Myanmar news and discussions

[weatheriscool]

Myanmar puts Suu Kyi on trial on charges critics call bogus
Source: AP

By GRANT PECK

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial Monday on charges that many observers say are an attempt by the junta that deposed her to eliminate her as a political force, erase the country’s democratic gains and cement the military’s power.

Suu Kyi’s prosecution poses yet another major setback for Myanmar, which had been making slow progress toward democracy when a February coup prevented elected lawmakers from her National League for Democracy party from taking office following last year’s landslide victory.

Human Rights Watch said that the allegations being heard in a special court in the capital, Naypyitaw, are “bogus and politically motivated” with the intention of nullifying the victory and preventing Suu Kyi from running for office again.

“This trial is clearly the opening salvo in an overall strategy to neuter Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy party as a force that can challenge military rule in the future,” said Phil Robertson, the organization’s deputy Asia director.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/government-a ... 7be6f8362a

[caltrek]

Flower Protests Mark Aung San Suu Kyi's 76th Birthday
June 19, 2021

(DW) Protesters across Myanmar wore flowers in their hair as they protested against the detention of the country's elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on her 76th birthday Saturday.

The flowers were of special significance as the Burmese leader is often seen with flowers in her hair. Supporters replicated her signature floral hairstyle and uploaded pictures to social media platforms calling for her release.

Supporters across the country marched holding signs that read "freedom from fear," "Happy Birthday Mother Suu. We are right behind you" and pictures of the leader.

Suu Kyi was ousted on February 1 when the country's military leaders staged a coup, cutting short a decade of progress in democratic reforms after years of military rule.

The army leveled allegations of fraud against Suu Kyi after her party's landslide election victory last November. The party denied the allegations, and international monitors have maintained that the vote was fair.

[caltrek]

United Nations Assembly Condemns Myanmar Coup, Calls for Arms Embargo
June 18, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/un-assem ... s-embargo/

Introduction:

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In a rare move, the U.N. General Assembly on Friday condemned Myanmar’s military coup and called for an arms embargo against the country in a resolution that demonstrated widespread global opposition to the junta and demanded the restoration of the country’s democratic transition.

Supporters had hoped the 193-member U.N. General Assembly would approve the resolution unanimously by consensus, but Belarus called for a vote. The measure was approved with 119 countries voting “yes,” Belarus voting “no” and 36 countries abstaining including Myanmar’s neighbors China and India, along with Russia.

U.N. special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener warned the General Assembly after the vote that “the risk of a large-scale civil war (is) real.”

“Time is of the essence,” she said. “The opportunity to reverse the military takeover is narrowing and regional threat increasing.”

The resolution was the result of lengthy negotiations by a so-called Core Group including the European Union and many Western nations and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations known as ASEAN, which includes Myanmar.

[wjfox]

Massive tragedy for Myanmar, if these figures are even partially true.

Really highlights the difference between rich and poor countries.

Could this pandemic turn out even worse than 1918...?

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‘Everyone is dying’: Myanmar on the brink of decimation

Myanmar desperately needs an international health intervention but its military regime seems content to let the people die

July 17, 2021

[...]

One estimate provided by public health experts in Myanmar predicts that 50% of Myanmar’s 55 million people will be infected within three weeks by either the Alpha or Delta variant of Covid-19.

One very reputable public health specialist expects that the population will be decimated by at least 10-15 million by the time Covid is done with Myanmar.

[...]

I have worked in and on Myanmar for more than 30 years. Everyone I know there is either infected or caring for an infected person. No hospitals accept patients anymore, not even the priciest private ones.

Some of the Covid-infected die on the steps in front of hospitals that reject them. They undoubtedly go untested, with death certificates likely reading “pneumonia” as cause of death.

[...]

One does not need to be an epidemiologist, statistician or econometrician to see where this is going. The public health system, to the degree it still exists, will utterly collapse, at this rate of infection, probably within two weeks.

https://asiatimes.com/2021/07/everyone- ... ecimation/

[weatheriscool]

Myanmar junta leader declares himself PM as election timeline stalled
Source: The Guardian

Myanmar’s military leader has declared himself prime minister and said he will lead the country under the nation’s state of emergency until elections are held in two years’ time – vastly extending the timeline given when the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi six months ago.

