More often than not, dictators, like mafia dons, can never retire. It’s a rare strongman who can avoid an assassination, coup or revolution and fade into the sunset on his own terms rather than with a prison term. Yet according to members of Burma’s newly inaugurated government, Senior General Than Shwe, who ruled the impoverished Southeast Asian country since 1992, has hung up his epaulets and handed over power to chosen successors. Few Burma watchers, and few people in Burma, however, believe 78-year-old Than Shwe has truly called it quits.
“The joke in Burma is that Than Shwe has transferred power — from his right hand to his left,” said Aung Zaw, editor of The Irrawaddy, an online magazine published by Burmese exiles in Thailand. “He still goes to his office every day. He is still the ultimate authority.” After 19 years as head of the country’s military regime, last year Than Shwe allowed the first multi-party elections since 1990. He just didn’t allow anyone except his hand-picked protgs to win them. Leading opponents, such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, were barred from running, and her National League for Democracy party chose not to participate claiming the rules were rigged to ensure Than Shwe’s underlings in the military would emerge victorious. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the polls “neither free nor fair,” and marred by fraud, repression and intimidation.
