Bertil Lintner: Military coup puts Myanmar back to square one

Myanmar’s experiment with electoral democracy has come to an at least temporary unceremonial end with the imposition of military-led emergency rule. Before dawn on Monday, on the eve of the opening session of the country’s newly-elected parliament, military generals ordered the detention of President Win Myint, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, National League for Democracy (NLD) party leaders, local state and region politicians, and prominent pro-democracy activists.

Yangon airport was taken over by the military, telephone communications except the military-controlled Mytel and government-run Myanmar Post and Telecommunications, have been severed and private banks ordered closed until further notice.

All TV channels, foreign as well as local with the exception of the military-run Myawady TV, fell silent on Monday. One of two vice presidents, the military-aligned Myint Swe, has been appointed by the military as acting president for a year until fresh elections can be held and the country returned to parliamentary rule.

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