Military refuses to rule out a coup after claiming possible ‘vote rigging’ during election

Military refuses to rule out a coup after claiming possible ‘vote rigging’ during election

‘I am neither saying the military will seize state power, nor that it won’t’, Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun said 

Military spokesperson Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun addresses reporters in Naypyidaw on Tuesday (Nyan Hlaing Lin/Myanmar Now) 

The military on Tuesday refused to rule out staging a coup after claiming there may have been “vote rigging” during last year’s general election.

When a reporter asked if the Tatmadaw would rule out taking over again, spokesperson Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun replied: “We can’t. The military will act in line with all laws, including the constitution.”

“I am neither saying the military will seize state power, nor that it won’t,” he added. 

His remarks mark a shift in tone from last week, when the military said the election result “should be accepted” despite its claims of possible fraud. 

 

 

During the November 8 poll, which delivered a huge landslide victory to the National League for Democracy (NLD), on-the-ground election observers reported no serious issues. 

But the military and its proxy party, the USDP, have since sought to cast doubt on the results and claimed, without evidence, that there are widespread “irregularities” on voter lists. 

 

 

Standing before stacks of hundreds of files piled on tables that detailed the purported findings, Zaw Min Tun claimed the military has now found over 8.6 million irregularities on the lists. 

Those include names being listed twice, underage voters, and individuals being listed who do not have National Registration Cards, according to the military.  

The military did not provide reporters with any direct evidence of fraud or any copies of voter lists containing irregularities. 

As of Tuesday, the military has issued 29 statements about its “findings” from the voter lists. The NLD has dismissed the statements as “irrelevant”, while election observers have said the military is interfering in the election process. 

“It’s important to consider how it is being evaluated, this repeated allegation that this large number of voter lists could have given rise to electoral fraud,” NLD spokesperson Dr Myo Nyunt said last week.  

“We don’t know how they gathered this information, or what guidelines and procedures [it is based on]. It’s all claims,” he added.

Zaw Min Tun said the military issued its findings about voter lists with the goal of demanding an explanation from those responsible.

On Wednesday last week, the military said in a statement that “although the election result should be accepted because it reflected public aspiration” it had found repeated irregularities that “indicate the possibility of vote rigging.” 

There was now a national “political dilemma” and the president, parliament, and the Union Election Commission (UEC) must resolve it, the statement said, adding that it was not enough to argue that the UEC’s decision on the election was final.

Zaw Min Tun said on Tuesday that the military had “answers” if its demands were not met, but did not elaborate. 

He said however that the military will act in line with article 6f of the constitution, which states that the defence services are “able to participate in the National political leadership role of the State.”

Myo Nyunt responded to Zaw Min Tun’s remarks by quoting article 4 of the charter. “The sovereign power of the union is derived from the citizens and is in force in the entire country,” he said. 

There is no clause in the constitution that would allow the military to legally take power without the consent of the president. 

Article 413b of the constitution states that the president can, if necessary, declare a “military administrative order” and give executive and judicial powers to the commander-in-chief during a state of emergency. 

Over a dozen Yangon-based reporters from foreign news outlets including Reuters, AFP, EPA, Nikkei Asian Review, and Channel News Asia were flown to Naypyitaw on a military plane for the conference, one of the reporters told Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity. 

They were given a rapid Covid-19 test at the airport, the source said. “They didn’t brief us on anything in particular but told us not to take any photos of the military plane to post on Facebook,” they said.

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Myanmar becomes a nation without newspapers

The closure of Myanmar’s last independent newspaper marks a new milestone in the country’s political descent 

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 18, 2021
Staring March 17, the country no longer has a single independent newspaper in publication.

Years from now, March 17, 2021, will be remembered as the day that Myanmar’s brief era of press freedom—however partial and imperfect it was—well and truly died.

As of this day, the country no longer has a single independent newspaper in publication. On Wednesday, The Standard Time (San Taw Chain) joined The Myanmar Times, The Voice, 7Day News and Eleven in suspending operations in the wake of last month’s military coup.

It was less than a decade ago that the quasi-civilian administration of former President Thein Sein began slowly lifting restrictions on Myanmar’s long-suppressed press.

As overt censorship became a thing of the past and new licenses were issued, the number of news outlets proliferated, in the surest sign of confidence in ongoing political and economic reforms.  

Now only online news media remain as the last lifeline for millions of citizens desperate for reliable sources of information amid the military-induced freefall.

