FROM GREEN BAY TO RANGOON
VEST, JASON
From Green Bay to Rangoon U. S. flacks spread goodwill for Burma's junta by jason vest One of the best moments in Inherit the Wind comes when defense attorney Henry Drummond, having established...
...They didn't engage with anybody...
...In a memo to Brigadier General Maung Maung dated June 12, 1995...
...I spoke with the representatives of three Washington-based international law and lobbying firms who said they had been approached by Burmese intermediaries offering them money to work for the SLORC...
...firms...
...We would write scripts for him...
...International condemnation was swift...
...There are times I wonder if this whole thing has been scripted by the guys who wrote House of Cards'' Since 1962, when its military dictatorship first took power, Burma has never stood out as a beacon of human rights and political freedoms...
...The military government also rounded up a number of National Democracy Party leaders, killing, torturing, and jailing several...
...Sent my staff with him to meetings on the Hill...
...For twenty years, Miriam Marshall Segal has been doing business in Burma...
...ally Sadaam Hussein, and Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana...
...Many countries, including the United States, cut off aid to the country...
...government—has gone to great lengths to influence both American public opinion and American legislators...
...Hire an image doctor...
...Before departing the United States for two days of jumps with members of the Burmese military—which has a documented history of enslaving, imprisoning, and executing civilians, particularly those with democratic tendencies—Heyerman asked Jadin for a letter of introduction to Jason Vest is a writer in Washington, D.C...
...The ambassador, U Thaung, signed the contract as a witness...
...When he spoke with Don Kirk, Washington correspondent for the now-defunct Eastern Express, Wolff said that "Richardson's visit was an offshoot" of Wolffs own work for the SLORC...
...A good lobbyist flies below radar, quietly brokering deals, leaving as few traces as possible...
...According to his filing with the Foreign Agents Registration Unit, his mission was to "help improve relations between our two peoples...
...Her most recent endeavor is a joint-venture project with the SLORC—the Myanmar-American Fisheries Company (MAFCo), processors of prawns...
...All three said they had declined because they could not be given assurances that the money they received would °e untainted by drugs...
...Lay returned the favor and, according to the article, Jadin couldn't have been happier with Heyerman's trip, which, in addition to the key, netted the mayor a cheroot cigar...
...As a result of the lawsuit, a number of Segal's private documents have been subpoenaed...
...Lester Wolff, former Democratic Representative from upstate New York, was once the chairman of both the House Asia/Pacific Affairs subcommittee and the International Narcotics subcommittee...
...A sixty-two-year-old construction-company owner and former Army paratrooper, Heyerman had gone to Burma as part of a tour sponsored by Friendship Airborne, a group that sells travel packages to retired military paratroopers...
...Less than pleased with its own showing at the polls, the SLORC promptly invalidated the election...
...In fact, Wolff all but claimed credit for the entire Richardson mission...
...When the SLORC allowed a free election in 1990, 82 percent of the legislature's seats went to the National Democracy Party...
...Right now, investment in Burma is a major political issue...
...Not only did Wolff become U Thaung's new handler, he also used his Pacific Community Institute to sponsor at least five Congressional junkets to Myanmar...
...Brigadier General Maung Maung...
...She details a conversation with Representative Richardson (Suu Kyi's first foreign visitor): "I advised him . . . that you can achieve nothing by force and broken promises, and everything if you keep your word, compromise, and try to be constructive...
...I worked directly with him, I saw him constantly...
...When Segal's secretary accidentally faxed a communique meant for Mitsui to Peregrine, Peregrine filed suit against Segal...
...Not only did Jadin instruct his deputy, David Mennig, to draft the letter, he went Heyerman one better...
...Richardson was the first foreigner allowed such a meeting, and the significance of the meeting could not be underestimated, said reporters...
...ploy...
...On August 10,1991, Van Kloberg & Associates signed a $30,000 three-month contract with the SLORC...
...It was quite clever—the casual observer would think these trips were legitimate, perhaps part of some academic endeavor under the aegis of this Institute, when it is really nothing more than an elaborate lobbying front," says an anonymous State Department source...
...One can only imagine what Drummond would say to Paul Jadin, mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin, regarding Jadin's unique view of human rights...
...Because the government has no money, they're basically looking to the people who do have money to build roads, bridges, and other public-works projects," says Steele...
...Van Kloberg still has four binders full of reports to U Thaung, including letters to editors by Van Kloberg & Associates, letters to legislators, details of meetings between U Thaung and various members of Congress, strategic musings, proposals for intelligence gathering and subterfuge—the standard behind-the-scenes lobbying package...
...In a shrewd political move, Ne Win resigned, bestowing power upon the SLORC, over which many international observers believe he has considerable influence...
...Among other things, the contract called upon Van Kloberg to "arrange meetings between His Excellency [the ambassador] and influential decision-makers...
...Rather than fight the rebels directly, Rangoon brokered deals with heroin-trafficking warlords in the country's more remote regions...
