Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing criticises ASEAN, sets out his own agenda

Nearly four months after his inauguration as Myanmar president on April 10, regime leader Min Aung Hlaing on Friday criticised the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Five Point Consensus, the regional bloc’s peace plan for Myanmar, and outlined his own pro-military administration’s plans for ending the crisis since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. Myanmar was plunged into turmoil in 2021 after then-military Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing led the coup that ousted an elected government ‌led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking protests that expanded into a protracted civil war, killing some 100,000 people and displacing millions. At the turn of this year, the military engineered a widely criticised election won by ​the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which had been devastated in the two previous “free and fair” elections in 2020 and 2015 by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party. This led to the 2021 coup that allowed Min Aung Hlaing to transition from his role as military chief into a nominally civilian one as Myanmar’s president. Following are ​some key points from his speech to parliament: Dismissing ASEAN’s Five Point ⁠Consensus, Min Aung Hlaing said the 11-member bloc has discriminated against Myanmar. “We have been patient. We ​will respond to non-constructive actions on a case-by-case basis,” he said, without referring to any specific member ​of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. His administration will hold by-elections in 2027 in 172 constituencies unable to vote during the December-January polls because of the ongoing unrest. His administration will enhance the capacity of the military and police, while continuing to implement a conscription law, he ​said. His administration has invited ethnic armed groups for talks without preconditions and, so far, has met with ​13 ethnic armed organisations (EAOs). His administration is working to stop money laundering and arms smuggling by EAOs as well as cracking ‌down ⁠on drug trafficking and online scam centres, Min Aung Hlaing said. His administration is prioritising the 1,400-km (870-mile) India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway project, as well as the 410-km (254-mile) Mandalay-Muse railway project to reach the border with China. “The goal is to export goods to international markets in a short time at low cost,” Min Aung Hlaing ​said. His administration is currently ​working on 10 power ⁠generation projects, including the controversial Myitsone dam, and efforts are also underway to build a nuclear power plant. His administration will allocate 10 per cent of the national budget for the ​education sector in the next fiscal year and up to 15 per cent in the 2028-2029 fiscal year. His administration is focusing ⁠on the tourism and agriculture sectors, and aims to boost domestic cotton production via loans and technical assistance for farmers, he said. Large numbers of young people, aged between 18 and 34, have been leaving the country, impacting economic development, ⁠he said. The ​military’s conscription law is a major factor for this exodus, ​Reuters has previously reported. “I will take two years to build momentum for constructing a new nation,” he said. “I will also take three ​years to execute this build-up at full speed.”