{"id":80162,"date":"2021-02-04T13:26:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T07:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=80162"},"modified":"2021-02-04T13:26:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T07:56:52","slug":"coup-in-myanmar-derailment-of-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/coup-in-myanmar-derailment-of-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Coup in Myanmar: Derailment of Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GEG881ID5.1&amp;imageview=0\">The Hindu<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/derailment-in-neighbourhood-7171976\/\">Indian Express<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Gs2: India and its Neighborhood- Relations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis: <\/strong>Coup in Myanmar is an outcome of many unresolved differences between the democratically elected government and the army. It has many consequences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Myanmar is a partially democratic country. The democratic government led by <strong>Aung San Suu Kyi<\/strong> shared half of its power with Myanmar\u2019s Military.<\/li>\n<li>On February 1, the Myanmar army captured power by declaring an emergency.<\/li>\n<li>The military justified its action by citing the reason that there was \u201cterrible fraud in the voter list\u201d in the recently held Parliamentary election. Since the Election Commission failed to settle the matter, the army declared an emergency.<\/li>\n<li>Similar incidents of overtaking the democratic government by forcing military rule has taken place in 1962, 1988 and 1990.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Is it a military coup or an Emergency?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The following arguments prove that the incident that took place on Feb 1 is a military coup and not an emergency.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, electoral issues needed to be addressed and resolved by relevant authorities, not the military leadership.<\/li>\n<li>Second, Myanmar Constitution empowers the President to proclaim an emergency, in consultation with the National Defence and Security Council. However, neither the Council met nor the presidential consent was obtained.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What were the reasons behind this Coup?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many unresolved differences between the democratic government and Myanmar\u2019s army, led to this coup.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First, Ideological differences<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>The army feels that it&#8217;s power should not be undermined. As it is the one that\u00a0secured independence, defended the country against secession, and ensured stability and development.<\/li>\n<li>Whereas the government has been a strong supporter of democracy. In this system, the army should be completely apolitical.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second, differences over different socio-politico- economic issues. <\/strong>For example, differences over ethnic reconciliation, constitutional reform, the Rohingya issue, and the China policy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Third, Fight for power: <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Senior General Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s was willing to become Myanmar\u2019s President. He was also about to retire in July.<\/li>\n<li>However, Ms. Suu Kyi was opposed to it, and she doesn\u2019t want to extend his tenure. Presumably, the coup guarantees an indefinite extension of tenure. It will also help him to retain the Power in his hands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fourth, Role of China:<\/strong> The Chinese Communist Party shares a very close association with the Myanmar army for decades. The Increasing Popularity of the Democratic government over Myanmar army would have been detrimental to Chinese interest in Myanmar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What are the Consequences?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Impact on Rohingya&#8217;s:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Rohingya&#8217;s<\/b>\u00a0are Predominantly Muslim population who are facing <strong>Ethnic violence<\/strong> in Myanmar.<\/li>\n<li>Currently, a million of them are living in Bangladesh as <strong>refugees<\/strong> due to persecution in Myanmar, and are waiting to be repatriated.<\/li>\n<li>Though the Myanmar army was against <strong>repatriation<\/strong>, recently the democratic government of Myanmar and Bangladesh held talks for repatriation. These efforts, will definitely be impacted by the current coup.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Impact on Democracy:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With great efforts the Suu Kyi\u2019s administration has nurtured the growth of democracy even in the deeper roots of Myanmar. Now the coup is a step back for Myanmar&#8217;s democracy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Way forward for India<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Though India is a torch-bearer of Democracy, the government is also committed to the policy of <strong>non-interference<\/strong> in another state\u2019s internal affairs. Therefore, India should cautiously balance its principles, values, interests while dealing with Myanmar based on <strong>geopolitical realities and national interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The Hindu, Indian Express Gs2: India and its Neighborhood- Relations. Synopsis: Coup in Myanmar is an outcome of many unresolved differences between the democratically elected government and the army. It has many consequences. Background Myanmar is a partially democratic country. The democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi shared half of its power&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/coup-in-myanmar-derailment-of-democracy\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Coup in Myanmar: Derailment of Democracy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704825822},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}