Military In Politics: Myanmar | Insight | Full Episode

in the early hours of february 1st 2021 the myanmar military known as the tatmador seized power of the country the coup led to the ousting of democracy icon aung san tsuchi and brought myanmar's decade-long experiment with democracy to a crashing halt foreign a mass uprising soon broke out across the country and prompted a campaign of civil disobedience against military war the security forces responded by launching a brutal crackdown against the protesters turning some areas of the capital yangon into battle zones [Applause] [Music] foreign 10 years of freedom and semi-democratic rule have come to an abrupt end but why did the army stage a coup and shatter the hopes and dreams of many of its citizens will the violence in protests on the streets bring an end to the military's stranglehold on power in the country [Music] february 1st 2021 the day when the democratically elected government of democracy icon aung san tsuji was toppled by the country's powerful army known as the tatmador in a military coup [Music] blood has again been spilt on the streets of yangon in the wake of a brutal crackdown by the security forces yet thousands of protesters kept falling back onto the streets in a bold display of defiance of the authority's escalating use of force turning several towns and cities into a war zone but each day brings growing descent with neither side showing signs of relenting 35 year old has been on the streets protesting against the military hunter nearly every single day she was initially afraid to join in the protests for fear of being detained or shot at by the security forces but soon she's able to overcome her anxiety driven largely by her anger over the return of military dictatorship in the country [Applause] [Music] [Applause] but what really prompted the army to stage a coup and bring down a democratically elected government speculation was rife about an impending military coup since late january this year on january 28 2021 at a news conference the military spokesman major general zor mintun was asked if the military would stage a coup over its claim that the country's 2020 general elections were tainted by voter fraud he declined to rule out that possibility and that came barely two months later aung san tsuchi's national league for democracy or nld won a landslide victory in the november 8th elections the party secured 82 percent of all the 1117 contested seats the military-linked party the union solidarity and development party or usdp on the other hand won only 71 seats or 6.4 percent of the vote nationwide the military's request for an investigation into election fraud was rejected by the election commission reaffirming that voting was conducted in a fair and transparent manner and all of a sudden in the early hours of february 1st 2021 the people of myanmar woke up to the news that the military had seized control of the country key politicians and their deputies were detained including democracy icon aung san tsuji leader of the national league for democracy or nld and the country's president the junta also removed 24 ministers and deputies and named 11 replacements power was handed to army chief min online the new government then imposed a curfew in the country while internet service was cut off the nld however feels that its victory in the election has nothing to do with voter fraud instead it's an indication of a growing dissatisfaction over the power sharing arrangement between the military and the civilian government i know [Music] [Music] understand that they fail to see the tomato as a partner in the demolition process so they see them as an obstacle and so they try to push aside the military from the political process and then create a lot of tension and ending with the february state of the emergency the response by the military following the state of emergency was swift it arrested most of the national league for democracy's politicians including 70-year-old nld secretary and central executive committee member uhan tamin according to his wife suipomin her husband was at their family home in yangon when the military personnel came for him on the 31st january night he went to yankee he got some appointment with someone so he slept there and on the early morning on monday the first february which was also my birthday yes i got up earlier than usual because it was my birthday so i got up early for to offer the morning session prayers and to offer sundar and to do metadata i got up earlier than before so at about 4 30 i think my i i got a call from my younger daughter stating that my husband was detained is a retired politician she used to hold the rank of the deputy director at the ministry of industry she says no one witnessed the arrest but the next morning a police officer showed up at the house to pick up some personal items belonging to her husband [Music] my biggest concern is of his health he is taking an hormone therapy and he got ca prostate and he got a surgery last year so every three months he had to take the injection and prison is not the safe place for govit also besides that so i'm very much concerned about his health and he's over 70 and he will never get a care properly in prison her husband was not the only nld politician who got arrested nld leader aung san tsuchi was also part of the first group of politicians who were detained along with more than 2 000 people from the party why did the military do this military can only answer and everyone wants to know it the answer of it why did they did it i don't really understand i'm still trying to understand like most other people meanwhile angry protesters have taken to the streets to demand for the restoration of democracy in the country and soon the protests grew from a few hundred to thousands spreading across the country the