Q&A
Implications of the Military Coup in Myanmar
Question:
"The UN special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, announced in a video conference that Wednesday 'was the bloodiest day' in the country since the military coup on February 1, with '38 deaths.' Myanmar's security forces fired on protesters demonstrating against military rule..." (Al-Jazeera Net, 03/03/2021). The army in Myanmar/Burma had carried out a military coup on 01/02/2021, on the day the new parliament was to hold its first session. They arrested the President, the State Counsellor, and many ministers and politicians. America’s reaction to the coup was strong, demanding the army immediately return power. What is behind this coup? Why was America’s reaction so angry? And what is the impact of this coup on the persecuted Muslims in Myanmar?
Answer:
To clarify the answer, we will review the following points:
Less than a week before the elections, a verbal dispute occurred between the army and the government. In an interview with "Pyithu" (The People), a privately-owned media outlet, Army Commander Min Aung Hlaing questioned the credibility and impartiality of the Union Election Commission (UEC), accusing it of widespread violations of laws and procedures in the pre-voting process. In response, a government spokesperson criticized the Army Commander’s statements, describing them as baseless accusations and warning that they violated the constitution, which states that ("civil servants, including the military and police, must be away from party politics"). Public criticism was directed at the army, which was accused of indicating that "if the National League for Democracy (NLD) wins again in these elections, the army will not stand idly by..." (Al-Hadaf News Portal, 11/01/2021). It is clear from this that the army was preparing for its coup if the National League won.
When the elections were held, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the "National League for Democracy," won for the second time in November 2020 with an overwhelming majority of 83%, which is higher than its winning percentage in 2015, which was then about 75%. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), founded by the army, only obtained about 33 seats out of a total of 476 seats. At that point, the army began fulfilling its threats that it would not stand idly by. It exploited articles it had inserted into the 2008 Constitution, which Suu Kyi had accepted in her previous government. This constitution stipulates that 25% of the seats in parliament belong to the army, and that the ministries of Defense, Interior, and Border Affairs belong to the army and are directly subordinate to it. It also states that the army has the right to intervene in cases where it deems intervention necessary. It exploited this, and hours before the scheduled time for the new parliament to convene, it carried out the coup, preempting the parliament's meeting and the constitutional ratification of the latest election results. Subsequently, popular protests against the coup began, the most violent of which so far were the recent protests on Wednesday, 03/03/2021 ("The UN special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, announced in a video conference that Wednesday 'was the bloodiest day' in the country since the military coup on February 1, with '38 deaths.' Myanmar's security forces fired on protesters demonstrating against military rule..." Al-Jazeera Net, 03/03/2021). Despite this, the flame of protests has not been extinguished, even if it has diminished.
The leader of the coup, Army Commander General Min Aung Hlaing, has been on the US sanctions list since December 2019 along with three other leaders in the Myanmar "Burmese" army for "involvement in serious human rights violations." This General feared for his future and fate when he retired, as he would no longer have power in his hands to protect himself. He was supposed to step down from his position as Army Commander in 2016, but he managed to extend his term and pledged to retire in the summer of 2021. It appears that he has ambitions to play a political role after his retirement as an agent for the British. There were those who put forward his name as a candidate for the presidency of the country. The army expressed this implicitly on its official website on 01/02/2021 after a meeting of the ruling military council, saying: "Army Commander General Min Aung Hlaing pledged to practice a system of genuine multi-party democracy," as a way of marketing his presidency of the country.
Thus, the army did not recognize the election results that threatened its dominance over governance, which has continued since 1962. It accused the Election Commission—whose head was appointed by Aung San Suu Kyi—of complicity, pointing to the existence of ten million instances of fraud. As Aung San Suu Kyi ignored these accusations and moved toward holding the first session of the new parliament, the Army Commander threatened the possibility of resorting to an article in the constitution that allows him to impose a state of emergency and seize power. Hours before the convening of the first session of the new parliament, which the army leaders asked to postpone, Suu Kyi and the party leaders refused the postponement following the elections held last November, which resulted in a landslide victory for Suu Kyi's party. The army exploited the refusal to postpone, seized power, imposed a state of emergency, arrested the State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, placed them under house arrest, and filed criminal charges against them.
