God's Army teens: Don't send us to America
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SUAN PHUNG, Thailand, Nov. 25 — Wearing sneakers two sizes too big, Luther Htoo plays a clumsy game of volleyball with young friends who used to fight in his guerrilla band. His waif-like twin, Johnny,leans against the net post to watch the game and grins shyly.
Ten months after they surrendered to Thailand, the 13-year-old mystical brothers who once led the God's Army rebels in neighboring Myanmar are catching up on a lost childhood after three years of jungle warfare. They are confined to a Thai border police base, where they share a small spartan house with their parents and 21 other relatives and followers. They spend idle days playing ball, watching TV and praying. But as the devoutly Christian twins start to enjoy a little peace and security, they face a fresh upheaval.
The Thai government wants them to immigrate to America. Thai officials apparently worry they could be a rallying point for anti-Myanmar dissidents and worsen tensions with its neighbor.
''I'm not going,'' Luther told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview late last week. ''It's no fun there. It's not my home.''
The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok confirmed last week that the twins and their family were being considered for resettlement in the United States at Thailand's request, but said no decision on their future had been made. According to international practice, refugees must agree to be resettled in another country.
Johnny said he wants to go to the Tham Hin refugee camp, not far from the police base. The twins used to sneak inside the camp for an occasional break during their guerrilla days.It's one of the dozen bamboo-shack camps along the 1,250-mile Thai-Myanmar border that house about 100,000 of the twins' fellow ethnic Karens. They are refugees from decades of conflict between Myanmar's military regime and Karen insurgents who seek autonomy for their people.
The overcrowded and squalid camp is no paradise. But for the Htoos and their followers it's the best that life seems to offer. ''I want to stay in Thailand as it's close to Burma and the way of life, and the weather is similar,'' said Pu Goh, the twins' 46-year-old father. Myanmar is also known as Burma.Toh Lay, 46, a former God's Army soldier, added, ''At least at the camp we will be with our own people.''
There are a few Karen communities in California and New York state, but the twins' family has no connection with them.
At the Thai police base in Suan Phung, about 95 miles west of Bangkok, the twins' routine hinges on communal prayers four times a day, when they read the Bible and sing hymns in their native Karen language. They are still seen by their housemates as special — their father continues to call them the ''little commanders.'' But the respect is less overt than at their old guerrilla base of Ka Mar Pa Law in Myanmar, where they ruled with an iron hand, telling followers what to eat and how to behave.
''They have definitely changed. Their life is still dedicated to God, but here they're not required to be leaders. Here they are children. They respect even the older children as their elders,'' Toh Lay said.
The twins' mystical reputation dates back to 1997, when government soldiers entered their home village during a sweep of Karen areas in eastern Myanmar. Johnny and Luther reputedly rallied some locals and directed a successful counterattack. The cheroot-smoking boys became fabled as being invulnerable to bullets and land mines, although Toh Lay conceded they actually never fought themselves and directed their troops from behind the lines by consulting the Bible.
The band of 100 to 200 guerrillas, many of them children, scattered in early 2000 as they came under attack by Myanmar's army and Thailand blocked their supply lines and shelled their village. After nearly a year on the run in the wilderness of the rugged border region, the twins gave themselves up to Thai authorities last January. Other followers ended up in refugee camps. More than 50 are unaccounted for.
The boys, stunted from years of poor diet, are keen to leave adult concerns behind. Johnny, less than 5 feet tall, often looks sullen, but offers up a broad nicotine-stained smile when hugged by a stranger. Luther, who wears a Tom and Jerry shirt and yellow pants with a Mickey Mouse motif, is more outgoing, but still bemused by the attention.
Asked if he wants to be a soldier in the future, Luther is exasperated: ''I'm not grown up yet. What do you want me to think? I'm a kid!''