From: tun@QUARK.SFSU.EDU ((Coban Tun))
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Subject: Burma: SLORC Keeps Burmese in-line
Date: 6 Nov 92 18:44:22 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU

RTw  10/31 2250  FEAR OF JAIL OR THE CHAIN GANG KEEPS BURMESE IN LINE

    By David Brunnstrom
    MOULMEIN, Burma, Nov 1, Reuter - 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, 300 km (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 direct 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 Defence Services Intelligence -- are as active as ever.
    They help enforce martial law provisions that still ban gatherings of more
than four people 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 in 10 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 1,000-1,500 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 Aung San Suu Kyi.
    Aung San Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her courage in
standing up to what the award committee in Olso termed "a regime characterised
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 shut the
office and quickly left.
    Asked why they should be afraid, junta spokesman Colonel 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 and were under daily surveillance.
    There have been persistent reports from diplomats, dissidents and human
rights groups that political prisoners have been tortured.
    One former prisoner said political detainees were frequently beaten by
guards and that those still in jail included many monks arrested during a
crackdown on pro-democracy agitation among the Buddhist clergy.
    The same source said one prominent member of the NLD, Win Tin, had fallen
ill in prison and was in danger of dying because he did not have access to
proper medical treatment.