At a press conference held by the military’s True News Information Team on 4 September, their spokesperson Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun, denied that the distribution of army guidelines in the election campaign was putting pressure on soldiers to vote for pro-military candidates.
The spokesperson Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun defended the Military service personnel circulation of the military chief’s six-point guidelines on candidates to vote for claiming that “soldiers can freely cast their votes for any candidate in the 2020 General Election.” He clarified that “the Tatmadaw gave the suggestions about how service personnel should carry out the job (of voting) “but “There is no direct instruction,” on which parties or candidates to vote for.
The military chief’s six guidelines to voters are: select the candidates who will serve the interest of the country, and the region based on empathy towards the Tatmadaw, and those who can conserve the national, religious and Sasana in a correct and systematic manner, and those who are not under the influence of foreign organizations and the foreigners.
Although both the military and the ruling NLD party have been very much dependent on foreign aid, especially from China, the military likes to project itself as a stalwart defender of Burmese nationalism. Many ethnic parties consider that the army should not be involved in any kind of electoral propaganda given that the nation is no longer under military rule.
In response to questions about the distribution of pro-army documents, Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun strangely compared the military purpose to be similar to the dissemination of Buddhist literature. “Have you ever seen the distribution of Parrita and Pahtan books at the preaching ceremonies by Buddhist monks? Are these books distributed according to the directive of the Lord Buddha?”
Other questions raised at the press conference included how the army would assist the campaign to prevent COVID-19.
The Tatmadaw has also suggested to the Union Election Commission that the election should not be held in the UWSP/UWSA-controlled townships and the northern Arakan State where fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) has intensified. EAOs say the fighting has got worse because of the army’s refusal to extend a ceasefire to include the Arakan Army.
