picked by the military--only 86 participants
represented the NLD, which has been the legitimate government-in-waiting
since overwhelmingly winning the 1990 elections that the junta nixed. In
short, the generals were seeking a veneer of legitimacy for continuing
their grip over life in Burma. There is little to suggest that the junta
is now willing to contemplate any diminution of its substantial power, or
to allow the convention to conduct open-ended negotiations.

Certainly, the signs are that Miss Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner,
soon may be freed. Reports are that secret meetings have been taking place
between her and members of the junta. Ordinary Burmese and their friends
outside the country look forward to Miss Suu Kyi's release. But we'd be
even happier if it came with the junta's acceptance that Burmese long ago
made a choice that democrats like Miss Suu Kyi should lead the country,
not unelected generals. What Burma needs isn't a revived national
convention. The country cries out for recognition of the 1990 election
results.

____________________________________________________________

REVIEW

April 8, Asian Review of Books
Heart of darkness: A Land Without Evil by Benedict Rogers - Paul French

Benedict Rogers is a journalist; he is also a human rights activist and a
committed Christian. As an activist with the human rights organization
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) Rogers has taken the movement's motto
-- "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" (Proverbs 31:8) --
to heart in writing A Land Without Evil.

Rogers writes with an agenda that is open and obvious but no less
persuasive for that. The book, subtitled Stopping the Genocide of Burma's
Karen People, is a powerful piece of investigative journalism vividly
documenting the catalogue of atrocities committed by Burma's ruling
military regime (the State Peace & Development Council or SPDC) against
the Karen people as well as being a vital piece of evidence in the case
demonstrating the human rights abuses of the military junta.

Burma, once one of Asia `rice bowls', is now one of the least developed
countries in the world -- in a recent Corruption Perceptions Index report
from Transparency International Burma ranks 129th out of 133 countries
globally. The clampdown on freedom, individual rights and the press in
Burma has rendered the Karen people, along with the other ethnic groups of
Burma such as the Chin, Kachin, Karenni, Mon, Arakan and Shan, not to
mention the Burmans themselves, all too often invisible to the outside
world.
The approximately three million Karen people have been left to fight a
civil war with the Rangoon government, a government that has now been a
military dictatorship for over 40 years. The result for the Karen has been
a formidable struggle but also impoverishment, displacement, early death
and exile. The Karen face a Burmese government that has remained
impervious to foreign criticism, steadfast in its determination to stamp
out resistance while continuing to drag the country down into a pit of
economic collapse -- in just one telling statistic the SPDC's last budget
apportioned 50% of government finances to military spending and just 0.5%
to education.

Rogers is clearly drawn to the Karen due to the impact of Christianity on
the people. He recounts the successes of the early Christian missionaries
to the Karen who found a people with a startlingly similar tradition.
Conversion rates were high, missionaries helped developed a written form
of the Karen language and then, of course, produced the Bible in Karen.

The modern history of the Karen, according to Rogers, seems to be largely
one of fortuitous meetings with committed Christians. The first missionary
to reach the Karen was Adoniram Judson, an American who got his first
Karen convert in 1819. Later the Karen were confronted with British
Colonel and committed Christian Orde Wingate who formed the `Chindits' and
organised resistance to the Japanese occupation of Burma during the Second
World War. Wingate was followed by Major Hugh Seagram who, after the
British retreated to India, stayed behind in Burma to organise resistance
among the Karen with a Bible under one arm and a gun under the other
apparently. One can only wonder what the Karen who rallied to the
resistance call made of leaders like Seagram and Lieutenant-Colonel
Cromarty-Tulloch who organised the anti-Japanese struggle from the jungle
in silk pyjamas and a monocle.

Certainly two things become clear in Rogers' fascinating history of the
interaction between the Karen and various Christians that crossed their
path. First, when the Karen opt to do something they do it in numbers. The
rate of conversion to Christianity among the Karen was extremely high
while during the Japanese occupation the Karen responded rapidly and
en-masse to the British call to join the resistance -- 500 joined the
British forces on the first day, 1,000 the next.

The second point is how forgiving the Karen have been. The Karen sided
with the British during the war (who were after all also their colonial
masters). After the war when the Atlee government rushed to dispose of the
empire, with what some called `unseemly haste', the Karen were rapidly
deserted by London. This betrayal incensed the British officers who had
worked with the Karen during the war though the Karen themselves accepted
it seemingly stoically. Despite appeals for a separate Karen homeland or
guarantees of Karen rights in the newly independent Burma, London
resolutely ignored all pleas. A certain Colonel Osborn, another British
officer that fought with the Karen, lobbied fruitlessly in London on their
behalf and was later to declare "I didn't think for a moment that we (the
British) would let them down as we did."

And let the Karen down the British did, spectacularly and largely
offhandedly. The British had already agreed to hand Burma to Aung San
after the war despite his long anti-colonial stance and siding with the
Japanese. Still things got worse for the Karen in 1947 when Aung San was
assassinated and the new Prime Minister U Nu declared himself resolutely
against a Karen homeland. By 1948 the British were assisting in trying to
disarm the Karen while simultaneously the Burma Army was slaughtering
Karen Christians on Christmas Eve. The formation of the Karen National
Union (KNU) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the start of
an armed struggle for survival were by then inevitable. Rogers details the
extent and the depth of the British betrayal of the Karen and London's
repeated ignoring of the Karen struggle ever since.

