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Thursday 25 December

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US says two banks are laundering drug money 

United Nations, Indonesia tell the generals to reform

Sanctions put on Rangoon for enabling laundering

In a week of setbacks for Burma, the United States put heavy, new economic pressure on the junta by designating the entire country as a money laundering haven. A United Nations report directly implicated the military regime in deadly violence against democracy advocates last May, while Indonesia added a regional demand for a Rangoon timetable to democracy.

_{Drug patrol: United Wa State Army enforcers like these ride in drug caravans to the Thai frontier, where international trafficking begins.}

The US action by the Treasury Department claimed Burma was a money laundering haven for drug traffickers, and ordered all US financial institutions to cut off most deals with Burma. There will be exceptions for cases like aid agencies, education and the like.

But anyone doing business with the United States must legally cease all dealings with two Burmese banks long rumoured to be under the control of drug traffickers. The Myanmar Mayflower Bank is owned by a syndicate believed to have close connections to the United Wa State Army, while Asia Wealth Bank is backed by U Eike Tun, from the Kokang region and said to have close connections with heroin kingpin Lo Hsing-han.

The Treasury Department said the banks “are controlled by and used to facilitate money laundering for such groups as the United Wa State Army — among the most notorious drug trafficking organisations.” They are the first financial houses to be blackballed by US laws against money laundering.

The Americans had previously designated Ukraine and the Pacific atoll of Nauru as money-laundering countries, generally isolating both countries from the US financial system, as well as from companies who do significant business in the United States.

The actual effect of the US actions against Burma remains to be seen. There is no reliable information on how much — if any — legitimate US business is done through the Myanmar Mayflower and Asia Wealth Banks. Both banks have suffered huge losses recently, in a general meltdown of the Burmese economy.

Asia Wealth Bank was also at the centre of an even more troubling report, that loans to Chinese-Burmese businessmen in the North had exceeded the banks' reserves by 50 times. The bank is a sister company of Olympic Construction Co, which has built housing sub-divisions, urban malls and some government agricultural products.

Reports from Rangoon have claimed there is a common belief Olympic Construction funnels investment from leading drug traffickers. The owner of the bank is close to Prime Minister Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt.

The US announcement of the increased sanctions claimed Burma had ample notice from the international community to take action against money laundering of drug money, but had refused. An anti-money laundering law passed last year has not been enforced, US authorities said yesterday. They called the law and other regulations “ineffective and unenforceable, and cannot be regarded as effectively remedying the identified deficiencies.”

The main international group on money laundering, the Financial Action Task Force, gave Burma a one-month deadline on Oct 3 to improve or face sanctions. The US action yesterday morning is the first announced step against Burma.

(Continued at top, column 2)

The US action was unexpected, but still in line with US policy. The Americans imposed a six-year ban on US investment in Burma after the arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi last May.

But a statement against the Burmese regime on Tuesday by Indonesia surprised diplomatic sources. Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda demanded Rangoon announce a public timetable to begin a transition to democracy, and also insisted that Mrs Suu Kyi and her followers be included.

“That (statement) really came out of the blue,” said a Southeast Asian diplomat stationed in Bangkok. “It certainly shows that Indonesia, and maybe Malaysia are really serious about pushing Burma on this.”

The Rangoon regime has announced the outline of a road map to democracy, which will recall a constitutional conference. It has not said when this might happen, and leaders such a President Than Shwe and Premier Khin Nyunt have indicated there will be no chair at the table for Mrs Suu Kyi or her democratic followers.

Indonesia and Malaysia demanded in July that Burma immediately free Mrs Suu Kyi prison and begin talks to become democratic. Since then, Mrs Suu Kyi has been freed — she refuses to leave her house — but hundreds of her followers remain behind bars.

.

_{In recent years, every report on drugs in Burma names Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, No 3 in the junta and recently named prime minister. He is close to many key suspects.}

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations took a soft line towards the dictatorship at its annual meeting last month. But as the chairman of the meeting and an emerging democracy, Indonesia has taken a harsher line, insisting that on freedom for dissidents and immediate negotiations to remove the military from political power.

“We asked (the Burmese government) to release Suu Kyi and later to allow Suu Kyi and her colleagues to get involved in the reconciliation process,” said the statement from Mr Wirajuda issued late on Tuesday.