“We must create conditions to hold a free and fair multiparty general election,” Gen Min Aung Hlaing said on Sunday during a recorded televised address. “We have to make preparations. I pledge to hold the multiparty general election without fail.”

He said the state of emergency would achieve its objectives by August 2023. In a separate announcement, the military government named itself “the caretaker government” and Min Aung Hlaing the prime minister.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... -elections

[caltrek]

Myanmar Opposition Leader: We Need More Help From Biden to Defeat the Military Junta
by David Corn
August 5, 2021

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... joe-biden/

Introduction:

[(Mother Jones) Dr. Sasa cannot tell me where he is located. On a Zoom call last week, he seems to be in a sparse office space. Wearing a gray suit and blue tie, Sasa, a slim fellow with close-cropped dark hair who smiles easily, is sitting at a desk, next to a bookshelf that holds a few volumes, including a Bible. There is nothing on the pale yellow wall behind him. He won’t say what country he is in. Or even what hemisphere or time zone. “Security,” he explains. He will only note that he has to change his location frequently—and this has been the case since he fled Myanmar in the wake of the brutal military coup in February that ousted the recently elected democratic government.

Sasa is one of the leaders of the National League for Democracy, the political party that won the national election in November and was overthrown by the military. Many of his colleagues, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the NLD, were arrested and remain detained. (U Nyan Win, an NLD spokesperson arrested by the military, died last month of COVID-19 contracted in a notorious Myanmar prison.) But Sasa managed to avoid arrest and escaped. So the task of representing the deposed government to the rest of the world has fallen to Sasa, a medical doctor and political novice, and he has a message for the Biden administration: The citizens of Myanmar need more help than Washington has so far provided.

Sasa, who grew up in a remote jungle village in Chin State in the western part of Myanmar, was in Naypyitaw, the capital city on February 1, when the military seized control and declared a state of emergency. He was due to become a senior official in the new NLD-led government. “I saw I had to escape,” he recalls. As NLD officials were being rounded up, his party colleagues told him that he should flee if he could. Sasa went into hiding and looked for a way out of the city. He packed a bag and disguised himself as a taxi driver. He approached other drivers, told them he was a driver from Chin State, and asked to be transported to a location he won’t now identify.
/quote]

[caltrek]

Myanmar’s Rogue UN Ambassador Vows to Fight on After Assassination Plot
by James Reinl
August 10, 2021

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/u ... tion-plot/

Introduction:

(The National) Myanmar’s UN ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun says he will not be cowed by an assassination plot against him and that he will continue resisting efforts by the military leadership back home to take his seat at UN headquarters in New York.

In an exclusive interview with The National, Kyaw Moe Tun, the UN envoy for Myanmar’s ousted civilian government, said he is “safe” thanks to round-the-clock security from US guards and that the fight for people power in Myanmar continues.

“We are resolute,” Kyaw Moe Tun said, adding he would fight until the military regime is brought down.

Since seizing power in a February 1 coup, the military has repeatedly tried to replace Kyaw Moe Tun with a loyalist. The envoy said he will not step down and urged the UN’s credentials committee to take his side when it meets next month.

“This seat is important for the people of Myanmar,” he said.

[Yuli Ban]

Myanmar Collapses into a COVID-19 Nightmare

This is a short blog post, since I will have more later in the week on how the newest wave of COVID-19 is shattering Southeast Asian public health systems, causing massive decimation, and upending politics from Indonesia to Malaysia to Thailand. The region had, in 2020, been cited as a major success story in the battle against the pandemic. Vietnam alone had been one of the most impressive public health stories, and even poorer countries in the region like Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar had relatively few COVID-19 cases in 2020. That has now all changed. Indonesia and Malaysia have become two of the centers of the current COVID-19 wave, most of the countries in the region save Singapore have vaccinated few of their people, and even the biggest former success stories, like Thailand and Vietnam, are now suffering massive spikes in caseloads.

