Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05RANGOON1449
2005-12-29 03:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:  

REGIME'S DESTRUCTIVE ATTEMPTS TO CORRUPT YOUTH AND

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI SNAR EAID ECON BM NLD 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001449 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI SNAR EAID ECON BM NLD
SUBJECT: REGIME'S DESTRUCTIVE ATTEMPTS TO CORRUPT YOUTH AND
COERCE PARTY SUPPORT

Classified By: APAO K. Penland for reasons 1.4 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001449

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI SNAR EAID ECON BM NLD
SUBJECT: REGIME'S DESTRUCTIVE ATTEMPTS TO CORRUPT YOUTH AND
COERCE PARTY SUPPORT

Classified By: APAO K. Penland for reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On Dec. 22, Charge Villarosa hosted a small
gathering of high-level NLD women (including four MPs)
representing Rangoon, Mandalay and Mogok cities, Bago
Division, Karen State, Shan State, and Mon State. The Charge
arranged the meeting to gather information on the situation
outside Rangoon and to establish contacts that will serve as
a foundation for the Charge's future travels. The NLD
matriarchs, some who had snuck out of their homes, covertly
boarded trains for Rangoon, and shook the Burmese secret
police assigned to tail them, shared their tales of
government destruction in their region and encouraged the
Charge to come and witness for herself the government's
corruption of youth, coercion of party support, and
destructive economic policies. The regime is "systematically
destroying and destabilizing young people," stated the Mogok
representative. The women all agreed that the regime used
prostitution, gambling and drugs as tools to degrade and
distract the youth of Burma.


2. (C) The NLD high-level representatives also took the
opportunity to encourage U.S. pressure at the U.N. and with
ASEAN. The representative from Mon State stated that the
Malaysian Foreign Minister's precondition for a visit, that
Aung San Suu Kyi be released, is not enough. Suu Kyi must
also be permitted to take an active role in the nation's
politics, she said. If Suu Kyi is not allowed to
participate, said the Mon representative, it would be a big
loss. The Charge told the women that the U.S. would continue
to press for national reconciliation that includes Suu Kyi
and "all members" of the country and political process. The
Charge also denounced the National Convention as a "sham,"
ridiculing the process for not allowing debate, questions, or
full political participation. "You very much need a new

government that serves the people rather than the people
serving the government," said the Charge. END SUMMARY

Regime Encourages Prostitution, Gambling & Drug Abuse
-------------- --------------

3. (C) The Karen State MP said that the HIV/AIDS problems in
her state were very severe. She said the Global Fund never
reached Karen State. (The NLD women said that while the
Global Fund was operating, the government blocked funds from
reaching persons, and sometimes entire regions, known to be
supportive of NLD.) The Karen State leader added that the
regime attempts to distract the youth from current troubles
by throwing street festivals, or "pwes." Pwes are a beloved
tradition in Burma, but the regime is heightening the appeal
of the festivities by encouraging the cease-fire group DKBA
to supply brothels and prostitutes at the festivals, said the
Karen State MP. She said the easy supply and accessibility
to prostitutes is causing an explosion of HIV infections.
The MP said of 20 students tested for HIV in the Karen State,
12 tested positive for the disease. The MP stated she
personally knew of three people from "good homes" who died in
the last month from AIDS. The Charge said she was aware that
providing HIV/AIDS medical care in the Karen state is
extremely problematic, noting that Medicines Sans Frontiers
is going to withdraw from Burma because it received no
government cooperation in accessing the Karen and Mon states.


4. (C) The NLD leader from Mogok also said that HIV/AIDS is
rampant in her region, though not as bad as it is in Karen
State. She said the youth in her city are corrupted by
regime-encouraged gambling. For 200,000 kyat (less than 200
U.S. dollars),an entrepreneur can bribe or buy a "lease"
from the government to operate a gambling facility. She said
the gambling institutions degrade the morals of the youth,
destroy their desire for an education, and leave no room for
thoughts about politics. The women all agreed that gambling
was a big problem throughout the country. (NOTE: From the
last King of Burma who created a lottery system in Mandalay
to present day department stores that offer weekly prizes for
their patrons (the more you spend, the more tickets you
receive),lotteries are a pervasive part of Burmese culture.
In downtown Rangoon, gaming rooms accessible by the most
common person provide video gambling games at which people
can win and lose real money).


