Myanmar’s MI and the Kempeitai: A Historical Footnote

Picture: Kempeitai NCOS on a train, November 1937 | Wikimedia Commons

In an article by New Mandala, Andrew Selth complicates the notion that the fearsome military intelligence apparatus established by Ne Win’s dictatorship took inspiration from the Japanese empire’s military police force and argues that the Military Intelligence Service (the “MI”) was the product of a much broader set of influences.

After the 1962 coup in Myanmar (then known as Burma), one of the first steps taken by General Ne Win was to “revamp and reorganise” the country’s military intelligence apparatus. According to the British writer Harriet O’Brien, the Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence (DDSI), widely known as the Military Intelligence Service (MIS, or simply “the MI”) was Ne Win’s “special creation”. A program was implemented to:

Expand and retrain the military intelligence forces … The MI became increasingly powerful and their operations gradually extended beyond merely gathering information to assist troops fighting the insurgent armies … They became a network of spies, a powerful secret police force monitoring the activities of ordinary people.

Ne Win’s inspiration for an expanded military intelligence organisation with a broader remit is popularly believed to be the Japanese Kempeitai military police, from which it is said the old dictator received intelligence and counter-espionage training during the Second World War.

Hard evidence to support this claim, however, is difficult to find. It raises the question of whether this is another case of the conventional wisdom with regard to Myanmar winning out over careful research. A quick historical survey might help clarify matters.