Weakened, universally reviled at home, & soon-to-be wanted by ICC, Myanmar Coup Leader attends ASEAN Summit on Myanmar (Crisis) from an exceedingly weak position.
"A statement from the Indonesian government announcing General Min Aung Hlaing’s arrival identified him as the commander in chief of Myanmar’s military, not as the country’s leader." - New York Times, 24 Apr 2021
Photo Captions: 1) Myanmar Coup leader arrived at the international airport in Jakarata this morning to attend the unprecedented ASEAN Summit, designed to address the internal affair of a member country!; 2) Town's people and jade mine workers in Hpakant, Kachin state, N. Myanmar held a large rally in support of the Interim National Unity Gov - formed virtually by MP-elects and civil society representatives today; 3) the Mercedez-Benz carrying Min Aung Hlaing did NOT fly Myanmar flag, as ASEAN Summit organizers (Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore) apparently sought to address the issue of "legitimation" by association or invitation to the Summit/
Dear All,
More than a few Burmese have noticed the fact that their much-hated Ma Aa La General's car in Jakarta did not fly #myanmar flag on its way to the #ASEAN Summit. He is indeed in a very weak POSITION as he joined today's Summit hosted by Indonesian President Jokowi:
no official Rep at the #UnitedNation ;
no official acceptance EVEN by the bloc's low standards;
no functioning State to command;
no societal support;
and no functioning economy.
When the coup regime has to openly threaten to jail, point guns in the heads, beat or evict Civil Disobedience Movement state employees, you know how little power these generals have over the state.
This isn't simply a political equivalent of invoking the labour-bursting, strike-ending pro-management laws of USA and UK - ushered in during early Far-Right regimes of Thatcher and Reagan of 1980's. It is rather a sign of an extremely weak and weakened regime, which no longer has an ounce of support from within the vast population of 54 million.
Despite the overwhelming "expert" babble about how strong, cohesive and stable the formerly national armed forces known as the Tatmadaw, the truth is neither the coup leader nor his instrument of terror, namely the Tatmadaw, are in an extremely weak position. The only two factors that continue to sustain them are Russia and China - and Singaporean money - estimated at about $30 billions in FDI.
At home, Myanmar public weaponize even culture and rituals in keeping the Resistance against what they commonly view as a Fascist occupying force.
In Yangon, residents were seen holding Min Aung Hlaing's funeral, as he left for #ASEAN Summit on Myanmar Airways International Flight MAI001 early this morning.
smashed water pots on a street in Yangon. Today.
Against the backdrop of scattered pieces of smashed funeral water pots, the Burmese sign reads: Down with Military Dictatorship
Citizens engage in Buddhist-animist ritual of breaking an earthen water pot at the moment the corpse is taken away from the home of the deceased towards a graveyard.
I was given the honour of smashing the water pot as my beloved great-aunt's funeral vehicle began to depart our home.
Alas, I can't imagine Yangon residents smashing the pot, with much good will - as they symbolically sent off the mass-murderer-in-chief!
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has seized at least 10 of the junta’s army bases since fighting escalated with the Myanmar military following the February 1 coup, according to local sources.
Clashes between the KIA and the regime’s armed forces have been ongoing since early March, when the KIA began to launch offensives to capture military bases and police stations in the Kachin State townships of Hpakant, Mogaung, Waingmaw, Putao and Tanai, as well as in northern Shan State.
Among the locations since overtaken by the KIA are the Alaw Bum and Ywathit military outposts in Momauk Township, as well as one police base; the Tan Khawn and Aungbalay bases in Hpakant; and the Nambyu base in Tanai.
“The KIA raided and seized around 10 bases, including small ones,” a Myitkyina resident and military observer said, adding that Kachin forces continue to maintain control over some locations, and others they destroyed. “They set fire to the military bases that they did not continue to occupy, so now neither force is at those,” the individual added.
He said that the military junta had not been able to recapture any of the camps they lost.
KIA information officer Col Naw Bu told Myanmar Now on April 21 that Kachin forces had seized some bases belonging to the junta, but that further details were unavailable, with fighting ongoing in multiple locations.
Much of the regime’s focus has been on regaining control of the strategic Alaw Bum hilltop base in Dawphoneyang sub-township of Momauk.
Since April 11, the junta has carried out repeated airstrikes against the KIA in an attempt to drive them out of Alaw Bum and areas controlled by KIA’s Brigades 8 and 9, but the military has reportedly suffered heavy casualties in the offensive, according to KIA sources.
These sources have said that hundreds of Myanmar military troops, including battalion commanders, were killed in the fighting, and at least one whole battalion– LIB 320– was wiped out.
Myanmar Now has not been able to independently verify these casualties.
A KIA officer told Myanmar Now that, at the time of reporting, more than 1,000 junta soldiers had been airlifted to Momauk Township as reinforcements.
Locals have noted that since a previous 17-year ceasefire with the Myanmar military broke down in 2011, the KIA had been largely fighting on the defensive; only since the coup had they started engaging in offensives against Myanmar’s armed forces.
“It is like the KIA is attacking places that they used to control in the past. The tension can only escalate from here,” a resident of Hpakant said.
Rallies held across Myanmar in support of the Interim National Unity Government
Episode 8: Interview with Maung Zarni on Violence in Myanmar and Being a Scholar-Activist
(Rohingya segment starts at 13 minutes followed by my biographical interview at 15 minutes).
Join the Anti-Genocide Coffee Break team for an interview with Burmese scholar-activist Maung Zarni, who discusses the relationship between scholarship, activism, and truth-telling; his childhood in Burma; his formative influences, especially his mother and father; his decision to pursue activism against the autocratic Myanmar state; and the seismic shift that has occurred in Myanmar since the February 2021 military coup.
We also discuss recent news, including:
Leaked cables that show neglect of migrants in the Mediterranean by Italian and Libyan officials, which led to the deaths of over 100 people in one specific instance;
State violence against residents of favelas in Brazil;
A new Rwandan government report on France's role in the Rwandan genocide;
Threats by Azerbaijan to invade Armenian territory; and
Struggles of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh during Ramadan.
A fellow dissident Dr Khin Zaw Win in Yangon and myself shared our views on the increasingly regressive orientation of the Buddhist Sangha or Order here in one of the most progressive German newspapers:
Militärregime in Myanmar:
Mit dem Segen der Mönche
Nach dem Putsch kooperieren einige Äbte mit dem Militär. Ihre gesellschaftliche Rolle im mehrheitlich buddhistischen Myanmar hat sich gewandelt.
Read the full article here - in German or in English via Google Translate.
General Who Led Myanmar’s Coup Arrives for Regional Talks on the Crisis
Critics feared that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s presence at the meeting in Indonesia would give his regime the appearance of legitimacy.
The army general who has ruled Myanmar since leading the overthrow of its civilian government arrived on Saturday in Indonesia for a meeting with leaders of other Southeast Asian nations, after some of them expressed concern about the army’s killing of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters.
It was the first time since the Feb. 1 coup that the army’s commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, had ventured outside Myanmar. Critics feared that his presence with heads of state at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting would give him the appearance of legitimacy.
Myanmar politicians who have formed what they call a National Unity Government called on Interpol and the Indonesian police this week to arrest the general upon arrival in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, for crimes against humanity, including the ethnic cleansing campaign that drove more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims out of the country in 2017.
The National Unity Government, which asserts that it is the legitimate government of Myanmar, also urged the 10-nation regional association, known as Asean, to give it a seat at the summit meeting and refuse to meet with General Min Aung Hlaing until he halts the killing of civilians.
“Meetings that exclude the people of Myanmar but include murderer in chief Min Aung Hlaing who is murdering the people of Myanmar are unlikely to be helpful,” the group’s spokesman, Dr. Sasa, who goes by a single name, said in a statement on Friday.
Many leaders of the National Unity Government were elected to Parliament in November and would have taken office on the day of the coup.
A statement from the Indonesian government announcing General Min Aung Hlaing’s arrival identified him as the commander in chief of Myanmar’s military, not as the country’s leader.
The talks later Saturday, billed as a leaders’ meeting, were expected to focus entirely on the situation in Myanmar. The meeting was announced just a few days before officials arrived in Indonesia.
Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who before the February coup would have attended a meeting like Saturday’s, is now under house arrest. The prime minister of Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin, and the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, have called for her release, as has the Philippine government. Indonesia’s foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, has called for Myanmar to release all political detainees.
Asean, which has a policy of noninterference in the affairs of member nations, issued a statement in March calling on “all parties to refrain from instigating further violence,” seemingly ignoring the one-sided nature of the killings.
Among those expected to attend Saturday’s summit were the leaders of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Brunei. The Philippines, Thailand and Laos were expected to send representatives.
The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia have separately expressed concern about the coup, and Indonesia played a leading role in convening the meeting.
Some members of Asean, including Singapore and Thailand, have close business ties with Myanmar and its military, known as the Tatmadaw, which owns two of the country’s largest conglomerates.