He was following up one of the harshest United Nations attacks ever on the Burmese regime. Human rights investigator Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told the UN last weekend the situation in Burma was deteriorating.

He also accused the Rangoon regime of direct involvement in the attacks on Mrs Suu Kyi's convoy in the northern town of Depayin last May 30. There were reportedly dozens of deaths when pro-government thugs attacked the convoy. In response, the regime arrested Mrs Suu Kyi and her followers.

The violence “could not have happened without the connivance of state agents,” Mr Pinheiro concluded. And, “What happened at Depayin has deep political implications and constitutes a regression in the area of human rights.”

Mr Pinheiro's criticism was made to a General Assembly committee, in his official report of his trip earlier this month.

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Check out our recent scoops and commentaries before you go.  We have exclusive coverage of Iraq and information never before printed on the Al Anser Islam (Iraq), Jemaah Islamiyah (Southeast Asia)  and al-Qaeda terrorist groups, plus the anti-drug wars of Thailand and Southeast Asia. Click here to load.

Jemaah Islamiyah
scratches for cash

`Hambali embezzled
Bali charity funds'

Terrorists reduced to
common criminals in the
search for operating funds.

It has come clear in recent weeks that factions within the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah have been feuding over an apparent shortage of funds. The terrorists are trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to deal with growing financial pressure at a time they are under a strong push by anti-terrorism forces.

_{Accused embezzler: Associates claim Hambali misused charity funds for a Jakarta bomb attack. This is what he looked like when arrested in Thailand in August 2003..}

Thai and foreign security sources say the continuing interrogations of captured JI leader Hambali and associates arrested in August and last May have revealed that members of the group have diverted funds. Now, short of cash, the terrorists have turned to crime, particularly credit card fraud.

Intelligence officers in Thailand and throughout the region report this is a pattern, and not just a couple of isolated incidents.

In Bangkok, it is believed resentment over misuse of funds within JI could be an important step in finding and neutralising Jemaah Islamiyah and other terrorist cells and operations in the region.

The thinking is simply that if terrorists and recruits have to operate as criminals, whether from the anti-money laundering pressure or their own embezzlements, it could make terrorists easier to detect.

It also removes religious claims by JI members that they hold some sort of moral high ground. That is the argument carefully nurtured and sprung on impressionable young people who are recruited into the terrorist ranks.

The financial problems were first brought up when Singapore authorities questioned Arifin bin Ali, a Singapore citizen who was detained in Bangkok last May 16 and sent to Singapore the next day.

Ali intrigued questioners when he said that JI associates in Thailand had “wasted a lot of money” given to them to scout and fund terrorist attacks in Thailand. Ali's account was that the Thais did a lot of scouting, conducted no actual operations and then reported they had run out of money.

When interrogators shared these notes with US agents questioning JI leader Hambali, and with Malaysian security agents, they found a pattern of similar complaints about terrorist cells in Malaysia and Indonesia as well.

(Continued at top, column 2)

But the most serious charge was against Hambali himself — the charge of embezzlement.

Before his arrest on Aug 11 in Ayutthaya, Thailand, the terrorist kingpin appears to have diverted charity funds meant for the families of the Bali bombers. He used them to finance the murderous bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on Aug 5.

A Thai security source sums up the raft of intelligence analysis this way: “JI appears to be under such strong pressure that they cannot receive or disburse funds properly, and now have turned to crime to finance individual cells.”.

The reports of terrorist poverty are encouraging. Word they have turned to crime is plain good news, and provides a double dividend:

• Cell members would spend less time on terrorist training and recruiting
• Terrorists would expose themselves to more law enforcement.

Officials believe JI members in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have received orders to try to raise funds for their cells and for the main organisation by common credit card fraud. There is nothing original here, just stealing cards or card numbers, purchasing goods and then selling them for cash.

A British newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph, reported last month that Thailand-based JI members shopped Thai members of the group over financial arguments. A Thai defence ministry official said the dispute over funds caused the Singaporean to name the Thai suspects.

That led, in a cascade of success for authorities, to the arrest of Malaysian Zubair bin Mohammed, the seizure of a laptop computer with financial and personal information about JI and then the arrest of Hambali, the nickname used by Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin.

