State Funeral for a Stooge
The military regime’s recently rebranded State Security and Peace Commission has graciously rewarded former Acting President Myint Swe with a state funeral—a final gift from junta boss Min Aung Hlaing to a man who facilitated his coup in 2021.
Min Aung Hlaing has also declared national mourning until Monday for a longtime regime enhancer who handed the country to a dictatorship, thereby plunging Myanmar into armed conflict and economic ruin.
Myanmar has held only two previous state funerals in its modern history. The first, in 1947, followed the assassination of independence hero General Aung San and his cabinet. Over 300,000 citizens poured into the streets in sorrow.
The second, in 2007, was for junta prime minister Soe Win, reviled as the “butcher of Depayin” for his role in a 2003 massacre. Few mourned his passing.
After former United Nations Secretary-General U Thant passed away in 1974, monks, students and the public begged for a state funeral. Ne Win’s regime ignored their pleas—sparking mass protests that became known as the U Thant crisis. But now? The only crisis is in trying to find someone outside military circles who actually cares about Myint Swe’s demise.
When Dr. Zaw Myint Maung—former Mandalay Region chief minister under the ousted elected government—died last year, mourners flooded the streets of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city. No junta-conferred grand titles or mandatory mourning—just real respect.
Zaw Myint Maung had been imprisoned by the regime since day one of the coup, but residents defied the threat of junta retribution to bid a final farewell to the beloved politician.
Contrast that with Myint Swe: a man whose legacy is shaped by orchestrating pro-military mobs, crushing student protests, and killing and jailing monks.
And his crowning achievement? Handing the reins to Min Aung Hlaing to usher in a fresh era of repression and suffering for Myanmar’s people.
Now, top junta officials including new Prime Minister Nyo Saw, Home Affairs Minister Tun Tun Naung and military No. 3 Kyaw Swar Lin are busy supervising the beautification of roads leading to Naypyitaw’s military cemetery and holding meetings to manage optics for the national spectacle. Meanwhile, the public isn’t even pretending to care.
Myint Swe’s final send-off may have a grand name, but in reality it’s a state funeral without public mourning.
Min Aung Hlaing rebukes ASEAN
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has highlighted the principle of “non-interference in the internal affairs of member states” enshrined in the ASEAN Charter in his message to the 58th anniversary of the regional bloc, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), on Friday, in yet another act of defiance of the ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus which calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Myanmar.
Min Aung Hlaing has turned a deaf ear to the ASEAN’s peace plan over the past four and a half years since his coup, while using the ASEAN Charter as a shield against pressure from fellow member countries. He has been barred from ASEAN summits due to non-compliance of the five-point consensus.
Facing US and EU sanctions, as well as exclusion from ASEAN summits, the coup leader is increasingly turning to China and Russia for support while also seeking closer ties with blocs such as BIMSTEC, SCO, BRICS, and the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC).
Military’s Political Wing Woos Far-Right
The chair of the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Khin Yi, met with prominent hardline nationalists in Yangon on Friday, urging them to help the regime carry out its plan to hold a general election in December.
Khin Yi is one of a handful of people to have served in both the previous and current military regimes as well as the quasi-civilian government led by former General Thein Sein in the early 2010s. He played a key role in junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s 2021 coup, organizing dozens of pro-military rallies in the months leading up to the takeover.
Also attending Friday’s meeting were USDP Yangon chapter chair Khin Maung Soe, who helped Khin Yi organize the pre-coup rallies, and other prominent ultranationalists including Khin Waing Kyi, a former Upper House lawmaker for the National Democratic Force party; Win Ko Ko Latt, a disciple of firebrand monk U Wirathu; and Myat Phone Moh, who expressed support for the assassination of U Ko Ni, a legal advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy who was gunned down at Yangon airport in 2017. Read more
US Lobbyist Hired to Influence Trump
The Myanmar military junta has hired a US lobby firm at a cost of US$3 million per year to help rebuild its relations with the US in the run-up to the regime’s planned election, which has been widely condemned as a sham designed to cement military rule in the guise of a civilian government.
The regime’s Ministry of Information (MOI) signed an agreement with Washington-based DCI Group, which “shall provide public affairs services” to the junta aimed at “rebuilding relations” with the US, especially on trade, natural resources and humanitarian relief, according to US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings viewed by The Irrawaddy.
Signed by DCI Group managing partner Justin Peterson and MOI Permanent Secretary Win Kyaw Aung, the contract is effective for one year from July 31. Read more
National Security Adviser Hacked to Death?
Admiral Moe Aung, a longtime confidant of Myanmar’s military leadership, has been quietly removed from his dual roles as Union minister at the Office of the Chairman of the State Administration Council (SAC) and national security advisor, following a major reshuffle.
On July 30, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing threw a farewell party in Naypyitaw for his outgoing SAC members, before rebranding the body as the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC). Moe Aung was notably absent at the event as Min Aung Hlaing thanked his SAC colleagues, many of whom continue to sit on the SSPC.
Former generals including Mya Tun Oo, Aung Lin Dwe, Tin Aung San and Nyo Saw have been appointed to both the National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) and the interim government, which will be in office until power is transferred after the planned elections in December. But when the new lineups were announced, Moe Aung was nowhere to be seen. Read more
No Phone Safe as Cybersecurity Law Kicks In
Junta patrols by soldiers, Pyu Saw Htee militia and traffic police have started checking the phones of pedestrians and motorists in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, after junta boss Min Aung Hlaing signed the Cybersecurity Law into effect on July 30.
According to locals, these checks go beyond routine vehicle and driving license verification and now include invasive searches of mobile phones for social media usage and Virtual Private Network (VPN) software.
“I thought it was just a regular license check, so I stopped my motorbike. Once they saw everything was in order, they inspected my phone. After failing to find VPN software or Facebook on my phone, they accused me of deleting them,” said a 25-year-old man from Maha Aungmyay Township. Read more
