Meting out justice
The following submission was written by a member of the National Unity Government. For safety reasons the author has requested anonymity. This is the first part of a series of essays on the topic.
“No military in history can claim to be blameless of war crimes, and the pro-democracy forces of Myanmar are battling greater disadvantage than most.”
A difficult topic, and not without controversy, but something which must be addressed.
The man portrayed in the image has gained widespread recognition and fame. As a one- armed RPG-wielding freedom fighter from Lion Battalion, he strikes a fearsome pose with an attitude to match. The similarly portrayed members of Cobra Column have likewise won recognition and fame for their actions and bravery in the fight for freedom. It therefore makes sense that they would be immortalised in flattering caricatures by the people.
However, footage has recently emerged of Eh Say Wah with members of Cobra Column torturing and subsequently executing captured prisoners. In blunt terms, this is a war crime. Cobra Column have since admitted their part in the events captured on video. This incident is merely one of a string of videos - some truly horrific - showing abhorrent crimes being committed in Myanmar.
Even as early as November of 2021, Bo Thamani, commander of the sizeable Yinmarbin defence forces was accused of murdering civilians and members of a rival PDF group. By March 2022, media outlets began publishing the story and the NUG Ministry of Defence issued a press statement claiming that they conducted an investigation and concluded that persons under the command of Bo Thamani had committed crimes. The statement went on to say that the investigation would continue, punishments would be meted out at some point in the future, and "[t]he NUG will not allow any other judgement to the findings of this incident". No action was known to have been taken against Bo Thamani or the Yinmarbin PDF by any ministry of the NUG. Bo Thamani continues to be at large.
It is true that early on in the coup videos of war crimes were shared which, upon closer inspection, were years old and did not take place in Myanmar at all. And even recent videos in which the subjects are clearly Burmese are often difficult to identify. Videos of war crimes have been shared which both the PDF and SAC attribute to the other side. Certainly many videos of war crimes carried out by the military exist, as do videos of soldiers boasting of their crimes. But this does not change the fact that however small, we are faced with a stream of reports and videos of incidents which violate the international rules of war, and the NUG code of conduct. Incidents which at the worst can definitively be tied to PDF or other pro-democracy forces, and at the best still cannot definitively be dismissed as fraudulent or as crimes carried out by the junta.
None of this is surprising. If recent figures are to be believed, the number of pro- democracy fighters compares very favourably to the total remaining forces of the military. There are at present some 750 PDF Battalions under NUG command, with dozens if not hundreds of other informal PDF and LDF groups loosely allied to the NUG, not to mention the myriad EAO/ERO's and the new resistance groups which have formed under their aegis. All this means that the combined pro-democracy forces number well above 100,000 fighters, and probably double that. Given the sheer scale of the conflict, the number of people involved, and the lack of training, enforcement, and oversight, it is tragic but inevitable that some people - whether pro-democracy or not - would stoop to such base and inhumane actions. No military in history can claim to be blameless of war crimes, and the pro-democracy forces of Myanmar are battling greater disadvantage than most.
What we should be surprised by is the lack decisive reaction to these incidents. Some individuals, PDF groups, and political organisations have raised concerns about the cavalier and frankly criminal way in which some pro-democracy fighters have behaved. And rightly so. Yet their concerns continue to go largely unheeded. Put simply, if the NUG, the PDF, the EAO's, and the people as a whole continue to ignore or sweep crimes under the rug, they are jeopardising the revolution and Myanmar's dreams of democracy.