A Desperate Recruitment Tactic; a Move to Erase Suu Kyi’s Legacy; and More

At a gathering of his regime on Monday, Min Aung Hlaing recommended that these ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) which have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Settlement (NCA) be allowed to maintain their arms, offered they be a part of the Myanmar army or its affiliated Border Guard Drive.

The concept might be seen as a shrewd ploy to lure the EAOs’ political wings into collaborating within the election that his regime plans to carry subsequent yr.

But it surely is also seen as a laughable effort to draw new recruits to his military, which has been critically depleted by desertions and casualties amid every day clashes with resistance forces because the coup.

The coup chief has been holding talks with seven NCA signatories and three non-signatories, together with essentially the most highly effective ethnic armed group in Myanmar, the United Wa State Military. However none of those teams is engaged in lively combating with Myanmar army.

Is Min Aung Hlaing overestimating himself—or does he simply assume that these teams are fools—to imagine that they’ll serve him and struggle to keep up his grip on energy, after he has made so many enemies within the nation?

In the meantime, removed from holding talks with the regime, different highly effective ethnic armed organizations together with NCA signatory the Karen Nationwide Union and non-signatories just like the Kachin Independence Military, Chin Nationwide Entrance and Arakan Military are actively combating it.

Some persons are humorously calling Min Aung Hlaing’s suggestion a brand new recruitment tactic for his weakening military.

Financial boasts develop ever extra delusional

Manufacturing has practically returned to pre-coup ranges in lots of components of Myanmar, besides in some components of Chin and Kayah states and Sagaing Area, the hotbeds of anti-regime resistance, Min Aung Hlaing claimed as he addressed a regime assembly on Monday.

May this upbeat appraisal probably be true? One want solely take a fast look round Yangon, the nation’s business capital, the place lengthy strains of individuals queuing to purchase palm oil or apply for passports have change into a standard sight over the previous few weeks, to search out the reply.

A steady depreciation of the kyat, together with gas and meals value hikes, and a major enhance in the price of residing are hardly indicators of an financial restoration. Nor are the tens of hundreds of individuals leaving the nation every day, both legally or illegally, to work in different international locations.

Lower than a month after dressing up agricultural loans for rising paddy and beans as a part of a so-called “stimulus package deal”, Min Aung Hlaing would now have us imagine that manufacturing has been restored nearly to pre-coup ranges. The junta chief has additionally vowed to show the economic system round inside six months.

In Chin and Kayah states and Sagaing Area, that are being rocked by every day clashes between junta troops and resistance forces, civilians are so busy making an attempt to outlive the junta’s air raids, artillery strikes, arson assaults and arbitrary killings, they don’t have a lot time to do enterprise.

So when Min Aung Hlaing says manufacturing has returned to regular and Myanmar’s economic system will decide up within the subsequent six months, there may be one solely conclusion we are able to draw. He’s out of his thoughts.

Effort to convey curtain down on Suu Kyi continues

The junta-controlled Supreme Court docket’s ruling on Monday to public sale off Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence at 54 College Avenue in Yangon displays the regime’s eagerness to banish each hint of the ousted civilian chief from Myanmar.

On the floor, it seems to be not more than the newest twist in a long-running inheritance dispute between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her estranged elder brother U Aung San Oo. However 54 College Avenue is not only a home; the location is an emblem of the democracy wrestle in Myanmar, as it’s the place Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was confined for 15 years by the earlier army governments, which referred to as themselves the State Legislation and Order Restoration Council and the State Peace and Growth Council.

For years, U Aung San Oo repeatedly referred to as for the public sale of the residence and a share of the proceeds, however to no avail.

Following the coup, nonetheless, Min Aung Hlaing is just too completely satisfied to grant U Aung San Oo his want, delivering one other heavy blow to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he has unjustly detained and put in solitary confinement in Naypyitaw Jail out of his private loathing for her. On the similar time, he’ll really feel he has been in a position to erase from historical past probably the most necessary embodiments of opposition to army rule.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi wished to show the residence right into a museum and in addition use it for philanthropic works of the Daw Khin Kyi Basis, which she arrange and named after her mom. US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and UN Secretary Basic Ban Ki-moon are among the many worldwide dignitaries who visited Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on the lakeside residence throughout their phrases of workplace.

After the public sale, the historic web site faces an unsure destiny beneath its new proprietor. What is for certain is {that a} important web site within the historical past of Myanmar’s democracy wrestle is vulnerable to being misplaced.

Regime defensive on Rohingya anniversary

The UN was among the many organizations and international locations issuing statements Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of the mass displacement of Rohingya from Myanmar. On the identical day, the junta-controlled Ministry of Overseas Affairs launched a press release condemning and rejecting these statements, calling them interference within the inner affairs of Myanmar.

After the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Military, a militant group, attacked border guard police outposts in Rakhine State in western Myanmar on Aug. 25, 2007, the Myanmar army led by Min Aung Hlaing slaughtered Rohingya individuals, simply as it’s mercilessly killing Myanmar civilians right this moment.

The Myanmar army’s so-called “counterinsurgency operations” then compelled tons of of hundreds of Rohingya into Bangladesh. Round 1 million refugees stay sheltering within the neighboring nation.

Whereas the US has publicly decided that the Myanmar army dedicated genocide towards the Rohingya individuals in Rakhine State, the regime continues to insist that solely essential measures had been taken in accordance with current legal guidelines, guidelines and laws, and nonetheless refuses to acknowledge the time period “Rohingya”.

The regime is at present presenting a protection towards Gambia’s genocide lawsuit towards Myanmar on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice in The Hague.