[ad_1]
A collaged image of the covers of the books and their authors who cowl up the navy’s bloody historical past of Myanmar
By The Irrawaddy 16 June 2022
Many books have been written on the up to date historical past of Myanmar. It’s inconceivable to exclude Myanmar’s navy and its generals in case you are to put in writing a e-book on Myanmar’s historical past since her independence. Some ex-military officers have advised their facet of the story in books. However are they credible?
To place it merely, historical past is far distorted of their books, which give the navy reward and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her Nationwide League for Democracy criticism, whereas blowing their very own trumpets and boasting of the achievements of their colleagues. Such books have continued to come back out after the navy coup.
Regardless of their totally different ranks, the authors of these books—Soe Thane, Khin Nyunt, Ye Htut, Tun Kyi and so forth—have one factor in frequent. All of them defend the regimes, earlier and present, of their books. Listed below are among the books—which you must neither place in your e-book cabinets nor make investments your money and time in.
Second Democratic Authorities and Myanmar
by former Vice Admiral Soe Thane
This e-book shouldn’t be publicly out there, and solely distributed amongst navy personnel and members of the navy’s proxy Union Solidarity and Growth Celebration.
The primary quantity of “Second Democratic Authorities and Myanmar”, referring to the time period of the NLD authorities below Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from 2016 to 2020, was printed in October 2020, and the second quantity was printed in August 2021, seven months after the coup.
State Administration Council members Thein Nyunt and Padoh Mahn Nyein Maung wrote forewords for the e-book. The SAC is the present junta’s governing physique.
Soe Thane, a former Navy chief and vice admiral who was extensively thought to be a reformist minister in U Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian authorities, revealed his true colours when he wrote “Our Myanmar’s independence was restored on Feb. 1, 2021.” His e-book disparages the NLD authorities from whom the navy seized energy and isn’t in need of private assaults in opposition to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Surprisingly, the books function many examples of hate speech and incendiary posts shared by anti-NLD people, nationalists and navy supporters on their Fb pages, reflecting Soe Thane’s grudge in opposition to and jealousy of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Even U Ye Htut, the previous info minister in U Thein Sein’s authorities, agrees with that reality.
Total, the books argue that the NLD can’t proceed to carry workplace, and the navy should take energy. He’s reportedly lobbying for Min Aung Hlaing’s regime from behind by reaching out to worldwide diplomats he is aware of whereas discrediting pro-democracy forces.
It was extensively believed that the 73-year-old had affect on former President Thein Sein. One of many few different books he has authored is “New Democratic Authorities and President U Thein Sein”, wherein he showers reward on the ex-general.
Myanmar’s Political Transition and Misplaced Alternatives
by former Lieutenant Colonel Ye Htut
Ye Htut expressed his gratitude to U Thein Sein, who appointed him as his spokesman and data minister, by writing “Myanmar’s Political Transition and Misplaced Alternatives (2010-2016)”.
The English-language e-book was printed by Singapore ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and comes with a foreword by Robert H. Taylor, who was often called a defender of navy regimes. Retired Navy chief Thura Thet Swe, who was a classmate of Ye Htut on the Protection Providers Academy, translated the e-book into Burmese.
The e-book options less-known details in regards to the Thein Sein administration, and the ability battle between Thein Sein and Decrease Home Speaker Shwe Mann, each of whom joint-chaired the USDP. The e-book attracts on Ye Htut’s experiences as a Thein Sein cupboard member and on intensive interviews with different cupboard members.
In a phrase, the e-book is an encomium for ex-general Thein Sein, who was hailed by Ye Htut as a one-in-a-million reformist president who reworked Myanmar whereas enduring the assaults of Shwe Mann and a few USDP leaders.
Studying the books of Soe Thane and Ye Htut collectively, readers could also be deceived into feeling that Thein Sein’s political ups and downs are extra touching than the story of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who was and remains to be unfairly detained, having been persecuted by successive navy regimes.
Whereas Ye Htut portrays Shwe Mann because the villain all the time attacking Thein Sein, Shwe Mann, in his e-book “She, I and Myanmar’s Politics”, which is in regards to the relationship between him and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, wrote that he needed to put a handgun beneath his pillow at night time amid the feuds.
It’s honest to say that by way of his e-book Ye Htut urges the USDP to take classes from the celebration’s defeat within the 2015 common election, which he thinks was attributable to the rift between the generals and the celebration management. The e-book was printed just a few months earlier than the 2020 common election.
As Ye Htut was a navy officer himself and his e-book attracts closely on interviews with former ministers and former generals together with the previous navy intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, it isn’t stunning that the e-book doesn’t spotlight the crimes dedicated by the navy in opposition to civilians.
As we speak, Thein Sein leads a lifetime of ease at his palatial mansion in Naypyitaw, planting bushes and drawing photos. The ex-general was final seen in public when he consecrated a pagoda in Might in Naypyitaw.
