What Myanmar Can Learn From the Idi Amin Strategy

Recovering Myanmar

It is obvious that the Muslim Rohingya people have faced the worst of the persecution by the Tatmadaw, the Mynamar Army in that country.  The generals of Tatmadaw are not reported to be particularly committed to Bhuddism, beyond the level of folk superstition.  Nevertheless they hate the predominantly Islamic Rohingya.

But, the army has teamed up with a group of radical, extremist ultranationalist Bhuddist monks represented by an organisation called Ma Ba Tha.  Tadmadaw and Ma Ba Tha work together, feeding off each other, acting as allies in an ethnic cleansing exercise.  The Rohingya are being pushed out of Myanmar.

But it's not just the Rohingya.  Falling upon Christians fits in with Ma Ba Tha ideology as well, and Tatmadaw is more than ready to step up to the plate to provide back up and assistance.

The United Nations has condemned the treatment of Christian ethnic minorities in Myanmar as “crimes against humanity” in a damning newly-released report.  Press attention has focused on the elements of the report which call for genocide prosecutions against leaders of the Myanmar Army for actions against Rohingya Muslims. But the report also highlights “similar patterns of conduct by security forces” in [predominantly Christian] Kachin and [Bhuddist] Shan states in Myanmar.

The independent fact-finding mission reported “Violations against ethnic and religious minorities in northern Myanmar are often committed with persecutory intent, in a context of severe discrimination on ethnic or religious grounds. This manifests, for example, in the destruction or ransacking of churches and religious objects during military operations (and sometimes subsequent erecting of Buddhist pagodas).” [The Barnabas Fund]

An article in National Review Online ["To Save the Rohingyas, Go after Burma’s Generals"] quoted from a recent UN report on what is happening in Myanmar.

A new United Nations report published this week accuses Burma’s top military generals, including the commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, of genocide in Rakhine State and, in Kachin and Shan States, of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The U.N.’s Independent International Fact-Fnding Mission has called for the generals to be prosecuted for actions that “undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law.” The U.N.’s outgoing high commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, had already described the crisis as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” and the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Yanghee Lee, warned of “the hallmarks of genocide.”

What is to be done?  The international authorities must come down hard on Tadmadaw and its military dictatorship.  Our advice would be to forget Ma Ba Tha and the militant Bhuddists.  Secondly, don't look for assistance beyond moral support at this stage from the Myanmar civilian government which is little more than a latter day Potemkin Village--left  existing by the generals to impress gullible foreigners.

The generals of Tatmadaw are not ideologically orientated.  They are much more like a criminal gang which exists to prey off the people, the country, and the world in order to line their greedy pockets.  Therefore, the best actions would be for the international authorities  to wrest control of all their foreign financial and commercial interests.  Freeze bank accounts.  Refuse to do business with them.  Shun China--since China is a huge bank-roller of Myanmar infrastructure projects.  Squeeze the generals till it hurts their wallets.  Then squeeze some more for good measure.  When all their foreign assets and funds have been frozen or stripped they will be seen for what they are: two bit crooks.

Begin forced repatriation of all assets and cash thus seized to the civilian Myanmar government.  Next, put out a comprehensive bulletin to the troops and soldiers of Tadmadaw.  "Choose whom you are going to serve: the soon-to-be exiled generals, or the legitimate government of Myanmar."  Those who would continue to serve the generals, join them in exile.  Those who would be loyal to the civilian government, must be told to lay down your arms and re-enlist in the military to the civilian mandated authority.  Those who have been involved in mass murder and criminal activity, put on trial. 

Then--and only then--give the Generals and those Tadmadaw soldiers still loyal to them 48 hours to get out of the  country for good, in exchange for being allowed to keep a small fraction of their vast accumulated wealth. March them up to the Chinese border and make sure they are picked up by Chinese aircraft. 

This would represent a modern version of the Idi Amin strategy.  Ah, well.  Dreams are free, they say.