US embassy cable - 05RANGOON1265

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001265 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, BM, Pyinmana 
SUBJECT: LEAVING ON A JET PLANE:  GOB BEGINS CAPITAL MOVE 
 
REF: A. RANGOON 763 
     B. CDR500THMIGP CP ZAMA JA (DTG 200059 Z AUG 05) 
 
Classified By: CDA Shari Villarosa for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) Summary:  The GOB announced on November 7 that it had 
commenced an operation to move its "seat of administration" 
to the remote rural town of Pyinmana in central Burma, 243 
miles north of Rangoon.  Civil servants from at least nine of 
the GOB's 30 ministries began moving on November 6, under 
threat of imprisonment and without their family members.  At 
a surreal November 7 "briefing" for the dip corps (no 
questions, please), the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister said 
the move was made in order "to be more effective in the 
formidable task of building a modern nation" and he described 
Pyinmana as a "strategic and central location" which would 
allow the GOB to improve its "command and control."  The 
motives behind this bizarre relocation are, as always, 
unclear.  We don't rule out, however, the advice of 
astrologers or a desire of the generals to replicate the 
kings of pre-colonial Burma as motivating factors.  End 
Comment. 
 
2. (SBU) After months of speculation (refs A and B), the GOB 
over the weekend of November 5-6 began in earnest to relocate 
significant portions of the government bureaucracy to 
Pyinmana, the site of the military regime's new 
administrative capital.  Observers have seen visible signs in 
recent weeks of frenzied construction in Pyinmana, a rural 
town located in southern Mandalay Division, 243 miles north 
of Rangoon.  Most locals, however, had dismissed the concept 
of a capital move as impractical and illogical.  As recent as 
September, senior MFA officials told the Dean of the 
diplomatic corps, the Philippines Ambassador, that "we have 
had no official instructions whatsoever concerning shifting 
to Pyinmana." 
 
3. (C) According to Embassy sources, portions of at least 
nine of the GOB's thirty ministries began moving to Pyinmana 
on November 6.  Senior regime authorities issued instructions 
to selected office directors and their staffs, with less than 
48 hours notice, to move to Pyinmana by train, plane, and 
military convoy.  The GOB reportedly prohibited family 
members from accompanying government employees and threatened 
those who refused to relocate with jail sentences.  Senior 
officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs told Emboffs that 
roughly one-third of the Ministry, numbering several hundred 
employees, was relocated during the first weekend of moves. 
 
4. (U) On November 7, with only a couple of hours notice 
(although the Charge received a generous 24-hour notice), the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs convoked the diplomatic corps to 
announce that the "Government of (Burma) had decided to move 
the seat of administration to Pyinmana in order to be more 
effective in the formidable task of building a modern 
nation."  Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu, who gave a 
ten-minute briefing, began by declaring that he would not 
take any questions.  He then described Pyinmana as a 
"strategic and central location" selected as the new capital 
"in order for the (GOB) to be more effective at command and 
control." 
 
5. (U) According to DFM Kyaw Thu, the "first phase" of the 
move to Pyinmana had commenced on November 6.  He said that 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would also relocate, but "as 
of now, there are no plans for Embassies and UN agencies to 
make the move."  He said that "some MFA staff" would be "left 
behind" in Rangoon to facilitate communications with 
diplomatic missions.  Kyaw Thu noted that diplomatic missions 
could communicate with the MFA by sending correspondence to 
the "branch office" in Rangoon for forwarding to the new 
capital, or "if urgent, you can fax us in Pyinmana."  He said 
that fax numbers would be communicated to diplomatic missions 
in "due time."  Following the dip corps briefing, the 
Minister of Information briefed local journalists, but also 
declined to take questions. 
 
6. (C) Following the briefing, several senior MFA officials 
confided with Charge and P/E chief that they were quite 
unhappy with the relocation.  "What can we do?" pondered U 
Linn Myaing, the last Ambassador to the U.S.  He affirmed 
that portions of the MFA had moved to Pyinmana over the 
weekend (by plane to Meiktila, some 90 miles away from the 
new capital) and that he, a Director General, would have to 
move by the end of the year.  He said that others had driven 
in a truck convoy that took over 12 hours.  He guestimated 
that approximately ten percent of the GOB would be relocated 
within the coming weeks and noted that he planned to "do a 
lot of fishing" once he arrived in Pyinmana. 
 
COMMENT: KING THAN SHWE 
 
7. (C) Can it get any stranger?  The Government of Burma 
barely functions in its current location of Rangoon, where it 
has intermittent access to electricity and other fundamental 
infrastructure.  Pyinmana lacks even the basics.  An already 
beleaguered civil service will no doubt grow restless without 
family and friends with whom to commiserate.  As per usual 
practice of the whimsical SPDC generals, the real motives 
behind this bizarre relocation are unclear.  Pyinmana is SPDC 
Chairman Than Shwe's hometown.  He could be following the 
advice of astrologers or his desire to replicate the kings of 
pre-colonial Burma, who asserted time and again their 
legacies by relocating the country's capital (and, we note, 
eliminating would-be contenders to the throne).  End Comment. 
VILLAROSA