Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party were detained by the military in an early-morning raid on Monday. The move came after Myanmar’s powerful military, known as the Tatmadaw, triggered concerns about a coup last week after threatening to “take action” over alleged fraud in a November election won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD – led by 75-year-old Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner and figurehead of Myanmar’s long struggle against dictatorship – won 83 per cent of available seats in the November 8 election regarded as a referendum on her fledgling democratic government . HOW DID SUU KYI COME TO POWER? Her father, Aung San, was a revolutionary who founded the country’s armed forces and spearheaded the push for independence from Britain. He was assassinated in 1947, just six months before independence. A former prime minister was tried and executed over the assassination, but the full extent of the plot remains a source of intrigue more than 70 years later. His daughter, Suu Kyi, spent 20 years in and out of house arrest for her role as an opposition leader before she was released by the military in 2010. The NLD, with Suu Kyi as general secretary, had previously won a general election in 1990 but the junta refused to accept the results. Her struggle for democracy earned her a Nobel Peace Prize and helped make her an international icon. She eventually came to power after a landslide election win in 2015 and assumed the title of state counsellor – a de facto leadership position created to sidestep constitutional provisions barring her from the presidency. Once in power, Suu Kyi had to balance her relationship with the country’s generals. As a result, her international standing was damaged after hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled army operations in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state in 2017. However, she remained popular at home. The following year, two Reuters journalists were jailed, accused of breaching Myanmar’s state secrets law while reporting on a Rohingya massacre. They spent more than 500 days in prison before being released on a presidential pardon. WHO IS THE LEADER NOW IN POWER? Senior General Min Aung Hlaing , who has led the Tatmadaw since 2011, is now the country’s commander-in-chief under its state of emergency. The military on Monday said it would hold elections and return power to the victor after a year. The general last week sparked alarm among political watchers when he told military personnel a constitution was a “mother law for all laws” and if not abided by, it should be revoked. He cited previous instances when that had happened in Myanmar. While Min Aung Hlaing has faced questions about the military’s human rights record, governments including India, Austria, Japan and Germany have rolled out the red carpet for him in recent times. Foreign governments view engagement with the Tatmadaw as vital to influence reforms. He has been accused of masterminding genocide against the country’s Rohingya people, and his Twitter account was suspended in 2019 due to complaints about him using social media for hate speech. Min Aung Hlaing’s Facebook account was deleted in 2018, after the United Nations called for Myanmar’s military leaders to be prosecuted for genocide. He used social media to refer to Rohingya people as “Bengali”, suggesting they were stateless immigrants rather than Myanmar citizens. On Facebook he denied army atrocities and claimed the military was targeting militants rather than committing genocide. “Min Aung Hlaing was the mastermind of the Rohingya genocide,” Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, told The Guardian . “It is crucial that Twitter now follows through in deleting other accounts used by the regime for the same purpose.” WHAT DOES THE CONSTITUTION SAY? The relationship between the NLD and Tatmadaw has deteriorated in recent years as Suu Kyi sought to expand civilian control by amending the 2008 constitution that guarantees the military one-quarter of representation in the country’s parliament. The military also retains control of the interior, border and defence ministries, allowing it to dominate business interests such as mining. The 2008 constitution says the commander-in-chief can take power only in extreme circumstances that could cause “disintegration of the union, disintegration of national solidarity and loss of sovereign power”, but only during a state of emergency, which can only be declared by the civilian president. The President’s Office did declare the state of emergency, which was signed by First Vice-President U Myint Swe, who became the acting president after President Win Myint was detained by the army. The clause had been described by New York-based Human Rights Watch as a “coup mechanism in waiting”. Myanmar military declares state of emergency after coup against Aung San Suu Kyi’s government Maitrii V. Aung-Thwin, an associate professor of Myanmar and Southeast Asian history at the National University of Singapore, said Monday’s developments were distinct from previous coups because the military had not dismantled the current system. “They appear to view this situation as a threat to the union,” Aung-Thwin said, explaining the decision to declare a year-long state of emergency, which is enabled by the constitution. “It is working within the parameters of the constitution and it has stated a specific time frame for evoking emergency powers,” he said. “It is possible the military intends to use this year to launch an investigation into the November 2020 elections.” Myanmar’s ruling party claims election victory from unofficial count Myanmar has been ruled by military regimes for most of its history since independence from former colonial power Britain in 1948. General Ne Win ousted a civilian administration in 1962, saying it was not competent enough to govern. He ran the country for the next 26 years but stepped down in 1988 after huge nationwide protests against economic stagnation and authoritarian rule. A new generation of military leaders took command a few weeks later, citing the need to restore law and order in the country. Junta leader General Than Shwe stepped down in 2011, handing over power to a government of retired generals after adopting the country’s current constitution. HOW DID THE COUP HAPPEN? After November’s elections, the military alleged discrepancies such as duplicated names on voting lists in scores of districts and was unhappy with the election commission’s response to its complaints. It claims to have uncovered more than 10 million instances of voter fraud and has demanded the government-run election commission release voter lists for cross-checking. Amid the bickering over the allegations, the military last Tuesday ramped up political tension when a spokesman at its weekly news conference, responding to a reporter’s question, declined to rule out the possibility of a coup. Major General Zaw Min Tun elaborated by saying the military would “follow the laws in accordance with the constitution”. Its grievance was similar to that of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the former ruling party created by the military before it officially ceded power in 2011. The USDP, widely seen as a military proxy, was humiliated in the election, winning only 33 of 476 available seats. Suu Kyi has not commented on her party’s election victory, nor on the military’s complaints, but the NLD said the military’s allegations were groundless and any election flaws would not have changed the outcome. Of the more than 90 parties that contested the vote, at least 17 have complained of mostly minor irregularities and all except the USDP are smaller parties. Election observers have said the voting was without major irregularities. The election commission on Thursday said there were no errors on a scale that could mean fraud or the election being discredited. HOW DID THE WORLD REACT? Asia-Pacific nations and rights watchdogs around the world were quick to criticise the coup and call for the release of Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders. Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia released statements noting they were watching developments with concern while officials in the Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand said the issue was an “internal matter”. A spokesman for United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres described the coup as a “serious blow to democratic reforms”, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the military to “reverse [its] actions immediately”, referring to the detention of civilian government and civil society leaders. This Year In Asia: 10 stories that rocked the region in 2020 Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed “serious concern” about developments in Myanmar and called for the release of leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “Japan has strongly supported Myanmar’s democratisation process and opposes moves that go against it,” Motegi said. “We strongly urge the military again to restore a democratic political system as soon as possible.” Amnesty International called for the release of Suu Kyi, with deputy regional director for campaigns Ming Yu Hah saying the arrests of the state counsellor and other political figures is “extremely alarming”. “Reports of a telecommunications blackout pose a further threat to the population at such a volatile time – especially as Myanmar battles a pandemic, and as internal conflict against armed groups puts civilians at risk in several parts of the country. It is vital that full phone and internet services be resumed immediately.” Additional reporting by Associated Press, Agence France-Presse