_{The Indonesian bomb maker Dulmatin (left) and Malaysian mastermind Dr Azahari Husin are wanted men, trying to lead the terrorist group and short of money.}

Authorities in Bangkok confirmed that account, and another that JI members were upset that Hambali had subsequently diverted the charity funds sent from al-Qaeda for the JW Marriott Hotel bombing, although they were to help families of the Bali bombers.

Don't forget the daily news on the Newsean Updates page. You can bookmark and return to this page often. It is updated regularly, often daily, with news of Thailand and, especially, its decisions on the war on terrorism.

Check out our recent scoops and commentaries before you go.  We have exclusive coverage of Iraq and information never before printed on the Al Anser Islam (Iraq), Jemaah Islamiyah (Southeast Asia)  and al-Qaeda terrorist groups, plus the anti-drug wars of Thailand and Southeast Asia. Click here to load.

Why Thailand is at 
risk from terrorism

Upcoming Apec summit

is a security nightmare

Here are the main reasons why terrorism is a major worry in Thailand.

The Jakarta terrorist bombing at the Marriott set off a few more alarms in a few more offices in the region. The bombing at the United Nations building in Iraq alarmed some international agencies. But neither caused much sense of public urgency in most centres, including Bangkok.

_{The next most wanted Bomb maker Dulmatin, Indonesian (left) and Dr Azahari Husin, Malaysian.}

• Authorities have taken small steps against Jemaah Islamiyah, mainly thanks to regional and intercontinental anti-terrorism programmes. Arrests in the South and Northeast were encouraging. Authorities appear uninterested in investigating and neutralising the activities of tiny, independent cells which are potential terrorists and willing to offer help to terrorists.

• Small mosques, particularly in the South but also in Bangkok, continue to welcome radical, foreign preachers who condone and encourage violence in the name of religion. They try to set up local branches of foreign sects, and in some cases even arrange for local imams to “talent scout” Thai religious students for terrorist training. In Morocco, authorities expelled radical Wahhabi preachers back to Saudi Arabia after the suicide attacks in May.

• Foreign governments and groups more or less openly fund Thai-language publications that celebrate terrorist attacks and at least come close to egging on Thai Muslims to violence. There have been no known attempts to investigate the publications and their foreign backers, either with an eye to prosecute them for inciting violence or to publicise the hate-filled magazines so a wider public can properly judge their community value.

Thai journalism leaders have made no effort to even bring such rogues under the Press Council, although they insist that this internal, oversight group should be the only regulator of the free print media.

Even government-licenced radio stations supposedly run to explain and promote Islam have encouraged continuous diatribes by a succession of speakers against the war on terrorism and in favour of violence.

Daily programmes present conspiracy theories as truth: Jews hijacked the planes and demolished the New York World Trade Center, the Americans were behind the Bali bombing and the Indonesian army bombed the Jakarta Marriott Hotel.

This is clearly a constitutional violation of media ethics on airwaves that supposedly belong to the people and in fact are under government control.

• Thailand is a breeding place of helpful activities to terrorist operatives. Terrorists and agents must move secretly across borders, produce credible papers when asked, and send and receive funds. The recent appearance of North Koreans in Thailand has put the people smuggling and passport forging rackets back in the spotlight. Testimony at the Bali bombing trials revealed how even known terrorists on regional blacklists were able to move money into and through Bangkok.

• The next few months of Apec meetings, culminating in an October summit, is a protection nightmare.

There is no doubt the security services can protect delegates from Presidents George W. Bush, Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin on down. No doubt they can secure the hotels, dining rooms and meeting halls they will use.

After that, authorities must already be going mad wondering how they can protect bars, restaurants, malls and street markets where thousands of Apec people and families will fan out — and that doesn't help the hundreds of locations where the ordinary public go. These present JI and al-Qaeda with the “soft targets” they have recently chosen as their killing grounds. Even a bomb in Pattaya, say, or Chiang Mai will reflect on Apec and Thai security.

• Physical anti-terrorist measures, ratcheted up to a certain extent following Sept 11, never have been locked down and in recent months has noticably tailed off. Security experts looking at Bangkok International Airport in recent weeks have noticed holes in the system which terrorists could exploit.

• In the important area of being seen to be effective against terrorism, both the government and security agencies have gravely disappointed.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has spoken off-handedly about gaining the confidence of the South and of Thai Muslims, but he has not — publicly at least — made it a point to visit a mosque, and ensure Muslims he knows their religion favours peace and opposes violence.

