Myanmar army detains country's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, president and other high-profile political leaders amid coup fears

[Frosty]

The Southeast Asian country's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained in an early morning raid on Monday along with Myanmar's President Win Myint and other senior ruling party figures, according to Reuters, Channel News Asia and the BBC. Late last week several diplomatic missions in Myanmar issued a statement warning against a military coup as tension flared between the civilian government and the country's powerful military following the general election in November. The new parliament in Myanmar was due to meet on Monday for the first time since Suu Kyi's landslide win in the election.

 

[Frosty]

Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar's governing National League for Democracy (NLD) party, has been arrested, a party spokesman said.

It comes amid tensions between the civilian government and the military, stoking fears of a coup.

At elections in November, the NLD won enough seats to form a government, but the army says the vote was fraudulent.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, was ruled by the military until 2011. Ms Suu Kyi spent many years under house arrest.

The newly elected lower house of parliament was due to convene for the first time on Monday but the military was calling for a postponement.
The BBC's South East Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, says there are soldiers on the streets of the capital, Naypyitaw, and the main city, Yangon.

NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt told the Reuters news agency by phone that Ms Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been "taken" in the early hours of the morning.
"I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law," he said, adding he also expected to be detained.

Telephone and internet lines in Naypyitaw have been cut, the BBC's Burmese Service reports.

Soldiers also visited the homes of chief ministers in several regions and took them away, family members said.
On Saturday Myanmar's armed forces promised to abide by the constitution as concerns grew that they were preparing to stage a coup.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55882489

 

[The Firestarter]

Trump surely is taking notes with a sharpie.

 

[SalfordRed18]

That's mental

 

[Wibble]

Probably amazing that the military haven't had a coup in nearly a decade. They love their coups.

 

[Cheimoon]

Was her government becoming too independent? If I remember correctly, the military allowed for democratic elections because they kept the final say. (Or just a certain part of government?) Has that position of theirs been eroding, and have they therefore decided to step in?

 

[The United]

Was her government becoming too independent? If I remember correctly, the military allowed for democratic elections because they kept the final say. (Or just a certain part of government?) Has that position of theirs been eroding, and have they therefore decided to step in?

Pretty much that. Su Kyi tried really hard to play nice and remove the influence of the military out of the government slowly. But, you could say it didn't work because the intention of the military was never sincere in the first place.

The head of the military wants to be a president of the country. And, there is no path for him to become one because anyone who involves with military will be unelectable to higher offices for next two generations in the country. So, it makes sense for him to do what he did.

Well, except it does not for the rest of the country.

Also, it clearly shows now that the civilian government did not really have any say to what military did on their own such as having battles with minorities etc.

 

[Gehrman]

Was bound to happen sooner or later. Dark days ahead for them in democratic terms.

 

[sun_tzu]

Just to check is she still a goodie or did we have a plot twist to make her season two's big bad after she turned to the darkside with the Rohingya crisis.

 

[Gehrman]

Just to check is she still a goodie or did we have a plot twist to make her season two's big bad after she turned to the darkside with the Rohingya crisis.

I don't think she's a goodie, but I think an indefinite dictatorship of the military junta is far worse.

 

[golden_blunder]

Probably amazing that the military haven't had a coup in nearly a decade. They love their coups.

Is this where our old Redcafe pal Suresh was from?

 

[Wibble]

Is this where our old Redcafe pal Suresh was from?

He was from Malaysia I think.

 

[Kentonio]

Also, it clearly shows now that the civilian government did not really have any say to what military did on their own such as having battles with minorities etc.

Not sure we can give her a free pass on that stuff just yet.

 

[Kaos]

Not sure we can give her a free pass on that stuff just yet.

Exactly. She's lost all admiration I had for her with her nauseating dismissal of the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people.

Though if her hands were truly tied we'll see if her tone changes now she's back in chains.

 

[Smores]

From the outside this seems like the military being the correct checks and balance against a bad government?

I have little understanding if the military are even worse or not but i do recall many thinking Trump should be removed if he went renegade. Democracy isn't well equipped to remove leaders who cross the line.

Hopefully new elections are actually held in good faith and they return to a Democratic system.

 

[Suv666]

Dont feel bad for the genocidal cnut at all.

 

[Kentonio]

From the outside this seems like the military being the correct checks and balance against a bad government?

I have little understanding if the military are even worse or not but i do recall many thinking Trump should be removed if he went renegade. Democracy isn't well equipped to remove leaders who cross the line.

Hopefully new elections are actually held in good faith and they return to a Democratic system.

No. The military there are utter and complete bastards. It was a military dictatorship until relatively recently.

 

[Gehrman]

From the outside this seems like the military being the correct checks and balance against a bad government?

I have little understanding if the military are even worse or not but i do recall many thinking Trump should be removed if he went renegade. Democracy isn't well equipped to remove leaders who cross the line.

Hopefully new elections are actually held in good faith and they return to a Democratic system.

No its twice now the military have made a coup against her when there has been a democratic election. They simply don't won't to give up power. I lost my admiration for her when she failed to act and speak out in the Rohingya conflict, but this is no good news for the future of democracy in Myanmar. The military are complete bastards. The army chief Min Aung Hlaing who is now in command in the country is the one singled out most for the atrocities in the Rohingya conflict so it's improbable that anything will improve on that front.

 

[The United]

No its twice now the military have made a coup against her when there has been a democratic election. They simply don't won't to give up power. I lost my admiration for her when she failed to act and speak out in the Rohingya conflict, but this is no good news for the future of democracy in Myanmar. The military are complete bastards. The army chief Min Aung Hlaing who is now in command in the country is the one singled out most for the atrocities in the Rohingya conflict so it's improbable that anything will improve on that front.

It is kind of funny how people see different with the issue.

The native Arakineses people did not elect a single Su's party member in the area in 2020 because they thought she didn't protect her own people enough. While people from outside think, she could do better. Perspective.

The military accused of the last election being fraudulent. The court asked for proofs. Didn't provide anything solid. Then, this happened. The voting was still about 80 - 20 for NLD in many areas. They are still extremely popular in Burma.

But, even if people are happy that ' genocide cnut' was detained by military, I wonder what they think of normal people from Burma who many got ruined, tortured and destroyed their families for more than 50 years under previous military rules. They could just breath normal again for the past 5 years. Burma was probably the richest country in SE Asian in 60s then became something like the 2nd poorest country in the world in 90s.

And, I grew up there under those circumstances.

 

[Gehrman]

It is kind of funny how people see different with the issue.

The native Arakineses people did not elect a single Su's party member in the area in 2020 because they thought she didn't protect her own people enough. While people from outside think, she could do better. Perspective.

The military accused of the last election being fraudulent. The court asked for proofs. Didn't provide anything solid. Then, this happened. The voting was still about 80 - 20 for NLD in many areas. They are still extremely popular in Burma.

But, even if people are happy that ' genocide cnut' was detained by military, I wonder what they think of normal people from Burma who many got ruined, tortured and destroyed their families for more than 50 years under previous military rules. They could just breath normal again for the past 5 years. Burma was probably the richest country in SE Asian in 60s then became something like the 2nd poorest country in the world in 90s.

And, I grew up there under those circumstances.

I appreciate the opinions from someone who's grown up there. I've only read articles and debates on Burma since the saffron revolution, so I imagine the insight of most on the cafe(myself included) is quite sparse.

 

[MadMike]

A woman was teaching an online aerobics class, while behind her the army was rolling into Parliament to arrest the politicians and seize power

 

[Gehrman]

18 protesters killed demonstrating against the coup.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56228357

 

[Cloud7]

A woman was teaching an online aerobics class, while behind her the army was rolling into Parliament to arrest the politicians and seize power

Ah so that's the origin of this meme. I didn't realize this really happened in the background of her class, I thought it was edited.

