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Monday, February 1, 2021
State Councilor Suu Kyi arrested
Putsch in Myanmar: the army seizes power
Rumors of a military coup have been circulating in Myanmar for days: Soldiers are arresting de facto Prime Minister Suu Kyi and other politicians. The army had previously accused the government of electoral fraud.
In Myanmar, the army arrested former freedom icon and de facto head of government, Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as President Win Myint and other high-ranking politicians. This was announced by Myo Nyunt, spokesman for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party. In a televised statement, the army leadership announced the disempowerment of the government. At the same time, it declared a state of emergency for a year.
Former Vice President General and former Myint Swe is now serving as Acting Head of State. The real power, however, rests with the army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has the highest authority in an emergency, the military-controlled Myawaddy television station reported.
For days there were rumors of an imminent military coup in the Southeast Asian country. The background is the tensions between the civilian government and the powerful military over accusations of electoral fraud in the November parliamentary elections. The NLD clearly won the vote, but the military refuses to acknowledge the result. The new parliament should have met for the first time today, but due to mounting tensions in the country, the session was postponed to Tuesday, as the “Myanmar Times” newspaper reported on Friday.
BBC reports on soldiers and telephone cuts
A senior military spokesman had indicated to media representatives last week that there could be a coup if the government does not address the allegations of election fraud. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, asked then that all forms of “incitement or provocation” be avoided and that the results of the elections be recognized.
The British broadcaster BBC reported on the soldiers in the streets of the capital, Naypyitaw, and the larger city of Yangon. Telephone and Internet lines were cut in Naypyitaw. NLD party spokesman Myo Nyun also said he expected his arrest soon by security officials.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi had won a second term in the country with just under 54 million inhabitants in parliamentary elections. According to official figures, his LND party obtained an absolute majority and turnout exceeded 70 percent.
But even after the elections, Suu Kyi continued to depend on cooperation with the military. A quarter of the seats in the parliamentary chambers were reserved for the armed forces. This is what the 2008 constitution says, which the junta wrote in order not to lose power after the introduction of democratic reforms. Due to another clause, Suu Kyi cannot become president, but she governs the former Burma as a councilor of state and thus as the de facto head of government. Without the army, constitutional changes are not possible and it also controls the most important ministries.
Observers have doubts about the choice
After a coup in 1962, the country was under a military regime for almost half a century. Suu Kyi campaigned for a non-violent democratization process in the 1980s and was therefore under house arrest for 15 years. In 1991 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work against oppression and social injustice. Politics is very popular in your own country.
However, internationally, the former icon of freedom is now controversial. The democratic reforms promised in the Buddhist country so far have largely failed to materialize, and Suu Kyi is now displaying an increasingly authoritarian style of government. Suu Kyi has come under international criticism mainly due to the state’s discrimination against the Rohingya and her silence on violence against the Muslim minority. More than a million Rohingya have fled the military attacks in Bangladesh. In a genocide case in The Hague, Suu Kyi had rejected the accusations in 2019. There could be no question of genocide, the army was only defending the country against attacks by armed rebels, she said at the time.
Election observers had already expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections in the run-up to the vote. Reason: The electoral commission had decided that in several conflict regions dominated by ethnic minorities, due to security concerns, voting was not allowed at all. This meant that 1.5 million people were excluded from the vote, human rights activists criticized in November. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who remained in Myanmar were unable to attend after their citizenship was revoked in 1982. “Human Rights Watch” spoke of an election with “fundamental flaws.”
