London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 03, 2025

Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi detained by military in apparent coup

Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi detained by military in apparent coup

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and several of her political allies have been detained in an early morning raid, a spokesman for her party said. He warned of a possible military coup.

Myanmar's powerful military detained the country's leader in an overnight raid, the ruling National League for Democracy said on Monday. Other senior leaders from the party have also been "taken" in an apparent coup.

"I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law," said spokesman Myo Nyunt, revealing that the 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders were now in custody.

He added that he also expected to be taken.

"With the situation we see happening now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup," he added.

National TV goes off the air


Hours later, state-run broadcaster MRTV said it was unable to broadcast as it was facing technical issues.

"Due to current communication difficulties we'd like to respectfully inform you that the regular programmes of MRTV and Myanmar Radio cannot be broadcast," Myanmar Radio and Television said in a Facebook post.

A witness told Reuters that soldiers had been deployed outside the city hall in Yangon, the the country's biggest city.

Internet connections and mobile services in Yangon were also severely disrupted early Monday, with Myanmar's national internet connectivity falling to 75% of regular levels early on Monday, according to internet monitoring service NetBlocks.

"The telecommunication disruptions, beginning approximately 3:00 am Monday morning local time, have significant subnational impact including the capital, and are likely to limit coverage of events as they take place," Netblocks said in a statement.

This comes amidst escalating tensions between Myanmar’s civilian government and its army, which had been at the helm of governance for decades.

Australia slams attempt to 'seize control'


Australia urged Myanmar's military to release all the detained leaders, adding that the army was "once again seeking to seize control."

"We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully," Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.

A military spokesman was unavailable for comments on Monday.

Last week, however, Myanmar's military commander-in-chief sparked fears of an impending coup.

The army's commander-in-chief, General Min Aung Hlaing told military personnel on Wednesday that it may be "necessary" to revoke the constitution if it was not abided by.

Political tensions escalated when a military spokesman warned the armed forces could "take action" if concerns about election irregularities were not addressed.

However, in a statement on Saturday, the military — officially named the Tatmadaw in Burmese — appeared to backtrack on its rhetoric, saying that the general's remarks had been misinterpreted.

"The Tatmadaw is protecting the 2008 constitution and will act according to the law," it said. "Some organizations and media assumed what they want and wrote as Tatmadaw will abolish the constitution."

'Consequences will be dire'


Aung San Suu Kyi played a key role in the 1988 protests against the military junta, and ended up spending many years under house arrest before running for parliament in 2012. Since taking power in 2016, however, activists and diplomats across the world slammed the leader for her apparent subservience to the military-led regime.

"Ten years after the transition to democracy started, the country is facing a huge setback with the Tatmadaw rounding up elected political leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi and other National League for Democracy (NLD) senior members," Romain Caillaud, an associate fellow with the Myanmar Studies Program at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, told DW.

Caillaud compared the Monday events with the military crackdown against a student-led uprising in 1988. The push for democracy that year also gave rise to the ruling NLD.

"The consequences will be dire," he said, referring to the ongoing crisis. "This is a different world from 1988, with globalization, social media, COVID-19, a new US administration, and China's infrastructure ambition. Backlash against the Tatmadaw will be intense.

He added that the Tatmadaw's motivations for the move are "difficult to grasp," but could be due to "a breakdown in trust and communication" between the military and NLD, frustration with the management of ongoing conflict in Rakhine State, and questions over the 2008 constitution.

Aung San Suu Kyi: From freedom fighter to pariah



Darling of democracy


The daughter of Myanmar's assassinated founding father, Aung San Suu Kyi returned to her home country in the 1980s after studying and starting a family in England. She became a key figure in the 1988 uprisings against the country's military dictatorship. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) was victorious in 1990 elections but the government refused to honor the vote.


Military rule


Suu Kyi spent 15 of the 21 years between 1989 and 2010 under house arrest. After 1995, the rights advocate was barred from seeing her two sons and husband, Michael Aris, even after the latter was diagnosed with cancer.


'The Lady'


Suu Kyi's determination to bring democracy and human rights to her country won her international renown, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She was so popular that in 2011 famous French director Luc Besson made a biopic of her life starring Michelle Yeoh. She was often called the world's most famous political prisoner.


Sworn in as lawmaker


Decades of campaigning finally paid off and in 2012 Suu Kyi was allowed to run in free elections. She won a seat in parliament as Myanmar began its transition away from military government. Since general elections in 2015 she has been the country's de facto civilian leader, although officially she is the foreign minister and state counsellor under President Htin Kyaw.


Persecution of the Rohingya


Rohingya are a mostly Muslim ethnic group who had their citizenship revoked by Myanmar's Buddhist-majority government in 1982. Long persecuted, their plight intensified in 2016 when the military began what it calls "clearance" of illegal immigrants - but what groups like Human Rights Watch have described as "ethnic cleansing." Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.


Fall from grace


When she became state counsellor in 2016, Suu Kyi set up a commission to investigate claims of atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. Suu Kyi has accused the Rohingya of spreading "a huge iceberg of misinformation," and that she is concerned by the "terrorist threat" posed by extremists. Her stance sparked protests in Muslim-majority countries around the world.


Nobel no more?


Suu Kyi has been stripped of various honors and lost much of her international support due to her handling of the Rohingya crisis. The Nobel committee was forced to issue a statement saying that her peace prize could not be revoked. Fellow Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai called on Suu Kyi to "stop the violence." Suu Kyi has said that outsiders do not grasp the complexities of the situation.


A controversial election


Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy party won the November 8th general election, with enough seats to form the next government. However, the military's proxy party, the Union Solidrity and Development party, claimed fraud and demanded a new election supervised by the military. With that, came comments alluding to a possible coup. Supporters of the party also marched in protest.


Tatmadaw detains Aung San Suu Kyi


The Myanmar leader and several of her political allies were detained in an early morning raid led by the military, in what the NLD party called an apparent coup. Hours later, state-run broadcaster MRTV said it was unable to broadcast due to technical issues. The move comes amid escalating tensions between the civilian government and army, which had been at the helm of governance for decades.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
×