Myanmar coup leaders dig in
Myanmar’s deposed government has demanded the restoration of its administration and the release of civilian leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.
Myanmar’s deposed government has demanded the restoration of its administration and the release of civilian leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, a day after the military seized power in a lightning coup.
But the military appeared firmly in control on Tuesday, after announcing overnight the removal of 24 National League for Democracy ministers and the appointment of a new 11-member cabinet dominated by civil servants and former officers with departmental experience.
As the military continued its roundup of MPs and government officials late into the night on Monday, the new Republic of the Union of Myanmar Office of the Commander in Chief also announced judicial, anti-corruption and human rights committee appointments made under the former government would remain unchanged.
Offices, shops and banks were all operating as normal on Tuesday in Yangon with a reduced military presence in the absence of any obvious signs of popular opposition, even as more than 400 MPs remained confined to their housing complex in the capital Naypyidaw.
Herve Lemahieu, a program director with the Lowy Institute, said it wasn’t surprising there was a “clear technical flavour to the cabinet line-up given the military has had decades of experience in running the country prior to 2015 (when Suu Kyi won her historic election victory)’’.
“They seem to be serious about operating within the confines of the (military-drafted) 2008 constitution, which has all number of loopholes that enable them to legally conduct a coup. I think they will try to make an example of the fact they are following the letter of the law.”
One prominent Myanmar democracy activist, who asked not to be named for fear of military reprisals, said he believed the coup leaders were “looking to keep things as steady as possible” in order to ride out international condemnation.
“I don’t see any opposition movement yet,” he said. “I see some anger on Facebook posts but outside it is just business as usual.”
By late afternoon Yangon Youth Network, the country’s largest political youth group, had announced the launch of a civil disobedience campaign online.
Myanmar woke to news on Monday that the military had up-ended the country’s 10-year-old democracy project and arrested Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders hours before the new parliamentary session, which would have enshrined last November’s election results that delivered a landslide victory to Ms Suu Kyi’s incumbent government.
Internet, phone and TV networks were temporarily blocked as the military took over the national parliament in Naypyidaw, and Town Hall in Yangon, and declared a one-year state of emergency in which army chief Min Aung Hlaing will hold power.
General Min Aung Hlaing has said he was forced to act because the government refused to address military claims of widespread electoral fraud. The election commission has denied the allegations.
He has promised to hold fresh elections once the election commission has been “reconstituted” and voter lists investigated.
Many fear he will not honour that promise, or that he will ban the NLD from participating and stack any poll in favour of the military’s proxy United Solidarity and Development Party, which won only 5 per cent of the November vote.
Former UN rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee said General Min Aung Hlaing, who is subject to US sanctions for ordering the brutal 2017 crackdown on Rohingya Muslim civilians, had harboured ambitions of becoming president after his mandated retirement in July.
“The reason he needs to stay in power is his family has so much at stake in businesses, run by the military or its cronies or associates,” she told Al Jazeera.
The NLD on Tuesday condemned the coup as “a stain on the history of the State and the Tatmadaw (military)” in a statement on its Facebook page.
An earlier statement issued under Ms Suu Kyi’s name urged supporters not to accept the coup.
US President Joe Biden warned of broad economic sanctions if the government was not restored. The UN, Australia, Britain, EU, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have condemned the coup, while China issued a more muted statement calling for all sides to “resolve differences”.
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