Ye Htut was a part of the twenty second consumption of the Protection Providers Academy along with deputy junta chief Soe Win, SAC member Common Yar Pyae and regime Data Minister Maung Maung Ohn. He’s subsequently extensively thought to be near the present regime.
Although some observers name him a reasonable, Ye Htut is nothing greater than an ex-military officer who’s closely connected to the navy, which has solely destroyed the nation in successive intervals.
When requested by The Irrawaddy following the NLD’s electoral victory within the 2015 common election if he would settle for a place within the NLD authorities’s cupboard, Ye Htut replied he wouldn’t play for one more staff, displaying that he’ll stay loyal even when he’s enjoying for the unsuitable staff—simply as he defended his former establishment, the military, in his e-book.
Prepared to Threat My Life and Soul
by former Protection Minister Lieutenant-Common Wai Lwin
This e-book is an autobiography by former Lieutenant Common Wai Lwin who’s at the moment a senior determine within the USDP and served because the protection minister within the Thein Sein administration. It was printed by the military-owned Myawady Publishing Home after the 2021 navy coup. He wrote the e-book below the pseudonym Wai Lwin Maung.
Ex-Lieutenant Colonel and present regime minister Chit Naing and ex-Lieutenant Colonel Ohn Maung, who concurrently chairs the Myanmar Press Council and Myanmar Writers Affiliation, wrote forewords for Wai Lwin.
The chairman of the Naypyitaw USDP, who organized pro-military rallies earlier than and after the coup within the administrative capital, expresses his help for the coup in his e-book. He calls the NLD a state-destroying authorities below the thumb of the Central Intelligence Company and the Group of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). He echoes Min Aung Hlaing’s declare of vote-rigging by the NLD in 2020 common election. His disapproval of the NLD’s appointment of overseas advisers and his accusations in opposition to the NLD in regards to the OIC and Rohingya are comparable in tone to Soe Thane in his e-book “Second Democratic Authorities and Myanmar”.
Whereas the junta troops had been gunning down civilians in road protests, Wai Lwin writes that he sympathizes with and praises the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s navy) members who’ve to have interaction in additional tiring work than earlier than. Wai Lwin expresses his gratitude to former navy dictator Than Shwe and his deputy Maung Aye, whereas slamming the NLD and praising the present regime.
Wai Lwin served because the deputy of Lieutenant Common Myint Swe (the performing president of the present regime) when he was the commander of Yangon Area Command. He was additionally a follower of Than Shwe, who appointed him the chief of Naypyitaw Command. He turned the protection minister below the Thein Sein administration.
Wai Lwin is the classmate of USDP chairman former Brigadier-Common Than Htay and regime Worldwide Cooperation Minister U Ko Ko Hlaing, who a graduate of the 18th consumption of the Protection Providers Academy.
My Life Expertise
by former Army Intelligence Chief Common Khin Nyunt
That is the two-volume autobiography of former navy spy chief Khin Nyunt. “My Life Expertise” covers the previous common’s rise by way of the nation’s armed forces to the pinnacle of Army Intelligence (MI), his position in negotiating peace with the disparate ethnic armies and drug lords, and his rocky tenure as prime minister of the State Peace and Growth Council (SPDC), which led to his unceremonious dumping and detention in October 2004.
Neither e-book mentions a phrase about how he masterminded lethal interrogations of democracy and human rights activists or how he condemned many dissidents to deaths in distant prisons after the 1988 pro-democracy rebellion. As an alternative, in self-promoting trend, the books inform how he facilitated the peace course of, what he has finished to advertise well being, training and cultural requirements and battle medicine, and final however not least, what number of pagodas he has constructed or consecrated to advertise Buddhism.
The crackdown on nationwide democracy protests in 1988, which ushered in 22 years of navy rule, was not a navy takeover however “an motion by the military to make sure the protection of the folks,” he writes within the first quantity printed in 2015.
He additionally shifts duty to Lt-Gen Soe Win for the Tabayin Bloodbath, which occurred in 2003 when a convoy transporting NLD chief Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was attacked by a pro-junta militia, resulting in the deaths of as much as 70 of her supporters. He was on the time Secretary-1 of the SPDC and Soe Win was Secretary-2.
He additionally shifts the blame for his personal evil actions onto Than Shwe. “The Secretary-1 has to comply with the orders of the pinnacle of state,” writes Khin Nyunt, who was as soon as dubbed the Prince of Evil.
Khin Nyunt stated he wrote the autobiography in order that youthful generations can know the true historical past. However his books are stuffed with distorted historical past and nothing greater than an try by a purged common to evade duty for all of the crimes and rights violations his regime dedicated.
Min Aung Hlaing visited Khin Nyunt at his home in Yangon in December final 12 months. The 82-year-old former navy spy chief is affected by Alzheimer’s illness.
Over 50 years of My Life Experiences
by former Lieutenant Common Tun Kyi
That is the five-volume autobiography by Lt-Gen Tun Kyi, who served because the chief of Mandalay Command and commerce minister below the State Legislation and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and its successor the SPDC.
