myanmar military

Inside the military’s plan to retain dominance in the new . Is the U.S. too quickly embracing the generals? The next campaign: cementing power

by Andrew R.C. Marshall and Jason Szep Naypyitaw, Myanmar, November 16 , 2012

YOUNG ELITE: Cadets at the Defense Services Academy now have laptops and internet access, but not human rights training. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

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must be consequences.” Three years later, the is rewarding Myanmar’s once- reviled military by granting it observer sta- tus at next year’s Cobra Gold war games in Thailand. The exercises form part of Wash- ington’s strategic “pivot” to Asia to counter the growing influence of China, traditional patron of Myanmar’s former junta. While in Myanmar, Obama is expected to meet both President Thein Sein, a for- mer general, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laure- ate. Obama adviser Samantha Power wrote a post on the White House website last week signaling that Obama would use the trip to pressure Myanmar to do more about FORWARD, MARCH: The military has no plans to cede seats in parliament, Deputy Defense Minister continuing ethnic violence and human- Aung Thaw told Reuters in the brass’s first interview with the foreign media.REUTERS/Dami r Sagolj rights abuses against civilians. “The government and the ethnic na- tionalities need to work together urgently ung Thaw was a teenager when he to find a path to lasting peace that ad- joined Myanmar’s armed forces, dresses minority rights, deals with differ- Awhich seized power in 1962 and ences through dialogue not violence, heals led a promising Asian nation into half a the wounds of the past, and carries reforms century of poverty, isolation and fear. 14%The military’s share of Myanmar’s forward,” she wrote. Now 59, he has a new mission as deputy Aung Din, executive director of the U.S. minister of defense: explaining why the national budget in 2012/13 Campaign for Burma, an advocacy group, military intends to retain a dominant role also urged Obama to meet with “his real in a fragile new era of democratic reform. role in Myanmar’s economy through its counterpart” - meaning Vice Senior Gen- In a two-hour interview with Reuters, holding companies, according to the firms, eral Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s com- the first by a leader of the armed forces which are among the country’s biggest mander-in-chief. with the international media since Myan- commercial enterprises. Myanmar’s emergence from authori- mar’s historic reforms began last year, Aung Aung Thaw’s comments came ahead of tarianism has been compared to the Arab Thaw depicted the military as both archi- Barack Obama’s visit to Myanmar on Nov. Spring, but the trigger wasn’t street pro- tect and guardian of his country’s embry- 19 - the first by a serving U.S. president to tests. The opening was stage-managed by onic democracy. the country also known as Burma. retired generals such as Thein Sein, whose That’s why the military has no plans to The generals’ reluctance to loosen their dramatic reforms cleared the way for an en- give up its presence in parliament, he said, grip on power and acknowledge past abuses gagement with the West and a suspension where its unelected delegates occupy a raises fundamental questions for this strate- in sanctions. A government now dominat- quarter of the seats. Nor will the military gic country at Asia’s crossroads: Can Myan- ed by former generals has begun repairing a apologize for its violent suppressions of mar be reborn after decades of dictatorship dysfunctional economy with foreign exper- pro-democracy protests in 1988 and 2007 without the military itself also undergoing tise and investment. that led to crippling Western sanctions. profound change? And is the United States Since taking power in March 2011, “The government is leading the democ- too quickly embracing the generals? Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government ratization,” said Aung Thaw. “The Defense “When there is genocide in Darfur,” has relaxed censorship, allowed street pro- Services are pro-actively participating in said President Obama in his Nobel Peace tests and held a by-election that put Suu the process.” Prize acceptance speech in 2009, “systematic Kyi into parliament. In return, the West The military will also retain a leading rape in Congo, repression in Burma - there has suspended most sanctions, while

