Thank you so much indeed for having me today!

Pre-coup Background

We are here today because of the ongoing crisis in Myanmar. For many of you, and indeed, for most of the international community, the crisis is limited to the coup and the unfolding violence since February this year. However, the coup is merely the latest symptom of a crisis that has plagued my country for over half a century.

Myanmar only catches the world’s attention in short bursts every few years as the crisis deepens and results in intense fighting and heavy human tolls in a short period. This gives the impression of Myanmar as a country unfortunate enough to have suffered a string of crises since independence, but competent enough to resolve each crisis in turn. This belief is precisely what the military hopes to spread. The truth, however, is much darker. Since the first coup in 1962 the military has taken steps to increase their power and authority. The world cheered in 1990 when free democratic elections were held, only to be horrified by the subsequent purges and crackdowns of democratic leaders who dared to be more popular than the military strongmen who had driven the nation to the brink of ruin. When, following the 2015 election, the military appeared to step back from power and let a democratic government take the reins, the world again cheered, confident that international pressure had brought about lasting change for the better.

During this period of transitional democracy, the nation was subject to the 2008 constitution written by and for the military themselves and passed through the legislature by the military mere days after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. Under this constitution, the military retains one-quarter of all seats in all houses of all parliaments. The military retains operational autonomy from the civilian government, remaining accountable to none, furthermore, the military is guaranteed a vice-presidency position, and the most important government portfolios, even as they keep exclusive control over many of the nation’s industries and natural resources through MEC and MEHL. These two corporate entities encompass much of the nation’s economic potential and were originally formed, each over 30 years ago, as publicly owned assets to re-invest the profits of the nation’s industries back into the country but were hurriedly privatized and taken over by the military before the civilian hand-over. They are a means to misappropriate economic advantage for the Military Elite from resources that belong to the Nation. At least at this point, if not from their inception, the MEC and MEHL are essentially extensions of the military. A mafia’s laundromat designed to give a false front to hide the violence and illegal actions that the money goes on to support.

For ten years we struggled to open and modernize the country, first under a continued military rule and then five years under the NLD who drove much of the modernization of Myanmar. At every turn, we were hamstrung by a military that would not accept any democratic oversight or a lessening of its vice-grip on the nation and her assets. It was the intention of the military, and its commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing, to undermine the effectiveness of the democratic government and turn public support away from the democratic parties, and back towards the military and their political wing – the USDP. In 2020 the people showed that they would not be so easily fooled and delivered a landslide victory for the NLD. For Min Aung

Hlaing, this would be the last straw. Hours before the new government was due to be sworn in on the first of February, he and his henchmen detained the rightful president and seized power.

Events Since the Coup

Since that day the situation has consistently worsened. We saw heavy crackdowns against protests mere days into the coup. Less than two weeks into February, the military purposefully shot and killed Mya Thwet Thwet Khine to bring fear to the hearts of our people; she would be the first of many. By March, juveniles had been shot dead by the junta. Throughout March heavy nationwide crack-downs claimed hundreds of lives. The fighting intensified in April and May. Gradually the military began to deploy snipers, heavy machine guns, helicopters, armoured vehicles, grenades, and mortars. The attacks became more destructive and claimed lives indiscriminately. Horrific footage shows children as young as 3 lying dead and dying from bullets and grenades. The military released thousands of prisoners and ordered them to carry out arson attacks, supplying them with firebombs. CCTV footage shows the military regularly opening fire with no cause or provocation, and absconding with the dead bodies to hide their deeds. As a result, the true death toll cannot be known, but at least 1,300 victims slain by police or military have been confirmed, almost a hundred of them children between the ages of 17 and 3.

To add to these atrocities, the military has returned to their tried and tested tactics by weaponizing the judiciary, hunger, exposure, and disease. They have razed numerous villages to the ground driving civilians into the forests, jungles, and mountains in search of shelter. They have charged protesters, demonstration organizers, journalists, and anyone who posts comments, images, or videos online revealing the junta’s crimes with more and more severe charges. Currently, dissent, protest, or peaceful non-compliance are all considered to be high treason and can incur the death penalty, a punishment that Myanmar has not employed since 1988. Over 10,000 political prisoners languish in prisons and tens of thousands more have been tried in absentia and warrants have been issued for their arrests. As a result of these actions, 1.2M Myanmar civilians, over 2% of the population, have been driven from their homes and have no proper shelter. Many are exposed to the elements and are likely to die if conditions turn harsh.

