Statement on situation after Tatmadaw took State responsibilities, ASEAN Special Envoy

1. On 1 February 2021, the Tat­madaw declared the State of Emergency and took the State responsibilities in accordance with the stipulations of the 2008 Constitution. It has al­ready issued the transparent evidences, announcements and also held press briefings to show that the root case is that there were voting frauds that were intentionally committed for political purposes and the attempts of the former gov­ernment, the Union Election Commission and ruling NLD party.
2. Before the Tatmadaw took responsibilities, it conducted various ways to discuss with the UEC, the government, Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and po¬litical leaders regarding with electoral frauds. If the 2020 multiparty democracy general election was free and fair, the respective ruling government had to resolve the case in line with the law, but they failed to do so.
3. After the Tatmadaw took of¬fice, it conducted “reconsti¬tution of the Union Election Commission to scrutinize the voter lists in accordance with the law”, but the relevant offi¬cials did not face in line with the law and they chose pro¬tests and armed revolutions. Although the Tatmadaw could detain the Hluttaw MPs who were in Nay Pyi Taw at that time, they were transported to their respective regions in order to build a genuine disci¬plined multiparty democratic nation and resolve in line with the law. They organized the terrorist group CRPH on 5 February 2021 and opposed the government. Among them, most of the former NLD MPs did not choose the legal solu¬tion but violent protests and armed protests.
4. Starting from 7 February, the protests broke out and they changed into riot, anarchic mob, insurrection and terror¬ism. The largest demonstra¬tion occurred on 22 February and only 4.8 million people participated in the protests. Later, they organized further terrorist groups called PDF in respective regions and killed the people who do not sup¬port them, attacked or killed the security members and government employees, con¬ducted arson and mine attacks on schools, hospitals, clinics, government-owned buildings, roads and bridges. Therefore, the government declared the NUG and CRPH committing the sabotages as terrorist groups.
5. The terrorist groups commit¬ted 3,642 criminal cases—986 terror attacks, 2,344 bomb at¬tacks and 312 arson attacks—across the nation until 21 Oc¬tober 2021. For such doings, 1,155 innocent people died and 765 people were injured. A to¬tal of 182 persons—75 military members, 93 police members and 14 government employ¬ees—died and 602 were in¬jured. A total of 251 schools and education buildings were bombed. They also destroyed the roads and railways for 536 times and also destroyed 76 bridges. They also commit¬ted attacks on administrative buildings, religious buildings, factories, workshops, markets and urban buildings. In rare global violences, the arsons attacks and bomb attacks on 251 schools by NUG, CRPH and PDF can be clearly seen as their vicious acts. It can also raise questions about the eth¬ics of some of the countries and organizations that support these terrorist groups.
6. The government granted par¬dons, dropped the hearings and charges against those who were prosecuted for partici¬pating in protests and riots to show humanitarian grounds, bring peace to the people and participate in building the nation. On significant days of Myanmar tradition such as Myanmar New Year, full moon day of Thadingyut and Union Day, the government released 51,704 prisoners—45,668 males and 6,036 females—and closed the cases. It also freed the detained EAO members and issued statements on ceasefire for the local armed conflict suspension and per¬petual peace, and extended the ceasefire for five months from 1 October 2021 to the end of February 2022.
7. Although the government has carried out its utmost to consider and act as much as possible in order to prevent the escalation of violence with minimal bloodshed, NUG is¬sued statements to increase the violence across the nation and incite the people to com¬mit armed attacks and commit acts of violence on 7 Septem¬ber 2021.
8. The negotiations are being conducted with EAOs and there are 10 NCA signatories and there are still non-signa¬tories. The negotiations will be conducted in future. Among these groups, the separate arrangements will be made to discuss with AA, TNLA and MNDAA which emerged after NCA. The National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Com¬mittee and government issued statement to close the hearing cases of EAO members on 15-10-2021, the 6th anniversary of signing the NCA and freed 114 members of seven EAOs. Lat¬er 1 February, discussions with EAO were conducted 15 times while six times with the polit¬ical parties, and the further talks will be held. Similarly, the UEC convened discussions with the political parties two times. The negotiations with the armed terrorist groups called NUG, CRPH and PDF, which opted armed violence without choosing the legal solution for electoral frauds, cannot be accepted. The inter-national government should notice that the negotiations regarding with the armed organizations are conducted with the ones that have been known for their tradition and history, and the action should be taken against the terrorist groups that suddenly emerge to ensure the security meas-ures for socio-economic stabil¬ity of the country and people.
9. When the Tatmadaw took over the responsibilities of the State, there was a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Myanmar. There were a total of 142,712 people affected with the COVID-19 disease on 24 April 2021 when the ASEAN summit was held in Indonesia. Although the Government re¬stricted gathering and protest during this period, instigators continued anarchic mobs and acts of violence. Irresponsible and unethical health workers failed to be present at work un¬der CDM, and they also incited others to engage in immoral conduct in various ways. Due to these issues, the incidence of COVID-19 had risen to more than 10 per cent since the third week of June 2021. With the continuous rise in infection rate, more than 20 per cent of COVID-19 cases occurred in the early July, more than 30 per cent in the second week of July, and more than 40 per cent in the third week. On 23 July 2021, 5,506 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 (40.82%) and 326 of them (5.92%) died of the disease. On 26 July, a total of 396 people (8.55%) died of COVID-19. In order to effectively carry out the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19, the Government had to reclose the basic education schools, announce a successive pub¬lic holidays which lasted over two months from 7 July to 10 September, and a total of 113 townships have been declared as stay-at-home townships.

