44 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.

Please feel free to offer your services as a martyr if you feel so strongly about what has happened in Myanmar as the saying goes "if you want something done properly do it yourself."

2 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

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. 

"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. "

 

The Army always ran the country-Aung Sang Suu Kyii never had control.

 

They merely released her from house arrest and installed her as as something of a figurehead as a sop to the West-in an attempt to show that they were not a chronically dysfunctional 5th world country.

 

The army has never taken it's finger of the pulse,nor has the Thai military or "The Party" in Cambodia.

 

Blaming one woman for this state of affairs is utterly absurd.

I've read a few books on Burma, the latest one being The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Rise of Democracy in the 21st Century, by Thant Myint-U, Norton, 2020. Although that's not the goal of this book, he makes it possible to understand why she has been operating like she has for the past few years. It's complicated of course, but the hardest thing for Westerners to accept, imo, is that she probably always agreed with the generals that the Rohingya never really belonged in Burma. That doesn't make her a bad person in the way Westerners think. Burma like China thinks it has always been treated badly, and that giving in to Western ideas of universal human rights has usually made things worse. They have an idea of national identity, and are afraid of losing it; irrational you can say, but you have the privilege of not having to walk in their shoes. I saw Thant speak in person, and his opinion seems to be that she is not going to change very much.

Only yesterday the Burmese army were saying that there would be no coup.

 

It is almost as if they took lessons from a neighbouring country.

Reported Troll content removed.

14 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Please feel free to offer your services as a martyr if you feel so strongly about what has happened in Myanmar as the saying goes "if you want something done properly do it yourself."

 

An obtuse comment in so many ways......

12 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

"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. "

 

The Army always ran the country-Aung Sang Suu Kyii never had control.

 

They merely released her from house arrest and installed her as as something of a figurehead as a sop to the West-in an attempt to show that they were not a chronically dysfunctional 5th world country.

 

The army has never taken it's finger of the pulse,nor has the Thai military or "The Party" in Cambodia.

 

Blaming one woman for this state of affairs is utterly absurd.

 

Funny that......the assassinated Begnigno Aquino and his wife Corey managed to over-throw a dictator that controlled the military in the Philippines.

13 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Please feel free to offer your services as a martyr if you feel so strongly about what has happened in Myanmar as the saying goes "if you want something done properly do it yourself."

Well.."martyrdom" to the average expat is simply being booked on the 100cc "dream machine" and being forced to pay the fine..

"oppression" merely indicates that the the local Mon'n'Pop store has run out of Chang..

"censorship" implies the dreaded 502 error has occurred on TVF.

 

...but we were all born heroes..????

How sad. And such a poor example to its otherwise exemplary neighbours.

1 hour ago, KarenBravo said:

Martyrdom sometimes trumps words.

You make it sound like martyrdom is a choice she has declined to take because she is a coward,so what do you suggest?That she somehow kill herself so she can become a martyr?I don't remember her stating that she would be willing to die for her country or her beliefs so why are you calling her a coward because you expect her to lay down her life for her beliefs.

1 minute ago, FarFlungFalang said:

You make it sound like martyrdom is a choice she has declined to take because she is a coward,so what do you suggest?That she somehow kill herself so she can become a martyr?I don't remember her stating that she would be willing to die for her country or her beliefs so why are you calling her a coward because you expect her to lay down her life for her beliefs.

 

Like other dissidents I have mentioned; speak out and damn the consequences. That takes courage.

Just now, KarenBravo said:

 

Like other dissidents I have mentioned; speak out and damn the consequences. That takes courage.

Which Aung San Suu Kyi  has done has she not?

42 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

Only yesterday the Burmese army were saying that there would be no coup.

Friends and colleagues in Yangon say the tanks have been rolling under the cover of darkness for  a few days now so it looks like they were lying.

20 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Which Aung San Suu Kyi  has done has she not?

 

Did she speak out against the genocide perpetrated against the Rohingya?

3 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Which Aung San Suu Kyi  has done has she not?

Not since she was elected.  Did nothing for the Rohingya.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/14/asia/myanmar-rohingya-msf-intl/index.html

6,700 Rohingya killed in first month of Myanmar crackdown, MSF reports

Democracy hard to achieve..but so so easily Lost..

This is about more than Aung San Suu Kyi or the Rohingya. Way, way more.

1 hour ago, KarenBravo said:

 

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. 

Acquiescence? She led her party in an election, in which the electorate rejected ( by a landslide) the army. So on the day when the parliament was due to convene they staged a coup and detained her!

 

No doubt that was always their plan.

18 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

This is about more than Aung San Suu Kyi or the Rohingya. Way, way more.

Very true...

28 minutes ago, Rinrada said:

Democracy hard to achieve..but so so easily Lost..

But never apparent in Burma anyway.The country least likely to achieve democratic status in this or any other region.

 

As expats we face a conundum..as we are only interested in the political rantings of a dead American comedian (George Carlin),cheap rents and the even cheaper hire of exploited women..?

 

Or a military in this region who wants you gone...big time.

1 hour ago, KarenBravo said:

 

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. 

Who controls the firepower, controls the country!

The Myanmar people were only given two options since 1962.

 

-A military junta run by SLORC/SPDC

 

-a monarchy run by the entitled Queen Aung San Suu Kyi

 

For years SPDC, led by Gen Than Shwe and Army Gen Maung Aye, feared ASSK, until it finally dawned on them she was just like them...self-serving and entitled. That's when they gave up power in return for being able to keep all of their ill-gotten gains.