The military has also burned crops and fields, seizing harvested food stores for themselves. The severity of these actions cannot be overstated. Starvation is a favoured weapon of the military. As harvests happen only once or twice in a year, for many people, this means that the food stores which were to support them for the coming year have been seized, and as they have been driven from their homes and their fields have been destroyed, they are unable to plant the seeds for next year’s harvest. In one fell swoop, the military has deprived these communities of food for two years. While urban centers have fared better, it is estimated that within the coming months, the food stores will begin to run dry, and food will become scarce. As of today, every ninth person in Myanmar has insufficient food and no certainty as to their next meal. By early next year this is expected to rise to a full half of the country, some 26 million men, women, and children.

Perhaps the most grotesque attack on the Myanmar people came in the form of the military’s calculated exacerbation of the COVID-19 pandemic. As COVID tore through the nation’s urban centers, the military took over hospitals and seized oxygen and medical supplies at gunpoint. As hundreds of doctors are wasting away in prisons for refusing to serve the military, the people were left with no recourse and thousands upon thousands lay gasping and wheezing on their living room floors slowly awaiting the inevitable. As hospitals were run by the military and few people could access them, reliable information on deaths is hard to come by, but at the height of the pandemic, crematoria would report the numbers of bodies delivered to them. Numbers in Yangon alone reached three, four, and even 5,000 deaths per day. To hide the scale of the crisis the military began piling dead bodies into rubbish skips and dumping them into trash incinerators. Although the pandemic has left the major urban centres, it continues to run rampant through many of the border regions affected by the mass displacements and starvation. In these communities, COVID can continue to thrive and mutate. It is feared that if this situation is left unchecked, COVID will develop a new strain

somewhere in Myanmar and push back the progress of the international community by months. This potentially devastating new virus should be named after the man who brought it upon the world.

The Situation Today

Today, the conflict appears to have gone cold, but this is a misconception. Hundreds of loosely connected resistance groups dot the country and sporadic fighting plagues every state and region. It is the presence of these groups which prevents the military from carrying out the crackdowns and assaults that characterised the first months of the coup. Nevertheless, in less defended, less equipped areas, the military continues to burn down villages and starve the populations. While ground combat forces have been pushed back, the military retains aerial and artillery superiority subjecting civilian and resistance targets to heavy bombing attacks. The military continues to target the medical and agricultural sectors, and routinely arrests civilians without charge or trial.

For the junta, this is a war of attrition. As long as they stand, disease, starvation, exposure, and prisons will continue to wear down the Myanmar people. It is their hope that by presenting a false image of a peaceful and stable country, and by refusing to admit their losses, the international community will grant them legitimacy and give them the tools they need to continue to oppress and kill the Myanmar people. To do this, however, they need three things: money, resources, and people. The greatest weapon of the pro-democracy movement has been military defections. A campaign to convince soldiers to abandon their posts and provide protection, housing, and support for them and their families. Much of the military’s supplies can be replenished, but personnel cannot be replaced. We are seeing greater and greater numbers of soldiers abandoning the military in support of the popular democratic movement, and in so doing they are crippling the military’s operational capacity. However, it is imperative that those who remain loyal to the murderous regime be unable to carry out their attacks. To this end, we must act now to cut off the military’s access to vital materiel, crucially, weapons, munition, and diesel fuel. Without these, the military will simply be unable to continue their campaign of terror, and the crisis would come to a speedy and bloodless resolution. However, as of now, it remains legal to supply all of the above to the Myanmar military. It is absolutely imperative that we bring global sanctions against the military by all state and non-state actors. Similarly, the military needs money to purchase the aforementioned materiel, and to pay their soldiers. Their money is obtained through the many industries which they own in whole or in part, this includes precious stones and metals, garments, agricultural exports, rubber, and most importantly, natural gas. The money thus obtained is laundered by foreign financial service providers, and funnelled via the complex network of holding companies and shell corporations the military owns into hidden accounts and slush funds in foreign banks. To limit the military’s ability to continue to wantonly murder civilians and destroy the country, their sources of funding must be cut off. Immediate and strict sanctions must be placed on all businesses and industries with total or partial military control. Governments all over the world must bar state and non-state enterprises from investing in, selling to, or purchasing from such industries, and all state and non-state financial service providers must be barred from interacting with money moving to or from any accounts affiliated with the military, any members of the military, any known associate of the military, or any corporations owned in whole or in part by the same.

