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He claims that Kachin foot soldiers have little to eat while the leaders, particularly Zau Mai, grow richer by the day, from logging and mining ventures. By concealing the details of such dealings and by failing to adequately explain the organization’s policies and agreements with the junta, the KIO has drawn the contempt of many in the ranks and of the population at large, according to Bawmwang La Raw. “The KIO has wasted a decade by not talking about the politics and that’s anathema to the Kachin people,” says Maran Zau Aung, an opposition MP from Wai Maw Township in Kachin State who now lives in the Thai border town of Mae Sot. “The way KIO leaders treat their people is similar to the junta.” But that may not be entirely N’ban La’s fault. Since taking over he has been unable to effectively control KIO, in part because he lacks political clout with Rangoon. Vice president Gauri Zau Seng and “vice chairman 2” Dr Tu Ja, however, do have close relations with the junta. The two expressed full support for the government’s roadmap for political reform, the first step being the reopening of the National Convention, tasked with drawing up a new constitution. Five delegates have already been appointed as the KIO’s National Convention delegation. But the decision to attend the assembly, scheduled to start May 17, has polarized the Kachin leadership. Testing Times Army chief N’ban La blames Bawmwang La Raw for January’s failed putsch, claiming he wanted to replace KIO leaders with his own men and withdraw the organization from the National Convention. The constitution-drafting assembly, which first opened in 1993, was adjourned in 1996 after the National League for Democracy, Burma’s main opposition party, walked out in protest at provisions that guaranteed the military a major role in any future government. Because opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters have not yet been formally invited to the National Convention, Bawmwang La Raw doubts that the junta is any more sincere this time around. If Rangoon doesn’t give ground this time, he says, the KIO delegates must be prepared to walk out. Maran Zau Awng says the KIO has neglected the rights and disregarded the will of the Kachin people by supporting the convention. “When the people no longer support them, KIO leaders will be as useless as a stone on the side of the road,” he said. The elected MP from Burma’s 1990 general election is among those calling for the aging leadership to make way for younger blood. After the January coup, two comparatively younger officers with sway over the Kachin youth in the army took a step closer to that end. Former deputy secretary Col Gunhtang Gam Shawng became general-secretary and former vice commander of the KIA’s 3rd Brigade Col Sumlut Gun Maw was appointed his deputy. Both men are around 50 years old. Some Kachin observers have tipped them as future leaders of the KIO, but the incumbents are not willing to hand over the reins just yet. At the January summit of elders, youth leaders and party officials (ongoing as the mutineers stormed the HQ at Pajau Bum) a proposal was floated that leaders should work more closely with the public. It was flatly rejected on grounds that “outsiders” must first pay their dues in the organization before they can expect to have a say in the decision-making process. “Everyone has to become a member first to prove their dedication to serving the KIO,” said vice chairman Dr Tu Ja. Assassination Nation On February 26, two days after the tenth anniversary of the ceasefire with Rangoon, the KIO got a sharp reality check when vice chief of staff, Col Lazing Bawk, was killed by a bomb that ripped him and his bathroom apart. No culprit was identified. There are two schools of thought regarding his assassination—the first holds that a group of disgruntled Chinese businessmen may have been responsible. The KIO granted numerous logging, mining and gambling concessions to local and Chinese investors. Lazing Bawk played a key role in awarding the contracts and he was widely rumored to have profited handsomely. According to Kachin sources, KIO officers were in the habit of arbitrarily changing the conditions of signed deals and in some cases canceling concessions and commandeering the assets. The second school holds that Lazing Bawk’s own soldiers fragged him. He had earned a brutal reputation for purging all potential rivals by discharge or death and was universally feared by his subordinates. Regardless, the mutiny has sewn the seeds for further splits. Maran Zau Seng, a Kachin youth leader who attended the KIO leaders meeting and who was accused of helping to plan the revolt, thinks the assassination and attempted coup resulted from the widening divide between KIO leaders and the majority of the Kachin people, particularly over the ceasefire issue.