What are the hardships that the citizens of Myanmar have to endure due to the military coup during Covid-19?

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is a country located in Southeast Asia. It neighbors Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, China, and India. It gained independence from the British Empire in 1948 and was ruled by the Myanmar armed forces (the military) from 1962 until 2011. The military seized control of the government again on February 1, 2021, following a general election in which the National league for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide. Unfortunately, the election commission which was pro-military said that there was no evidence to support these claims, destroying the main office which hold the country’s votes. Since then, the country’s military has taken over, destroying the hope of democracy in Myanmar. From every perspective, it is clear that the country’s situation has worsened, and the Military surely underestimate the level of resistance it would face from the citizens who have had a taste of relative freedom for over a decade. 

Summary

What is the military coup and why people of Myanmar are so brutally against it?

The military coup which happened on February 1^st 2021 is setting back Myanmar’s transition to democracy and federalism, posing a big threat to national health, human security and education. Myanmar has been in chaos since. There were massive protests opposing to the new military regime. Many healthcare workers, civil servants and businesses have stopped working as part of a “Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)” as a peaceful, non-violent protest against the military coup. Although this paper will basically brief on the hardships and the inhumane acts of the military against the opposing citizens, I will use some data to show evidence on some of these questions. 

• Limitations of communication and mass media (freedom of speech/censorship)
• Inhumane measures taken by the military
• What is the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and how it is formed?
  • massive strikes taken all over the country
  • boycotting all the pro-military related businesses
• What should the citizens of Myanmar battle first? Covid-19 or Democracy?
  • Collapse of health system
  • Shortage of medicine 
  • Food insecurity
• What is the international response and what could the international community do to support the people of Myanmar?

Freedom of speech was taken away

There is no surprise to the fact that the voices of helpless citizens were censored. As the prominent scholar Dr. Saxena puts it, “The military junta has imposed many restrictions to prevent the flow of communications, including disrupting internet access and phone lines.” They do this to get the upper hand and to cut communications between one another, hoping that they could divide and conquer. The internet has been blocked, leaving most people without internet access to information at a time when they need it most. Arresting journalists and destroying media organizations are the reasons that the world has so little information about the new regime, leaving the civilians helpless. However, there are several ways that you could overcome this situation. People could start using restricted social media sites with VPNs. There is no specific way that they could control each website. As young people now are familiar with several social media sites, it seems that they’re trying their best not to get their voices suppressed. We can assume that journalists continued to work in hiding as devastating news are still reaching to social media sites, mainly on Facebook. 

The country’s monster

There are a lot of causalities since the military took control over the democratic government. Lives were taken mercilessly. Civilians has no liberty, and the security of the country was corrupted. According to Croates, “Countless have been wounded, with children reported to be among the casualties, as police and military forces have fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and live rounds at crowds.” Dietz complicates matters further when he points that “Hundreds have been shot in the streets, others taken from their homes in nighttime raids, many turning up dead with bruised and broken bodies.” Both of the authors’ point is relevant to my point that the law and system was shattered, and peaceful protesters were treated inhumanely by the agents of the new regime. At this rate, the death toll will be significantly higher, and civilians could be facing danger at any moment. This resistance to the military dictatorship is having devastating effects.  Pro-democracy protesters have been ruthlessly arrested and tortured to death mainly to terrify the civilians not to oppose them. This is supported by “1,500 killed by the military – many of them allegedly tortured to death – and 12,000 arrested.” Not only firing up the protest groups, “those who seek in shelter camps or religious buildings are also not safe, as the military has targeted these sites as well” (Fishbein, Lusan 1)

The only hope that exists (CDM)

Unity is strength, hear our voices

The civilians living in Myanmar are basically helpless, screaming for help from the international communities. They have done massive protests, opposing the new military regime. Pro-democracy civilians renamed this united movement as the “Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM),” which was acted in all states across Myanmar. Croates illustrates this when he writes,” Workers across a variety of sectors, including healthcare workers and teachers, began a labor strike.” Furthermore, Dietz contradicts this when he claims, “The CDM has brought together representatives of many of Myanmar’s ethnic groups, creating a new common purpose as they work to defeat the military.” People of all ages, mostly teenagers and young adults were seen on the streets fighting for their future because they knew that if the military won, democracy would not be a thing and they would have limited voices and career paths on how to live their own lives. They were risking their lives to protest out in the bloody, intimidating streets–you could see as a visual demonstration on how badly the civilians wanted to defeat the military and to restore the path to democracy. There is another way this can be viewed. This is a perfect example of the saying “Unity is strength.” If there is no unity, protests won’t happen at all, and we would easily see people giving up. 

