KNU leadership cracks down on maverick

http://jegsburma.blogspot.com/2009/05/knu-leadership-cracks-down-on-maverick.html
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

KNU leadership cracks down on maverick
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By Daniel PedersenHtaw told ‘this is the last time’Karen National Union executive committee member David Htaw is treading on thin ice after an executive meeting called him to task last week in Karen State’s north.A wide-ranging interview he gave to The Irrawaddy in March was at the base of complaints, but it is understood concerns about his behaviour run much deeper.Htaw was told he had broken ranks in the March interview and was not a Karen National Union spokesman.The interview raised eyebrows and gave birth to wild rumours among KNU watchers, with many believing his antagonistic stance towards the current leadership was steeped in bitterness at his standing among his peers.The KNU executive committee yesterday said Htaw had deliberately misled The Irrawaddy, the public and systematically gone about attempting to destroy the KNU’s public image and had interfered with its political structure.Some went as far to suggest he was playing power games to undermine stability.He was given a “last warning” and will now be further isolated from the main body of the central executive, where he has always been considered something of an outsider.He criticised the KNU leadership, newly-elected in October last year, for operating from Thailand.Htaw said KNU leaders should live with their commanders or face dissipating morale among the KNU rank and file.Htaw lives in Chiang Mai and has done so for years.He also singled out the Karen National Liberation Army’s Special Battalions for criticism, saying because they were led only by the late General Bo Mya’s sons, it gave the appearance of a “family army”.He said this did not sit well with soldiers and commanders alike.A senior member of one of the special battalions was left perplexed by Htaw’s statements, saying: “So where does that leave the special battalions, are we outlaws now?”While a senior KNU figure said Htaw was “not a strong man [in the KNU]” and he did not have the support to wreak havoc, any suggestion of yet another split would be damaging at a time the KNU could ill-afford.But the new administration’s mistrust of Htaw runs far deeper.An office-holder of the central executive was furious about the March interview, saying Htaw “had to be expelled” before last week’s meeting, which ended on May 4.He said Htaw was currently building three houses in Chiang Mai and had been taking spurious advice and money from a non-governmental organisation with open political affiliations.“I told him not to listen to them, but he did not take may advice,” said the KNU heavyweight.Others said Htaw had been a problem ever since the KNU jungle stronghold of Mannerplaw fell in 1995.Htaw also said the KNLA had no more than 3,000 soldiers, a figure hotly disputed by the KNU.The new leadership of the KNU, elected after the death of former chairman Pado Ba Thin Sein last year, is considered by some in the Karen rank and file to be hard line.But others say they have been elected because they will not compromise on principles and, at a time when serious rifts and defections have weakened the KNU and its image, such leadership is much needed.Said one EC member: “You can compromise on many things, and I believe in compromise, but you cannot compromise on a principle.”It is understood only the KNU’s constitution saved Htaw from immediate expulsion.Printed by Permission: Daniel Pedersen Organisation