Reversion to type

摘要

MYAWADDY, A TELEVISION Station owned by the Burmese army, is normally so bad as to be unwatchable. But when the residents of Naypyidaw, Myan-mar's capital, and Yangon, its largest city, woke on February 1st to find soldiers in the streets and martial music blaring from their radios Myawaddy became "must-see TV". It was a Myawaddy newsreader who announced that the country was in a state of emergency and under the control of Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the army. Soldiers were stationed in government offices. Airports were closed and, in the cities, the internet shut down. Hundreds of politicians from the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won an overwhelming victory in the country's parliamentary elections last November, were put under house arrest. The armed forces also rounded up chief ministers from all the country's 14 states in addition to democracy activists, writers, three monks and a film-maker, Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi. Aung San Suu Kyi, who became a figure of global renown when she led the NLD from house arrest during the 1990s and 2000s, and who as "state counsellor" was the country's undisputed civilian leader, now finds herself under lock and key again.