What's going on in Myanmar? Hundreds of thousands of locals are
crowding the streets, bodybuilders are protesting the military,
the nation's leader, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been arrested for
having walkie talkies and it all started with this. On Monday, the first of
February, while filming her morning routine, this instructor accidentally
captured the beginnings of a military coup. You see those vehicles in the
background, they're actually on their way to arrest political leaders
and take control of the government. The military announced a one year
'state of emergency' and that power would be handed over to this guy,
military general Min Aung Hlaing. Soldiers took to the streets, internet
services were cut in large parts of the country, social media
platforms were blocked and in some places, curfews were introduced
and gatherings of more than five people were banned. So, why is all of
this happening? The military says that the country's elections held
in last November were rigged and that there were signs of "terrible
fraud", even though they haven't been able to produce any credible
evidence. Many aren't buying it and say this is just a power grab by the
military.
This outrageous assault on the people of Myanmar by the military cannot be
allowed to stand.
Inside the country there have been widespread protests and locals have
found some creative ways to get their messages across. We've seen people
banging pots and pans, singing in the streets and even bodybuilders
taking their shirts off. The reasoning behind some of the political arrests
has been questioned too. Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been
accused of illegally importing communications equipment into the
country because six walkie talkies were found at her home. If you think
that sounds like a strange reason to arrest the leader of your
country, you're not alone.
There's little doubt that the game plan is to try and silence Aung San Suu
Kyi to prevent her having apolitical future in the country and to prevent
her having any influence on future elections.
All in all, it's a pretty complex situation. So, to get a better
understanding of what is actually going on, you need to know a bit about
Myanmar's complicated history with democracy and the fact that this
isn't the first time that the military has seized power. Myanmar - or as it
was known back then, Burma - spent 124 years under British rule. In
the years after World War 2, the country finally gained its independence
as the Union of Burma. Unfortunately, there was unrest and fighting
between the many different ethnic and cultural groups that make
up the country. And in 1962, the military staged a coup scrapped Burma's
constitution and created a military junta. What followed was a one party
state headed by the BSPP. It wasn't until 1988 that the BSPP had its power
truly challenged by a nationwide protest movement. Started by
students, the movement spread to hundreds of thousands of protesters,
and Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as a leading voice. Aung San Suu Kyi
is the daughter of Aung San, known as the father of the nation and a key
player in the push for independence from British rule. However, within a
few months, the protests were crushed. Thousands of people were killed and
the military once again seized power. Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under
house arrest, where she remained for 15 years. During that time, though,
she still did continue to push the change with her political party the
National League for Democracy, eventually earning a Nobel Peace
Prize in 1991. It wasn't until the late 2000s that the military announced it
was going to start moving towards a more democratic system of government.
However, the 2010 election was surrounded by accusations of
interference and fraud. The election was actually boycotted by Aung San Suu
Kyi's NLD. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the military was replaced by
a pro-military party called the USDP. So, not exactly the open and free
elections everyone had been hoping for.
They were in charge between 2011 and 2015. During that time, the
military still effectively controlled the country.
It wasn't until 2015 that Myanmar actually held its first free and open
elections, and the NLD won in a landslide. The constitution actually
blocked Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president because she has kids who
are citizens of another country. So she had to settle for the title of
State Counsellor, but was still recognised by pretty much everyone as
Myanmar's actual leader. However, even with such a big share of the vote,
the NLD still had to deal with the military having a lot of political power.
The military only agreed to share power because the new constitution
guaranteed that they'd keep control over lots of key areas. Plus, they
would also be guaranteed 25% of the seats in parliament, no matter
The military has basically used their control of the parliament
to block reforms and als they still maintai control over defence and
And this brings us to some of the actual reasons why the military
immigration and also the judiciary as well.
may have staged this coup. For years now, Aung San Suu Kyi has been
talking about removing the military from parliament and taking
away their political power. Winning by such a huge margin in the
election put her and the NLD closer to that goal than ever before. Not
only that, the current military leader and the guy who is now in charge
of the entire country has been pretty open about wanting to be president.
The military was not happy with the outcome of the elections. The
initial hope of the commander in chief was that the military back
political party woul get up to a third of se ts, and if so, he would
otentially have become president.
According to the experts, it's also about protecting himself from
the things that he did in his role as military leader. He's been called
one of the most wanted men on the planet for his role in the brutal
crackdown of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, a Muslim minority group
that mostly lives in the Rakhine region. Over the past 10 years, he's been
in charge of the military that reportedly targeted and killed thousands of
Rohingya people and burned more than 200 of their villages to the
ground, resulting in hundreds of thousands more fleeing across the
border to Bangladesh. Without the military holding political power,
or the leader of the country protecting him, he would be open to some
serious consequences for his actions. It's important to note that
the biggest recent military crackdown actually happened in
2017, while Aung San Suu Kyi was in power. She faced a lot of
international criticism for not standing up to the military treatment of
the Rohingya people, although she is still incredibly popular within
Myanmar. So, what happens next? Tension between the military and protesters
has been growing. Security forces have opened fire on citizens,
armoured vehicles have been rolling into major cities, and the military
has been cutting off the internet again, as it tries to squash the
protests. Aung San Suu Kyi has also been charged with another crime,
breaking the country's natural disaster law, which will allow the
military to keep her detained for longer. Police are also said to
be looking for famous activists and protest leaders, although there
have been some cases of police breaking ranks to join the protest
movement. Plus, the pressure from the international community
has been getting louder.
The military must relinquish power it seized and demonstrate
respect for the will of the people of Burma. I'm announcing a series of
actions that we're taking to begin imposing consequences on the
leaders of the coup.
With both the military and protesters is looking like they won't be
backing down anytime soon, we'll just have to wait and see what happens
next and whether Myanmar can get its long journey to democracy back on
track.