Mizzima
Myanmar people and international critics are challenging Time Magazine for choosing Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing as one of the most influential people of 2023.
Min Aung Hlaing joined the roster of 100 celebrities, leaders, and innovators in the 13 April line-up with the following text:
“During a parade to mark Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day on March 27, General Min Aung Hlaing, military tunic festooned with medals, inspected thousands of soldiers from an open-top jeep. The display of pomp was a signal of the 66-year-old’s viselike grip over the nation of 54 million since his February?2021 coup?d’état.
“From his podium, he warned that the pro-democracy rebels he is embroiled in a blood-soaked campaign against would be “tackled for good and all.” Since the putsch, villages have been terrorized by artillery and air raids, leaving tens of thousands killed and more than a million displaced. Even before he seized power, the U.N. accused him of massacring Rohingya Muslims with “genocidal intent.”
“Min Aung Hlaing has returned Myanmar to a pariah state and made it the world’s second?most authoritarian regime, per the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2022 Democracy Index. Only Taliban-ruled Afghanistan ranked worse.”
No doubt Time Magazine couldn’t find the name and photo of the leader of the Taliban so went with the Economist’s second ranker.
The magazine on occasions makes a faux pas, like when they put Myanmar Buddhist monk Wirathu on the cover under the headline, “Buddhist bin Laden” to describe the controversial figure, setting off a firestorm.
On this occasion, posts on social media exploded as Myanmar people and concerned observers questioned why the magazine had featured a man in charge of a military that only this week murdered over 170 civilians in an air attack in Pazigyi village in Sagaing Region.
Democracy activist Igor Blazevic wrote a letter to the Time Magazine Editorial Board, published on DVB, questioning the decision:
“By your decision to put Myanmar’s butcher Min Aung Hlaing – one of the most brutal murderers in the world – on your list of 100 most influential people, you have just encouraged him and his kleptocratic gang to massacre more innocent civilians. If you have doubts about that, just follow in next few days how his military propaganda machine will use the fact that you have bestowed upon him the title of one of the world’s ‘most influential leaders.’”
Blazevic went on to say: “You have just inflated the notion of him as a strong leader rather than what he really is – a little, greedy man with a Napoleonic complex who is increasingly desperate because he is losing control over the country to the determined nationwide resistance. His desperation manifests itself in large scale massacres.”
