01/31/2021 Myanmar (International Christian Concern) –International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Myanmar’s State Counsellor, Aung Sang Suu Kyi, was detained in a military raid along with President Win Myint and ruling party National League for Democracy’s (NLD) senior leaders on Sunday, January 31.
NLD spokesperson Myo Nyunt told Reuters that Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been “taken” early by the Tatmadaw (Burmese Army) in 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 he also expected to be detained.
“We have to assume that the military is staging a coup,” he stated.
In the early hours of Monday, when Myanmar’s newly elected Parliament was expected to meet for the first time in the country’s capital Naypyitaw, communications to the city were cut. Even state TV was unable to broadcast.
For a few months, tensions have escalated in Myanmar since the NLD declared a landslide victory in last November’s elections. The Tatmadaw has repeatedly claimed that the elections were marred by voter fraud, though Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) has already come out and rejected the military’s claims.
Last Thursday, ICC’s Myanmar representative reported to ICC the sighting of an unusual amount of military tanks in the city of Yangon. Many were concerned that the Tatmadaw might be planning for a coup, though the military dismissed such assumption. At this time, the military spokesman is not responding to the media’s inquiry.
ICC will continue to follow up with any new developments.
Gina Goh, ICC’s Regional Manager for Southeast Asia, said, “It is very worrying that the Tatmadaw chose to take these extreme measures to express its frustration over the election results. This shows that the Tatmadaw has little respect to Myanmar’s Constitution and hard-earned democracy. The global community should stand up to its barbaric actions to ensure the Southeast Asian country does not recede to authoritarian military government era.”
