Myanmar's Rejection of Military Coup

"This is the time for our citizens to test their resistance against the dark moments." 

"In order to form a federal democracy, which all ethnic brothers who have been suffering various kinds of oppressions from the dictatorship for decades really desired, this revolution is the chance for us to put our efforts together."

"Despite our differences in the past, this is the time we must grip our hands together to end the dictatorship for good."

Mahn Win Khaing Than, acting head, Committee for Representing the Union Parliament

 

Despite repeated demands of the international community, including South Korea, there are an increasing number of victims in Myanmar due to violent acts of the military and police authorities."

South Korean Foreign Ministry

 

"This accusation [against Suu Kyi of minor charges] is the most hilarious joke."

"She might have other weaknesses but she doesn't have weakness in moral principle."

Lawyer Khin Maung Zaw

Protesters lined roads with car tires and set them alight to separate themselves from the security forces  Getty Images

 In view of the military junta's violent crackdown on the relentless protests roiling Myanmar following the February 1 coup that removed Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected government on February 1, restoring her to house arrest while arresting member officials of her National League for Democracy party (several of whom have died in custody), Britain has urged its citizens to leave the country. 

New charges have been levelled against Suu Kyi behind the trifling accusations of having sidestepped coronavirus rules and having in her possession illegal radios. According to Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun, a junta spokesman, Suu Kyi had accepted gold and illegal payments to the value of $600,000 while in government.

Security forces in the troubled country continue to crack down on protesters refusing the pleas of the military junta to convince them that the military administration is best for the country, that when matters settle down there will be a return to elections and 'democracy'. Clearly the November election that swept the polls returning the National League for Democracy and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi to power was unsatisfactory in the opinion of the military.

 

Security forces used live rounds against protesters in Hlaing Tharyar   Reuters

More violent and bloody days this weekend, with an estimated additional 38 people having been killed. The British foreign office gave warning that "political tension and unrest are widespread since the military takeover and levels of violence are rising." South Korea, in view of the turmoil and violence, has stated its intention to suspend defence exchanges. It will reconsider development aid to Myanmar.

 

By Friday, over 70 protesters were killed since the military seized power, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group. Friday saw memorials held for some of the victims. Seoul plans the suspension of defence exchanges and to ban arms exports, limit exports of other strategic items, reconsider development aid and grant humanitarian exemptions permitting Myanmar nationals to remain in South Korea until such time that the situation improves.

 

A night protest took place in another part of Yangon on Sunday   Reuters

In Yangon and a number of other cities and towns witnesses posted photographs on social media and news organizations of riot police and armed soldiers confronting the protesters with violent responses. A Polish journalist was arrested and a Japanese journalist was held briefly while reporting on a protest. A hospital in Hakha, Western Chin state saw riot police and armed soldiers forcing 30 patients to leave, evicting staff from on-site housing.

 

Hospitals and universities across Myanmar have seen occupations by soldiers as attempts are made to crush the civil disobedience movement that arose when government employees such as doctors and teachers began responding to the coup, and following violence. The movement has expanded toward a general strike paralyzing many sectors of the economy, infuriating the military.

 

Suu Kyi, 75, faces four mischievous charges, such as illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios and flouting coronavirus curbs. The addition of corruption charges is being read as a plan to see that harsher penalties accrue, to send her to prison for years, and out of the way of the military junta with which she had practised an at-arms-length cooperative administration. 

Property set ablaze in Yangon's industrial neighbourhood of Hlaing Tharyar lights up the night sky   EPA

 

The protesters believe that China has been encouraging the military junta in its crackdown on the peaceful protests. China did in fact ensure that there would be no official censure of Myanmar's military junta for the coup and the following violence in reaction to the people's rejection of the coup against their legitimately re-elected choice of state head. 

 

The protests have deliberately chosen to target Chinese-owned businesses as a direct state of their rejection of Chinese interference in the country's affairs. According to Beijing reporting sources, people armed with iron bars, axes and petrol had set alight and damaged 10 Chinese facilities - mostly clothing production or storage factories - in Yangon where a Chinese hotel was also attacked. 

"[Some Chinese] factories [in Hlaing Tharyar and neighbouring Shwepyitha] were looted and destroyed and many Chinese staff were injured and trapped."

"[Myanmar must] take further effective measures to stop all acts of violence, punish the perpetrators in accordance with the law and ensure the safety of life and property of Chinese companies and personnel in Myanmar."

