Voice of Myanmar citizens goes more strident

Sheer force may work in the short term, but in the long run it has no impact. It only creates revulsion, hatred and clamour for change.

This is what is happening in Myanmar, where tens of thousands of people rallied across Myanmar on Sunday to denounce last week’s coup. They also demanded the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The demonstrations are the largest ever since the 2007 Saffron Revolution that helped lead to democratic reforms.

More than 160 people have been arrested since the military seized power, said Thomas Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar.

Pope Francis expressed “solidarity with the people” and asked the nation’s leaders to seek “democratic” harmony. The ruling government has repeated its pledge to hold elections, which is a good sign.

Huge crowds from all corners of Yangon gathered in townships, filling streets as they headed towards the Sule Pagoda at the heart of the city, also a rallying point during the monk-led 2007 protests and others in 1988.

The demonstrations have largely been peaceful, unlike the bloody crackdowns in 1998 and 2007.

According to a report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights in 2019, the harsh persecution of the Rohingya community in Myanmar continues unabated in defiance of the international opposition. The treatment of some 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Rakhine state is largely unchanged. Their situation has worsened, as they endure another year subjected to discrimination, segregation, movement restrictions and insecurity, without adequate access to livelihood and basic services.

Over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to neighbouring Bangladesh in the wake of a military crackdown two years ago.

In 2019, the UN General Assembly had strongly condemned human rights abuses against the Rohingya, but in a noteworthy development, this time the UN Security Council took no immediate action on the coup.  

Myanmar society today is entirely different from 1988 and even 2007. Anything could happen.

Suu Kyi, 75, faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkies and is being held in police detention for investigation until Feb. 15. Her lawyer said he has not been allowed to see her. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy. The military has accused Suu Kyi’s government of failing to act on its complaints that last November’s election was marred by fraud, though the election commission said it had found no evidence to support the claims.

The growing protests are a sharp reminder of the long and bloody struggle for democracy in a country that the military ruled directly for more than five decades before loosening its grip in 2012. Suu Kyi’s government, which won a landslide election in 2015, was the first led by civilians in decades, though it faced a number of curbs to its power under a military-drafted constitution. During Myanmar’s years of isolation under military rule, the golden-domed Sule Pagoda served as a rallying point for political protests calling for democracy, most notably during a massive 1988 uprising and again during a 2007 revolt led by monks.

The military used deadly force to end both of those uprisings, with estimates of hundreds if not thousands killed in 1988.

Pope Francis joined the international chorus of concern over the current situation. In remarks to the public in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, the Pope said he has been following “with strong worry the situation that has developed in Myanmar,” noting his affection for the country since his visit there in 2017.

One only hopes that there is a resolution to the crisis so that there is national stability for a harmonious coexistence.

The international community must all stand by the people of Myanmar in their hour of danger and need. They deserve nothing less. And the rulers should employ reason to do their jobs.