Briefly, Myanmar’s ‘God’s Army’ Twins Reunite
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANGKHLABURI, Thailand — As children, the twins Johnny and Luther Htoo
were bulletproof and invulnerable to land mines — or so went the story
that briefly made them famous as hundreds of guerrillas followed and
even worshiped them in the jungles of southeastern Myanmar.
Today, more than a decade later, their “God’s Army” is no more, and the
twins’ greatest accomplishment may be that both are still alive.
Luther lives in Sweden. Johnny remains at an unofficial refugee camp in
Thailand, not far from where the brothers were sent after they
surrendered to Thai authorities in 2001. Now 25, Johnny hopes to reunite
with relatives in New Zealand, and Luther worries about their former
comrades.
Members of their Karen ethnic group have long sought autonomy in
Myanmar, formerly Burma, but they have laid down their arms since a
military dictatorship gave way to a nominally civilian government in
2011. Last month, during his first trip back to Thailand since leaving
for Sweden in 2009, Luther said he would fight only if his people were
hurt again.
“It’s not fun to fight anymore, now that I’m afraid to die,” Luther
said. “No one wants to fight unless they have to, you know.”
The legend of the twins began to form in 1997, when Burmese troops
entered their village during a sweep of Karen territory. At the time,
the rebel Karen National Union was in decline.
“We had to defend ourselves because we didn’t like anyone to hurt us,”
Luther said. “We love our motherland, so we chose to fight. We got seven
rifles from the K.N.U. and there were seven of us. We used them to
fight against the Burmese Army. We prayed before we fought, and then we
won.”
They called themselves God’s Army. The boys were rambunctious, but
strict discipline and a rigorous Christian routine were maintained.
There was no liquor in their village, and church services were held at
least once a day.
Journalists who traveled to the small village, Ka Mar Pa Law, saw the
twins living what looked like a child’s pirate fantasy, shooting
tropical fruit off the trees and being worshiped by adult followers who
carried them around on their shoulders.
Probably the most famous image of the twins was taken by an Associated
Press photographer, Apichart Weerawong, when they were 12. It shows
Luther with shaved forelocks and raised brows, puffing on a cigarette.
Johnny stands behind his brother with a sad, soulful gaze.
A joint interview last month highlighted the very different lives the Htoo brothers have led since then.
Luther now lives in Götene, a town about 200 miles west of Stockholm,
where he studied economics, history and other liberal arts subjects and
has had several jobs, including as a caregiver for the elderly, he said.
He married a Karen woman and they had a child, but they later divorced,
and the child stayed with the mother.
“I like Sweden, but it’s very cold,” Luther said. “Cold and snow, but I
like it there because the country is peaceful. There’s no one shooting
at each other and no one hurting each other.”
Johnny settled down to work as a rice farmer, but he returned less than a
year ago to the refugee camp in Thailand where he had stayed with
Luther.
In Thailand last month, Luther tried to learn more about what had
happened to dozens of comrades who disappeared after surrendering.
“Their wives and children have been waiting,” he said. “It’s been 13
years. I think all of them are dead.”
The God’s Army’s fortunes took a calamitous turn after it became
enmeshed with an even more fringe group that led attacks on Myanmar’s
embassy in Thailand in 1999 and a Thai hospital in 2000.
Under pressure from Myanmar and Thailand, the God’s Army quickly fell,
and the boys surrendered at their village. Luther and Johnny stayed
together at a refugee camp in Thailand but were later separated. In
2006, Myanmar state television reported that Johnny and eight of his
God’s Army comrades had turned themselves in. Luther said the truth was
that Johnny had been lured back to Myanmar by false promises of work.
Luther is helping Johnny reunite with their mother and sister, who now
live in New Zealand. “But I will have to talk to a lot of people to make
that happen,” he said. Their father lives in another Thai refugee camp.
The interview was the last time Luther and Johnny would see each other
before Luther returned to Sweden. As they parted, Johnny’s eyes appeared
to well with tears.
“Come on, real men don’t cry,” Luther told his brother. He promised he would see him next year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/world/asia/briefly-myanmars-gods-army-twins-reunite.html?_r=0
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