Is Than Shwe Still Pulling the Strings?

Until recently, there had been no public statements by top Burmese government leaders or the country’s state-run press about the official status of previous junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, and there continued to be speculation about whether the former dictator was still making key decisions behind the scenes.

But from the moment that US President Barack Obama began his recent Asia-Pacific trip until the day US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Naypyidaw to meet with President Thein Sein, senior Burmese officials and the state’s media mouthpieces seemed determined to drive home the point that Than Shwe had formally retired and was no longer involved in government business.

In an interview published on Nov. 16, Burma’s Information Minister Kyaw Hsan told the Wall Street Journal that Than Shwe is “in his house, doing a lot of reading, and enjoying a peaceful time.”

Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at [email protected].

The speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Shwe Mann, was even more explicit. He told reporters that “The senior general is really retired,” and went on to state that “The senior general is absolutely not concerned with the party, nor the government, nor our parliament, nor legislative organizations.”

Then on Dec. 1, the New Light of Myanmar and The Mirror, both state-controlled newspapers, reported that “Snr-Gen Than Shwe (retired) and Daw Kyaing Kyaing's family donated US $1,300, 11 rubies, a pearl and a golden ring with 61 diamonds, which is valued at kyat 488,000, toward the Sacred Buddha Tooth Relic from China, which is now being exhibited in Rangoon.”

Despite the fact that Than Shwe had appointed a new commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, just before a new president, Thein Sein, was sworn in at the end of March, this was the first time that the state media had referred to Than Shwe as “retired,” and a state newspaper would never take this major step without instructions from top government officials or Than Shwe himself.

In addition, since the time that the new quasi-civilian government was formally put in place, Than Shwe has not officially appeared in public or been directly linked to any decision or action by the government or the military. So by all outward appearances, it seems that the brutal sheriff who had an iron grip on power in Burma for almost twenty years has simply handed in his badge and rode off into the sunset.

This could be true, but it ain’t necessarily so, and prematurely assuming that Than Shwe has completely given up power both belies Burmese history and is naively dangerous.

A retired senior general once cautioned that Burma’s past military dictators never leave in peace, suggesting that they always come back to interfere in politics, and for evidence one needs to look no further than Than Shwe’s predecessor, Gen Ne Win.

Known by his subordinates as “The Old Man” or “Number one,” Ne Win ruled as Burma’s dictator for 26 years before officially announcing his resignation in July 1988 during the mass pro-democracy uprising.

Despite the fact that Ne Win had officially relinquished power in a public speech, in September of that year he personally orchestrated a military coup, appointed his own officers to the newly established State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and ordered the new junta to crush the uprising.

At the time, Ne Win did all of this behind the scenes, at least for the most part. But then in March 1989, the Burmese people were stunned and disgusted to open up the state-run newspapers and see photos of the supposedly ex-dictator at a dinner reception hosted by Snr-Gen Saw Maung, then the SLORC No. 1. Although the blood in the streets had barely dried and the secret police were still hunting down student activists, the official photo showed a laughing Ne Win sitting at the table with his cadre of sheepishly smiling coup-makers.

When an Asiaweek reporter asked Saw Maung that year whether Ne Win was still in power behind the scenes, the general replied that, “It’s most difficult for us to explain these rumors and allegations.... When people see me visit Ne Win, they think I am going for instruction or advice.