Myanmar: The dictator cements his position of power

Editorial

Only last week, Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing – who pontificates weekly on how to improve the state of his country – was blaming the fact that a large percentage of his country’s population languished in poverty due to their failure to pursue self-development.

No mention of the decades of brutal military rule. No mention about Min Aung Hlaing’s military coup that turned the country upside down five years ago on 1 February. Just blame it on the people.

Myanmar is in a quagmire and the situation is only likely to get worse in the wake of the recent sham election that was skewed in the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party’s favour, with clear indications that Min Aung Hlaing will not do the right thing and resign, but instead intends to cement his position through a new office that will hover over the incoming civilian president.

Myanmar’s military chief will formally embed his power in the incoming civilian government, even if, as some analysts wonder, he is not given the presidency.

The very fact that the junta has publicly announced this new “advisory” office telegraphs the intention of the man on top.

North Korea has long been considered the worst dictatorship in the world. Now Min Aung Hlaing is sideling up to say “hold my beer” – seeking to cement his position as one of the most evil leaders on the planet – an embarrassment for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which continues to hold him accountable under the now discredited “Five-Point Consensus”, not worth the ink it was signed on.

The man has not noticed how badly hated he is at home and abroad, with the International Court of Justice seeking to take him to task over the 2017 “genocidal” attacks on the Rohingya, and now a court in Timor-Leste stepping in to charge the man with crimes against humanity for the horror he has caused over the last five years. His administration has just announced the expulsion of the Timor-Leste representative in response.

Min Aung Hlaing joins the likes of Putin, Netanyahu and Duterte with a price on his head.

In a just world, he would be in jail while his nemesis Aung San Suu Kyi would be free.

But the dictator lives in a rich, comfortable bubble, largely distanced from any attacks by the “Spring Revolution” resistance and shielded from the scenes of horror he has perpetrated on the Myanmar people, many of them innocent civilians caught in the crossfire or deliberately targeted, the blood of men, women and children on his hands.

Min Aung Hlaing is not dumb. He is brutal and calculating. So, in the coming weeks, we should keep an eagle eye on him as he sets himself up to control Myanmar, even if it takes place behind the curtain or a new advisory office.

Myanmar has a serious problem and that problem is Min Aung Hlaing and the military system of control that lies in place. As many resistance and opposition figures stress – this is not a matter of regime change. It is a matter of system change. Until that happens, the Myanmar people will not sleep soundly in their beds and the man responsible will escape real accountability.