Bogyoke Ywa

   "Generals' village" in the Burmese (Myanmar) language, referring to neighborhoods, chiefly in Rangoon (Yangon), where top-ranking Tatmadaw officers, including members of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), live with their families. At present there are six or seven of these in Burma's capital, including parts of Bahan Township, south of Inya Lake, and near Eight Mile Junction in Mayangone Township, north of the lake, where SPDC Chairman Senior General Than Shwe resided until the nation's capital was moved to a site near Pyinmana in 2005. "Generals' villages" have special privileges: Residences are spacious and comfortable, residents can buy high-quality foodstuffs from mobile vans at subsidized prices, electricity is provided 24 hours a day (part of the "VIP Grid"), and security is tight. These super-elite neighborhoods go back at least to the Ne Win era (1962-1988). As generals grow old or fall from favor, they often sell their homes in the Bogyoke Ywa to rich businesspeople, including drug-dealing entrepreneurs from the Kokang or Wa areas of Shan State.

   See also Tatmadaw and Burmese Society.