sheer number of people who came out to vent their anger at the military takeover surprised almost everyone it was a matter of time before things took a turn for the worse [Applause] so if you look back the situation they practice the maximum restraint for nearly three weeks as after the situation was now they tried to use the force to disperse their protests a more lethal force has indeed been employed including the use of live rounds against the protesters in a desperate attempt to crush the uprising to date more than 500 people have been killed during the violent crackdown [Music] twenty-three-year-old sin manuei for one could never have imagined that her marriage only lasted for five years she was among those who protested against the military takeover together with her husband hento when tragedy struck unexpectedly right before her eyes [Music] foreign [Music] the army also known as the tatmador is used to being in charge of the country the only time when it had to cede some powers to a quasi-civilian government was in 2015 following the country's transition to democracy that happened after the national league for democracy or nld led by aung san tsuchi won a landslide victory in the country's first free election in 2015 the party captured 390 of the 491 contested seats in both houses of parliament or almost 80 percent of the elected constituencies the military-backed party the union solidarity and development party or usdp on the other hand garnered only 41 seats or 8.4 percent of the contested seats the defeat was a bitter pill for the military to swallow the military's pride was dealt to blow yet again when it suffered another humiliating defeat in the november 8 2020 election this time the nld won by a bigger majority of 83 percent of the contested seats it then alleged widespread voter fraud and electoral irregularity for its massive loss [Music] after the election forward allegation was rejected by the election commission the army then staged a coup on february 1 2021 the move has put an end to the power sharing arrangement with the nld it has also brought the progress towards a new democratic era in myanmar to an abrupt halt the reality is the military has never truly left the political scene nor has it indicated its willingness to give up its power entirely if anything it's merely reasserting its command as the guardian of the nation especially when its position is under threat basically the first one is the article 59 f of the constitution which forbid the thomson suchi presidency so the energy want to amend that and the military doesn't agree on that issue this is the one the big major problem the second is the energy faith to recognize the military rule in the myanmar politics because in according to the constitution they had right to play at the leading role in the politics so the energy cannot accept that so i think these are the two major issues [Music] but why does the military insist on clinging on to power instead of handing it over to a civilian government myanmar has been ruled by a military hunter for many of the years since it gained independence from british colonial rule in 1948 it was then known as the union of burma but its independence was marred by continuous civil wars with many ethnic minorities demanding greater autonomy from yangon then known as rangoon and that had threatened the stability and security of the newly independent state the communists as well as many ethnic groups who saw themselves as maybe having a different future than uh the main nationalist burmese groups went into rebellion and that civil war frankly has been continuing on even up to today you could basically argue that right now myanmar is still fighting that very same civil war that started in 1945 the continuing civil wars provided enough grounds for the military to step in on march 2 1962 the military staged a bloodless coup led by its military leader general newey myanmar's parliamentary democracy under its first prime minister unu suddenly came to a screeching halt new abolished the 1947 constitution dissolved parliament and sent most of the civilian politicians to jail his reason for staging the coup to stop a possible disintegration of the union of burma and turn the country into a truly socialist state because the military think they are the korean of the nation so they are the strong reason to believe that because since 1948 the myanmar have them a lot of the armed conflict and a lot of political crisis every time the military play the directly or entirely important role in all these prospects or all these crises so that's why they think they are the guardian of the nation the coup however marked the end of a democratic form of government it also ushered in the beginning of four decades of direct military rule over the country for the next 50 years the military stayed in power almost continuously claiming that it was the only institution capable of holding the country together decades of diplomatic isolation by the west however dealt a severe blow to its economy in 1962 burma was one of asia's richest countries but decades later it was one of the region's poorest it was led by neywin and it who was the the senior general and they were able to and they instituted socialist principles that meant a command economy that would nationalize industries and nationalize businesses and so forth which meant uh foreign business and and and and personnel ended up leaving the country so there's a brain drain hanging on against the backdrop of a stagnating economy people began to take to the streets in august 1988 the protest culminated in the 1988 uprising known as the august 8 88 uprising the movement started by students grew to hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country aung san tsuchi the daughter of aung san known as the father of the nation emerged