As part of a smear campaign against Myanmar’s anti-regime resistance movement, an ousted member of the former ruling party, the leader of an ethnic Rakhine party and a pro-junta journalist told Japanese lawmakers that “people were slaughtered” by resistance forces, including the country’s shadow government.
Former National League for Democracy (NLD) member Daw Sandar Min, chairman of the Arakan Front Party Dr. Aye Maung, and pro-junta Neo Politics News (NP News) founder Kyaw Myo Min went to Japan for about a week starting around Sept. 17.
The trio met with two Japanese opposition members of parliament in Tokyo on Sept. 19 and discussed Myanmar issues with them.
During their meeting with the Japanese legislators, they blamed pro-democracy forces for the instability in Myanmar and promoted the junta-proposed election as a way out of the country’s crisis, according to Myanmar democracy activists and a journalist in Japan.
“They lobbied Japanese lawmakers to urge the Japanese government to support the poll. They also claimed that the National Unity Government [NUG], the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, and the People’s Defense Force groups [PDFs] are committing violence in Myanmar. They asked Japanese lawmakers to take action against those supporting [the revolution against the Myanmar military regime] from abroad, saying such support amounts to supporting terrorism,” said Ko Thant, a pro-democracy activist based in Japan.
The three also gave Japanese lawmakers propaganda flyers created by the junta listing purported crimes allegedly committed by PDFs. One flyer claims deposed and jailed civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi neither recognizes nor supports the NUG or the PDFs.
Japanese journalist Shigefumi Kitagawa, who is in contact with the two Japanese lawmakers, told The Irrawaddy that Daw Sandar Min argued during the meeting that the “NUG and PDF are slaughtering the people’” and “a general election should be held”, citing the two Japanese MPs.
Dr. Aye Maung gave the lawmakers a similar story and said the current turmoil in Rakhine State is the fault of the democratic factions, Kitagawa said.
Kyaw Myo Min presented a junta propaganda flyer titled “Terrorist acts, Causalities, Destructive and Disruptive Activities and Ammunition Seized” and claimed, “This is proof that the PDF is slaughtering the people,” according to the Japanese journalist.
Kitagawa said the two Japanese lawmakers, who have a strong interest in Myanmar issues and are in contact with the NUG office in Japan, rejected the trio’s allegations, saying their claims were untrue.
“This appears to be a lobbying campaign targeting Japanese opposition members who are close to Myanmar pro-democracy groups. It seems that they are communicating with [Myanmar’s] military government,” he said.
The journalist added that the three were accompanied by Chairman Yuki Takaichi and Vice Chairman Than Naing of the Japan-Myanmar Exchange Promotion Association, who arranged the meeting.
The Irrawaddy was unable to obtain comment from Daw Sandar Min or Dr. Aye Maung.
The pro-junta journal Trend this week published an interview with Daw Sandar Min and Dr. Aye Maung about their visit to Japan. In the interview, Dr. Aye Maung claimed the meeting was held to discuss humanitarian assistance for victims of Cyclone Mocha, which hit western Myanmar in May, with Rakhine State being the worst-affected area. On Myanmar politics, the weekly reported him as saying that “Constitutionally, an election is an exit,” signaling his support for the junta’s planned election.
Daw Sandar Min claimed in the interview that she used the meeting to explain the “real situation” in Myanmar to the Japanese lawmakers.
The former member of the NLD, who was expelled from the party in March for collaborating with the junta, said she also provided information on the current situation of the party and claimed the party doesn’t dare to open its offices because of “death threats from the PDF”.
Many offices of the NLD, including its central headquarters, have been variously raided, demolished, seized and burned down by junta troops since the coup. In addition, the junta has killed 97 members of the party and arrested and imprisoned 1,769, including its chairwoman Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
In an announcement issued on Sept. 27 to mark the 35th anniversary of its founding, the party said it opposed and would not recognize the results of the “sham” election planned by the junta, which it said wields state power illegally.
Dr. Aye Maung was elected to the national legislature in the 2010 general election. He was charged with high treason by the Myanmar military in 2018 and given a long prison sentence.
He was released under an amnesty shortly after the Myanmar military seized power in a coup from the NLD government in February 2021. He has re-registered his party with the junta-appointed election body to participate in the poll proposed by the junta.
Kyaw Myo Min worked as a reporter at Pyi Myanmar Journal, and later founded Akon Thi media. Following the coup, he established NP News, which portrays the NUG and PDFs as terrorists. In business cards he gave to Japanese MPs during his trip, he describes himself as a director of Mythical Myanmar Co Ltd.
