Myanmar, officially known as the Union of Myanmar, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary of independence on 4 January 1998. That event was the first major national celebration for the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) which inherited the organs of state power from its predecessor, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), in November 1997. As such, the following national objectives in commemoration of the “Golden Jubilee Independence Day” were enunciated:

1. • All citizens to always collectively safeguard perpetuation of national independence and sovereignty.

2. • All citizens unitedly strive for non-disintegration of the Union and nondisintegration of national solidarity,

3. • All citizens to conscientiously implement the projects for building a modern developed new nation, and

4. • All citizens to be united in endeavouring for the emergence of an enduring constitution. (Myanmar Today, Commemorative Issue, 1998, p. 1).

These are not new objectives but are reformulations of the “Three Main National Causes” and two of the “Four Political Objectives” that had been established by the SLORC and are currently appearing in all Myanmar publications.

In his Independence Day message to the nation, Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the SPDC and the Prime Minister, reiterated the aforementioned objectives urging “all … Union nationals to implement these four national objectives with might and main, with oneness of mind and in unity” (New Light of Myanmar [NLM], 4 January 1998).

Notwithstanding such an exhortation by the head of state and potentially promising developments in the previous year, exemplified by the rejuvenation of the military junta with new blood and Myanmar's entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), 1998 turned out to be a year in which the economic and political prospects appeared uncertain. The SPDC's twin objectives of instituting political reforms in which the military would play a vital role in a multi-party constitutional system while accelerating economic growth in a market-orientated economic setting appeared to be running into some difficulties.