Critics dismiss junta offer for opponents to enter political dialogue

By Admin 27 Sep 2024

DMG Newsroom
27 September 2024, Sittwe

Political analysts have largely panned a recent proposal from Myanmar’s military regime inviting the myriad forces arrayed against its iron-fisted rule to engage in political dialogue to end the conflict triggered by the February 2021 coup that unseated the elected civilian government.

The junta issued a statement on September 26 calling for “ethnic armed groups, terrorist insurgent groups, and terrorist PDF [People’s Defence Force] groups that are fighting against the state to give up terrorist fighting and communicate with us to solve political problems politically.”

But U Pe Than, a military and political analyst, was among many who said the military regime, which continues to cling to the military-drafted 2008 Constitution as the basis for a path forward, was presenting an unserious proposal.

“The military regime told the revolutionary forces to compete in elections under the 2008 Constitution and solve problems through political means. The truth is that the military regime itself has gained power through military means, without offering any political solution,” he said.

“No one is interested in the regime’s offer under the 2008 Constitution. The revolutionary forces especially will not tolerate this situation. The regime is only talking as a form of political profiteering,” U Pe Than added.

That sentiment was echoed by prominent voices directly involved in the ongoing civil war, as well as other analysts.

“The military regime’s statement was intended to subdue the revolutionary forces, but this will not work,” said political observer U Than Soe Naing.

General Sumlut Gun Maw, vice chief of staff for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), noted on his Facebook page that the regime statement only referenced what the it described as usurpation of its supposed right to seize power and the upcoming census being organised by the junta, without addressing the underlying opposition to its governance.

The regime has said it will conduct a population census from October 1-15, as armed resistance to its rule continues to affect large parts of the country, including a growing number of areas where it is no longer in control.

By one accounting, 70 percent of Myanmar’s 330 townships are experiencing armed conflicts of varying intensities. Anti-regime groups have seized more than 75 major towns, and their gains are far more substantial than that when villages and other rural territorial holdings are included.