(Continued at top, column 2)

“Thailand is not a target“ has become a mantra and there is now reliance on it for all the wrong reasons.

Nor has he asked either Muslim Thais in general or the leaders of the Islamic community in particular (including his own interior minister) to help to identify terrorists including foreigners now known to have hidden in Thailand, possibly in their midst.

The security services announced two arrests of seven people in the South and Northeast in June. Then they refused to either discuss details of the cases or to relate them to the war on terrorism in Thailand, the region or the world. If authorities fail to involve local communities, local communities are unlikely to help.

• There is heavy reliance on the mantra that “Thailand is not a target,” for all the wrong reasons.

Facilitating terrorism has often kept the country off the bombing list. Thailand has seldom — not never — been a terrorism target because it is useful to the wrong type of person.

It is easy to enter Thailand, by ground or air. It is simple to survive, legally with carried cash or through stolen credit cards.

All the traits that make tourists love Thailand, make terrorists drool. They can push the limits of their fake passports, credit card scams and thousands of places to meet and go to ground. This has been proved time after time — the imported Iraqi terrorists of the Gulf war, the flight of Ramzi Yousef from the Philippines, the Bali bombing planners — and all the way back to the Black September terrorists who easily gathered and captured the Israeli embassy 31 years ago.

_{The United Nations building goes up in a huge explosion in Baghdad. Bangkok is concerned.}

• Officials rely on that mantra and believe “Thailand is not a target” means forever. On the contrary, objective anti-terrorist sources in the region now state that Thailand is high on the possible target list. Those who speak to terrorists, know terrorism facilitators and have interrogated detained terrorists are unanimous about this.

• JI and al-Qaeda are both at their most dangerous stage right now. Regionally, they are under relentless attack in three countries — Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. In Indonesia they have lost all popular support and their ranks of “foot soldiers” and recruits have been decimated by arrests and fear of exposure by the huge Muslim community. Licking its wounds and trying to protect its turf, the terrorist organisation is likely to strike anywhere to prove both its ability and its manhood.

• The financial war against al-Qaeda and terrorism has failed. Not an account has been frozen, not a financier has been seized and not a counterfeiter has been arrested. And that is the good news.

Heraldo Munoz, the Chilean ambassador and chairman of the UN anti-terrorist sanctions committee reported on July 31 that exactly 64 of the 191 UN members have met their obligation to report what they have done to implement sanctions against Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He politely did not list them, but presumed some of the 64 and all of the 127 have done nothing.

In other words, not only have Thai and regional sanctions failed, so has the entire international effort to deny cash to the terrorist groups.

• Even a cursory look around shows the hodge-podge of security efforts. Airlines now conduct their own passenger checks because they cannot agree with security services on what they should entail. Embassies take their own security steps. Hotels, businesses, government offices, malls, apartment houses — none of these are in any sort of security network, nor under any type of overall supervision. Some are somewhat safe, most are so insecure that security guards are only certain to be the first of many victims in case of an attack.

• It is scary to many people that Thailand has a better anti-terrorism apparatus than many other countries. But this can be no comfort to those who live here. The back of a retreating and increasingly isolated Jemaah Islamiyah, and of international terrorism, will be broken only by a concerted and determined effort at the community, national, regional and international level. Without such an effort, the inevitable loss of life to come should shame authorities responsible.

Don't forget the daily news on the Newsean Updates page. You can bookmark and return to this page often. It is updated regularly, often daily, with news of Thailand and, especially, its decisions on the war on terrorism.

  And coming soon: Thailand headlines for WAP. Stand by.

Check out our recent scoops and commentaries before you go.  We have exclusive coverage of Iraq and information never before printed on the Al Anser Islam (Iraq), Jemaah Islamiyah (Southeast Asia)  and al-Qaeda terrorist groups, plus the anti-drug wars of Thailand and Southeast Asia. Click here to load.

Newsean Exclusive: The world is looking for a workable plan to take nuclear weapons away from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il (left). One plan is to force Pyongyang to at least be a law-abiding international citizen.

Putting a serial recidivist

on parole to the world

If they can't steal,

will they turn honest?

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il and his top aides sponsor the world's greatest state-run criminal gangs, dealing in illicit drugs, counterfeit money and weapons ranging from automatic rifles to missiles.

