The border dispute cooked up last week by Burma against Thailand is a sham and shameful. The Rangoon generals, claiming great anger over Thai military manoeuvres along the northern frontier, replayed their 2001 tantrum and closed the border. All the way from Chiang Rai to Ranong, the Burmese barricaded trade and immigration posts, stranding thousands of their own and Thai citizens. It had the elements of farce, but sank Burma's international performance to yet another low point.
The Burmese dictatorship gave no warning it would close legal checkpoints. The generals provided no explanation at all. This is entirely in keeping with the anti-democratic principles of the military regime. And that is the point. The Burmese people and the world have put the military junta on the hot seat and demanded that the generals account for their actions. Right at the point they must begin to change the 40-year military dictatorship or face the consequences, the generals have tried to find a way out of demands, and to hold on to power.
This fake conflict with Thailand holds no water. Most people realise that. Burma has simply protested that Thai troops conducted military exercises, inside Thailand. Last year, Thai and Burmese troops actually clashed, in a region where the border is unclear. This time, neither the official protest nor the propaganda statements by government media mouthpieces have claimed Thai troops entered Burma. The most serious act mentioned by Burma was the firing of ``artillery'' by Thai troops _ in fact, mortar rounds are a common occurrence when Burmese ethnic groups clash along the border.
Rangoon may hope the sham fight with Thailand will stall two important duties. The first is its promise to talk seriously with its country's democrats about turning over power from the military to an accountable civilian-run regime. The second is the promise to deal with the drug traffickers flooding Thailand, southern China and the world with methamphetamine drugs and heroin. Despite recent promises to Thailand, to the United Nations and to Burmese citizens, the generals have not moved on these commitments.
Burma has freed Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner. The UN and the diplomatic community have expressed guarded optimism but correctly withheld their applause. Mrs Suu Kyi said last week talks must begin soon on substantive matters. Otherwise, all hopes for a democratic regime will again fade. Freeing Mrs Suu Kyi is no more helpful than holding elections in 1990 and ignoring the result.
Members of the ruling junta have also made careful but real promises to take steps to halt the drug trade. The regime has claimed it will start destroying opium fields this year. Generals have openly courted parts of the United Wa State Army which are not under the control of drug kingpin Wei Hsueh-kang.
Promises from Burma are good to hear. As Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is learning once again, the verbal assurances from Rangoon are no better than the paper they are not written on. Mr Thaksin thought his personal diplomacy with the likes of General Maung Aye and Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt were protection against bloody-minded actions by those generals. He was wrong.
The generals owe their citizens a change from 40 years of brutal military dictatorship. They also owe their neighbours. They cannot continue to run their country on empty promises and erratic violence. Burma had a dozen diplomatic channels to raise any problems it perceived with local, military or national officials in Thailand. Clearly, another agenda was at work. Burma will, of course, halt its drug trafficking against Thailand. The question is when, and how much pain it will cause the Burmese people.