🇲🇲 Four executions

Asean bloc condemns, but what can it do next?

Hello friends,

Regular service will return next week, but I wanted to talk about these horrific executions in Myanmar. I’ve looked at a bit of the reporting from Myanmar in recent days and compiled the response from across the region. Right at the bottom, you can find some interesting things I’ve read in recent days. The Myanmar Now editorial is stunning and an absolute must-read, as is the Frontier Myanmar Q&A with Phyo Zayar Thaw’s wife and the reminiscences of Shoon Naing on Phyo Zeyar Thaw. 

We’ll pick this up next week, I’m sure. In the meantime, I think a really handy way to show your support and solidarity is via donations to Myanmar Now and a subscription to Frontier Myanmar. Such valuable resources for the rest of looking in and we need to make sure they continue to thrive!

See you next week,

Kyaw Min Yu, also known as Ko Jimmy, was a long-time pro-democracy activist. Phyo Zeya Thaw was a National League of Democracy lawmaker who had earlier carved out an impressive protest rap career. There were found guilty of terror charges in January while fellow activists Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw were said to be guilty of murdering military informants. 

All four were executed on Saturday, the first such executions since 1989.

The junta believes the four were awarded a fair trial: “This was justice for the people. These criminals were given the chance to defend themselves," he told a regular televised news briefing. I knew it would raise criticism but it was done for justice. It was not personal,” junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said, as reported by Reuters. 

The executions did not go smoothly. The world has condemned the junta after it was announced Monday and the killings sparked protests within Insein Prison. Myanmar Now reports that around 15 prisoners were separated from the general population and that abuses and beatings at the hands of authorities occurred, citing confusion over information leaks. 

What does the region say?

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah is deeply unhappy. He vowed yesterday to take the abject failure of the junta to adhere to the Five Point Consensus to next month’s ministerial meeting and ramp up the pressure.

We’ve discussed Saifuddin previously on length. He comes across as personally deeply committed to fighting back against the junta and met on the sidelines of the US-Asean summit with National Unity Government representatives just a couple of months ago. I would be unsurprised if he meets more frequently and publicly with NUG members in the coming months.

Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan has called the executions a “grave setback, as reported by Channel News Asia. “We reiterate our call for the release of all political detainees, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. A peaceful resolution of the crisis can only be achieved through constructive dialogue among all parties concerned,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook. 

Indonesia, which has also been very vocal alongside Malaysia, is unusually quiet this week. President Joko Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi have spent the first part of the week in China in very high-level talks. Still, says the Jakarta Post editorial, why isn’t there a mechanism in place to respond immediately? Revealing probably a touch too much on how Jakarta views Asean, the editorial pleas for Retno, as “the de-facto leader of Asean,” to “initiate a drastic measure by the regional bloc to punish Hlaing as the execution of people because of their political views is unacceptable.” This should have been an easy win for Retno and Jokowi, but shows that, again, Indonesia is struggling to balance its role in the region with its ‘bigger’ aspirations. 

I was far less shocked to learn Thailand has also been very quiet. Thailand’s government isn’t a huge fan of drawing attention to its own military roots and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha is reportedly very close with General Min Aung Hlaing. So what, says Dr Anusorn Thamchai of the Pridi Banomyong Institute. The junta has no respect for anyone and shouldn’t expect it back.

“I am saddened by inhumane actions of the Myanmar junta that executed pro-democracy political prisoners despite strong objections from the international community and international civil organisations,” he said, as reported by the Nation. The Thai government is not interested in solidarity, but a lot of people in Thailand are:

 

Cambodian Prime Minister and current Asean chair Hun Sen is furious. In ‘unusually strong language,’ as Sebastian Strangio put it, he condemned the executions which occurred just a week ahead of the next Asean ministerial meeting. “We strongly and urgently call on all parties concerned to desist taking actions that would only further aggravate the crisis, hinder peaceful dialogue among all parties concerned, and endanger peace, security, and stability, not only in Myanmar, but the whole region,” he said in a statement, as reported by Strangio in the Diplomat. 

So what is Asean to do? 

The junta hasn’t seemed interested in giving the Five Point Consensus anything but lip service and the bloc is hamstrung by its own need for consensus. Parts of the bloc would love to see an escalation against the junta while some members don’t appear to be overly interested one way or the other. 

One thing which has intrigued me in much of the reporting from Myanmar is a thread that suggests the increase in junta violence, both through the executions and in conflict zones, indicates a frenzied loss of control. The junta has been unable to establish anything which looks remotely like a government rather than an unwelcome occupier. I have also seen reports online in the last 24 hours which claim the expectation of dozens of further executions to come. I can’t verify that, obviously, but I did want to flag it because it sounds very plausible. 

Reading list:

Myanmar is a nation ruled by murderers. There is no other way to describe a regime that uses snipers to shoot protesters in the head and airstrikes and ground attacks to wipe out entire villages; that tortures prisoners to death and kills at will as it rampages through resistance strongholds. This is a regime willing to spill any amount of blood to stay in power.

But even in a country that has lived under the spectre of this homicidal rage for nearly a year and a half, many were stunned by the news on Monday that four political prisoners, including veteran activist Ko Jimmy and former MP Phyo Zayar Thaw, had been executed inside Yangon’s Insein Prison.

First, it should impose targeted sanctions on the coup leaders, including Min Aung Hlaing. Other countries imposed targeted sanctions in response to atrocities carried out against the Rohingya back in 2017. If Australia’s failure to follow suit was part of a strategy to facilitate the repatriation of Australian economist Sean Turnell, who has been held in Insein Prison since the coup, then an urgent rethink is needed.

Second, the Australian government should consider recognising the National Unity Government, which represents the democratically elected parliament and those who oppose the coup. The execution of a member of the former parliament confirms, if confirmation was necessary, that the military has no claim to legitimate rule.

After the coup, how did Ko Phyo Zayar Thaw respond?

We were together since the military coup until his arrest in November of last year. The military coup was an injustice. Ko Zayar Thaw and I also protested peacefully. We participated in the anti-military coup movement in Yangon. The public protested peacefully. They were brutally shot down by the terrorist army. When we could no longer protest peacefully, we chose to defend ourselves within our right to self-defense.

As a first time meeting this cool politician (trust me! the word cool and politician almost never come together in Myanmar), I was pretty excited. Being an unexperienced journalist, I wanted to impress him. So, I ordered a strong black coffee. On his turn, guess what?, yeah that’s right. He ordered a hot chocolate. Just when I thought this guy couldn’t get cooler. Then we comfortably flow into conversation. About 30 minutes later, he suddenly paused the conversation and asked “do u mind if I order another hot chocolate?”. This time, I couldn’t help myself but smiled and may be laughed a little bit.

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