Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained, ruling party spokesman says

 

FILE PHOTO: Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi leaves after paying her respects to her late father during a ceremony to mark the 73rd anniversary of Martyrs' Day in Yangon on July 19, 2020. Ye Aung Thu/Pool via REUTERS

 

(Reuters) - Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party have been detained in an early morning raid, the spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy said on Monday.

 

The move came after days of escalating tension between the civilian government and the powerful military that stirred fears of a coup in the aftermath of an election the army says was fraudulent.

 

Spokesman Myo Nyunt told Reuters by phone that Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been "taken" in the early hours of the morning.

 

"I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law," he said, adding that he expected to be arrested himself. Reuters was subsequently unable to contact him.

 

Phone lines to Naypyitaw, the capital, were not reachable in the early hours of Monday. Parliament had been due to start sitting there on Monday after a November election the NLD had won in a landslide.

 

A military spokesman did not answer phone calls seeking comment.

 

State-run MRTV television said in a Facebook post that it was unable to broadcast due to technical issues.

 

An NLD lawmaker, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said another of those detained was Han Thar Myint, a member of the party's central executive committee.

 

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, 75, came to power after a 2015 landslide election win that followed decades of house arrest in a struggle for democracy that turned her into an international icon.

 

Her international standing was damaged after hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled army operations into refuge from Myanmar's western Rakhine state in 2017, but she remains hugely popular at home.

 

The NLD won a landslide in last November's election, hammering a pro-military party.

 

Myanmar's military had said on Saturday it would protect and abide by the constitution and act according to law after comments earlier in the week had raised fears of a coup.

 

Myanmar's election commission has rejected the military's allegations of vote fraud, saying there were no errors big enough to affect the credibility of the vote.

 

The constitution reserves 25% of seats in parliament for the military and control of three key ministries in Suu Kyi's administration.

 

(Reporting by Poppy McPherson in London; Editing by Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-01

 

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3 minutes ago, webfact said:

fears of a coup in the aftermath of an election the army says was fraudulent.

Looks like those 'fears' were well founded.

She should be. She completely ignored her own citizens pleading for help to stop forced evictions. Karma is a.........ich

Will be no difference in the ruling system. Before she did like she was told. When she stopped do that they removed her. That´s called status quo.

For a while Myanmar looked better that the Land Of S...

 

But is must be the regional disease, worse than Covid.

Maybe now she can understand the Rohinya peoples problems a bit more, the people she abandoned.

Just another third world Asian country under authoritarian rule! 

Just reported on BBC, soldiers are out and all communications including the internet has been cut in Yangon.

 

Looks like that coup is on the way. 

My God!

 

They are not even trying to somewhat disguise the issue any more..

 

Thailand,Myanmar and Cambodia....

2 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

My God!

 

They are not even trying to somewhat disguise the issue any more..

 

Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia....

It's called greed! Controlling the trough!

I went to Myanmar during her election.  People were excited and the future looked bright.  Then?  She capitulated to the generals and did nothing to help her people.  Horrible person.

 

Like many other countries, Myanmar has really nice people....with terrible leaders.  Best of luck to them.

1 minute ago, Jeffr2 said:

She capitulated to the generals and did nothing to help her people. 

I don't think they gave her any choice!

Her halo fell off her head when she watched with silence the butchering of the Rohingya people.

She should have been stripped of her Nobel Peace prize.

11 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

I don't think they gave her any choice!

Yes..it was a situation that has often been presented in history..

Stay and get overthrown immediately.

Leave and lose all influence.

 

The Asian male takes dominance over females for granted and often the females are used for what is,actually,late 13th century window dressing.

 

Not that some occidental males do any better....

1 minute ago, KarenBravo said:

Her halo fell off her head when she watched with silence the butchering of the Rohingya people.

She should have been stripped of her Nobel Peace prize.

It's hard to voice an opinion when the army has a gun pointed at your head!

8 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

It's hard to voice an opinion when the army has a gun pointed at your head!

 

I don't buy that. There is no way that the army would physically hurt her because of the reputation of her father. House arrest was the worst thing she faced.

 

Witness the Russian dissident Navalny. He went back to Russia after being poisoned, was thrown into prison, but that hasn't stopped him speaking out. Or, how about Mandela? Lots of other opposition figures from around the world selflessly continued to speak out.

 

Aung San Suu Kyi  lacked the courage of her convictions.

Navalny and Mandela are male-they certainly had/have an interested media following that protected them somewhat.

 

Aung sang Suu Kyi is a female-

Now just let's see just how many female leaders have been assassinated/driven from power/imprisoned in this (wider) region?

..and how many countries are governed by male authoritarian leaders?

10 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

Aung San Suu Kyi  lacked the courage of her convictions.

And thus maintained her freedom and safety!

3 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

And thus maintained her freedom and safety!

 

Exactly! A choice between her freedom and safety versus speaking out against genocide. 

Just now, KarenBravo said:

 

Exactly! A choice between her freedom and safety versus speaking out against genocide. 

Hard to speak if you're dead!

Just now, PatOngo said:

Hard to speak if you're dead!

Then leave the country again and fight for your people remotely.  But for sure, don't give in to the corruption and abuse from the ruling military.

9 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Navalny and Mandela are male-they certainly had/have an interested media following that protected them somewhat.

 

Aung sang Suu Kyi is a female-

Now just let's see just how many female leaders have been assassinated/driven from power/imprisoned in this (wider) region?

..and how many countries are governed by male authoritarian leaders?

 

Indira Ghandi comes to mind, as does Benazir Bhutto.

6 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Hard to speak if you're dead!

 

Martyrdom sometimes trumps words. Jesus Christ could be used as an example of how effective martyrdom can be.

I'm sure there are lots of other examples.

 

Most important though, the military would never have killed her because of the reputation of her father and name. Her father was considered a national hero.

5 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

Indira Ghandi comes to mind, as does Benazir Bhutto.

And what is their long term legacy?

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

Just another third world Asian country under authoritarian rule!

 

seems those countries lack the maturity to have an army.

Should be taken away from them

2 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

 

seems those countries lack the maturity to have an army.

Should be taken away from them

Eternal children!

26 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

Indira Ghandi comes to mind, as does Benazir Bhutto.

Here we go..off the top of my head..

Indira Gandhi-assassinated 31/10/1984

Benazir Bhutto-assassinated 27/12/2007

Aung San Suu Kyi-house arrest for 15 years

Yingluck Shinawatra-military coup,May 2014

Mu Sochua(Cambodia) fled into exile in October,2017

28 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

Martyrdom sometimes trumps words. Jesus Christ could be used as an example of how effective martyrdom can be.

I'm sure there are lots of other examples.

 

Most important though, the military would never have killed her because of the reputation of her father and name. Her father was considered a national hero.

Jesus,eh?

The plot thickens...

Do you think that they can get him on illegal computer stuff?

42 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Hard to speak if you're dead!

Or locked up under perpetual house arrest.

 

I suspect that they will try to drive  her into exile-this strategy seems to be the flavour of the month around these parts.

33 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

And what is their long term legacy?

 

They were not in the same situation as Aung San Suu Kyi. They were already leaders of their respective countries and were assassinated by extremists.

Aung San Suu Kyi was the last and best hope to bring democracy to Myanmar and she blew it.

Her silence and eventual acquiescence to the army running the country is directly responsible for why the army is still in power to this very day.