WASHINGTON DC, KOMPAS.com – Myanmar generals are said to want to leave politics after the coup and seek to improve relations with the United States (US) instead of China.
This was conveyed by Ari Ben-Menashe in a telephone interview with Reuters on Saturday (6/3/2021).
Ari Ben-Menashe is an Israeli-Canadian lobbyist employed by the Myanmar junta. The former Israeli military intelligence official also previously represented Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Sudan’s military ruler.
According to him, his company Dickens & Madson Canada had been hired by the General of Myanmar. They will help the military junta communicate with the US and other countries, which it says “misunderstands” the Myanmar military.
He said Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader since 2016, had grown too close to China. This condition was not favored by the Myanmar Generals.
“There is a real impetus to move to the West and the US rather than trying to get closer to China,” said Ben-Menashe. “They don’t want to be puppets of China.”
Myanmar generals, he said, also wanted to repatriate Rohingya Muslims, who had fled to neighboring Bangladesh.
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Ben-Menashe claims to have spoken from South Korea following a visit to Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw. There he signed an agreement with the junta defense minister, General Mya Tun Oo.
Ben-Menashe said it would be paid an undisclosed fee if sanctions against the military were lifted.
A spokesman for the military government did not answer a call for comment on Saturday (5/3/2021).
Ben-Menashe said he had been assigned to contact Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to get their support for the planned repatriation of the Rohingya, the Muslim minority.
“It’s basically trying to get some funds to return what they call Bengali,” said Ben-Menashe.
The term “Bengali” is used by some in Myanmar for Rohingya, implying they are not from the country.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled military offensives in 2016 and 2017. This came after soldiers carried out indiscriminate killings, raped women and burned houses, according to a UN fact-finding mission.
Meanwhile, according to United Nations records, more than 50 demonstrators have been killed since the February 1 coup, when the military toppled and detained the elected leader. Aung San Suu Kyi. This comes after the National League for Democracy party won a landslide election in November.
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On Friday (5/3/2021), a UN special envoy urged the Security Council to take action against the junta over the killing of protesters.
The administration of the President of the US under Joe Biden condemned the coup. Sanctions on the army and the businesses it controls have also been in place. A US State Department official declined to comment.
Hundreds of thousands of people have protested in nearly every city and town in Myanmar for weeks. Demonstrations demanded Suu Kyi’s release and respect for the results of the November election, which the military said was marred by fraud.
Ben-Menashe said the junta could prove the vote was rigged, and that ethnic minorities were blocked from voting. But they don’t provide evidence.
Myanmar election observers have previously said there were no major irregularities.
The lobbyist also claimed that, in his two visits to the country since the coup, “the disturbances were not widespread.” The protest movement is said to be unsupported by most Myanmar people.
He said the police handled the protests, not the military, although there were photos and video footage of armed soldiers at the demonstration.
He argued that the military was well placed to oversee a return to democracy after the coup it launched.
“They want to get out of politics completely,” he said, “but it’s a process.”
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