Why is a coup d’état happening in Myanmar?

Early this week, a Myanmar woman went viral online after she performed a dance exercise while seemingly unaware of the coup happening right behind her.

The woman’s video may be entertaining and unbelievable, but the coup d’état has brought concern to many nations. How did this coup exactly come about?

Last Monday, the Myanmar military staged a coup d’état and arrested civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party members after they won over 83% of the votes during the elections in November.

The military, which claimed that the elections were marred with fraud, arrested the party members and declared Myanmar under a state of emergency for a year.

The country’s internet, television, and communication lines were cut off, flights were cancelled, and the democratic government was taken over by the military.

According to political analyst Richard Heydarian, the coup d’état in Myanmar isn’t surprising.

“As shocking as the brazen coup against the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi was, this was not also totally surprising kasi nga mahaba ’yung kasaysayan ng political interference by the Myanmar or Burmese generals,”  Heydarian said on GMA’s “Need To Know.”

Myanmar’s history

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is one of the Philippines’ neighboring countries in Southeast Asia. Its borders are near China, Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh and India. From 1962 to 2011, Myanmar was under military rule. During this time, criticism against the military leadership was widely unwelcomed even in the face of human rights allegations against the army.

“In fact Aung San Suu Kyi’s father himself was a general and one of the founding fathers of Myanmar and since then the Myanmar military has seen itself as a guardian of a fragile failing weak state facing insurrectionary and secession movements across its borders with China and all across the country,” Heydarian said.

The liberalization of the country started only in 2010 and it finally had a free election in 2015 where Aung San Suu Kyi became its leader.

However, the country’s transition to democracy was seen only as a move to improve the image of Myanmar since even though the civilian leadership won in the election, the military never gave up its control.

“The generals saw her as a perfect vehicle to improve the country’s image and to push for gradual liberalization if not democratization of the Burmese system,” Heydarian said.

“Nonetheless it was not a full democracy. Ang military ay may automatic representation in the parliament of the country. They also retained tremendous power over foreign defense policy and also had a discretionary budget. In short limitado pa rin ’yung control ng civilian government.”

By 2017, the military still had the power to conduct a brutal campaign against the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority or a group that Myanmar did not see as its citizens.

The minority was tremendously abused and many were killed, raped, tortured, and even burned. Because of this, thousands tried to find refuge in Bangladesh, and the United Nations accused the Myanmar military with genocide.

According to Heydarian, Aung San Suu Kyi tried to defend the actions of the military before an international tribunal, which led to the disappointment of many people. Many even called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 to be revoked.

Coup’s aftermath

After facing a massive electoral defeat last November and facing an impending retirement, Myanmar’s current military chief launched a coup “perhaps to preempt his own sunset years,” said Heydarian.

To justify overthrowing the civilian leadership, the Myanmar military twisted the country’s constitution.

“They also distorted certain provisions, including Article 417 of 2008 Constitution, to justify them stepping in when in fact, the power to declare emergency resides not in the military but with the civilian leadership led by Aung San Suu Kyi,” Heydarian added.

Several nations, including the United States, Australia, India, Japan, and European countries have denounced the military’s actions and are now looking at the possibility of tightening sanctions for Myanmar.

“Ito ’yung sanctions na relaxed in response to democratic reforms in the past decade,” Heydarian said.

The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs also showed sympathy toward Aung San Suu Kyi although Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the coup was an internal matter that they did not want to get involved in.

“Ang nakikita natin rito is a very clear trend since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nakita natin China introducing the National Security Law in Hong Kong to crush the democratic movement. We saw in the Philippines the introduction of the Anti-Terror Law among others which has helped President Duterte consolidate power,” said Heydarian.

“Nakita natin also in Thailand, in Cambodia, in many countries around the world, especially rito sa Southeast Asia, we see authoritarian elements and leaders using the crisis as an opportunity.”

According to experts, Myanmar’s state of emergency can even last longer than a year amid the coronavirus pandemic. With the military’s takeover, Myanmar is expected to take a longer time to stabilize. – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News