Chairman of the State Administration Council Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met with members of the Ayeyawady Region Administration Council and departmental personnel at the region office yesterday afternoon.
Also present at the meeting together with the Senior General were council members General Maung Maung Kyaw and Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun, Joint Secretary Lt-Gen Ye Win Oo, Union Minister for Planning, Finance and Industry U Win Shein, Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Aung Naing Oo, Union Minister for Education Dr Nyunt Pe, Union Minister for Health and Sports Dr Thet Khaing Win, chairman of Ayeyawady Region Administration Council U Ye Myint, Commander-in-Chief (Navy) Admiral Moe Aung, senior military officers from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, commander of South-West Command Maj-Gen Aung Aung, members of the Ayeyawady Region Administration Council and departmental personnel.
First, the Senior General and party were welcomed by U Ye Myint and officials. Next, members of the Ayeyawady Region Administration Council introduced themselves individually. U Ye Myint reported on social, economic and health affairs and regional development tasks in the region and general matters.
First, the Senior General said it is the first time he has been talking to civil society organizations in Ayeyarwady Region, which is one of the paddy barns of Myanmar.
Afterwards, the Senior General explained the implementation of the democracy system, saying the Tatmadaw studied the international practices of democracy during the term of previous Tatmadaw government before the democratic transition of Myanmar and shaped the process of democratic transition before pushing the country onto the democratic path aspired by the people by successfully holding the multiparty democracy election in accordance with democratic norms in 2010. It has been a decade since the democratic transition started and elections are the essence of democracy system. Even class leaders were elected based on will of the majority when we were at school. Elections are more important as representatives of the people are elected based on the will of the people. In retrospect, during the term of the first democratic government, it is found that the government was able to make progress in various sectors including political, administrative and economic ones while it managed to sign the NCA during the peace process.
During the term of the first democratic government, the government led by U Thein Sein exerted efforts amid political, economic and administrative deadlocks in addition to outside pressures and armed conflicts. As a result, the public was dissatisfied with the performance while the NLD launched campaigns with slogans “It is time to change” and enticement promises to win the 2015 election. After winning the election in 2015, the NLD, which took office, not only failed to fulfil its campaign promises but also amended or repealed laws related to the rule of law of the state while carrying out activities that undermined the culture, patriotism and national characteristics of the state. As a result, the public lost trust on the elected government and there emerged No Vote campaigns. It was found that only 14 percent of eligible voters or only 14 people out of 100 eligible voters cast their ballots during the Yangon City Development Committee election in 2019.
After winning the election in 2015, the NLD, which took office, not only failed to fulfil its campaign promises but also amended or repealed laws related to the rule of law of the state while carrying out activities that undermined the culture, patriotism and national characteristics of the state. As a result, the public lost trust on the elected government and there emerged No Vote campaigns. It was found that only 14 percent of eligible voters or only 14 people out of 100 eligible voters cast their ballots during the Yangon City Development Committee election in 2019.
Elections are one of the essences of democracy system and it was found that 72 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the 2010 election and nearly 70 precent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the 2015 election. However, there emerged no-vote campaigns due to the above-mention reasons and I had to urge the public to cast their votes wherever I went.
As for the 2020 multiparty electon, the Senior General said the NLD government was concerned about winning the election over no-vote campaigns before the election and the experience during the YCDC election and issued various orders for election campaigns. During the election, defence services personnel cast
their vote together with the people. When election results were announced, suspicious outcomes were found. Therefore, the Tatmadaw had to launch a probes into voter’s lists, which were later found to be susceptible to vote rigging and announced to the public including 1.2 million ballot papers susceptible to vote rigging in Ayeyarwady Region alone.
Despite repeated calls, not only responsible organizations at various levels failed to address the address the issue of hugely erroneous voter’s lists but also attempts were made to convene the third Hluttaw to take over the state power forcefully. As a result, the state of emergency was declared and the Tatmadaw had to assume the responsibilities of the state under the delegation of responsibilities by the acting president.
As for the formation of the State Administration Council, the Senior General said that as the Tatmadaw did not seize power but took measures to strengthen the multiparty democracy system, tasks must be carried out in accordance with the existing 2008 constitution. Therefore, the SAC is made up of civilian and military members proportionally while the civilian rule is allowed to be in force by forming administration councils at regional and state levels with civilians. The SAC has adopted five future tasks and nine political, economic and social objectives for the all-round development of the state.
As for the educational, economic and social development, the Senior General said it is encouraging to learn that Ayeyarwady Region is one of the paddy barns of the country and has the highest rate of GDP but efforts must be made to achieve better results.
As 70 percent of the population of the country are rural people who mainly carry out agriculture and livestock breeding, it is necessary to establish agriculture and livestock breeding institutes, colleges and university as long-term plans. It is important to use favourable land, water, technique and seed for the success of agriculture while modern cultivation techniques are disseminated to farmers. It is necessary to apply healthy livestock breeding techniques to increase production.
Life expectancy of our country is 66 years while that of the people in Ayeyarwady Region is 67 years for rural areas and 67.5 for urban areas. It is necessary to take measures to encourage people to lead healthy lives as weaknesses in health will not lead to prosperity.
Administrative bodies are required to exert efforts and join hands with the government in accordance with rules for the development and restoring normalcy.
After the meeting, the Senior General and party cordially greeted members of Ayeyarwady Region Administration Council and departmental personnel.
Afterwards, the Senior General and party, accompanied by officials, inspected the Pathein Industrial City Project and heard reports presented by the chairman of the project and officials.
After hearing the reports, the Senior General pointed out the needs to manufacture products from crops harvested in the region, to penetrate export markets for garment factories and to priority for factories that manufacture semi-products and said permissions will granted to resume construction of factories in accordance with COVID-19 rules and regulations.
Then, the Senior General and party inspected round activities in the project site.—MNA
