US embassy cable - 04RANGOON131

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000131 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, MOPS, EAID, BM 
SUBJECT: AN ODD TRIP WITH FIVE BURMESE MINISTERS 
 
Classified By: COM CARMEN M. MARTINEZ FOR REASON 1.5(D). 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  Two Emboffs joined five senior Burmese 
cabinet ministers and others in a four-day, 1,400 mile "Study 
Visit" of border areas and central Burma January 23 - 26. 
Traveling at close quarters with these ministers revealed 
them to be greedy, pampered, highly organized, and 
perpetually exposed to a Potempkin village image of Burma. 
End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) The Study Visit, and annual affair mounted by the 
Ministry of Home Affairs, included seventeen diplomats and 
six UN and NGO representatives.  A main focus of the trip was 
the need for additional assistance to impoverished rural 
border areas that formerly grew opium poppies.  (See septels 
for other aspects of this trip.)  The SPDC seemed to have 
three objectives in mounting the tour: 
 
A) to influence the travel-restricted, Rangoon-bound 
diplomatic corps by highlighting the SPDC's "successes" in 
normally inaccessible parts of the country; 
 
B) to show local potentates, both cease-fire group leaders 
and Burmese military officers, that the GOB is willing to 
help by bringing potential investors and aid donors to their 
areas; and 
 
C) to renew and reinforce the personal patron-client ties 
linking the ministers and local leaders. 
 
3.  (SBU) TIGHT SCRIPTS, BLESSEDLY RELIABLE HELICOPTERS: 
Emboffs and others went into the tour with eyes wide open, 
knowing full well that the trip would be tightly scripted and 
carefully planned with SPDC aims in mind.  The logistical 
coordination was carried off like clockwork, despite remote 
locations, rugged terrain, and the fact that much of the 
territory visited was under the control of cease-fire groups, 
not the GOB.  The group made eighteen takeoffs and landings 
in Burmese Air Force Russian-made MI-17 helicopters (the 
model involved in the 2002 crash that killed the SPDC's then 
Secretary 2).  The two MI-17s were configured with 24 
 
SIPDIS 
aircraft-type seats each and proved reliable, if noisy and 
cramped.  One was built in 1992, the other in 1997, according 
to the aircrews.  A Russian company had a service contract 
until 2001, but now all maintenance is reportedly done by the 
Burmese Air Force. 
 
4.  (SBU) A TYPICAL STOP:  Most of the tour was spent in 
ethnic minority areas of Shan State bordering China or 
Thailand, areas where opium poppy cultivation in recent years 
had been the main agricultural activity.  A typical stop went 
something like this: 
 
-- helicopters land at freshly prepared helipads, visitors 
disembark and are met by cease-fire group leaders, then 
parade down long lines of locals turned out to greet the 
VIPs.  Hundreds of villagers clap, listlessly wave small 
Burmese flags, or chant "Mingalaba" (the typical Burmese 
greeting), though few, if any, of the villagers speak 
Burmese.  The villagers are not smiling. 
 
-- Group approaches a fleet of parked Land Cruisers, followed 
by vans, and a bus or two.  Most vehicles do not have Burmese 
license plates, but sport those of the local cease-fire 
group's autonomous region.  Locals hold placards outside each 
vehicle with the names of the intended passengers--all in 
strict protocol order.  Ministers, ambassadors, and various 
lower life forms mount vehicles, which roar off in a cloud of 
dust to a meeting hall. 
 
-- Lectures begin, usually after a brief welcome by the local 
authority.  Each lecture includes a PowerPoint presentation, 
a statistical compilation of infrastructure built, and a plea 
for additional international assistance.  Juice or pop, 
bottled water, fruit, tea, and savory snacks are on coffee 
tables near each chair.  There are clearly marked flush 
toilets available at every stop.  The Foreign Minister 
usually gets in the last word, then the group dashes out to 
the vehicles to inspect a development project or two. 
 
-- After visiting a rice mill, Japanese-funded clinic, or 
Thai-funded agro project, the vehicles roar back to the 
helipad, where a folkloric troupe dances us farewell.  As the 
gale-force wash of the helicopter blades throws a wall of 
grit and debris over the hapless dance troupe, we lift off 
for the next event on the itinerary. 
 
