Life with Rangoon and Making connections
Source : Bangkok Post (Mar 08)
Life with Rangoon
It's hardly news that there is no love lost between the Burmese junta and Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, commander of the Third Army in Thailand's North. But it might come as a surprise to some that Lt-Gen Wattanachai's tough line against Burma could see him transferred in a special mid-year round of military musical chairs. Or so go the rumours.
The scuttlebutt has become even more strident since a trip to Rangoon a few weeks back by Gen Pat Akanibutr, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's advisory chairman, where he attended the funeral of Lt-Gen Tin Oo, the Burmese army chief-of-staff and reputedly the fourth most powerful member in the Rangoon junta. Tin Oo died in a helicopter crash near the Thai border.
Gen Pat is said to have had a private chinwag with Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, the junta's, or State Peace and Development Council's, secretary number one. Apparently, the Burmese lieutenant-general felt comfortable enough to make no secret of his extreme dislike of the Thai lieutenant-general.
He also made no bones of the fact that things were unlikely to improve along the border until Lt-Gen Wattanachai, a classmate of Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Surayud Chulanont, was removed from the area.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai has said several times that his command would not push for a meeting of the regional border committee, which he himself chairs jointly with his opposite number across the way, because it is the junta's turn to host a meeting. The last get-together was held in Phuket back in 1998.
The general said Thailand would lose face if the Third Army pushed for a meeting as the latest flare-up along the border was the work of Burma, when its forces overran the border on Feb 9 and seized a forward outpost at Ban Pang Noon in Chiang Rai's Mae Fah Luang district.
Another aide to Gen Chavalit, who doubles as defence minister, said Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt had agreed in principle to push for a meeting of the regional border committee, a precondition, we're told, before Gen Chavalit pops over for a visit with his buddies in Rangoon.
Apparently, the minister's military aides are looking into whether an army officer more amenable to the Burmese position can be chosen to replace Lt-Gen Wattanachai as head of the Thai delegation at the committee meeting, should it go ahead.
The feeling is that things might get even more tense if Lt-Gen Wattanachai is allowed to speak for Thailand.
Making connections
A number of senior military officers monitoring developments along the border with Burma have deep suspicions that last weekend's pyrotechnic display out at Don Muang airport might have something to do with differences between Bangkok and Rangoon in recent times.
One of those claiming to have his finger on the pulse said anyone knowing anything about Burma's heavy military casualties of late and the potential for things turning really nasty along the border at any time could not rule out the possibility of the Burmese having a hand in blowing up the THAI jetliner.
Between 50 and 80 Burmese troops reportedly were killed during a fierce clash at Ban Pang Noon in Chiang Rai's Mae Fah Luang district in the early morning of Feb 10, when Thai artillery laid down a heavy bombardment of a Thai forward outpost captured just the day before by Burmese troops.
Between 200 and 300 Burmese troops seized the outpost, located about 1km inside Thai territory, after an earlier request to use the base to launch an attack against the Shan State Army had been refused.
The fighting at Ban Pang Noon spilled over to Mae Sai township when Burmese troops at Tachilek opened fire on the border town on Feb 10, killing three residents.
The Burmese military junta has denied that its troops fired on Mae Sai. It blames the Shan.
But theorised one Thai officer: "Burmese firing on Mae Sai was directly related to the fighting at Ban Pang Noon since Burmese forces had suffered heavily at the outpost."People surrounding Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra might have their own theories for Saturday's bombing of TG114 at Don Muang, but those providing security along the border are convinced that tensions along our northwestern border and the blowing up of the Boeing 737 are almost surely related.
One senior army officer reckons those responsible for the blast came across the border.
Another with links to the military said senior people with the Third Army, including its commander Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, were putting their money on Burmese agents operating inside Thailand.
"They should be among the prime suspects," said a Third Army officer who thought the bombing was revenge for the hiding the Burmese suffered at Ban Pang Noon.
Not surprisingly, Burmese diplomatic circles are rubbishing the idea that there might be a connection between events up North and at our main international airport. One diplomat said Burma had no scores to settle with Prime Minister Thaksin even if it did have its differences with the third army commander.