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In Burma, the army has regained power. Former freedom icon Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested.
On the day of the military coup in Burma’s capital, Naypyidaw, a soldier watches the blocked road leading to the parliament building.
How is the situation in Burma?
In Burma, the military is taking power. It has disempowered the civilian leadership of the Southeast Asian country around the de facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD (National League for Democracy) party and declared a state of emergency, as announced by the army on Monday through Myawaddy television station. controls. Former Vice President General and current Myint Swe now serves as Acting Head of State. The military says they want to take control of the country for a year.
The BBC reports that soldiers patrolled the streets of the capital, Naypyidaw, and the economic metropolis of Rangoon. In addition, telephone lines and Internet connections in the capital have been cut.
What is the background?
There had been tension for some time between the civilian government and the powerful military over the yet unproven allegations of fraud in the November parliamentary elections. The NLD had clearly won the vote, but the military refused to acknowledge the result. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won more than 70 percent of the vote, but relies on cooperation with the military, as the 2008 constitution states that a quarter of the seats in the parliamentary chambers are reserved for members of the parliamentary chambers. armed forces.
According to original plans, the new parliament should have met for the first time on Monday.
Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?
Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader and icon of the democratization movement in the country. The military has put her under house arrest for some fifteen years in recent decades. Suu Kyi is the head of the NLD, with whom she won the 2015 and 2020 elections. The fact that during her first term as de facto head of government she obviously accepted the leadership of the army, which still plays an important role (basically , Burma is a “hybrid” civil-military form of government), she helped many critics from abroad. After the LND’s clear victory last year, hopes grew that he would move away from his previously rather nationalistic policy in his second term.
What role does the army play in Burma?
In 1962, the generals came to power. Then the military ruled the country for almost half a century. Aung San Suu Kyi campaigned for a non-violent democratization process since the 1980s and was under house arrest for 15 years.
The military has institutionalized veto power and has since looked critically at the civilian-led government. In general, anyone suspected of rebelling against the military runs the risk of becoming a target. The army continues to determine defense and security and wants at all costs to preserve the supposed unity of the state, which often serves as a pretext for brutal repressions against minorities.
The army didn’t just fire on the country’s citizens in the late 1980s and crushed the democracy movement. He has also been brutally fighting minorities in the east of the country since the 1960s.
The most prominent example of this is the Rohingya Muslim minority, against whom the military last resorted to violence in 2017 and turned hundreds of thousands into refugees.
Since then, the genocide charge has been in the courtroom. Aung San Suu Kyi’s silence on the Rohingya issue has seriously damaged the international reputation of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. After the expulsion of the Rohingya, the army committed more war crimes in the Rakhine state of crisis, this time against the Buddhist population.
How are the international reactions?
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, condemned the takeover of the government and the abolition of the separation of powers by the military and spoke of a blow to democratic reforms in Burma. The United States and other governments, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations, called for the release of Suu Kyi and other politicians arrested by the military, made similar statements. US President Joe Biden threatened military leaders with sanctions and called for a coordinated international response to urge the military to relinquish power.
On the other hand, there are countries like the Philippines, which, with respect to the safety of their citizens in Burma, consider the coup an “internal affair” “in which there will be no interference.”
Whats Next?
It is difficult to say at this point what the renewed coup will mean. Renowned historian Thant Myint-U expressed his fear on Twitter that no one was really able to control what would come next. He recalled that in this country, with its deep ethnic and religious divisions and its social divisions, there were tons of weapons.
It is also unclear what the coup means for the repatriation of displaced and fled Rohingya members. Bangladesh announced after the coup that it expected the repatriation process to continue.
For its part, the military announced that they would hold new elections within a year. Until then, a “disciplined and flourishing democracy” must be maintained. After the vote, the winner of the election will take office.
