Min Aung Hlaing again vows to establish federal, democratic union

By Admin 04 Jan 2024

DMG Newsroom
4 January 2023, Sittwe

Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing in his message marking the 76th anniversary of Myanmar Independence Day, said his regime would establish a Union based on democracy and federalism, and such a federal Union would be built based on administrative subdivisions, but not based on ethnic groups.

There are said to be eight major races in Myanmar, and the country consists of 14 regions and states plus Naypyitaw Union territory and a few self-administered zones under the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.

In establishing a Union based on democracy and federalism, those who lead, implement and follow must have expertise, rationality and talent, said the junta chief.

Myanmar has been engulfed in civil war for the past three years, since the Myanmar military seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021.

Min Aung Hlaing has repeatedly promised a federal Union since the putsch, to much scepticism at home and abroad.

“The military leader always says the word ‘federalism.’ Revolutionary forces and the National Unity Government also use the same word. But no side has yet publicly adopted definite federal principles that suit Myanmar. The word has become political rhetoric,” said a young political activist from Arakan State.

The junta’s proposed federalism is widely dismissed as an attempt to retain the Myanmar military’s grip on power.

Arakanese politician U Pe Than said: “Successive governments have failed to prove over the past 70 years that there is equality for all ethnic groups in Myanmar. Ethnic people have never felt that the country belongs to them.”

Since Operation 1027 was launched by the Brotherhood Alliance in late October, revolutionary forces have seized at least 16 towns in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin and Shan states, as well as over 400 junta outposts across the country.