The civilian National Unity Government (NUG) has blacklisted 64 senior members of Myanmar’s largest business lobby group – the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry – for continuing to cooperate with the regime.
The move follows the civilian government’s announcement in late December that it had dissolved the federation, accusing it of funding the junta’s war crimes as well as genocide.
Federation chair U Aye Win, seven vice-chairpersons, seven secretaries and joint secretaries, auditors and members of the federation’s central executive committee are among the 64 federation members blacklisted by the NUG.
One of the vice chairs blacklisted, U Ye Min Aung, is also the chairman of Myanmar Rice Federation, which supplies rice to the Myanmar military.
Other vice chairs put on the blacklist are KMD Group of Companies founder U Thaung Tin, who served as deputy communication and technology minister in the administration of Thein Sein, and U Aye Tun who also chairs the Myanmar Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Association.
Daw Khine Khine Nwe, the first ever woman secretary of the more than 100-year-old federation, was also blacklisted.
Blacklisted central executive committee member U Zeya Thura Mon is a crony involved in military, energy and other economic sector cooperation between Myanmar and Russia. Min Aung Hlaing conferred the honorary Thiri Thudhamma Mani Jotadara title on him. U Zeya Thu has also had close ties with the junta’s acting president, Myint Swe, since the latter was the chief of Yangon Command.
Another federation member added to the NUG’s blacklist, Asian Fame Media Group CEO Daw Nan Kalyar Win, is a daughter of former Lt-General Win Myint, who served as third secretary in the previous military regime known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Her media agency Popular News is a junta mouthpiece.
Before the 2021 coup, she interviewed Min Aung Hlaing online, lobbying for him to take over.
Those put on the blacklist can submit a petition to the NUG within 90 days, it said. Other members of the federation will be blacklisted if they cooperate with the regime, it added.
When the civilian government dissolved the federation, it said it had failed in its responsibility to serve the public interest as a business entity. Instead, it had been funding and collaborating with the regime in its human rights violations, war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, the NUG said.
It also said it would treat business owners who continue to participate in the federation – as well as its staff – as junta supporters and warned that it would take action against them under the Counter-Terrorism Law. It also warned against using the federation’s assets and funds to benefit the regime.
The 64 members failed to comply with its directives, the NUG said to explain its decision.
Three days after his coup in February 2021, Min Aung Hlaing summoned the federation’s president and officers to a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw. The junta boss also met federation leadership in July last year to discuss measures to keep the economy running.
The federation donated 100 million kyats (over US$ 30,000) to construct the Maravijaya, a titanic Buddha statue built by Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw. Federation members, many of whom are owners of leading businesses in Myanmar, also made donations individually.
In September, the NUG also announced the dissolution of the Myanmar Gems and Jewelry Entrepreneurs Association and its regional and state chapters, saying they had legitimized the regime and propped it up with tax revenue. Forty-three members of the Myanmar Gems and Jewelry Entrepreneurs Association were blacklisted by the NUG in early December of last year.
The parallel government also blacklisted two Myanmar military-run conglomerates – Myanma Economic Holdings Limited and Myanmar Economic Corporation – in November 2021.
The more than 100-year-old federation is a national-level body representing the private sector in Myanmar. Established during colonial rule in 1919 as the Burmese Chamber of Commerce in Yangon, the federation celebrated its centenary in 2019 under the now ousted National League for Democracy government.
