On February 1, 2021, a military coup broke out in Myanmar.

The military detained high-ranking government officials, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and declared a state of national emergency for a year. As a result, Supreme Commander Min Aung Hlaing holds power. The citizens rose up against these authoritarian actions.

At first, peaceful and free demonstrations took place. Two weeks later, the military began to suppress them, and the coup became a more serious issue worldwide. The Myanmar coup is still ongoing, but people are paying less attention than when it first broke out. However, from an international perspective, this is not only a Myanmar problem, but also a global problem, so we need to know more about it and try to solve it.

 

What Kind of Country is Myanmar?

Myanmar's official name is the 'Republic of the Union of Myanmar.' It is also about six times the size of Korea and has a population of about 56 million. Myanmar is a multiracial country, largely consisting of eight ethnic groups (Burma, Shan, Mon, Karen, Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Kayah) and about 130 other minority groups. Among them, Burma makes up about 70 percent of the population. While Myanmar has a standard language, each ethnic group has its own language, culture, and tradition. The culture of Myanmar integrates and reflects the influence of its neighboring countries - Thailand, Bangladesh, and China.

 

Myanmar's Steps to Democracy, and a Coup to Stop It

Myanmar began as a parliamentary democracy after it broke away from British colonial domination in 1948. However, in 1962, the military staged a coup, and people that opposed the military led the 8888 Uprising. Aung San Suu Kyi led a democratic movement that resulted in the public voting for the National League for Democracy (NLD) in the 1990 general election. The NLD has pursued democratic reforms in Myanmar against the military dictatorships. Despite their overwhelming victory, the military government nullified the results. The military government ended only after the NLD once again won the vote, resulting in 390 out of 491 seats in the Senate and House of Representatives, in the 2015 general election.

In November 2020, the NLD won the general election again. However, the military denied the result, staged another coup on February 1, 2021, and quickly seized power. In protest, citizens began democratization movements called the 2021 Myanmar Protests. Now, various organizations, including the NLD, have joined the democratic movement to continue the civil war against the military regime. However, as the military has committed human rights violations, the severity of the situation has grown.

 

International Responses to the Coup

In a situation where Myanmar's dream of democracy has been dampened by military coup, the international society has also responded to the situation in Myanmar.

 

In January 2021, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar emphasized Korea's strong support for Myanmar's democratization, peace settlement, and economic development. On the same day, 17 foreign embassies announced statements together concerning the coup. In February 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again expressed concern, demanding the release of detained people. In addition, members of the Korean government have expressed their critical stance against the Myanmar military.

 

The National Assembly approved a resolution condemning the military coup, pressing for the restoration of democracy, and urging the release of detained people that the chairman of Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee suggested. The resolution consists of demands for ensuring human rights, democracy, and security of foreign nationals. This is considered exceptional in that the Korean National Assembly has spoken out criticizing the military coup of a foreign democracy.

 

On the other hand, support for Myanmar also continued among Korean citizens. A hashtag campaign was used to spread Myanmar's emergency around the world by tagging #SaveMyanmar and #PrayForMyanmar on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Myanmar citizens were also moved and had a campaign to tag #ThanksKorea as an answer.

 

Despite Korea's active support, an unexpected problem arose in terms of the economy. Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (MEHL), which is owned by the Myanmar military, had business relationships with foreign companies, including some in Korea.

The funds that foreign companies invested in MEHL contributed to the Myanmar military's operating funds. In the case of Korea, companies that had a business relationship with MEHL included POSCO Steeleon and Pan-Pacific group. Accordingly, Korean companies carefully monitored the situation in Myanmar and reviewed the relationship with MEHL. As a result, PanPacific ended its relationship through an acquisition of stake, and POSCO Steeleon also announced that they would end its business with MEHL on April 16, 2021. Korean companies need to maintain a stance of caution in such situations.

 

Unexpected problems have also arisen in the international community. The United Nations Security Council assembled an emergency meeting about the coup in Myanmar. The U.N. Rapporteur on Myanmar warned that using force on demonstrators is a violation of international law. The U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed to a statement condemning the Myanmar military's crackdown against demonstrators on March 10, 2021. However, due to the opposition from China and Russia, it has become impossible to actively suppress the coup. China has attempted to obstruct U.N. intervention in Myanmar, claiming that what happened in Myanmar is essentially about Myanmar's internal affairs and should be resolved within Myanmar. Russia also said that attempts to make exaggerated claims about the Myanmar crisis should be stopped.

 

China has maintained close relations with Myanmar's military and is the only country along with Russia to oppose U.N. military intervention. China has refuted claims that they supported and intervened in the coup, claiming that "China does not want the current situation either." Of course, this is China's stance and the fact that China supports the ruling power of the Myanmar military remains unchanged.

