Event Summary
On 16 December 2025, the junta-controlled National Defence and Security Council (NDSC) issued a sweeping directive (Order 214/2025) threatening legal action against any individual or organisation that objects to state-authorised projects without what it deems “sufficient evidence.” The order, publicly released in the state gazette on 19 December 2025, commands all government departments to ignore, not review, and not suspend projects based on such objections, and to proceed with implementation uninterrupted. The junta justified the move by claiming that objections cause project delays, hinder investment, and lead to corruption.
This directive is widely perceived as a direct tool to suppress dissent and clear the path for controversial projects, most notably the long-stalled and highly contentious Myitsone Dam hydropower project on the Ayeyarwady River – suspended in 2011 by Thein Sein’s government following massive public protests over environmental, social, and cultural concerns – which the junta is actively seeking to restart with Chinese partners.