JAKARTA, GESAHKITA COM–High tension between Miltary and Myanmar government had been months and ended by a coup, after knowing Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party win the election.
NLD called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained leaders on Tuesday, a day after the military staged a lightning coup, ousting her from power.
“Release all detainees including the president [Win Myint] and the State Counsellor [Suu Kyi],” the party said in a document posted on its official Facebook page.
“We see this as a stain on the history of the State and the Tatmadaw,” it added, referring to the military by its Burmese name.
The military staged its coup on Monday, arresting Suu Kyi and other leaders from her party just ahead of a schedule resumption of parliament. Suu Kyi’s wherecabouts on Tuesday remained unknown.
Among the other cabinet appointments were top officials aligned with the military, while others were former ministers in the military-backed government of former President Thein Sein. That includes Win Shein, who previously held the post of finance and planning minister and was reappointed to the position.
Hundreds of people have reportedly been detained, including all members of Suu Kyi’s NLD party who were in the capital. NLD lawmakers’ spouses are said to be under house arrest.
Among the other people reportedly detained were ethnic minority party members and a prominent film director who has been previously arrested by police for making a Facebook post critical of the military.
Buddhist monk Shwe Nya War Sayadawa, known for his outspoken support for the NLD, was also among those arrested on Monday, his temple said. Monks are a powerful political force in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Joe Biden Statement to call for Myanmar’s military to relinquish power immediately
Myanmar’s generals appeared in firm control on Tuesday but responded with silence to a barrage of global condemnation. US President Joe Biden led the chorus of global outrage, calling for a quick restoration of democracy and warning that Washington could reimpose sanctions.
“The international community should come together in one voice to press the Burmese military to immediately relinquish the power they have seized,” Biden said, referring to Myanmar by its former name. “The United States is taking note of those who stand with the people of Burma in this difficult hour.”
UN Secretary Generals Antonio Guterres, the European Union and Australia were among others to condemn the coup. Britain summoned Myanmar’s envoy in formal protest. But China declined to criticise anyone, instead calling for all sides to “resolve differences”.
The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the situation for Tuesday.
Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained in the capital Naypyidaw before dawn on Monday, party spokesman Myo Nyunt said. In Myanmar, protests and political instability on the cards, along with a test for Joe Biden
The military sealed off roads around Naypyidaw with troops, trucks and armoured personnel carriers. Military helicopters flew across the city. Internet across the country was also severely disrupted during the day, and banks were briefly closed but the Myanmar Banks Association said they would reopen on Tuesday. By nightfall on Monday the military had appeared to pull off a successful coup with no uprising against them, and the NLD muted for now.
Military chief and coup leader Min Aung Hlaing is now in charge of the country. He is an international pariah, having been banned on Facebook and under US sanctions for a military campaign against Myanmar’s Muslim Rohinyga community that the United States has described as ethnic cleansing.
The military Complained the Polls were riddled with irregularities and claimed to have uncovered more than 10 million instances of voter fraud.
Myanmar’s November polls were only the second democratic elections the country had seen since it emerged from the 49-year grip of military rule in 2011.
The NLD won more than 80 per cent of the vote in November – increasing its support from the 2015 elections. But the military had for weeks complained the polls were riddled with irregularities, and claimed to have uncovered more than 10 million instances of voter fraud.
Suu Kyi had issued a pre-emptive statement ahead of her detention calling on people “not to accept a coup”, according to a post on the Facebook page of her party’s chairperson.
Suu Kyi, 75, is an immensely popular figure in Myanmar for her opposition to the military – which earned her the Nobel Peace Prize – having spent the best part of two decades under house arrest during the previous dictatorship.
But her international image was shredded during her time in power as she defended the military-backed crackdown in 2017 against the Rohingya.
Who Stays Behind Rohingya Genocide?
About 750,000 Rohingya were forced to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh during the campaign, which UN investigators said amounted to genocide.
Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing was headed for retirement before seizing control. Derek Mitchell, the first US ambassador to Myanmar after military rule, said the international community still needed to respect Suu Kyi’s overwhelming victory in November.
The West “may have considered her this global icon of democracy and that lustre is off. But if you care about democracy in the world, then you must respect the democratic choice and she is clearly that”.
“It’s not about the person; it’s about the process,” he said.
The military justified its seizure of power by alleging widespread fraud in elections held three months ago that the NLD won in a landslide.
Late on Monday, Myanmar state television announced the removal of 24 of Suu Kyi’s ministers, and 11 new appointments. Wunna Maung Lwin was named as the new foreign minister – Suu Kyi’s predecessor and now her replacement. (scmp/jeli)
