What’s going on in Myanmar? What’s going on in Myanmar?
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We are not saying the Tatmadaw [the Burmese military]will seize power. We are not saying it won’t, either,’ were the clarifying words of Min Tun, a spokesperson for the Tatmadaw on 27th January 2021, a week before the new Parliament was to be sworn in. The National League of Democracy (NLD), under Aung San Suu Kyi, had won a landslide victory in the November elections, but there were rumours a coup was going to take place. Baseless accusations of voter fraud had been made by the Tatmadaw, who had governed Myanmar up to that point.
AFP/CRPH video screenshot
Myanmar’s shadow government of ousted former lawmakers created a People’s Defense Force (PDF) on Wednesday to prevent killings and other violent acts against the people by the military junta that seized power from the elected government on Feb. 1. The National Unity Government (NUG), as the parallel body is known, said the PDF is a precursor to a Federal Union Army that would comprise a majority ethnic Bamar militia and the country’s ethnic armed groups to fight the powerful national military.
Min Ko Naing, a Myanmar pro-democracy activist and former 88 Generation Students Group leader, is a member of shadow government’s advisory council on the PDF. He has been a vocal critic of the military regime, calling it “bloodthirsty” for its killing of hundreds of peaceful protesters and other civilians. In an exclusive interview with reporter Khin Maung Soe of RFA’s Myanmar Service, Min Ko Naing discusses the new militia, the status of
The revolution in Myanmar, Thailand will be digitized
By
Taking inspiration from the protest movements first in Hong Kong, then in Taiwan and neighboring Thailand, youth activists in Myanmar have been inspired to join the digital #MilkTeaAlliance online campaign that is uniting pro-democracy protestors across Asia.
Following the military-led coup in Myanmar on February 1 – immediately after the democratically-held national elections – protestors quickly took to the streets and to cyberspace, calling for the ouster of the military junta that had deposed and detained incumbent president Aung San Suu Kyi along with other members of the NLD ruling government that had won the elections.
AFP
A cabinet minister from Myanmar’s parallel government has publicly apologized to all Rohingya Muslims in a pre-taped video for ignoring the suffering of the persecuted minority group during the past five years of civilian-led government that was overthrown on Feb. 1 in a military coup.
Susana Hla Hla Soe, minister for women, youth, and children’s affairs under the week-old National Unity Government (NUG) acknowledged failings by the civilian government under national leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi with ignoring human rights in ethnic minority areas, including the Rohingya Muslims.
“I myself personally apologize for that,” she said Thursday, adding that while she had been a member of parliament for five years she did not “raise a voice for our brothers and sisters from the ethnic areas, including Rohingya brothers and sisters.”