Myanmar banks shut down due to 'poor internet connection' after military coup: Report

Following Myanmar’s military coup and declaration of a state of emergency in the early hours of February 1, all banks nationwide have shut down, reported The Bangkok Post. According to an announcement, all members of the Myanmar Banks Association are to close their banks unanimously, starting from Monday. The Bangkok Post further reported that the association said that the closure was due to poor internet connection. 

Now, the banks would seek permission from the Central Bank of Myanmar for the temporary closure and inform it when they planned to restart services. The development comes after the nation’s military took steps to undermine the country’s democratic transition, including the arrest of nation’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and few other civilian officials in Burma. The Myanmar Army has said that it carried out the detentions in response to fraud in last November’s general election that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide.

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Along with Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other senior officials of Myanmar have also been detained by the military. Online news portal Myanmar Now cited unidentified sources about the arrest of Suu Kyi and her party's chairperson early Monday and did not have further details. All communications to Naypyitaw appeared to have been cut and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party could not be reached. Myanmar lawmakers were to gather Monday in the capital Naypyitaw for the first session of Parliament since last year's election, with tensions lingering over recent comments by the military over 'taking an action' that were widely seen as threatening a coup.

Following the reports of the arrest, countries including India, US, Australia and Canada have condemned the unlawful detention. Expressing deep concern, India said it believes that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld. The United States, on the other hand, vowed to take action against those responsible. White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki said that any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar's democratic transition will be opposed by the US.

READ: Myanmar Military Coup: World Leaders Call For Immediate Release Of Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar’s newly formed democracy 

It is worth noting that November 8 was the second openly contested vote in Myanmar after the 2015 elections, which saw Aung San Suu Kyi become the first democratically elected leader of the country after 50-years of junta rule. Despite winning the 2015 polls with a landslide victory, the Nobel laureate faced international scrutiny after she oversaw the genocide of lakhs of Rohingyas. Under Suu Kyi's rule, nearly 8,00,000 Rohingya Muslims had to flee Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh following state-sponsored persecution in the Buddhist-majority country.

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