Tatmadawmen: You Know

By Moegyo, March 27, 2014

Men of the Tatmadaw, I come before you today, this the 69^th Anniversary Armed Forces Day, to speak of matters of honor and respect. Throughout the history of Myanmar, our warriors have shown their courage in battle and kindness toward the people. They respected their enemies and in turn, received their respect. But sadly, this has now changed. Over recent years, the Tatmadaw has brought dishonor to the warrior heritage of our country and lost the confidence of its people.

You have been asked to uphold the Three Main National Causes, but instead you have contributed to the loss of the key Main National Cause of Union Spirit – the spirit that binds together our entire national races regardless of their different regions. By your harsh treatment of our brother national race groups, you are causing the disintegration of national solidarity among all of our people. Without strong national solidarity, our Union will surely also disintegrate. Seeing this, many of your leaders force you to place even more harsher treatment on the backs of our people – a cycle of suffering for all. Then the people must seek protection from the national race armed groups from this brutality. If you treat the people kindly as your family, there would be no need for those national race armed groups. They fight you and kill your comrades to protect their people as you would if your people were attacked. In this way, they carry on the honorable traditions of our country’s warriors and have the respect of their people. You know this.

But of course, there are those armed groups who engage in criminal activities – drugs, gambling, and prostitution – and say that they protect their people. They are known to you. They are allowed by many senior Tatmadaw commanders to control territories for their criminal activities. Many times, you are asked to fight them and die because these senior Tatmadaw commanders have not received their bribes. These criminal armed groups have contributed to our loss of national sovereignty by their control over territories within our Union. This is permitted by senior Tatmadaw commanders and the benefit of their families and business cronies. They get rich while you get little. So you are forced to steal from the people to survive, which is not right. You know of this.

Many senior Tatmadaw commanders and government officials have sold our country to the Chinese. The Chinese are taking all of our natural resources – teak, gems, oil, and gas – with the money going into the pockets of senior Tatmadaw commanders, government officials, and business cronies. Look at our Mandalay, Lashio, and other towns and villages in our northeast. Are they not now mostly Chinese? Our country is becoming a colony of China. This is because our country has been sold to the Chinese neo-colonialists by many in our government in Nyapyitaw and senior Tatmadaw commanders. So our Tatmadaw is contributing to the disintegration of the Union, the disintegration of national solidarity, and the loss of national sovereignty. You know this.

You have been told that you must serve the interests of the people living in the region where you are assigned in accord with the codes of conduct for dealing with people. You must regard them as your own parents. But is that what you have done?  Are you loyal to the people? Do you protect their life, property and wealth? Do you have courteous relations with people, behaving like “water and moon”? Do you keep foremost in your mind the interests of people? Do you give priority to people by not taking more opportunity for yourself? Do you help the people to feel happy and satisfied in whatever is done for them or whatever is being asked to be done? Do you respect the religion, belief, culture and traditions of all our people? Is it clear and evident to people that the sentiments of the Tatmadaw towards the people are noble? It has been said that those who belong to the patriotic Tatmadaw should firmly safeguard these noble principles as one would to keep the pistol firmly to one’s waist. Can you really say that you uphold these codes of conduct for dealing with the people? You know the answer to these questions.

Every day, you make the act of taking the Four Oaths:

1. We will be loyal to the people and the state.
2. We will be loyal to the fallen comrades.
3. We will conscientiously obey the orders and responsibilities given by our superiors.
4. We vow to sacrifice our lives for our country, our people, and our Tatmadaw.

Good warriors are those who keep these Four Oaths at risk to their lives. You must say the truth in taking the Four Oaths and follow the Four Oaths without fail. You must never breach the promise you have sworn toward the country and the people. Are your generals and other senior Tatmadaw commanders loyal to all the people, regardless of national race or religion? Your other officers? Your comrades? You? You know the answers to these questions.