...After Peregrine gained control of MAFCo, Segal and her SLORC associate...
...They don't seem bothered by the fact that it's drug money...
...Internationally, the SLORC's stock plummeted further in 1991, when Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize...
...the lobbyist says, U Thaung stiffed him...
...U Thaung is a little shit...
...Not that it's that big a deal...
...I attempted to contact Wolff several times, with no luck...
...Representative Bill Richardson, Democrat of New Mexico, made a forceful request for an audience with Suu Kyi...
...At no time has this Embassy or its Government ever engaged Van Kloberg & Associates for any purpose whatsoever," the ambassador wrote...
...to the better understanding of the views and policies of the Union of Myanmar and the United States...
...When readers of the Green Bay Press Gazette opened their papers one May morning, some were surprised to find an article commemorating Jadin's acceptance of the key, delivered to him by one Larry Heyerman...
...The SLORC, by the way, provides him with government bodyguards—and access to the SLORC golf course...
...Around this time, legislation regarding financial aid to Burma was pending in the United States...
...The contract also required Van Kloberg to "attract American business investment in Myan-mar and facilitate business transactions...
...The travel packages include jumps with foreign airborne units...
...An imprisoned democratic Nobel laureate, the SLORC quickly realized, is not a good advertisement for international aid or investment...
...Van Kloberg says of his former client, whom he once referred to as "His Excellency...
...I was not aware" of the human-rights violations, said Mennig...
...Wolff is now president of a consulting firm known as the International Trade and Development Agency, which has worked for rightist governments in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia...
...Trips like this] always create opportunities," the Press Gazette quoted Jadin as saying...
...But the General Accounting Office has argued against aid to Burma, since the SLORC is obviously in cahoots with heroin traffickers...
...Using shadowy lobbyists, questionable public-relations consultants, and self-interested American and Burmese private citizens, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) has been busy influencing policy...
...This practice has not dissuaded members of the U.S...
...government who adhere to the drug-war dogma from agitating continuously for Burma-earmarked counter-narcotics money...
...During the twelve days that followed...
...Van Kloberg, who operates out of a posh suite of downtown Washington...
...Nor does this ignorance particularly trouble him...
...The solution...
...What had been trumpeted as a possible indication of SLORC-National Democracy Party reconciliation was, as it turned out, nothing more than a cheap move designed to get the SLORC back into Washington's good graces...
...Mitsui Corporation, and made the following proposal: They would make sure that MAFCo lost money so Peregrine would ^ It was quite clever...
...Since Burma is the world's largest supplier of heroin, interdiction efforts against the country have long been high on the international community's agenda...
...I had him all over the place," says Van Kloberg...
...We did everything for him, and a damn fine job...
...Rangoon's mayor...
...The SLORC permitted a visit, and the press reported it as a sign that the junta might be mellowing...
...While the mayors of a half-dozen U.S...
...Wolff also heads two other groups, both based in New York—the Pacific Community Institute and something called the Honest Ballot Association—neither of which has phone listings...
...1991—when Van Kloberg's work was becoming increasingly public—U Thaung asked the Justice Department to nullify his lobbyist's registration as a foreign agent for Myanmar...
...Though the agency has an Arlington, Virginia, address, the phone records list no such company...
...So what, exactly, did Wolff do for the SLORC...
...In one memo, she advises her SLORC partner to "watch for ex-pats or returning nationals" as they might be democracy sympathizers...
...We want to open the door to international business markets...
...Not only did the ambassador publicly lie about his association with Van Kloberg...
...However, owing to the nature of Burmese politics, such attempts have been futile...
...It then placed Suu Kyi under house arrest...
...I mean, I got him in to see everybody...
...Peregrine Investments Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong firm, bought majority interest in MAFCo...
...allegedly approached a Japanese firm...
...But in recent years, the military leadership of Burma—in conjunction with U.S...
...cities and one state governor have signed laws aimed at curtailing corporate involvement there, Jadin seems to have no idea what Burma's government is like...
...In early 1994, while visiting Burma to investigate narcotics matters, U.S...
...D.C, offices, specializes in consulting for Third World despots...
...This was quickly confirmed by junta honcho General Khin Nyunt, who told a reporter, "We don't see any reason why we should talk to [Suu Kyi] about the country's political future or economic status...
...This memo is addressed to the attention of a Burmese general, suggesting that Segal was acting as a foreign agent...
...I asked deputy mayor Mennig if the city of Green Bay really wanted to do business with such an unsavory government...
...This spring Paul Jadin received a key to the city of Rangoon, the capital of Burma, also known as Myanmar, a military dictatorship with an abysmal human-rights record...
...On the other hand, setting Suu Kyi free would present myriad internal problems...
...In this respect, Wolff is adept...
...Burma activists were astounded by Green Bay's stance...
...But look, an exchange like this has nothing to do with politics...
...Debate in Washington over Burma is, I think, one of the weirdest and least-covered stories in recent times," says a Republican Congressional staffer...