Hoping that boycotting their businesses would work

Myanmar is experiencing an economic collapse. People across the country decided to boycott all military-related and military-owned businesses. It seemed like it is working as “the Japanese beer company Kirin announcing an end to its business relationship with its military partner” (Dietz 1). Civilians hoped that if more companies corporate with them in discarding their businesses, their income would be tight and being pressured, they would finally give up. Even so, it seemed like the only hope that they have. If civilians failed to cut the military-linked businesses, this allows the military junta to raise funds to continue their lethal crackdowns on civilians. This is a hard, long process as most businesses in Myanmar are somewhat affiliated with the military junta. 

What is safety? Do civilians of Myanmar do not deserve it?

As the military coup occurs during the time of Covid-19, citizens of Myanmar found themselves fighting both, struggling for their lives. As the military junta savaged and occupied hospitals, media organizations and most of public related places, people face limited access to health care facilities, nutritious food, or humanitarian assistance. In some rural areas of Myanmar with limited mobility, “they are at risk with being left behind or separated from family when they are forced to flee.” (Fishbein and Lusan 1)

Limited health care

Myanmar’s democratic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was already working with international help to address the pandemic. She was already talking about community awareness and hygienic practices and disease prevention strategies. However, as the military coup takes place, the government efforts to tackle the pandemic was overtaken by the power-lusting military coup. Furthermore, as the coup takes place, “the relatively small and fragile, but recently thriving health care system is now under strain.” (Sarli, Soe and D’Apice 1) Helpless citizens of Myanmar are experiencing a health system collapse. Healthcare workers and medical staffs participating in the CDM movement were harassed and arrested, making it a lot worse to restore regular healthcare services. Covid-19 is also quickly spreading throughout the country as a result to “poor surveillance, shortages of supplies including oxygen, lack of skilled staffs and difficulties in accessing testing facilities.” (Sarli, Soe and D’Apice 1) The military are reportedly occupying public hospitals across the country, which enables the police to arrest wounded people from protests so easily. Doctors and nurses seemed to be leading the resistance through CDM, minimizing their work, and quitting their jobs from the public hospitals which the military has full control. Instead, they opened up “private and charity clinics to provide medical assistance at reduced fees” (Sarli, Soe and D’Apice1) The pandemic showed us that health is a universal human right and it should not be sided with any party, or any sides. As a matter of fact, this kind of situation both happens locally and globally. 

Medicine was unreachable

Imagine you are in a serious asthma attack and your inhaler was nowhere to be found. That is exactly the current situation in Myanmar. According to Fishbein and Lusan, “The military has blocked supply routes and confiscated and destroyed relief items in areas of armed resistance across the country and many conflict-affected areas are facing shortages of essential goods and rising prices.” As medical essentials are not able to reach the desired location, doctors and medical staffs are basically helpless human beings without any tools and support. Basic medicines are out of reach, resulting in unwanted sudden deaths across the country. As the currency is unstable due to the opposing of the new military regime, urban areas have been experiencing shortages of food and medical supplies. 

Do we starve? Will starvation come after healthy protests?

The military might be purposely starving people to lose strength, to crumble in the hands of them. According to Dietz, “The situation is dire with the United Nations World Food Program recently warning that up to 3.4 million people in Myanmar could go hungry this year and the United Nations Development Program has forecast that nearly half of Myanmar’s Population of 54 million could slide into poverty from the combined impact of military rule and Covid-19.” Fishbein and Lusan contradicts this when they claim, “The UN’s annual Humanitarian Response Plan released in January identifies 14.4 million people in Myanmar in need of humanitarian assistance in 2022.” The whole country is experiencing food insecurity, with little or no humanitarian support. Dietz’s concept of starvation can be applied to my claim that there is a huge suffering seen in the working class of the country as they couldn’t simply effort to buy food due to the unstable currency rising in Myanmar. International help would be much appreciated to the civilians but many doubt that the supplies would reach them—pro-military people would just rob their stocks, keeping them all by themselves. They could even persuade people to give up and accept their ruling of the government. 