The issue is not a matter of election fraud or lack of integrity, as both parties do not hesitate to manipulate elections to support their parties. Rather, the issue is a political struggle between America and Suu Kyi on one side, and Britain and the Army Commander on the other. America supports Suu Kyi and wants Myanmar "Burma" to be a point of encirclement for China. As for Britain, it is the one that established the Burmese army since the time the Indian subcontinent was its area of influence, so it annexed Myanmar to its influence and the army continued to rule it directly or indirectly. This continued until America was able to support Suu Kyi’s party, which won a great victory in the 2015 elections and took power. However, it was closely monitored by the army in all its movements according to the powers given to the army in the 2008 Constitution. When it won again in the 2020 elections by 83%, Britain feared that American influence would stabilize, so it moved the army to carry out the coup. This is what happened; i.e., what occurred in Myanmar is part of the political struggle between America and Britain, and the elections were merely an apparent entry point. This matter—the struggle—was known to those with insight before this. It was stated in a Q&A dated 26/06/2012: ("The regime in Burma, which was controlled directly by generals in military uniforms and is currently controlled by retired generals in civilian clothes, still remains loyal to the British. The British have supported it secretly and openly, directly and indirectly through British agents in India. The British have also supported the Buddhists in killing and torturing Muslims, not just these days, but since Islamic rule ended in that country... As for America, it supports the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi, whom it helped win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Her father, Aung San, opposed the British and was killed in 1947... Thus, America is not satisfied with the political situation in Burma...").
Accordingly, the American reaction was strong. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki stated: ("The United States opposes any attempt to change the results of the recent elections or obstruct the democratic transition in Myanmar, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed..." BBC, AFP, 01/02/2021). US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for ("the release of all government officials and civil society leaders" in Myanmar and said "the military must reverse these actions immediately..." BBC, 01/02/2021). Daniel Russel, the top US diplomat for East Asia under President Obama who established close ties with Aung San Suu Kyi, described the seizure of power as a ("blow to democracy in the region..." AFP, 01/02/2021). Reuters reported from a US official on 02/02/2021 that the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, tried unsuccessfully to contact the Myanmar military at the request of the White House. The agency noted that ("Myanmar's military enjoys strong ties with China and does not interact much with the US military"). Thus, it is confirmed that the one behind Suu Kyi is America, and that America’s interest in Myanmar is primarily due to its proximity to China. It wants to surround China from all sides and prevent it from expanding in its region so that China remains confined to its land only. America wants to clear British influence from this country just as it works to clear it from all its regions, especially the Indian subcontinent.
Despite this, Britain, with its political cunning (khubth), has made its agents in the Burmese army show friendship to China and draw closer to the Communists to cover their reality since the first army coup in 1962, just as they draw closer to Russia. Consequently, it tempted China and Russia to support the Burmese regime in the face of America. Therefore, when this coup against Suu Kyi’s government occurred, Britain mitigated the reactions by presenting a draft resolution to the Security Council regarding the condemnation of the coup and the restoration of power, knowing that this would clash with the Chinese rejection, which shows support for the regime led by the army. The British representative to the Security Council, Barbara Woodward, spoke in a soft diplomatic tone while presenting the British draft resolution, saying: ("We will want to have as constructive a discussion as possible and look at a range of measures... We want to return to respect for the democratic will of the people..." Arabi21, 02/02/2021). Indeed, when Britain submitted the draft resolution to the Security Council on 02/02/2021, China opposed it. China had announced its explicit position supporting the coup plotters from the beginning. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said: ("China is a friendly neighbor of Myanmar. We hope that all parties in Myanmar can appropriately handle their differences under the constitution and legal framework and protect political and social stability. We have noted what happened in Myanmar and are trying to further understand the situation..." Xinhua, 01/02/2021). Similarly, Russia did not condemn the coup. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated: ("We hope for a peaceful settlement of the situation in accordance with current legislation through the resumption of political dialogue and the preservation of the country's sustainable socio-economic development..." Russian Novosti, 01/02/2021). Thus, China and Russia stood with the army, and Britain's cunning and shrewdness succeeded!
As for the Muslims in Myanmar, the leader of the coup is the primary official responsible for the persecution and displacement of Muslims in 2017. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated on 01/02/2021: ("There are about 600,000 Rohingya who remained in Rakhine State 'Arakan,' 120,000 of whom are confined to camps, unable to move freely, and their access to basic health and education services is extremely limited. Therefore, we fear that the events will make the situation worse for them..." Reuters, 01/02/2021). It is worth mentioning that both sides participate in the persecution of Muslims, even if the methods differ. We mentioned in a Q&A dated 26/06/2012: ("Despite the political struggle between America and Britain in Burma, they both agree on supporting the Buddhists in torturing Muslims without any alleged humanitarian feelings being shaken in the West, other than hollow general statements"). This is exactly what happened. When the army and the general fanatical Buddhists, led by their hateful monks, persecuted Muslims in 2017, America did nothing worth mentioning, and its agent Suu Kyi—the Nobel Peace Prize laureate (!)—defended the army's operations in the persecution and forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Muslims. The number of displaced reached about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims from their region of Arakan, and they seized their money and lands. Hateful words against Muslims, denying their existence, their entity, and their rights, emanated from the mouth of the Burmese Army Commander, General Min Aung Hlaing, on his Facebook page on 16/09/2017. This was done without fear of international responses, relying on British and European support for him. He wrote: ("They demand to be recognized as Rohingya, a group that has never been an ethnic group in Myanmar") and he considered them Bengalis, saying: ("The issue of the Bengalis is a national issue, and we need unity to clear the truth about it"). The army said: ("The operations it is carrying out in northern Rakhine aim to eliminate Rohingya rebels who attacked police stations on August 25 last year..." BBC, 17/09/2017). The BBC added: ("Army Commander Hlaing visited Europe in November last year '2016' and was welcomed in Europe following an invitation to attend a conference for army commanders, and he was not met with any protests, whether in Italy or Belgium"). The West, with its two conflicting wings in Burma, does not care about what happens to the Muslims there. It has slaughtered them in other regions during its colonial days, turned a blind eye to their massacres in Bosnia and elsewhere, and supports the Jewish entity that usurped Palestine, which displaced and killed many of its people and continues to do so under their sight and hearing. However, each of them exploits the plight of the Muslims in Myanmar for political motives when necessary. As for the American sanctions on some military leaders, including the current coup leader, they are only because they are British agents opposing American influence and not because they persecuted and displaced Muslims. Otherwise, America should have also imposed sanctions on Prime Minister Suu Kyi, as she justified this persecution and refused to denounce it or condemn the army or the Buddhists; yet, the sanctions did not include her.
As for the existing regimes in the Islamic world, they do not care about the affairs of the Muslims. They did not take the slightest action to pressure the regime there in the past, and these regimes are not expected to take any action now to support the Muslims there. They have begun to harmonize with the tunes of America and the West by condemning the coup against democracy, and the issue of the Muslims is not on their minds. The shield of the Muslims—the Khalifah Imam—is no longer established!
الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ
"The Imam is a shield, behind whom you fight and by whom you are protected."
If he were present, he would not have remained silent if a single Rohingya woman cried out for help! Let alone the thousands who are killed and displaced from their lands. Therefore, it has become the most binding of duties to work seriously and diligently to establish the system that will support the Muslims, by the permission of Allah, in every corner of the earth that will be folded for the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. This is the system of the Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly Guided Caliphate) upon the method of Prophethood, which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave glad tidings of by saying:
ثُمَّ تَكُونُ خِلَافَةٌ عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ النُّبُوَّةِ
"Then there will be Khilafah on the method of Prophethood." (Reported by Ahmad)
وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَى هُوَ قُلْ عَسَى أَن يَكُونَ قَرِيباً
"And they say: 'When will that be?' Say: 'Maybe it will be quite soon.'" (QS Al-Isra [17]: 51)
22nd of Rajab 1442 AH 06/03/2021 CE