Letter to Honourable Prime Minister

Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Parliament House
CANBERRA
ACT 2600

July 1, 2021

Honourable Prime Minister,

Today, we write to you as a concerned citizen of Australian-Myanmar, Myanmar community in Australia, students, and Australian acquaintances. We are delighted by your government's rapid measures to combat the democratically elected Myanmar civilian government in reaction to the military coup. As the situation on the ground swiftly intensifies, we would like to ask your government to support the people of Myanmar in their unceasing battle for democracy and human rights.

The coup of 1 February 2021 is a demonstration of the "military culture of coup" that General Ne Win afflicted Myanmar since 1962. The growth of Myanmar has severely impeded by decades of consecutive coups and military dictatorship and separated its people from the world community. The Myanmar people, among them various ethnic minorities, are oppressed and devastated by the iron boots of military tyranny.

The illegal seizure of power in this latest coup means the end of an emerging democratic process. Yet Myanmar's people courageously fought the military with a nationwide movement for civil disobedience (CDM).

By detaining CDM participants and manifestors, the military has responded forcefully to the dissent of the people. It stopped telecommunications and passed a number of regulations that restrict and suspend the fundamental rights of individuals, prohibit peaceful assembly and repress freedom of speech. The events of 3 March, the bloodiest day of the repression, have shown the military's contempt of civic and civil rights, as security personnel equipped with lethal weapons shot on unarmed citizens indiscriminately. Since the 1st of February, more than fifty innocent individuals were killed, and thousands of innocents have been detained.

Unlike what some leaders of other nations have said, the military coup is not only Myanmar's domestic business. In the Indo-Pacific area, where many has made large investments, Myanmar has a unique place at the crossroads of China, India, and South-East Asia, this offers a major geopolitical and economic danger. This coup will have profound consequences for the interests of the Australia's national security.

We urged your government to support Myanmar students and community residing in Australia as the military threatened Myanmar students in Australia are a "subject to punishment" published recently on the newspaper on ABC which the military's activities constitute an extraordinary and unusual danger to the Australia's national security and foreign policy. We appreciate the support and additional limitations placed by your government on the military junta.

In order to restore and sustain democratic processes in Myanmar, clear and resolute assistance from the international community led by the Australia is now essential. The creation of a democratic federal government has long been aimed at public conflicts within Myanmar. But vicious and unrelenting military persecution has been encountered in previous efforts for democracy. The failure of the international community to provide proper and continuous assistance meant the end of democracy for more than sixty years by military junta forces.

As Members and friends of the Myanmar-Australian multi-ethnic community and as your constituents, besides the action you have already taken, we support collectively the statement made by Senator Marise Payne, Senator Dave Sharma, Senator Dean Smith, Senator Janet Rice and Tung Ngo MLC on condemning the military coup in Myanmar and the unlawful.  As the situation continues to deteriorate, we ask your administration, by taking urgent action, to further help the people of Myanmar:

Recognize the Committee representing the people of Myanmar who were elected in the general election conducted on 8 November 2020 as representatives of Pyidaungu Hluttaw (CRPH). Support the CRPH as the sole route for the armed forces to get the military junta rooted out of domestic politics by an NLD alliance and ethnic minority forces.

Support efforts to reform the Constitution and institutional systems in line with the Panglong Agreement's principles and spirit, which guarantees equality and rights for all ethnic peoples under federal democratic union, in particular with the reform of security and defence to ensure that the Myanmar military is rooted in national politics and firmly established.

Recognise the newly created National Unity Government as the Myanmar Government's legitimate government.

Must imposed tougher, coordinated and target-oriented sanctions on the leadership of the armed forces and their associates and include its conglomerates Myanmar Economic Holding Limited (MEHL), its subsidiaries, and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), and the confrere companies listed in the UN Human Rights Council's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission.

Increase Australia efforts in persuading allies, important actors in the Indo-Pacific region, and ASEAN to urge the military regime to restore power to the democratically elected civilians, to take all necessary actions to terminate the coup d'état and restore democratic processes in Myanmar.

Advance current UNSC resolution and mandate an emergency convention to discuss activating Chapter VII under the Charter of the United Nations, impose worldwide arms ban and quickly report crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court.

Pressure China and Russia to effectively cooperate in the UNSC and cease their support for the military coup and violent crackdowns on peaceful protesters.

Call for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the surrounding nations of Myanmar to provide refugees with protection, under the mandate of the Convention on the status of refugees, who fled from the attacks on peaceful manifestations.

In Australia, the Myanmar diaspora is a by-product of the atrocities by military governments of the past. In Myanmar, family, friends and others have been denied their fundamental freedoms and fundamental human rights whereas the diaspora can enjoy the freedom of their adoptive nation. The Myanmar-Australian multiethnic group across Australia stands in a fight for true democracy and human rights with the people of Myanmar. We hope Australia Government, a defender of democracy, will continue to support the restoration of democracy in Myanmar by all means necessary and will take meaningful action.

Respectfully,

Australia Myanmar Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Peace