USDA—The Regime’s Protégé

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org

“A central secretary of the USDA, the minister of Industry 1, U Aung Thaung, attended a ceremony at a monastery in Myothit Township in upper Burma.” This report, which ran in the Burmese newspaper, Myanma Alin, on Tuesday, is typical of a journalistic trend that has been appearing more and more frequently in the state-run press.

The writing style is not unusual for a press dictated by a totalitarian regime. But what is new in Burma—and something the Burmese public was not exposed to before March 1—is the deferential reporting of activities related to members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).

Every word in Burmese newspapers and journals is written or edited by officials from the Information Ministry. And, reading between the lines in Burma’s state-run media of late, one gets the distinct impression that members of the USDA are being held in higher esteem than most cabinet members.

Analysts say that this kind of news reporting was prevalent in the state media of communist regimes, especially after World War II in Eastern Europe.
Burma’s junta seems to be following Stalin’s lead in paying homage to his front line against the public, the thuggish USDA.

Since March 1, the state-run newspapers in Burma have led with articles marking the activities of USDA members ahead of government ministers, clearly placing their roles in pole position.

The Burmese generals already indicated their reliance on the USDA in announcing that the one-million member organization would organize and oversee the upcoming referendum in May and the national elections in 2010.

Sein Hla Oo, a veteran journalist in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that reporting in Burma’s state-run-newspapers is directed by the authorities. “Everything in the newspapers is the regime’s propaganda,” he said.

“Under the Burma Socialist Program Party era, newspapers had to report on leading party members in order of their ministerial title,” he said. “Now there is a similar situation—except that it’s the USDA that is the focus, not the party. People are saying that the USDA will be transformed into the junta’s political party in the future. But nobody knows exactly when.”

On Tuesday, Myanma Alin reported that “A member of the central executive committee of the USDA and minister of national planning and economic development, Soe Thar, visited a monastery in Rangoon Division on March 3.” Observers noted that his USDA position was put before his ministerial role in the government.

Other examples followed in the state newspapers on Tuesday: “USDA executive member and minister of forestry, Brig-Gen Thein Aung, inspected the forest around Naypyidaw region”; “An executive member of the USDA and minister of railways, Maj-Gen Aung Min, went to Rangoon to inspect train engines which were imported from India.”

The USDA was formed in 1993 by the military junta. The Central Panel of Patrons of the USDA are top generals: Snr-Gen Than Shwe, vice deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye, Gen Shwe Mann, Gen Thein Sein and Lt-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo.

Dissidents and human rights groups accuse the USDA of involvement in the crackdown on peaceful demonstrators last year, as well as the brutal ambush on Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy in May 2003.

Htay Aung, a Burmese researcher in Thailand, said that the junta’s fresh promotion of the USDA in the newspapers indicates the ruling generals want to notify readers, including members of the armed forces, that the USDA is the most important organization in the country.

“The junta may openly highlight the USDA as its political wing,” said Htay Aung. “In late 2005, U Htay Oo, secretary general of the USDA, said at a press conference that if it were necessary, the USDA would run as a political party.

“More recently, U Khin Maung Kyi of the National Unity Party [which was backed by the junta in the 1990 election] said the USDA would run as a political party in the next election.”