MYANMAR: Myanmar holds its first Armed forces day parade in its new capital

Record ID: 694748

  • Title: MYANMAR: Myanmar holds its first Armed forces day parade in its new capital
  • Date: 28th March 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE)(Burmese) TOE NAING, VICE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY IN BURMA JAPAN CHAPTER, SAYING: "The people suffering the most now with the move to the new capital are the bureaucrats. They have had to pack up so suddenly and move to Pyinmana as the capital changed so quickly."
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Myanmar
  • Country: Burma (Myanmar)
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAYT960UA99H2LXLMYX8D7SFQ6
  • Story Text: More than 10,000 troops marched through Myanmar's new capital for the first time on Monday (March 27) commemorating Armed Forces Day.
    Naypyidaw, which means 'royal city' in Burmese, is the name the junta has given to the complex it secretly built in the hills near the lumber town of Pyinmana, 240 miles (385 km) north of Yangon.
    Seventy-four year old senior general Than Shwe, who rarely makes public appearances, wore a crisp brown uniform as he reviewed seven columns of army, navy and airforce personnel while foreign defence attaches and looked on.
    Golden statues of three Burmese kings watched over the parade grounds nestled in the same hills where independence hero General Aung San -- Suu Kyi's father -- launched his rebellion against occupying Japanese troops 61 years ago.
    The ceremony was broadcast live on state television, giving the country its first glimpse of Naypyidaw since last November. About a thousand foreign journalists and diplomats were also officially invited to the new capital for the first time since its move.
    The generals say the move, which irked neighbours trying to keep Myanmar engaged with the outside world, will make it easier to run the country of 54 million people.
    Analysts say it may have stemmed from paranoia about a U.S. invasion, or fear of a popular uprising if the economy continued to deteriorate, or perhaps it was a warning written in the stars for Myanmar's astrologically obsessed generals.
    Following a visit to the country on behalf of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters his fact-finding mission was incomplete because of the failure to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
    ASEAN has voiced frustration at what it calls the slow pace of democratic reform in Myanmar.
    "They gave a briefing, they allowed me to ask questions and to put and pose questions that they responded back. But I told them it is incomplete until I am able to see the other stakeholders," Syed Hamid told reporters, confirming that Suu Kyi was one of the stakeholders he needed to hear from.
    He also said Myanmar would pass up its turn to chair the 10-member ASEAN grouping after the Philippines, which begins its tenure in the chair from July this year.
    Pressed by ASEAN, Myanmar had already skipped its turn to chair the grouping this year, stepping aside in favour of the Philippines.
    "Because Myanmar is also, I asked them if they are ready to take over ASEAN after Philippines because they are supposed to take over after Malaysia. They said they will not be ready as yet because they want their capital Pyinmana to be ready and I asked to go to Pyinmana but they said they are not ready yet for me to visit Pyinmana," Syed Hamid said.
    ASEAN admitted Myanmar into its ranks in 1997 in hopes that engagement and investment would help bring about reform. The strategy looked to pay off in 2003 when the junta produced a seven-step "roadmap to democracy", including eventual elections.
    But the military, which has ruled the former Burma since 1962, says it is still only midway through the first step, drafting a new constitution, and will not set a timetable.
    Approximately 150 burmese residents of Japan and their supporters marched through the streets of Tokyo on Monday (March 27) in commemoration of their nation's Armed Forces Day.
    While the junta had a parade in their spanking new capital of Pyinmana, the Japanese chapter of the League for Democracy in Burma (NLD) -- Myanmar's opposition party led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi -- held a protest march in front of the Myanmar embassy in Tokyo.
    The NLD continues to demand the release of their leader who has remained under house arrest for the past three years and has had her house arrest extended for another six months in November 2006.
    In the new capital, while civil servants received a hefty pay increase from the junta this weekend, many complained about poor water supply, a shortage of transport and boredom -- many complaints have already started trickled out through the dissident networks outside the country.
    "The people suffering the most now with the move to the new capital are the bureaucrats. They have had to pack up so suddenly and move to Pyinmana as the capital changed so quickly," said Toe Naing (pronounced TOO NAEE) vice representative of the NLD Japan chapter.
    Many of the bureaucrats, he said, are putting up with the change only because they have left their families behind and feel obliged to provide for them.
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