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Big spenders Myanmar’s military expenditure is modest by Southeast Asian standards but rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia as a percentage of GDP DEFENCE EXPENDITURES 2011 TROOP SIZES 2011 TOP 10 DEFENCE BUDGETS Southeast Asia regional breakdown Thousands Percentage of GDP* Singapore 29.40% Vietnam Saudi Arabia MYANMAR 0.91% Myanmar Oman MILITARY 2011 Israel Vietnam 8.10% Thailand Yemen ARMY Indonesia Brunei 1.23% U.S. 375,000 Philippines Myanmar 6.21% Jordan NAVY Cambodia Indonesia 16.40% Algeria 16,000 Malaysia Philippines 7.13% AIR FORCE Singapore Myanmar Malaysia 13.82% 15,000 Laos Armenia Thailand 16.79% 0100 200 300 400 500 0246810 * Only includes countries for which sufficient comparable data is available. Source: The Military Balance 2012 has promised up to $21 billion in aid and Myanmar’s army is called the , situation. Everybody suffered, including investment. Foreign investors are pouring or “Royal Force,” a phrase evoking the age our armed forces.” into one of the world’s last frontier markets. of Burmese warrior kings. Its modern ver- The military was “the only strong institu- The military, however, has remained sion was founded by General Aung San, tion left in that chaotic situation to maintain practically a law unto itself, its power and the independence hero and father of Aung law and order,” he said. “At the time, we had privileges enshrined in a 2008 constitution San Suu Kyi, who led his troops against no other option. We tried to restore law and drafted by the former junta. Fears persist both British and Japanese occupiers. order to protect the civilian population.” that hardliners may emerge to stall or roll Respect for the Tatmadaw began to fade And the population was grateful, he back the reforms. in 1962, when the late dictator General insists. “If you were in this country at that The generals have long insisted the re- Ne Win seized power and ushered in the defining moment, you would hear (this) forms were the culmination of their “road- catastrophic “Burmese Way to Socialism.” sound”, he said, emitting an audible sigh map to democracy” announced nearly a A nationwide pro-democracy uprising that of relief. “Because everybody felt insecure, decade ago. Diplomats here cite other pres- began in 1988 was so brutally repressed it even in their own homes.” sures, including fears of economic collapse scarred the nation’s psyche. Thousands were Kyaw Min Yu recalls it differently. Bet- and further popular unrest, growing unease killed or injured when troops opened fire ter known as Ko (“Brother”) Jimmy, he was over China’s dominance, and a desire to on unarmed protesters. Hundreds more protesting with other students in March shrug off Myanmar’s pariah status in an in- were jailed, including Suu Kyi, who spent 1988 by Inya Lake in the main city of Yan- creasingly connected Southeast Asia. 15 of the next 21 years under house arrest. gon when security forces attacked. Scores of The military is showing some signs of The savagery provoked global outrage students were shot dead or drowned. Later, change. Deadly sectarian violence in Rakh- and led the United States and Europe to he said, he saw a soldier stab a schoolgirl ine State in October was a major test for impose sanctions. Some military officers re- with a bayonet. government troops, who showed restraint main on visa blacklists in Western countries. “I’ll never understand why they were so in policing the unrest between ethnic Ra- In the interview, deputy defense minis- cruel to us students, who were about the same khine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. ter Aung Thaw described 1988 as a “very, age as their sons and daughters,” said Ko Jim- Ethnic insurgencies rage elsewhere very sad memory for us”. Military inter- my, who spent 20 years as a political prisoner along Myanmar’s borderlands, where bat- vention was necessary to halt nationwide and is today a leading political activist. tle-hardened soldiers have committed their anarchy that threatened to “forever” change Shaken by the 1988 protests in the cit- worst abuses and, in northern Kachin State, Myanmar’s borders, he said. “In 1988, the ies, and embroiled in conflict with ethnic commit them still, say human rights groups reality is the whole country was in a chaotic insurgent groups in border regions, the