With the coming to power of Ne Win (the mastermind behind Aung San's
assassination) things went from bad to worse for the Karen and drove a
seemingly insurmountable wedge between the Karen and the ruling Burmans.
As Rogers' says "The wounds of history were too deep for the Karen to
consider being ruled by the Burmans." The Karen struggle quickly became
ever more deadly with the killing by the Burma Army of Saw Ba U Gyi in
1950, one of the fathers of the Karen struggle. Since then the struggle
has intensified, and according to Rogers, the Karen's Christianity (at
least among the leadership of the KNLA) has meant that a desire for
liberation has remained strong while the movement was able to resist the
pull of Maoist communism that attracted so many liberation struggles in
the 1960s. By then there was no going back anyway following Ne Win's coup
and the complete departure of any semblance of democracy from Burma.

Rogers recounting of the Karen struggle is detailed and covers the lives
and motivations of the rank and file fighters (often Buddhists rather than
Christians) as well as the leaders. Rogers also tackles the problems that
have been created for the Karen struggle internationally with the brief
rise of the headline grabbing Johnny and Luther Htoo, the child soldiers
who led the strange "God's Army". The twins, aged eight at the time,
claimed to have had a vision from God commanding them to lead the Karen
against the Burma Army.

For those less inclined to Christianity than Rogers, the issues of such
phenomena as the Htoo brothers and the extreme beliefs of some Karen
Christians as well as the problems of Christian-Buddhist relations within
the Karen people are worthy of more discussion. For non-believers the
seemingly frequent occurrence of miracles, messages from God and heavenly
signs can appear bizarre.

Where Rogers is more convincing is in reminding us that in a world
seemingly awash with good causes it is crucial not to forget the Karen,
Burma and the entire Burmese people. Rogers is also keen to show that the
ultimate resolution of the struggle lies in a widespread realisation of
the common purpose of all the ethnic groups of Burma. Contacts between
Burman pro-democracy activists and the Karen have been ongoing since the
1980s and the identification of the common enemy as the regime rather than
the Burmans is essential. The sham elections of 1990, the house arrest
imposed on Aung San Suu Kyi and the mass arrests of political activists,
students and union leaders by the junta should all build unity between the
Burmans and the other ethnic groups.

Rogers call for unity is succinct: "The army must be taken out of
politics, and placed under the control of an elected, civilian government.
All the forces of opposition to the evil regime in Rangoon can unite
around that goal, to bring an end to tyranny and build a new, free and
just Burma."

Benedict Rogers's book is an activist's book and an advocate's text. It is
also a historical record of the travails of the Karen people over their
50-year struggle (and as such would have benefited from the inclusion of
an index for reference purposes) and their continuing problem as a largely
displaced people. Rogers declares that the Karen "...may be displaced, but
they are undoubtedly not misplaced." His book goes a long way to reminding
us all of the cause of the Karen and the help they need.

________________________________________________________________

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS

Language and National Identity in Burma
Justin Watkins (SOAS, London) and U Saw Tun (NIU, DeKalb)

We have been asked to prepare a chapter on Language in Nationalism in
Burma/Myanmar for a book "Language and National Identity in Asia" to be
published by Oxford University Press.

We are keen that our piece should be as inclusive as possible and are
writing to a broad constituency of people with Burma connections to ask if
there are any useful pieces of information, or facts, or comments, or
sources of information which you would like to share as we prepare to
write the chapter.

We are interested in topics including, but not limited to the following:

- conflict or competition between languages in Burma
- situations where different languages are used in different domains of life
- any links, perceived or actual, between language use and personal identity
- individual accounts of the use of several languages
- nationalism and language use
- the relative status of different languages, or Burmese and other languages
- the use of Burmese compared to other languages, both in public and in
private
- languages which are not indigenous to Burma - Chinese and Indian
languages, etc.
- languages and the law; languages and human rights; languages and
education; languages and administration
- recent or predicted changes in language use
- sources of statistics or analyses of language use

Please submit your suggestions, concerns and comments - long or short - to
Justin Watkins at jw2 at soas.ac.uk, and please include the word
"Nationalism" in the subject line of your e-mail.  While we will be
extremely grateful for all comments we receive, we cannot, of course,
promise to represent all views in the chapter we write.  All comments
will remain confidential and anonymous, unless you prefer otherwise.

Many thanks
Justin Watkins and U Saw Tun

Dr Justin Watkins, Lecturer in Burmese, School of Oriental and African
Studies, London WC1H 0XG

office  020 7898 4254, fax     020 7898 4399, mobile  07958 001827

http://www.soas.ac.uk/SouthEastAsia/Burmese
AHRB Wa Dictionary project, http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/wadict/

[PLEASE EMAIL JUSTIN WATKINS DIRECTLY AS ABOVE AT jw2 at soas.ac.uk – ED]