Myanmar Chief ensures loyalty

After landmark army reshuffle

THAILAND: The scale of Myanmar’s military reshuffle, its largest in decades, reveals the junta Chief’s determination to maintain superiority as a rare election approaches, analysts say.

More than 70 senior military positions have changed, and top brass including the army number three have retired from their posts to stand in the November 7 poll — the country’s first election in 20 years — unnamed officials said.

But uncertainty remains over the future of Than Shwe himself, who has controlled the country since 1992. Initial reports Friday said he had stepped down from the army a move later denied by officials.

A source close to the regime has said the 77-year-old and his deputy Maung Aye are “likely to retire soon”, but it is not known when they will shed their uniforms, or what roles they will then assume in the political sphere.

“The country is awash with rumours,” said Myanmar academic Aung Naing Oo, based in Thailand. “There are more questions than answers right now.”

High on the list is whether Than Shwe will take on Presidency of the country after the elections, which have been widely dismissed by activists and the West as a charade to legitimise military rule with a civilian guise.

“Until the day when we have the next President in the not too distant future, only then will it be clear what he will do. He has a lot of different stuff up his sleeve,” said Aung Naing Oo.

Whatever his next formal role, the feared septuagenarian is moving carefully to maintain strong support in both the army and the new parliament, according to Win Min, a US-based Myanmar analyst and pro-democracy activist.

“In making this biggest reshuffle, General Than Shwe appears to believe that it is better that he hand-pick the new generation of military leaders whom he considers to be totally loyal to him before the elections,” he said.

Bangkok, Sunday, AFP