The New York Times
By Hannah Beech
Dec. 24, 2021
A Burmese-Irish family said all the right things, even as it helped Myanmar’s rulers avoid sanctions scrutiny in buying airplanes, defense radar and more.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s military commander in chief, during a parade for the 76th Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw, the capital, in March.Credit...EPA, via Shutterstock
Three years ago, the Kyaw Thaung family partied at the Pegu Club. The venerable Burmese-Irish clan had restored the teak-lined establishment to its 19th-century glory, evoking the days when gin-sipping colonialists ruled. The Pegu Club project befitted the family’s East-meets-West positioning and the optimism of a country newly engaging with the world.
Amid periodic power cuts in the rest of Yangon, the Kyaw Thaungs danced and sipped champagne among the new elite, including young entrepreneurs returned from exile, bejeweled daughters of generals, and even former political prisoners suddenly responsible for attracting foreign investment to the latest frontier market.
Amid periodic power cuts in the rest of Yangon, the Kyaw Thaungs danced and sipped champagne among the new elite, including young entrepreneurs returned from exile, bejeweled daughters of generals, and even former political prisoners suddenly responsible for attracting foreign investment to the latest frontier market.