Many strangers with an official look about them have been turning up in Shan State North’s Kyaukme Township, hometown of Burmese Army missile expert Maj Sai Thein Win, who was among the latest to let out the Burmese ruling military junta’s nuclear ambitions recently, according to local sources.
Several officers were deployed in the town as soon as the news of the junta’s nuclear programme was disclosed by the media in exile and international media last week. The town and the house of Sai Thein Win have been under surveillance by security men since then, said a local resident wishing to remain anonymous.
No one has been arrested till date. But all the family members of Sai Thein Win were summoned by the officers for interrogation, a source told SHAN.
“They did not ask much. They just asked his mom whether or not he [Sai Thein Win] was still in contact with the family,” he said.
Sai is the youngest of four siblings. “He was a brilliant student,” a friend recalled.
Sai finished his high school in 1993 with distinction in all subjects. He then continued his studies at the Defense Service Technical Academy (DSTA). He served in the army for 15 years. He was promoted to the rank of major and was a deputy commander of a military factory in Myaing, which was built to support the nuclear regiment near Thabeikkyin, where, he claims, the regime is trying to build a nuclear weapon. He had specialized in rocket engines after five years of study in Russia.
“The news of Sai Thein Win and the nuclear weapons is very popular among the public now. Everyone talks about him and admires him. But some people are also shocked to learn about the military’s nuclear projects,” said another source.
Among the security officers who visited Kyaukme, one was also reported to have said that he also admired Sai’s courage and his “well done expose.”
A Burma watcher in Thailand said that it was obvious that even the junta’s own army officers were not satisfied with the situation as the country’s revenue is spent mostly on the nuclear project than other welfare projects such as public healthcare and education.
According to the London based International Institute for Strategic Studies’ report released in 2007 Burma spent 0.4 percent of its national budget on healthcare and 0.5 percent on education while almost 30 percent was spent on the military.
