Myanmar’s generals have united the country—against themselves

But one day last June Mr Zin Htet Aung apologised on Facebook for his views and asked the Rohingyas for forgiveness. His contrition is part of a chorus of mea culpas. Since the army launched a coup on February 1st 2021, many Bamars have publicly apologised for pooh-poohing the plight of Rohingyas and other persecuted ethnic minorities. Demonstrations in solidarity with Rohingyas have taken place in cities all over the country in the past year. “Now we are suffering,” says Mr Zin Htet Aung.

That is not how Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief, expected things to go—but then Myanmar’s top brass have never been much good at reading the country’s mood. The armed forces have repeatedly called elections, and then been surprised when the National League for Democracy , the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s most famous democracy activist, has won them.

That is quite an achievement in a country with a long history of enmity between ethnic groups. These tensions were stoked by the British during the colonial era. Within a year of independence in 1948, the army was battling ethnic-minority insurgencies in the country’s borderlands. The fighting has continued ever since. Many Bamars have been indoctrinated by decades of propaganda portraying the army as the guardian of the nation, defending it from rebels, traitors and infiltrators.

But when the army cracked down on the protest movement that arose in opposition to the coup, soldiers turned their guns on minorities and Bamars alike. And when resistance showed no sign of ebbing, the army began razing towns and massacring protesters. The junta’s forces have killed nearly 1,500 civilians since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a charity based in Thailand.

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