At military academy graduation ceremonies, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing is often heard imploring new officers to turn themselves into good, brave soldiers whom the country can rely on, and to protect Myanmar at the cost of their lives and limbs.
However, Min Aung Hlaing himself—despite his boasts to the contrary—barely demonstrated any fighting capability when he was a young officer in the Myanmar military. He was involved in just two major battles, playing insignificant roles in both.
When near the front line, he was known to carry a Buddha figurine hoping it would ward off death, in an early sign of the superstition that Myanmar people frequently see him exhibit today.
Truth behind the boasts
After graduating as part of the 19th intake of the Defense Services Academy in December 1977, the young Min Aung Hlaing was assigned to Light Infantry Battalion 313 (then known as the 1st Shan Rifles) based in Yangon’s Hmawbi under the command of the 77th Light Infantry Division.
In an interview with pro-military media outlet Popular News ahead of the election in November 2020, Min Aung Hlaing boasted that the battalion had a long history of turning out military officers who later became government and military leaders.
Former President Thein Sein was also assigned to the 1st Shan Rifles after his graduation, and former military spy chief General Khin Nyunt served as a company commander in the same battalion. “I was raised in the 1st Shan Rifles,” Min Aung Hlaing said proudly.
In 1979, under the command of the 77th LID, the 1st Shan Rifles were involved in a military offensive known as Operation Min Yan Aung against troops of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in Monglan and Mawpha, a mountainous area now known as Metman Township in what is today Wa State, east of the Salween River. Min Aung Hlaing, then a 23-year-old lieutenant, took part in the battle as an intelligence officer.
Though his role was limited to answering the questions of commanders from headquarters and conveying their instructions to his battalion commander, Min Aung Hlaing later boasted of having accomplished all the duties assigned to him during the operation.
The boast was made in his foreword to a book authored by Colonel Nyunt Swe in praise of General Tun Yi, who spearheaded Operation Min Yan Aung. Col. Nyunt Swe oversaw the operation on the ground as the deputy division commander. Nyunt Swe later served as Myanmar’s ambassador to Thailand and deputy foreign minister. Under the pen name Maung Swe Thet, Nyunt Swe authored several books on Myanmar generals and battles.
Among students of modern Myanmar military history, Tun Yi is synonymous with the Battle of Kunlong in 1971, in which the general rallied his troops to repulse 40 days of “human wave” attacks on the northern Shan State town by the CPB. He was dubbed “Napoleon” by his contemporaries, including then military dictator General Ne Win, as most of the operations he led were successful.
Tun Yi later became the general secretary and then the chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP), the successor to the Burma Socialist Programme Party led by Gen. Ne Win, which had an iron grip on Myanmar for more than two decades as the single ruling party.
In his foreword, Min Aung Hlaing said that in the Battle of Kunlong, Tun Yi established his legacy of preventing the map of Myanmar from shrinking.
In the same book, former President Thein Sein wrote in a separate foreword that Tun Yi set an example for Myanmar military personnel by bravely repulsing the 40 days of attacks by the CPB.
That legacy was shattered late last year, however, when Kunlong fell to anti-regime forces in an offensive that took less than two weeks to achieve its aim. The historic source of pride for the Myanmar military has become an historic humiliation under Min Aung Hlaing’s leadership.
A recent series of humiliating military defeats in northern Shan State, which has seen the regime lose control of several towns including Kunlong, has earned Min Aung Hlaing the nickname “Bo Myauk Shone” (a general who was defeated in northern Shan State). He has also attracted criticism from military supporters, who call him the lousiest leader in the history of the Myanmar military.
Frustrated by these ignominious defeats, military sympathizers have even called on him to step down.
For all Min Aung Hlaing’s boasting of how he took part in Operation Min Yan Aung, and how he accomplished the duties assigned to him, he is only mentioned once in the book about Gen. Tun Yi, in the chapter that describes the operation.