The International response 

Flawed democracy in one’s eye 

Aung San Su Kyi’s party, NLD, won a majority of votes during the election in 2015. However, the world criticized that there is a flawed democracy during her reign. Questions has been asked as to why she would side with the military on their genocide of the Rohingya Muslims. Doing that, she loses her image as a democratic icon and ended up putting people in confusion. Russell illustrates this when he writes, “the Burmese leader’s repeated refusal to acknowledge the widespread atrocities committed by the Tatmadaw against Rohingya Muslims,…, her failure to stand up for a persecuted minority made Aung San Suu Kyi complicit in genocide.” Similarly, in Dr. Indu’s view, “She had personally witnessed the military atrocities against ethnic minorities, yet she also rejected the international criticism of “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya and even defended the military-influenced government against alleged human right violations.” However, there’s a debate to it. Everyone knows it’s technically not a right thing to do. International communities have the right to question her actions against the Rohingya Muslims. Su Kyi’s actions seemed wrong, but from her perspective, she was pressured to protecting the country’s defense force. If she failed to do so, the military’s generals would be jailed by international communities at that time and the country’s military would fall apart. Her actions lead to an only black spot in her image and the same people she protected, started a military coup. Due to her sympathized actions against the armed forces, we now lack international humanitarian aid during the military coup. 

Devasted? How could you help?

There are some small international organizations organized by Burmese people, accepting donations across the world. They would collect donations and support the citizens of Myanmar, in terms of food, supplies and equipment. “Myanmar is largely dependent on Russian and Chinese arms and is an attractive market for Chinese investment and infrastructure projects.” (Saxena 51) It is certain that Russia and China have no sympathy with pro-democracy movements in Myanmar and condemning the coup at any point. However, a there was a little hope when “The White House under President Joseph Biden strongly condemned the military coup and the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi” (Saxena 52) In addition, it is clear that the western countries could not do much to resolve this issue except giving hopes verbally; no physical action was seen. The brutal killings and torturing of the pro-democracy protesters are continuing even though western countries limit sanctions on military-linked businesses and organizations. However, “it remains to be seen whether these sanctions will do anything to help improve the situation and not inflict further harm on the people of Myanmar.” (Croates 1) The courage shown by the protesters certainly call out for recognition, but there seems to be no improvement. Although foreign intervention would make a big difference, the risk that they’re willing to take is unlikely. As long as the military has China and Russia by their side, it would be hard to bring back normalcy and transfer power back to the elected leaders. 

Denying the legitimacy 

Economic sanctions are an impactful help to undermine the military but more needs to be done by the international community such as cutting of funding to the regime or denying it’s legitimacy. According to Dietz, “The military regime is not the legitimate government of Myanmar, the coup was executed illegally and outside the boundaries even of Myanmar’s military-drafted constitution.” The best way to that is not to let Myanmar Military generals represent Myanmar in international organizations and international forums. Denying the military access to money in foreign countries would be helpful too. The calls of the people of Myanmar must be heard and the international communities should help in any way they can to help pave the road for the peaceful, democratic future for the country. 

Works Cited

14, Russell Coates January, et al. “Pro-Democracy Protesters in Myanmar Suffer Brutal Repression.” Students For Liberty North America, 10 Mar. 2021, https://studentsforliberty.org/north-america/blog/pro-democracy-protesters-in-myanmar-suffer-brutal-repression/?gclid=CjwKCAjwxOCRBhA8EiwA0X8hi3qAUpG0-69_FYjs_SpzPM6N9zAFw2O5tQWm8ImA3XXTPg7rWYf-zBoClXUQAvD_BwE. 

Saxena, INDU. Myanmar’s Military Coup – Media.defense.gov. https://media.defense.gov/2021/Aug/26/2002840267/-1/-1/1/SAXENA%20-%20MYANMAR.PDF. 

Price, Gareth. “Myanmar’s Violent Stalemate Can Heal Deeper Divisions.” Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank, 1 Feb. 2022, https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/02/myanmars-violent-stalemate-can-heal-deeper-divisions?gclid=CjwKCAjwxOCRBhA8EiwA0X8hiwkAfg77Np3oLHsBzdtNnNYf8cazwG1WJaJsPwbx5DgB7mLBHBBXQhoCNDAQAvD_BwE. 

Dietz, Keel. “How Can the Myanmar Military Coup Be Overturned?” Global Witness, https://www.globalwitness.org/en/blog/three-months-military-coup-what-should-international-community-do-support-people-myanmar/?gclid=CjwKCAiAvaGRBhBlEiwAiY-yMCipn5eIYUi-Po1EEa1npM7348VHk4cfQ69VyOzYTME_5HQvIbdsdhoCfLQQAvD_BwE. 

D’Apice, Clelia, et al. “Myanmar: The Ties Between Health and Democracy: Published in Journal of Global Health Reports.” Journal of Global Health Reports, International Society of Global Health, 24 Aug. 2021, https://www.joghr.org/article/25980-myanmar-the-ties-between-health-and-democracy. 

Fishbein, Emily, and Nu Nu Lusan. “Military Attacks Endanger People with Limited Mobility in Myanmar.” Human Rights News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 23 Mar. 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/23/military-attacks-imperil-people-with-limited-mobility-in-myanmar.