• Burmese
Thursday, July 10, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
28 °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
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • 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
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Guest Column

Engagement with the Military?

Bertil Lintner by Bertil Lintner
August 23, 2017
in Guest Column
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0 0
A A
Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw on March 27, 2017. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw on March 27, 2017. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

9.1k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

There is a common misperception among outsiders that it was Western engagement with Myanmar’s generals that led them to embark on a process of change after several decades of military-dominated rule. Or perhaps it was behind-the-doors-policies by some members of Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that achieved the required result?

The latter notion can easily be dismissed by looking at Asean’s two cardinal principles, non-interference and consensus, which makes the bloc acutely ineffective when it comes to solving bilateral problems such as border conflicts or issues relating to the governance of the member states. And, apart from the Philippines and Indonesia, Asean’s members are ruled by authoritarian regimes with little regard for democratic principles.

On the other hand, the notion that Western engagement did the trick reflects what amounts to a blatantly neocolonial attitude. Myanmar today is full of foreigners who suffer from what can only be described as a “White Messiah complex.” Clearly overestimating their own importance, they seem to believe that they can achieve peace in the country, and make the peoples of Myanmar love each other so they can march together towards a more democratic future. And all that is needed for the military to change is to invite them to the West and tell them they are wrong — and then they will adjust accordingly.

RelatedPosts

Myanmar People Skeptical of Junta’s Promises of Election, Peace

Myanmar People Skeptical of Junta’s Promises of Election, Peace

July 7, 2025
832
Myanmar’s Civilian Govt Rebuffs Junta’s Appeal for ‘Cooperation’

Myanmar’s Civilian Govt Rebuffs Junta’s Appeal for ‘Cooperation’

July 7, 2025
975
37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

July 3, 2025
1.3k

William C. Dickey, a former US defense attaché to Myanmar, assisted by Nay Yan Oo, a resident fellow at the Pacific Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, contended, correctly, in an article published by the Nikkei Asian Review on August 18, that the Myanmar military “holds the key to further reform.” Change would have to come from within the military, still the country’s most powerful institution.

But then their arguments go astray. They believe that the US-funded Expanded International Military and Education Training (E-IMET) program will help the Myanmar military understand issues such as a military justice system that is in accordance with internationally recognized human rights and the principle of civilian control of the military, and that “US engagement with the Myanmar military is necessary to help Myanmar stay on track for democratic reforms.”

First of all, it is misleading to talk about “democratic reform” in Myanmar. The current Constitution, which was drafted under military auspices and adopted after a blatantly rigged referendum in May 2008, actually provides for what could at best be described as a hybrid system. Under the new charter, the military holds 25 percent of all seats in the parliament and regional assemblies. Since all changes to the Constitution’s major clauses require 75 percent approval — followed by a national referendum — the military enjoys what amounts to veto power over any changes in the country’s power structure.

Among the clauses that cannot be changed without military approval are those stipulating that the military appoints the three most important ministries, namely those of Defense, Home Affairs and Border Affairs. Military control of the Defense and Border Affairs ministries excludes the elected government from military matters as well as issues relating to ethnic insurgencies in border areas. The Home Ministry controls the police — and the powerful General Administration Department, which staffs all local governments, from the state and region levels down to districts and townships. Elected ministers, or ministers appointed by the elected government, are confined to issues such as health and education, fisheries and agriculture.

When the National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in the November 2015 election, enabling pro-democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to become State Counselor (the 2008 Constitution prevented her from becoming the country’s President, as her two sons are not Myanmar citizens, so this new position was created solely for her), people in Myanmar were enthusiastic and foreign observers hailed the event as an important step towards democratic rule. But less than two years later, it is becoming increasingly obvious that Myanmar’s first truly elected government since 1960 is a mere fig leaf for continued military rule — which has to take the blame for issues beyond its control, among them the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities, the arrest of journalists and inertia in the local administration.

Than Soe Naing, a Myanmar political analyst, told The Irrawaddy in August this year that, “according to the very essence of the 2008 Constitution, it is the Tatmadaw [military] which will decide the fate of Myanmar’s politics.” In the same article, Col. Aung Myint Oo, head of internal and external relations at the National Defense College, was quoted as saying: “Considering the reality, it is impossible to remove the military from politics.”

Myanmar today has a political system that was designed by the military to preserve their power. It suits them perfectly and they have no intention to change it. It is important to remember that the “reforms” were not introduced because the generals suddenly had decided to become liberal democrats but to break their international isolation in order to lessen their dependence on China. The bitter reality is that it’s the Myanmar generals who have successfully — and cleverly — managed to engage the West, not the other way round.