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military expanded. By 1995, its ranks had almost doubled to about 350,000, accord- The military’s telling ing to Myanmar military scholar Andrew Selth of the Griffith Asia Institute in Bris- bane, Australia. When Buddhist monks led monument to itself pro-democracy protests in 2007, the mili- tary was able to snuff them out easily. The military’s refusal to acknowledge the suffering it caused is part of a deep-rooted Colossal and largely deserted, the Defense Shwe. He has disappeared from public life amid arrogance that undermines hopes for recon- Services Museum is a lavish monument to rumors of serious illness, but appears in photos ciliation, said Ko Jimmy. This is especially true Myanmar’s military blasted from the hills of the throughout the museum. in ethnic areas, where attacks by government capital, Naypyitaw. His portrait is prominently displayed in the soldiers have left generations of bad blood. The museum overlooks an enormous entrance hall beside those of two dead generals: The military is overwhelmingly Burman, fountain so expensive to run it is only switched independence hero Aung San, Suu Kyi’s father as Myanmar’s ethnic majority is called, on for VIP visits. The building is so gargantuan and the founder of the Myanmar army; and Ne which compounds the sense among mi- not even Southeast Asia’s second-largest Win, who seized power in 1962 but died under a norities that it is an invader, not a liberator. standing army can find enough exhibits to fill house arrest ordered by Than Shwe. The Thailand Burma Border Consor- it, or summon enough electricity for lights and The former junta governed opaquely, and tium, the main aid agency caring for refugees air-conditioning. secrecy surrounds it still. along the Thai-Myanmar frontier, estimates But its empty hallways and soaring exhibition Asked about media reports that Than Shwe that since 1996 more than 3,700 villages rooms offer a glimpse into how the Tatmadaw, is sick or even dead, Deputy Defense Minister have been destroyed or abandoned in the or “Royal Force”, wants to be regarded in Aung Thaw shrugged. “My answer is: I really eastern Myanmar regions of the Karen eth- reform-era Myanmar. don’t know.” nic group. More than 1 million people have One of the museum’s biggest sections been displaced and tens of thousands killed. dedicates 11 panels to “Achievements of the The military has been accused by defectors Tatmadaw.” Photographs and paintings show and international rights groups of ordering the construction of bridges, ferries, buildings, soldiers to rape women and leave them preg- hydro-dams, paved roads, satellite towers and nant to breed out resistance. oil rigs. Uniformed soldiers lay railway tracks. “It would take a miracle for the mili- Generals inspect fields. tary to reform,” said Myra Dahgaypaw, a Several panels trumpet military assistance 36-year-old ethnic Karen. Soldiers killed after Cyclone Nargis killed at least 130,000 her parents when she was a young child, she people in May 2008. That relief effort, however, said, and later killed her elder brother, his wasn’t the military’s finest hour. Critics say wife and their daughter. Soldiers also shot it failed to adequately warn people of the dead her uncle after forcing him to watch impending catastrophe, which potentially could them rape his wife, she said. have saved lives. When government aid was Now working for an advocacy group in slow to arrive, the international community Washington, D.C., Dahgaypaw urged the considered invoking the U.N.’s “responsibility to United States to slow its rapprochement protect” principle to provide humanitarian relief with Myanmar and its military. “I feel like by force. When a grassroots movement stepped they are in a rush and forget about what’s in and began delivering aid to the needy, the really important.” junta jailed many of the volunteers. Ten ethnic insurgent groups have this Opened in March 2012, just two weeks year signed preliminary cease-fires. But before a landslide by-election victory by pro- about 75,000 people have been displaced democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and her MONUMENTAL: Naypyitaw’s new military in 16 months of fighting in Kachin State National League for Democracy party, the museum pays tribute to ex-dictator Than Shwe. in northern Myanmar, many of them flee- museum is also a tribute to former dictator Than REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

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HISTORY OF REPRESSION: Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai lies dying on a street after soldiers and police fired on pro-democracy protesters led by Buddhist monks in September 2007. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

ing forced labor, killings, rape and torture by As long as required and rank,” said an officer who spoke on condi- the Myanmar military, the New York-based necessary, Defense Services will tion of anonymity. “So how can the Defense Human Rights Watch reported in June. be in parliament. Minister ever say no to the Commander- Aung Thaw said government troops were in-Chief? He wouldn’t dare.” exercising “maximum restraint” in Kachin Aung Thaw This helps explain why the Defense State, despite attacks from the rebel Kachin Deputy Defence Minister Ministry, which in theory subjects the mili- Independence Army. “It is our duty to protect tary to civilian control, is half-deserted. The the civilian population in that area,” he said. home affairs and border affairs - and one commander-in-chief sits in the War Office, The military faces no institutions pow- of Myanmar’s two vice-president positions. a vast complex of offices, mansions and bun- erful enough to compel it to account for its Serving or former officers also domi- kers in the newly built capital of Naypyitaw past history. The 2008 constitution, drafted nate key civilian institutions, including a where, said Aung Thaw, are for- by the former junta, gives soldiers immu- national security council that can assume bidden to go for national security reasons. nity from civilian prosecution and indem- power in an ill-defined state of emergency. Aung Thaw nonetheless contended the nifies former junta members. It also gives Myanmar’s commander-in-chief is not a military is “under civilian control.” He noted the military autonomy over its own affairs popularly elected president or prime minis- that the commander-in-chief must be pro- and sweeping powers in civilian life. ter. The current one, Min Aung Hlaing, was posed and approved by a civilian body: the The constitution reserves a quarter of the handpicked by former dictator Than Shwe National Defense and Security Council, a seats in Myanmar’s upper and lower hous- and outranks the Defense Minister. presidential advisory group resembling the es for officers, as well as three important “For anyone in the military, even today, White House’s National Security Council. cabinet posts - the ministries of defense, you don’t challenge someone of a higher But the NDSC is only nominally civilian.

