10 Facts About the Myanmar Protest That Has Taken 3 Lives So Far

Protests never end well, from the Hong Kong Extradition Bill Protest to the recent Myanmar Military Coup, so it is no wonder here in Singapore we have to protest in a box.

If you’re reading bits of the protest in Myanmar so far and are feeling a tad confused over what’s happening, here are 10 facts about the protest that has taken 3 lives so far.

It Started from an “Election Fraud”

It all started with Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League of Democracy (NLD) winning with a whopping 83% of the seats in parliament last November.

The Myanmar military smelled a rat and alleged that there was election fraud.

They soon found duplicated names on voting lists in scores of districts.

However, NLD stood their ground and said that these allegations were groundless. They believe that even if there were double voting, these votes were not significant enough to affect the outcome.

Military Took Over and Detained NLD Leaders

The Myanmar military decided that this is enough to detain the NLD leaders. So, they did.

Two reasons were given for NLD leaders detention:

• Failure of the government to respond to their allegations of election fraud in November 2020.
• Did not postpone the elections due to the coronavirus pandemic.

That’s when the Myanmar military coup starts.

After the leaders were detained, the military declares a state of emergency, lasting for a year. The power was handed to military Chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Aung San Suu Kyi charged

Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was also charged when they raided her house.

Walkie-talkies were found in her home. These walkie-talkies were considered breaching import and export laws and for possession of illegal communication devices.

She was charged again for violating the country’s disaster management law.

“She was charged under section 8 of the Export and Import law and section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management law as well,” Khin Maung Zaw told AFP.

How the second charge was related was unclear.

Internet in Mynamar was Shut Down

After Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was detained and charged, there was an outcry from the public.

So much so that the Mynamar authorities decided to shut down the internet. Imagine a world without the internet. How are people going to see what you ate for lunch now?

Win Turn, a 44-year-old who lives in the commercial capital Yangon said the internet shut down is because “they (referring to the public) want to do bad things.”

To date, there are still nightly internet shutdowns with service cuts.

TV channels in Myanmar were also affected. Several tv channels were taken off-air. That includes Singapore’s CNA, the state TV and MRTV.

Entertainment channels were not affected.

That was when the protests started.

Public Gather to Fight for NLD Release

Since the public is not able to access the internet, they decided to gather in person.

The disobedience campaign was implemented so that civil servants can fight back.

Train drivers have also joined the anti-coup effort, and they even stop the military’s attempts to restart the national railway network after Covid-19.

This affected Myanmar’s transportation systems greatly.

3 Casualties from the Protests

During the protests, the public banged their pots and pans at the officers. Some of them even threw rocks and tried to chase the officers away verbally.

Instead of speaking, the officers and soldiers opened fire.

Live rounds, rubber bullets and launched slingshot balls were fired against the protestors.

On 19 Feb, a protestor who was shot in the head last week died.

On Saturday, there were two more causalities.

One of them was a teenage boy. He was shot in the head and died instantly.

Another was Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, 20. She suffered a serious head injury from the bullet has passed away in the hospital.

The bullet penetrated the motorcycle helmet Mya was wearing.

Over 30 protestors were injured by live rounds, rubber bullets and slingshots.

On another occasion, a 30-year-old man was killed by the police while patrolling the neighbourhood on the same day.

He was guarding against night-time arrests of activists.

“They have a four-year-old son,” his sister-in-law said.

Facebook take down the main page of Myanmar Military

After the violent outbreak, Facebook took down the main page of the Myanmar Military.

“In line with our global policies, we’ve removed the Tatmadaw True News Information Team Page from Facebook for repeated violations of our Community Standards prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harm,” a Facebook representative said in a statement.

This all happened before

In July 1989, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest as she was involved in the 8888 Uprising.

Soon after, the general election was held. Significant parties that contested in the election were the government’s National Unity Party (NUP) and the opposition party NLD.

NLD won about four-fifths of the seats during that election but the results were ignored by the military.

Aung Sang Suu Kyi remained under house arrest until 1995 when she was finally released after 6 years.

Back then, the authorities reported that about 350 died from the protests, but there could have been more causalities.

Nobody can Control the Mynamar Military

Under the Constitution, the commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, is the boss now.

Even Aung San Suu Kyi is not able to control him nor fire him. He also does not report to her.

Since the military rules Myanmar now, they have imposed restrictions in some areas, including curfews and limits to gatherings.

Governments all around the World Condemn Myanmar Military Coup

The situation in Myanmar is a cause for concern.

Governments around the world condemn the ways of Myanmar military coup.

The Singapore government is monitoring the situation closely.

If you know a Singapore citizen that requires consular assistance while in Myanmar, you should ask them to contact the Singapore Embassy in Yangon on +95-1-9-559-001 or 09-250-863-840.

They can also contact the MFA Duty Office (24-hour) on +65-6379 8800/8855.

You can read more about Myanmar’s history here.

Featured Image: Chaiwat Subprasom / Shutterstock.com