Military junta out of Myanmar/Burma now!

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle Asia-Pacific (ILPS AP) condemns the Myanmar military for seizing power once again from the people when it announced the coup and placed the country under national emergency for a year last Monday, February 1.

The military cannot accept the fact the people of Myanmar do not want them anymore. Refusing defeat from the landslide victory of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in the November 8, 2020 elections, the military declared the elections fraudulent and announced the coup in its military-owned television station while immediately handing power to its commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Several leaders of the NLD including its head Aung San Suu Kyi were rounded up and placed in detention. Several communication and data lines were suspended, commercial banks were closed, and domestic and international flights cancelled. The military takeover has once again struck unrest among the people of Myanmar.

We will never forget the gross violations the military junta has committed against the people of Myanmar.

From the time it grabbed power in1962, the military junta has plundered and corrupted the people’s wealth pushing the country to economic ruin, committed extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing, sexual violence and merciless attacks against civilians. The military junta never relinquished its power despite introducing parliamentary reforms and allowing indirect military rule.

The military-drafted 2008 Constitution ensured the military’s presence in parliament, control of vital departments and industries, and granted the military the right “to takeover and exercise State sovereign power.” Even in the midst of a “civilian rule” starting 2011, the military continued to commit crimes against the people, most significant of which is the genocidal attacks it has ruthlessly launched against the Rohingya people since 2016.

The military junta deserves to be tried and punished for their crimes. They are the direct affront to the Myanmar people’s aspirations for democracy, freedom and just peace. It is for this reason that ILPS Asia-Pacific extends strongest solidarity with the people of Myanmar in their fight against the military coup.

ILPS Asia-Pacific calls on all its members and friends in the region to issue statements and conduct various forms of protests to show their solidarity and support for the people of Myanmar. Uphold people’s democracy in Myanmar! End the military coup now!

Sarojeni Rengam

ILPS Vice Chairperson for the Asia Pacific