In recent months, the Pyongyang regime has tried to traffic in material to make nuclear weapons. An attempt to smuggle gear into North Korea via a Thai telecommunications company was foiled last month, but Japanese police believe it was one of several dozen such operations.

The North Koreans have got away with serial international law-breaking for at least two decades. Occasionally, the veil of secrecy of the regime has slipped, to give a glimpse of the serial criminality of the regime.

Thai authorities seized a huge cache of drug-making chemicals in January, 1998, exposing the Pyongyang illicit amphetamine business. Last month, commandos broke up an attempt to smuggle heroin into Australia.

Even earlier, Scandinavian countries broke up a major smuggling operation where North Korean diplomats were raising money by pushing liquor, cigarettes and other luxuries across borders in huge “diplomatic pouches.” Last year, Russia broke up one of several known North Korean money counterfeiting gangs, with fake US currency.

Last December, the world got a close look at the Pyongyang missile trade, which is often illegal but sometimes merely secret because of the unethical dealing.

Spanish special forces, working with their own and the US Navy, dropped on to the freighter So San in the Indian Ocean and seized an undeclared cargo of Scud missiles en route to Yemen. The missiles were eventually released after Yemen confirmed they had the paperwork for the deal.

The So San, which was registered in Cambodia but sailing without a national flag, left North Korea with the missiles hidden under sacks of cement. Officers denied they had any weapons up to the moment the Spanish forces uncovered them. Spain was publicly outraged that the ship and missiles were released, because the shipment clearly broke Spanish law.

For the past 17 years, North Korea has constantly been “arrested” and taken to the world court of opinion when caught breaking the law. But it has received the diplomatic equivalent of parole dozens of times.

Now bragging of its imminent entry into the exclusive nuclear weapons club, North Korea could find itself at the focus of a campaign to shut down its criminal gangs.

US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told the Reuters news agency early this month Washington was “looking at ways to deal with Pyongyang's trade in illegal drugs, counterfeiting and missiles.”

The regime appears vulnerable to criminal charges, even as the US leads efforts to formulate some sort of viable policy that could result in shutting down the hermit's nuclear weapons project.

Mr Gil might get along well in America after his debriefing — provided he hooks up with a New York crime family. He was ambassador to Sweden in 1976 when he was discovered smuggling drugs in diplomatic pouches and expelled. Russia kicked him out two years ago when he was caught using $30,000 worth of counterfeit US dollars to buy caviar.

He has apparently admitted running the heroin smuggling operation, broken up when Australian commandos chased and boarded the ship that dropped off the drugs. A Thai officer who was a member of Special Branch at the time believes Mr Gil directed the violent kidnapping and rampage by North Korean goons in Thailand in 1999.

(Continued at top, column 2)

“We still want to pull North Korea into the world community“
- A diplomat's view of the crisis 

Diplomatic passports and a ferociously pugnacious attitude have generally kept North Koreans out of any courts. Burma managed to catch and try a North Korean terrorist in the murderous 1983 Rangoon Cemetery bombing but the Pyongyang government escaped all punishment, as it always has.

Until now.

Columnist Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post said last week the menu on the plate of US options for North Korea was fudge. Neither hawks nor doves in the administration have come up with a viable plan to separate Pyongyang from its nuclear weapons, even though every country in the world opposes North Korea's development and ownership of such weapons.

That may not be true of the common crimes.

North Korea traffics drugs, sells guns, counterfeits money and orders diplomats to be big-time smugglers in order to raise hard currency.

Diplomatic sources now say they expect a strong US campaign to name, shame and cut off North Korean crime capers.

The theory is that united nations, including the United Nations, can stop most such crimes with a new regime of strong surveillance and public exposure of thieving North Korean diplomats. That would make cash more scarce in Pyongyang, and make it more difficult for Pyongyang to obtain illicit nuclear construction material. Perhaps, it could convince Mr Kim, the leader, to turn to more legitimate, acceptable world trade.

It would also provide leverage, especially for the US, Japan and South Korea to promise aid to the North in exchange for yet another promise to drop nuclear weapons development, although this time with verification.

“We still want to pull North Korea into the world community,” said a visiting diplomat involved in the upcoming Asean Regional Forum and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group.

