Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi detained by military in apparent coup

Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi detained by military in apparent coup

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and several of her political allies have been detained in an early morning raid, a spokesman for her party said. He warned of a possible military coup.

Myanmar's powerful military detained the country's leader in an overnight raid, the ruling National League for Democracy said on Monday. Other senior leaders from the party have also been "taken" in an apparent coup.

"I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law," said spokesman Myo Nyunt, revealing that the 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders were now in custody.

He added that he also expected to be taken.

"With the situation we see happening now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup," he added.

National TV goes off the air


Hours later, state-run broadcaster MRTV said it was unable to broadcast as it was facing technical issues.

"Due to current communication difficulties we'd like to respectfully inform you that the regular programmes of MRTV and Myanmar Radio cannot be broadcast," Myanmar Radio and Television said in a Facebook post.

A witness told Reuters that soldiers had been deployed outside the city hall in Yangon, the the country's biggest city.

Internet connections and mobile services in Yangon were also severely disrupted early Monday, with Myanmar's national internet connectivity falling to 75% of regular levels early on Monday, according to internet monitoring service NetBlocks.

"The telecommunication disruptions, beginning approximately 3:00 am Monday morning local time, have significant subnational impact including the capital, and are likely to limit coverage of events as they take place," Netblocks said in a statement.

This comes amidst escalating tensions between Myanmar’s civilian government and its army, which had been at the helm of governance for decades.

Australia slams attempt to 'seize control'


Australia urged Myanmar's military to release all the detained leaders, adding that the army was "once again seeking to seize control."

"We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully," Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.

A military spokesman was unavailable for comments on Monday.

Last week, however, Myanmar's military commander-in-chief sparked fears of an impending coup.

The army's commander-in-chief, General Min Aung Hlaing told military personnel on Wednesday that it may be "necessary" to revoke the constitution if it was not abided by.

Political tensions escalated when a military spokesman warned the armed forces could "take action" if concerns about election irregularities were not addressed.

However, in a statement on Saturday, the military — officially named the Tatmadaw in Burmese — appeared to backtrack on its rhetoric, saying that the general's remarks had been misinterpreted.

"The Tatmadaw is protecting the 2008 constitution and will act according to the law," it said. "Some organizations and media assumed what they want and wrote as Tatmadaw will abolish the constitution."

'Consequences will be dire'


Aung San Suu Kyi played a key role in the 1988 protests against the military junta, and ended up spending many years under house arrest before running for parliament in 2012. Since taking power in 2016, however, activists and diplomats across the world slammed the leader for her apparent subservience to the military-led regime.

"Ten years after the transition to democracy started, the country is facing a huge setback with the Tatmadaw rounding up elected political leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi and other National League for Democracy (NLD) senior members," Romain Caillaud, an associate fellow with the Myanmar Studies Program at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, told DW.

Caillaud compared the Monday events with the military crackdown against a student-led uprising in 1988. The push for democracy that year also gave rise to the ruling NLD.

"The consequences will be dire," he said, referring to the ongoing crisis. "This is a different world from 1988, with globalization, social media, COVID-19, a new US administration, and China's infrastructure ambition. Backlash against the Tatmadaw will be intense.

He added that the Tatmadaw's motivations for the move are "difficult to grasp," but could be due to "a breakdown in trust and communication" between the military and NLD, frustration with the management of ongoing conflict in Rakhine State, and questions over the 2008 constitution.

Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah



Darling of democracy


The daughter of Myanmar's assassinated founding father, Aung San Suu Kyi returned to her home country in the 1980s after studying and starting a family in England. She became a key figure in the 1988 uprisings against the country's military dictatorship. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) was victorious in 1990 elections but the government refused to honor the vote.


Military rule


Suu Kyi spent 15 of the 21 years between 1989 and 2010 under house arrest. After 1995, the rights advocate was barred from seeing her two sons and husband, Michael Aris, even after the latter was diagnosed with cancer.


'The Lady'


Suu Kyi's determination to bring democracy and human rights to her country won her international renown, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She was so popular that in 2011 famous French director Luc Besson made a biopic of her life starring Michelle Yeoh. She was often called the world's most famous political prisoner.


Sworn in as lawmaker


Decades of campaigning finally paid off and in 2012 Suu Kyi was allowed to run in free elections. She won a seat in parliament as Myanmar began its transition away from military government. Since general elections in 2015 she has been the country's de facto civilian leader, although officially she is the foreign minister and state counsellor under President Htin Kyaw.


Persecution of the Rohingya


Rohingya are a mostly Muslim ethnic group who had their citizenship revoked by Myanmar's Buddhist-majority government in 1982. Long persecuted, their plight intensified in 2016 when the military began what it calls "clearance" of illegal immigrants - but what groups like Human Rights Watch have described as "ethnic cleansing." Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.


Fall from grace


When she became state counsellor in 2016, Suu Kyi set up a commission to investigate claims of atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. Suu Kyi has accused the Rohingya of spreading "a huge iceberg of misinformation," and that she is concerned by the "terrorist threat" posed by extremists. Her stance sparked protests in Muslim-majority countries around the world.


Nobel no more?


Suu Kyi has been stripped of various honors and lost much of her international support due to her handling of the Rohingya crisis. The Nobel committee was forced to issue a statement saying that her peace prize could not be revoked. Fellow Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai called on Suu Kyi to "stop the violence." Suu Kyi has said that outsiders do not grasp the complexities of the situation.


A controversial election


Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy party won the November 8th general election, with enough seats to form the next government. However, the military's proxy party, the Union Solidrity and Development party, claimed fraud and demanded a new election supervised by the military. With that, came comments alluding to a possible coup. Supporters of the party also marched in protest.


Tatmadaw detains Aung San Suu Kyi


The Myanmar leader and several of her political allies were detained in an early morning raid led by the military, in what the NLD party called an apparent coup. Hours later, state-run broadcaster MRTV said it was unable to broadcast due to technical issues. The move comes amid escalating tensions between the civilian government and army, which had been at the helm of governance for decades.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Hungary's Prime Minister Criticizes NATO's Role in Ukraine
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Hungarian Scientist to Conduct 30 Research Experiments on the International Space Station
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
International Astronaut Team Launched to Space Station
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
Oil Prices Set to Surge After US Strikes Iran
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
×