Praise rings out for Burmese defector in US, but some smell a rat

It’s hard not to be bemused by the timing and nature of the recent defection of a top Burmese diplomat in the US. In a letter yesterday, Kyaw Win, the embassy’s deputy chief of mission in Washington, told Hillary Clinton: “…my conscience would no longer allow me to work for the government.” He is now seeking asylum, fearing retribution if he returns to Burma.

Until yesterday, Kyaw Win had been a solid career diplomat with more than three decades experience in the Burmese foreign ministry. That a man so familiar with the machinations of the regime takes so long to acknowledge that “democratic change under this system will not happen in the foreseeable future,” as the letter laments, is somewhat mystifying. But the timing of the decision, during a period when Naypyidaw is winning plaudits from key international players for seemingly little, appears on the surface a bold statement of protest.

“When I first began my service in the Foreign Ministry I thought that, over time and perhaps with the help of my efforts, the military would ease its grip and send Myanmar [Burma] on a path to greater political pluralism,” he wrote in the letter. “However, the truth is that senior military officials are consolidating their grip on power and seeking to stamp out the voices of those seeking democracy, human rights and individual liberties. Oppression is rising and war against our ethnic cousins is imminent and at present, threats are being made against Aung San Suu Kyi — they must be taken seriously.”

He follows in the footsteps of Aung Linn Htut, a former senior intelligence officer and top diplomat who quit his post in 2005 and claimed asylum in the US. Aung Linn Htut now works as a part-time analyst and is outspoken about the regime and his intelligence work – whether Kyaw Win will join the dozens of government and military defectors whose protests cast them as pro-democracy heroes remains to be seen. Dr Maung Zarni, an academic at LSE and founder of the US-based Free Burma Coalition, told me that Kyaw Win was “long disillusioned” with the regime, “as most career diplomats are”.

“He is a decent guy who has spoken his mind to other Burmese whom he came into contact with,” Dr Maung Zarni said. Kyaw Win reportedly thought the election last year a small positive step, and generally shunned international confrontation, but after the vote “realised he was fed monkey meat”. Zarni met the former diplomat several years ago and “was surprised how candid he was with me about his views of the regime, and I suspected then it was a matter of time before he defected”.

His decision to publicly defect now will perhaps have more impact than prior to new government coming to power, signalling as it does high-profile dissent within the ranks despite consistent promises of progress from the Burmese prime minister. Some, however, smell a rat: Derek Tonkin, the former British ambassador to Thailand, and who now runs Network Myanmar, commented that the speedy release of the letter, which was carried on RFA and VOA on the same day, is suspicious.

“[It] strongly suggests to me manipulation by hawks in the US determined to sabotage any hope of detente in US-Burmese relations,” he posted on DVB. “It is highly unlikely that the letter was written solely on Kyaw Win’s personal initiative without help and support from US official sources. His asylum application could have been handled quite differently.

“I bet that Derek Mitchell [mooted US envoy to Burma] and Kurt Campbell [a US diplomat with long-time interest in Burmese affairs] are furious at the way in which their mandates and missions have been undermined through what has been deliberately handled as a propaganda coup. Kyaw Win was clearly of no intelligence value as he would otherwise have been whisked away and not heard of for weeks if not months. I wonder if Mitchell and Campbell were even consulted,” Tonkin said.