Myanmar/Burma Independence from the UK was attained in 1948 1948-1962 Burma was a Democratic Republic

Ne Win Coup In 1962, left-wing general Ne Win staged a coup,

banned political opposition, suspended the constitution, and introduced the “Burmese way of socialism.”

The Burmese Way to Socialism combined Soviet-style nationalization and central planning

SLORC After 25 years of economic hardship and repression, the Burmese people

held massive demonstrations in 1987 and 1988. These were brutally quashed by the State Law and Order Council (SLORC).

In September 1988, the military deposed NE WIN and established a new ruling junta

In 1989, the military government officially changed the name of the country to Myanmar.

Than Shwe Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and

Development Council (SPDC) formerly SLORC and has ruled the nation since 1989

.

1990 ELECTIONS Despite multiparty legislative elections in 1990 that resulted in the main

opposition party - the National League for Democracy (NLD) - winning a landslide victory, the junta refused to hand over power.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide victory in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern.

Aung Suu Kyi NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient AUNG SUU KYI, was

placed under house arrest from 1989 to 1995. She was the likely candidate for the PM position She is the daughter of the assassinated general Aung San, who

was revered as the father of Burmese independence.

Kyi out and then back to house arrest

After being released from house arrest in 1995 she was placed under house arrest again from 2000 to 2002

Kyi was imprisoned in May 2003 and subsequently transferred to house arrest again

Towards democracy? In Oct. 2004, the government arrested Prime Minister Gen. Khin

Nyunt. He had angered the leadership of the junta with his recent experiments on reform, first by briefly freeing Suu Kyi from house arrest and later for proposing a seven-step “road map to democracy.”

Karen insurgency Although the ruling junta has maintained a tight grip on Myanmar since

1988, it has not been able to subdue an insurgency in the country's south that has gone on for decades.

The ethnic Karen movement has sought an independent homeland along Myanmar's southern border with Thailand.

In Jan. 2004, the military government and the insurgents from the Karen National Union agreed to end the fighting, but they stopped short of signing a cease-fire.

Constitutional Convention

The regime opened a constitutional convention in May 2004, but many observers doubted its legitimacy.

Under the constitution of 2008 (which the NLD did not participate in writing, a quarter of seats in both parliamentary chambers are reserved for the military, and three key ministerial posts - interior, defense and border affairs - must be held by serving generals.

Capital movement On Nov. 13, 2005, the military junta—in a massive and

secretive move—relocated the seat of government from the capital Rangoon to a mountain compound called Naypyidaw.

The move perplexed many, and the junta was vague in its explanation, saying, “Due to changed circumstances, where Myanmar is trying to develop a modern nation, a more centrally located government seat has become a necessity.”

Crackdown After the ruling junta in August 2007 unexpectedly increased fuel

prices, tens of thousands of Burmese marched in protest, led by prodemocracy activists and Buddhist monks.

In late September 2007, the government brutally suppressed the protests, killing at least 13 people and arresting thousands for participating in the demonstrations. Since then, the regime has continued to raid homes and monasteries and arrest persons suspected of participating in the pro-democracy protests

In a statement, the United Nations Security Council condemned the crackdown, saying it "strongly deplores" the violence unleashed on the protesters.

Cyclone Burma in early May 2008 was struck by Cyclone Nargis, which claimed over

138,000 dead and tens of thousands injured and homeless. The isolated military junta accepted international aid, a tacit

acknowledgement that it is ill-equipped to handle a disaster of such enormous scope.

Once the aid began to arrive, the government limited distribution of the supplies, accepting only about 10% of what was needed.

In addition, it denied entry visas to relief workers, leaving the country crippled and vulnerable to widespread disease.

More cyclone

Media Censorship The Burmese media have been strictly controlled since the

1962 military coup. Everything from poetry to films is censored, filtering not only criticism of the government but most bad news, including reports of natural disasters and sometimes even defeats by the national football team.

The state controls the main broadcasters and publications. Output is dominated by formulaic reports on the official and religious rituals of the ruling generals, accounts of progress in the implementation of policies, and denunciations of alleged US and UK plots against Burma.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has placed Burma among the bottom 10 countries in its world press freedom ranking. It cites "relentless advance censorship" and the imprisonment of journalists and bloggers.

Heroin The armed forces - and former rebels co-opted by

the government - have been accused of large-scale trafficking in heroin, of which Burma is a major exporter.

Resources and economy

Burma is the world's largest exporter of teak and a principal source of jade, pearls, rubies and sapphires.

It is endowed with extremely fertile soil and has important offshore oil and gas deposits. However, its people remain very poor and are getting poorer.

Conditions have deteriorated under the regime's mismanagement, leaving most of the public in poverty, while military leaders and their business cronies exploit the country's ample natural resources.

