[International Politics] - Singaporean Bilahari Kausikan's analysis of the Myanmar situation

[UltimaOnline]

On the US & China over Myanmar :

Neither the US nor China really want to do more than they have already done on Myanmar. Both have other priorities, and are acutely aware of the strategic context of their rivalry. Neither wishes to do anything that could inadvertently give the other an advantage. Still, both could be pressed by domestic pressures into taking actions that they know to be strategically imprudent: the US because of the Tatmadaw’s growing human rights abuses; China because the demonstrations have taken an anti-Chinese turn.


On Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) & the Ruling Military (Tatmadaw) over Myanmar :

ASSK and the Tatmadaw are too much alike in fundamental ways to make working together comfortable for either side. Both have a strong sense of entitlement to rule: ASSK because of her family lineage and the sacrifices that she has made; the Tatmadaw because of its vital role in holding Myanmar together. That both of their claims contain elements of truth makes compromise all the more difficult, and both see politics as a zero-sum game. This sense of entitlement inclines both ASSK and the Tatmadaw to regard ordinary Myanmarese as subjects, not citizens.

ASSK’s attitude toward the Rohingyas was no different from that of the Tatmadaw and almost all Bamar, the majority ethnic group. Her defence of the Tatmadaw at the Hague against charges of genocide made her immensely popular with her people, which probably increased the Tatmadaw’s jealousy and distrust of her. It is a measure of Western naïveté that ASSK’s attitude toward the Rohingya shocked many in the West. It shocked no one familiar with Myanmar. To ASSK, democracy and human rights were much more instruments to gain power than values or ends in and of themselves.

ASSK did little to assuage the Tatmadaw’s distrust. On the contrary, her reluctance to convene the National Defence and Security Council, which is constitutionally the highest executive authority and the formal means through which the Tatmadaw participates in the government, as well as her attempts to amend the constitution to allow herself to become president, must have increased the Tatmadaw’s distrust. As daughter of Aung San, the founder of the Tatmadaw, she must have understood its central role in Myanmar; indeed she once told a friend of mine that when she was a little girl, she wanted to be a military general like her father. Ultimately, then, the differences between ASSK and the Tatmadaw are about power, not principle.


Full article :
https://globalbrief.ca/2021/04/five-hard-truths-about-myanmar/


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[batman1]

Wow,this Hor Kau Kan coming out to talk again.

 

[syed putra]

The problem is simple. The army needs to have their own space to make money. Maybe a small percentage if oil and gas extracts goes to them directly, or based on amount if all taxes collected. That money goes to fund tbeir pension scheme for the generals also.everybody happy.

 

[LordElrond]

Fuck why so many peektures or horkaukan. You know it when someone tries to make himself relevant

 

[tanwahtiu]

Poon pe pe narrative...

 

[maxsanic]

On the US & China over Myanmar :

Neither the US nor China really want to do more than they have already done on Myanmar. Both have other priorities, and are acutely aware of the strategic context of their rivalry. Neither wishes to do anything that could inadvertently give the other an advantage. Still, both could be pressed by domestic pressures into taking actions that they know to be strategically imprudent: the US because of the Tatmadaw’s growing human rights abuses; China because the demonstrations have taken an anti-Chinese turn.

Is this guy freaking for real?

The wrecking of Chinese owned factories in Myanmar barely made the headline news there for a day and nobody in China is even talking about it online or offline now. What domestic pressure on China government to do something is this idiot droning on about?

There's so much bad stuff happening around the world including all sorts of social issues erupting into violence in USA everyday, you think the average American gives a flying fuck about Myanmarmese being shot when a whole bunch of the their own people are getting shot everyday? At most a few usual politician will shout perfunctory slogans for a day and then everyone would move on thereafter.

On Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) & the Ruling Military (Tatmadaw) over Myanmar :

ASSK and the Tatmadaw are too much alike in fundamental ways to make working together comfortable for either side. Both have a strong sense of entitlement to rule: ASSK because of her family lineage and the sacrifices that she has made; the Tatmadaw because of its vital role in holding Myanmar together. That both of their claims contain elements of truth makes compromise all the more difficult, and both see politics as a zero-sum game. This sense of entitlement inclines both ASSK and the Tatmadaw to regard ordinary Myanmarese as subjects, not citizens.

ASSK’s attitude toward the Rohingyas was no different from that of the Tatmadaw and almost all Bamar, the majority ethnic group. Her defence of the Tatmadaw at the Hague against charges of genocide made her immensely popular with her people, which probably increased the Tatmadaw’s jealousy and distrust of her. It is a measure of Western naïveté that ASSK’s attitude toward the Rohingya shocked many in the West. It shocked no one familiar with Myanmar. To ASSK, democracy and human rights were much more instruments to gain power than values or ends in and of themselves.

ASSK did little to assuage the Tatmadaw’s distrust. On the contrary, her reluctance to convene the National Defence and Security Council, which is constitutionally the highest executive authority and the formal means through which the Tatmadaw participates in the government, as well as her attempts to amend the constitution to allow herself to become president, must have increased the Tatmadaw’s distrust. As daughter of Aung San, the founder of the Tatmadaw, she must have understood its central role in Myanmar; indeed she once told a friend of mine that when she was a little girl, she wanted to be a military general like her father. Ultimately, then, the differences between ASSK and the Tatmadaw are about power, not principle.

Very impressive if he had said this during 2010. Now in 2021 everything has happened the way it is then come and lecture smugly as if he was the only wise one who has figured everything out before hand... Nice try.

I cannot understand how someone of such limited caliber can even be a senior foreign affairs professional in the Singapore government by the time he retired. This guy's knowledge and view of geopolitics is like an average EDMW-er with the exception of higher English proficiency.

 

[laksaboy]

Wow,this Hor Kau Kan coming out to talk again.

He is 狗屎官 after all.

 

[eatshitndie]

sam’s good friend.

 

[batman1]

He's a chapcheng.

 

[mojito]

Ah Kau talk cock again. Truth is Myanmar crisis is power struggle between suki and the junta. What reason is there for either countries to get involved?

 

[congo9]

He talk cock la ..
This guy is a cock sucker for LHL. Bilahari will be in Mynmmar

 

[tyudm]

He sucked LHL's cock and thought it was his dog's