In mid-July on BBC, Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing said confidently that he "expects a free and fair election" sponsored by his military scheduled for November this year, and will honour the electoral results. The BBC hailed not only the general's pro-democracy pledge, labelling this year's polls "historic", but also the very fact that the country's most powerful soldier – generals in Myanmar are traditionally media-shy – sat down with the BBC for an interview.
Sitting across from a row of microphones in the BBC's London studio, the World Service Newsday's presenter Clare McDonnell asked me what I thought of the general's promise and his unprecedented interview to the BBC. My answer: the generals are getting PR-wise.
The once media-shy Burmese soldiers have come of age. They have grown media-savvy and supremely confident in dealing with the outside world. Over the last four years, since US-led Western powers embraced Myanmar's quasi-civilian government of ex-general and current president Thein Sein, Burmese generals have acted incredibly relaxed about talking to the international media, whether to regime-friendly outlets such as Singapore's Channel News Asia or the Voice of American Burmese Service, or more professional programs like BBC's Hard Talk.
After all, the Burmese generals have forcibly pushed through their amendment-proof constitution of 2008, which effectively elevates the military, both as an institution, and the generals, as a class, above the law. It shields the most powerful institution from any popular pressure, accords the military a veto on any policy and institutional measures, and, most importantly, legalises any future military coup deemed necessary by the commander-in-chief.