Myanmar a country which recently had got democracy in the year 2011 has again been shutdown, as the military performed a coup and declared state of emergency for one year in Myanmar. But to understand completely what happened in Myanmar we need to know some important details about how things have been in Myanmar in the past.
BRIEF HISTORY OF MYANMAR: Firstly Myanmar got its independence on 4th January 1948, but it only became democratic nation in 2011. After Myanmar got its independence the first prime minister U Nu was elected, but the newly elected government failed to maintain the unity of the country and in 1958 the military took over Myanmar and this dictatorship lasted till 2011. But the irony is the party which came into ruling after the military rule was created by military before it officially ceded power in 2011, known as the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). But the most important thing to keep in mind is that unlike other countries Myanmar’s constitution says that the commander-in-chief can take power only in extreme circumstances that could cause “disintegration of the union, disintegration of national solidarity and loss of sovereign power”, but only during a state of emergency, which can only be declared by the civilian president. Not only that but the military, sees itself as the guardian of national unity and the constitution, and it has enshrined a permanent role for itself in the political system. It gets an unelected quota of 25% of parliamentary seats and it controls the defence, interior and borders ministries, ensuring an important stake in politics. So with this let us see what happened in Myanmar and was it correct.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED:
Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the leader of National League for Democracy(NLD). NLD won the 2015 election with a landslide win defeating the USDP. But in this year’s election NLD won the elections with an even bigger number than they had in 2015 and the USDP claimed a voter fraud had taken place. The military, as the protector of the constitution looked into it. The military alleged discrepancies but did not say if irregularities were substantial to change the election. On Sunday, the military had said that it would protect and abide by the constitution and act according to law and on February 1st seized power in a coup, declared a State of Emergency for year and arrested Ms Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
What is happening in Myanmar is against everything the western democracy stands for and if there was a voter fraud then it should be placed in the hands of the court to decide rather taking matters into ones hand, declaring emergency, shutting down the internet and taking the news channels off air. What is being done is wrong and the people of Myanmar should protect their country and their democracy because democracy is for the people, by the people, of the people and remember if people do no protect it no one will.
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