By G Vinod
MYANMAR’s experiment with democracy ended today with its powerful military launching a coup against its elected Government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
Several party leaders, including Suu Kyi, were detained in early morning raids. The military have yet to offer details on the arrests.
The nation’s army, which controlled Myanmar’s civilian government since 1962, said it overthrew the elected officials due to “election fraud” on a military-owned television station.
For now, military chief Min Aung Hlaing will be in-charge of the country and had imposed a year-long Emergency.
The military launched its coup just hours before the Parliament was scheduled to convene following NLD’s landslide victory in the November general election.
The latest coup by Myanmar’s military not only undermines the nation’s long overdue path to recovery, it also set tongues-wagging over the fate of Suu Kyi who have more or less become a controversial figure herself.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of revered then-Burma Independence hero Aung San, was highly popular among her people and at the international arena for her tireless campaign to bring the nation back to the path of democracy since the military took over the country in 1962.
Despite being settled in the UK, she came back to Myanmar in 1988 to care for her ailing mother. Seeing her influential background as a threat to their hegemony, the military placed her under house arrest for decades.
The military did offer her the option to return to the UK several times but Suu Kyi turned it down, fearing she would not be allowed back in.
In 2011, the then President Thein Sein (a progressive military leader) met Suu Kyi several times, leading to an election which saw the latter and her party winning handsomely.
However, it was a quasi-democratic Government as the military still held key positions in the Parliament and Government.
Suu Kyi’s international fame took a beating 2015 onwards after she repeatedly defended the military’s crackdown on its vulnerable Rohingya community despite allegations of ethnic-cleansing.
Gambia even took the matter to the International Court of Justice at The Hague where Suu Kyi acknowledged there was possibility that war crimes may have been committed but defended it to counter terrorism activities.
Despite the international scorn, Suu Kyi is still deeply revered by the people of Myanmar and the latest coup had undermined any little hope its people had for democracy.
While the US and Australia has been quick to condemn the latest coup, it remains to be seen on how its neighbours in Asean would react to the sudden turn of events.
As the world is being ravaged by COVID-19 and an economic downturn, the Myanmar’s military leaders should ask themselves this pertinent question: are they going to join hands with the rest of the world to begin a new era, or remain stuck with “ghost stories” and false grandeur of the 1960s? – Feb 1, 2021.
G Vinod is a writer and contributor for FocusM
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