5.  (C) GI'ME THAT THING, WHATEVER IT IS:  The ministers 
expected to be comped wherever they went.  The group stayed 
in government-owned hotels, a few of which were specially 
stocked with a variety of give-away items.  In Maymyo (Pyin U 
Lwin) the ministers went out for an early golf game and 
helped themselves to new balls, socks, and hats from the pro 
shop, according to an accompanying diplomat.  They got crates 
of tangerines when the group visited a citrus farm.  One 
minister requisitioned leftover promotional satchels at a dam 
construction site and had his batman carry the lot out to the 
helicopter.  After each lunch or overnight stop, the 
ministers' lackeys hauled out bottles of booze, wrapped 
presents, and other goodies. 
6.  (C) VICE?  WHAT VICE?:  Many of the notoriously sordid 
border cities we visited were surprisingly quiet, almost 
deserted.  Our GOB hosts attributed it to Chinese New Year 
celebrations and travels.  However, another Emboff was in the 
border-crossing town of Mongla the day after the Study Visit 
left, and found it buzzing with vice, business, and shady 
characters (septel).  In one Wa town UNODC reps said the 
casino had been closed down the night before the group 
arrived. 
 
7.  (C) NO RESPECT:  Oddly, the ministers were formal and 
very protocol conscious, but fairly discourteous to each 
other.  Often during one minister's lecture, another would 
stand up and begin talking to someone else.  Commerce 
Minister Pyi Sone, wearing four heavily bejeweled rings, said 
almost nothing the whole trip.  He did beam broadly when his 
colleagues announced that the next stop (Mong Ywan) was where 
he had led the successful attack on drug baron Khun Sa's last 
stronghold in 1996.  Foreign Minister Win Aung was a real 
"gas bag," to quote one participant, who always wanted to 
have the last word on any subject.  Labor Minister Tin Win 
twice mentioned, in hurt tones, the United State's 1997 
sanctions, imposed when he was ambassador in Washington. 
Home Affairs Minister Tin Hlaing was the only one always in 
uniform and took a leading role when we met with the Wa and 
Kokang leadership.  Border Areas Minister Thein Nyunt was 
pleased to see billboards featuring pictures of him meeting 
Kokang leaders in the Kokang capital of Laukkai.  In short, 
the group of five always seemed to be jockeying for position, 
profile, or advantage. 
 
8.  (C) PAMPERED: During one long helicopter flight Emboff 
was startled to see a police major jump up from his seat and 
dash toward the front of the aircraft.  No emergency, just 
that Brig. General Khin Yi, Director General of the Burmese 
Police Force, was struggling to get his arm out of his jacket 
sleeve.  When the group arrived at Magway airport to fly back 
to Rangoon, we noted five police officers standing at 
attention in the terminal, all holding long black umbrellas. 
Odd, we thought, since it hadn't rained in Magway since 
September.  When the five ministers began the seventy-foot 
amble out to the aircraft, the Parasol Patrol leaped into 
action, unfurling the umbrellas and running to catch the 
ministers, awkwardly holding them above the ministers' heads 
to keep any strong rays from discomforting the VIPs. 
 
9.  (C) COMMENT:  While many of the diplomatic participants 
were embarrassed or put off by the ministers' attitudes and 
behavior, the ministers themselves seemed to quite enjoy the 
trip.  After the power, fawning, and advantages accruing to 
the ministers under the military regime, wouldn't it be hard 
for them to go back to the barracks and return to ordinary 
soldiering, we wondered?  Despite the nature of the Study 
Visit, Embassy Rangoon's participation was worthwhile for 
several reasons.  It gave us insights to the various 
ministers and their interactions with local authorities, got 
us into remote areas of interest to the USG (such as the UWSA 
capital of Pan San and some sensitive parts of Magway 
Division), allowed us to successfully twist the arms of 
ministers on outstanding bilateral issues, and enabled us to 
see UNODC and other assistance projects in action.  A weird, 
but worthwhile trip.  End Comment. 
Martinez