Wolves Without Faith
1 February, 2023, marks two years of military occupation that has devastated Myanmar and it’s people
Another year has passed with the people of Myanmar being held hostage by their military. The military junta have detained, tortured, and killed innocent civilians for the past two years.
The occupation has escalated into a full blown civil war, with casualties increasing by the day.
Reports from inside the country show that the casualties of pro-democracy activists and civilians has reached 2,947 people. With thousands more detained and displaced.
The names of those who have lost their lives as a result of the occupation can be found here.
Meanwhile the military announced on Friday 27 January that they are holding an election in August this year. This sham election, announced by the state controlled media, listed bogus requirements for a party to run. The requirements are now a 100,000 minimum member group, up from the previous 1,000, and a commitment to running in the election in the next 60 days or be removed as a party.
The rules favour the Union Solidarity and Development Party, a military proxy stacked with former generals, which was beaten by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party in 2015 and 2020 elections.
The NLD party was obliterated by the coup, with thousands of its members being either arrested or jailed, including their leader, Suu Kyi.
In areas they do control, it is possible that people could be forced to vote, and vote for the junta-affiliated party or parties. People would certainly assume that they are being watched — and there could be punishment for not voting or voting against the junta.
Htwe Htwe Thein, Curtin University Australia
Can the situation be managed externally?
The Australian government announced today that they would be imposing targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on individuals responsible for egregious human rights abuses in Myanmar, as well as sanctions on entities enabling the repression of its people.
Sanctioned individuals include 16 members of the Myanmar military regime’s governing State Administration Council (SAC), as key individuals directly responsible for the coup d’état two years ago today. The 16 people targeted include the commander in chief, Min Aung Hlaing, and his deputy, Soe Win.
Sean Turnell, the Australian economic advisor that was falsely imprisoned under the guise of being Suu Kyi’s, was released on November 17 2022, after almost 2 years in a prison in Myanmar.
Since his release Sean has spoken to the media about the grim conditions he endured in prisons in Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw, where he was interrogated in leg irons and thrown in filthy cells, sometimes within earshot of other inmates being tortured.
Sean talks about how he believes sanctions should be imposed on Myanmar.
“My preliminary view would be that, if you’re going to sanction, you go all in. The full Russian variety. That’s the only thing that has a hope of working.”
- Sean Turnell
The election is merely a posturing exercise that the junta are using to attempt to fool ASEAN and the international community into believing that the country is stable and that the junta have been democratically elected.
Meanwhile there is almost no part of the country that has not been touched or decimated by the ongoing war between the military and resistance groups across Myanmar.
Below are statements from AAPP, & The Boys In Myanmar (TBIM), a resistance group who have been resisting the government for the past 2 years.
Because of the junta’s reckless actions, not only is our domestic peace and stability being violated, but also the peace and stability of our neighbouring countries. The international community should not only condemn these acts, they must take immediate, effective action in response. It is the only way innocent civilians can be protected
- AAPP Joint-Secretary Ko Bo Kyi
It has been two years since the Myanmar Military Council staged a bloody and unjust coup. During these two years, tens of thousands of innocent people have died as a result of the military’s direct and indirect killings. Over a hundred people have been sentenced to death. More than 17,000 people have been arrested and nearly 14,000 are still imprisoned… But on the bright side, in the last two years, Min Aung Hlaing, the coup leader, was not only unable to achieve his original goal, but he was also not accepted and recognised as the country’s legitimate authority government, not only within the country but also throughout the world. Despite the difficulties, the majority of those who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) vowed to continue until the dictatorship was overthrown.
- TBIM
Originally published at https://alanrawcliffe.substack.com on February 1, 2023.