With this in mind, the new regime is acting to sever this last connection as it moves to plunge the country into darkness.

“The situation for press freedom is only going to get worse as they cut off the internet,” says political analyst Sithu Aung Myint, before adding: “The country no longer has democracy or an ounce of freedom.”

Piling pressure on news media

It took 10 days for the regime’s Ministry of Information to start making Orwellian demands. On February 11, it issued new instructions to the Myanmar Press Council, “urging” news media to “practice ethics” and stop referring to the “State Administration Council” as a junta.   

Citing provisions in Myanmar’s military-drafted constitution, the junta’s arbiters of truth claimed that the regime came to power by legitimate means because a state of emergency had been duly declared.

Newspapers, journals, and websites that persisted in using language that suggested otherwise were not merely wrong, but were also violating media ethics and inciting unrest, the ministry insisted.

Eleven days later, on February22, the coup maker himself, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, warned the media that their publishing licenses would be revoked if they continued to use words that didn’t meet with his approval.

But on February 25, in a show of defiance, some 50 news outlets declared their intention to keep reporting on the situation as it unfolded, and to describe the regime and its actions as they saw fit.

The arrests begin

Two days later, the junta began targeting the most vulnerable and essential participants in the whole news-making process: reporters.

On February 27, five journalists covering the junta’s crackdowns on anti-dictatorship activities were arrested and later charged with incitement under section 505a of the Penal Code.

Myanmar Now’s multimedia reporter Kay Zon Nway was one of those arrested that day. She was doing her job of documenting the brutal assault on protesters in Yangon’s Sanchaung township when she was apprehended while fleeing the regime’s forces as they lashed out at everyone in sight. 

210302_myanmar_kay_zon_new_journalist_myanmar_now_arrested_yangon_on_27_feb_21_000_93w2j2.jpg

Police arrest Myanmar Now journalist Kay Zon Nwe covering protests in Yangon on February 27, 2021. Credit: YE AUNG THU / AFP

The four others—Aung Ye Ko from 7Days News, Ye Myo Khant from Myanmar Pressphoto Agency, Thein Zaw from AP, and Hein Pyae Zaw from ZeeKwat Media—were reporting near Hledan when they were taken into custody. 

All five are now in Yangon’s notorious Insein prison awaiting trial on charges based on the ludicrous notion that they were somehow responsible for the mayhem that they were merely there to witness, at great risk to their own lives.

Under recent amendments to section 505a, they now face up to three years in prison for the crime of sharing what they saw with their fellow citizens.

According to data compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners and last updated on March 8, as many as 33 journalists have been arrested or targeted for arrest since the February 1 coup.

155930399_2092664367568616_7441378699305917845_n.jpeg

A policeman chasing a journalist holding a camera in Yangon on February 26, 2021. 

Taking action against news organizations

The regime hasn’t just put individual journalists in its sights; as its efforts to end resistance to its rule continue to escalate, it has also moved to neutralize entire new organizations.  

On March 8, the Ministry of Information announced that it had revoked the publishing licenses of Myanmar Now and four other outlets—7Day News, Mizzima, DVB and Khit Thit media.

7Days News stopped printing the following day, and a day later, Eleven announced that it would also be suspending its operations, at least until April 18.

By that time, two other well-known local publications, The Myanmar Times and The Voice, had already shut down shop for various reasons.

That left only The Standard Time, which for the past week has been the only print newspaper in the country not controlled by the regime. And now it, too, is gone.

All of this is just another chapter in Myanmar’s long and often troubled news media history.

After Myanmar gained independence in 1948, private daily newspapers flourished in the country. Published in Myanmar, English, Chinese and Hindi, these publications were part of a vibrant culture that cherished the free exchange of ideas and information.

But that came to an abrupt end in 1962, when the former dictator General Ne Win seized power and put most daily newspapers under government control. After his 1973 constitution was ratified, privately owned dailies were effectively banned.

It wasn’t until nearly 40 years later, in late 2012, that the state-owned media’s monopoly on daily news ended under the Thein Sein government.

Now this fleeting moment of relative freedom is past, and Myanmar has returned to the dark days of an uprising that was brutally crushed, ushering in an even darker era of absolute military rule.   

“I wasn’t a journalist in ‘88, but in my 12 years in this profession, this current situation is the worst. It’s not just a matter of being afraid to go out to report; now you can be arrested just for being a person in media,” one female reporter who asked to remain anonymous remarked.

