Junta boss blames low education levels for popular revolt

By Admin 27 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
27 August 2024, Sittwe

Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has attributed the popular revolt against his regime to “low education levels in the country.”

The tendency to take up arms to solve political problems instead of finding political solutions resulted from low education levels, he claimed as he met teachers and students of Mandalay Education College on Monday.

The junta boss reiterated that in his eyes the military takeover in 2021 was in line with the law because of voter fraud in the 2020 general election. Independent observers, however, have said the voting was largely free and fair.

Min Aung Hlaing blamed the people for responding to the takeover with mass protests and armed revolt.

“The state of emergency was declared due to voter fraud, but [people] resorted to armed violence instead of finding a political solution. This has happened because the number of educated people is low in our country,” said Min Aung Hlaing.

After overseeing aerial campaigns that deliberately targeted towns and villages including schools, healthcare facilities, and religious buildings, the junta boss blamed anti-regime groups for destroying the future of Myanmar. He said his regime is “encouraging the development of the education sector and shaping the future of the country with educated human resources.”

Fighting has been raging in Arakan, Chin, Shan, Kachin, and Karen states as well as Sagaing and Mandalay regions.

A former government employee who joined the popular revolt against the regime after the 2021 coup said: “The regime resorted to violence when people staged peaceful protests against the coup. It killed and imprisoned people, forcing them to start an armed revolt. How educated is he to say that those who have taken up arms are uneducated? Many people who have joined the armed revolt are more educated than him.”

According to Monday’s report of the daily tallying done by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a total of 5,555 people including many democracy activists have died at the hands of the regime over the past three years.

A total of 27,246 people were detained, and 20,781 people remain under detention, 9,341 of whom have been given jail sentences, said the AAPP.