In fact, the public campaign could begin as early as next month (June) when ARF members hope to directly approach North Korean ministers at their annual meeting in Cambodia.

The problem is stark because both a nuclear North Korea and war are unthinkable. And so is the collapse of North Korea. The South cannot afford to absorb a shattered North overnight, the reason for Seoul's long-standing so-called “sunshine policy” which seeks to embrace North Korea and slowly merge the two zones.

Pyongyang has got away with murder, drug trafficking and theft for decades. Mr Kim has warned that any attempt to sanction his country for nuclear weapons will be taken as a declaration of war. It will be interesting to see how Pyongyang regards an international declaration of war on its crimes.

Update and clarification:

After this story was written, Newsean received friendly word from two readers that there is some doubt over whether North Korean official Gil Jae-Gyong defected, as we report in the left column. Sources in South Korea who reported his defection now have cast doubt on his whereabouts, and one source believes he died three years ago. Newsean is only in a position to pass along information from North Korea, and cannot confirm whether Gil is a defector, a fugitive or dead. We feel our readers deserve this clarification. If we receive further updates, we will pass them along.

With the world spotlight on Iraq, the anti-terrorism focus has hit a vicious terrorist gang based in northeast Iraq. The terrorist leader Mullah Krekar denies links to Baghdad. There is strong suspicion he is lying about that, as well as many other things. The first of a series on Iraq stories is here. But first....

The pressure piles up

on Burma's drug kingpins

On the blacklist at last: Members of the United Wa State Army inside Burma.

Adding to the list

The United States has added the United Wa State Army to the A-list of groups and individuals involved in drug trafficking. The move puts more pressure on the Burmese government to reform or suffer the consequences.

Time is running out for the United Wa State Army, as surely as for its sponsors in the military junta that controls Burma. The US has added the Wa group to its four-year-old list of so-called “drug kingpins.” If anything, this addition is long overdue. The action has two immediate effects. The first is to name and shame the largest and longest running organised drug trafficking gang in the region. The second is to bar all US businesses, banks and aid from all contact with the UWSA. This adds the type of pressure that will force Wa leaders to stop peddling drugs.

It also reminds Burmese authorities of their continuing lack of responsibility. By coincidence, the Wa army — along with two Colombian gangs and four of their leaders — made the list of drug kingpins just two days after the Burmese dictators acted against democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her millions of supporters. The action also happened to come at the start of the annual meetings of the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The disgraceful violence at the beginning of the month against Mrs Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy was a spectacular reminder of how badly Burma has embarrassed Asean over the years. But the regime's refusal to live up to its own promises to reform are just one of its offences. The continuing, expanding making, smuggling and trafficking of heroin and methamphetamines is arguably even worse behaviour. By seeking to addict citizens of neighbouring countries and aiding in attempts to corrupt their leaderships, Burma is clearly committing unfriendly actions.

(Continued at top, column 2)

Serious, serial criminals

It is not an easy task to get on the list of drug kingpins. There are only two other entries from this region, both of them the worst sort of druglords. Khun Sa, the former heroin warlord, is wanted in a slew of countries for drug trafficking, and is under and luxurious full protection of the Burmese regime. Drug baron Wei Hsueh-kang, a Wa and apparently the leader of the UWSA, is wanted both in Thailand and the United States for trafficking heroin and speed pills. The US State Department has a $2 million reward on his head.

It continues to amaze many that the Burmese regime can continue to exert strong and violent control of its citizens on one hand, while claiming that it still cannot combat the drug-smuggling activities of its close allies. The UWSA negotiated an agreement with Rangoon to end its active, armed opposition and drop its public claims for an independent homeland. In return, it seems the generals gave the Wa group full permission to grow, make and traffic narcotics and methamphetamines. The ties between the junta and the UWSA are undeniable. Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, often presented as the most liberal junta member, has traveled to Wa regions to praise the close bonds with Rangoon. Anti-drug experts believe the only unknown issue is how much the Wa pay the junta from their drug profits.

The US decision to name, shame and blacklist the UWSA at last could provide another great impetus to the anti-drug efforts in this region. The three-month crackdown by the government from February through April left drug trafficking and distribution inside Thailand in a turmoil. The US efforts continue to shine publicity on the chief source of drugs and drug gangs in Thailand, as well as international smuggling through China and India.

