The lights went on when junta boss Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Yangon on Saturday to tell the regional government he appointed to make sure the country’s most populous city has enough power.
“I was wondering why we had non-stop electricity,” a resident of one Yangon township prone –like all the rest – to blackouts, said.
Then he realized the reason: “Min Aung Hlaing was in Yangon.”
The dictator told his appointed government to generate more electricity from any source possible, including gas, the sun and wind, so that the lights will always be on.
At least, they found enough to cover his quick visit.
Rolling blackouts are so commonplace since the coup that they have become – like human shields – synonymous with it. Even Yangon, the commercial capital, has not fared well. Rolling blackouts have become part of daily life there, and across the country, since late 2021. Even when residents are warned in advance that a temporary blackout is imminent, the supply of electricity (or lack of it) often veers from the announced schedules.
Still, that did not stop Min Aung Hlaing from previously announcing that an electric-powered metro rail system would be built in the city and a fleet of electric buses would appear on its roads. If the laughter this announcement provoked could have been turned into energy, Myanmar would have far more fuel to export to Thailand than it already does.
Timing has never been Min Aung Hlaing’s strong suit. He’s running out of power in northern Shan State, not Yangon – at least yet. It seemed pathetic for him to instruct his officials in the regional government there to deliver more power to residents when his depleted military only has enough energy to raise the white flag in northern Shan State and frontlines elsewhere.
In Yangon, planned electricity cuts vary in time from one township to another. However, in residential areas, power cuts have doubled from four hours a day to at least eight, on average. Blackouts in some neighborhoods are far longer and impossible to predict, residents say.
Min Aung Hlaing has taken no practical steps to curb the power crisis he magnified. He prefers making absurd statement. He shared what he may have thought was an insight with the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises in Yangon on Saturday. In Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, he told them that their factories can only produce when they have enough electricity.
Most are relying on diesel generators, which is pricey considering the high cost of fuel since Min Aung Hlaing seized the reins.
Min Aung Hlaing often blames resistance forces – “terrorists” to use his term – for power outages. He accuses them of targeting the national grid. Last year, his regime arrested hip-hop musician Byu Har for criticizing Min Aung Hlaing’s handling of the power supply. The Yangon-based musician was given 20 years in jail.
The junta boss has also blamed the previous military-backed government led by his senior – former-general Thein Sein – for putting certain electricity-generation projects on hold. On Saturday, he called on the Yangon Region government to complete, as swiftly as possible, a project to produce electricity from waste at Hteinbin dump. That project was initiated under Thein Sein’s administration.
Min Aung Hlaing has been turning to Russia, China and Laos for help to solve the country’s electricity crisis. He’s even on his third energy minister in less than three years.
Hong Kong’s VPower – which opened power plants under the National League for Democracy government he ousted – ceased operations in Myanmar following the coup. The LNG vessel owned by VPower supplying its power plants in Myanmar left the country in March last year.
Min Aung Hlaing admitted last year that his regime could not even meet half of the country’s electricity demands, but said this would change by 2025. A World Bank report issued in September last year said Myanmar’s goal of achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 is dim.
Supporters of Min Aung Hlaing’s military actions have urged him to focus his energy on the armed revolt he faces instead of electricity. Resistance forces are making sweeping gains. If he manages to lose half the country, Min Aung Hlaing may – at the very least – manage to meet his energy supply goals in a country half the size of the one he took over in a coup.
