Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar’s 79th Armed Forces Day on March 27.
BANGKOK/NAYPYITAW — The annual parade to mark Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day took place on Wednesday night in the capital Naypyitaw with fewer personnel and less weaponry than usual, indicating the military is prioritizing handling escalating offensives by ethnic minority armed groups.
Armed Forces Day, tracing back to the 1945 uprising against Japan, is a key event in the military’s calendar, but only 7,750 personnel joined this year’s parade, down from 8,424 in 2023.
This year’s event also lacked large-scale displays of military might such as the convoys of heavily armed vehicles and tanks seen in previous years. Meanwhile, an aerial display featured only one or two jets, dropping from six last year.
Apart from some helicopters and small aircraft, there was hardly any other equipment on display, while the event was about an hour shorter than usual.
“Most divisions are short of personnel and tied up on the front lines,” said Min Zaw Oo of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security (MIPS).
“The resources and equipment that can be allocated to the parade are limited because it takes at least two months for training and preparation.”
The parade was also shifted to the evening from the morning slot it typically held in previous years.
While the military regime’s information ministry cited weather conditions as the reason for the change in time, local political observers said it might be a security measure. Holding the event early in the morning would require key figures and participants to travel to the venue in the hours before dawn.
The military has been on alert for offensives by ethnic minority armed groups, with some factions beginning to focus on Naypyitaw as the military struggles to counter them across the country.
A senior official from the Karen National Union (KNU), a prominent force in the eastern state of Kayin, told the Nikkei that “the focus of the invasion is Naypyitaw.”
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the top leader of the military regime, said in a speech on Wednesday that ethnic minority armed groups are “deliberately engaging in disruptive actions to sabotage and delay the election process,” repeating a longstanding claim.
Regarding the conscription of members of the general public, which the military plans to start in late April, he stated, “In accord with our nation’s geopolitical significance and the global context, the adoption of a military conscription system has become a prerequisite.”
source : nikkei asia