Editor’s Note
This article examines the Tatmadaw’s role in facilitating transnational organized crime in Myanmar, arguing that the resulting illicit finance fuels the junta’s power, exacerbates the humanitarian crisis, and undermines democratic aspirations.
This paper examines the role of Myanmar’s military junta, the Tatmadaw, in the expansive transnational organized crime network of the country. These criminal activities facilitated by the Tatmadaw contribute to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. Illicit finance fuels the hostile power of the military junta, undermines democracy, and exploits Myanmar’s Muslim community. As acts of violence, genocide, and torture continue to plague the country’s ethnic minorities, this paper seeks to explore the dismantling of organized crime networks as a means of mitigating violence and incentivizing the Tatmadaw to end its reign of terror against the Rohingya and other innocent civilians. This paper will provide a series of policy recommendations that promote transparency and cohesive efforts between the United States government and the National League for Democracy. Ending genocide and empowering democracy in Myanmar requires a new approach that emboldens democratic institutions, undermines illicit activities, and mobilizes the legitimate economy.
The word genocide rings across the international community as Myanmar continues to spiral into political crisis. Despite the election of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi in 2015, the country’s long-standing and influential military junta, also known as the Tatmadaw, maintains a firm, constitutionally-protected grip on power, committing atrocities with impunity. Driven by an extremist Buddhist ideology, the Tatmadaw has and continues to perpetrate acts of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state. Meanwhile, discussions continue between U.S. and international policymakers on how to bring an end to the crisis in Myanmar.
From wildlife and human trafficking to drug cultivation and illegal logging, Myanmar’s informal economy is expansive and often facilitated by the Tatmadaw. Therefore, it is timely to examine the history and origins of Myanmar’s informal economy, the three major organized crime activities, local/regional implications, and current policy responses. Through this analysis, I develop brief policy recommendations that provide a sequential, guided, and informed approach that can incentivize good actors within the Tatmadaw, empower the movement towards democracy, and target low hanging fruit in the illicit economy while avoiding disruption to Myanmar’s economy. By implementing policy recommendations to thwart organized crime in Myanmar, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the U.S. can promote an end to these activities and, subsequently, the military establishment’s murderous behavior.
To adequately assess the threat landscape of transnational crime in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), it is essential to understand the country’s troubled past. Two points are worth noting as particularly pivotal to the junta’s merger with transnational organized crime. The first is the reign of Buddhist Marxism beginning in 1962, and the second is the series of ceasefire agreements in the 1990s.
Myanmar has long struggled with instability driven by enduring political and ethnic conflict. These tensions erupted in 1962 when General Ne Win led a coup d’état, dismantling democracy, abolishing the constitution, and enforcing harsh military rule in Myanmar. Ne Win instituted a form of socialism that incorporated radical elements of nationalism, Marxism, and Buddhism, and his economic policies tore the Burmese economy apart.
Financial devastation affected the rice-based economy of Myanmar, forcing farmers into the “upland areas” of the Shan State where opium was the only viable crop at a time where demand for drugs was on the rise. As one junta replaced another, the military establishment became more powerful, aggressive, and corrupt. Human rights abuses escalated, violence became more pervasive, the black market began to thrive, and extrajudicial killings, torture, and displacement spread across the country.
In 1990, democracy nearly took hold in Myanmar. Motivated by substantial international and domestic pressure, the military junta arranged and conducted free and fair elections for the first time in 30 years. The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the elections in a landslide victory. The Tatmadaw, however, refused to accept the outcome. The junta initiated a campaign to detain, abuse, and torture all political dissidents including Suu Kyi herself. Additionally, they tightened laws which governed the rights of freedom of speech and assembly. With the Tatmadaw at the center of Myanmar’s politics and economy, it took an active role in the black market, began expanding its network into the regional organized crime systems, and, most notably, turned Thailand into a “willing drug-trafficking partner”.
Inspired by extremist elements of Buddhist nationalism, the military establishment sought to repress all ideas not in line with its own. While there is a history of tension between Myanmar’s different ethnicities and religions, the level of discrimination increased through the 1990s, with the Karen and Rohingya people the worst affected. Within this same decade, the military junta also increased its cooperation with various insurgent groups in the region. In exchange for a cease-fire, the Burmese government placed insurgent groups’ territory beyond the reach of Burmese law. The agreement allowed insurgents and the military junta to create partnerships to increase trade in illegal goods, including drugs, gems, and timber. These illicit economies became particularly appealing to the military dictatorship after 1997, when the U.S. imposed sanctions and embargoes against Myanmar.