Irrawaddy-Dec 18
The belligerent Naypyitaw chair of the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) says political parties that have registered with the junta’s election body must take sides with the regime and support it in any way they can. Hlaw Swe, a former lieutenant colonel nicknamed “Bullet” who became the USDP’s Naypyitaw chapter chief after the 2021 coup, makes the argument in a column in the Dec. 17 issue of his military-backed Bullet News Journal. “In the current situation, if political parties really desire to hold elections successfully, they cannot be indecisive but must take sides with the State Administration Council, in other words, the military,” Hla Swe writes.
He adds that the Myanmar military has to cope with various armed groups, including Bamar ones, and even if they are unlikely to oust the regime, political parties must stand with the military to reclaim lost towns and bases. Hla Swe, who played a central role in arming the notorious junta-aligned Pyu Saw Htee militias in central Myanmar, boasts that he himself is ready to help double recruitment for the military. The USDP was created by the generals to retain their grip on power in civilian dress when they organized general elections in 2010 after decades of repressive military rule. Current USDP chairman Khin Yi led pro-military rallies in the aftermath of the 2020 general elections that saw the resounding defeat of the USDP. Then the deputy party chair, Khin Yi orchestrated protests to pave the way for the coup in February 2021. At a meeting of 51 registered political parties with the junta’s National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee on Dec. 5-6, the USDP pledged to fully cooperate with the regime in ensuring security for the planned polls in 2025 and take up arms if necessary, according to representatives who attended the meeting.
Hla Swe earned the nickname Bullet in 2013 amid peace talks under Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government, when he suggested that civil conflict in northern Myanmar’s Kachin State might best be resolved by bullets if diplomacy failed. Read more at:
