by Ayushi Singh and Kumar Sourav 20 March 2021
Myanmar was called Burma due to the dominant ‘Burman’ (Bamar) ethnic group. It was a part of India till 1937, got independence from the British in 1948, and was called the ‘Union of Burma.’ The fate of Burma changed in the year 1962 when for the first time, the military overthrew the elected government. This year marked the onset of a Junta-led government in Myanmar.
The new constitution came into force in 1974 that transferred the power from the military’s hands to the people’s assembly. The assembly was a sham as it was headed by General Ne Win, who brought in the coup in 1962 and the other military leaders. The military neither had any experience in governing the country nor cared about the people of the country. In 1985, repetitive demonetization had exhausted not only people’s safe deposits but also tested their patience beyond measure. Riots started against the Junta-led government. Eventually, Burma got its messiah during this hapless time as the daughter of Aung San– Aung San Suu Kyi, who had come to Myanmar to nurse her ill mother and who, thereafter, led the anti-government movement.
A ray of hope came in 1990 when the opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) won the general election with an overwhelming majority; however, the result was defied by the military. Amidst the highs and lows, and with Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, innumerable cases of blatant human rights violation escalated. These upsetting incidents paved the way for Myanmar to be noticed globally. In 2007, China and Russia vetoed a draft US resolution at the UN Security Council urging Myanmar to stop persecuting minority and opposition groups. This pressurized the Junta government to make provisions for the birth of democracy in Myanmar. As a result, the elections were conducted in November 2010, and the military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), was declared the winner. Thein Sein was sworn in as the president of a new, nominally civilian government, though it was yet another sham.
A majority of the countries outcasted Myanmar- the European Union banned Burma from all bilateral aids and the sale or transfer of arms and weapons. The United States of America has also imposed an arms embargo on Burma in 1993, and Canada imposed sanctions in 2007 with its Special Economic Measures Act, banning all imports and exports. The Asia-Pacific region too had the same stand. With such extreme recurrent pressure and anti-government protests, the Junta government was ready to pave the way for democracy.
The Military rewrote the Constitution in 2008, and Article 59(f) was craftily added- to prevent Aung Sang Suu Kyi from becoming the President- as her children were British Citizens. 25% of the seats in Parliament are reserved with the Military. Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services can appoint the Minister of Defence, Home Affairs, and Border Affairs. According to the constitution, the defense personnel must not retire or resign from the Defence Services.
The Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar Military is called, deposed the fragile democratic government of Myanmar in a coup d’état on Feb 1, 2021. This marks the resurgence of the military coup in Myanmar. The Commander in Chief of the Military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has risen to assume the State’s power in his control. In one of its initial steps, the Military sought the detention of the leaders of the governing NLD party and Myanmar’s civilian leadership, including Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, along with cabinet ministers, the chief ministers of several regions, opposition politicians, writers, and activists.
Monday, Feb 1, was anticipated to be the first day of the new Parliamentary Session following the elections held in November 2020. These elections marked a landslide victory for the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy and marked a great defeat of the military-backed party- USDP. A short period after the elections were wrapped up; the USDP started falsely alleging the NLD that- the widespread irregularities on voter lists could have led to voting fraud, which the Union Election Commission rejected.
In a video-address on the Myawaddy Television, a military-backed channel, the coup d’état was premised because- firstly, there was terrible fraud in the voter list during the democratic general election, which runs contrary to ensuring a stable democracy; secondly, there was a refusal to settle this issue and a failure to take action; thirdly, the request to postpone lower-house and upper-house parliament sessions was not complied with. Considering the above-stated grounds, and following Article 417 of the Republic of Myanmar’s Constitution, the military declared the state of emergency for one year. Consequently, by Article 418, sub-article (a) of the 2008 Constitution, the nation’s governance was handed over to the Commander in Chief of the Military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The lust for power manifests such a decision as he was set to retire this year in July and that the military-backed party could not gather enough momentum to run the country.
This deplorable act by the Tatmadaw deserves to be condemned as much as it takes away from the people of Myanmar- a democratic government, thereby pushing the country to a state of regression. The Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in the 7th Basic Principle mentions The Union of Myanmar to be practising the multi-party democracy system; therefore, this coup d’état stands against the welfare of the people of Myanmar. People are on the roads in Myanmar en masse exhibiting their dissent in the most creative ways- one of such protests has come to be known as the ‘Princess Protest.’ It might seem to many that the struggle to establish a democratic regime has gone in vain; however, democracy infused in the people of Myanmar a taste of freedom which is now a quintessential part of their lives.