Myanmar Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Detained & It Could’ve Been a Military Coup

The US wasn’t the only country that’s been bombarded by claims about election fraud.

However, unlike the US where President Joe Biden managed to ascend into the top seat after some violence, the leader of Myanmar, along with key appointment holders, were detained by the military.

Here’s what happened.

Myanmar Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Detained & It Could’ve Been a Military Coup

In the early morning of Monday (1 Feb), the Myanmar military reportedly conducted an early morning raid which saw Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and several senior figures from the ruling party detained.

Spokesperson Myo Nyunt managed to get the word out to Reuters in the morning before he subsequently went uncontactable as well.

He had added that it’s likely that the military is staging a coup in Myanmar and urged for the people of Myanmar to not “respond rashly” and behave “according to the law”.

Meanwhile, mobile internet connectivity and some phone services were disrupted on Monday in Yangon.

State-run MRTV television said they were unable to broadcast due to technical difficulties and Internet monitoring service NetBlocks says Myanmar’s national internet connectivity fell by 25% from its usual connectivity level.

A Fraudulent Election

In Nov 2020, Ms Aung and her party, the National League of Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory, smashing down a pro-military party.

The Myanmar military says that it was a fraudulent election but the Myanmar election committee rejected their claims, saying there were no errors big enough to “affect the credibility of the vote”.

On Sunday, the military had issued a statement saying they’ll abide by and protect the Consitution, and act “according to the law”.

“(We) will do everything possible to adhere to the democratic norms of free and fair elections, as set out by the 2008 Constitution, lasting peace, and inclusive well-being and prosperity for the people of Myanmar.”

The spokesperson for the military did not respond to requests for comments on the incident.

It was added that the fates of the newly-elected MPs were unknown as well.

The Power Of The Myanmar Military

So, exactly how strong is the military in Myanmar?

According to a CNN report back in 2017, the Myanmar military is an aspect of the country that even democracy leader, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, cannot control.

The Constitution reserves 25% of the seats in parliament for the military, as well as control over three key ministries.

Aaron Connelly, a research fellow in the East Asia Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, said that under the Constitution, the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military “is his own boss”, and doesn’t answer to Ms Aung.

Despite Ms Aung assuming the leadership position in Myanmar, the military is still firmly in control.

Global Response

The US, under the new Joe Biden administration, has joined other nations in calling for the Myanmar military not to stage a coup.

On the other hand, China will stand by Myanmar, according to Mr Murray Hiebert, a South-east Asia expert at Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

Mr John Sifton, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, says Myanmar will never subject themselves to civilian rules and called for “strict and directed economic sanctions” to be imposed on the military leadership and its economic interests.

Feature Image: 360b / Shutterstock.com