• Burmese
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
33 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Features
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Features
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Analysis

USDP Finds It’s Not Easy Shedding Its Reputation as ‘Party of Thieves’

by Kyaw Phyo Tha
February 28, 2019
in Analysis
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Supporters of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party hold signs at a by-election campaign rally in Yangon on Oct. 29, 2018. / REUTERS

Supporters of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party hold signs at a by-election campaign rally in Yangon on Oct. 29, 2018. / REUTERS

6.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

YANGON—Taking to Facebook Live to broadcast a press conference at which they insisted they are not opposed to constitutional reform, officials from Myanmar’s formerly ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) discovered to their irritation last week that viewers weren’t all that interested in what they had to say. To the party’s embarrassment, many viewers appeared far more interested in posting unkind comments—like “Thieves!” or “The party of kleptocrats!”—during the live broadcast.

The USDP evolved out of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, an organization established by the military regime in the 1990s. In 2010 many generals resigned and joined the USDP to contest that year’s elections, which it won. The party ruled the country until March 2016, before handing over power to the incoming NLD government.

RelatedPosts

Myanmar Resistance Seizes First Town in Bago Region: KNU

Myanmar Resistance Seizes First Town in Bago Region: KNU

December 5, 2023
300

The Existential Threat Facing Myanmar’s Junta 

December 5, 2023
497
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

December 4, 2023
39.6k

During its time in office, the party rarely enjoyed popular support; in many people’s eyes, its members, including those serving in the government, were nothing but military officials in business suits. People complained about their misuse of power, funds and state assets, including the shadowy leasing of 66 plots of land—including factories, fish ponds and farms—owned by the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development by the state-owned Myanmar International Cooperation Agency. The agency was run by former Union ministers U Soe Thane and U Ohn Myint.

At Saturday’s press conference, one of the party’s spokespersons, U Thein Tun Oo, hit back at the accusations of kleptocracy, saying the claim did not originate with the public but was started by an unnamed “organization”.

But where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Here are some fresh examples:

When the USDP left office in 2016, more than 15 billion kyats (nearly US$10 million at the current rate) in regional development funds handled by the governments of Magwe, Mandalay and Irrawaddy regions from 2012 to 2016 were unaccounted for.

In Magwe Region in upper Myanmar, the Bureau of Special Investigations found that ex-Chief Minister U Phone Maw Shwe was responsible for 7.5 billion kyats that had gone missing from the region’s development funds while he was in office (including over 1.7 billion kyats that had been designated for the USDP itself). Until the issue was raised in the regional parliament in May 2016, the chief minister was also the chairman of the Magwe Region’s USDP branch.

In Mandalay, the regional auditor general’s office discovered in 2017 that more than 3 billion kyats (US$2.1 million) from the regional development fund under the previous government had gone missing. The then chief minister was U Ye Myint, who was also Mandalay’s USDP regional chairman.

In Irrawaddy Region, meanwhile, then Chief Minister U Thein Aung, who was also the chair of the regional USDP, failed to hand over regional development funds to the new NLD government in 2016, according to the Auditor-General’s Office. Rather, he transferred the funds to a new foundation of which he was the patron.

In all of these cases, it’s evident that the former chief ministers failed to transfer regional funds to the incoming NLD government before they left office. The three former USDP chiefs of Magwe, Mandalay and Irrawaddy eventually agreed to pay the money back in separate payments, but only after their embezzlement was brought to light of the day, bringing lawsuit threats from the current government.

U Kyee Myint of the Myanmar Lawyers Network told The Irrawaddy that people called the USDP “thieves” for a valid reason. “They used or squirrelled away development funds. That’s why people say this. You can’t say their claims are baseless,” the lawyer said.

On Thursday, spokesperson U Thein Tun Oo, who had denied the USDP was a party of thieves, was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, the three former chief ministers of Magwe, Mandalay and Irrawaddy are no longer the leaders of their respective local chapters and no longer active in the party’s current activities, another USDP spokesperson, U Aung Cho Oo, told The Irrawaddy.

“But they have been central advisers to the USDP since the party convention in August 2016, and they are still party members,” the spokesperson added.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Constitutional ReformCorruptionIrrawaddyMagweMandalayNLDPoliticsUSDP
Previous Post

Police Convoy Attacked in Northern Rakhine; Locals Say Officers Killed

Next Post

Gen. Aung San’s Ill-fated Economic Plan for Myanmar

Kyaw Phyo Tha

Kyaw Phyo Tha

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

General Close to Myanmar Junta Boss Placed Under House Arrest, Interrogated for Corruption

General Close to Myanmar Junta Boss Placed Under House Arrest, Interrogated for Corruption

September 14, 2023
24k
Myanmar Junta Reportedly Set to Prosecute High-Profile Businessmen for Corruption

Myanmar Junta Reportedly Set to Prosecute High-Profile Businessmen for Corruption

October 18, 2023
11.9k
Myanmar Civil Society, Burmanization, and the Bars and Coffee Shops of Thailand

Myanmar Civil Society, Burmanization, and the Bars and Coffee Shops of Thailand

November 18, 2023
9.6k
Tracking the Business Empire of Myanmar Regime Stalwart Moe Aung and His Siblings

Tracking the Business Empire of Myanmar Regime Stalwart Moe Aung and His Siblings

September 4, 2023
6k
Myanmar Junta’s ‘Kickback King’ in Spotlight of Corruption Crackdown

Myanmar Junta’s ‘Kickback King’ in Spotlight of Corruption Crackdown

September 11, 2023
5.8k
Decision Time for Myanmar’s Junta: Who Will Replace Min Aung Hlaing?

Decision Time for Myanmar’s Junta: Who Will Replace Min Aung Hlaing?

November 7, 2023
5.8k
Load More
Next Post
Gen. Aung San announces his economic plan for Burma to the British Chamber of Commerce on March 1, 1947.

Gen. Aung San’s Ill-fated Economic Plan for Myanmar

Rohingya refugee children walk along a road in the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Nov. 16. / Reuters

Bangladesh Tells U.N. Security Council Cannot Take More Myanmar Refugees

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

As Myanmar’s Junta Loses Control, Its Coup Leader Ratchets Up His Blame Game

As Myanmar’s Junta Loses Control, Its Coup Leader Ratchets Up His Blame Game

4 days ago
7.3k
Drone Attack at Myanmar-China Border Gate Causes Over $14m in Losses

Drone Attack at Myanmar-China Border Gate Causes Over $14m in Losses

1 week ago
29.9k

Most Read

  • Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

    Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Full Civilian Rule Restored in First Large Town Seized by Myanmar Resistance: NUG

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Resistance Fights to Seize Bago Town Near Yangon-Naypyitaw Road

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Regime Snatching Civilians Across Rakhine State as Fighting Rages  

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Regime Runs Low on Dollars, Increasing Fuel Prices

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Features
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.