Military-run enterprises control key industries, and corruption and severe mismanagement are the hallmarks of a black-market-riven economy.

Release of prisoners In September 2008, the military government released just over

9,000 prisoners. Most of those released, however, were not political prisoners. By most estimates, as many as 2,000 political prisoners remain in

detention. These releases were followed in November by the sentencing of

30 activists to up to 65 years in jail.

2010 elections The next elections, held in 2010, were boycotted by the NLD on the

grounds that they were bound to be a sham. Under an election law passed in early 2010, the electoral commission was

chosen solely by Burma's military rulers. The main military-backed party claimed a resounding victory in elections

The junta presented the elections as evidence that the country had completed the transition from military government to a democracy.

Sanctions The United States, the European Union, and

Canada have imposed financial and economic sanctions on Burma.

US sanctions, prohibiting most financial transactions with Burmese entities, impose travel bans on senior Burmese military and civilian leaders and others connected to the ruling regime, and ban imports of Burmese products.

These sanctions affected the country's fledgling garment industry, isolated the struggling banking sector, and raised the costs of doing business with Burmese companies, particularly firms tied to Burmese regime leaders.

Sein Wins Prime Minister Thein Sein was chosen in February 2011 to become

the military-run country's first civilian president in half a century, in what observers consider a cosmetic shift that does little to end the army's overwhelming influence on politics.

He is an ally of Than Shwe who retired.

Reforms? the government has embarked on a series of

reforms toward liberal democracy establishment of the National Human Rights

Commission institution of new labor laws that allow labor

unions and strikes relaxation of press censorship In September 2011, several banned websites

including Youtube, Democratic Voice of Burma and Voice of America have been unblocked

Kyi is free!! Days after the country's first elections in 20

years, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was freed after nearly 20 years in detention. Thousands of supporters gathered outside her home, where she gave a speech calling for a "peaceful revolution."

2012 Elections• In April 2012 parliamentary elections, the

National League of Democracy prevailed in 43 out of 45 districts that held races

Suu Kyi, won a seat in parliament and took office in May.

It was a stunning victory for the opposition—and an equally symbolic defeat for the military.

The U.S. rewarded Myanmar for its progress by easing a number of sanctions and allowing nongovernmental organizations to resume operations in the country

Violence Ethnic violence broke out between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of

Rakhine after the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by a Muslim man. Revenge attacks followed and Thein Sein to declare a state of emergency Dozens were killed, hundreds of homes were burned, and about 100,000 people were

displaced. Tension between the Buddhist majority and Muslim minority, called Rohingyas have

been high for years.

Moving Forward In 2012 Myanmar's government did away with the country's

censorship of private publications. While laws enabling the imprisonment of journalists for printing

items that the government deems harmful are still in effect, the final two topics (religion and politics) were removed from the pre-publication censorship list.

Prime Minister Thein Sein continued his shift announcing in a speech to the UN that the changes in Myanmar are "irreversible."

In response to the progress, President Barack Obama visited Myanmar in November—the first U.S. president to enter the country. He praised the drift from isolation as a "remarkable journey."

The European Union lifted the last of its trade, economic and individual sanctions against Myanmar.

Rebels Clashes between Myanmar troops and ethnic Kokang rebels near

the Chinese border have left 47 government soldiers dead and 73 wounded, in February of 2015.

The newspaper said Friday there had been more than 13 clashes in the last several days between government troops and Kokang rebels near Laukkai close to the border, with the government carrying out five airstrikes.

The number of rebel casualties was not immediately known. The newspaper said the fighting was serious enough for the government to inform China, which is concerned because clashes force civilians to flee across the border.

The report said a Kokang renegade group led by the former Kokang leader Phone Kya Shin attacked military stations with the objective of capturing Laukkai, capital of the self-administered Kokang zone near the border more than 500 miles northeast of Yangon.

Next election Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar opposition

leader, said on that boycotting a coming election was an “option” if a military-drafted Constitution remained unchanged.

In an interview in Naypyidaw, the capital, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, said her party, the National League for Democracy, was “ready to govern” but President Thein Sein was insincere about reform and might try to postpone the election, set for November.

Ethnic and Religious violence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IXnIxq10RM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icRCHJTC4k8 http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/11/world/asia/myan

mar-rohingya-minority/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B862v13ffU

Articles http://

www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/world/asia/rise-in-bigotry-fuels-massacre-inside-myanmar.html?ref=myanmar

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/world/asia/myanmars-leader-backs-change-to-constitution.html?ref=myanmar

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/opinion/global/keep-myanmar-on-track.html?ref=myanmar

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/world/asia/myanmar-shows-signs-of-democratic-reversal-un-official-says.html?ref=topics

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/opinion/return-of-the-myanmar-military.html