Ex-Maung Aye classmate: Tatmadaw men still with the people

No.09 - 11/2006
23 November 2006
Politics

Ex-Maung Aye classmate: Tatmadaw men still with the people
 
Majority members of Burma's armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, are firmly standing by the people "as always", according to a former Burma Army officer who was, together with the country's present # 2 man Maung Aye, among the 54 cadets selected to attend the prestigious Defense Services Academy when it opened in 1955.
 
"Many remember only the 1990 general elections when the people, including army men and members of their families, overwhelmingly voted for the National League for Democracy," Khin Maung Nyunt who is turning 69 on New Year's Eve told S.H.A.N. "But few remember that 30 years earlier, the majority of them had also voted for U Nu's Union Party, despite explicit orders by commanding officers to cast their votes for the pro-army Stable Party"
 
Khin Maung Nyunt maintains that most officers and men are just biding their time. "Of course, they are still fighting as ordered by their superiors, but they see to it that nothing is accomplished much."
 
At the same time, most of them are dismayed by what they see as a lack of leadership among the opposition.
 
"We had several groups too while we were fighting against the Japanese (during World War II)," he added. "But most of them were united under the banner of the AFPFL (Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League), which was a front for the groups. Sadly, they don’t find it happening among today's exile opposition. The alliances formed by the border based organizations have also failed to convince them of their credibility."
 
Clearly, the exiles need to do more to amend the situation, he concluded without elaboration.
 
Khin Maung Nyunt, whose classmates from the first intake of the DSA, apart from Maung Aye, included Lt-Gen Tun Kyi who retired in disgrace in 1997, served in the 6th Burma Rifles as a company commander until he was detained in 1965 for involvement in a conspiracy to topple the Revolutionary Council that took power three years earlier. He later joined the anti-Rangoon Parliamentary Democracy Party (PDP) set up in 1969 by ex-premier U Nu to restore democracy in Burma. He is currently serving as Chairman of the Patriotic War Veterans of Burma formed in 2003.