 

[calodo2003]

That’s amazing.

 

[nimic]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[VorZakone]

It always amazes me how many law enforcement officials (or military) will help dictatorial regimes.

Then again, I probably shouldn't be. Their salaries depend on it.

 

[Gehrman]

It always amazes me how many law enforcement officials (or military) will help dictatorial regimes.

Then again, I probably shouldn't be. Their salaries depend on it.

They are the dicatorial regime

 

[4bars]

It always amazes me how many law enforcement officials (or military) will help dictatorial regimes.

Then again, I probably shouldn't be. Their salaries depend on it.

It always amazes me that being a human being are you able to do what I just saw in that video. Hitting someone innocent that way.

What kind of persons do we have in our society and how they allow them to pass a police psychological test (probably they are looking for them). Because even if in Myanmar they don't have those tests (I don't know, to be fair), they have these tests in developed countries

 

[Sky1981]

It always amazes me how many law enforcement officials (or military) will help dictatorial regimes.

Then again, I probably shouldn't be. Their salaries depend on it.

It's a complicated web of entanglement. Those savages arent made in a day or two. Years and years of indoctrination, culture, superior pressure, etc made them what they are today. Just like trumptards took years to bake

 

[The United]

It always amazes me that being a human being are you able to do what I just saw in that video. Hitting someone innocent that way.

What kind of persons do we have in our society and how they allow them to pass a police psychological test (probably they are looking for them). Because even if in Myanmar they don't have those tests (I don't know, to be fair), they have these tests in developed countries

The answer is that they don't. EU gave them some training programs to train the police properly a few years ago. But..

Most of them like who you saw in that video are actually not real police. Some nutters from the military changed the uniforms. And, most of high rankings in the polices are from , well you guess it, military. After 2010, they don't go out and abuse people in military uniforms as much as they can to avoid bad attention. So, they put their nutters in the police forces to do just that. Civilian governments since 2010 had NO control over any of armed forces in the country. The military control them.

Anyone who becomes chef of generals also want to be head of the state. That is a traditional for them. This guy might give the power back to civilian government in a year or two. Then, next chef of general will do the coup again just for the sake of it. People there are trying to de-root it but it is an uphill battle.

 

[4bars]

The answer is that they don't. EU gave them some training programs to train the police properly a few years ago. But..

Most of them like who you saw in that video are actually not real police. Some nutters from the military changed the uniforms. And, most of high rankings in the polices are from , well you guess it, military. After 2010, they don't go out and abuse people in military uniforms as much as they can to avoid bad attention. So, they put their nutters in the police forces to do just that. Civilian governments since 2010 HAD no control over any of armed forces in the country. The military control them.

Anyone who becomes chef of generals also want to be head of the state. That is a traditional for them. This guy might give the power back to civilian government in a year or two. Then, next chef of general will do the coup again just for the sake of it. People there are trying to de-root it but it is an uphill battle.

Hope you can slowly avoid this vicious cycle. I loved your country. I entered from Kawathoung and just enterying I was able to speak with a guy that explained me how slow the country can developed because of the military and how they couldn't exploit their own Mergui archipelago and it was thai boats that were able to do it. I when slowly up to Myitkyina and loved every bit. Not always easy to speak with locals but always nice to me. Is so fecked up that there is such a contrast in goodness and vicious and malign being like those ones

 

[RedTiger]

Going through Twitter and other social media, it seems like ordinary Burmese really didn't know anything about the rohingya crisis. Many showing remorse for believing the military propaganda.

Perhaps ASSK really did have her hands tied at the ICJ.

 

[Gehrman]

Going through Twitter and other social media, it seems like ordinary Burmese really didn't know anything about the rohingya crisis. Many showing remorse for believing the military propaganda.

Perhaps ASSK really did have her hands tied at the ICJ.

