Pariah pounces on photo opportunity
Min Aung Hlaing got a rare opportunity to post photos of himself with senior officials of foreign governments after security chiefs from the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) paid a courtesy call on the pariah junta leader on Thursday.
Security chiefs from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand and the BIMSTEC general secretary, who are in Myanmar to attend the 4th BIMSTEC National Security Chiefs’ Meeting in Naypyitaw, visited Min Aung Hlaing.
Thursday’s visit marked the first by high-ranking foreign government officials to Min Aung Hlaing since he assumed the position of acting president of Myanmar, adding to the unwieldy collection of official hats he already wears for the current regime as military chief, State Administration Council chairman and prime minister.
Of the BIMSTEC countries, the Myanmar junta has particularly close ties with India and Thailand. Junta Foreign Minister Than Swe attended the first BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Thailand last year, and the second earlier this month in India.
Min Aung Hlaing pounced on the opportunity presented by Thursday’s meetings with BIMSTEC officials to outline his preparations for a poll he has vowed to hold next year. India has been helping the regime with its electoral process. It is also a major supplier of arms to the regime along with Russia and China.
Murderous tyrant with a heart of gold
Min Aung Hlaing’s capacity for jaw-dropping hypocrisy was once again on full display when he urged young people to “have a good heart” during a junta-organized event in Naypyitaw on Monday to honor students who did well in this year’s matriculation examination.
It’s hard to know what the young high-achievers made of such advice coming from a man who has for the past three years overseen a campaign of terror against civilians, and whose forces have hunted and killed democracy activists with deliberate “head shots”, jailed thousands, torched countless villages, and bombed schools, religious buildings and healthcare facilities.
The words ring doubly hollow given that Min Aung Hlaing was driven to stage the 2021 military coup by naked greed for power and his jealousy of the nationwide popular support enjoyed by the National League for Democracy government he toppled.
The coup has thrown Myanmar into turmoil, and many young people have lost their futures as a result.
Since seizing power, the regime has killed hundreds of peaceful young protesters, students, student union members and activists, as well as many young resistance fighters, and handed lengthy jail sentences to many young people simply for opposing its rule.
On the very day that the junta boss urged the students to have a good heart, ailing acting President Myint Swe handed over his duties in that capacity to Min Aung Hlaing, leading people to joke bitterly that the latter was lucky to have such a “good heart”.
A chip off the old ‘information’ block
Major Zaw Min of the Myanmar military’s information team on Thursday denied reports that the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) had seized control of Mogoke and Lashio, respectively, during the second phase of Operation 1027.
Zaw Min—not to be confused with the notorious (and similarly named) junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun—is a new face on the propaganda team.
His claim amused Myanmar people who are used to hearing similar denials from Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun. After the MNDAA seized Kunlong town, the gateway to Kokang in northern Shan State, during the first phase of Operation 1027, Zaw Min Tun claimed that junta troops had made a “tactical withdrawal” in order to entrap MNDAA troops.
After pictures of MNDAA soldiers posing in Kunlong town were widely circulated on social media, Zaw Min Tun said they secretly entered the town to take the photos.
Zaw Min, borrowing a page from his boss’s playbook, said a video clip showing Mogoke residents welcoming the TNLA and allied troops was created by disloyal striking government employees for propaganda purposes, and that security forces were doing their best to repulse the enemy attacks.
He also denied reports that Lashio had fallen and that junta soldiers there had surrendered, insisting that battalions in the city were tactically regrouping and redeploying, and the regime would have things under control soon. (He made no mention of the fact that the regime instructed civil service employees to move to Taunggyi in southern Shan State a week ago.)
The MNDAA on Thursday announced it had taken over administrative control of Lashio, and urged public sector employees, teachers, and healthcare workers to return to their duties.
Whether it’s Zaw Min Tun or Zaw Min speaking, the effect on the audience is the same: people just assume that the truth is the exact opposite of whatever the junta’s spokespeople have to say.
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The regime boss has assumed acting president duties, which are required to rubber-stamp another extension of emergency rule. Read more
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