...We don't know anything about other individual governments...
...we'll let you move your heroin...
...If anyone would help the SLORC's image, it would be Van Kloberg...
...Before, the ambassador and his aides wouldn't even leave the embassy because of constant demonstrations...
...That...
...For decades the Burmese government has done battle with a variety of insurgent ethnic guerrilla groups, all of which desire autonomy...
...And then they stiffed me for about $5,000...
...corporations and elements of the U.S...
...Enter Edward Van Kloberg III...
...says Simon Billenness, Asian specialist with the Boston-based Franklin Research and Development (a socially responsible investment firm), on hearing Mennig's comments...
...But Van Kloberg had a falling out with the SLORC...
...Lo's son, who goes by the Anglicized moniker Stephen Law, operates a multinational corporation, Asia World, which not only dominates the Burmese hotel business, but has recently won a contract to renovate the Port of Rangoon...
...According to records in the Justice Department's Foreign Agents Registration Unit, on October 13...
...This is a guy who has obviously done no homework and blunders into a country, thinking he's doing a nice thing when in reality he's lending aid to a brutal junta...
...If the willfully ignorant mayor of Green Bay is any indication, the SLORC may yet prevail in its efforts to burnish its image...
...The contract "essentially puts the port under the control of one of the world's leading heroin traffickers," says Doug Steele, a former writer for the Bangkok Post and co-editor of BurmaNet, an on-line news service...
...I might add...
...There are obviously legitimate busiG ALE nesses in Burma, but when we made it clear that we could not and would not take money unless it was completely divorced from narcotics interests, we never heard from them again," says a lawyer with one of the firms...
...In 1994...
...Wrote him daily, weekly, monthly reports...
...She also makes a suggestion about how to handle the then-imprisoned Suu Kyi: "Perhaps they should advise her to compromise," she writes after posing this sinister question: "If lady is let out, who will take responsibility for her life and lives of others...
...Any you know or suspect," she writes, "harass a lot...
...The contract stated that "controlling authority for this agreement rests with [Van Kloberg] and with Myanmar's Ambassador to the United States...
...The deals work like this: You help us with the rebel problem...
...and to handle all of Burma's public relations in the United States (or, as the contract read, to "counter the unrestrained negative representation of Myanmar and its administration...
...General Ne Win's government responded by slaughtering at least 3,000 people...
...A junta can only get so much public-relations mileage out of Green Bay, Wisconsin...
...The stance of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, she noted, was uncertain, but an "appointment is being set up for me with Vice President Al Gore, so I am now in constructive engagement at the source...
...Apparently, Segal made the rounds of Capitol Hill, trying to drum up support for aid...
...The press did not report that the SLORC's paid agent was traveling with Richardson, and that Wolff had been brokering the Richardson-Suu Kyi meeting for months...
...It was just ridiculous," says Van Kloberg...
...Sick of the oppressive state of things, citizens inspired by Aung San Suu Kyi, National Democratic Party leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, angrily demonstrated in favor of civil rights in 1988...
...Since the interests of these corporations like UNOCAL and ARCO are the same as the SLORC's, lobbyists for these companies are carrying the SLORC's water in Washington, with the help of shadowy PR...
...The SLORC had managed to find a stealthier lobbyist to bear its standard in Washington...
...The casual observer would think these trips were legitimate when they were nothing more than an elaborate lobbying front.* offer it up for cheap, thus allowing Mitsui to acquire the company...
...Jadin gave him a Green Bay key to pass on to U Ko Lay, Rangoon's junta-installed administrator...
...Richardson called it the start of a "positive process of democratization...
...Corporations from all over the world are clamoring to do business in Burma...
...His clients have included Samuel Doe of Liberia, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, one-time U.S...
...Segal filed a report on a trip she had made to Washington...
...says a State Department source, "is probably one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard...
...Although no one in the American press commented on their reaction, Burma activists were appalled by this P.R...
...What infuriated activists still further was Wolff's claim that he was not a SLORC agent, but rather a "consultant" on the SLORC's retainer, hired to combat drug trafficking...
...It really doesn't affect the kind of exchange that occurred...
...These are not details Van Kloberg or any other lobbyist is usually inclined to discuss (even though law requires lobbyists to file their contracts with the Justice Department...
...From Green Bay to Rangoon U. S. flacks spread goodwill for Burma's junta by jason vest One of the best moments in Inherit the Wind comes when defense attorney Henry Drummond, having established that his nemesis Matthew Harrison Brady has never taken an interest in learning anything beyond what is written in the Bible, looks at Brady and remarks: "It frightens me to think of the state of learning in the world if everyone had your driving curiosity...
...Do your homework, for God's sake...
...Reputed heroin warlord Lo Hsing Han is functioning as the unofficial SLORC infrastructure czar...
...Wolff also explained that he had prevailed upon the SLORC to grant Richardson's request...
Vol. 60 • November 1996 • No. 11
