Name? Aung San Suu Kyi
Westphalian identity? Burmese
Age? 75
Why is she in the news? As State Counsellor of Myanmar, de facto Prime Minister, Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested by the military this morning in a Coup d’Etat. This move by the military had been rumoured in the past few days as the military claims election fraud in November’s parliamentary elections where Suu’s party claimed the absolute majority.
Why do we care? Myanmar had been somewhat democratic for 10 years now after the military “handed over control” to a civil government. That is until 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Suu took over in 2015.
Why should you care? Well, when a few crazy bullmen storm the US capitol for a few hours the whole world cares and cries over the end of democracy. But when an actual Coup d’Etat happens and the military takes over in Myanmar, the world … how do we say this … does not really care. The typical condemning and sanctioning happen but nothing super serious really. We want you to care but our How much should you care scale reflects international ignorance: 5/10.
Who else cares? The Rohingya refugees for sure. But for them, nothing will change, given it was the military that drove them out in 2015. Bangladesh expressed hope this morning that, despite the Coup, negotiations about voluntary reparations of Myanmar to the Muslim Minority will continue.
Any further comments? So who is in charge now that Suu is in prison and calling for protests (the military cut all communication …)? Well, there are two individuals to look out for: Min Aung Hlaing, the commander in chief of the armed forces and Than Htay, the leader of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (which is controlled by the military). So as you can tell, the military is back in power with two six months periods (constitutionally backed) until the need to call for new elections.
