TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Sham election will only prolong Myanmar civil war
This is a critical year for Indonesia to take the bit in leading ASEAN as its chair to rally global support for implementing the regional bloc's Five-Point Consensus and bring peace to Myanmar.
Change Size
A member of the People Revolution Army (PRA) assembles a homemade weapon on Oct. 15, 2022 in Pale township, Myanmar. Since launching a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, the Myanmar military has been unable to crush the resistance movement. (AFP/AFPTV)
J
an. 4 marked the 75th anniversary of Myanmar’s independence. Under normal circumstances, the occasion, usually referred to as a “diamond jubilee”, would involve great celebration and joy.
However, the people of Myanmar are instead dealing with a deadly war. Since illegally seizing power on Feb. 1, 2021 to prevent the newly elected parliament from convening, the military junta has escalated its attacks on unarmed civilians and armed resistance forces alike.
In February-November 2022, ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project), a database that tracks armed conflicts globally, reported a 361 percent increase in air strikes launched by the Myanmar junta against mainly civilian communities, with the junta carrying out 374 air strikes compared to 81 air strikes over the same period in 2021.
Myanmar, not Ukraine, now has the world’s highest incidence of violence against civilians, looting and property destruction. Air strikes and artillery attacks by the junta have targeted homes, schools, hospitals and places of worship with devastating impacts, including an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
This seems to be the junta’s response to losing its grip on the ground: It only had stable control over 72 townships, which amounted to 17 percent of the 330 townships in Myanmar, compared to the resistance forces’ control of 127 townships, or 52 percent.
Despite outnumbering the armed resistance forces in terms of troops and weapons, the junta was forced to engage in 3,127 clashes with them, compared to 1,921 clashes over the same period in 2021. This represents a 94 percent rise in armed conflict in the past year.
The war has inevitably impacted Myanmar’s economy, with potentially worrisome impacts on us all: The Myanmar kyat has lost 60 percent in value since the coup in February 2021, compared to the Ukraine hryvnia, which has depreciated by 30 percent.
