The detention and charging of Aung San Suu Kyi reflect the military’s contempt for its people
Myanmar’s people chose democracy. But the generals who had hogged power for decades never gave it up; they only ceded a portion of it to civilian authorities, holding on to a chunk of seats and key ministries. Now, after another landslide victory for the National League for Democracy in November’s election, they have decided even that was too much. Following Monday’s coup, the detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged, absurdly, with the possession of illegally imported walkie-talkies, while the president, Win Myint, is accused of breaching coronavirus laws by meeting people on the campaign trail.
A courageous campaign of civil disobedience has already begun. People are sad, furious and frustrated. The military has claimed widespread fraud at last year’s polls, though international observers were satisfied. The true problem was that the result expressed public sentiment all too well, sealing the fate of the 10-year experiment in power sharing. The generals have presumably realised that their aspirations to launder military power into political authority via a proxy party, as the army in neighbouring Thailand has, are doomed to keep failing. They may also have feared that the 80% of seats claimed by the NLD would mean renewed efforts to rein in their enduring power, though previous attempts have been unsuccessful. Another factor may lie within the Tatmadaw; Min Aung Hlaing, commander of the armed forces since 2011 and now the country’s de facto leader, was due to retire shortly. Extending his tenure would have required the assent of the woman he has now removed.
