Desertions, Assassinations Plague Burmese Armed Forces

Burmese troops—the show of unity hides growing unhappiness and resentment. (Photo: Nic Dunlop/Panos)


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By MIN LWIN Thursday, October 9, 2008

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A soldier deserted recently from Burma’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 707, in Taikgyi Township, Rangoon Division, after murdering his commander—the latest sign of rising dissatisfaction among the lower-ranking members of the Burmese armed forces.

The deserter, who fled with a number of weapons, was later killed in a manhunt.

Desertions, small mutinies and assassinations are plaguing Burma’s ruling military, according to observers abroad and sources within the country.


Low-ranking soldiers are increasingly unhappy about their conditions of service. “There is a big gap between high ranking officers and other ranks,” said Htay Aung, a Burmese military researcher based in Thailand.

Ordinary soldiers earn around 22,000 kyat (less than US $20) per month, and most have difficulty surviving, particularly if they are family men. They are also assigned sub-standard housing, while high-ranking officers are given luxury homes in Naypyidaw and Rangoon.

Htay Aung said soldiers were treated “like slaves” by their officers, whose wives often assigned them menial domestic duties.

An army training officer said defectors were leaving not for political reasons but because of their treatment by their commanders.

The murder of the commander of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 707 was no isolated incident.

In 2005, a young captain with Light Infantry Battalion No. 375, based in Kyauktaw, Arakan State, killed the wife and other family members of his commanding officer and then committed suicide.

In 2001, a medical corps sergeant shot dead Maj Min Min Soe and a captain from No. 4 Military Operations Command after accusing them of abusing their positions.

In the same year, Tin Oo, Secretary 2 of the SPDC and Army Chief of Staff, died in a helicopter crash after previously surviving three assassination attempts.

In July 1977, Capt Ohn Kyaw Myint, personal secretary to then Army Chief of Staff Gen Kyaw Htin, was arrested, along with a dozen other army officers, and accused of plotting to assassinate dictator Gen Ne Win and other state leaders.

The captain said he and other members of the group opposed Ne Win’s “Burmese Way to Socialism,” which they felt was leading the country to ruin.

In the late 1960s, Capt Kyaw Zwa Myint, a military intelligence officer and personal assistant to Ne Win, fled to Karen rebel-controlled territory after plotting to assassinate Ne Win. He later died in Australia.


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