[Min Aung Hlaing now sits at the helm of political power in Myanmar, after orchestrating a coup last week in which his troops detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others in her democratically elected government. The power grab has returned the military to government after a 10-year, quasi-democratic experiment, and threatens to destabilize the region by reigniting armed conflict and long-standing popular grievances.]
By Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin
Coppel,
looking for signs of humanity in the short, bespectacled general whose forces
are now on
trial on genocide charges, didn’t find any. In a lengthy monologue, Min
Aung Hlaing instead disparaged Muslims, at one point summoning aides to present
Coppel with a grainy photo of a man standing with multiple women and numerous
children — his attempt to back up a baseless claim that rampant Muslim
reproduction was threatening the Buddhist-majority country.
“There
was no remorse” from Min Aung Hlaing, Coppel said. “I was more left with the
feeling that the job might not be completed.”
Min
Aung Hlaing now sits at the helm of political power in Myanmar, after
orchestrating a coup last week in which his troops
detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others in her democratically
elected government. The power grab has returned the military to government
after a 10-year, quasi-democratic experiment, and threatens to destabilize the
region by reigniting armed conflict and long-standing popular grievances.
Interviews
with former foreign officials who interacted with him and others close to the
Myanmar military paint a picture of a man who was controlling, egotistical and
ambitious, unwilling to go quietly into retirement as scheduled later this
year. Disdainful of Suu Kyi, he was angered by her party’s repeat
landslide victory in November elections. His personal grievances are
responsible for the political crisis unfolding in Myanmar, these people said.
All
spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing ongoing work in the country and
sensitivity around the private discussions.
“This
is a proud man,” said a former Western diplomat with extensive firsthand
experience with the commander in chief. He “distrusted and disliked Suu Kyi
intensely,” another former diplomat said, and “never reconciled to civilian
rule led by her from the very beginning.”
[Protesters
return to Myanmar’s streets to oppose military coup]
As protests against the coup are met with
increasing force, including rubber bullets and some live rounds, a looming question is how far Min Aung
Hlaing will go to keep his hold on power. Nothing in his past shows an ability
to back down or compromise — rather, he feels compelled to display strength
when challenged, people familiar with him say. He is already banned from Facebook and subject to U.S. sanctions for his role in the Rohingya
crackdown, and it is unclear what could change Min Aung Hlaing’s behavior.
Popular
uprisings in 1988 and 2007 were put down with bloody force by the same military
that Min Aung Hlaing defines himself by, and which he now leads.
Calls
to representatives of the military-led government were not answered. On Monday,
addressing the nation for the first time since the coup, Min Aung Hlaing again
claimed voter fraud in the November elections, promised that things would be
different than during the army’s previous reign, and welcomed foreign
investment.
Law
student to senior general
Min
Aung Hlaing was born in 1956 in a region along the Andaman Sea six years before
the military seized power in a coup led by Ne Win, according to a biography
compiled by the Tagaung Institute of Political Studies, a Yangon-based think
tank. He grew up in Yangon in a city-center apartment close to where thousands
of protesters have gathered in recent days.
After
finishing high school, he began to study law. While his classmates were
demonstrating against the military government, he focused his energy elsewhere.
He applied to the Defense Services Academy and was admitted on his third try in
1974, during the throes of Ne Win’s “Burmese Way to Socialism,” a disastrous
experiment in governance that helped drive the country into political
dysfunction, deep poverty and isolation.
[Myanmar
coup sparks resistance movement as Suu Kyi is charged]
Three
years later, Min Aung Hlaing began his formal military career, one that has
been shaped by the armed forces’ often brutal operations against ethnic armies
and their supporters — campaigns defined by the burning of villages, rape and
forced conscription of civilians. In June 2008, he was named head of a bureau
overseeing troops across a swath of northeastern Myanmar where ethnic armed
groups were vying for power, and the next summer he launched two attacks there.
One
of those campaigns, near Myanmar’s northern border, sent tens of thousands of
refugees streaming into China. In the other, villagers were tortured
and killed, according to the Shan
Human Rights Foundation. One woman, the group said at the time, was fatally
shot in the head and her body dumped into a pit toilet.
Myanmar’s
military has consistently defended operations like this in terms of national
unity. At the height of the Rohingya crackdown in 2017, Min Aung Hlaing said the “Bengali problem was a long-standing one which
has become an unfinished job,” using the name “Bengali” derisively for the
Rohingya.
In
March 2011, he was named commander in chief ahead of higher-ranking colleagues,
just as Myanmar was beginning a quasi-democratic transition and slowly opening
to the world. Western officials and diplomats poured in, encouraged by steps
such as Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest in 2010. Meeting Min Aung Hlaing for the
first time, they found a man who was hesitant and almost nervous, a product of
his insular institution.
