The case of Myanmar: Unpopular Democracy and Popular Coup

The current political instability in Myanmar proves that the country is popular for its coups but not for a democratic transition.

Unpopular Democracy

Myanmar or Burma, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, has a long history of violent armed conflicts, military rule, ethnic hatred and internal division along the religious lines. If we look back to the 1962 and 1988 coups, Myanmar’s military had not only expanded its role in state affairs but also deepened its roots in political matters. The country was under 12 years of martial law from 1962 onwards, and then from 1988 onwards, it remained under army rule for 23 years. During this period of military rule, Burmese politician Aung San Suu Ki co-founded a pro-democracy party in 1988 called National League for Democracy (NLD).

Suu Kyi who is also a Nobel laureate received mass support for this political initiative, envisaging to free her country from the clutches of “ruthless” military rule. As a result, her party NLD won a landslide victory in Myanmar’s historic election in 2015. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party had won 80% of contested seats it needed to choose the president and bring an end to more than 50 years of military-backed rule. But after forming the government for the first time in 2016, Myanmar’s military constitution barred Suu Kyi from serving as a president. Consequently, she served as State Counsellor of Myanmar, a post equivalent to Prime Minister. Within a very short time after Ms Suu Kyi assumed the seat of State Counsellor of Myanmar, NLD lost its ambition for a democratic transition in Myanmar. And the party was widely seen as a vehicle for Ms Aung Suu Kyi’s own ambitions, less than a beacon of democratic values.

Popular Coup

The democracies which perform so poorly often render into authoritarianism and the declaration of a year-long state of emergency in Myanmar in February, 2021 is a case in point. According to the New York Times, “the generals always had the upper hand and on Monday, they wielded it brazenly, retaking full power in a coup d’état.” Therefore, the latest military coup in Myanmar’s history took place on 4 February, 2021. Initially, the coup was mild but now it has turned violent. The Members of Parliament were detained forcibly closing the parliament. The executive and judicial powers were transferred to the military’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The primary reasons for seizing control are not clear; however, military junta might seek to expand its command as much as possible in the country’s politics.

Protestors who are defending democracy and are peacefully demanding the release of democratically elected leaders are shot dead. In Myanmar, a large number of people have hit the streets to demand the release of ‘Mother’ Aung San Suu Kyi who was elected democratically. Protestors are seen chanting, “we don’t want military dictatorship, we want democracy”. “We are not terrorists, we are civilians, we are trying to get our democracy back. We protest peacefully but they terrorise us.” The military has banned internet access and social media sites across the country, but the protestors continue to march towards Sule Pagoda city. Doctors, monks, activists, and other civil servants are also part of the campaign launched against military rule. The anti-coup protestors remain the largest protestors since 2017’s Saffron Revolution.

After several weeks of peaceful demonstrations including banging of pots and clanging of metals against the junta, security forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters. With 38 killed on March 15, the United Nations (UN) has revealed that a total of 138 peaceful protestors have been killed since the military coup in Myanmar. The civil leaders and party activists and other activists are still being detained. Many people working under the military junta have resigned from their jobs. Some medical workers and civil servants are also quitting their jobs.

International Attention

International communities and many countries like America, Turkey, Britain, India, France, and the European Union have condemned the military coup and sought to exert pressure against the military government. Various leaders have expressed deep concern over the arrest of democratically elected leaders. French president Emmanuel Macron has expressed his solidarity with the Burmese people, he wrote on his twitter handle, “La France appelle à metre immédiatement un terme à la répression en Birmanie, à libérer les personnes détenues et à respecter le choix démocratique du people birman exprimé lors des dernières élections.” Translated into English, “France calls for an immediate end to the repression in Burma, to release those detained and to respect the democratic choice of the Burmese people expressed in the last elections.” The US State Department spokesman Ned Price also tweeted, “We stand with the people of Burma”. The US has also imposed sanctions against ten military leaders three military leaders seeing their assets in the United States. The United Nations Human Rights Council has strongly condemned the arrest of elected leaders and has called for the unconditional release of the elected leaders, demanding the end to the emergency, and curb the violence against peaceful protestors.

India has also responded by showing its deep concerns for the democratic values in Myanmar. Since Myanmar shares its border with India in the northeast states, there are slight chances of the perpetuation of violence across the border due to ongoing military coup. The intensity of violence has pushed at least 19 Myanmar’s policemen into the Indian Territory.

Conclusion

Defending democracy is not an easy task in Myanmar. The current political instability proves that the country is popular for its coups but not for a democratic transition. Many people in Myanmar still believe that Suu Kyi, who remained under house arrest for 15 years, is the only hope left for democratic consolidation. Her father General Aung San, considered as the father of the nation, has also served almost 15 years of home detention. Despite global backlash on her denial of persecution of Muslims in the state of Rakhine, Suu Ki’s recent detention is still defended by powerful countries of West and Europe and has galvanized the international community to take action against the military junta. Military’s biggest challenge, as always, remains Aung Suu Kyi’s popularity. In the words of Mr Horsey, “Aung San Suu Kyi is incredibly popular, and they (military) are incredibly unpopular”.

References

David Scott Mathieson, “The Death Knell of Myanmar’s Democracy” https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/29405/was-the-recent-coup-the-death-knell-for-myanmar-democracy

Hannah Beech “After Coup, Myanmar Military Charges San Suu Kyi with Obscure Infraction” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/world/asia/myanmar-coup.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes

Merve Şebnem Oruç, “Feeling Sorry for Suu Kyi? Time to Worry about Rohingya” https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/columns/feeling-sorry-for-suu-kyi-time-to-worry-about-rohingya

“The West Need to Talk to Myanmar’s Generals” https://www.ft.com/content/9eac3854-e2d9-4b60-84ff-e5773343562b

Richard C. Paddock, “In Myanmar, a Cult Personality Meets Its Downfall” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/world/asia/myanmar-coup.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes

Nick Beake, “Myanmar Coup: Now what for Aung San Suu Kyi?”  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55950420

Fahmida Ashraf, “India- Myanmar Relations” vol 28, 2008.

Toru Takahashi, “It’s Complicated: Myanmar and China have a difficult relationship” https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Comment/It-s-complicated-Myanmar-and-China-have-a-difficult-relationship