As trying as these times are, however, they have more than proven the true value of press freedom as a weapon in the fight against oppression.

“Help the news media so that the local and international community know the people’s bravery, sacrifices, and the atrocities that the dictators have committed,” Sithu Aung Myint, the political analyst, wrote on social media recently. 

“Take record of incidents yourself,” he added, reminding his readers that in this age of citizen journalists, we all have a responsibility to act as witnesses.

But even with so much courage and commitment on full display, it’s difficult not to see this day as a chilling sign of things to come.

Reflecting on what the loss of Myanmar’s last news publication means for the country, Sithu Aung Myint concluded: “As a nation without newspapers, we are now in the dark ages.”

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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Regime’s forces threaten to shoot into people’s homes unless residents remove roadblocks 

Some have complied with the order but others say they are leaving the barricades up 

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 17, 2021
The junta’s armed forces approach a protest column in Tamwe, Yangon on February 27 (Myanmar Now) 

Police and soldiers patrolled neighbourhoods in Yangon and Mandalay on Wednesday and threatened to shoot into people’s houses unless locals removed defensive roadblocks they had set up amid spiralling one-sided violence.

A video of the coup regime’s forces making the threats through a loudspeaker circulated on social media and residents from several different neighbourhoods later told Myanmar Now they had received similar threats. 

“The next time we see barricades on roads, we will turn this entire residential quarter upside down and shoot,” a voice said in the video. 

The regime’s forces came to Khaymarthi Road and Nweni Road in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township in the afternoon to demand the removal of barricades, residents there told Myanmar Now. 

“We did not remove the barricades, so they are still on the roads,” one resident said. “We only set up the barricades in our quarter. If they didn’t not shoot, we wouldn’t need barricades. But now they’re shooting, so it is more appropriate for the people to block the roads.” 

A woman living in Hlaing Tharyar township, which this week witnessed the biggest massacre so far by regime forces since the February 1 coup, said locals removed the barricades from major roads after soldiers threatened to shoot into people’s homes. 

She then saw military trucks driving around the township, she added. 

On Wednesday morning the regime’s forces detained people and forced them to clear sandbags and other barricades on major roads elsewhere in Yangon, according to social media posts by people who said they were detained.

The junta’s security forces made similar threats in South Okkalapa, Thingangyun and Tamwe townships in Yangon and Manawramman Quarter in Mandalay, residents said. 

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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More than 300 students detained in Tamwe in early March hit with 505a charge

Families and lawyers are still being kept in the dark about the status of court proceedings against them

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 17, 2021
University students and young people have been playing a leading role in the nationwide protests against the military coup on Februrary 1. (Myanmar Now)

The regime has charged more than 300 students who were detained at a protest in Tamwe on March 3 after keeping their families in the dark about their status for two weeks. 

They were detained as police and soldiers used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to attack a march organised by the University of Yangon Students’ Union and the All Burma Federation of Student Unions.

At least five were injured by rubber bullets during the attack. Police initially detained 389 people but last week released 50 who are under the age of 18.

The students have been charged under section 505a of the Penal Code, which the junta recently amended to give prison sentences of up to three years for causing fear, spreading fake news or agitating against government employees.

Lawyers say they have been unable to obtain an exact list of names of those being held and that police have been evasive regarding the case. 

“The person in charge of the case was not present. We were told that he went to the court,” one of the lawyers said. “We can’t reach him via phone, so we followed him to Tamwe court, but there was no one at the court except security.” 

Parents have been informed about the charges but not the details of the court proceedings, the lawyer said. 

Because the military junta has shut down mobile internet, court proceedings have been adjourned as video conferencing is not available. In-person hearings were stopped last year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“We, the Students’ Union, do not believe in their judicial process and therefore we do not recognize these court proceedings as legitimate,” a student activist said, requesting anonymity. “The Students’ Union will continue to fight to topple the military regime.” 

Among those detained on March 3 was Wai Yan Phyo Moe, Vice President of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions.

Three members of the central executive committee of the Yangon University Students’ Union were also arrested. They are Phone Htet Naung, Aung Phone Maw, and Lay Pyay Soe Moe.

The majority of those detained are from various universities in Yangon, with 176 being students of Yangon University. A few are from universities in rural areas of Myanmar. 

Hundreds of other students have also been arrested at protests in Mandalay and Magway, on February 28 and March 7. Only 19 of them have been released.

 

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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