The executions of dissidents are a military response to the deep popular discontent in the Asian country
Do not call it Tatmadaw, they are not glorious armed forces, as the Burmese term says, call it Sit-tat, plain army, strip it of any honor because it is just an apparatus at the service of a predatory elite. The Global Voices community of bloggers, speaker for many expressions contrary to the official discourse, has released a text questioning the name of the military institution that dominates life and even death in the Asian country. Myanmar’s military regime has recently executed four dissidents for terrorism-related offences, a practice not carried out since the 1980s. However, the application of the death penalty is only the top of the semi-submerged iceberg. The former Burma is experiencing a social crisis and a brutal repression of enormous proportions.
In fact, the UN investigators who examine the situation of Human Rights in Burma have warned that they have more and more evidence of continued abuses against the civilian population that would constitute crimes against humanity; evidence that has already been brought to the attention of organizations such as the International Criminal Court. Specifically, it has collected more than three million pieces from some 200 sources in the last three years. Experts have confirmed that abuses are constant and seriously affect vulnerable groups such as women and children.
A retirement can be considered the trigger for this new phase of control of the Army and the consequent wave of terror. The transfer to the reserve of General Min Aung Hlaing, when he turned 65, was detrimental to the military since his status as Commander of the Armed Forces and de facto vice president gave him immense power that could fall into civilian hands. There were no squeamishness. The Turkish precedent is disturbing for states like Myanmar or Egypt, dominated by the dense network of political and economic interests of their leadership.
There is much to lose. The military elite has not only run the country practically since its independence, but has literally taken over its resources. The Army owns two giant economic conglomerates, the Myanmar Economic Corporation, with interests in mining or telecommunications, and the Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited, involved in agriculture and food, among other business sectors.
The tension is consubstantial to local political life. The coup d’état of February 1, 2021 curtailed a liberalization process completely vitiated by military tutelage. Its inducers explained the initiative and the subsequent arrest of Aun San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, the majority party, citing reasons as delusional as an alleged electoral rigging and constitutional defense.
Extreme brutality strategy
The rejection of cohabitation with a civil power explains this strategy of extreme brutality. In that regard, the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority has been a bargaining chip between the two factions. The prestige of the former National Counselor and Nobel Peace Prize winner collapsed when she defended the actions of the troops alleging terrorist motivations, a thesis that she still maintains not to ingratiate herself with her rival, but, above all, to obtain the support of the Bamar ethnic group. , of Buddhist faith, which accounts for almost two thirds of the total population. The support of this community is essential to maintain power to either side.
No, this is not an isolated incident. The hanging of the four inmates is a warning to sailors in an extremely rarefied atmosphere for local and global reasons. The persecution carried out after the coup has caused more than 700 victims. A hundred prisoners sentenced to death wait on the other side of death row. The manners are expeditious. The administration of justice is in the hands of military courts and their convictions are not subject to appeal.
The crisis has affected structural problems. The policy of harassment has encouraged the strong centrifugal tendencies of its eastern states, inhabited by various minorities opposed to the centralist regime. Amnesty International denounces indiscriminate bombings and hundreds of thousands of displaced people as a response to this upsurge in hostilities.
But an even bigger threat comes from Europe. Myanmar’s Gross Domestic Product fell by 18% last year as a result of rising grain prices and is not expected to take off at the end of this year. The danger for the Hlaing government lies in a population unable to assimilate the onerous prices, and it is that half of the Burmese could be below the poverty line in the new scenario. The execution can also be interpreted as a preventive measure in the face of what happened in nearby Sri Lanka. Apparently, anything goes when the privileges of the Tatmadaw or the Sit-tat are in question.
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