Democracy at Risk: Military Coup in Myanmar

The author is currently pursuing post-graduation in East Asian Studies. She is highly enthusiastic in learning new languages and is interested in the culture and society of the East Asian region, particularly the socio-economic aspects and how it influences major policy decisions.

After the country had gone through long years of military dictatorship, this could be the second large-scale coup carried out after 1962.

After independence, Myanmar witnessed series of consistent civil wars and human rights violations. However, the rays of sunshine adorned the country after the Military junta officially came to an end in 2011 through the persistent efforts of the Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung, who has a long history of being detained and kept under house arrest, seems like the sun isn’t on her side. Although her party won a landslide victory in 2015 elections, she was prohibited to take on the position of President because of the clauses in the Burmese Constitution (as she married a foreigner). Nonetheless, she has amassed great popularity domestically as well as abroad for her role in transition of Burma from Military dictatorship to democracy and is considered the “de facto” head of state.

The November 2020 elections held in Myanmar have added to the ever-present disjunction between the Military and the civilian government. The military has been repeatedly showing dissatisfaction against the elections. The November elections resulted in the victory of Suu Kyi and could’ve to lead to form a government.

A supporter of National League for Democracy (NLD) holds two portraits of Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi as people gather to celebrate at party headquarters after the general election in Yangon, Myanmar, on November 9, 2020. Shwe Paw Mya Tin/Reuters

As the results were unaccepted by the Military and amidst the ongoing turmoil, Suu Kyi was detained with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. The army justified the detentions on “election fraud” and has announced a state of emergency for one year. According to BBC- “The military said that it was handing power to Commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing”.

All connections to the outside world has been halted due to the restrictions on Internet data connections and also, international broadcasters has been blocked with local stations, off-air.

Such hard measures that widely affect the democracy of the country have been condemned by many foreign leaders. Burma has already been facing series of backlashes from the foreign media on account of its inefficient and extreme handling of cases like the “Rohingya genocide”.

Amidst the persistent turmoil, many foreign leaders have extended their support to the citizens of Burma. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken reiterated that “The US stands with the people of Burma in their aspirations or democracy, freedom, peace and development. The military must reverse these actions immediately”.