Peace and stability prevail in Myanmar with festivals taking place across the country and foreign tourists thronging popular destinations. Welcome to the alternative reality of junta propaganda newspapers.
In its latest attempt to conceal defeats on multiple fronts and administrative collapse across swaths of territory since early November, the regime is holding pagoda festivals and fairs in major cities like Yangon, Naypyitaw, Taunggyi, Pyin Oo Lwin, and Pyay in the third week of November. Junta-controlled newspapers have amplified the carnival of illusion with exaggerated reports on the events.
However, the mask slipped when a popular lighting festival had to be canceled in Pyin Oo Lwin, the seat of junta military academies, over security fears.
Meanwhile, all three regime newspapers featured front-page reports that tourist arrivals in the temple city of Bagan were surging, adding a photo of visitors taking a hot air balloon ride. The junta’s attempt to deceive readers failed, however, since the story included just a single quote from an Indian tourist and none from European tourists.
No-drone zones
As attacks by ethnic armed organizations and their allies intensify in northern Shan, Chin, Karenni and Rakhine states and Sagaing Region, the regime is tightening security in cities including Naypyitaw and Yangon.
A local decree was issued on November 18, banning the sale of drones and parts, as well as unauthorized drone flights in the commercial capital.
Drone attacks by resistance groups have had a marked but modest impact on regime forces over the past two years. But they have proven to be far more destructive in recent fighting in northern Shan State.
At an emergency meeting of the National Defense and Security Council on Nov. 8, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing admitted that junta positions in northern Shan State were being bombarded mainly with drones.
Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun also remarked that the resistance is using drones to bomb junta positions in daily attacks.
Dictator visits wounded troops
Min Aung Hlaing visited wounded junta soldiers receiving treatment at a military hospital on Nov. 19 as his forces were being hammered by assaults in northern Shan, Chin, Karenni, and Rakhine states and Sagaing Region.
The junta boss was accompanied by his top brass, including chief of General Staff (army, navy and air force) Maung Maung Aye, air force chief Tun Aung, and navy chief Moe Aung. They checked the medical records of wounded soldiers and touched their broken limbs before they left.
The regime has lost almost every battle for nearly a month now, but Min Aung Hlaing has apparently failed to boost morale of his soldiers given the surrender of entire companies and police stations.
The junta boss hasn’t even bothered to acknowledge his soldiers for their desperate last-ditch struggles to defend territory. Is it any wonder, then, that his army is losing ground?
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Regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun says the Brotherhood Alliance is fighting to seize ethnic Shan land, not to end military rule. Read more:
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Election commission dissolves Shan State Kokang Democratic Party – the main rival of the regime-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party – for violating the junta’s political party law. Read more:
