THE Guardian Newspaper published the Editorial titled “The Guardian view on Myanmar’s military: in power but not in control” and the article titled “Britain is not a passive observer on the world stage. We want oligarchs and dictators to fear us” authored by James Cleverly on 6 and 9 December 2022 respectively.
It is disappointing to observe that
the above-mentioned articles contain false narratives of the situation in
Myanmar. In this regard, as a response, the Myanmar Embassy transmitted an
article as “Letter to the Editor” titled “Understanding myths and realities of
Myanmar” which contains approximately 800 words to the Readers’ Editor of The
Guardian. Regrettably, the Embassy was replied that the Embassy’s article was
not selected for publishing for The Guardian’s reason that amendments to those
articles or responses are not determined to be necessary under the editor’s
code, and the Embassy’s article exceeds the 300-word limit and needs to be
attributed to a person by name. Notwithstanding, the Myanmar Embassy has
observed that letters to the editor published daily in The Guardian always
exceed the set 300-word limit.
In view of the above, the Myanmar
Embassy in London responds to the above-mentioned two articles on Myanmar
published in The Guardian as follows:
In response to a Guardian editorial
on 6 December 2022: “The Guardian view on Myanmar’s military: in power but not
in control” and to a Guardian Op-Ed on 9 December 2022: “Britain is not a
passive observer on the world stage. We want oligarchs and dictators to fear
us”
The recent Guardian editorial and
Op-Ed by the British Foreign Secretary narrated the incumbent and interim
government of Myanmar as a loose cannon against its own people and portrayed
the image of David and Goliath. For too long, Myanmar has been misconceived by
the oversimplification and sensationalism of western media and has been an easy
target for western governments to promote their foreign policy goals. And hence
clarifications.
Firstly, there is a major
misunderstanding in Myanmar’s context alleging the Military staging a coup d’état.
In reality, it did not stage a coup and instead, it assumed the responsibility
of the State in accordance with the 2008 State Constitution. There were
irregularities in the electoral process and yet the previous government failed
to address them despite urgent calls by political parties and the Military. (It
was later found that out of 38.27 million eligible voters, 11.30 million (29.54
per cent) were fraudulently invalidating the 2020 General Election.) The
Military did everything within its bounds to mediate but was largely ignored.
Therefore, it leaves with no other option but to invoke the State of Emergency
in accordance with the 2008 Constitution. The Military as the vanguard of the
2008 Constitution has formed the State Administration Council (SAC) as a provisional
government with a mandate to return the power to the winning party after
conducting a free and fair election in accordance with democratic standards.
Therefore, the SAC is the de jure and the only legitimate government of Myanmar.
However, there have been attempts to
legitimize the so-called CRPH, NUG and PDF groups but they are merely terrorist
organizations formed by exiled politicians and radicals. Together, they have
conducted full-scale terrorist attacks against innocent civilians to instil
fear and disrupt peace and stability. Confiscation of arms and ammunition and
those explosive-related materials to launch attacks on innocent civilians from
these groups proved that they are ruthless to assassinate government employees,
teachers, health workers, and members of political parties who have different
views. From February 2021 to 30 November 2022, there were a total of 4,543
deaths committed by these unlawful groups. As the government sought the
prevalence of rule of law, it has to take legal actions against those who
breached anti-terrorism law and some were given death sentences due to their
violent crime and terrorist acts. At the same time, the government has shown
leniency by releasing prisoners including foreigners on humanitarian grounds.
On the contrary, Myanmar was framed as if the government was instigating terror
and suppressing its own people.
The Guardian editorial is in complete
dichotomy with the current situation in Myanmar. In reality, the government is
solely and entirely in charge of the country ensuring peace, tranquillity, rule
of law and socioeconomic livelihood of the people of Myanmar. The SAC has set
out the five-point road map to tackle electoral fraud, COVID-19, economic
recovery, and peace and to conduct general elections. This is the only viable
roadmap for Myanmar’s path to democracy and development. Anyone who happened to
visit Myanmar both last year and this year may have noticed how far it has come
from living in fear of terror and from economic hardship due to COVID-19 and
how much the government has done for the all-round development of the country.
The British Foreign Secretary in his
Op-Ed argued the effectiveness of the UK’s sanctions and how they can be
imposed at its own discretion. But he may have overlooked the very fact that
sanctions do not work and are proven time and again only to be hurting the
general public. Sanctions would only delay, not expedite, Myanmar’s transition
to democracy. One should not forget that Myanmar’s internal conflicts including
the issue of Rakhine are in fact legacies of the colonial past. The UK has a
primary responsibility but to date, it has never attempted to hold itself
accountable or let alone admitted its role for leaving Myanmar in shatters when
it gave independence to Myanmar in 1948.
The British Foreign Secretary in his
Op-Ed argued the effectiveness of the UK’s sanctions and how they can be
imposed at its own discretion. But he may have overlooked the very fact that
sanctions do not work and are proven time and again only to be hurting the
general public. Sanctions would only delay, not expedite, Myanmar’s transition
to democracy. One should not forget that Myanmar’s internal conflicts including
the issue of Rakhine are in fact legacies of the colonial past. The UK has a
primary responsibility but to date, it has never attempted to hold itself
accountable or let alone admitted its role for leaving Myanmar in shatters when
it gave independence to Myanmar in 1948.
#TheGlobalNewLightOfMyanmar
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