Myanmar is an often overlooked South East Asian nation, with a rocky past, and an even more turbulent present. Its election last year showed a high turnout, with the vast majority of voters casting their ballot for a liberal/social democratic party called the NLD. However, the military of this country also holds 25% of their parliament, no votes can take this away or add to it, but this landslide victory meant that this one party could bypass the military on any bill they wanted to pass. Clearly, they weren’t too pleased about this power shift, and so they staged a coup d'état, claiming voter fraud. Why oh why does this sound a little suspicious? Could it be that the people so used to having power are seeing this fall out of their grasp, and therefore are trying to protect their lavish lifestyles fuelled by corruption & control?
In my opinion, militaries shouldn’t run countries, it’s clear they don’t have the interests of the public at heart; it’s just a gateway to a clear-cut dictatorship. The people rightly protested, but instead of being met with police or dialogue, they were met with bombs & bullets. Areas of the unrest were bombed, indiscriminately killing the elderly, children and everyone in between. This is a war crime. It’s been confirmed that kids have been shot, showing the tyranny and aggression of this new leadership. How can you claim to be on the people’s side when you’re murdering those who can’t and won’t fight back.
An even more terrifying prospect is the lack of a response from the world. After all, the UN and the international community have some responsibility to prevent unlawful regimes from taking power in lesser developed countries. Well, sometimes that can do more harm than good, adding fuel to the fire if you will, but something inside of me doubts that the stern words spoken by diplomats will have any effect. However, there are peacekeeping missions all across the world, and so why is it different when it’s terror organisations and warlords than a government against the people?
Today, the protests are beginning to fade as people fear for their lives. Although, these protests did lead to the whole of Myanmar shutting down, much of the public struck & took to the streets, allowing their voices to be heard by the international community. Though a lack of action has been taken, it’s certain that the cries for help have been received. From our point of view looking to the future, Myanmar is in a troubled area where leadership is constantly shifting, we can only hope that this will be one of, if not the last.
In the end, what separates terrorism and a government trying to suppress the people’s wishes? After all, terrorism is defined as “The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” If what Myanmar’s just experienced isn’t an act of terrorism, then what is? Though coronavirus has taken away many of our freedoms for the past year, at least it’s coming to an end, for those in Myanmar and other dictatorships across the world, they never had those freedoms, to begin with, and may not see them again.
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