The belligerent Naypyitaw chair of the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) says political parties that have registered with the junta’s election body must take sides with the regime and support it in any way they can.
Hlaw Swe, a former lieutenant colonel nicknamed “Bullet” who became the USDP’s Naypyitaw chapter chief after the 2021 coup, makes the argument in a column in the Dec. 17 issue of his military-backed Bullet News Journal.
“In the current situation, if political parties really desire to hold elections successfully, they cannot be indecisive but must take sides with the State Administration Council, in other words, the military,” Hla Swe writes.
He adds that the Myanmar military has to cope with various armed groups, including Bamar ones, and even if they are unlikely to oust the regime, political parties must stand with the military to reclaim lost towns and bases.
Hla Swe, who played a central role in arming the notorious junta-aligned Pyu Saw Htee militias in central Myanmar, boasts that he himself is ready to help double recruitment for the military.
In the article, he proudly recalls refusing a request from a construction contractor to help release workers who were conscripted into the military.
He criticizes some members of U Ko Ko Gyi’s People’s Party for releasing three conscripts in Naypyitaw’s Dekkhinathiri Township, saying such actions undermine military strength. “Should such a party win the election, the Myanmar military can’t be strong,” he writes.
The USDP was created by the generals to retain their grip on power in civilian dress when they organized general elections in 2010 after decades of repressive military rule.
Current USDP chairman Khin Yi led pro-military rallies in the aftermath of the 2020 general elections that saw the resounding defeat of the USDP. Then the deputy party chair, Khin Yi orchestrated protests to pave the way for the coup in February 2021.
At a meeting of 51 registered political parties with the junta’s National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee on Dec. 5-6, the USDP pledged to fully cooperate with the regime in ensuring security for the planned polls in 2025 and take up arms if necessary, according to representatives who attended the meeting.
Hla Swe earned the nickname Bullet in 2013 amid peace talks under Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government, when he suggested that civil conflict in northern Myanmar’s Kachin State might best be resolved by bullets if diplomacy failed.
He faced sedition charges under the now-ousted National League for Democracy government for personal attacks against State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy government.
He has been involved in forming and arming Pyu Saw Htee militias in Magwe Region’s Gangaw, which was his constituency when he was a lawmaker in Thein Sein’s administration.
In July 2022, he orchestrated a rally outside Yangon City Hall in support of the junta’s hanging of four pro-democracy activists including Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw.
“If one dissident on death row is executed every time junta personnel are killed, there won’t be any more killing of junta personnel,” he wrote on social media.
