(Retd. General Tin Aung Myint Oo’s post from SWAR TAY LAN’s Facebook pages.)
But after the Arakan Crisis and the displacement of so-called
Rohingyas (or Bengalis as Burmese love to call them) most of that aid money
from the international community were withdrawn and the result was the
struggling civilian government trying to develop the country on their own.
But the military was doing well as usual despite the
EU’s economic sanctions, for the military is sitting nicely on at least US$ 80
billion worth of economic and commercial assets and earning massive profits
from those assets. I knew very well since I was always visiting the Auditor-General
office to have a cup-of-tea there.
In Burmese currency those assets were worth Kyat 108 trillion (at 1200 Kyat/US$ exchange rate). Our union government revenue annually was only Kyat 5 trillion. The Tatmadaw (military) is much, much richer than the union government which is supposed to fund the military from government budget.
For that fact
that our military is much richer than our union government we do not need to
look somewhere else but MYTEL the military-owned telecommunication company. MEC
(Myanmar Economic Corporation) under the Oo-Bai (MEHL – Myanmar Economic
Holding Limited) could invest more than one billion US$ for MYTEL alone in 2017.
Our union government could not afford that much money.
Just MYTEL alone
is the proof that our Tatmadaw is much, much richer than our union government.
Okay, now my question is what sort of benefits our nation as a whole has
received back from such a rich military like our Tatmadaw? Or are there any
benefits for individual Tatmadaw members and the general public from the rich
army?
None, zilch,
nil, zero (Thone-Nya)! Following is the reason.
Burma’s
international debt is just over US$ 9 billion. Thus for 50 million of us
Burmese the per capita debt is only US$ 180 (or Kyat 216,000). For 500,000
Tatmadaw members each individual would receive US$ 160,000 (or Kyat 192
million) if the MEHL’s assets alone of US$ 80 billion would be divided equally.
Or if we just
divided MEHL’s assets of US$ 80 billion equally among 50 million of us Burmese
people everyone would receive US$ 1,600 (kyat 1.92 million) and each of us would
still have US$ 1,420 (Kyat 1.704 million) in hands even after paying back our
national debt of US$ 9 billion.
But right now
that massive commercial assets of MEHL are tightly controlled by a fist-full of
senior military officers who have benefitted handsomely while the lowly members
of our Tatmadaw have to protect their institution with their sweats and bloods and
lives, and surviving dismally on the bones and scraps being thrown at them from
the top echelon.
Senior-General Min
Aung Hlaing is a major shareholder in the army-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings
Limited (MEHL). Back in the 2010–11 fiscal year, he owned only 5,000 shares and
received an annual dividend of just US$ 250,000. But Min Aung Hlaing now sits on MEHL's Patron Group, which
runs the conglomerate. Currently MAH's accumulated wealth is well beyond US$ 100 million and earning at least US$ 10 million annually.
As long as these military-owned exploitative commercial entities like MEHL, MEC, and Mytel are allowed to exist just to
enrich the pockets of rich military class the Burmese military will never leave the
politics, never go back to the barracks, and our Burma will always be shit poor and
our people will never get out of this poverty hell-hole called Myanmar.
MYANMAR ECONOMIC HOLDINGS LIMITED (MEHL)
MEHL is a vast
and secretive military conglomerate; it has business interests spanning the
Burmese economy, from banking, trade, logistics, construction, and mining to
tourism, agriculture, tobacco, food, and beverage. MEHL’s shareholder data show that profits are
systematically distributed to Burma’s military, including to those responsible
for widespread human rights abuses.
MEHL also has
1,793 institutional shareholders, which include regional military commands and
subordinate battalions, divisions, platoons, squadrons, and border guard
forces. Shares are distributed across
the armed forces with no public accountability, creating secret slush funds
that the military uses to augment its operational budget.
MYANMAR ECONOMIC CORPORATION LIMITED (MEC)
MEC was
established in 1997 with the declared objectives of contributing to Burma’s
economy, fulfilling the needs of the military, reducing defense spending, and
ensuring the welfare of military personnel.
Today, MEC is a holding company with businesses in the mining,
manufacturing, and telecommunications sectors, as well as companies that supply
natural resources to the military, and operate factories producing goods for
use by the military. MEC is led by Sr.
Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
MYTEL
Mytel is a major
telecommunications company in Myanmar (Burma), as one of four national
carriers. Mytel is operated as a joint venture between the Burmese military and
Viettel, which is owned by Vietnam's Ministry of National Defence. Mytel has
been criticized and scrutinized for serving as a major source of revenue for
the Burmese military.
Mytel was
granted a telecommunications license on 12 January 2017. The company is
operated as a joint venture, 49% owned by Viettel, which is controlled by the
Vietnamese military, 28% owned by Star High Public Company, which is owned by
the Burmese military's Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), and the remaining
23% owned by Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public Co Ltd, a consortium of
local companies.
Mytel uses telecoms infrastructure owned by MECtel,
a separate operator controlled by MEC. The first call made on the network was
between Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing, and Vietnam's Minister
of Defence, Ngo Xuan Lich.
Mytel has been
criticized for undermining the competitiveness of Myanmar's telecoms market and
the military's reassertion of dominance over telecommunications, through its
large-scale investments. In June 2017, the government promulgated the Pricing
and Tariff Regulatory Framework, including floor pricing rules for mobile fees,
which was positioned to give Mytel a market advantage against lower-cost
competitors like Ooredoo.
Mytel was
granted an exemption from floor pricing rules and was allowed to discount its
rates after its launch, unlike other competitors. Through its aggressive
price-cutting strategy, Mytel was able to capture a market share of 4% (2.4
million subscribers) only two months after its launch. By contrast, Mytel's
competitors agreed to abide by sound price competition practices.