The lieutenant common, who was infamous for corruption, graduated from the Protection Providers Academy as a part of its first consumption. He was a classmate of Than Shwe’s deputy Maung Aye. He was additionally current when Min Aung Hlaing paid respects to retired navy generals at an occasion to mark Armed Forces Day in March, displaying solidarity with the junta chief.
The primary quantity of his e-book was printed earlier than the Thein Sein administration got here to energy, and the fifth quantity got here out earlier than the NLD authorities took workplace in 2016.
“I may lead a correct life due to the Tatmadaw [Myanmar military],” writes Tun Kyi. His books are nothing greater than a medium he makes use of to self-praise and reward the Myanmar navy.
In regards to the 1990 common elections wherein the NLD received a landslide victory, Tun Kyi justified the navy’s refusal at hand over energy to the celebration, citing its ties with Western nations.
In his fourth e-book, Tun Kyi admitted that he raised funds by any means. He was sacked in 1997 collectively along with his contemporaries Maj-Gen Kyaw Ba and Maj-Gen Myint Aung amid a corruption scandal. Anawmar Artwork Group, which received the rights to revive the Secretariat Constructing—the historic website the place Common Aung San and his colleagues had been assassinated in 1947—and protect it as a long-term venue to host the humanities, with a cultural heart and a museum, is owned by Daw Thi Thi Tun, a daughter of Tun Kyi.
Within the preface to the primary quantity of his e-book, Tun Kyi urges youthful generations to take classes from his folly, however Min Aung Hlaing took a cue from Tun Kyi on the right way to generate income, and the junta chief’s household had amassed huge wealth inside one 12 months of the coup.
Surprising Journey of Prime Minister Common Soe Win
This e-book is a biography of Common Soe Win, who served because the prime minister of the SPDC regime. The e-book authored by Myint Thu attracts on intensive interviews with greater than 100 people near Soe Win. It was printed by Myanmar Heritage Publishing Home in 2014 below the Thein Sein administration.
Soe Win succeeded Khin Nyunt after his purge. He was earmarked by Than Shwe and Maung Aye because the president after the democratic transition. As he died prematurely of most cancers, Thein Sein, who succeeded him, turned the president.
Soe Win, who stated Myanmar would have collapsed with out the Tatmadaw, oversaw the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in entrance of Yangon Metropolis Corridor on Aug. 8, 1988 often called 4 Eights in Myanmar. Although many individuals had been slaughtered within the crackdown, Soe Win stated nobody died, and claimed that some folks might need injured themselves whereas fleeing. The creator describes him as a hero relating to the best way he dealt with the Buddhist monks concerned within the pro-democracy protests in 1988.
The SPDC Secretary-2 and USDP patron was extensively thought to be the mastermind behind the Tabayin Bloodbath when junta-backed thugs and USDP members attacked a convoy transporting NLD chairwoman Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Tabayin Township, Sagaing Area. On the instruction of SPDC chairman Than Shwe, he flew to Monywa and made real-time stories to Than Shwe and regime leaders in regards to the assault.
Within the e-book, the Tabayin Bloodbath is just known as a riot. Soe Win defended himself by saying he acted to keep away from conflicts for the protection of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The then regime stated 4 folks died and 70 others had been injured within the assault, which was removed from the reality. Total, the e-book conceals the reality in regards to the 1988 pro-democracy rebellion and the Tabayin Bloodbath whereas praising the navy.
Myanmar’s Present Political Panorama and My View 1988-2014
by former Colonel Hla Min
This e-book is authored by navy intelligence officer former Colonel Hla Min. He was from the Strategic Research Division of the Protection Ministry and was the earlier junta spokesman. He was jailed when the Army Intelligence was dissolved, and plenty of MI chiefs had been locked up following the purge of MI chief Khin Nyunt in 2004.
He spent seven years behind bars and was launched in 2011. The e-book was printed in 2014 and is the amended and supplemented model of the e-book he wrote as an MI official. All through the e-book he defends the SLORC and SPDC, and criticizes Western nations, particularly the US.
He affords the protection that the navy took energy in 1988 to save lots of the nation from collapse, and helps the navy’s refusal at hand over energy to the NLD after the 1990 common elections. He opposes the proposed modification to Article 59(f) within the army-drafted structure, which bars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency. In regards to the 25 p.c of seats held by the navy in nationwide and sub-national legislatures, he calls it a pre-emptive motion to stop politicians from harming the nationwide curiosity.
The e-book is not any higher than different propaganda books written by the present regime’s Worldwide Cooperation Minister U Ko Ko Hlaing below the SLORC and the SPDC. The e-book doesn’t point out a single phrase about how the MI persecuted political dissidents within the aftermath of pro-democracy protests in 1988. The e-book was additionally printed in English.
You may additionally like these tales:
Regime Airstrike Destroys Hospital in Decrease Myanmar
Junta Chief to Preside Over Myanmar’s First Grand Army Assessment in Seven Years
Resistance Fighters and KIA Conflict With Junta Forces in Northern Myanmar
[ad_2]
Source link