10. The Government led by the Chairman of the State Admin¬istration Council, the Prime Minister has made great ef¬forts to carry out COVID-19 prevention, control and treat¬ment activities in the third wave of COVID-19 under the policy “Nothing is more impor¬tant than human life”. Oxygen and emergency medical needs caused by poor preparation in the past, human resource requirements due to the un¬ethical health workers who failed to come to work, and the need for treatment facilities were addressed in a variety of ways. Emergency liquid oxy¬gen supplies were urgently imported from neighbouring China and Thailand. Efforts were made to meet the need of COVID-19 vaccine which is the key factor in the preven¬tion, control and treatment of COVID-19. Although the pre¬vious government conducted the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines from India, only two million doses of the vaccine arrived in Myanmar due to the outbreak situation in India. The purchase of the vaccine was restarted under the cur¬rent government and due to the help of China, more than 26 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in My¬anmar. By the time Myanmar was facing difficulties in ac¬cessing the COVID-19 vaccine, it was found that internation¬al organizations such as the United Nations and related organizations, and the ASE¬AN failed to provide COVID-19 vaccine. Only friendly nations, China, India and Russia donat¬ed the vaccines to Myanmar: 4.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from China, 2.5 mil¬lion from India and other from Russia. The Government is also making an effort to con¬tinue to vaccinate 50% of all el¬igible people by the end of this year. Although so-called NUG, CRPH and PDF terrorist or-ganizations are disrupting the COVID-19 immunization in the form of bio-terrorism using acts of terrorism and provocative methods, an av¬erage of 250,000 people are being vaccinated every day under the collaboration of the people, the government, re¬sponsible health workers, civil society organizations and the Tatmadaw. As of 21 October 2021, 5,157,048 people have been fully vaccinated while 6,961,599 people have received the first dose of COVID-19 vac¬cine; a total of 17,275,695 vac¬cinations have been carried out. Currently, the incidence of COVID-19 in Myanmar is still 7.19 per cent as of October 22, and despite the low number of riots, bombings and terrorist killings still remain as a chal¬lenge.

11. Such situations reflect the cur¬rent situation and the efforts of the government. In such a situation, the government is constantly striving for stability, peace and the development of a genuine multiparty democ¬racy. The Prime Minister also openly discussed the situation in Myanmar, future plans, goals and opinions at the ASE¬AN Leaders’ Meeting held on 24 April 2021. He highlighted the three facts at the meeting: “Myanmar would consider the recommendations given to our country in line with the cur¬rent situation in the country,”; “Myanmar would consider ASEAN proposals and trips depending on domestic sta¬bility,”; “In terms of ASEAN’s positive contribution, if it is based on the spirit of ASEAN and the ASEAN Charter, My¬anmar would consider for the good of the country.” Although Myanmar has focused on the appointment of the ASEAN Special Representative, vari¬ous negotiations and changes have taken place. In addition to the limits in the visit of the ASEAN Special Representa¬tive, it has also experienced restrictions in requests, and interferences from non-ASE¬AN nations.

12. The Ministry of Foreign Af¬fairs of Myanmar released a statement on 22 October on the statement of Brunei Darussalam, the current ASE¬AN Chair, regarding these is¬sues. The statement of current ASEAN Chair is found to be contrary to the provisions of ASEAN Charter such as Para 20 (b) “Decision shall be made based on consultation and con¬sensus”, Para 8 (2) (a) “The ASEAN Coordination Council shall prepare the matters for the ASEAN Summit, including the invitation”, Para 2 (a), (e) and (f) “To respect the sover¬eignty of member countries; No interference in internal af¬fairs and no external interfer¬ence in the national existence of member countries.”

13. Therefore, as the State Gov¬ernment, the State Adminis¬tration Council,
(a) will strictly abide by the five-point roadmap of the State Administration Council, which has been in place since taking office and briefed at the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting.
(b) will cooperate as much as possible in accordance with the five ASEAN agree¬ments.
(c) will continue to adhere to the foreign policy “The State pursues an independ¬ent, proactive and impar¬tial foreign policy; It looks forward to world peace and friendly relations; It upholds the principle of peaceful coexistence be¬tween nations” stated in the State Constitution (2008).

Information Team
State Administration Council