Perhaps no place in Southeast Asia, though, is suffering more than Myanmar. Indonesia and Malaysia have been hit exceptionally hard, but in Myanmar the newest wave of the pandemic has spread through the country even as, after the February 1 coup, the country’s entire public health system and social welfare system has utterly collapsed. Longtime Myanmar expert Mary Callahan, of the University of Washington, has released a thorough and despairing piece on the enormous toll of the pandemic in Myanmar. It is worth a read in full here.

[caltrek]

ASEAN Mulls Downgrading Myanmar Representation at Summit
October 5, 2021

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021 ... ummit.html

Introduction:

(Kyoto News) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is considering whether to downgrade Myanmar's representation at ASEAN's summit meeting later this month due to its lack of cooperation with the group in ending the military-ruled country's political conflict, its special envoy said Wednesday.

ASEAN ministers are discussing whether Myanmar be represented at the Oct. 26-28 summit and, if so, who is going to represent it, Brunei's second foreign minister, Erywan Yusof, who was appointed as special envoy in August but has been unable to visit Myanmar to fulfil his mandate, said in an online press conference from his country's capital.

There have been some proposals on the matter, but no consensus has been reached yet, he said.

"We are also consulting with our dialogue partners as to how they feel about it," he said, referring to such countries as Japan, the United States, China, Australia, India and Russia.

He said ASEAN members are concerned that there has been "very limited" progress on implementing a five-point consensus agreed at an ASEAN summit in April in Jakarta.

[caltrek]

ASEAN Envoy Aborts Visit to Myanmar, Straining Relations
October 15, 2021

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14461535

Introduction:

(AP via The Asahi Shimbun) BANGKOK--Myanmar’s military-installed government said Thursday that a special envoy appointed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations abruptly canceled his visit this week after it told him he would not be able to meet with ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others he had proposed.

The visit’s cancellation is likely to have fueled sentiment among some members of the 10-nation regional body, known as ASEAN, to punish Myanmar for hindering the envoy’s work. Malaysia had already proposed that Myanmar’s leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, not be allowed to attend an ASEAN summit later this month.

A hastily scheduled virtual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers will consider the issue on Friday night, said two Southeast Asian diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release such information.

Myanmar had agreed to allow this week’s visit by the special envoy, Brunei Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof, but he canceled after being informed by his hosts that he would not be able to meet all those he wanted to, said a statement issued by Myanmar’s foreign ministry.

The statement did not mention whom Erywan sought to meet, but he said last month that it included Aung San Suu Kyi. Her elected government was ousted by the military in February, precipitating widespread and volatile popular opposition.

[caltrek]

ASEAN Arranges to Exclude Myanmar Military Leader From Summit
October 15, 2021

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021 ... ummit.html

Introduction:

(Kyodo News) ASEAN foreign ministers arranged on Friday to exclude the military leadership of Myanmar from the regional group's summit meeting later this month in favor of a non-political representative, an ASEAN source said.

The decision to exclude Myanmar's military leader marks a historic shift for ASEAN from its principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of member countries.

At an emergency online meeting, the ministers arranged not to invite Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led a coup in February that ousted Myanmar's elected government under civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the source added.

Brunei, this year's chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is expected to issue a statement Saturday on the emergency meeting, according to ASEAN sources.

ASEAN has been facing pressure from the United States to take a tougher stance on the issue.

[caltrek]

Baptist-led Petition Drive Urges U.S. Congress to Stop Stalling on Crisis in Myanmar
by Jeff Brumley
November 18, 2021

https://baptistnews.com/article/baptist ... n-myanmar/

Introduction:

(Baptist Global News) Former Burmese refugee Van Lian Kio said he has been tormented by the flood of social media reports, news accounts and images of brutal military repression of fellow Baptists and other religious minorities in his native country, now known as Myanmar.

The difficulty, the Indianapolis resident and U.S. citizen said, is not being able to help those opposing the junta that overthrew the government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February and is now aggressively expanding its attacks on the nation’s Rohingya Muslim population, 1.7 million Baptists and other groups it considers threats to authoritarian rule.

