Myanmar Spring Chronicle – April 03 Scenes
MoeMaKa, April 04 2023
Importance of political organization and military organization (Chain of Command)
It is not a controversial matter that the majority of those participating in the Spring Revolution today have a wish to defeat the military and overthrow the military dictator Min Aung Hlaing. It is not wrong to say that it is the same basic point, in other words, a common consensus to hate the military that has done a coup and its leader, Min Aung Hlaing, and want to overthrow it.
There are many people in Myanmar who are supporting the armed movement financially and personally with this desire, this feeling, this hatred, and this resentment. You will see them in big cities, towns, and villages, among those who have their own businesses and among departmental employees.
Although the entire population or a majority of the people are against the military coup and support the NLD party, the civilian government, there will be questions such as why the overthrow of the military dictator has not been successful, and why the military and political goals have not been significantly implemented even after 2 years. As an armed revolution, it is certain that it cannot succeed in a year or two. So whether 3 years, 5 years, or more are needed is an important question to consider. However, it is not easy to answer this question precisely. Looking back at Myanmar’s political history, comparative events, and causal relationships, I am making a guess as to whether the current position is the beginning, the middle, or the end result.
Only the situation from 1949 to around 1952, when the civil war raged in Myanmar, is a historical event that can be compared with the situation in Myanmar after 2021.
Again, after 1988, KNU’s base camps were attacked and seized, and since then, the status quo has remained between the ethnic armed groups and the junta forces.
A few months after the military coup in 2021, as new armed groups emerged, the trend of armed resistance became a popular trend in Myanmar politics.
These days, Mandalay’s strike leader and prominent leader of the Spring Revolution, Dr. Tayzar San, wrote a reminder notice on his Facebook page, meaning “from quantity to quality”.
In the current situation, it has been pointed out that the military council is outnumbered by the PDFs in terms of manpower. As a weakness, it has highlighted the fact that it has not yet become an armed force that operates under a single command.
According to him, the armed forces under the National Unity Government are divided into 2 categories, and one of them is the PDF, which means full-time soldiers. The other type is the People’s Defense Forces, abbreviated as PaKaHpa, which is a type of militia organized locally.
Although both of these are under the Ministry of Defence of the National Unity Government, there is no unified command system yet. Dr. Tayzar San has encouraged the building of a single, systematic Chain of Command which has not yet been implemented.
It is also an issue that should be reviewed and resolved as to why a single command system has not yet been established. Is it the fact that the National Unity Government cannot provide enough food, weapons, and expenses to every armed organization under its control? Is it because the armed organizations lack a unified political belief, policy, and goal? Is it because their political awareness is weak and they have the same wish to take revenge on the military council and think that the rest of the political goals, policies, military ethics and rules to be followed are not important? The above is becoming a topic of discussion.
Another reason is the objective, policy, commitment, and promises related to important ethnic federal affairs. There are areas of armed conflict and ethnically armed areas that have remained unchanged without the occurrence of armed conflict in almost all border areas of Myanmar. There are ethnic armed groups that are already military allies. It is necessary to be aware of the fact that it is important to organize the non-military allied ethnic armed groups that are still in the status quo because they are skeptical about the political guarantee and practicality of the spring revolution.