Faces of 2007

A portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi
[Artist: Khin Maung Yin]

Within Burma, she remains a force that could reconcile the country’s opposing camps.

Burma’s military rulers, however, ignore her repeated calls for genuine dialogue. Yet the generals still find her useful when they want to showcase meetings they hope will deceive the outside world into believing progress towards dialogue is being made.

When Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma’s independence hero Aung San, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, members of her party declared that its leader and spokeswoman had become almost instantaneously the property of all the world’s pro-democracy movements and human rights organizations.

After 18 years, 12 of them spent under house arrest, she still has that iconic role, representing—like her fellow Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela—the strength behind an undying commitment to freedom and democracy.

Anti-democratic Forces and Their Associates

The Junta

Artist caricature of Than Shwe
[Artist: Jim McNalis]

If Snr-Gen Than Shwe really does believe he’s a monarch who has built the Fourth Burmese Empire in the country’s modern political history, he won’t easily relinquish his throne. He certainly wants to inscribe his name in the history of the “Golden Land.”

This fear of losing power, combined with advancing age, drives him to become more reclusive and out of touch with reality. Even his friends and overseas allies who are close to him now say the dictator (official age: 74) has become unpredictable and irrational. It’s just too bad that he still calls the shots and remains the nation’s figurehead.

Two years ago, Than Shwe made headlines internationally by relocating the capital to remote Naypyidaw in central Burma without informing the country.

During September’s bloody crackdown, the junta No 1 and commander-in-chief of the armed forces lived in his secluded Naypyidaw mansion, running the command center, enabling him to test his strength and the loyalty of the armed forces. Meanwhile, blood ran in the streets of faraway Rangoon.

The former psychological warfare officer might well be pleased that he made a timely decision to move the capital to central Burma in 2005, ahead of the uprising in Rangoon. It’s rumored that the decision followed a warning by Than Shwe’s astrologer that chaos loomed in 2007.

Despite ill health, the general continues to consolidate his grip on power and is outliving many of his contemporaries—notably one of his favorites, Prime Minister Gen Soe Win, who died in October. Than Shwe gave him a state funeral, a rare honor for a premier who served only a few years and who was reputedly behind the Depayin massacre in 2003.

Soe Win was succeeded by soft-spoken Gen Thein Sein, whose position as secretary-1 was taken over by Lt-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo. The appointment of this battle-hardened, hard-line general is not good news.

Liaison officer Aung Kyi [Photo: AFP]

A retired major general, Aung Kyi found himself with new duties after Than Shwe appointed him to act as liaison minister in contacts with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi—a clever move to create breathing space and buy more time for his regime.

Gen Shwe Mann, tipped to take over the armed forces, remained joint coordinator of the army, navy and air force. Maung Aye, officially No 2 in the junta, is probably on his way out. His removal as head of the Myanmar Trade Council was a harbinger of his future fate.

Several loyalists continued faithfully to serve Than Shwe and his regime, including minister Aung Thaung, who was believed to have directed the actions of armed thugs and Swan Arr Shin forces during the August and September crisis.