But that frustration has been eased somewhat by a Baptist-led petition drive and lobbying campaign designed to pressure the U.S. Senate to take action on the stalled Burma Act of 2021. Joining in that effort has been immensely rewarding, said Kio, a community activist with the Grassroots Movement for Burma.

“I’ve got to do something. I grew up back there. I have friends and family back there. And especially at this moment when so many Burmese are hiding and living in the jungle with no sleeping bags and I’m in a cozy house, I have to do something. I can’t just sit by.”

The Baptist campaign to promote passage of the Burma Act has been led by Scott Stearman, representative to the United Nations for the Baptist World Alliance and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

caltrek's comment: The sad thing is that these efforts will likely be dismissed in certain quarters as "just another example of American imperialism." Meanwhile, Putin and China's cozying up to the new military dictators, to the extent that does occur, will be applauded.

[caltrek]

Myanmar's Deposed Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Sentenced to Four Years in Prison
by Rebecca Falconer
December 6, 2021

https://www.axios.com/myanmar-aung-san- ... 36182.html

Introduction:

(Axios) A Myanmar court sentenced the country's ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on Monday to four years in prison on charges of "inciting public unrest" and breaking COVID-19 protocols, per the New York Times.

Why it matters: It's the first of several verdicts that could result in the 76-year-old Nobel laureate being imprisoned for the rest of her life. The 11 charges she faces have been widely criticized as politically motivated.

The big picture: Suu Kyi has been detained since the military overthrew the elected government and seized power on Feb. 1.

• Suu Kyi could be sentenced to a total of 102 years in prison if convicted of all charges, which she denies. Other charges she faces include corruption and illegal possession of walkie-talkie radios.

Of note: Myanmar security forces have killed hundreds of activists and arrested thousands of others following massive protests since the coup.

[caltrek]

A Source Indicates That Myanmar Court Has Deferred Verdicts in Suu Kyi Trial to December 27
December 20, 2021

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14506271

Introduction:

(The Asahi Shimbun) A court in military-ruled Myanmar deferred on Monday the latest verdicts in the trial of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to Dec. 27, a source familiar with the proceedings said.

The court had been due to rule on charges of possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies and a set of signal jammers, which carry maximum penalties of three years and a year in jail, respectively. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the judge did not give a reason for the deferral.

The delay comes after Suu Kyi, 76, was sentenced on Dec. 6 to four years in jail for incitement and breaching coronavirus rules by the court. Her sentence was later reduced to a two-year term of detention in her current, undisclosed location.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the Feb.1 coup against Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government led to widespread protests and raised international concern about the end of tentative political reforms following decades of military rule.

Soon after Suu Kyi’s detention, a police document said six walkie-talkies had been found in her home and they had been imported illegally and used without permission.

[caltrek]

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Sentenced to Four More Years in Prison
January 10, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/myanmars ... in-prison/

Introduction:

BANGKOK (AP via Courthouse News) — A court in Myanmar sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four more years in prison on Monday after finding her guilty of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and violating coronavirus restrictions, a legal official said.

Suu Kyi was convicted last month on two other charges and given a four-year prison sentence, which was then halved by the head of the military-installed government.

The cases are among about a dozen brought against the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate since the army seized power last February, ousting her elected government and arresting top members of her National League for Democracy party.

If found guilty of all the charges, she could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.

Suu Kyi's supporters and independent analysts say the charges against her are contrived to legitimize the military's seizure of power and prevent her from returning to politics.

Anti-coup protesters walk through a market with images of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi at Kamayut township in Yangon, Myanmar, on April 8, 2021.
(AP Photo)

[caltrek]

Myanmar Sentences Lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party to Death
January 22, 2022

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/2 ... y-to-death

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) A closed military court in Myanmar has sentenced a lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party and a prominent democracy activist to death.

The NLD’s Phyo Zeyar Thaw, who was arrested in November, was sentenced to death for offences under the country’s Counterterrorism Law, a statement from the generals said.

Prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Ko Jimmy, was given the same sentence, the statement added, providing pictures of both men.

They were found guilty of offences involving explosives, bombings and financing terrorism, but details were sketchy because of the blackout on proceedings. Min Yu’s wife, Nilar Thein, in October denied the allegations lodged against her husband.

