Myanmar’s junta fights for legitimacy as diplomatic, battlefield pressures mount on Min Aung Hlaing and his generals, a year after coup

A year on from overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government last February, Min Aung Hlaing and his generals still lack international recognition

The once-dominant Tatmadaw has been reduced to one of several armed players in what observers call a ‘balance of chaos’ – as evidence of its brutality grows

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Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing salutes during a military parade in March last year, a month after the coup he led to oust civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo: Myawaddy TV Handout via AFP

Published: 8:00am, 29 Jan 2022Updated: 12:54pm, 30 Jan 2022

Days before Myanmar’s February 1 coup last year, mixed signals from the military over its planned course of action had prominent observers and journalists in the Southeast Asian nation scrambling for answers.

With murmurs circulating that the military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, was deeply unhappy with civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi because of supposed “voter fraud” in the preceding November’s polls, local journalists on January 26 pressed his top spokesman Zaw Min Tun for a “yes or no” on whether a coup was imminent.

“What I want to say is that we do not say the military will seize state power nor do we say the military will not seize power,” Zaw Min Tun told the gathered press at a weekly news conference.

Soldiers ride in armoured vehicles through Myitkyina in Kachin state on February 3 last year, two day’s after the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government. Photo: AFP

Not helping matters was Min Aung Hlaing himself, who afterwards remarked that Myanmar’s constitution had to be “revoked” if it was not abided by.

On January 30 – less than two days before troops rounded up Suu Kyi and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in a Monday morning dawn raid – the military issued a clarification, saying the general’s remarks had been misinterpreted.

The respected independent political analyst Richard Horsey subsequently tweeted that while it appeared the military had “stepped back from its coup threat”, there were inadequate behind-the scene details to decipher “what it means for stability going forward”.

A year later, there can be no misinterpretation of the perilous state the country has been plunged into following the coup.

SCMP Series

1 year after the 2021 Myanmar coup

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