Responsibility for Bombs Lies with the Junta
By Aung Zaw
November 05, 2002

November 05, 2002—The Burmese government is continuing to aver that several of its diplomatic missions were delivered parcels rigged with mild explosives over the weekend, while maintaining that the letters originated from dissident groups in Thailand.

A senior official from Burma’s Embassy in Singapore confirmed that it received a parcel bomb, and said that the they were the work of political groups trying to incite hatred against his government. Similar letters also turned up at Burma’s diplomatic posts in both Japan and Malaysia.

The Burmese Embassy Counselor in Singapore, Ohn Kyaw, took the opportunity to equate these parcel bombs to acts of terrorism. Shortly after the bomb was defused without harming anybody, he said, "It was an act of terrorist groups which are opposing the Myanmar government, and these groups are based in Thailand."

Other regime spokespeople also took the occasion to finger Burmese exiles living in Thailand—including Lt-Col Nyan Linn, from Burma’s military intelligence. While addressing a weekly press conference in Rangoon, he said, "This is definitely the work of a dissident terrorist group being harbored there [ Thailand] aiming to disrupt peace inside Burma."

But did these alleged "terrorists" have any serious intentions of disrupting peace inside Burma?

What would their motivations be in sending bombs to Burmese embassies abroad?

Singapore police said preliminary investigations of the letter showed it contained a low-grade detonator without any explosives. "Had the letter been opened, it may have caused a mild burn," said a Singaporean police spokesman.

Rangoon’s claim that the letters were the acts of Thai-based terrorist groups has drawn a skeptical response from senior Thai government officials. Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathi voiced his doubts about the origin of the parcel bombs. However, he and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra later ordered a full investigation.

Analysts say that it is quite unlikely that any mainstream opposition group would implement such tactics at this time, given the possible fallout that it could spawn at home and abroad as the international war on terror continues. Opponents in exile went further, saying that the country’s military regime is responsible for the parcel bombs as they attempt to discredit the opposition by portraying themselves as the victim of a terrorist attack. Thai-based Burmese democracy and dissident groups say the bombs were staged by the regime in hopes that Thailand would take drastic action against them.

Just last week, much to the chagrin of the junta, the UN special rapporteur to Burma, Sergio Paulo Pinheiro, was in Thailand to meet with three Shan groups who released the report "License to Rape", which identifies 625 sexual assaults committed in Burma’s Shan State by the Burmese army. Pinheiro, who had completed his third trip to Burma before coming to Thailand, was still in the Kingdom when news of the parcel bombs broke.

The likelihood that Burmese dissident groups in Thailand were involved in such endeavors does not seem plausible as they already face mounting pressure from the Thai government to curtail their activities.

Could it be border-based insurgents? Doubtful. Their targets are Burmese troops attempting to push them out of their territories along the border, nor do they have the capabilities to successfully send explosives through the international mail.

Meanwhile, such allegations from the regime are troubling for the Thai government, which has been busy quelling international fears that Thailand is now home to Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organizations.

Burmese analysts and critics of Rangoon, however, feel the generals may indeed have ulterior motives.

The regime officially gave their wholehearted backing to the US-led war against terrorism recently, and said they are prepared to join the US government in eradicating global terrorism. However, the US still remains one of the junta’s most vocal critics. Senior analysts and Burma watchers in Rangoon say the regime is attempting to prove that they are serious about terrorism in hopes that the US government will ease its sanctions against Burma.

So who are the culprits behind these parcel bombs? While skeptics quietly point the finger at the Burmese government and its elements—the regime’s opposition says the bombs are most likely the work of the government’s intelligence wing. And given the regime’s track record this is not as specious as it may sound.

In 1989, after a bomb was found in Burma’s Embassy compound in Tokyo, the regime was also quick to blame Burmese dissidents. However, after an intensive investigation, Japanese police found that Tun Ngwe, then Counselor of Burma’s Embassy in Tokyo, was behind the bomb. Tun Ngwe was later transferred to Germany.

In April 1997, a parcel bomb exploded at the home of Lt Gen Tin Oo, who was then Burma’s fourth most powerful general, killing his daughter, Cho Lei Oo, when she opened the parcel. The junta immediately accused Burmese dissidents Thomas Gon Aung and Thein Ngwe, who lived in Tokyo at the time, of sending the bomb. However, after yet another thorough investigation by Japanese police, no evidence linking the two to the bomb was ever unearthed.

Before the parcel bomb killed Tin Oo’s daughter, a bomb exploded at a Kaba Aye pagoda festival in Rangoon just minutes before Tin Oo was set to arrive. Opposition members strongly believed that a rival faction within the junta was targeting Tin Oo, who later died in a helicopter crash in February 2001. Despite the crash occurring during bad weather, many people attributed Tin Oo’s death to foul play.

Nevertheless, senior Burma watchers say that the latest accusations by the junta show that the generals in Rangoon are desperate to gain entrance to the international stage, perhaps seeing the war on terror as their ticket to ride. However, it is going to take more than a half-baked scheme for the international coalition against terror to take one of the world’s most oppressive regime’s seriously.