Myanmar’s democracy movement looks to a new era as Suu Kyi faces life imprisonment
MYANMAR’S young pro-democracy activists are looking beyond Aung San Suu Kyi as their figurehead, even as the once internationally feted leader faces life imprisonment after being seized by the military junta.
While she remains popular and there is widespread anger over the injustice of her imprisonment, the military has created a vacuum that has been filled with a new, confrontational form of resistance and calls for a more progressive future leadership for the country.
For many, the brutality of the coup has opened their eyes to military atrocities committed against ethnic minorities while Ms Suu Kyi was in government. In 2019, she defended her government against genocide charges against the Rohingya Muslims after hundreds of thousands were displaced during a brutal crackdown.
Since it seized power on Feb 1 and detained Ms Suu Kyi, 76, the junta has sought to silence the Nobel Laureate who for years was the face of opposition to military oppression, holding her under house arrest and putting her on trial for a raft of charges while placing a gagging order on her lawyers.
Last week she was sentenced to two years in jail for inciting dissent and breaking Covid rules, and on Tuesday she will face charges of possessing illegal walkie-talkies.
In total, Ms Suu Kyi has been slapped with 11 indictments, including several charges of corruption – each carrying a possible 15-year sentence. But now, many young pro-democracy protesters are looking elsewhere for leadership.
“We can clearly see how the young generations are already looking beyond Aung San Suu Kyi for a bigger future. These younger generations cannot be controlled by any person or any organisation. They have their own way of doing things,” said Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a high profile 30-year-old rights activist.
Younger social-media-savvy protesters are drawing more inspiration from contemporaries struggling against authoritarianism in Hong Kong and Thailand than from veterans of Myanmar’s long struggle for democracy.
David Mathieson, an independent Myanmar analyst, said opposition to the junta had grown into a “kaleidoscope” of democratic, armed, underground and civil disobedience factions, all intent on overthrowing the military.