Major-General Zaw Min Tun has been assigned the tricky task of covering up humiliating defeats suffered by Myanmar’s junta since the Operation 1027 resistance offensive was launched in northern Shan State on Oct. 27.
Over the last month, the deputy information minister has concocted a string of lies and misinformation to downplay the impact of Operation 1027 and discredit the revolution. Meanwhile, the regime has lost control of hundreds of positions and dozens of towns as junta troops are killed, surrender or flee.
Recent statements wildly at odds with reality have seen Zaw Min Tun dubbed Myanmar’s answer to “Comical Ali” – Iraq’s information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, the chief propagandist for Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003.
The Irrawaddy did some fact-checking to expose the most flagrant lies Zaw Min Tun has told over the past month.
‘Resistance photos, video of Kunlong taken by stealth’
The regime lost control of more than a dozen towns in northern Shan State including Kunlong in the first month of the offensive. Kunlong, which had been under Myanmar military control since independence, is the gateway to Kokang Self-Administered Zone and the Myanmar-China border trade route. The town fell to resistance forces on Nov. 12.
The ethnic Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and allies posted photos taken at the Myanmar military’s tactical command post in Kunlong and Kunlong Bridge. They also posted photos and video of weapons and ammunition seized from junta troops in Kunlong, as well as video of MNDAA troops driving a seized armored vehicle around the town.
Zaw Min Tun used state-owned media to deny the town had fallen, alleging junta troops had conducted “a temporary tactical retreat” and the photos and videos were “taken by stealth”.
The claim of secret photography was immediately rendered ridiculous by resistance images of large weapons caches inside the military’s Kunlong command center, as well as Brotherhood Alliance fighters inside junta cantonment.
Zaw Min Tun has not spoken a word about Kunlong since.
Kunlong is a historic source of pride for the Myanmar military. In 1971, its troops managed to repulse 40 days of “human-wave” attacks on the town by the Communist Party of Burma. The military even produced a propaganda film about the fighting. So, the defeat came as a historic humiliation for junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
‘Regrouping for tactical maneuvers’
The regime has lost at least 250 positions as the resistance offensive expands from northern Shan State to Sagaing Region, and Kayah, Chin and Rakhine states.
In some cases, junta soldiers were defeated and their positions occupied. In others, they fled when attacked, leaving behind their weapons. In the Kayah State capital of Loikaw, junta troops deployed at the university raised a white flag. In Shan State’s Laukkai, the defeated remnants of an entire light infantry battalion surrendered. In Chin State, junta soldiers fled over the border to India.
Zaw Min Tun, however, described the defeats as a “tactical decision to pull out soldiers and regroup”.
‘No emergency preparations in Naypyitaw’
Heavy defeats on multiple fronts across the country have prompted the regime to issue a security alert, warning government employees and war veterans in Naypyitaw to brace for an emergency.
Naypyitaw Council secretary Tin Maung Swe confirmed to Reuters that the order was authentic and he himself had signed it.
The order calls for every ministry to divide staff into two groups, one to conduct rescue and relief operations and the other to keep the administration running.
Zaw Min Tun, however, claimed the order was merely resistance propaganda issued to coincide with attacks. People who wanted to know the truth about Naypyitaw could ask anyone there, he added.
The Irrawaddy took his advice and learned from sources in Naypyitaw that the regime has issued secret orders calling back 14,000 troops from other areas to defend its nerve center.
The Kayah State capital of Loikaw, half of which has fallen to Karenni resistance forces, is only a five-hour drive from Naypyitaw.
‘Loikaw University rector and lecturers murdered’
Resistance groups led by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) clashed with junta troops occupying Loikaw University.
Junta troops used the university staff as human shields, but resistance forces managed to rescue them. Zaw Min Tun promptly accused Karenni resistance forces of killing some of the lecturers. Junta sympathizers also spread false news on social media that Loikaw University rector Dr. Aung Khin Myint had been killed by the Karenni resistance.
Dr Aung Khin Myint debunked the rumors in a video posted on November 20: “I am here together with 194 lecturers and staff from my university,” he said. “Regarding the false news about my death, I want to say that I am safe and in good health here.”
The interim civilian Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC) confirmed that claims the Loikaw University educators had been killed were misinformation.
Zaw Min Tun further attempted to discredit the revolutionary groups by claiming they had attacked the university, a non-military target. In fact, it was the Myanmar military that deployed its troops in the university and also at Loikaw’s hospital.
The KNDF recently returned the university staff and their family members safely to their homes.
‘Pilot not shot down, plane suffered mechanical failure’
A K-8W warplane was shot down by Karenni resistance forces during fighting in Kayah State in the second week of November.
Pilot Major Khaing Thant Moe bailed out and was captured by resistance forces.
But Zaw Min Tun told junta media that a light training aircraft had crashed after a mechanical failure, and the regime had gained contact with the two pilots.
Myanmar Air Force personnel who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement responded with evidence that the regime has been using K-8W jet fighters in air raids.
The KNDF’s deputy commander also confirmed to media that the aircraft was shot down by Karenni resistance forces.
The IEC posted photos of the captured pilot, Major Khaing Thant Moe, saying he was being interrogated and would be held accountable if he had committed any war crimes.
Zaw Min Tun has since fallen silent on the pilots he claimed the junta was in contact with. Co-pilot Zarni Aung remains at large.