 

ASSK's true colors came out during the Rohingya crisis. Despite having first settled in Yakhine (aka Rakhine, Arakan State) in the 13th Century, the Rohingya were considered interlopers. For those unfamiliar with the country, ALL religious minorities face discrimination to some degree at the hands of the ruling faith, though the Rohingya suffer by far the most. Christian Kachin and Karen also face discrimination, some actually led by members of the Sangha.

3 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Who controls the firepower, controls the country!

 

Mao said it much better. "Power flows from the barrel of a gun".

At 0730 this morning email from Myanmar was still working (0800 Bangkok time), but I haven't received any communication since then. Reports are that all commo has been turned off.

I have a mate who’s gf is working for the Red Cross in a refugee camp over west, anyone heard anything from those parts ?

Myanmar military seizes power, detains elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi

 

FILE PHOTO: Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrives at Parliament buildings on the Stormont estate in Belfast, October 24, 2013 REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - Myanmar's military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids.

 

The army said it had carried out the detentions in response to "election fraud", handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on a military-owned television station. A military spokesman did not answer phone calls seeking further comment.

 

Phone lines to the capital Naypyitaw and the main commercial centre of Yangon were not reachable, and state TV went off air hours before parliament had been due to sit for the first time since the NLD's landslide election win in November, viewed as a referendum on Suu Kyi's fledgling democratic government.

 

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party have been detained, the spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy said on Monday. This report produced by Chris Dignam.

 

Soldiers took up positions at city hall in Yangon and mobile internet data and phone services in the NLD stronghold were disrupted, residents said. Internet connectivity also had fallen dramatically, monitoring service NetBlocks said.

 

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

 

"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.

 

The detentions came after days of escalating tension between the civilian government and the military that stirred fears of a coup in the aftermath of the election.

 

The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the arrest of Suu Kyi.

 

"The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

 

The Australian government said it was "deeply concerned at reports the Myanmar military is once again seeking to seize control of Myanmar" and called for the immediate release of the unlawfully detained leaders.

 

Japan said it was watching the situation and currently had no plans to repatriate Japanese nationals from Myanmar.

 

COUP FEARS

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, 75, came to power after a 2015 election win that followed decades of house arrest in a struggle for democracy with Myanmar's junta 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.

 

Political tensions soared last week when a military spokesman declined to rule out a coup ahead of the new parliament convening on Monday, and military chief Min Aung Hlaing raised the prospect of repealing the constitution.

 

But the military appeared to backtrack on the weekend, issuing a statement on social media on Sunday saying it would "do everything possible to adhere to the democratic norms of free and fair elections".

 

Tanks were deployed in some streets last week and pro-military demonstrations have taken place in some cities ahead of the first gathering of parliament.

 

Myanmar's election commission has rejected the military's allegations of vote fraud.

 

The constitution published in 2008 after decades of military rule reserves 25% of seats in parliament for the military and control of three key ministries in Suu Kyi's administration.

 

Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia under President Barack Obama, who fostered close ties with Suu Kyi, said another military takeover in Myanmar would be a severe blow to democracy in the region.

 

"If true, this is a huge setback - not only for democracy in Myanmar, but for U.S. interests. It’s yet another reminder that the extended absence of credible and steady U.S. engagement in the region has emboldened anti-democratic forces," he said.

 

Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said the situation was a challenge for the new U.S. administration.

 

"The U.S. as recently as Friday had joined other nations in urging the military not to move forward on its coup threats. China will stand by Myanmar like it did when the military kicked out the Rohingya,” he said.

 

John Sifton, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said Myanmar's military had never submitted to civilian rule and called on the United States and other countries to impose "strict and directed economic sanctions" on the military leadership and its economic interests.

 

(Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Stephen Coates; Editing by Peter Cooney and Lincoln Feast.)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-01

 

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Until I moved to Laos, I worked in Myanmar, in Yangon, Mandalay and the last few years in Naypyitaw.  I travelled to many different states within the country and my general impression was:

 

The majority ethnic group - the Burmah - love ASSK

The minority ethnic groups (Shan, Kachin etc) hate her

The vast majority of the citizens (all ethnic groups) of Myanmar detest the Rohingya, from old monk to young child

The vast majority of the citizens of Myanmar are suspicious of any ethnic Muslims, (those who have Myanmar citizenship)

One giant step back to the 90's

 

Military/ Tadmadaw announced on military channel that military-backed VP is the acting president of Myanmar and transferring all power to Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing for one year of “STATE OF EMERGENCY”

 

Thailand's response;

 

Dep-PM Prawit was asked this AM if the coup has any effect on Thailand, he said “it’s their domestic issue.”

11 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

One giant step back to the 90's

 

Military/ Tadmadaw announced on military channel that military-backed VP is the acting president of Myanmar and transferring all power to Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing for one year of “STATE OF EMERGENCY”

 

Thailand's response;

 

Dep-PM Prawit was asked this AM if the coup has any effect on Thailand, he said “it’s their domestic issue.”

Hardly just a domestic issue when Thailand has such a long and porous border with Myanmar, and may well see a sudden influx of refugees coming from a nation where Covid isn't exactly under control.

3 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

Jesus,eh?

The plot thickens...

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

Fake  news, period. Came  back from the dead, should be able to get him on that alone.