It also makes clear the ultimate responsibility for encouraging trafficking. Rangoon has indirectly profited from “investment” by major peddlers, including Khun Sa, Wei, and Lo Hsing-han. It needs the drug trade as much as traffickers need a government that tolerates the dirty business. The United Nations has encouraged regime change in Burma for several years. Now would be an excellent time to press the point and encourage a decent government in Rangoon.


Junta member Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt. Is he also addicted to drugs?

Don't forget the daily news on the Newsean Updates page. You can bookmark and return to this page often. It is updated regularly, often daily, with news of Thailand and, especially, its decisions on the war on terrorism.

  And coming soon: Thailand headlines for WAP. Stand by.

Terrorists have never spared Thailand

Did Hambali (above) plan the Bali bombing at a meeting in Thailand?

Attacks and planning

The possibility that terrorist leaders planned the Bali bombing in a safe house in Thailand has caused controversy in Bangkok. Thai leaders say such a meeting was unlikely or impossible, fearing an image problem for the tourist-dependent country.

This underestimates the intelligence of tourists but also demands amnesia. Terrorists have attacked Thailand and abused the country's hospitality for 30 years to meet to plan attacks.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra brought down the wrath of his parliamentary dictatorship and began another round of press intimidation after the Asian Wall Street Journal printed a front-page story of the alleged Bali planning.

The Journal story was neither the first nor the most specific about the allegation that Jemaah Islamiyah mastermind Hambali called a planning meeting in southern Thailand to design and assign the details of the murderous October 12 attack in Bali.

The Financial Times of Britain printed the first report of the Hambali meeting a full week before the November 7 Journal piece. The Associated Press news agency printed far more details than the AWSJ on the same day as the US-owned newspaper.

To many, the story is a detail in the vast detective work of figuring out what happened, in Bali, who did it, and how. To Mr Thaksin, it was a direct slur on Thailand, an example of just how low the foreign press has gone — and he actually said such stories are invented.

All of this, along with a threat once again to pull the visa of a foreign journalist in Bangkok, appeared aimed at intimidation. And the Thai premier was also frustrated when foreign governments made it clear that no complaints or threats would stop them from advising their citizens of the dangers in foreign travel these days, including in Thailand.

Of course, it is still unknown exactly what led up to Bali. Detectives and intelligence agencies from a dozen countries are putting the story together. In time, knowledgable people will be able to tell Mr Thaksin whether Hambali came to Thailand to meet the bombers, as many now think.

In the meantime, a blind man can see that Thailand is as vulnerable as any other country.

Background of terror

In October 1972, international terrorists struck for the first time at Thailand. They struck on the very day of the investiture of the Crown Prince HRH Maha Vajiralongkorn. Black September terrorists seized the Israeli Embassy and took the entire staff hostage.

Thai officials negotiated an end to that drama without casualties. But it was the beginning of a string of terrorist attacks and abuse that make it clear that in these days of the war on terrorism, there is no safe haven.

Thailand has long been known for its hospitality and for its openness to foreign tourists. Tourism is the country's biggest foreign currency earner — even though Thailand is one of the world's half dozen biggest food sellers and exporters.)

Some intelligence agencies including the Thai Special Branch police (santi ban) believe terrorist groups have formally or informally declared Thailand a safe meeting place. This remains open to speculation but two major terrorist attacks were planned in Bangkok. There have also been international terrorists attacks — although the good news is that none has caused major damage. Yet.

Tourists will continue to figure out for themselves if Phuket is safe

• April 1988

Don't forget the daily news on the Newsean Updates page. You can bookmark and return to this page often. It is updated regularly, often daily, with news of Thailand and, especially, its decisions on the war on terrorism.

  And coming soon: Thailand headlines for WAP. Stand by.

A web of violence hides within Asean

Abu Bakar Bashir, widely believed to be the godfather of Jemaah Islamiyah

Jemaah Islamiyah forced out of the shadows

So what is this Jemaah Islamiyah that Indonesia, Singapore and others have asked the United Nations to outlaw?

The Jemaah Islamiyah, commonly called JI, is the overall network assigned to terrorise Southeast Asia. It operates pretty much like al-Qaeda, although there is some angels-on-a-pinhead debate over whether JI is subordinate to al-Qaeda or a close ally of the Osama bin Laden organisation.

