YANGON (MYANMAR) – The military junta in Myanmar promised on Tuesay to hold an election and transfer power to a civilian government, denying its ouster of an elected government was a coup or that leaders were arrested and imprisoned.
The junta came out with a justification of its seizure of power on February 1 and the arrest of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi after protesters took to the streets and after a UN envoy gave a stern warning to the army about severe ramifications if they cracked down on dissenters.
“Our objective is to hold an election and hand power to the winning party,” said spokesperson of the junta Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun in its first press meet after taking over power.
It has imposed a state of emergency for a year and has not announced the date of fresh election. Zaw Min Tun said the military would not hold power for long.
“We guarantee … that the election will be held,” he said in the two-hour press meet which was beamed live on Facebook.
When asked about the detained Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and the president, Zaw Min Tun dismissed the allegation that they were being held, saying they were in their homes for their own security.
The spokesman also said the foreign policy remains unchanged and Myanmar was open for business and deals would be upheld.
The junta hopes its reassurances will dampen the opposition campaign.
It also wants the strikes to abate as civil disobedience across the country has crippled the functions of the government.
A woman who received a bullet wound in the head last week in Naypyitaw is not expected to survive. Zaw Min Tun said a policeman had died of injuries after being injured in a violent protest.
He said the protests were beginning to get violent while the civil disobedience amounted to intimidation of civil servants. He warned that the military response would be within the ambit of the law.
“We will wait patiently. After that, we will take action according to the law,” he said.
The army has given itself extensive search and detention powers and has published penal code amendments aimed at stifling dissent with tough prison terms.
Waving placards, protesters gathered on a railway track on Tuesday and blocked train services between Yangon and the southern city of Mawlamyine.
“Release our leaders immediately,” and “People’s power, give it back,” chanted protesters.
There were also mass protests in two venues in Yangon.
As many as 30 Buddhist monks protested against the coup with prayers in Yangon while hundreds took to the streets in the coastal town of Thandwe.