Uncertainty & Military Terror: Understanding the situation in Myanmar.

To say that the people of Myanmar are suffering right now would be a mere understatement. Myanmar has had a distressing and troubled history of military terror and rule. Just a mere 14 years after independence from British rule, the military took control of Myanmar in March of 1962. From 1962 to 2011, the citizens of Myanmar have been deprived of the right to democracy, of their basic and fundamental rights. Over these 49 years, thousands of people have been killed in various protests.

Just as the country was recovering from the aftermath of these incidents, the people of Myanmar have been forced to recall and relive the trauma and agony they went through for such a long time. It all began when it was announced that the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Suu Kyi had won the 2020 elections in a landslide. The USDP, backed up by the military, rejected the results and demanded a new election with the military as observers. The military – arguing that it had found over 8 million irregularities in voter lists, in over 300 townships – called on Myanmar's Union Election Commission and government to review the results, but the commission dismissed the claims for lack of any evidence.

The election commission declared that these irregularities were too few and too minor to affect the outcome of the election. However, despite the election commission validating the NLD's overwhelming victory, the USDP and Myanmar's military persistently alleged fraud and the military threatened to "take action”.

In the early morning of 1 February 2021, the day parliament was set to convene, the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's military, detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the ruling party. The military handed power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and declared a state of emergency for one year and began closing the borders, restricting travel and electronic communications nationwide. The military announced it would replace the current election commission with a new one.

By the second day of the coup, thousands of protesters were marching in the streets of the nation's largest city, and commercial capital, Yangon, and other protests erupted nationwide, largely halting commerce and transportation. Despite the military's arrests and killings of protesters, the first weeks of the coup found growing public participation, including groups of civil servants, teachers, students, workers, monks and religious leaders – even normally disaffected ethnic minorities. More than 80 people have been killed by Myanmar security forces in a crackdown on the protest of Bago. The military has resorted to increasing levels of violence to maintain its grip on power. It is reported that more than 600 people have been killed since February 1st.

The coup was immediately condemned by the United Nations General Secretary, and leaders of democratic nations – including the United States President Joe Biden, western European political leaders, Southeast Asian democracies, and others around the world, who demanded or urged the release of the captive leaders, and an immediate return to democratic rule in Myanmar.

The conditions in Myanmar are deteriorating day by day and the people of Myanmar need our support, now more than ever. Needless to say, the fate of democracy in Myanmar will only reveal itself in time.

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