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CELEBRATING THE MILITARY: An honour guard at Armed Forces Day in March. Myanmar’s modern military was founded by Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, Aung San. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Five of its 11 members are serving military Not so, said Aung Thaw. “This is democ- trading, banking, tourism, breweries, prop- officers; another five are ex-officers, includ- racy. They are there. They decide.” When erty, transportation and construction. They ing its chairman, President Thein Sein. they do vote as a bloc, he said, it is only have ties to a coterie of businessmen who While parliament can reduce or increase because “our thinking is very similar.” The were cronies of the old junta, and their fi- the defense budget, it cannot audit it, and military delegates “are there to safeguard nances remain a state secret. has no control over the military’s vast off- the constitution,” Aung Thaw said. “As long MEHL, founded in 1990, has been a budget financial holdings. as required and necessary, Defense Services reliable source of off-budget funds for the Amending the constitution to remove will be in the parliament.” military. It enjoys unrivaled access to im- the military’s reserve of seats - a major goal The military’s influence on the economy port permits and monopolies through a for the Suu Kyi-led opposition - requires is equally profound. It is a major player in web of 38 wholly-owned subsidiaries and more than three-quarters support of parlia- many industries through two vast holding nine joint ventures, staffed by 14,000 work- ment, which would have to include at least companies: Myanma Economic Holdings ers. For years, ex-dictator Than Shwe con- some military delegates. Ltd (MEHL) and the Myanma Economic trolled the profits. Some went to special It seems an almost impossible task. The Corporation (MEC). projects, or bought the loyalty of retired delegates, mostly mid-ranking officers, Both are blacklisted by the U.S. Trea- officers, said Sean Turnell, an expert on the tend to vote as a bloc on issues affecting the sury, which means American companies Myanmar economy at Macquarie Univer- armed forces, suggesting they are following are banned from doing business with them. sity, Australia. Much of it went to pensions orders from superiors, the opposition says. But they remain deeply involved in gem or otherwise vanished.

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Today, with foreign investors descend- As many as 10,000 villagers have con- ing on Myanmar, MEHL is changing, the fronted authorities near the mine, claiming company says. In its first public statements unlawful seizure of thousands of acres of to Western media since reforms began, land to make way for a $1 billion expan- MEHL told Reuters it has no plan to ex- sion. China North Industries Corp, a lead- pand, echoing government assurances it will ing Chinese weapons manufacturer, signed retreat from the economy as private investors a pact with the government of Myanmar in assert themselves. June 2010 to develop the mine after Cana- “MEHL has not sold or bought any en- da’s Ivanhoe Mines Ltd pulled out in 2007. terprises this year,” it said in a written reply MEHL emerged with the largest share. to questions. “It does not have any detailed “They all know we gave money for their talks with or coordination with anybody.” land. They know they have to give up their Last year, MEHL gave up lucrative auto- land,” said Myint Aung, chief representa- import licenses and ended a monopoly in tive for MEHL at the mine. “This is a the edible-oils industry. It said it has begun national project. It is in the interest of the to pay taxes. “Maybe in future they have to country and of the region.” behave just like an ordinary company,” said Farmers acknowledged they received Soe Thein, a minister in the president’s of- compensation but believed it was for the fice and former naval commander-in-chief. destruction of crops during the project’s Richard Horsey, a researcher for the In- construction, not to buy their land. ternational Crisis Group and a former U.N. MEHL also occupies the 73-year-old official who maintains senior-level contacts, former central bank headquarters, a neo- said he expects MEHL and other military classical building at the centre of the econ- holdings to steadily lose influence. As for- omy since British colonial rule. Japanese eign investors arrive, the economy opens forces printed currency from here in World up and competition grows, the holding War Two. In 1952, Myanmar’s first kyat currency notes were issued here. Today, its rows of tellers look hardly changed from 1993, when MEHL’s My- awaddy Bank moved in. “It has plans to expand businesses when companies could even start it gets the permission from the central to lose money. bank,” MEHL said of Myawaddy Bank in “It is clear it (MEHL) is no longer the its statement. MEHL disclosed the bank’s untouchable entity it once was,” he said. assets for the first time — authorized capi- For a retreating enterprise, however, tal of 50 billion kyat ($56 million) and MEHL is very active. It plans to build paid-up capital of 44 billion kyat ($50 mil- an oil refinery near the Dawei deep- lion). It runs 20 branches nationwide. sea port, one of Myanmar’s most The military’s other industrial arm, the ambitious projects, and one Japan is Myanmar Economic Corp (MEC), is also expected to underwrite. recalibrating. MEC, which operates 37 fac- In northwest Sagaing region, tories with about 10,000 workers, says it is MEHL is the biggest partner in talking to Asian and Western companies the country’s largest mining proj- about partnerships. PROTECTED SPECIES: ect, a copper deposit in Monywa For the military itself, there is no short- Myanmar soldiers cannot that has stirred the most substantial age of money. A law passed in 2011 allows be tried in civilian courts. protests since Myanmar emerged the commander-in-chief to access a “special REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun last year from isolation. fund” for unspecified defense and security

