Myanmar’s junta chief makes first appearance at memorial event

YANGON – Myanmar’s junta chief on July 19 attended annual commemorations for the country’s assassinated independence hero for the first time since the military seized power more than four years ago.

Known affectionately as “Bogyoke” (General), Mr Aung San led Myanmar’s battle for independence from Britain but was gunned down in July 1947, just months before his dream was finally realised.

His daughter Aung San Suu Kyi – who was two at the time of his death – became a democracy figurehead, Nobel laureate and nemesis of the military.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing attended the wreath-laying ceremony on July 19 at the Martyrs’ Mausoleum in Yangon, the former capital, footage broadcast by state media MRTV showed.

He was joined at the monument next to the famous Shwedagon Pagoda by other top military generals commemorating Mr Aung San’s killing.

It is the first time Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has attended the event since

he took power in 2021

, and comes as his military fights anti-coup forces around the country and prepares to hold an election that has been criticised by international monitors.

Born in 1915 under British colonial rule, Mr Aung San became leader of nationalist fighters in what was then Burma – making him the founder of Myanmar’s military.

He remains a deeply revered figure and a core factor behind his daughter’s enduring popularity.

She has been detained since the coup and spent her

80th birthday in June

– and July 19’s remembrance of her father’s killing – in junta detention serving a raft of lengthy sentences. AFP