JI is organised to operate across the region. The JI first of all is a network of old Muslim extremist groups and new recruits. Some have traditionally wanted independent homelands (like the Pulo group of southern Thailand or smaller Moro gangs in the Philippines) while others want a pan-Islamic homeland across lower Asean, from Zamboanga through Indonesia, Malaya, southern Thailand and western Burma, finally linking geographically to Bangladesh.

Video shows a training camp in Indonesia which motivates recruits and teaches them how to kill

For now, JI uses a number of tactics, all stressing violence and murder and all designed to terrorise the region to gain the upper hand. Up to now, despite violence and thousands of murders, JI has failed to terrorise. But bombings in Zamboanga, and especially Bali, have gripped the attention of Asean, Australia and the world.

JI is well organised, and has grown secretively into a formidable enemy of decent people, in the same way — and using the same general tactics — as al-Qaeda.

The military leader Hambali (right column) has recently organised the region into four main military regions, which he calls mantiqi

1. Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand
2. Indonesia
3. The Philippines, Sulawesi of Indonesia and all of Borneo including Brunei, East Malaysia and Kalimantan province of Indonesia
4. Australia and West Papua

This year, the meeting has twin goals. Members want to help their economy and fight terror. Here is what they will try to do:

• Build up security against real threats, and on the six fronts mentioned above, while they
• Continue to make it as easy as possible for businessmen, tourists and regular people to move across borders and within the 21 members countries.

There is no time for delay. JI is the most dangerous threat to Asean security, growth and civilisation. Nations in the region must unite to combat JI or they will suffer terrible consequences.

JI tactics and leaders

Abu Bakar Bashir is under arrest as this is written, in Indonesia. So far as is known, he is to JI as Osama bin Laden is to al-Qaeda. He is the motivator, facilitator, public spokesman and father figure to the misled young people the JI groups attract.

To extremely casual observers, Bashir is a kindly old cleric and he often has appeared to the press this way. He runs a religious school up-country with classes in hatred of infidels, the glory of combat and the excuses for murderous violence.

(Note that Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has really big Islamic groups. The biggest has 40 million members, the next biggest has 30 million. Both of these groups called for Bashir's arrest as a terrorist. And by contrast, the Bashir school has a few hundred students.)

People familiar with former communist tactics would recognise Bashir as the head of the fronts. They seek to give a presentable face to the organisation, while the real work proceeds underground, led by those with real power.

JI terror mastermind Riduan Isamuddin, aka Hambali

In JI, that would be the Pakistani Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali. He holds the titles of deputy leader and and operations chief in Jemaah Islamiyah. It is certain he has planned and directed murderous operations in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Hambali is free as this is written, although he is wanted on criminal charges in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. He is a longtime al-Qaeda member. He is a member of the consultative council (syura) of both Al-Qaeda and JI.

Not all of the JI are so lucky. Agus Dwikarna of Indonesia went to the Philippines early this year to get together with friends and allies to plot a bombing campaign. As he was getting on a plane to go to Bangkok for the next chapter, Manila security authorities picked him up, and he is currently enjoying a long stay at a Philippines home for the criminally inclined.

Agus carried out bombings in Manila malls that killed 22 people doing holiday shopping in December, 2000. He bombed the Philippines embassy in Jakarta and almost killed the ambassador a little earlier. Apart from Bashir, who is feigning illness and trying to avoid helping authorities with their enquiries in Jakarta, Agus is the highest ranking JI operative out of the picture.

Like al-Qaeda in general, however, JI has a strong and active organisation spread across the region. It is almost certain they will attack again, kill again before Southeast is safe again. Everyone can help by remaining alert. These days, if you see people carefully studying an embassy, a government building or a mall, they could be setting up an attack.

The Straits Times of Singapore had an interesting story on a little-mentioned JI operative. Agus Dwikarna is in jail in the Philippines, and the article is here and should open in a new browser window for you.

Some background of how Singapore busted three JI operations rings is at this site. It details some of the ways terrorists are trained to avoid detection, and claims Singapore had some luck in preventing major destruction.

Don't forget the daily news on the Newsean Updates page. You can bookmark and return to this page often. It is updated regularly, often daily, with news of Thailand and, especially, its decisions on the war on terrorism.

  And coming soon: Thailand headlines for WAP. Stand by.

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