Chinese Embassy in Myanmar

Myanmar's Military Martyring Myanmar

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Yangon, Myanmar to protest the military’s ouster of civilian leadership.   Credit...The New York Times

"China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors."

"We hope that all parties will properly handle their differences under the Constitution and legal framework to maintain political and social stability."

Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman

 

"I would seriously urge the entire nation to join hands with the Tatmadaw [Burmese military] for the successful realization of democracy."  

"Historical lessons have taught us that only national unity can ensure the non-disintegration of the Union and the perpetuation of sovereignty."

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing

 

"We are saddened to see media reports that a protester shot by police in Naypyidaw has died, marking the first reported death ... as a result of security forces response to the protests."

"We applaud yesterday's announcement of sanctions by the United Kingdom and Canada against the Burmese military leaders responsible for the coup."

"[Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed with Australian, Indian and Japanese counterparts] the urgent need to restore the democratically elected government in Burma."

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price 

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader, campaigning for Parliament in Aungban in 2012.  Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times

"[A] full extended lockdown [of the economy has been planned]."

"To continue economic and business activities as usual ... will only benefit the military as they repress the energy of the Myanmar people."

"The time to take action in defence of our democracy is now."

Nine-union alliance joint statement

 

"They are killing people just like killing birds and chickens."

"What will we do if we don't revolt against them? We must revolt."

Myanmar union leader

And revolt they did and continue to do, with one massive protest after another, since Myanmar's civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was summarily deposed and placed in custody and house detention yet again, by the head of the Myanmar military. She had been, up to the present, in a type of coalition of necessity with the military, until February 1 when the coup surprised and alarmed the country. The November election that brought her an overwhelming majority expressed the will of the people for her to continue bringing Myanmar ever closer to the democratic sovereignty Suu Kyi represented.

 

The peaceful demonstrations draw immense crowds, taking place in all of the country's cities. The junta is under increasing pressure to tamp down the unrest. Its increasing use of force, culminating in deadly force and the deaths of protesting citizens have brought it censure from the West, and a recommendation from its neighbours, who consider the dissent an 'internal matter' calling for non-interference, to restrain the use of force against its population in the interests of avoiding criticism. 

While Western governments censure Myanmar's military's violent response to the demonstrations, just as they did when the military routed its minority Rohingya population into Bangladesh, the United Nations cannot condemn the country whose powerful neighbour as a member of the permanent UN Security Council blocks any censure. Sharing a long border, Beijing serves as a patron nation to Myanmar just as it does to North Korea, and it doesn't hurt to have powerful friends of influence quietly shoring up one's interests.

The major trade  unions in Myanmar now call on its members to shut down the economy in support of a campaign against the military coup which has allowed its forces to fire weapons and occupy hospitals in the capital Yangon following yet another day of massive protests. Gunfire and stun grenades were reported in many districts of the capital by witnesses, following nightfall with soldiers setting up camp in hospitals and university compounds, the latter a rich source of youthful protesters.

According to the non-profit Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the army was "intentionally terrorizing residents" in Yangon. The nation was freshly shocked when, overnight while in police custody National League for Democracy official Khin Maung Latt died. A member of parliament's upper house quoted reports of bruising seen on Khin Maung Latt's head and body. "It seems that he was arrested at night and tortured severely. This is totally unacceptable", understated the member of the coup-dissolved parliament, Ba Myo Thein.

An immense demonstration in Yangon, the country’s largest city, on Feb. 22.  Credit...The New York Times

 On Sunday, police fired stun grenades and tear gas to break up a sit-in by tens of thousands of people in Mandalay on Sunday, 70 of whom were arrested. Tear gas and stun grenades were launched at protesters in Yangon and in the northern region of the country, seen through videos posted on Facebook. Police opened fire to break up a protest in a historic temple town, with live bullets. Soldiers were shown in a video posted by Myanmar Now beating men in Yangon who were rallying in protest despite security forces conducting overnight raids on campaign leaders and opposition activists.

Another member of Parliament, Sithu Maung who had worked closely with Khin Maung Latt, described soldiers and police detaining his father on Sunday night: "They broke into the house ... and point with guns, I was told". His father too was taken into custody and beaten. Over 50 people have died at the hands of security forces to the present. By Saturday the military junta had detained over 1,700 people, according to figures given by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group.

 

Much of the world has condemned the violence used against democracy advocates. In Bangkok on the day of the coup, protesters held up images of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi.  Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times