And the problem is not that the leaders of the Myanmar military are unaware of human rights principles or what civilian control of the military means. There are plenty of papers produced by officers at Myanmar’s National Defense College on precisely those subjects. Thus, the issue is not lack of knowledge, but the fact that the Myanmar military has had its own ideology since the late 1950s, the essence of which is that the military has to play a dominant role in matters of defense as well as political and social affairs. That deep-rooted belief is not going to change only because some Western instructors tell them otherwise.

The example of US “success” in helping with “a military’s professionalization and a country’s democratic tradition” mentioned by the authors — Indonesia — is highly dubious. We are led to believe that it was officers who had attended IMET training, not a massive popular uprising against the old, dictatorial Suharto regime that came in the wake of a severe economic crisis in the late 1990s, which paved the way for a more democratic Indonesia. No such conditions exist in Myanmar today, and how do the authors explain that US-trained military officers have staged several coups in Thailand? Or that Burmese officers who prior to 1988 did attend IMET courses remained loyal to the regime they served and did not become champions for democracy?

Training courses in the West could even be counterproductive as those would only provide Myanmar’s military leaders with international recognition and legitimacy, which have been lacking for decades, and the officers would therefore be even more immune to reform. Human rights concerns would be swept under the carpet “so as not to antagonize the military” and “hamper the reform process” — and that is already happening in Myanmar today.

While severe human rights abuses are daily occurrences in the country’s war zones, most notably in Kachin and northern Shan State, gone are the days when the international community issues strongly worded statements condemning such atrocities. Change may eventually come to Myanmar, and it would have to come from within the country’s most powerful institution, the military, as well as from a much stronger civil society than today is the case. But all this will be homegrown and not because of patronizing attitudes by Westerners. The White Messiahs and other outsiders are little more than pawns in a game of which they understand very little. And the sooner they realize that their involvement is irrelevant, and even harmful to possible democratic development in Myanmar, the better.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Foreign RelationsMilitaryPolitics
Bertil Lintner

Bertil Lintner

Bertil Lintner is a Swedish journalist, author and strategic consultant who has been writing about Asia for nearly four decades.

Similar Picks:

AA Urges Myanmar Junta Troops to Surrender as Western Command Burns
War Against the Junta

AA Urges Myanmar Junta Troops to Surrender as Western Command Burns

by The Irrawaddy
December 18, 2024
25.4k

Ethnic army reportedly poised to capture regime’s last stronghold in Rakhine State.

Read moreDetails
Myanmar General in Charge of Shan State Disaster Handed Surprise Promotion
Burma

Myanmar General in Charge of Shan State Disaster Handed Surprise Promotion

by The Irrawaddy
February 5, 2024
24.5k

Naing Naing Oo elevated to Lieutenant-General and made chief of powerful Bureau of Special Operations No. 2, in a reshuffle...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar’s Chief of Eastern Command Purged After Karenni Defeats
Burma

Myanmar’s Chief of Eastern Command Purged After Karenni Defeats

by The Irrawaddy
January 12, 2024
20.1k

Major-General Hla Moe is reportedly the latest junta commander to pay the price for sweeping gains made by resistance forces. 

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Counteroffensives Failing Across Country: Analysts
Analysis

Myanmar Junta Counteroffensives Failing Across Country: Analysts

by Hein Htoo Zan
September 20, 2024
16.8k

Three major operations to retake territory from ethnic armies and their allies are being hampered by troop shortages, experts say.

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Orders All Security Personnel to Frontline as Losses Mount in Hard-Hit Regional Commands
Burma

Myanmar Junta Orders All Security Personnel to Frontline as Losses Mount in Hard-Hit Regional Commands

by The Irrawaddy
May 31, 2024
13.5k

Full-time military service order covers soldiers, personnel, police and border guards in eight regional commands.

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Begins Forced Conscription of Women in Some Areas, Residents Say
Burma

Myanmar Junta Begins Forced Conscription of Women in Some Areas, Residents Say

by Hein Htoo Zan
May 31, 2024
13.5k

The regime is selecting women from lists of eligible conscripts and building barracks for them in Ayeyarwady; in Bago, women...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Aik Htun / Photo: Shwe Taung Group

IFC Approves Support for Controversial Tycoon’s Mandalay Cement Project

Htukkanthein Temple in Mrauk-U. / Chan Son / The Irrawaddy

Govt Prepares Mrauk-U UNESCO Bid

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

7 days ago
1.3k
China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

2 days ago
714

Most Read

  • Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta’s Top Russian Arms Supplier Tosses in Quake ‘Donation’

    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

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
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
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • 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.