A Capital Error

Huge statues of three Burmese kings have been erected at the parade ground, where Snr-Gen Than Shwe declared in a speech marking the 61st anniversary of

Burma

’s Armed Forces Day: “Our Tatmadaw [armed forces] should be a worthy heir to the traditions of the capable Tatmadaws established by noble kings Anawarahta, Bayintnaung and Alaung Phaya U Aung Zeya.”

The city of Pyinmana itself, located in dense forests in central Burma’s Mandalay Division, also has historical significance—as the World War II military headquarters of Burma’s independence hero Gen Aung San and later a stronghold of Burma’s communist insurgency in the 1970s. It is strategically well placed for easy access to Chin, Karen, Karenni and Shan states.

Secrecy and uncertainty surrounded the Pyinmana project from the start. Two Burmese journalists were arrested and jailed after undertaking a reconnaissance trip to the city in late December, less than two months after it had been officially announced that the government was to move there. One foreigner caught in the city about the same time escaped imprisonment but was put on the first available bus back to Rangoon.

It wasn’t until March that the government opened up its new administrative capital for all to see, at a ceremony marking the 61st anniversary of Burma’s Armed Forces Day, attended by foreign diplomats, journalists and invited guests. In late April, Chinese Minister for Information Industry Wang Xudong paid an official visit to Pyinmana.

The “unveiling” of the new administrative capital in March was preceded by feverish attempts to complete unfinished building projects. Construction standards inevitably fell, and some soldiers were reportedly injured when building works collapsed at the site of the Armed Forces Day celebrations.

Frustrated by delays, indecision, official confusion and hikes in the cost of building materials, private contractors are also being kept waiting for settlement of their accounts. The bigger companies are said to be compensated instead with offers of lucrative concessions and further contracts. They include Asia World, Htoo Trading, Eden Groups, Max Myanmar, Ngwe Sin, Shwe Thanlwin and Ayer Shwe Wah. Two junta-friendly companies, Htoo Trading Company (owned by Burmese tycoon Tay Za) and Asia World (run by former drug lord Lo Hsing Han), have reportedly built mansions for the regime’s top generals.

The construction of military facilities was entrusted to Burma army engineers, although assistance is suspected to have come from China, North Korea and Russia.