US embassy cable - 05RANGOON185

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000185 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, PINS, BM, Ethnics, NLD 
SUBJECT: BURMESE AUTHORITIES ARREST PRO-DEMOCRACY ETHNIC 
LEADERS 
 
Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (S) Summary: In what could be a significant setback for 
the democracy movement, Burmese security authorities have 
arrested several ethnic Shan political leaders and democracy 
activists, including Hkun Htun Oo, an influential political 
party chief and longtime ASSK supporter.  Authorities have 
also prohibited the country's leading ethnic political 
coalition from commemorating Union Day on February 12.  The 
regime's motives are unclear, but the SPDC may view ethnic 
musings about forming a parallel government, and recent 
meetings among ethnic democrats and cease-fire groups, as a 
threat to disrupt the regime's "road map to a disciplined 
democracy."  End Summary. 
 
SUPPRESSION OF DEMOCRATIC ASPIRATIONS CONTINUES 
 
2. (SBU) According to Embassy sources, in the early evening 
of February 9, Special Branch (SB) officers visited the 
Rangoon residences of Hkun Htun Oo, chairman of the Shan 
Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), and party 
secretary Sai Nyunt Lwin, and detained the two pro-democracy 
 
SIPDIS 
leaders for questioning. 
 
3. (SBU) Two days later, Hkun Htun Oo and Sai Nyunt Lwin 
remain in custody, apparently at SB headquarters, and sources 
indicate they may have been charged as "subversive threats" 
to the State.  Hkun Htun Oo is also a principal leader of the 
United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), the country's primary 
coalition of pro-democracy ethnic political parties. 
Security authorities have also forced the UNA to cancel a 
Union Day dinner planned for the evening of February 12 at 
Hkun Htun Oo's residence, to which the ethnic parties had 
invited NLD leaders and diplomats. 
 
4. (C) On February 10, five SB agents returned to Sai Nyunt 
Lwin's house, ransacked the place for two hours, and 
reportedly confiscated party documents, including speeches 
and statements planned for traditional opposition Union Day 
functions.  According to NLD sources, Hkun Htun Oo was 
scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the NLD's planned 
Union Day event for political party members and diplomats. 
(Note: As of COB February 11, this NLD event will still take 
place and the Chief of Mission and other emboffs plan to 
attend. End Note). 
 
5. (SBU) Ethnic pro-democracy party sources also report that 
security authorities in Shan State arrested on February 8 two 
additional SNLD Central Executive Committee members, Sai Hla 
Aung and Sao Tha Oo, who were reportedly traveling from 
Taunggyi to Rangoon to attend a party meeting.  The two 
detained persons are reportedly being held at the SB office 
in Taungoo, Bago Division. 
 
6. (SBU) Unverified reports also indicate that on February 7 
several pro-democracy activists were arrested in Taunggyi. 
They include U Shwe Ohn; Daw Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein (non-Shan), 
daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister U Kyaw Nyein; U Thu 
Wai (non-Shan), a recently released political prisoner; and 
Saya Mying Than, sponsor of the meeting. 
 
COMMENT: ANOTHER BLOW TO DEMOCRACY 
 
7. (C) The arrest of the SNLD leaders could be a significant 
setback for the pro-democracy movement, in particular the 
apparent arrest of party chief Hkun Htun Oo.  He is an 
influential political leader who has dominated ethnic 
politics for the past 15 years.  His SNLD party, longtime 
supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi, garnered 23 seats in the 1990 
elections, second only to the NLD and ahead of the regime's 
proxy political party.  Hkun Htun Oo, himself an MP-elect, 
has heretofore managed to evade arrest (the vast majority of 
MPs and pro-democracy leaders have spent time in jails or in 
regime security facilities since the 1990 elections) and his 
SNLD party is one of only two pro-democracy ethnic political 
parties that have not been "de-registered" by the SPDC. 
 
8. (S) The regime's motives behind the arrest are unclear. 
However, members of the UNA coalition have in recent weeks 
quietly alluded to undefined plans to announce a parallel 
government.  If the SPDC caught wind of such talk, and 
suspected that Hkun Htun Oo would unveil any such plans on 
Union Day, there is no question that a swift reaction would 
be in store.  Furthermore, Hkun Htun Oo and other UNA members 
have in recent months reportedly conducted secret meetings 
with leaders of ethnic cease-fire groups, purely, they say, 
to discuss generic political issues.  However, there is no 
doubt that the regime, preparing to reconvene the National 
Convention in less than a week, would perceive such 
encounters as a conspiracy to disrupt their "road map to a 
disciplined democracy."  End Comment. 
Martinez