as a leading voice of the protest movement but the protesters were met by a ruthless response by the tatmador 350 people died during the army crackdown based on the official figures but according to the human rights groups the number of deaths was in the thousands now the uprisings were confronted with by the security forces by military police by local police and by the by the army and they and the army has always even back to colonial times seen as being um a force to be used for internal security internal security and also security to protect the nation from external ones and they were used and people say perhaps thousands of students civil servants and ordinary citizens were either shot killed in prison many others fled to the borderland areas to thailand [Music] 62 year old uengtaka was in his early 30s when the bloody crackdown took place he was among a group of protesters known as the young monks who were calling for an end to military rule he was then arrested by the security forces for being a political monk and had to spend seven years behind bars [Music] once again regained control of the state aung san tsuchi was placed under house arrest and she remained there for a total of 15 years but then another mass protest movement began in september 2007 sparked by a widespread anger over a steep jump in fuel prices it was dubbed the saffron revolution it was named after saffron-coloured robes widely used by buddhist monks during their demonstrations the military crackdown that followed left 13 people dead according to official figures while hundreds of others were injured uendaka was among those who were arrested and had to serve another four and a half years in prison it was only in may 1990 that a multi-party election was called the surprisingly free and fair elections in burma resulted in a resounding win for the opposition nld the party secured 60 of the popular vote and 80 of the parliamentary seats but the military government refused to honor the outcome of the polls it then arrested and imprisoned dozens of opposition foreign the military had to intervene on several occasions in myanmar's history to re-establish political order in the country but in doing so it had gone against a rising tide of democratic sentiment among the people who had to endure decades of living under military rule will change finally arrive [Music] for nearly 50 years from 1962 until 2011 the military regime kept myanmar isolated from the outside world the country was also subjected to various forms of economic sanctions by the west due to the continued house arrest of aung san tsuchi and its brutal crackdowns on protesters it was only in 2010 that the regime signaled a change of its isolationist policy holding fast to its commitment to implement a seven-step road map to democracy first announced in 2003 so when they announced in 2003 that they were going to follow this road map to democracy people were very skeptical both within the country and without without the country they said what these military folks are not going to be very interested in establishing democracy at all and so this is why it was very surprising when there was moves to develop a constitutional convention to write a constitution that would be the charter the blueprint for the future of the country so they launched the roadmap to democracy and said that they're going to establish a constitution hold general elections and let the allow the the winners to form government and so forth in 2008 the tatmador drafted a new constitution it claimed would usher in a new era of discipline flourishing genuine multi-party democracy critics however argued that the 2008 constitution was designed to ensure the military's continued dominance in politics according to the charter the military would retain 25 of the unelected army representatives in parliament giving it a veto over any move to change the constitution it also had control over the country's security organs including defense home affairs and border affairs here you had a system that was actually being established by the military from the top this confounded a lot of people's expectations and so what we saw was the military actually established a system similar to what they did before in 62. although then they were establishing a system using socialist principles this time they're establishing a system using democratic liberal democratic principles and institutions it also enacted a law that prevented aung san tsuchi from taking office of the presidency according to the charter anyone with a foreign spouse or children cannot hold the executive office despite these limitations then president tencen was able to introduce a series of political reforms among them granting amnesty to political prisoners relaxing media censorship and implementing economic policies to encourage foreign investment in november 2010 aung san tsuchi was released from house arrest after 15 years and then in 2011 power was transferred to a nominally civilian rule under the leadership of president tencen ushering in the end of direct military rule in 2015 myanmar held its first multi-party elections considered to be the freest open and fairest elections in decades the election was won by the nld by a landslide the party led by aung san tsuchi captured the majority of both the lower and upper house of parliament and so when the 2015 elections came along people were questioning will the military hand over power if a different group wins and when the aung san tsuchi's nld party won power transferred and people were very surprised about that [Music] despite the setbacks the military was still committed to taking slow steps towards democracy but the nld's move to change certain provisions of the constitution has put itself on a collision course with the powerful military president they say hope the energy and tamro