Military takes control of Myanmar for a year; Aung San Suu Kyi, others placed under house arrest

Nay Pyi Taw: Myanmar military television says the military has taken control of the country for one year. A presenter on military-owned Myawaddy TV announced the takeover and cited a section of the military-drafted Constitution that allows the military to take control in times of national emergency. He said the reason for takeover was in part due to the government’s failure to act on the military’s claims of voter fraud in last November’s election and its failure to postpone the election because of the coronavirus crisis. The announcement follows days of concern about the threat of a military coup — and military denials that it would stage one — and came on the morning the country’s new Parliament session was to begin. The takeover is a sharp reversal of the partial yet significant progress toward democracy Myanmar made in recent years following five decades of military rule and international isolation that began in 1962. It would also be shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, who led the democracy struggle despite years under house arrest and and won a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. The Irrawaddy, an established online news service, reported that State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi Suu Kyi, the nation’s top leader, and the country’s president, Win Myint, were both detained in the pre-dawn hours of Monday. The news service cited Myo Nyunt, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy party. Its report said that the party’s Central Executive Committee members, lawmakers and regional Cabinet members had also been taken into custody. Phone and internet access to Nay Pyi Taw was lost and Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party could not be reached. The US, Australia and others were concerned by the reports and urged Myanmar’s military to respect the rule of law. “The United States is alarmed by reports that the Burmese military has taken steps to undermine the country’s democratic transition, including the arrest of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials in Burma,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement from Washington. She said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the reported developments. “The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed,” the statement said. Burma is the former name of Myanmar. Australian foreign minister Marise Payne called for the release of Suu Kyi and others reported to be detained. “We strongly support the peaceful reconvening of the National Assembly, consistent with the results of the November 2020 General Election,” she said. Myanmar lawmakers were to gather Monday in the capital Naypyitaw for the first session of Parliament since last year’s election. Online news portal Myanmar Now cited unidentified sources about the arrest of Suu Kyi and the NLD’s chairperson around dawn and did not have further details. Myanmar Visual Television and Myanmar Voice Radio posted on Facebook at around 6.30 am that their programs were not available to broadcast regularly. The 75-year-old Suu Kyi is by far the country’s most dominant politician, and became the country’s leader after leading a decades-long nonviolent struggle against military rule. Suu Kyi’s party captured 396 out of 476 seats in the combined lower and upper houses of Parliament in the November polls, but the military holds 25 percent of the total seats under the 2008 military-drafted Constitution and several key ministerial positions are also reserved for military appointees. The military, known as the Tatmadaw, charged that there was massive voting fraud in the election, though it has failed to provide proof. The State Union Election Commission last week rejected its allegations. Amid the bickering over the allegations, the military last Tuesday ramped up political tension when a spokesman at its weekly news conference, responding to a reporter’s question, declined to rule out the possibility of a coup. Major-General Zaw Min Tun elaborated by saying the military would “follow the laws in accordance with the Constitution.” Using similar language, Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing told senior officers in a speech Wednesday that the Constitution could be revoked if the laws were not being properly enforced. Adding to the concern was the unusual deployment of armoured vehicles in the streets of several large cities. On Saturday, however, the military denied it had threatened a coup, accusing unnamed organisations and media of misrepresenting its position and taking the general’s words out of context. On Sunday, it reiterated its denial, this time blaming unspecified foreign embassies of misinterpreting the military’s position and calling on them “not to make unwarranted assumptions about the situation.” US officials at the National Security Council and the state department said they were aware of the reports but could not confirm a coup and detentions had taken place.