Just Too Convenient

This leads many Burmese to distrust the government authorities, and even makes them question whether the regime itself orchestrated the explosions to create instability and justify a crackdown on opponents to extend and prolong its stranglehold on power.

Meanwhile many residents of major cities say they are frightened by the bombing campaign and will now avoid crowded areas such as markets and railway stations.

The bombings have also raised the level of concern among the supporters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has said she plans to take trips outside of Rangoon in July and visit local offices of her opposition group, the National League for Democracy (NLD). Heightening their fears even further is the fact that Burma’s state-run media has recently warned Suu Kyi that there will be a "commotion" if she travels in the countryside as she last did in 2003, when a gang of government-backed thugs attacked her convoy in Depayin.

Of primary concern to all is the fact that the bombings have not diminished, but have rather increased, and the masterminds and perpetrators of all the attacks are still at large. Whoever is behind the attacks, they have demonstrated that they can demolish targets—with or without human casualties—almost at will and without accountability.

The perpetrators could be government operatives wishing either to scare Suu Kyi into remaining in Rangoon, or even more sinister elements wishing to attempt an assassination and use these earlier blasts as cover. They could also be a government attempt to discredit the ethnic armed groups and justify the crackdown that is already in progress. Or they could be the attempt by one or more ethnic armed groups to warn the government that if the offensive continues, urban guerilla warfare will be their response. Finally, they could be the work of extremist pro-democracy elements fed up with the slow progress of meaningful change in Burma.

The point is that unless someone claims responsibility, nobody will find out who is behind the attacks and the public will continue to be at risk, because the “new” government’s response is the same as the old regime’s—blame their enemies and bury the evidence.

In the end, even if the government is not behind the attacks, it seems just too convenient for them to let those responsible stay at large, because then they can use the bombings as an excuse to undertake any number of state-sponsored oppressive measures.

It’s just one more example of how whenever it’s time to put the cards on the table, Burma’s new pseudo-civilian government shows that it is the same players holding the same hand dealt from the same stacked deck as before.