Myanmar under military rule

[spoon]

Hope our friends over there are doing ok. 

Myanmar woke to the news on Monday that the military was seizing control of the country.

"I guess I'll be live tweeting a coup now," former Reuters journalist Aye Min Thant wrote on Twitter shortly before 07:00 local time (00:30 GMT).

"Things are still pretty quiet for now, though people are awake and scared. I've been fielding calls since 6am from friends and relatives. The internet is in and out and my sim card no longer works."

The takeover was announced in a statement aired on a military-owned television station .

It said the top army commander was in charge and a one-year state of emergency had been declared. The country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, had been detained, along with other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Link

[Guest]

Whilst Myanmar is an interesting place to visit, it has clearly already suffered from long periods of misrule by the least competent and most vindictive dictatorship in the region.  Or that's how it appears.

For example, motorcycles are banned in Yangon, after apparently a general was hit by one a few years ago.

They also switched to driving on the right, which means many of the old buses have to collect and discharge passengers from the middle of the road.

Then there are stories of them building paper mills, which then cannot operate as they didn't consider the electricity supply.

 

[fedssocr]

it's interesting to see people trying to push back, but I doubt the general cares about people banging pots or doing the 3 finger salute on social media. It's certainly a beautiful but complicated place. It's sad that so much of the world including SE Asia is getting more authoritarian

[PeterRS]

2 hours ago, fedssocr said:

 It's sad that so much of the world including SE Asia is getting more authoritarian

Elections increasingly seem to mean little in Asia. Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Hong Kong (where they are now dead) and Japan are/were all answerable to a certain extent to an electorate. Much less so today. I venture to suggest that only Taiwan and South Korea have anything like true democracy, although South Korea is borderline.

[Guest]

If I'm not mistaken, the Malaysian electorate has changed government in recent years, but other board members are better positioned to comment.

My impression is that the residents of Singapore could vote out the ruling party, but would be mad to do so when they have done such a fantastic job. I'd be delighted to have the PAP run the UK.

The Philippines seems to have voluntarily voted in a highly dodgy character, unfit for office and likely to endanger democracy.

The rest of SE Asia is an undemocratic mess, with what appears to be the worst government of the lot in Myanmar. Certain countries could benefit from French style regime changes but all that brings risks of an even worse government.

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, z909 said:

 I'd be delighted to have the PAP run the UK.

 

you wouldn't be so delighted if you happen to disagree with them.

But you are right as for monoparty rule Singapore is shining and rare example of success.

Democracy , like recent examples of Phillippines and 75 million voting for Trump shows is not a panacea for countries ills but at least electorate has nobody but themselves to  blame, option sadly removed by military in Myanmar.

[PeterRS]

11 hours ago, z909 said:

If I'm not mistaken, the Malaysian electorate has changed government in recent years, but other board members are better positioned to comment.

Spoon will be better able to comment. But I do not believe democracy is merely the ability of the electorate to eject a government and install a new one. When Article 153 of its Constitution guarantees racial priority to ethnic Malays over the other ethnic peoples in the country, that in my view is not democracy. Its first Chief Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had clearly stated to the British colonial government that the new Malaya should not discriminate on the grounds of race or creed and that all citizens should have equal rights. Yet discrimination has always existed and is enshrined in Article 153. It is also illegal for Parliament to discuss any changes to Article 153. So, for example, ethnic Chinese do not have the same rights as Malays even though it is the Chinese who drive most of the economy.

[Guest]

 

2 hours ago, vinapu said:

you wouldn't be so delighted if you happen to disagree with them

Singapore looks pretty good too me.  Clean, safe and a top rate of tax at 20%.  I believe the electorate could change the government, but why would they ?

Singapore has one of the best systems in the world and Myanmar one of the worst.   People repressed by a vindictive military regime with no management talent.  Even Cambodia seems to have far better government.

 

 

[PeterRS]

12 hours ago, z909 said:

Singapore looks pretty good too me.  Clean, safe and a top rate of tax at 20%.  I believe the electorate could change the government, but why would they ?

Singapore has one of the best systems in the world and Myanmar one of the worst.   People repressed by a vindictive military regime with no management talent.  Even Cambodia seems to have far better government.

Agree that Singapore is one great success stories of our times - plus it is one of the most beautiful of cities. But Singapore was democracy in name only for many decades and certainly also today. Which democratic leader would have the nerve to say this - 

“We have to lock up people, without trial, whether they are communists, whether they are language chauvinists, whether they are religious extremists. If you don't do that, the country would be in ruins.”  Lee Kwan New 1986

“I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters – who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.” Lee Kwan Yew 1987

"So when people say, 'Oh, ask the people!' It's childish rubbish. We are leaders. We know the consequences. You mean that ice-water man knows the consequences of his vote? They say people can think for themselves? Do you honestly believe that the chap who can't pass primary six knows the consequences of his choice when he answers a question viscerally on language, culture and religion?" Lee Kwan Yew 1998

How about the rule of law? His former Solicitor General wrote,

"It is our responsibility to let there be no shadow of doubt whatsoever that we are committed to these two principles -- the total commitment of the judiciary in Singapore to dispensing justice according to law, and to upholding the independence of the judiciary -- and to dispel as forcefully as lies within our power any attempt from any quarter to cast doubt that these two principles are being adhered to here.

"There was, alas, a vast chasm separating the precept from the practice." Francis T. Seow 1997

Singapore has always been a dictatorship disguised as a democracy. Benevolent perhaps, apart from those who have tried to change it and ended up bankrupt or in prison - or both. 

 

[fedssocr]

I take back what I said about the general not caring about what the people do. Shutting down the internet shows real weakness and fear of the people. All of the millions of people who have had a taste of the internet and are probably social media addicts like everyone else in the world are not likely to be quiet. Not to mention how much commerce relies on the connectedness of people to the internet. Although I suppose it will be much harder for them to organize

[PeterRS]

I love the photos of this guy featured in the Myanmar protests who has been in the media on two separate days. Wonder if he might be gay???

[vinapu]

Handsome and brave, that's for sure

[spoon]

Inspired by PeterRS, below pics of hunky protestors.

[fedssocr]

some more photos (from the Dear Straight People FB)

[spoon]

This one wins my heart!

[spoon]

On a more serious note on this topic

Biden Imposes Sanctions on Generals Who Engineered Myanmar Coup

WASHINGTON — President Biden announced on Wednesday that he was imposing sanctions that would prevent the generals who engineered a coup in Myanmar from gaining access to $1 billion in funds their government keeps in the United States, and said he would announce additional actions against the military leaders and their families.

It was the first concrete step the U.S. government has taken since Mr. Biden demanded that the generals restore democracy and release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation’s civilian leader.

Source

[PeterRS]

The boy in my first two pics turned up again, this time with a different sign and without the facemask. A Burmese friend knows him. To protect his identity I will not say which part of Myanmar he comes from but he works in Yangon. The other pic is the scene yesterday at Inle Lake.