Myanmar
officials were “encouraging more Western interaction with him, because he
wasn’t exposed to the world” outside the indoctrination of the military, said
the former Western diplomat.
His
own man
The
commander in chief emerged as someone who could not be controlled — not even by
the general who picked him for the role, Than Shwe. A
person familiar with the thinking of higher-ranking generals said they saw Min
Aung Hlaing as the biggest obstacle to their vision of democratic progress,
more concerned instead with “building his empire.”
The
apprehension he had in meetings with foreign diplomats and leaders quickly
disappeared, replaced instead by a bold arrogance.
In
meetings, former diplomats said, Min Aung Hlaing would frequently cut off his
Myanmar language interpreter, correcting and talking over them in English,
which he was learning in his spare time. It was a “control thing to show he was
in charge,” the former Western diplomat said. “He wanted to show that he was
the man.”
Actions
to assert himself belied the intellectual facade the general was trying to
present, even as he got better in using diplomatic language and legal arguments
in meetings.
“He
doesn’t listen,” Coppel said. “He has a view, and he feels his view as
commander in chief should prevail.”
[In
Myanmar coup, Suu Kyi’s ouster heralds return to military rule]
In
a particularly bold example, Min Aung Hlaing asked Singapore Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong during an official visit in 2016 to meet with him at the military
headquarters, instead of Lee’s hotel, a person familiar with the matter said. The
move would have been against protocol — Lee, as a head of government, is senior
to the military commander. The Singaporeans pushed back, and ultimately the
commander in chief gave
in. (Singapore is one of Myanmar’s biggest
investors.) Singapore’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
Nowhere
was the desire for control more evident than in his relationship with Suu Kyi.
Both are equally headstrong and see themselves as the country’s rightful leader
— she with the weight of the people behind her, and Min Aung Hlaing with the
powerful military.
Suu
Kyi showed an “obstinate desire to subordinate, even humiliate” the generals,
said a former foreign senior military official. The Myanmar military saw Suu
Kyi’s government as incompetent and “far too considerable a security issue,”
the official added.
Pathway
to power
To
many in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing’s coup signifies not only a return to the
fearful days of military rule — of surveillance, spying and international
isolation — but to the corruption and excesses of those at the top. As commander
in chief, he has authority over the military’s two business conglomerates,
which have interests in virtually every sector, including the jade and mining
industries, which are rife with human
rights abuses.
He
is fond of golf, a person familiar with the matter said, the game of Myanmar’s
elites. His two children in recent years have attempted to fashion themselves
as socialites, mixing with Yangon’s upper classes. Aung Pyae Sone, his son,
operates businesses including a medical supply company and a restaurant. The
restaurant permit was awarded without other bidding, with rent well below
market value, according to local investigative outlet Myanmar Now.
[Myanmar
coup is a test for Biden and the U.S. role as a champion of democracy]
Aung
Pyae Sone also developed a photography hobby, according to people who know him.
In 2018, a gallery he is involved with hosted an exhibition titled “The Journey of Blood
Jade,” with photos ironically showing the difficulties of the laborers in the
jade-mining industry. He owns a resort on the popular Chaung Tha beach, which a
businessman in the area described as a “castle” serving family and friends
rather than customers.
Aung
Pyae Sone could not be reached for comment.
Min
Aung Hlaing’s daughter, Khin Thiri Thet Mon, started a film and TV production
company in 2017, Myanmar business records show. The company has muscled into
entertainment by vastly outspending its rivals, offering huge contracts twice
as lucrative as those of competitors, according to people in the industry. His
daughter-in-law, meanwhile, hosts
beauty pageants and television shows.
The
commander in chief in recent months has embarked on a charm offensive of his
own, fashioning himself more as a head of government. He visited Buddhist monks
and other
religious leaders, donating supplies and money. He met with ethnic
leaders, many of whom felt disenfranchised under Suu Kyi’s civilian
government. He traveled widely, shopping for arms, and gave interviews.
Perhaps
most telling of these was an interview with Russia
Today in June, on a visit to the country. The Russian interviewer at
the state-backed television station pointed out that under Myanmar’s
constitution, the general can serve his country “at a higher level, including
in its most senior position,” and expressed hope that he would be able to
“perform duties with higher authorities.”
“Thank
you,” he
replied. “I always have such desires.”
Kyaw
Ye Lynn in Yangon contributed to this report.
Read
more
In
Myanmar coup, Suu Kyi’s ouster heralds return to military rule
Protesters
return to Myanmar’s streets to oppose military coup
Myanmar
coup is a test for Biden and the U.S. role as a champion of democracy
