Min Aung Hlaing firing military chiefs and senior politicians as he moves against tycoons amid chaos triggered by his February 2021 coup.
Bangkok/ Yangon – Failing to subdue resistance across Myanmar, military government chief Min Aung Hlaing is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to cling to power, firing senior ministers and military officers, and purging business cronies.
The heads of the navy and air force are among those who have lost their positions, as Min Aung Hlaing has sought to consolidate his position amid continued armed resistance to his rule — including with ethnic armed groups along the borders — a rebellious population in the heartland, and economic crisis.
After plunging by nearly 20 percent in the year after the February 1, 2021 coup, the World Bank has forecast growth of 3 percent this year for Myanmar’s economy and warned of “substantial risks”.
“When it starts dismissing its own team and established business cronies it does suggest its position is highly fragile and its leadership rather insecure,” a Western diplomat in Yangon told Al Jazeera. “Its top priority is its survival at any cost and given its disastrous economic interventions it would appear Myanmar and its people are that cost.”
On July 25, the regime executed four activists in a move that triggered outrage around the world.
Laetitia van den Assum, former Dutch ambassador to Myanmar, says the executions demonstrated that the military government was rejecting any dialogue about the future of Myanmar unless on its own terms.
“Even though its attempted coup failed long ago, it mistakenly believes that executing four political prisoners will help it to establish control. Instead, it is strengthening the resolve of the broad-based resistance movement.”
Policy analyst Matthew Arnold sees Min Aung Hlaing sending the message that he is ready to resort to more violence.
“Regardless of structures, protocols, constitutions, Min Aung Hlaing is simply consolidating power with loyalists. There doesn’t need to be any coherence to the overall structure as long as it secures, in his own head, his position as senior general,” he said.
“The executions were both meant to scare the public but also for Min Aung Hlaing to demonstrate to his own people, especially hardliners in the wider security sector complex, his resolve and willingness to use such violence.”
