The military coup in Myanmar is a dispiriting reversal for the cause of democracy in one of Asia’s poorest countries, and globally. The transition towards greater political freedoms over the past decade had, to be sure, been flawed and incomplete. Its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was badly tarnished internationally by her defence of the 2017 military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. Yet, apparently against the trend elsewhere, the country seemed one of the few where democratic progress was continuing — including in the latest parliamentary elections in November. A month into 2021 it has, for now, been stopped in its tracks.
緬甸的軍事政變，是這個亞洲和全球最貧窮國家之一的民主事業的一次令人沮喪的逆轉。可以肯定的是，在過去10年里，緬甸向更大政治自由的轉變是有缺陷的，也是不完整的。緬甸領導人昂山素季(Aung San Suu Kyi)因維護2017年對羅興亞(Rohingya)穆斯林進行的軍事鎮壓而在國際上受到嚴重譴責。然而，與其他國家的趨勢明顯相反的是，該國似乎是少數幾個民主進程仍在繼續的國家之一——包括去年11月的議會選舉。而如今，2021年的第一個月過后，緬甸的民主進程停下了腳步。