The Myanmar Coup and Subsequent Fight for Democracy 3/16/21

By Joseph Yu

The so-called “three-finger salute” which most notably appeared in the Hunger Games series, has now transpired into a symbol of hope and freedom for hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar. Nearly every day since, demonstrators have gathered in various groups all around the country to protest a coup d'état that had taken place in the Southeast Asian nation last month.

On the night of January 31st, I remember opening up my phone to see a notification with the headline: “BREAKING NEWS: Myanmar Military Seizes Control of Government in Apparent Coup.” Given that the events of January 6th were only a few weeks ago at the time, it was eerie to see yet another government uprising in a different part of the world. To the average person, the coup d'état in Myanmar may seem sudden and be a cause for alarm. However, the reasons behind the sudden overthrow of the Myanmar government become apparent if one looks a little deeper.

Like most other countries at some point or another, Myanmar was subject to European colonialism. More specifically, British colonialism. When Myanmar became an independent country in 1948, it immediately entered a time of political instability, toggling back and forth between military and democratic rule. For nearly 50 years from 1962-2011, the country was ruled by a harsh militaristic dictatorship, for which many global powers imposed sanctions upon the nation and its leaders. Eventually, under pressure from the international community, the military government began allowing the public to participate in free and fair elections, with the first one being held in 2011.

That being said, in 2008, when Myanmar was still under military rule, a new constitution was drafted in preparation to move towards a more democratic government. However, part of the constitution reserved 25% of the seats in parliament for political parties backed by the military (also known as the Tatmadaw). Because it would take a 75% majority to make amendments to the constitution, those military parties could essentially veto any constitutional proposals they did not like (similar to the Senate Filibuster we have in the US, which allows a minority faction to prolong debate and delay a vote). This way, the Tatmadaw could still hold a substantial amount of power within the government even as it transformed to be more democratically elected.

Enter Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar before the coup occurred. As the daughter of General Aung San who helped Myanmar gain its independence from Britain in 1948, she first came to the national spotlight in the late 1980s for leading a pro-democracy movement against the militaristic government of the time. For her actions, she was placed under house arrest by the Tatmadaw from 1989 to 2010 but was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

When the first openly contested elections were held in 2015, Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, or NLD for short, won 77% of the seats available in parliament. However, since the Tatmadaw had barred her from ever being president, Suu Kyi was given the title of “State Counsellor,” which allowed her to rule by proxy through an allied President. So, although the president was technically Win Myint, most people knew Ms. Suu Kyi as their “president.” Despite her pro-democracy efforts, Suu Kyi has also been criticized for her denial of the ongoing Rohingya genocide, whose victims are a minority of ethnic Muslims facing constant persecution in Myanmar—many of whom have had to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. When she was summoned to the International Court of Justice over this issue, Suu Kyi defended the military’s atrocious acts of violence against the Rohingya. As a result, much of the international community no longer saw her in a positive light for defending gross human rights violations. Nevertheless, Suu Kyi’s NLD party would continue to grow in popularity within Myanmar.

Following the 2020 general election in Myanmar, the NLD managed to secure 83% of the parliamentary seats in a landslide victory. Understandably, the Tatmadaw was not happy that they did not get their 25% share of seats they were promised in the 2008 Constitution. The military claimed there was election fraud, and tried to challenge the results legally all the way up to the Myanmar Supreme Court. When their litigation efforts failed, the Tatmadaw, led by Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, decided that in order to prevent (in their eyes) an unjust group to control the government for another five years, they needed to use whatever means necessary to take power themselves in order to stop Suu Kyi’s party from gaining control in the government again.

So, the same week that parliament was set to open, the Tatmadaw launched a coup d'état early in the morning of Monday, February 1st, 2021. Aung San Suu Kyi, Win Myint, as well as other prominent NLD officials were all detained, and Min Aung Hlaing assumed power after declaring a state of emergency that would supposedly only last for one year.

The coup received plenty of condemnation from the international community, including comments from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who described it as a “serious blow to democratic reforms,” U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson who said Suu Kyi’s detainment was “unlawful imprisonment,” and Joe Biden, who said “the military must… demonstrate respect for the people of Burma” (Burma is the former name of Myanmar, and is often still used in contexts of resentment towards the military government.) Some countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines have taken a completely opposite approach, calling the coup “an internal matter.” The remaining elephant in the room, China, has taken a rather neutral approach, calling for both sides to “resolve their differences.” However, China did support a U.N. statement that had called for the release of Suu Kyi and other high-profile officials, though it did not outright condemn the coup. Furthermore, many countries such as the U.S., who previously lifted sanctions on Myanmar as it made progress towards democracy, have now reimposed them.

As for the civil response, there have been nonstop protests since the coup took place. People from all walks of life, from teachers to lawyers to students to civil workers, have all participated in these protests. Initially, the protests were relatively peaceful, with the police only using water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. However, the response soon turned violent when the police began using live ammunition, killing two protesters on February 20th. A massive nationwide strike took place on February 22nd as a part of the civil disobedience Suu Kyi had called for, but the military’s response only became more and more violent—martial law had been declared in many areas, allowing for the military to take over the duties of the police. On March 3rd alone, more than 38 people were killed as a direct result of military action to suppress the uprisings. As of March 14th, more than 110 people have died in total, with 20% of the deaths appearing to be teenagers.

Currently, the military’s strategy to suppress the civilian uprising is to kill demonstrators daily and be arbitrarily violent, hoping that it will wear down morale and cause people to abandon attempts to restore democracy. However, the protests show no sign of slowing down. As a local resident put it, “I don’t care if they shoot because under the military, our lives will be dead anyway. Before we die completely, we have to protest.”

The future for Myanmar remains shrouded in uncertainty, and it will really come down to how much blood the people are willing to shed. Ten years from now, the people of Myanmar will remember the burdens they bore, resulting in either democracy prevailing or having been crushed. As for now, the fight for freedom continues among the persistent citizens of Myanmar.

References:

BBC - Myanmar Coup Explained Article:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55902070

BBC - Original February 1st Article:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55882489

New York Times - The Coup Explained Article:

https://www.nytimes.com/article/myanmar-news-protests-coup.html

Vox Article:

https://www.vox.com/22260076/myanmar-coup-military-suu-kyi-explain

New York Times - Protest Deaths Article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/14/world/asia/myanmar-protests-killings.html

New York Times - Protest and Civil Disobedience Article: