Low-ranking soldiers in RangoonBurma's state-run media slammed the BBC Burmese Service on Saturday for reporting alleged cases of mutiny in Pegu Division, saying that the ruling regime would “never accept any scheme to break up the Tatmadaw [Burmese armed forces].”
In commentaries run in both Burmese and English, state-run newspapers accused the BBC of fabricating a series of reports of unrest within the ranks of the military that have been broadcast by the BBC's shortwave radio service over the past month.
“Since the last week of December 2009, the BBC has been airing slanderous accusations with the aim of disintegrating the Tatmadaw,” the state-run New Light of Myanmar claimed.
“In fact, the story put in the Internet including the broadcasting of BBC is a complete fabrication. At the respective regiments and battalions, there was no mutiny, resignation and discontentment.”
Since Dec. 23, the BBC's Burmese-language service has reported several cases of mutiny involving troops from Light Infantry Division (LID) 66, based in Prome, western Pegu Division; LID 77, based in Hmawbi and Pegu; and Military Affairs Security (formerly known as the Military Intelligence Service).
According to BBC correspondent U Than, who is based in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand, a number of people were killed or injured in exchanges of gunfire or during mass resignations of soldiers resulting from economic hardship.
In response, the state media said: “Although we want the Tatmadaw to be strong and firm, we have noticed that there are still some wicked, narrow-minded people who want to see it become weak and break up.”
“It is crystal clear that skyful liers [sic] made their fabricated news and stories as they are instructed by their stooges inside the country to break up the unity of the Tatmadaw and divide it.”
A resident of Prome, where one of the incidents allegedly took place, said he could not confirm the reports of mutiny. “But it is true that like most Burmese people, Tatamadaw soldiers are suffering economic hardships,” he said.
The gap between ordinary soldiers and officers in terms of salary and opportunities is quite huge. Ordinary soldiers earn just 16,000 kyat (US $16) a month, while the lowest-ranking officers get more than ten times that amount.
Observers say the downfall of the Burmese military regime will probably come from conflict within the Tatadaw rather than from political opposition or any external threat.
According to the influential Economist Intelligence Unit, “Perhaps the biggest threat to the junta’s long-term grip on power is internal strife.”
Following an information leak to the media about secret military ties between Burma and North Korea, dozens of military and civilian officials in Naypyidaw were detained and interrogated. A former major, Win Naing Kyaw, and a staffer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were sentenced to death for the leak, while another person involved in the case received a long prison sentence.
Recently the military junta reshuffled six general staff officers from the War Office to the front lines. Some suspect the reshuffle was related to the information leak.
Although the BBC Burmese Service first broadcast its reports about the mutiny among Burmese troops on Dec. 23, the Burmese state media didn't respond until Saturday.
Journalists in Rangoon said that the government media published the response to the BBC reports because the reports have been spreading among Burmese troops across the country.
“True or not, the BBC reports have begun to spread within the Tatmadaw and across the country,” said an editor with a Rangoon-based journal who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The ruling generals don't care what civilians think, but they're worried about what soldiers think. That's why they responded,” he added. “This story in today's newspapers is definitely aimed at soldiers.”
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