Myanmar Spring Chronicle – September 28 Scenes
MoeMaKa, September 29 2022
Resurgent wave of Covid. Where Myanmar Kyat money is kept? A Self-reliant Federal Burman State?
According to the press release of the military council and the DVB news excerpt, it is said that there is a recurrence of Covid-19 infections in Myanmar. The Ministry of Health under the military council announced on the night of September 28 that more than 380 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed in Myanmar in just one day. According to the statement, there were 2 additional deaths due to Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths to 19,457.
“If the hospital and census are 380, normally, it may be higher than that. It can be at least 10 times more, so it can be estimated that there are about 4,000 patients infected in the environment they collected. In Yangon, everyone in the family was infected and recovered within 5 days to a week. The elderly are suffering more, just like the flu, while young people suffer from runny nose, coughing, slight headache and fever,” a doctor commented.
Except for China, the rest of the countries in the world have been able to withstand the effects of Covid-19. China is still testing for the virus and locking down the city. In the past, people were eager to vaccinate, but because the virus is changing mutation so quickly, people are not interested in the vaccine anymore. The death rate is not as high as before and people have prepared to endure. Every health department advises that everyone should continue to adhere to the precautionary measures of wearing a mask.
The NUG government is collecting funds by working on its own financial systems and plans. Other support groups are also collecting and distributing funds in their own ways. Among the central bank and online banking systems controlled by the military council, Wave Pay and KBZ Pay are currently experiencing inconveniences with consumers and the military council’s interference and sanctions. The military council itself wants to replace the American dollar with the Chinese banknote and the Russian banknote, but the Myanmar people prefer to work directly with the dollar.
Internationally, the dollar price is very high, and the United States and all countries are facing inflation currently. After the UK said it would cut income tax to tackle inflation, they tried control the free fall of UK pound by buying back their bonds at high interest rates. Because the military council itself tried to control the dollar even before this inflation and economic slowdown, the business community predicts that Myanmar will be more affected by the global inflation crisis than now. That’s why people buy other sources rather than collecting Myanmar banknotes. They also commented that it seems that among such sources are bonds produced by NUG, EOD projects, shares, and NUG DMMK kyats.
The military council is still following their road map. Based on the 2008 constitution and the NCA framework, they are still trying to control and limit political parties and ethnic armed groups. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing said that the Myanmar military is building a union based on democracy and federalism, and will only be given the federal rights it deserves. At present, in the peace talks that they invited, representatives of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA/Mongla) and the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) have been meeting with the military council since September 26. During the talks, it was also reported that they agreed in principle to designate “Wa State” and the Mongla Autonomous Region.
While the military council is working on expanding the federal units under their control in their own way, they seem to have ignored the emergence of new federal units with the backing of the revolutionary people from the turning point in the history of the Spring Revolution. Among the new federal units accepted by the public from the old federal roots, it can be said that the new Burmese States, with the backing of the majority of the Burmese people, which will be called the Sagaing Magway-based Burmese federal unit, have already gained a foothold in addition to Kachin, Karen, Kayah and Chin States.
NUG’s Deputy Minister of Defense, Nai Kao Rot, said that a righteous war must be waged cornering the cities by taking control of all countrysides. Deputy Minister of Defense Nai Kao Rot said in a radio speech to the People Defense Forces on September 28. After the ethnic armed groups have taken over the mountainous areas, it can be assumed that the rural plain regions will be taken over by the revolutionary groups and NUG’s PDF where the majority of the Burmans live like in Sagaing and Magway areas.
In the past, when discussing the units for the federal union with the ethnic groups, it was discussed that a state should be defined for the Burmans, just like the ethnic-based states. At this time, if we can say that a Burmese state unit has come into shape, driven by the struggles of the waves of the revolution.