5. (C) Drug abuse is the third distraction the regime is
actively encouraging in a ploy to steer the youth away from
politics, said the NLD women. The Mogok representative said
that the regime offers a bounty of 100,000 kyat (less than
$100 U.S.) to each person who hooks a youth "from a good
family" on drugs. The Mogok leader added that
Methamphetamine confiscated by police is simply sold back on
the street by the authorities for a lower price.

Regime's Backward Policies Destroy Farms and Families
-------------- --------------

6. (C) The Bago representative said that the regime's spate
of dam building has been extremely detrimental to farmers in
the region. During the rainy season, when the dams are not
needed to conserve water, the regime opens the dams and flood
surrounding villages and cities. The regime is also strict
in their demands that farmers cultivate only rice, said the
leader from Bago. When farmers deviate from the planned
agriculture to grow beans or watermelon, crops well-suited
for the region, the regime opens a nearby dam and floods the
offending crops out, she said. The Bago representative added
that the farmers are willing to risk the ruination of
non-sanctioned crops because rice, which they are instructed
to grow, does not provide sufficient profit -- especially
after being forced to buy fertilizer and petroleum from the
government. The Mogok representative said most people in the
city support the NLD because of the government's intervention
in agriculture, the few civil officials stationed in the city
to respond to the citizens' needs, and the gem-mining
concessions given to the Wa (who allegedly traffic drugs into
the city).


7. (C) In Chaung Son, an island in Mon State, many Burmese
are forced to migrate to Thailand for work, sometimes in
commercial sex work, to raise enough money to support their
families, according to the Mon representative. Often,
parents are forced to leave their children to fend for
themselves for seasons at a time, the older siblings looking
after the younger. She said the government does not address
the root cause of the problem, but simply erects slogans
discouraging trafficking and migration into Thailand. The
representative suggested a domestic cottage industry program
would be extremely helpful in assisting the Chaung Son
residents in becoming self-sufficient.

USDA Increasingly Trying to Identify Itself as an NGO
-------------- --------------

8. (SBU) Currently the USDA is calling itself an NGO,
though the public is far from fooled, according to the NLD.
During a recent fire in Rangoon in which a purported 2,000
homes burned to the ground, USDA encouraged concerned
citizens to donate through USDA. (NOTE: According to one
Burmese observer, fire trucks were first seen responding to
the scene without water, then had to leave and bring back
water to begin fighting the flames with an old-fashioned
"bucket brigade." Following the tragedy, the regime posted
military at the site to prevent looting. The regime also
closed the site off entirely from view, and an AmCit who
attempted to observe the burn site was dissuaded by the
military.)


9. (C) The Bago representative said that the USDA recently
offered micro-credit loans to the public. However, she said,
as soon as people became organized to accept the loans, USDA
wanted applicants to join USDA and pay a fee for accepting
the loan. While this scheme failed, USDA successfully
coerces party membership in other ways. According to the
NLD, USDA waives the school fees for poor people who join the
regime party. In addition, the USDA forces the top ten
students of each school to join the party, according to NLD.
These students receive an assortment of privileges such as
domestic scholarships. (In one of the saddest examples of
USDA coercion, the party forced its members to pay for USDA
party member uniforms that were never provided.)

NLD Cut Off From NGOs and Social Life
--------------

10. (SBU) Meanwhile, NLD is not allowed to form NGOs, and
any NGO or religious association that invites the
participation of an NLD member can guarantee regime scrutiny
and trouble, say the NLD women. Therefore, NLD members are
shunned by NGOs and religious associations. The NLD says
that if an NLD member attends a wedding or a funeral, the
most basic of social functions, following the event, the
regime is likely to make trouble for the relatives of the
wedded couple or the deceased. The Karen representative said
that although NLD cannot work openly with NGOs, she quietly
receives information from them.


11. COMMENT: While none of the information in itself
offered by the NLD members can be considered surprising, it
is none the less galling that a government has so little
respect, and feels absolutely no sense of obligation, for the
welfare of its people. The information taken together paints
a gruesome picture of a regime that is targeting its youth
for degradation and destruction. An enemy government could
not be much more cruel to the Burmese people than its own
currently reining regime. It is clear that the regime gets
away with these atrocities by restricting the flow of
information between regions and dissident parties. This
underscores the importance of the U.S. Mission to gather
information outside Rangoon, establish a presence in
Mandalay, and assist dissidents in networking and accessing
information. END COMMENT.
VILLAROSA