[continued from previous message]

defend the city.



"Big Father's" Big Luck

The nightmare and catastrophe created by the Ne Win Dictatorship was
the source of income and livelihood for many corrupted officials of
the BSPP. Those who benefited from Ne Win's dictatorship
affectionately called him "Big Father". Indeed, Ne Win took advantage
of the foolishness of the non-Burman as well as the mainstream Burman
line of thought. In 1988, the non-Burman passed up the only chance to
defeat the Burma Army. As usual they kept to themselves and their
territory and never aspired to advance on Rangoon. At the moment that
the Ne Win army was incapable of ruling the country, the Karen and the
Mon were attacking each other for control of trade routes in their
areas which brought in trade taxes. Not only did the non-Burmans lose
their only chance to table their demands for equality with an upper
hand, they awakened Ne Win to the realization that he had made a wrong calculation. He was rescued by the incompetence of the non-Burman
groups and the inability of leading Burman politicians to unite
themselves into a force that could assume power.

Seeing he had miscalculated and nearly lost control, Ne Win
immediately carried out what would prolong his grip on the population
of Burma. His first step was to take Manerplaw. Manerplaw, the
headquarters of the Karen National Union, had become the second
capital of Burma. True to his doctrine, Ne Win did not attack the KNU
capital for over twenty years, giving the Karen a sense of security.
The existence of Manerplaw had been one of the excuses for Ne Win to
build up his army. All forces opposing Rangoon had representatives in
Manerplaw which served as headquarters for non-governmental
organizations and international media to collect news items and facts, especially on the human rights abuses of the Ne Win regime. The
realization that the non-Burman, together with the mass pro-democracy
movement, could have taken over Rangoon brought Ne Win to the
understanding that he needed to destroy Manerplaw.

In the past, Ne Win's terms of peace had always been only
"unconditional surrender", knowing full well that the non-Burman
freedom fighters would never give in. But after 1988, Ne Win had no
choice. He undertook what he had never allowed himself in the past; he
decided to sign cease-fire agreements with most of the non-Burman
ethnic groups so that they would no longer pose a threat to his
domain. He allowed the rebels to keep their arms and territory so he
could continue to use them as an excuse to keep his large army to
watch over these freedom fighters.

Ne Win also used the cease-fire agreements to gain access to the
lucrative drug trade of the opium-growing Wa people. In the past the
army was not directly involved in the drug trade. Drug traders were international drug smugglers, mostly Chinese. But the officers of the
Burma Army were involved in transporting drugs. Whereas civilian drug
carriers were subjected to searches, army convoys, and transports were
never bothered. Moreover, the revenue and profits from the
transportation were distributed among the officers. A captain would
give a portion of his drug money to his boss, and that officer would
share with his boss, and so on up the ladder. The cease-fire
arrangement put opium transport and trade securely in the hands of the
Burma Army. The SLORC's announcements of confiscation of drugs and
arrests of drug handlers in the government-controlled news media did
not mean that the government was trying to stop the drug trade. The announcements were supposed to inform the people that the military
government was serious about the elimination of the drug. In reality,
the military was trying to eliminate its competitors.

With this drug money, Ne Win improved the fighting ability of the
Burma Army by buying over $1.4 billion worth of arms and ammunition
from the Chinese. A convoy of trucks transported the arms and
ammunition across the Burma-Chinese border for four months. Within
five years, the Burma Army grew in size from 180,000 in 1988 to
400,000, making it the sixth largest army in the world. In the
meantime, Burma became the poorest country in Asia and the sixth
poorest in the world. Meanwhile, the SLORC reached its lowest point by
becoming the worst human rights abuser in the world.



Conclusion

The Panglong agreement brought together different nationalities to
form together the Union. When the Union of Burma drafted its
constitution in 1947, politics in Burma were dominated by the Anti-
Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) of the Burman. This
constitution betrayed the Panglong agreement, leading to
dissatisfaction among the non-Burman nationalities, who chose to fight
for their separation from the Burman. History has shown that a
betrayal of an agreement can loose bloodshed and all the atrocities of
war on the people. The peoples must decide whether they want to live
in peace and prosperity by respecting one another, or to continue to
dominate each other, which will be the continuation of the present
nightmare in Burma.

Today after 35 years of Ne Win's rule and the practice of the
doctrine, there is so much hatred between the nationalities. The non-
Burmans blame the Burman for the suffering they endured under the Ne
Win dictatorship because they see the leadership under Ne Win
dominated by the ethnic Burman. The Burman on the other hand feels no responsibility because they likewise suffered under the Ne Win
dictatorship and blame Ne Win and the Burma Army for the ills of
Burma. It is therefore impossible to agree on any agenda that might
bring the non-Burman and Burman together. It will take many long
years, even under democracy to bring the nationalities together, in
mutual respect and understanding. Until and unless the Ne Win doctrine
is destroyed, the future of the Union of Burma is doomed. The
destruction of the Ne Win doctrine can be accomplished only by working together, non-Burman and Burman alike towards an honest and trusting relationship.

http://www.rainbowends.org/mmviii/newindoc.htm

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Mizzima News, 20th Sept 2005:

Vum Son

Pu Vum Son Suantak, the outspoken Chin politician and litterateur died
at a Laurel Hospital in Maryland, United States on 19th September
2005. He was 68.

An amateur Chin traditional song composer, Vum Son worked with the
exiled National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma or NCGUB
from 1991 to 1999, was a member of the Board of Consultants of the
Political Affairs Committee of Chinland, and human rights activist
since 1987.

He was also a member of the Zo-Re-Unification Organization since 1995
and served as coordinator and a lecturer in non-violent actions, human
rights and minority rights. Vum Son wrote a book on Zo history in
English and on geochemical exploration of trace elements in German.

Vum Son was born in Tedim Township of Chin state, in the west of Burma
on November 9, 1937. He went to Tedim State High School and completed
his matriculation in 1957. He then joined Rangoon University from
where he graduated in geology and chemistry. He received his master's
degree in petroleum exploration from the Mining Academy in Freiberg,
Germany. He went on to obtain a doctorate in Natural Science from the Bergacademie, Germany.

He represented the Chin Forum in drafting the proposed Federal and
State Constitutions and participated in various Burma-related
seminars.

His political activities involved, among other works, lobbying the US
Congress and Government for the cause of democracy in Burma.

He is survived by a brother Ngo Cin Thawng and two daughters Bianca
and Lianna Suantak.

http://www.rainbowends.org/mmviii/vumson.htm
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