They presented TV sets and medical equipment for the stations through the officials.
Maj-Gen Ohn Myint handed K 1 million for development of Chin State to Chairman of Chin State PDC Brig-Gen Hong Ngai.
At the hall of Kalay Township PDC, they met local authorities and heard reports on regional development tasks. Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, the commander and officials presented stationery, medicines and sports gear to officials.
At Kalay Township Hospital, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint presented cash assistance to the patients and K 500,000 for uniforms of hospital staff to the matron.
The commander donated K 1 million to Medical Superintendent Dr Tint Swe…
…After the ceremony, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, the commander and officials offered meals to members of the Sangha. Next, they offered flowers, water, lights and joss sticks and paid homage to the Buddha image.
They planted Bo trees near the Gandakuti Building and inspected construction of the building…
…Maj-Gen Ohn Myint presented cash assistance to MCWA and Women’s Affairs Organization and personal goods to departments, social organizations and local people through officials.
- Extracted from: “Maj-Gen Ohn Myint looks into development tasks in Kalay District”, The New Light of Myanmar, 9 August 2008.
Before the recent re-shuffle when he was promoted to the State Peace and Development Council I had, from time-to-time, seen Major-General Ohn Myint in action. He was previously the Northern Commander of the tatmadaw and the Chairman of the Kachin State Peace and Development Council.
It looks like he is keeping busy in his new role as a full member of the SPDC.
What intrigues me about the daily reports of senior Burmese government figures on the road are the wads of kyat that are always “handed” to subordinate officials. The amounts of money involved are, in the terms of most governments, usually very small – a thousand dollars here, a thousand dollars there. But they still merit at least a line in The New Light. This kind of direct patronage, where favours and gifts are bestowed from on high, has become an integral part of military rule in Burma. And it is not a new thing. I expect it is as old as the mountains…
But today, in some cases, it appears to have displaced much of the ordinary process of government expenditure. And this is what intrigues me most: for the average hospital, government office, army base, school of monastery how important are the visits (and resulting expenditure) of senior government figures? Are they, in fact, a handy earner and a way of topping up inadequate official budgets? Or do local officials – in terms of preparation, planning, time wasted, hospitality, entertainment, etc – sometimes end up spending more as “hosts” than they get back from the bosses?
In the Burmese case it is hard to say. Perhaps readers with experiences from other parts of mainland Southeast Asia are in a position to shed (comparative) light on this matter. What would be an appropriate “spend” for a Lao or Thai (or Cambodian or Vietnamese) government minister doing a circuit through the provinces? Would a couple of thousand dollars cut the proverbial mustard? Has this changed over the past couple of decades?
3 responses so far ↓
1 Hla Oo // Aug 10, 2008 at 4:27 pm
For an old Burmese like me, that patronizing cash practice is not uncommon in the Burmese society as a whole, but it is, I think, quite recent for the Burmese officialdom.
When I was working for Burma Irrigation Department in the eighties, the standard practice was, whenever the Military Divisional Commander or even the Minister or the deputy ministers gave our region a visit we had to prepare and spend thousands and thousands of dollars to report to him about our activities and to entertain him.
The reward for a good performance was a quick promotion or/and more budget and expenditure for the projects we were implementing. Of course what it means was more money into our pockets as every government official is corrupt. Getting a wad of cash direct from your senior officials would even be considered rude and unthinkable then.
Cash doesn’t come down from top to bottom. But, the official budget is. The cash then goes up from bottom to top.
The standard practice we used to follow in our ministry was quite simple. Let’s say I was supposed to get cash as a junior official, say 5000 dollars, direct from the departmental accountant, for a project or task assigned to me by my direct boss. But I never got full 5ooo, I got only 4500 in my hand. But I had to produce a receipt for full 5ooo. My understanding was the accountant gave my boss at least 400 dollars and he pocketed the rest. That simple.
No wonder all the billion dollars of foreign aid just simply disappeared into thin air.
2 jonfernquest // Aug 10, 2008 at 7:14 pm
In Tachileik I know that some government positions were purchased by people just setting off on their careers in the late 1990s. Some positions were lucrative. Also when high officials came on visits to Tachileik there was more discussion through the grapevine of the unofficial “taxes” that were being extracted.
Burmese newspapers may imitate certain parts of the historical chronicles in which the king distributes gifts. The parts of the chronicle where the Than Shwe taxes and consults on strategy with his close advisors, of course, are not to be seen. Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière argues in some of her papers that modern politics (esp. rituals) imitates the much older patterns. It might be the case here too.
3 Hla Oo // Aug 11, 2008 at 2:10 am
Practice of buying a profitable government position is definitely true in Burma. Even the army battalions under same divisional command had to buy a profitable posting for themselves.
One particular story from Kachin State was that there were three Infantry Battalions, IB 58, 21, and 36, stationed in Myitkyina and they had to bid competitively for the most profitable position of guarding the Mandalay-Myitkyina train, as only one battalion was assigned for the train escort duty.
Whichever battalion that can give the biggest cash offer to the Divisional Commander, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint for last few years, would get the train and accordingly that battalion would make most money from dealings with jade and opium smugglers while other unsuccessful battalions had totally unprofitable postings of guarding against KIA positions in the jungle by Chinese border.
Market economy works even in Burma!
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