A new parliament was due to open on the first day of February 2021 in the Union of Myanmar (known as Burma until 1989), as the National League for Democracy (NLD) embarked upon a second term in office. What happened instead, however, was not entirely unpredictable. During the early hours of the morning on that day, the Tatmadaw (armed forces) assumed control over Myanmar and unlawfully detained several members of the NLD, citing electoral fraud in the 8 November 2020 general elections as the reason behind its actions. General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw, took charge of the country for a year in the first instance, having already set up a new electoral commission to investigate the alleged fraud. He also promised better management of the Covid-19 outbreak and stronger stewardship of the nation’s predominantly agrarian economy. This one-year state of emergency was conveniently authorised by Article 417 of the nation’s military-drafted constitution of 2008.
The State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, also Chairperson of the NLD, and President U Win Myint were among those detained in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw, along with members of the Central Committee of the NLD. Across the nation, the military also arrested several state and region chief ministers and ministers. The trivial charges brought against the NLD leaders included Suu Kyi’s alleged possession of seven illegally imported hand-held radios (walkie-talkies) and Myint’s alleged breach of Covid regulations at a September 2002 election campaign event. Unfortunately for the military, the NLD had retained power in the November elections, winning 396 out of a total of 476 seats in parliament, including 268 seats in the House of Representatives and 138 in the House of Nationalities. The party, which was founded by Suu Kyi in September 1988, thereby received 83 per cent of the votes cast, in its landslide victory at the cost of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
It appears that the Tatmadaw is far from ready to relinquish its overpowering hold over Myanmar. The military wields tight control over the country’s political institutions (executive, legislature, judiciary) as well as over its economy. A generation of citizens have become accustomed to its authoritative powers, as demonstrated by a state-controlled media, censorship of the press and internet, and an intolerance of political dissidence. The military’s stranglehold over key businesses includes its controlling interests in Myanmar’s nationalised mining, oil, and natural gas industries . A quarter (25 per cent) of all seats in the national and regional parliament are reserved for the military, which is also in charge of the three key ministries (Home Affairs, Defence, Border Affairs) involved with national security.
Aung San Suu Kyi was denied the title of President because she has two children, who are British citizens, by a foreign national (the deceased Oxford academic Michael Arie). She has held power since 2016 only with the assent of, and by colluding with, Myanmar’s all-powerful military. This might help explain her support of the military’s actions against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, in the west of Myanmar. These Bengali-speaking people have been declared “illegal immigrants”, deprived of citizenship and rendered stateless, and fallen victim to ethnic cleansing in the form of “clearance operations”, detention in camps, genocide, and expulsion to neighbouring Bangladesh. Nonetheless, Suu Kyi remains popular within Myanmar, while Western leaders now clamour for her reinstatement, despite her recent loss of global stature as a campaigner for freedom and democracy.
Myanmar has a long history of either direct military rule or military-enabled rule, accompanied by a one-party political system, which dates back to a military coup in September 1962. The nation’s unique brand of “democratic socialism” combines isolationism, ultra-nationalism, xenophobia, militant Buddhism, intolerance of religious minorities (Muslims, Hindus, Christians) and repression of ethnic minority groups by the Bamar majority. To take forward this agenda, an unholy alliance between the military and the Buddhist monks has developed since independence in 1948, ostensibly in the “defence” of the nation, race, religion and culture.
Various international leaders have condemned the recent events in Myanmar and some have even called for the imposition of new sanctions. But the military leadership has strong allies of its own. China maintains close political and economic links with the country, and its geopolitical interests are well served by its desire to access ports on the Bay of Bengal through a Myanmar land corridor. On 2 February, China accordingly vetoed a UN Security Council joint statement condemning the military coup. Other Southeast Asian nations, including Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines, have further claimed that the events in Myanmar are “internal matters”.
The only hope for democracy in Myanmar lies in the actions of its citizens. Doctors, students, and other members of the intelligentsia have set up a new Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement, and residents in major cities have banged on pots and honked on car-horns in a public display of displeasure with the military junta. But there is a long way to go before the all- pervasive and ruthlessly repressive military makes way for the electoral democracy that is taken for granted elsewhere. It is a pity, because Myanmar’s ancient history, architectural heritage, natural beauty and abundance of culinary delights will remain largely out of bounds to much of the world as long it persists with its unique brand of repressive “socialism”. But as history teaches us, no political system is eternal or inviolate, and better days will inevitably arrive with the passage of time.
Ashis Banerjee