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Though they may not make the headlines, let us not forget the poor souls losing their lives to the military junta of Myanmar. Places of worship are being destroyed across the country; food supplies and humanitarian aid are blocked. The CCP-backed military is killing innocent civilians.

Christians across Myanmar are being swept up in the military regime’s blitzkrieg of violence against dissent.

Myanmar’s Chinese Communist Party-backed military regime has been hitting out against dissidents since the coup d’état in 2021.

Military Junta

The Burmese military retook control of the country in February 2021, after the re-election of 78-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party (NLD).

Suu Kyi’s military-aligned political opponents demanded a ‘re-run of the vote, claiming widespread fraud.’

Although no fraud was found, Suu Kyi, along with 15 members of the democratically elected Burmese government, was held on suspicious sedition and corruption charges.

Reuters explained that as ‘architects of Myanmar’s 2008 constitution and fledgling democracy’, the military ‘sees itself as the guardian of national unity and the constitution, and it has enshrined a permanent role for itself in the political system.’

25% of parliamentary seats are permanently held by unelected military MPs via quota. The military also permanently holds the key offices of defence, the interior, and borders.

Myanmar’s coup was likely triggered by Tatmadaw military leaders concerned about Suu Kyi’s fiercely debated 2020 proposals which would have ‘gradually reduced’ the military’s dictator-esque grasp on parliament from 25% to 5%, over a ten-year period.

Crushing Civilians

Since Suu Kyi’s arrest and the NLD’s dissolution, the junta has smashed dissent with an iron fist.

The Irrawady, an independent news site operated by Myanmar exiles living in Thailand, recounted,

‘More than 100 Buddhist and Christian religious buildings in resistance strongholds in the country’s northwest, heartland and southeast have been destroyed.’

The Burmese-run, Thailand-based news site added,

‘Since late last year, the junta has conducted artillery and airstrikes on civilian areas in Chin State and Sagaing and Magwe regions, as well as in Kayah State. It has been facing strong resistance from local people in all those areas.’

Detailing the alleged human rights abuses, The Irrawady said,

‘In predominantly Christian Chin State, nearly 35 churches and 15 affiliated buildings were destroyed in junta attacks between February 2021 and January 2022.’

They added,

‘In the mostly Christian Kayah State in south-eastern Myanmar, about 12 churches were destroyed in the same period.’

Al Jazeera noted in late 2021 that ‘Christian churches, church leaders and volunteers had been targeted or caught in the crossfire of military attacks since the February coup.’

This included the artillery ‘shelling of churches, detaining pastors, and churches being used as military bases.’

The claims are backed by US-based NGO Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) in a March 29^th post on Twitter which alleged:

‘47 houses & church ransacked & vandalized (pictured), private properties & valuables looted & livestock killed & consumed at will as SAC soldiers from Hakha-based pillaged Zokhua Village in the Twnsp. Costs estd at over 10 mil MMK in loss & damage as entire community fled.’

Poor Pretext

Myanmar’s “Buddhist Nationalist” military excuses the apparently inadvertent war on the country’s 4.4 million Christians as a necessary part of rooting out anti-junta ‘rebels.’

Adding to the complicated political situation, a percentage of the mostly Bamar Buddhist country includes a Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, with clashes between militants on both sides, ‘fomenting Buddhist-Muslim tensions.’

A well-referenced FAQ provided by Thailand’s Progressive Voice Myanmar testified to the extent of the damage done to lives and property.

Comparing the violence with Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, PVM asserted:

‘During the first 11 months of the junta’s attempted coup, there were 7,863 armed clashes and attacks on civilians (in every administrative area of Burma), a 715% increase from the same period in 2020.’

Progressive Voice argued that the military regime is ‘guilty of war crimes, and crimes against humanity’, with the organisation citing the ‘shelling and torching of villages, churches, schools, and hospitals.’

These examples sit alongside destroyed food stores, and the blocking of humanitarian aid, as well as attacks on healthcare and humanitarian aid workers. All of which has resulted in ‘at least 2,164 dead civilians, and over 11,000 arrested.’

The Australian Government’s official assessment of Myanmar is on point: the military coup ‘reversed many of the gains made, [and has] significantly amplified Myanmar’s humanitarian and development challenges.’

Myanmar’s people emerged in 2010 from 48 years of authoritarianism, only to be thrown back under moribund totalitarian rule.

Myanmar’s Civil Disobedience Movement, which Open Doors states is largely peaceful, involves Christians, with some choosing to fight the regime in the country’s armed resistance.

While the public’s eyes in the West are turned towards Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, Myanmar’s CCP-backed military leaders appear to be pushing the country towards civil war.

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Photo by Skyler Sion.