Autocratic rule Myanmar

 Myanmar’s democracy has been hijacked for long periods by military dictatorship through coups. The first coup took place in 1962 when Gen. Ne Win ousted the first prime minister U Nu and the military junta ruled through its own Burma Socialist Party(BSP) till 1988. After student protests nationwide, the military’s puppet party- State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)-suppressed the agitations where several thousands were killed. During the crisis, Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as a national icon. When the military junta arranged an election in 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy, won 81% of the seats in the government (392 out of 492). However, the military junta refused to recognise the results and continued ruling the country as the State Law and Order Restoration Council(SLORC). Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest from 1989 to 2010. Her party boycotted the 2010 elections, resulting in a decisive victory for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Aung San Suu Kyi became a Pyithu Hluttaw MP while her party won 43 of the 45 vacant seats in the 2012 by-elections. In the 2015 elections, her party won a landslide victory, taking 86% of the seats in the Assembly of the Union – well more than the 67% supermajority needed to ensure that its preferred candidates were elected president and second vice president in the presidential electoral college. Although she was prohibited from becoming the president due to a clause in the constitution – her late husband and children are foreign citizens – she assumed the newly created role of state counsellor of Myanmar, a role akin to a prime minister or a head of government. Though in high position, Aung San Suu Kyi the military junta’s powerful chief Min Aung Hlaing actually wielded the power.On November 8,2020 elections, Aung Saan Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) swept the polls by winning almost 80% of the vote, while the Army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) suffered a humiliating defeat. The voters gave the NLD 396 seats, while the USDP ended up with just 33.The USDP did not accept the result. The military backed the USDP’s allegations of fraud, without offering any evidence. Myanmar’s Union Election Commission dismissed the allegations and re-endorsed the results. On February 1, 2021, hours before the new Parliament was to convene, the Generals moved into action. They detained State Counsellor Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other top leaders of the NLD. They declared a state of emergency for a year, and took power in their hands. Myanmar, which started a fragile transition to democracy ten years ago after decades of brutal military dictatorship, is back in the hands of the Generals. Coups in Myanmar are not unexpected. They happen because the military hold majoritarian prejudices and see liberal democracy as the enemy of the state. For the Tatmadaw(military junta) Aung Saan Suu Kyi was getting too popular for their comfort. It is not wrong to say that Aung Saan Suu Kyi is the face of free democracy in Myanmar. The US and other democracies are concerned about the fate of democracy in Myanamar. The Tatmadaw will not be bothered unless the world body takes action. For India, it will hope that the junta will keep Indian rebels off its territory. However, with China likely to be the beneficiary, the development should be a concern.