Ministry of Information under the military council recently sent a notification letter to the journalists of foreign news agencies based in Myanmar, prohibiting the use of wording such as ‘military council’, ‘military junta’ and ‘junta’ to refer to their regime.
With strict restrictions, threatening to flee, imprisonments and closure of offices of specific local media organizations, the military council has targeted foreign media.
In the notification, the military junta insists the State Administration Council is an official government and it also deserves the term ‘government’ as the United Nations and global countries have recognized them. Actually, they are just telling absolute lies.
Despite having controlled territory while the coup was staged at gunpoint, the junta led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has been struggling for legitimacy de jure for over 150 days. But they have not accomplished it. Although they are pretending to safeguard the 2008 State Constitution for the reason of the coup, they remain standing only as a junta which could not manage to copy the coup of the late military General Ne Win from the late Prime Minister U Nu at that time in 1958.
Therefore, since early February, Mizzima Media has already rejected the pressure to use such deceiving words which are politically serious and sensitive. If the military generals dislike the term ‘junta’ or “military council’ for them, then they should not have staged the coup.
Actually, legitimacy is concerned with trust, reliability and support. They shot at heads in trying to establish their regime, robbed public property, conducted unlawful arrests and imprisonment and destroyed people’s businesses. As a result, they have little or no public support, and they could not manage to receive the support by force.
Who recognizes the military council? The recent trip to Russia was Min Aung Hlaing’s second overseas visit after the coup. During the trip, he was not treated as the state leader of Myanmar, just as a military leader, and welcomed by a brigadier general of the Russian Army.
In his first foreign visit, he, as a responsible person of Myanmar, explained the prevailing situation of the country in the aftermath of coup to the ASEAN leaders. Among the bloc’s member countries, Indonesia and Malaysia referred to him as the ‘military chief’ of Myanmar.
Most countries around the world have condemned that coup and the violent attacks on the people. The United States, the United Kingdom and the EU member nations imposed sanctions against Myanmar military leaders. The G-7 Summit in the second week of June announced their strong condemnation of the coup in Myanmar.
Representatives of Western countries are openly holding meetings with the members of the National Unity Government, which has appointed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint as leaders.
The standing of the Myanmar military council is collapsing in the international arena. Just one indicator of that is Kyaw Moe Tun, appointed by the Myanmar civilian government, is still recognized as Myanmar’s Ambassador to the United Nations.
Kyaw Moe Tun delivered a speech on Myanmar affairs during a UN session in late February. After that the military council submitted a letter on 1 March to appoint Tin Maung Naing as the new ambassador of Myanmar to the UN. However, the UN still recognizes U Kyaw Moe Tun as an official ambassador until now. Application for Myanmar special representative to the UN will be re-submitted for the 76th UN General Assembly in early September. The application will be made by the two sides – the military junta and the NUG.
The World Health Organization, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Labour Organization and the 47th session of UN Human Rights Council did not allow the representatives of military council to attend their conferences respectively. Such rejections have been painful blows to Myanmar’s military junta.
On 18 June, the UN voted not to allow the flow of weapons into Myanmar. The global body avoid using the term ‘State Administration Council’ or ‘the government’, instead it used the wording ‘the Myanmar Armed Force’. However, the UN session used the wording of President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, recognizing their leading role of the country.
There were no significant impacts on military relations. The military parade on March 27 to mark the country’s Armed Forces Day was attended by the senior military officials from five neighbouring countries, and Pakistan, Vietnam and Russia. It highlighted the role of Myanmar military.
On 5 June, the Chinese Embassy in Yangon publicized the first meeting of its ambassador and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing who was termed as the leader. The announcement received a backlash from the public. In addition, Chinese analysts remarked the word ‘leader’ was just a common term and it does not represent the head of state in their tradition.
The military junta is still continuing with their deception and lies, exhibiting the senseless and boorish manners of opportunists.
Judging by the reaction of many countries, it is hard for governments to deal with this military pariah.
After all this deception, the Military junta has been deceiving itself. Even if some people believe the lies, they know themselves that they are telling lies, and they appear to be growing increasingly insecure as the flood of criticism bears down on them.