[caltrek]

World Accused of ‘Sitting and Watching’ as Myanmar Slides to War
by Ali MC
February 1, 2022

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/1 ... des-to-war

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) One year since the military coup in Myanmar, calls for international action are growing louder, notably from the National Unity Government (NUG), made up of elected politicians who were thrown out of office by the generals.

“The world is doing nothing but just sitting and watching,” NUG Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung told Al Jazeera.

“In the past year, we have seen extreme brutality and atrocity against the population. We have also seen clear determination from the younger generation, a new generation who are saying they will not accept the regime.”

Attacks against civilians, protesters and political activists have escalated in recent months.

What began as tear gassing and beatings have now turned into air assaults, the burning of villages, and targeted shootings across the country.

[caltrek]

Philippines, Like New Zealand, Rejects Myanmar in Trade Pact
February 18, 2022

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14552485

Introduction:

(AP via the Asahi Shimbun) MANILA--The Philippines has followed New Zealand’s decision to reject the inclusion of Myanmar in the world’s largest free trade pact as international opposition to the military takeover that sparked violence and democratic setbacks in the Southeast Asian nation broadened into trade and diplomatic sanctions.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. told his Association of Southeast Asian Nations counterparts in a Thursday meeting in Cambodia that the Philippines will not accept Myanmar’s “instrument of ratification” of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, referring to the key document binding a country to the 15-nation free trade agreement, which went into effect Jan. 1.

In Locsin’s speech released to journalists in Manila on Friday, he did not cite any reason for the Philippine decision and added he was ready to yield if that stance would get in the way of a collective position by the 10-nation regional bloc, which includes Myanmar.

It’s not immediately clear if other countries under the RCEP, which includes all 10 ASEAN members, along with China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, would also snub Myanmar’s inclusion and eventually bar it from the massive trading bloc.

Myanmar’s army wrested power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1, 2021, in a takeover that sparked widespread street protests and civil disobedience. About 1,500 civilians have been killed by security forces, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Suu Kyi, 76, remains in detention with other ousted officials and faces a raft of charges that human rights groups say are baseless.

[caltrek]

Myanmar Pardons Celebrities Jailed for Anti-military Views
March 2, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/myanmar- ... ary-views/

Introduction:

BANGKOK (AP via Courthouse News) — Several top Myanmar celebrities who were detained for criticizing the army's seizure of power were released from prison Wednesday under pardons issued by the military government, state-run television reported.

The celebrities released from Insein Prison in Yangon include prominent film industry figures Lu Min, Wyne, Pyay Ti Oo, his wife Eaindra Kyaw Zin, and popular male model and actor Paing Takhon, MRTV reported.

All had been arrested for supporting the protest movement against last year’s seizure of power by the military, which ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. They had been charged with incitement, which carries a possible three-year prison sentence, for encouraging government employees to join the protests.

The TV report said the reason for their release was so they could participate in nation-building through their work in the arts.

The report also said that Win Min Than, a popular blogger on beauty and fashion, received a pardon for her conviction for incitement but remained detained because she was also convicted of unlawful association.

[caltrek]

Gunmen Shoot Deputy Governor of Myanmar Central Bank
by Grant Peck
April 7, 2022

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wi ... k-83931264

Introduction:

(AP via ABC News) BANGKOK -- A deputy governor of Myanmar’s Central Bank was shot at her home on Thursday, less than a week after tough new regulations were issued ordering that foreign money held in bank accounts in the military-ruled nation must be exchanged for the local currency.

There were conflicting accounts of whether Than Than Swe, appointed to her post after the military seized power, survived the attack.

She is believed to be the most senior official associated with the military-run administration to be shot since February last year, when the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The takeover triggered widespread peaceful protests that were quashed with lethal force, triggering armed resistance that some U.N. experts now characterize as civil war.

Than Than Swe was shot by two men when she opened the door to her apartment in Bahan township in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, said Thet Oo, a local official. He said she was taken to a military hospital where she was confirmed dead, but a report by the U.S. government-backed Radio Free Asia cited a military spokesman as saying she was being treated for her wounds.