Myanmar: Anatomy of a Coup - Episode 1: The Coup Makers (Part 1)

ADVOCATE by ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights

On the 1st of February 2021, Myanmar’s military grabbed power in a coup d’etat, and declared a state of emergency with all legislative, executive and judicial powers handed to Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Within a day of the military's power grab, government workers launched a Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), in order to make the country ungovernable for the junta, while younger generations who'd sampled a taste of democracy have also organised mass nationwide protests. Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, has responded to the protests and CDM with their stock standard response of devastating violence, killing hundreds and arresting thousands.

In APHR’s new 5-part series, Anatomy of a Coup, we’ll be taking a close look at the major players in Myanmar’s current environment: the coup maker, those resisting the coup, and the external influencers.

We'll be speaking with a range of people, both inside and outside of Myanmar, to try to better understand these players’ mindsets, interests and motivations, with a view to identifying measures to put an end to the military's chaotic rule and ensure that democracy and the will of the people prevail.

Episode 1 looks at the country’s most powerful institution, the Tatmadaw. Running over two episodes, the first part unpacks the Tatmadaw: how big it is, how it views itself and how it funds itself. In the second episode we will delve into its historic pattern of violence, and how the brutality we are currently seeing is just the latest in a long history of oppression and state-terror it has meted out against the Myanmar people.
For more information about APHR's work, please check out our website aseanmp.org.