 

Interviews with Myanmar Students

Given this background, we wanted to know the situation at the start of the coup and the current situation. So, we had on-campus interviews with some international students from Myanmar studying in Korea.

 

* The interviewees who responded to our questions are anonymous in case of an unexpected situation, and we have combined the interview answers of two people.

 

Q1. The Myanmar coup began in 2021. Do you remember the situation?

A1. I can't forget it. There was a rumor that a coup was going to happen, but I was like, "A coup in this era?" But, when I woke up that morning, I heard that a coup had broken out in Myanmar. I thought, "Is it real?" So I called home, but they didn't answer my call. Because as soon as the coup broke out, communication was cut off. I was really anxious since the communication and phone calls were cut off for three days and the news said that the State Counsellor and President were all detained. It was crazy. No matter how much I called, I couldn't contact anyone around me. Moreover, there's no good news at all and only bad news came out on SNS. It was hell for three days.

 

Q2. And the struggle has continued so far, how is the current situation in Myanmar?

A2. Large cities, such as the capital, are seen by other countries, and the situation and information spread rapidly in real time through social media, so the military government doesn't control the areas by force anymore. Also, they don't touch military-opposition forces' areas because the force has weapons. But in areas where there are no weapons and no power, the military is still taking people for no reason, and it sets fire and kills entire villages. When there's a fire, old people can't avoid it and stay there.

 

Q3. This coup will have a big impact on the economy and education. Is this being restored these days?

A3. No, my friends don't go to college because they don't want military-managed education. I came here after I was a second grader there, but I'm in the fourth grade right now. Myanmar's college was a two-year process, so my friends should have graduated earlier than me. However, they still haven't graduated yet with only their final semester left. Even students can't take the entrance exam and enter college, so the curriculum is all broken. Economically, prices go up, businesses are closed, and unemployment has increased. So it's hard for people to make ends meet. As a result, crime is high now. Myanmar is not safe. Criminals stole money and assaulted people. In particular, Myanmar already had a huge gap between the rich and poor. Due to the coup, though, those who don't have money have no way to live, so crimes have increased. There are a lot of murder cases, and people get killed when going to the bank to get money. Even if people are in their car, they are killed in their car. Even though people are inside their home, they are killed and all their money is stolen. If children disappear and are found, their body has no organs. There are a lot of cases like these nowadays. Besides, we can't control the increase in crime. Even if we call the police, they don't try to arrest offenders, so the law is no longer of use. Also, every Thingyan Festival (the day that celebrates new year in Myanmar), we release criminals from prison. After the coup in April, the military released a lot of criminals. I think it's to confuse people.

 

Q4. This is the last question. Is there anything you want to say to the people reading this interview? What practical help can we give Myanmar?

A4. There's hardly any news about Myanmar these days. So most people would have thought, "It's going to be okay." But I want to let you know that it's still not safe and it's still dangerous. We are still living in anxiety, if not war, and we are not fine. There are also cases where news comes from the military side, so there could be fake news. Now, the children are not able to go to school, the people are not safe, and as I said before, there are so many crimes that we live in anxiety every day. If possible, it would be nice to continue to pay attention and let people know about these situations, because it might help.

What can actually help is to support civilians who are in the jungles to fight the military. We desperately need weapons, money, and people's support. Money comes in through the number of views of YouTube videos updated by Myanmar organizations that oppose the military, so watching a lot of them can be a practical help.

 

As this situation continues and the international society becomes lethargic, the Myanmar affair has lost mainstream attention. It makes people think Myanmar's society is stable now. However, as the above interview shows, Myanmar citizens still live in an unstable society where public order and laws are broken. We should therefore continue to think of ways to calm this situation.

 

The Way Forward : Continuous International Attention and Positive Action

After a year, it is needless to say that international organizations are not actively trying to resolve this problem, only Myanmar's own citizens. Of course, due to the power of the military and complicated international social relations, it is inevitable to take a passive stance. However, many countries are putting steady pressure on the Myanmar military regime, and at the same time the military is showing internal divisions. Corruption and irregularities have caused the morale of government troops to drop and some to even desert the army.

 

Myanmar's society, tired of the prolonged and endless civil war, is in a disordered state. What happens in this chaotic and lawless society is a problem that connects not only Myanmar but also our democracy and human rights. If we allow Myanmar's military coup to stifle democracy and human rights successfully, it can become permanent and create a small crack in the global democratic ideals we have created. The actions so far are not completely ineffective, but these actions alone do not seem to easily lead towards an actual resolution to the problem. Now, the international society will recognize that it is an important international issue, and it is time for them to actively deal with it for Myanmar citizens, and even for us. We also need to be more concerned about the issue, to be more aware of the severity of the problem, and to strive to spread awareness of it to more people.



 

Reporter,

Gayeon Han hgy1228@seoultech.ac.kr

Yoojin Park dreamingloveyoo@seoultech.ac.kr