Burma's military leaders are facing increasing international isolation and internal strife as they strive to strengthen their control. The regime's failure to find those behind last month's bomb blasts in the capital has left the generals reeling.
Massive security measures have been imposed all over Rangoon. Metal detectors have been installed at the shopping malls and hotels. Road blocks have been established along the roads out of the capital almost every 30 kilometres. Buses are stopped and the passengers searched.
''I couldn't sleep on the bus because every time I drowsed off the bus stopped and I was woken up and forced to get off the bus as the soldiers searched the bus,'' complained one recent passenger who had travelled from Moulmein to Rangoon.
The passengers on a flight from Kawthaung to Rangoon were all arrested because the authorities suspected somebody had carried a bomb on the airplane.
The regime has also stepped up its surveillance of the country's internet using the facilities of Bagan Cyber Tech, the company originally owned by the son of the former intelligence chief Khin Nyunt. Firewalls have been upgraded and messages with key words are being blocked, according to a source close to the company. The number of words that are being screened has been increased, and now includes the Karen National Union ethnic rebels and the government-in-exile NCUGB.
In the weeks since the bomb blasts there have been hundreds of hoax bombs. Fake bombs, including newspapers stuffed in bags have been left outside cinemas, malls and hotels, according to a Rangoon resident. The authorities rush to the locations, cordon off and search the area.
There has been a spate of bomb threats to key commercial centres in the city. Letters and even e-mails have been sent. Two weeks ago Yuzana Plaza Hotel, near the Shwedagon temple received more than 40 letters threatening to blow up the shopping stores in the mall.
The internationally renowned Traders Hotel in the downtown area has also been targeted with bomb threats. ''We are all very scared,'' say the staff. The management is certainly taking the threats seriously. They have even taken the unusual step of sending their night staff home in hotel cars for security.
There are signs that further bombs have been detected and defused, according to Asian intelligence sources. But the regime is silent on this. Instead, they have effectively blacked out all news on the event.
Although the junta says less than 20 people died in the explosion, there were more than 60 victims, including several men in green. The bomb blasts in the heart of Rangoon at several key commercial centres has rattled the regime. So stunned and shocked are Burma's military leaders that they are lashing out at everyone: ethnic rebel groups, students, the CIA and Thailand have all been blamed.
There are wanted posters for Muslim men posted around the city of Pegu, about 100 kilometres northwest of Rangoon, according to eye-witnesses.
More than 500 Muslims, mostly in the western state of Arakan that borders Bangladesh, have been detained, according to activists. Several Muslim traders in Rangoon have also been picked up.
But the opposition political activists have borne the brunt of the military's crackdown. More than 600 pro-democracy politicians and students have been detained. At least two have died during interrogation, according to government sources.
''The regime is still in the dark as to who was behind the bombs and are chasing their tails,'' said an Asian diplomat in Rangoon.
Junta supremo General Than Shwe has taken over control of the investigations, but his protege, Rangoon commander and head of the new military intelligence branch, General Myint Swe is in charge of the day-to-day operations with the help of the 11th Light Infantry Division based in the capital.
''The generals do not seem to trust the police to investigate the incident,'' according to Thai military intelligence sources.
In the meantime, the regime is continuing its witchhunt against the family and supporters of the former prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt, who was put under house arrest last October.
His two sons, the businessman Ye Naing Win and the military officer Zaw Naing Oo, have been indicted on dozens of corruption charges.
They are facing more than 400 years in jail when the court passes its judgment later this week, according to sources close to the family. It is almost certain Gen Khin Nyunt himself will be put on trial in the near future. Two months ago, some 40 former military intelligence officers were found guilty of corruption and other economic crimes and sentenced to hundreds of years in prison.
The regime is now stripping them of their wealth and possessions. The families have all been told they can only own one house and one car, according to a source close to the former officers. The wives' jewellery has also been confiscated.
Forty of Khin Nyunt's top officers and aides have been sentenced to more than 100 years in jail for economic crimes and most of their valuables confiscated.
Thousands of other former intelligence officers and foot soldiers are out of work and desperate. Many people have suggested that they may have been behind the bombings, but this is highly unlikely.
This mass sacking of military intelligence and the campaign against Gen Khin Nyunt and his supporters has shocked many in the army.
''It's a form of cannibalism: the army is eating its own flesh,'' a retired Burmese military officer said.
This has all contributed to a growing resentment within the military and government.
''All we are doing is putting innocent people in jail,'' a policeman investigating one of Gen Khin Nyunt's senior generals confided to friends.
Many junior officers in the army are now questioning the country's leaders' ability to rule. ''We would have died for General Ne Win, but not these guys. They only want to hold power,'' an army major recently confided to his family.
A climate of fear exists in Rangoon like never before. ''Everyone is too frightened to talk, businessmen are keeping quiet and several top policemen are lying low and trying to get upcountry for cover,'' says a foreign businessman with close links to the regime.
Several businessmen have been arrested and are being interrogated in the country's infamous Insein prison.
Rangoon has become eerily empty since the bomb blasts. Far fewer people than usual dare step out to shop at the supermarkets, eat at restaurants or attend parties. Taxis drivers are complaining that there are few potential customers. Many of the stalls in Scott's Market are closed and very few people wander around it.
Many Burmese believe the atmosphere is similar to the period before the pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in 1988.
''Burma may be about to implode in the same way the authoritarian Eastern European regimes did more than a decade ago,'' said a senior European diplomat in Rangoon.
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