Full span of stupidity
“A proud day … an auspicious day for all of Myanmar including Yangon,” Min Aung Hlaing trumpeted last Saturday as he presided at the opening of a new bridge across the Bago River to link Yangon with the Japan-backed Thilawa Special Economic Zone.
But as junta ministers and VIPs gathered at the new bridge part-funded by Japan’s government, one man was noticeably absent – the Japanese ambassador. Perhaps he was embarrassed at his government’s continuing support for one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships. Or maybe he had been scared off by news of a resistance plot to attack the bridge opening ceremony.
Whatever the case, the bridge would have been in service long ago had Min Aung Hlaing not seized power from an elected government.
Construction started in 2019 under the now-ousted National League for Democracy government. The Japan International Cooperation Agency helped fund the infrastructure project with a soft loan.
However, Tokyo halted the loan in 2021 after the military coup in February of that year.
Following repeated pleas by the junta, Japan relented and restored the funding. But the loan proved insufficient, and the regime was forced to spend 46 billion kyats from public funds to complete the bridge.
Min Aung Hlaing might be proud, but to the people of Myanmar, the Thanlyin Bridge 3 is just another reminder of how their lives have been upturned by his ruthless thirst for power.
Spelling out educayshun upgrade
Like every other sector in Myanmar, education has been in chaos since the 2021 coup. But this hasn’t stopped Min Aung Hlaing from bragging that the country’s schools and universities have the potential to meet global standards.
On a visit to the Defense Services Medical Academy (DSMA) and Defense Services and Paramedical Academy on Monday, he told cadets to take pride in their institution, calling it one of the highest-ranking academies of its kind in the world. He declined to mention exactly where the DSMA stands in the global university rankings – which was probably wise since it appears to be unlisted.
Despite his claim, Min Aung Hlaing spurned the surgical excellence of the very same medical academy in 2022 when his granddaughter needed heart surgery. Instead, he handed the job to a pair of renowned surgeons from India, showing he has no trust in his own medics.
The coup-maker has been busy opening doctoral courses at universities across the country, though critics say the faculty members themselves are not qualified to train students at PhD level.
In 2022, Min Aung Hlaing founded the Naypyitaw State Academy in the junta’s administrative capital, touting it as a potential “international hub” of academic excellence. He also ordered his education minister to upgrade major universities into world-class seats of learning.
In reality, school enrollment rates, as well as the number of students taking university entrance exams, have declined steeply since his coup.
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