Thailand will consider giving humanitarian asylum to Johnny and Luther Htoo, the twin boy leaders of a mystical rebel movement from Myanmar who surrendered with some of their followers, an official said yesterday.
Also yesterday, one more follower of the twins surrendered to the army, bringing to 15 the number of God's Army members in Thai custody, other officials said.
PHOTO: AFP
The twins and 12 of their followers turned themselves over to Thai authorities on Tuesday after a year on the run along the Thai-Myanmar border. The followers included five boys, two girls, one middle-aged woman and four adult men or older teenagers.
"We learned that the reason for their surrender is a lack of supplies and food, and also because they are under pressure from both Myanmar and Thai forces," said Komes Daengthongdee, the governor of Ratchaburi province, where the group surrendered.
Ratchaburi is 100km west of the Thai capital, Bangkok.
For more than three years, the boys had fought to overthrow Myanmar's military government, and their followers believe Johnny and Luther have magical powers that make them invincible in battle. The boys once claimed to have several hundred followers.
"If they ran away from fighting, they will be considered for temporary asylum in Thailand," Komes said.
"But if they entered illegally, they will be charged with illegal entry and pushed back," Komes said at a news conference where the twins and 10 other members were presented.
There was no immediate comment from Myanmar's military regime. Komes said Myanmar has not asked for the extradition of the God's Army leaders and members.
Last year, the Htoo twins became icons for youthful rebellions around the world after the widespread circulation of a photograph showed the angelic-looking, long-haired Johnny posing next to his tougher-looking, cigarette-puffing brother, Luther. The boys claimed to be 12 when the picture was taken in December 1999.
Most, if not all, of the God's Army followers are members of Myanmar's sizable ethnic Karen minority, which has long sought autonomy from the central government.
About 100,000 Karen and other refugees from Myanmar, mostly members of ethnic minorities, live in refugee camps along the border with Thailand after fleeing fighting between rebel groups and the Myanmar army.
Many Karens, like the twins, are fundamentalist Christians, and most of the rebel groups support the pro-democracy efforts of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. But God's Army's unsophisticated political beliefs are mostly driven by hatred for Myanmar's army.
Thailand's military often has ignored rebel activities along the border, but the involvement of God's Army in terrorist attacks inside Thailand has drawn the ire of Bangkok, too.
Yesterday, true to form, Luther Htoo was smoking a cigarette when the child soldiers were presented to the media at the Border Patrol Police headquarters near where they surrendered. He grinned when a reporter shouted his name.
Johnny, with tattoos visible on his arm under a tatty yellow-and-white striped shirt, smiled when hearing his name, but he looked tense.
Both boys looked unhealthy. Luther appeared to be very thin and Johnny seemed to have a bloated belly. Governor Komes said Thai doctors had examined the boys and found they were not sick, but that some of their companions were.
Two of those who surrendered on Tuesday and the one who turned himself in yesterday are suspected of taking part in a Dec. 30 raid in which a Thai border village was looted and six villagers were killed.
God's Army first gained notoriety after it gave refuge to another group of Myanmar dissidents who had taken hostages at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok in October 1999.
The Thais had allowed them to go free in exchange for releasing the captives.
Several months later, members of the same dissident group took control of a Ratchaburi hospital, demanding that the Thai government send medicine and doctors to treat ethnic Karen people injured in fighting with Myanmar troops. All hostage-takers were killed by Thai commandos.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS