ethnic communities and their reliance on the regime for economic and social survival. To further solidify the authority of the generals, legislative maneuvers have been strategically implemented in order to ensure military command of the constitutional process as well as the ability to legally justify its enormous presence in all state functions. Colonial economic policies created conditions for a plural society (Furnival, 1952) in which Burma’s numerous ethnic groups remained isolated from one another except in the marketplace economy dominated by the colonial powers. This caused anger among the Burmese population and sparked nationalism, establishing a foundation on which the Tatmadaw could maintain its chokehold on both the private and public sectors of the economy by ensuring that private industry could be manipulated via public industry. Clear evidence of the use of strategic control tactics can be seen throughout the Ne Win and BSPP era (1952-1988) of Burma’s post-independence history. Superstition dominated Ne Win’s approach to governance and economics. As mentioned earlier, In 1987 the BSPP to order the demonetization of most kyat notes, leaving many Burmese citizens bankrupt having lost all of their life savings. These were replaced by the 45 and 90 kyat notes, both of which were divisible by Ne Win’s favorite number, 9. The introduction of new kyat notes accompanied the removal of Aung San’s image from Burmese currency in an effort to further downplay his role in nation building. At the same time the monetary restructuring occurred, the military-state began to realize that socialism would not continue to benefit the Tatmadaw and the Burmese elite —they had garnered all the spoils they could from this mode of production. As a result, the military began distancing itself from Aung San, whom it previously had portrayed as 43