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expenses. It requires a request to the presi- dent but escapes parliamentary oversight. The military already gets about 14 per- cent of the 13.04 trillion kyat ($15.3 bil- lion) national budget. The town of Pyin Oo Lwin on the Shan Plateau, about 40 miles (70 km) northeast of the city of Mandalay, offers a glimpse into the mili- tary’s struggle to adapt to a more democratic era. The junta groomed officers here at its Defense Services Academy. (Motto: “The Triumphant Elites of the Future”). Its build- ings date back to the early 1900s when Pyin Oo Lwin was a British colonial hill station. On streets teeming with saffron-robed monks and women in sarongs, the DSA’s cadets stand out. They wear maroon berets, dark-green uniforms and thick black belts. Most students must buy their own stripes, uniforms and Chinese-made boots that wear out quickly. “The shoes are horrible,” SLOW REFORM: The Defense Services Academy has halved its intake of cadets and ended some said an officer who teaches at the academy. abusive practices. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj “Nobody likes the shoes.” The academy is changing, but slowly. Its annual intake of cadets has halved to about Sept. 3, the military discharged 42 under- the curriculum at the academy, the teaching 1,000, the DSA said. In the past, cadets age recruits at a Yangon ceremony attended officer said. had little access to the outside world, said by U.N. and international aid agencies. Inside the academy’s musty walls, where the officer, who spoke on condition of ano- Activists say many child recruits remain in typewriters can be heard clacking away, nymity. Mobile phones, the Internet and military service. requests to interview cadets and soldiers personal computers were banned. Today, Since 2009, 20 lieutenant colonels and were turned down. In another remnant of cadets can surf the web and bring their own over 1,700 adjutant officers have taken a Myanmar’s recent past, plainclothes agents laptops (some have iPads). Mobile phones four-day course designed by UNICEF to trailed reporters until they had left town. remain forbidden. prevent underage recruitment, the U.N. The academy also ended some practices child-protection agency said. It includes Editing by Bill Tarrant and Michael Williams that would qualify as abusive, the officer said. sessions on human rights and international Previously, vacation requests were granted humanitarian law. on condition the cadets recruit new soldiers The International Labour Organiza- FOR MORE INFORMATION while on leave. That included the homeless tion is training the military about the le- Jason Szep, Bureau Chief, Southeast Asia and minors. Since April, cadets are no longer gal implications of forced labour. This [email protected] required to forcibly recruit, he said. includes the well-documented practice Andrew R.C. Marshall, Special Deputy Defense Minister Aung Thaw of dragooning villagers to carry ammuni- Correspondent, Thailand & Indochina said the military faces “very serious al- tion or, in some cases, lead a path through [email protected] legations” about its use of child soldiers mine-fields. “Now we are cooperating fully Bill Tarrant, Enterprise Editor and forced labour. The Defence Ministry with ILO and UNICEF,” Deputy Defense [email protected] pledged in June to halt the recruitment Minister Aung Thaw said. Michael Williams, Global Enterprise Editor of minors and release those in service. On Even so, human-rights training is not on [email protected]

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