Hundreds of members of Myanmar’s Parliament were still confined to an “out-of-state detention center” in the country’s capital on Tuesday, a day after the military seized power and detained senior politicians. elected director Aung San Suu Kyi.
One of the legislators told the Associated Press news agency that he and about 400 other MPs were able to talk to each other inside the government housing building and communicate with their constituencies by phone but did not they were allowed to leave the manure in Naypyidaw.
He said police were inside the center and soldiers were outside.
The legislator said the politicians, who were made up of members of the Aung San Suu Kyi National League of Democracy (NLD) and various smaller parties, spent a sleepless night worrying that Remove them.
“We had to stay awake and vigilant,” said the legislator, who spoke on condition of anonymity without worrying about his safety.
Another legislator told AFP she was also “very concerned” and described the cement as an “outdoor detention center”. “We are not allowed to go out,” she said.
The coup came hours before legislators from across the country were expected to attend the opening of the new parliamentary session. The military said it had to act because the government had not been involved in military fraud claims in the November elections – in which Suu Kyi’s ruling party won by a landslide – and because it had given permission. for the election to proceed despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The NLD condemned the coup in a Facebook post Tuesday and called for Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and others arrested the day before to be released. The whereabouts of Aung San Suu Kyi and the president were not yet known 24 hours after their arrest.
“We see this as a stain on the history of the State and the Tatmadaw,” the party said, referring to the military with its Burmese name.
An NLD rector told AFP that the pair were in house arrest in Naypyidaw. “We were told not to worry. However, we are concerned. It would be a relief if we saw pictures of them at home, ”said the anonymous legislator.
The army has now empowered General Min Aung Hlaing and put him in a state of emergency for a year. Late Monday, the chief executive’s office announced the names of the new cabinet ministers. The 11-member cabinet is made up of military generals, military vice-generals and former advisers to a previous government headed by former general Thein Sein.
Suu Kyi ‘in the hands’
Tuesday in Yangon, the country’s largest city, the streets were quieter than usual but taxis and buses were still running and there were no outside signs of heavy security.
“We want to go out to express our displeasure,” a taxi driver told AFP early Tuesday morning.
“But Amay Suu (Mother Suu) is in their hands. There is little we can do but stay quiet at this time. “
The Myanmar Times in English was at the forefront of the crisis, while other newspapers with the state showed front-page photos of Monday’s meeting of the National Defense and Security Council, attended by acting president Myint Swe and Min Aung Hlaing together to other army officers.
The coup is a step backwards for Myanmar, which was slowly emerging from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962.
The Tatmadaw has maintained that his actions are legally justified – citing a section of the constitution he climbed in 2008 that will allow him to take control in times of national crisis. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party further cites many international observers as saying it is coming to a coup.
The takeover marks a dramatic fall in power for Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace spokesman who had been under house arrest for years while trying to push her country towards democracy and then she became its de facto leader after her party won elections in 2015.
Aung San Suu Kyi had been a strong objector of the army during her years in captivity. But after moving from a democratic image to a politician, she had to work with the generals, despite allowing elections to maintain great power.
While the 75-year-old has been popular at home, Aung San Suu Kyi’s disdain for the generals – goes so far as to defend the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that the United States and others have celebrated genocide – damaged its reputation abroad.
The coup is a test for the international community, which had reduced Myanmar while under military rule and then willingly accepted the Aung San Suu Kyi government as a sign that the country was about end on the path to democracy.
US President Joe Biden threatened new sanctions, lifted during the Obama administration when Biden was vice president.
Biden called the military’s actions a “direct attack on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law,” and said Washington would not delay any reversal of sanctions.
“The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack,” he said in a statement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the reforms a “severe blow to democratic reforms,” according to his arguments.
But China refused to criticize anyone, instead calling on all sides to “resolve differences”.
The Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on the trophy – possibly Tuesday, according to the United Kingdom, which currently holds the leadership of the council.