Myanmar’s military regime appears to have been seriously rattled by East Timor President José Ramos-Horta’s recent call for junta soldiers to defect and stand by the Myanmar people amid expanding resistance offensives across the country.
The civilian National Unity Government (NUG) on Saturday posted a video clip of the East Timor president encouraging Myanmar military soldiers to abandon the regime. After the clip was widely shared on social media, the regime responded by publishing remarks and articles critical of Ramos-Horta in Tuesday and Wednesday’s issues of junta-controlled newspapers. On Wednesday, junta-backed nationalists staged a protest against the East Timorese president outside Yangon City Hall.
The patron of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization, Khun Okkar, remarked that the East Timor president had “cheapened himself” by allowing himself to be “hired” by the NUG, adding that his statement amounted to interfering in the internal affairs and sovereignty of Myanmar. Khun Okkar is a recipient of the Wunna Kyawhtin title conferred by junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
Political analyst Bo Bo Kyaw Nyein, who is known for his criticisms of Myanmar civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, also rushed to the defense of the regime. Ramos-Horta’s words would not cause the Myanmar military to break up or fail, he said, adding that the East Timor president was just wasting his time.
Min Aung Hlaing conferred the title Thray Sithu on Bo Bo Kyaw Nyein’s later father U Kyaw Nyein, who served as deputy prime minister under the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League, in January to mark the 75th annual Independence Day.
Tin Swe, vice chairman of the Federal Democratic Party, previously known as the Democratic Party (Myanmar), told the junta-controlled Kyemon Daily that his party rejected Ramos-Horta’s statement. The party is led by Bo Bo Kyaw Nyein’s sister, Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein.
A junta paper quoted an unnamed political analyst as saying countries should not interfere in each other’s internal affairs as they risked causing internal splits, citing Vietnam and Korea as examples of nations that had been divided due to external pressures.
An editorial in junta-controlled newspaper Myanma Alin was more blunt, undiplomatically referring to the East Timor president as a “thoughtless mouthpiece of the NUG”. Kyemon and Myawaddy newspapers also featured articles that not only slammed the leadership of East Timor, but also described it as a “small, backward country” with no history.
At the same time, junta-backed nationalists staged a protest against the East Timor president outside Yangon City Hall on Wednesday. The protest was organized by nationalist monk U Pinnyar Wuntha, who also led anti-China rallies in Yangon in November.
Regional bloc the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has agreed in principle to accept East Timor as a member. East Timor has been the loudest critic of the junta among regional countries, and is one of the few countries that has publicly engaged with the NUG.
The regime in August expelled the chargé d’affaires of the East Timor Embassy in Yangon.