can working together for the next step of demotization process but unfortunately it doesn't happen i mean basically the first one is uh article 59 f of the constitution which forbid the sansuchi presidency so the energy want to amend that and the military doesn't agree on that issue the nld also pushed for a constitutional amendment that would have reduced the number of seats reserved for the army from the current 25 to 10 after 2025 another 5 after 2030 and eventually getting rid of all of them all together in 2035 that would also mean that the military would lose its veto over constitutional changes but the move was blocked by the army so now that we create the political space if the civilian politician and the military can work together and the build the trust among themselves but the problem is know them for the civilian politicians they cannot accept that because no it's not up to the democratic principle so this and saw them as a military as a power hungry institution and tried to manipulate the politics in the under foreign [Applause] trust between the civilian government and the powerful military eventually broke down and the relationship reached a point of no return the military felt betrayed by nld's desire to get rid of the military's power and influence in politics the civilian government on the other hand simply wanted to live up to its true ideals of democracy but following the latest power grab on february 1 2021 will democracy ever survive and prevail in myanmar again [Music] myanmar is in turmoil its 10-year experiment with democracy has now come to a premature end and the country is back in the clutches of the military the fate of myanmar's democracy icon aung san tsuji hangs in the balance the nobel peace prize laureate spent at least 15 years under house arrest before her release in 2010 today she has found herself at the mercy of the military regime yet again more than 500 people have been killed amid the wave of protests against the military hunter yet the civil disobedience campaign continues unabated while fears mount over the return to the dark days of oppressive military rule in the country musician is known by people in the music industry as float rose the 24 year old has written numerous songs which touched on the nation's culture politics and religion but this time the message is a lot stronger float rose condemns the military takeover in no uncertain terms and he's also among those who've been actively involved in the anti-military demonstrations through his songs he wants to send a very strong and clear message to the military that what it did on february the 1st goes against the spirit of democracy and freedom values which the people in myanmar hold that same sentiment is also echoed by thousands of other protesters who've taken to the streets to demand the return of civilian rule in the country for one feels that for the past 10 years the people in myanmar had lived in relative freedom but now she rused the day when the army came and took it away from them leaving the fate and future of the country in the hands of the military generals yet again the military they saw the the civilian politician is they never understand the the security issue these politicians are more emphasized on the party politics over the national interest so there's a basically a lot of bit trust between the two sides but for the protesters that trust was broken the moment the military seized power on february 1 2021 and the time has now come for the military hunter to give back power to the people that is also how 24 year old sinma nui feels the death of her husband at the hands of the security forces has spurred her to fight on and stay the course all she wants to see is for justice to prevail and for democracy to return to the country just like her late husband had wanted um foreign the question is is there hope for true democracy to return to myanmar will the military return power back to the people the reality is the tatmador sees itself as the guardian of the nation it's the one that keeps the country from disintegrating an institution that stands above all the rest including political parties by keeping such a morally superior position it'll be hard to imagine how the military will completely withdraw from the political scene in myanmar energy failed to understand that they failed to see the tomorrow as a partner in the democracy process so they see them as a obstacle and so they try to push aside the military from the political process and then create a lot of tension and ending with the february state of the emergency [Music] ten years ago there was hope today that flicker of light has fast disappeared the truth is the military has never lost control of the state the nld's efforts to wrest power from the tatmador has prompted the military to strike back and stage a coup and with the future of aung san tsuchi becoming increasingly uncertain myanmar's fragile push for democracy is set to face numerous obstacles hopes for future democracy no longer rest with her especially with a string of criminal charges hanging over her head for now the military appears to have the upper hand in charting the course of the country's future while the fight to restore democracy continues to its bitter end you

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 743,270

Keywords: CNA, CNA Insider, Channel NewsAsia, People stories, Asian perspective, Insight, Asia news, documentary, Asia, Myanmar, Yangon, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, Southeast Asia, politics, government, coup, military coup, military rule, military government, junta, democracy, Tatmadaw, protest, army, Min Aung Hlaing, state of emergency, history, full documentary, narrated, inhouse

Id: iuINrF4ycyI

Length: 48min 8sec (2888 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 08 2021