Burma's new coup: Aung San Suu Kyi arrested

iNQ; BBC News (bbc.com, Jan. 31, 2021) edited and expanded by Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist Burma (Myanmar)'s dictatorial military has confirmed it has taken control of the country after it arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders in the early hours.

The coup comes after tensions rose between the civilian government and the military following a disputed election [mirroring the corruption seen in the U.S., except that after losing Burma's version of Trump, General Than Shwe, is taking the Capitol and imposing its will].

Ellen Elliot Page introduces Asia's Hitler, banal General Than Shwe

Aung San Suu Kyi, 2011

Hours after the arrests, the military junta appeared on television to confirm it was taking power for the next year. Burma, also known as Myanmar after the dictatorship changed the country's name, was ruled by the military for many years until such power brokers as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton negotiated some window dressing the world has been calling "democratic reforms" beginning in 2011.

In November's election, Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won enough seats to form a government. But the army alleges the vote was fraudulent, just as Trump claims about the national Democrats in the U.S.

The newly-elected lower house of parliament was due to convene for the first time on Monday, but the military was calling for a postponement. The military said it was handing power to Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing.

• Is Aung San Suu Kyi complicit in Burma's atrocities as it persecutes Muslim Rohingya in a humanitarian crisis she seems to defend or be unaware of? She has ended up in a genocide trial

The sites of Naypyitaw, dictators' new capital

Soldiers are on the streets of the new capital, Naypyitaw, and the main city and former capital Rangoon, the name of which was also changed by the dictatorship to Yangon.

Mobile internet data connections and some phone services have been disrupted in major cities, while the state broadcaster MRTV says it is having technical issues and is off air.

The BBC's South East Asia Correspondent Jonathan Head says that under the constitution the military has significant powers to declare a "state of emergency," just as Trump called for Washington D.C., but detaining political leaders like Ms. Suu Kyi is a provocative and very risky move, one which may well be strongly opposed, the BBC correspondent says.

NLD Spokesman Myo Nyunt told the Reuters news agency by phone that Ms. Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other leaders had been "taken" in the early hours of the morning.

"I want to tell our people not to respond rashly, and I want them to act according to the law," Nyunt said, adding he also expected to be detained. Soldiers also visited the homes of chief ministers in several regions and took them away, family members said.

What happened in the election?

Dictator Don Trump

The NLD won 83% of available seats in the Nov. 8th election in what many saw as a referendum on Ms. Suu Kyi's civilian government. It was just the second election since the end of military rule in 2011.

But the military has disputed the result, filing complaints at the Supreme Court against the president and the chair of the electoral commission.

Fears of a coup rose after the military recently threatened to "take action" over the fraud it alleges. The election commission has rejected these allegations.

Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma's great independence hero, General Aung San. He was assassinated when she was only 2-years-old, just before Burma gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948 [when George Orwell, who lived and wrote about British Burma, composing his classic novel 1984 but inverting the last two digits of the year he finished it]. More

• VIDEO: Aung San Suu Kyi: Burma's democracy icon falls from grace (BBC News)