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| AungLynn Htut |
Aung Lynn Htut was born in Rangoon. He became a gazetted officer in the army on Jan. 26, 1978. He was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 1999. He retired from the army in 2000. In 2005, Aung Lynn Htut sought political asylum in the United States after serving as a senior attache in the Burmese embassy in Washington D.C. Recently, an account of his personal experiences in the Christie Island massacre was widely read on the Internet. Lt-Gen Thura Myint Aung, who has been tipped for the position of chief of staff of the Tatmadaw [armed forces], is said to have been involved in the Christie Island massacre. He was a classmate of Aung Lynn Htut at the Defense Service Academy (DSA). Irrawaddy reporter Ko Htwe interviewed him about the massacre and recent officer reshuffle in the Burmese army.
Question: Can you tell us about the massacre that occurred on Christie Island in 1998? Answer: It was concerned with the Indian intelligence agency. We had a regular information exchange between the Burmese and Indian armies. Col Great Wall of Indian intelligence, whose Burmese name was Myo Myint and who was born in Burma, contacted us. We were informed that there were a large numbers of weapons on an island close to the Thailand–Burmese border. So, Snr-Gen Than Shwe ordered us to launch an army operation. Under the command of the then Maj-Gen Thura Myint Aung, Col Zaw Min, who was a tactical commander at that time and now is the joint general-secretary of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and a minister, led the raid with one battalion.
What we found on the island were just 20 or 30 worn or battered guns. We had been told that there were some hundreds of good-conditioned weapons. You could hardly guess how long these guns had been leftover. But, they apprehended 59 people who were civilians and killed them. The most heart rending thing was there were also some kids, ages between 4 and 6 years and a mother who had just given birth, found among the dead civilians. They were in fact just doing some small-scale logging business which they illegally exported into Thailand.
Q: Was Thura Myint Aung a ringleader in that incident?
A: He was the commander of the army. Col Zaw Min was the one who carried out the atrocious act. Navy commander Kyi Min and Air Force Commander Myint Swe were also involved.
Q: Tell us about your personal experiences with the likely-to-be commander in chief Thura Myint Aung during your service in the army.
A: Thura Myint Aung was in the 18th intake class of the DSA, and I was in the 20th. We had four student companies at the academy, namely Aung Zaya, Aung San, Bayintnaung and Anawyahtar. Each company was made up with students from different academic years. I was in Aung Zaya company together with him for two years. Since there were two Myint Aung in our company, we called Thura Myint Aung "Dugyi" (Dumb). Naturally, he was not a bad person, but friendly.
In 1983-84, Thura Myint Aung was honored with the high military title of Thura for his outstanding work as captain in a fierce offensive against Maethawar, a stronghold of the Karen National Union (KNU). After that he served as general staff officer (GSO) at Special Operations Office under Gen Chit Swe. Then he was reassigned to be a company commander at a infantry battalion. Later, he was ordered to serve again as GSO Grade 2 under Gen Chit Swe.
Thura Myint Aung was the kind of person who followed orders exactly without thinking about anything.
Q: What is your personal assessment regarding the recent military reshuffle?
A: In 1997, I encountered a similar event during my service at the War Office that was the purge of some raking officers of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) before the current ruling military council, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Prior to the purge, there were speculations that Gen Tun Kyi, Gen Myint Aung and Gen Kyaw Ba would be dismissed based on stories about affairs with women and corruption.
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