I don't really know if Twitter is a good measure for anything, but I do think this coup showed ASSK was very limited in her powers in a psudeo-democracy. Still I can't give her a pass on this even though I want Burma to remain a demoracy and perhaps her motivation for remining passive on the issue was not step on the toes of military and let them overthrow her, but its still an issue that serious enough to blemish your entire legacy and history.

But on topic of the media coverage in Burma from wiki

"
Media coverage in Myanmar[edit]
The Myanmar government instructed media sources to not include issues regarding the Rohingya in 2014. Specifically, the Editor in Chief of the Myanmar Times sent a memo to his editorial team stating:

'... no material is to be run in any of our newspapers with regard to the Rohingya, Bengalis, Muslims and Buddhists and the ongoing issues in Rakhine without direct approval from my desk... Our coverage is unlikely to matter substantively in the scheme of things and there appears little sense in placing our heads on the block right at this time...’[140][page needed]"

According to Aung Zaw, the founder and editor of Irrawaddy Magazine, Burmese reporters were told by their editors to use caution or ignore the Rohingya issue completely when reporting. Zaw attributes the self-censorship to potential international backlash the Myanmar government may face when reporting on the Rohingya. The Rakhine authorities have secluded the Rohingya as much has possible from Myanmar society and from international visitors. Rohingya that have been known to have spoken to UN Special Reporters or journalists have been arrested and/or beaten for giving their accounts

 

[The Corinthian]

At least 14 protesters have been killed in clashes in Myanmar's main city Yangon as politicians ousted by the military coup called for "revolution".
Security forces opened fire in the Yangon area of Hlaing Tharyar as protesters used sticks and knives.
The junta declared martial law in the area after Chinese businesses were attacked. Protesters believe China is giving support to the Burmese military.
Myanmar has been gripped by protests since the military coup on 1 February.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-56395085

 

[VorZakone]

At least 14 protesters have been killed in clashes in Myanmar's main city Yangon as politicians ousted by the military coup called for "revolution".
Security forces opened fire in the Yangon area of Hlaing Tharyar as protesters used sticks and knives.
The junta declared martial law in the area after Chinese businesses were attacked. Protesters believe China is giving support to the Burmese military.
Myanmar has been gripped by protests since the military coup on 1 February.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-56395085

Is China behind the coup?

 

[The Corinthian]

Is China behind the coup?

I'm not certain they're behind the coup per se, but I think they'll definitely use the unrest to further their own interests.

 

[RedTiger]

Protesters believe China is giving support to the Burmese military.

Well that's a big suprise, considering Myanmar is a de-facto client state of China.

 

[The United]

Is China behind the coup?

At least behind the military.

 

[The United]

At least 14 protesters have been killed in clashes in Myanmar's main city Yangon as politicians ousted by the military coup called for "revolution".
Security forces opened fire in the Yangon area of Hlaing Tharyar as protesters used sticks and knives.
The junta declared martial law in the area after Chinese businesses were attacked. Protesters believe China is giving support to the Burmese military.
Myanmar has been gripped by protests since the military coup on 1 February.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-56395085

Unconfirmed toll is about 30 for the day. Many bodies/injured are still coming into hospitals.

It can and will get worse in the coming days as people are fed up with everything and eager to fight back with whatever they can get in their hand.

For them, it does not matter if they protest peacefully or not, they will get shot anyway.

Edit: Now about 70.

 

[Synco]

Death toll has reportedly risen close to 300 in the meantime, with about 2000 imprisoned. Reports also say about 600 prisoners have just been released. The opposition tries to pressurize the junta with mass civil disobedience, like strikes on services of everyday life.

The coup is still a bit puzzling to me, as the military seemed to have a firm grip on politics even with the more-or-less democracy in place. Not sure what credible threat Suu Kyi would have posed to that order, even in light of the landslide election result. From the little I know, it looks very much as if personal ambition must have played a major part in the decision for a coup.