Impact on Surrounding Countries

Conflicts do not respect borders and, inevitably, the military’s campaign of terror has had strong impacts on Myanmar’s neighbours. Day by day refugees sneak across the borders in search of safety and shelter. The military’s actions in the past already placed a heavy and ongoing burden on Bangladesh and Thailand, now India too is facing the consequences of the military’s atrocities. Despite their efforts to defend their borders – at no insignificant cost – the threat of arrest and deportation are not enough to deter desperate civilians fleeing the junta’s war machine. The humanitarian crisis shows no signs of abatement, and even after victory, Myanmar’s neighbours will be left paying for the military’s actions for months if not years as a slow repatriation process ensues.

It is not just our neighbours but also ASEAN as a whole that has been impacted. With a key member economically crippled at a time when the other ASEAN members are recovering from the economic toll of COVID, the organisation as a whole is being held back. It is certain that trade with Myanmar, and thus the mutual strengthening of ASEAN economies will take years to reach its pre-coup levels. Beyond mere financial concerns, however, the military coup has brought shame on the bloc. The military has forced ASEAN’s hand, goading the bloc to take unprecedented actions. We recognise the difficulty in taking these steps and thank ASEAN for doing all that it has done but ask that they go even further in upholding democratic principles and protecting civilian populations within the bloc. Myanmar’s return to a stable democratic government is in the interests of all our ASEAN partners, and we implore ASEAN to help us bring an end to this crisis quickly and diplomatically. The junta can never be legitimised, not by ASEAN, not by any government, not by any supranational organisation. The military does not, and cannot represent the Myanmar people. This illegal government can never be allowed to be seen at cabinet meetings alongside legitimate governments. ASEAN must reject all involvement with them or they will be judged by the world as complicit in the murder and devastation that the junta has and will continue to cause. 

Not all should be seen as doom and gloom though. For every time the darkness gets stronger, we must hold a brighter light to it. Victory over the military will show definitively that a people, unwilling to be ruled with an iron fist, cannot be broken or bowed. Democracy has a will of its own, and people yearn for freedom and autonomy. We will show that change is not only possible, it is inevitable. With a democratic victory in Myanmar, dictators the world over will know that their days are numbered, and democracy will, sooner or later, liberate their people. We will also show, through our federal democratic system that respects for and empowerment of all communities regardless of ethnicity, religion, culture or language is not only possible but beneficial to the nation. Suppression of minorities will be a thing of the past, a shackle that held us in the darkness. By empowering our minority groups we harness our diversity and show the world that multi-cultural and pluricentric nations are prosperous and resilient.

The National Unity Government continues to seek the most peaceful way possible out of the violence and the darkness. Despite the best efforts of the junta to paint us in the same dark red shade, they have always been in, we remain committed to the ideals of freedom, democracy and justice. This is a fact that all our partners, who have accepted us as the rightful government of Myanmar, have understood and acknowledged. We created the Code of Conduct which enshrines these ideals. We will drive our people to ensure that it continues to be followed. We will continue to follow international laws and, when the war is done, intend to prosecute all who committed atrocities and war crimes. 

The NUG remains the people’s democratically elected representative and, as such, is ready and available to discuss future prospects with our neighbours and partners. We are ready to discuss how to bring a true end to the crisis permeating Myanmar and a bright future to the world.

Sincerely,

H.E. Dr. Sasa
Union Minister of Ministry of International Cooperation
Spoke Person of Nation Unity Government
Former Special Envoy to United Nations