Depayin butcher not evil: former bodyguard

Politics

Depayin butcher not evil: former bodyguard

A former non-commissioned officer of the Burma Army who used to be Prime Minister Soe Win's security man recently told S.H.A.N. he did not believe his former boss who had organized the 30 May 2003 massacre in Northern Burma's Depayin was a natural born wicked person, writes Hawkeye:

"He is just a soldier who's only doing his job," the 33- year old ex-Corporal Myint Hlaing Oo, Personal Number Taka 711257, who had long been on AWOL (Absence Without Leave) said, "and that is following orders without fail."

He knew Soe Win, then a deputy battalion commander in Pa-an, had also taken part in the suppression of the Rangoon student protesters in 1988. "He did what was told," he said. "He never questioned the right or wrong of his assignment."

In 1990, Soe Win became the Commander of Infantry Battalion 226 in Loimwe, 20 miles southeast of Kengtung, where he had served for one and a half years. "He was totally disciplined," Myint Hlaing Oo recalled. "Always in uniform until the flag is lowered in the evening. I also never saw him smoking, gambling or joining a drinking party throughout his tenure with the 226th."

Incidentally, the first replica of Rangon's Shwe Dagon pagoda was built in Shan State at Loimwe in 1991 following his fortuitous discovery of an ancient alms-bowl full of Buddha images. There are now 9 Shwe Dagon duplicates in Shan State, although few know for what purpose they had been constructed.

Soe Win was also said to be a planting enthusiast. "I remember him once asking every soldier who's on furlough to bring back avocado seeds," he mused.

Gen Than Shwe was so impressed with him, he was placed in charge of all civil and military affairs in eastern Shan State, then still part of Taunggyi-based Eastern Region Command, while its Commander Col Kyaw Win (now Lt-Gen Kyaw Win, Chief of Training) was away. [Eastern Shan State became a separate command, the Triangle Region Command, in 1996.]

"I therefore think he will prove to be a better prime minister for the generals than Khin Nyunt," he concluded.

Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai, during a radio address, had also commented that Thailand would be able to work with the new prime minister whom he had met before and admired, according to a Reuters report.

One Thai observer however brushes off the praises by saying, "The trouble with Soe Win is he's got no brains."

Soe Win, reportedly a native of Shan State, from a Danu tribe, became Prime Minister replacing the deposed Gen Khin Nyunt, on 19 October.