Messaging services blocked in Myanmar
YANGON: Myanmar’s junta blocked Facebook and other messaging services in the name of ensuring stability yesterday, as they consolidated power following a coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The move to silence online activists came after Myanmar police filed charges against Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment, and as international pressure grew on the junta to accept the results of November elections won by her party in a landslide.
Inside Myanmar, opposition to the junta had emerged very strongly on Facebook, which is the main internet platform for much of the country and underpins communications for business and government.
People in Yangon and other cities banged on pots and pans and honked car horns for a second night on Wednesday in protest against Monday’s coup. Images of the protests had circulated widely on Facebook.
The Ministry of Communications and Information said Facebook, used by half of Myanmar’s 53 million people, would be blocked until Sunday.
‘‘Currently, the people who are troubling the country’s stability . . . are spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding among people by using Facebook,’’ the ministry said in a letter.
Disruptions were patchy, however. Some people found that they could still access Facebook even if connections were slow. Some used VPNs to evade the blockage.
Suu Kyi has not been seen since her arrest on Monday, along with other top leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD). An NLD official has said she is under house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw, but there has been no word on her whereabouts from the junta.
The NLD won about 80% of the vote in the November 8 polls, the election commission said, a result the military has refused to accept, citing unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.
The United Nations said yesterday it would increase international pressure to ensure the will of the people was respected.
‘‘We will do everything we can to mobilise all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails,’’ United Nations secretarygeneral Antonio Guterres said during an interview broadcast by The Washington Post.
‘‘It is absolutely unacceptable after elections — elections that I believe took place normally — and after a large period of transition.’’
Addressing the coup in Myanmar was a priority for the United States and Washington was reviewing possible sanctions in response, the White House said yesterday.
Police said six walkietalkie radios had been found in a search of Suu Kyi’s home in Naypyidaw that were imported illegally and used without permission.
The chairman of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Charles Santiago, said the charges against Suu Kyi were ludicrous.
‘‘This is an absurd move by the junta to try to legitimise their illegal power grab,’’ he said in a statement. — Reuters