On 1st Feb, Myanmar’s military attempted to overthrow the country’s shaky elected regime, arrested civilian officials, closed down the internet, and cut off planes.
1. In Myanmar, what escalated to the military coup?
Parliament was expected to have its first session this week after the country’s November 8 elections, where the National League for Democracy won 83% of the body’s available seats, the country’s leading civilian party.
The military failed to recognize the poll’s outcome, which was generally seen as a verdict on Aung San Suu Kyi’s popularity. Since taking office in 2015, Ms. Suu Kyi, the NLD president, has been the de facto civilian head of the nation.
2. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is she?
After the country’s first genuinely democratic vote in decades, Ms Suu Kyi rose to power as State Councillor in 2016.
In 2019, at an International Court of Justice trial where she defended Myanmar against allegations of ethnic genocide, she embodied the government.
Many assumed that the collaboration of Ms. Suu Kyi with the military was a pragmatic gesture that would hasten the country’s transition to full democracy, but her arrest on Monday seemed to confirm the lie in the devotion of the militia to democracy.
3. Who is Hlaing Aung?
The army said it had handed authority to Senior General Aung Hlaing, the army leader.
The military has never come under the civilian government’s influence. In recent years, with Aung Hlaing at the helm, the army has supervised campaigns against many ethnic minority groups in the region, such as the Rohingya, the Shan, and the Kokang.
4. What is the diplomatic answer to a coup d’etat?
It was quickly criticized by many prominent world leaders, demanding that Myanmar’s military promptly release Ms. Suu Kyi and the other arrested government officials and respect the outcome of the November election.
5. How did China, the most prominent neighbor of Myanmar, react?
China, which shares a 1,300-mile border neighboring Myanmar and is one of the world’s foremost investors, reacted cautiously to the coup, cultivating cordial ties with both Ms. Suu Kyi and the military leadership that kept her in detention.