THE LADY, THE TATMADAW AND MYANMAR

If Myanmar’s South Asian neighbours abstained from the June 18 UNGA vote, the nation did not have irreconcilable issues with any of them, and was not any less undemocratic than fellow-members in the ASEAN – which as a grouping has also been engaging the military rulers to restore normalcy. The West, which has had no problem in working with other autocratic ASEAN members on multiple political, economic and strategic fronts is also yet to study and understand the psyche and character of Myanmar as a nation, where post-coup military rulers may now be waiting out Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, for recommencing a democracy process that they are comfortable with

- SRIPATHI NARAYANAN

Of the many nations in the world that have a politically active military that has shaped its past, present and the future, the armed forces of Myanmar hold a unique position. Unlike other militaries, the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar Army is known, has not only come to play an important role in deciding the nation’s future, but has also once again the principal political entity after the 1 February coup. The development should not be seen in isolation but the reflection of the character of Myanmar. For, the Tatmadaw holds a peculiar position in Myanmar, the like of which is seldom seen in the rest of the world.

Tatmadaw and the state

While most of the erstwhile colonised nations had to go through political struggle, with or without an armed insurrection, for their independence, the then Burma’s nascent political discourse was led by men in the military garb, who struggled under the cloud of the Second World War. Therefore, the Tatmadaw’s political role was not one which it had assumed for itself after the first military coup of 1962, as often assumed, but predates the independence of the nation from British rule in 1948. Suffice is to point out that the revered founding fathers of this nation were men in uniform, like Gen Aung Sang, the father of present-day prodemocracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and not civilian political leaders.