The Arakan Army’s capture of Rakhine State’s Thandwe Airport on Sunday puts the ethnic army just steps away from Myanmar’s most valuable beach – seven kilometers of fine white sand stretching between turquoise sea and palm-fringed forest – and puts many of the country’s most brazen cronies in an unenviable position.
Will the tycoons who turned their military ties into riches, including the son of junta boss Ming Aung Hlaing, try to negotiate with a rebel army to save their assets?
Ngapali Beach is where Myanmar’s cronies built their most lavish resorts. Its gateway is Thandwe Airport, just 30 minutes away.
The fall of the airport means the loss of the prized beach, which is also famous for watching the sun set over the Bay of Bengal.
The airport was used by the regime to reinforce troops, and send in weapons and supplies from Ayeyarwady Region and southern Shan State. That’s no longer possible. Without the airport’s runway, Thandwe Township is only accessible by two roads that weave through the Arakan Mountains: Gwa-Ngathaingchaung and Taungup-Padaung. Both roads leave convoys prone to ambush. Moreover, the arrival of the monsoon season makes it treacherous to send more troops and supplies by sea to protect the crony beach.
There are 64 hotels and resorts on Ngapali Beach and most of the grandest ones are owned by tycoons with close ties to the leaders of successive military regimes, from the State Law and Order Restoration Council, which ruled from 1988 to 2011, to the current State Administration Council.
Amazing Ngapali Hotel was built on land leased from the military by Aung Myo Min Din, who has personal ties to junta boss Min Aung Hlaing and his wife Kyu Kyu Hla. Aung Myo Min Din was Kyu Kyu Hla’s pupil when he was a high school student and reportedly has an open invitation to Min Aung Hlaing’s home.
Hoteliers say Aung Myo Min Din also bought Max Hotel from crony Zaw Zaw for Min Aung Hlaing’s son Aung Pyae Sone. Max Hotel, now rebranded as Ananda Hotel, is adjacent to Amazing Ngapali Hotel. Local residents also say Aung Pyae Sone is its owner.
The Pristine Mermaid Ngapali is owned by Nandar Aye, a daughter of the deputy junta chief of the previous junta, Maung Aye. The Htoo Group of Companies, owned by crony and arms broker Tay Za, reportedly built the hotel for her for free.
Tun Naing Shwe, son of former junta chief Than Shwe, owns the Thande Ngapali Hotel.
Arch crony Aung Ko Win owns the Jasmine Ngapali Resort through his Kanbawza (KBZ) Group of Companies, which includes KBZ Bank. The resort’s guests include Min Aung Hlaing. In January of last year, it hosted the 8th High-Level Committee Meeting between the Myanmar and Thai armed forces. Participants included General Chalermphon Srisawasdi, Chief of the Defence Forces of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
Ngapali’s Aureum Palace is owned by Tay Za’s Htoo Group of Companies Za, while its Jade Marina Hotel is owned by crony Ne Win Tun, the leader of a Pa-O militia with ties to the junta’s military, through his Ruby Dragon Co.
Other, less flamboyant cronies, also bought or built resorts on Ngapali Beach.
This may be why the regime tried so hard to hang on to the seven-kilometer strip of white sand. It even sent reinforcements from the Aung Zeya Column to Thandwe in early June. The column is advancing towards Myawaddy along the Thai border in Karen State with the goal of retaking the vital border town.
The Arakan Army defeated the junta soldiers and police protecting the airport and the beach. Reports say more than 100 junta soldiers and police surrendered. Others fled to the bases of nearby battalions in Thandwe Township. Both Light Infantry Battalion 566 and Infantry Battalion 55 have bases there.
The Arakan Army told both battalions to surrender after it seized Thandwe Airport.
The 5th Military Operations Command in Taungup is the nearest battalion to Thandwe, but Taungup is surrounded by Arkan Army troops. The regime is not in a position to regroup its soldiers in Rakhine to send reinforcements to Thandwe.
If the Arakan Army takes Ngapali Beach, Myanmar’s cronies will face a stark choice: abandon their assets or negotiate with a rebel army to save them.
