Last night I received the following email from a good friend in Myanmar:
“I have experienced three military coups in my life in Myanmar, in 1962, 1988 and 2021. When the first one occurred on March 2, 1962 I was not in the country. I arrived back only after 10 months. According to the news reports, there was only one fatality during the coup. By the time I arrived all the government departments were headed by military personnel. All were carrying on the usual business, including trading and factories. I got married in 1963 and our wedding was normal. The troubles only started in the early part of 1964. It started with the nationalizing of businesses, including small shops and followed by the first demonetization. There were no demonstrations or resistance from the masses. They just took it as it came, even though they were not satisfied. The result was not much killing and looting.
The second coup occurred on September 18, 1988. However, it was preceded by demonstrations started by students and office workers. It lasted only one month and 10 days before that coup. At that time everything was getting scarce, such as petrol, rice and edible oil. To make matters worse, they declared the third demonetization. I was on a tour when I heard the news and I had to borrow some cash from friends to return home. Even though there were some fatalities and looting and also killing in public by drugged people, most of the population, especially in the rural areas were safe. The military declared they had to take the responsibilities to restore “law and order”. They even named their Government the “State Law and Order Restoration Council”. They promised to change to a multiparty democracy and that General Elections would be held within a short time. At least life was bearable for ordinary public and soon after the coup, offices and the government apparatus were operating normally. All the cabinet members were from the military, but they did not even call themselves “Ministers”. The top man at the time, Senior General Saw Maung declared that they would return back to the “barracks” after the election.
The present coup is entirely different. The military destroyed peace, law and order in the county. Demonstrations started because of the coup. The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) only gathered steam after two weeks when, in the middle of February 2021, the military killed a young girl with a live bullet. The military compounded the anger by telling more lies. It is now almost three months and people are terrified and there is no longer law and order anywhere in the country. There have been many instances of looting, robbing and killing in public. At the present time the military is unable to cover up the real situation. It is not safe anymore; even to live in your own home. The phobia of losing all your life savings in your own home, without any authorities to report to, is becoming a common disease while the UN, EU, QUAD and ASEAN are still discussing.
MAY GOD HELP US!!!!!“
Peter Church blog 