The recently rebranded Burmese military regime is continuing its public relations offensive with the announcement that Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi is still illegally detained. Only the location of her detention has changed.
The move follows sham elections followed by General Min Aung Hlaing installing himself as ‘President’, and then the staggered staged release of some political prisoners aimed at maximising the public relations gains from the releases. More than 14,000 political prisoners remain in jail.
At the same time, the Burmese military are stepping up airstrikes targeting health facilities and civilians, in recent weeks using deadly ‘double-tap’ airstrikes for the first time, using more jets in each attack, and dropping a much larger number of bombs than before.
“It is a long-used tactic by the Burmese military to take two steps back and then one step forward to try to garner praise for the one step forward, even though things are still worse than before,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest. The detention was condemned globally by Presidents and Prime Ministers. Are any governments seriously going to argue that the Burmese military placing her under house arrest again is progress?”
The Burmese military want to give the impression that there is a new civilian government ruling Burma (Myanmar). There isn’t.
- The President and two Vice Presidents are from the Burmese military or Burmese military proxy political party.
- 86% of ministers running ministries are from the Burmese military or the Burmese military proxy political party.
- 30% of ministers have been sanctioned for their role in human rights violations and the 2021 coup.
The Burmese military know that using Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners is an effective way of gaining international attention and receiving international praise. They use political prisoners who should never have been in jail in the first place as public relations pawns.
In recent days Burmese military-run social media accounts have been demanding Aung San Suu Kyi admit to election fraud, the false claim made the by Burmese military to justify their latest coup in 2021.
Here is an example: “Aung San Suu Kyi and her associates must admit to the election fraud on November 8, 2020 committed by the #NLD. She should accept responsibility for the national collapse and infrastructure destruction carried out by the NUG and PDF groups derived from her party.”
Source: https://x.com/MoeSatKhinn/status/2047615649678266854
There is concern by human rights activists in and from Burma that superficial gestures by the Burmese military will be used by governments as an excuse to normalise relations and lift sanctions and other pressure, as happened after sham elections in 2010. The Burmese military are hoping that with so many crises around the world they can get away with even fewer concessions than last time.
“Moving Aung San Suu Kyi isn’t about change or reform, it’s about public relations designed to preserve military rule,” said Mark Farmaner. “No-one should be fooled.”