By J Paing
YANGON, Myanmar — In a calculated public relations maneuver, Man Haw Thang, the charge d’affaires of the Myanmar military junta’s embassy in Jakarta, recently published a contentious “Letter to the Editor” in Indonesia’s premier English daily, The Jakarta Post.
The letter was a textbook exercise in diplomatic gaslighting. In it, the regime’s envoy fiercely condemned critical analyses previously published by the regional newspaper, attempting instead to convince the international community that a “newly elected civilian government” is systematically orchestrating a seamless transition toward democracy and federalism in Myanmar.
For an administration that has spent the last five years crushing press freedom, shutting down independent newsrooms, and systematically detaining and killing journalists, the envoy’s philosophical assertion that “the media and the state must be complementary” reads less like diplomacy and more like dark satire completely unmoored from the bloody reality on the ground.
The “New Civilian Government” Mirage
The most audacious element of the embassy’s letter is its brazen rebranding of the regime. By leveraging the rubber-stamped, highly manipulated election orchestrated by the military, the junta is now officially marketing itself globally as a “new civilian government born of the public will.”
This narrative carefully omits the fact that the polls were executed in a complete democratic vacuum—staged only after dissolving dozens of political parties and executing, imprisoning, or exiling virtually all credible opposition and revolutionary leaders.
While the region and the wider international community have long dismissed this electoral exercise as entirely illegitimate, the junta’s letter went so far as to wrap itself in the sheep’s clothing of historic Western political thought, inappropriately quoting Abraham Lincoln’s iconic Gettysburg address: “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
Accusing the Global Press of “Disinformation”
The Jakarta embassy took particular issue with a recent report by The Jakarta Post which noted that the junta was growing visibly desperate over its status as a pariah within ASEAN.
The regime’s representatives dismissed these findings as “baseless, imaginary conclusions,” alleging that international media corporations are relying purely on “disinformation” while remaining blind to the “sacrifices” made by the Myanmar military.
However, credible global media outlets do not draft their dispatches based on the sanitized press releases emanating from propaganda offices in Naypyidaw. I
nstead, journalists document the tangible, empirical evidence generated daily by the regime’s actions: unprovoked aerial bombardments of civilian population centers, the systematic torching of villages, and an engineered economic collapse.
In a patronizing concluding remark, the junta’s diplomat urged independent journalists to be “constructive,” invoking the old adage: “Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
The Architects of the Dark
Herein lies the profound historical amnesia—or deliberate deception—of the military council: Who exactly thrust Myanmar into the deepest darkness in its modern history?
It is the military itself that systematically plunged the nation into a news and information blackout by revoking media licenses and jailing independent reporters.
Having shattered the country’s socio-economic fabric, destroyed countless lives, and institutionalized a state of terror, the very architects of this darkness are now unironically lecturing the free press on the virtues of illumination.
Ultimately, the letter dispatched by the junta’s Jakarta embassy is a symptom of profound diplomatic isolation and an acute crisis of legitimacy on the world stage.
The envoy’s excuse that the regime is moving “step-by-step to avoid missteps” on its path to democracy is merely a recycled tactical delay designed to buy time and prolong military hegemony.
Independent media organizations will not be swayed by these linguistic aesthetics or diplomatic smoke and mirrors. The free press will continue to do its job: exposing war crimes and chronicling the raw, unfiltered suffering of the Myanmar people.