Buddha figurine on the front line
Under the since-ousted civilian government, a netizen with the account name Yan Jingpin wrote on Facebook, “Tell me if you know a battle in which current military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing risked his life to fight. I will give you a top-up card worth 100,000 kyats.”
Angered by this post, retired Captain Win Ko, who served under Min Aung Hlaing, wrote a book titled “Battle of Wan Kha Thit (Kaw Hmu Yar), Which I Fought With the Military Chief”.
The book was counterproductive, however, as it succeeded chiefly in exposing Min Aung Hlaing’s serious lack of military capability and the extent of his superstitious nature dating right back to his days as a junior officer, explaining how he saw omens in everything and describing his blind faith in lucky charms.
After Operation Min Yan Aung, Min Aung Hlaing married Kyu Kyu Hla, a Burmese lecturer at Yangon University of Distance Learning, and subsequently fathered two children—Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon. The two children, now adults, have steadily amassed a fortune since Min Aung Hlaing became the military chief in 2011, monopolizing businesses related to the military.
In 1989, as a captain, Min Aung Hlaing took part in the Battle of Wan Kha Thit (Kaw Hmu Yar) between Myanmar military troops controlled by then-dictator Saw Maung and the Karen National Union (KNU).
The Myanmar military repeatedly attacked the KNU’s Wan Kha Thit base on the Thai-Myanmar border throughout 1989 but failed to seize it. The campaign was halted in 1990 after the Myanmar military suffered hundreds of casualties.
To ward off harm from KNU shells and bullets, Min Aung Hlaing always carried a Buddha statue in the bag of topographic maps that he wore across his chest.
According to Win Ko’s book, Min Aung Hlaing did not lead any missions against KNU troops, and his subordinates feared for his safety, taking special care to look out for him. But “I was sure my pious big brother would be safe,” Win Ko wrote, explaining that Min Aung Hlaing always kept a small Buddha figurine in his bag.
At the front one day, a snake slithered over the abdomen of Win Ko. When Min Aung Hlaing heard about it, he told Win Ko it was an omen that he would overcome danger. “No matter what you do in this operation, you will not be in danger,” Min Aung Hlaing reportedly told Win Ko—an indication of the superstition and blind faith in things like augury that Min Aung Hlaing has harbored since he was a junior officer.
This helps to explain why Min Aung Hlaing reconsecrated Bagan’s 12th-century Htilominlo Temple in 2020 ahead of the election in November that year. It was a move driven purely by his desire to win the country’s presidency in 2021. Traditionally, it is believed that rulers who make offerings at the pagoda will receive divine blessings and enjoy long reigns.
He has also had a colossal Buddha statue, touted as the world’s tallest sitting Buddha, built in Naypyitaw as a form of yadaya traditional ritual. The Maravijaya Buddha statue’s attributes are closely associated with the number nine, which is considered auspicious in Burmese numerology, and is a talisman of Myanmar generals.
Since his coup, Min Aung Hlaing has also managed to obtain a so-called “white elephant” calf and a giant ruby—both of which are traditionally associated with monarchs and good fortune in Myanmar.
He has also performed rituals while reconsecrating pagodas, shouting “Aung Pi!”—a common phrase meaning something like “We did it!” used to mark the successful conclusion of a religious ceremony. But in the mouth of Min Aung Hlaing, the exclamation is regarded as a yadaya, shouted in the hope of magically conquering his enemies.
Three years into the coup, he is still struggling to take control of Myanmar. Dozens of towns have fallen into the hands of ethnic armies over the past four months.
The Myanmar military under Min Aung Hlaing’s command is suffering an unprecedented morale crisis, with junta soldiers having fled across the border into neighboring countries Thailand, China, India and Bangladesh on multiple occasions since last year. The recent activation of the national conscription law, which was created decades ago but never enforced under successive military dictatorships, offers an insight into how Min Aung Hlaing has destroyed the Myanmar military, once widely considered invincible.
