One Year after Siege of Burmese Embassy
source : Czech Press
By Maxmilian Wechsle
October 2, 2000
On October 1, 1999 the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) seized the Burmese embassy in Bangkok and took hostages. The drama ended the next day. All hostage were freed and the VBSW gunmen flown by a helicopter to the God Army base.
Exactly one year later the vast majority of the Burmese dissident leaders agree that the embassy siege was a major setback for the whole opposition movement as the sentiment of the Thai government and the population turned against it.
The US State Department issued strongly worded statement deploring the siege.
Only one foreign mission in Bangkok benefited from the siege as piles of secret document were delivered to them directly from the Burmese embassy. How this was arranged is a mystery.
The biggest losers is the God Army, a group led by two young Karens Johnny Htoo and Luther. The God Army was exploited and tricked by the VBSW. They promised new uniforms, food, medicine, weapons and ammunition to them in return for their support. None of their promises materialized.
Kyaw Ni a.k.a. Johnny who led the VBSW gunmen in to the Burmese embassy was able to establish a close friendship with Johnny Htoo by supplying him with the cigarettes. Johnny Htoo is a chain smoker despite his young age.
In a letter dated October 12, 1999 and addressed to the Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, the VBSW apologized for their action and explained their motives behind the embassy takeover.
In the sign of a reconciliation with the Thai government, the VBSW returned a pistol seized from the Special Branch policeman inside the embassy. The handing of the pistol to the Thai official was done on behalf of the VBSW by the God's Army military commander Shwe Bya at Takolan.
This gesture by the VBSW encouraged the Thai government. A team of Thai negotiators was
dispatched on November 4, 1999 to meet with the representatives of the VBSW and persuade them to surrender.
The Thai officials met with Kyaw Ni and Pida urging both to give up. Several VBSW members who arrived from the Maneeloy camp appealed to their comrades to give up and negotiate the terms of the surrender. Kyaw Ni and Pida refused and demanded to negotiate directly with the Thai Prime Minister.
The Thai officials couldn't accept his condition. Making the situation even worse, the unarmed Thai negotiators were humiliated during the surrender
talks by about 30 God Army soldiers who encircled them inside the Thai territory brandishing loaded weapons.
After the talks broke down the Thais didn't retaliated against the God Army, even having the capability to do so. The VBSW gunmen and God Army soldiers were allowed to walk back several kilometers to their camp inside Burma.
After the Ratchaburi hospital incident on January 24, 1999 the God's Army soldiers became even more disillusioned with the VBSW and started to question the promises made by Kyaw Ni of better life and plenty of everything. In fact, their living conditions of the God's Army deteriorated since that.
Johnny Htoo and Luther finally realized that their association with the VBSW is leading them to a disaster and withdrew their support. Johnny Htoo who always accompanied Kyaw Ni, abandoned him.
This move initiated a split within God's Army and 10 of their soldiers, including Shwe Bya, formed the Democratic God's Army (DGA) in March .
Kyaw Ni planned to strike against the Thai government facilities at any cost to revenge the death of his close friend Pida and other comrades at the Ratchaburi hospital. He targeted an oil refinery somewhere in Thailand. Fortunately the DGA didn't possess the capability to strike inside Thailand.
Kyaw Ni decided to kidnap four Thai workers employed by the Thai mining company contracted by the SPDC inside Burma in May. The DGA demanded cool Baht 5 million ransom from the company but settled for Baht 2 million. After they were paid the hostages were released unharmed. This incident
was never reported even the Thai authorities knew about the kidnapping.
The Karen National Union (KNU) made a lot of efforts starting from October 1 to convince their Karen brothers in the God 's Army that had chosen the wrong path by joining with the VBSW in their struggle to free the Karen people from the SPDC terror.
Unfortunately, the God 's Army started listening to the KNU too late when the damage was done already. The God's Army managed to make headlines from several degrading interviews which didn't help their cause. They were presented to the public like a fanatical religious group.
As for the DGA, they are facing a grim future. Without any support they will vanish sooner or later. The group is suffering from the shortage of food, medicine, ammunition and Kyaw Ni himself suffering from a serious skin disease. Obviously, the ransom money don't benefit them. There were some
questions concerning his mental state while lived at the Maneeloy camp.
The events which started on October 1 of last year proved that it is also the political leadership not just the barrel of gun that the Burmese opposition must employ in order to achieve their objectives. There is no place for the extremists.