No end in sight to blackouts
Myanmar people didn’t expect much when the regime announced the launch of an electricity and energy development commission in mid-December. The public has gotten used to lengthy blackouts since the 2021 coup. But Yangon residents were left cursing the commission on Sunday when the power supply was further reduced to just two four-hour slots per day.
The commission’s first meeting earlier this week saw its chairman, former Navy chief Admiral Tin Aung San, unveil plans to build hydropower dams along the Irrawaddy River, as instructed by his boss, Min Aung Hlaing.
Sixteen sites along the river have been identified as viable locations for dams, with four prioritized for development. The junta boss has ordered the commission to select the most suitable site and present a plan, including pros and cons.
Tin Aung San said his commission has been working hard on the plan, without specifying the locations being studied.
The junta boss frequently blames previous governments for suspending hydropower projects, including the controversial Myitsone Dam in Kachin State.
In August 2023, he also unveiled grand plans to beat the power shortage with solar and wind energy. The only outcome is more frequent and prolonged blackouts.
Min Aung Hlaing has also hatched another ambitious plan to boost electricity generation, according to Tin Aung San. The junta boss wants all construction projects to install solar panels so that “surplus energy from these buildings can be supplied to the national grid.”
Conspicuously absent from Tin Aung San’s grand energy blueprint, however, was any timeframe for when Myanmar people would benefit from these projects.
For now, Myanmar remains literally in darkness, as the military consumes much of the national budget.
Fantasy of international excellence
Nearly four years on from his coup, Min Aung Hlaing continues to perform badly in every sphere, from diplomacy to the military to the economy, but his fantasy of international excellence remains strong, as he proved again recently.
The junta boss has previously touted the Naypyitaw State Academy, which he founded, as a potential “international hub” of academic excellence. He also declared the Defense Services Medical Academy to be one of the top academies of its kind in the world. And he described the army artillery corps as “a modern artillery force that stands tall among international peers.”
Speaking at the International Conference on Applied Research in Education on Thursday in Naypyitaw, the junta boss boasted that papers presented at the event were internationally recognized theses that the world could rely on.
He claimed that over 100 papers would be submitted by renowned scholars from Myanmar and abroad.
In reality, Myanmar has only a handful of respected scholars.
Military regimes that grabbed power in 1962, 1988 and 2021 wreaked havoc on the country’s education system. Schools and universities were closed and academics and experts unwilling to work under military rule resigned or were forced into exile, resulting in a massive brain drain.
This history also drains any credibility from Min Aung Hlaing’s brazen claim that papers presented at the conference were internationally recognized.
The junta boss proudly boasted attendance by scholars from 16 countries, but the likelihood of any globally respected nations or academics attending the bogus conference organized by a Defence Services Academy graduate is practically zero.
Blasting ethnic people
On Friday, the junta boss marked the 77th anniversary of Kachin State Day by declaring that ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) were causing widespread suffering, urging them to stop destroying the nation.
The message came 48 hours after the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) seized control of Mansi town on Wednesday. KIA forces have now surrounded Bhamo, a district-level town near Mansi.
After suffering a string of humiliating defeats in ethnic areas like Rakhine, Kachin, Chin, Karen and northern Shan over the past year despite total air superiority, all that Min Aung Hlaing can do now is blame EAOs.
Since late December, the beleaguered junta leader has issued a flurry of messages on Akha National Day, Karen New Year, New Year’s Day, Independence Day and Kachin State Day. In each, he accused certain EAOs of perpetrating relentless terrorism and their leaders of attempting to break up the Union, while claiming he was keeping the door open for dialogue.
Despite the call for peace talks, his regime has continued to conduct daily airstrikes in ethnic areas, killing more than 40 civilians on Thursday alone in a bombing raid on Rakhine’s Ramree Island.
Tightening ties with pariahs
The diplomatically isolated junta boss has had a busy schedule this week, hosting representatives from two fellow regimes – Iran and Belarus.
Iranian ambassador Nassereddin Heidari presented his credentials to Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday. The Middle East country has ramped up ties with the Myanmar regime since the coup in 2021, with reports of secret military cooperation.
On Thursday, the junta boss received a Belarus delegation led by its foreign minister, Maxim Ryzhenkov, and comprising deputy ministers of health, industry, and agriculture and food. The meeting marked the first high-level diplomatic contact between Belarus and Myanmar. The foreign delegation also held separate talks with other junta ministers.
Belarus is a key arms supplier to the junta, along with its neighbor and ally Russia. Since the coup it has escalated cooperation with the junta in various sectors, from trade and investment to education, health and tourism.
In meetings with the Iranian and Belarusian delegations, the junta boss discussed increased military cooperation while outlining preparations for a “national election” with international observers, which he has pledged to hold later this year.
The census conducted by the junta last year to draw up voter lists covered less than half the country, adding to widespread perceptions that the poll is a sham designed to legitimize military rule.
‘Let a million solar panels bloom’
At the first meeting of the Electricity and Energy Development Commission this week, chairman Tin Aung San called for solar panels to be fitted during building construction as power shortages plague Myanmar.
According to junta media, the admiral aims to require developers to install panels on all new buildings and “supply the surplus electricity to the national grid”.
Tin Aung San said junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has ordered a rapid increase in solar projects and…
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Min Aung Hlaing fires warning as resistance advances
Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing, whose military is now bracing for resistance attacks in Ayeyarwady and Magwe regions after losing large swaths of territory in ethnic states, has declared his regime “will not yield to demands from the gun” made by groups fighting for democracy or autonomy.
Despite the bold warning, his regime ceded three townships and the Western Command headquarters in Rakhine State last month, as the ethnic Arakan Army took control of 14 of the 17 townships in the westernmost state. The regime has also lost almost the entire northern Shan State to ethnic forces.
The defeats in Rakhine have exposed bordering Ayeyarwady and Magwe regions to potential resistance attacks, prompting deputy junta boss Soe Win…
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