U Myint seen here at a forum in Yangon in November of 2011. WIKICOMMONS/HTOO TAY ZAR
The latest, and possibly final, salvo in the brutal war of words between President Thein Sein’s senior economist U Myint and 29-year-old Eleven Media Group journalist Nay Htun Naing has arrived.
In a letter posted to Eleven Media Group’s Facebook page on Saturday, U Myint issues some parting blows to the upstart journalist who dared question the way the economy is being managed.
For those who haven’t been following this strange saga, it began when U Myint wrote an exhaustive takedown of an article by Nay Htun Naing, who then responded by going on the offensive with powerful anecdotes from his own life, and then followed that up by challenging the economist to a public debate.
U Myint has now weighed in one last time, saying that there will be no public debate and to even challenge him to one is inappropriate. He also writes that any more back and forth would be “useless” because, “we don’t speak the same language”.
So much for closing that generational divide.
But that’s near the end. In many sections leading up to the dismissive conclusion he seems surprisingly frank about the previous regime and what the current government is facing. Like many of the exchanges between the two, this one seeks to make larger points.
“As for your article, I wish to point out that U Thein Sein inherited from the previous regime a broken down economy, that is crony driven, corrupt, resource dependent, inequitable, environmentally unfriendly, and lacking in agenda, strategy and policy framework for inclusive and sustained economic growth. Over the past years I and my colleagues from the business and academic communities, who are now holding responsible positions in the government, have been working hard to deal with this inherited mess. It is a formidable task and progress has been slow.
“Then you come along, charging the President’s government and his advisers as creating the mess that was inherited from half a century of misrule, mismanagement, incompetence and systemic destruction of the country’s institutions. I don’t deny there is corruption and cronyism in the government establishment. But there are also many decent people, thousands of them, both young and old, from highly trained professionals to newly recruited young people who are earning an honest living and trying to play a part to make this country a better place.”
Read the full reply here.
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