Also being Tatmadawmen, you are to uphold the Twelve Fine Traditions of Tatmadaw, even at the risk to your own lives:

1. Patriotic Tatmadaw
2. Disciplined Tatmadaw
3. Loyal Tatmadaw
4. United Tatmadaw
5. Efficient Tatmadaw
6. Tatmadaw which is willing to make heroic sacrifices
7. Tatmadaw which does not seek personal gain and willing to give priority to national interests over individual interests
8. Tatmadaw of noble spirit and high morale
9. Tatmadaw which possesses true quality of overcoming obstacles
10. Tatmadaw which can endure hardship
11. Tenacious and persevering Tatmadaw
12. Tatmadaw which always upholds Our Three Main National Causes

But you know that Tatmadaw is not loyal to people when they treat them harshly, kill and rape them, and steal from them. How can Tatmadawmen then be considered as good men, noble men, and heroes to the people? How can the Tatmadaw be a worthy heir to the great warrior traditions established by noble Kings Anawarahta, Bayint Naung and Alaung Phaya U Aung Zeya? Or of Mahabandoola and  Galon Saya San? You know the answers to these questions.

Government officials in Naypyitaw and senior Tatmadaw commanders are taking all the benefits of the good life while you and your fellow Tatmadawmen are sacrificing your lives on the frontlines. You and your comrades lack food, uniforms, boots, and decent places to sleep while the generals in Naypyitaw and at the regional commands are making millions of dollars through corruption, dealing with traffickers of drugs and our daughters, and the selling of our country’s natural resources to the Chinese, Thais, and others. Your families are living very poorly while the families of senior Tatmadaw commanders live in luxury. While they live in luxury, they tell you that there is no money because of the Western sanctions, Bogyoke Aung San’s daughter, and the lazy Myanma civilians. You know that the problems of our country are caused by former and present Tatmadaw generals who do not know how to lead our country. They are corrupt and power hungry. Because of them, you and our people are suffering. You know this.

Senior Tatmadaw commanders force you to be parasites on the backs of the people. You steal their food and money because your commanders do not have enough food to feed you. You do not have proper trucks and cannot pay for porters, so you force villagers to be porters. You are afraid of the landmines, so you force villagers to walk in front of you. Tatmadaw men beat and kill our monks because senior Tatmadaw commanders say that they are not monks or that they are false monks. Is this the way to be true friends and guardians of the people and respect our monks? You know the answer to this.

Without the support of our Tatmadaw, these corrupt and dishonorable generals and other senior Tatmadaw commanders will fall from power. Until then, they will continue to destroy the honor and spirit of our Tatmadaw. You must not let this happen!! I would like to stress that you must uphold in high esteem the honorable warrior traditions of our country and national races, and the codes of conduct for dealing with the people. You must protect all the people, including the national races, as you would protect your own parents. You must protect the people, at the risk of your life and honor as a warrior, from those in the Tatmadaw who wish them harm.

If you agree, then this is what you must do to regain the honor of the Tatmadaw and the respect of the people:

Do not obey orders to:

• Beat the people
• ŸTorture the people
• Kill the people
• Rape the women
• Steal from the people
• Burn the villages of the people
• Put landmines around the villages, fields, and pathways of the people
• Force the people to work without pay and food
• Use the people to detect landmines

Do:

• Protect the people from your comrades who seek to harm them
• Pay the people fairly for food and work with them in the fields
• Respect them when you meet them as you would your own parents
• Talk quietly with your comrades about these things I have talked about above
• Support those Tatmadaw leaders who will protect the people, are not corrupt, and care for our country and the honor of the Tatmadaw

So on this 69^th Anniversary Armed Forces Day, Men of the Tatmadaw, commit yourselves to serve the people and our Country, not corrupt, dishonorable, and unpatriotic senior Tatmadaw commanders. Make this your strong everyday desire and cause – this is the way of all patriotic and heroic Tatmadawmen!