{"id":34272,"date":"2021-08-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/blog\/six-months-after-the-coup-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-myanmars-new-5667\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T22:08:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:08:05","slug":"six-months-after-the-coup-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-myanmars-new-5667","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/blog\/six-months-after-the-coup-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-myanmars-new-5667\/","title":{"rendered":"Six months after the coup, what are we going to do about Myanmar\u2019s new nightmare?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Benedict Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly six months ago yesterday, Myanmar, otherwise known as Burma, was plunged into yet another dark chapter in its history \u2013 perhaps one of the darkest yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 1 February the army\u2019s Commander-in-Chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, seized power in a bloody coup that overthrew the democratically elected civilian government, led to the arrest of most pro-democracy leaders, and ushered in a new era of brutal repression which many of us hoped had been consigned to Myanmar\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relentless repression<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the past six months, according to the<\/em><\/strong>Assistance Association for Political Prisoners<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, the junta has killed 940 civilians, arrested 6,994 and currently holds 5,444 political prisoners in jail. Among them are many of my friends \u2013 including the incredible<\/em><\/strong>Thin Thin Aung<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,<\/em><\/strong>Myawaddy Sayadaw<\/em><\/strong><\/a> and others.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Another 1,964 are on the run, evading the arrest warrants which the military has issued for them. Over 100 have been forcibly disappeared. An unknown number have been tortured and raped. On top of that, several hundred thousand people have been internally displaced as the army intensifies its assaults on many of the country\u2019s ethnic states, with aerial bombardment as well as ground offensives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the dead are at least 75 children, some of whom were killed in their own homes, according to the United Nations Child Rights Committee<\/a>. In Mandalay, a five year-old boy was gunned down in the street, while a six year-old girl was shot in the stomach and died in her father\u2019s arms. And over 1,000 children are detained in prisons, police stations and army detention centres, held hostage \u2013 according to the UN \u2013 because the army have not been able to arrest their parents. They include a five-year-old girl whose father organized protests against the coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalists have also been key targets in the crackdown. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), at least 43 journalists in Myanmar are currently in jail<\/a>, although altogether 98 have been arrested since the coup. These include Democratic Voice of Burma<\/em> reporters Min Nyo and Aung Kyaw, Mizzima News<\/em>contributor Zaw Zaw, and Frontier Myanmar<\/em>managing editor Danny Fenster, a US citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the editor of Myanmar Now<\/em> Swe Win told RSF, \u201cwe are now at a point where continuing to do our jobs means risking being jailed or killed.\u201d The regime has removed the licenses of all independent media outlets, prohibiting them from publishing or broadcasting legally in the country. And in a new decree issued by the military dictatorship, the terms \u2018coup,\u2019 \u2018junta\u2019 and \u2018regime\u2019 are prohibited. On 17 March, the junta issued a new decree imposing the death penalty for 23 \u2018crimes,\u2019 with no possibility of appeal. These so-called crimes include violating the media law and spreading \u2018fake news.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No right to breathe<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On top of the carnage caused by the coup and the ensuing crackdown, as well as the resulting economic collapse, COVID-19 is now rampaging through Myanmar causing death and destruction<\/a>. And the military appears to be weaponizing the virus \u2013 or at the very least, looking out only for its own interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With oxygen supplies running out<\/a>, there are reports that the military is hoarding whatever is left<\/a> for their own use. Indeed, earlier this month soldiers fired live ammunition into a line of people in Yangon queuing for oxygen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First they stole the people\u2019s right to vote, and now they\u2019re taking away their right to breathe.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Myanmar\u2019s health care system was rudimentary even in the best of times, but it is now in a state of collapse. Hospitals are overcrowded, cemeteries are overflowing, and yet the military is hounding and harassing medics<\/a> \u2013 particularly because many doctors opposed the coup and went on strike in the early weeks following the overthrow of democracy. In the first few months after the coup soldiers actually raided hospitals and opened fire on doctors. In Britain, we clapped for our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers at the height of the pandemic \u2013 in Myanmar, the army shoots them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tragically, the virus is doing the regime\u2019s work in killing off those of its critics it hasn\u2019t shot. Earlier this month Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s longstanding lawyer and key spokesman for her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), Nyan Win, died of COVID-19 in prison. I knew him well. I always met with him every time I visited Yangon. I first met him over a decade ago, covertly, when Suu Kyi was previously under house arrest, prior to the decade of political reform that began in 2011, and was dramatically terminated with the coup this year. Nyan Win was an unassuming, humble man, but a person of great wisdom, courage and loyalty to the democracy movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another senior NLD leader whom I know, U Han Thar Myint, has been moved to hospital from prison, after being diagnosed with COVID. My friend Naing Lin, Yangon\u2019s former social affairs minister, also has the virus, and Yangon\u2019s former chief minister Phyo Min Thein is in a critical condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Chin region, 48 Christian pastors died of COVID last month alone. The Catholic Bishop of Pathein, Bishop John Hsane Hgyi<\/a>, has also died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those in prison, I worry for my good friend Dr Sean Turnell, an Australian economist who served as an advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi and who was arrested five days after the coup. His wife, Ha Vu, has posted two appeals on Facebook given the COVID-19 crisis, and last week the regime\u2019s state media published photographs of him apparently having a check-up<\/a>. I have known Sean very well for almost 15 years. He is a most wonderful, courageous, humble, generous, clever and delightful man, and he deserves to be honoured, not jailed. Please pray for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are we going to do?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the face of this crisis entirely inflicted upon Myanmar by Min Aung Hlaing, what has the coup leader done to mark the six-month anniversary of his illegitimate assent to power? Extended the \u2018State of Emergency\u2019 until 2023 and named himself \u2018Prime Minister.\u2019 Prime suspect more like, who should be on trial and in prison, not in power.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Min Aung Hlaing pledged yesterday to hold a \u201cfree and fair multi-party election\u201d in 2023. But there are two points of response to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is that there\u2019s no need \u2013 Myanmar just had free and fair multi-party elections last November, which yielded a clear and unambiguous result. The people have spoken and their will should be respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And second: we do not believe you, Min Aung Hlaing. Even if you hold actual elections in two years time, no one in their right mind is going to believe that they will be remotely legitimate. We know that you will rig them to ensure you or your chosen candidates win. We know the NLD will be banned from participating, Aung San Suu Kyi will likely be in jail as a result of a kangaroo court and totally trumped-up charges, and we know that the ethnic parties whom you and your army have persecuted for decades won\u2019t get a look-in. So don\u2019t give us this nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real question we must face today is not what is Min Aung Hlaing going to do, but what are we \u2013 the international community \u2013 going to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past six months, we have heard some handwringing, some condemnatory statements, some discussion at the UN Security Council and a few sanctions. Condemnation of course is essential, statements are needed, dialogue is important and targeted sanctions are very welcome. But they are nowhere near enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are to prevent Myanmar becoming a totally failed state, torn apart by civil war and economic collapse, facing a humanitarian catastrophe as a consequence both of the virus and the displacement of hundreds of thousands, in which freedom of religion or belief, alongside all other freedoms, is completely trampled on, we need a plan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What is needed is a two-fold strategy with these clear aims:<\/p>\n\n\n\n